CoL Special: Squad Collab Book

Roleplayers: Now I Got You.

Mooshu was next. And honestly? I was worried. I wasn't worried about messing up and hurting the Death Students. I had a bad feeling I was going to do a lot more damage. I usually didn't worry about this, but something felt wrong.

I took my time going through. And I was right when I got to finding the Emperor's sword. I nearly took the guy's head off. When the War Oni came out, I was glad I snapped out of the rage into a panic.

There was a soul here.

That fucker- seeing the soul weakly pulse fueled rage, but I regained my senses and steadied myself. Malistaire could go to hell before he saw me hurt those souls.

It only got worse with each Oni I fought. I finally figured out who was who. Marla's was with the War Oni, Malorn's was with the Plague Oni, Declan's was with the Death Oni... I hadn't found Duncan's. Yet.

It wasn't until the Jade Oni revealed itself did I find it. Oh come on- I did my best to not damage the soul, but the Oni made it difficult. It then hit me. This Oni was Life... with a Death Student's soul. I activated a Death aura before taking him out. I would have to wait to see if Duncan was hurt.

When I returned, I was right. Duncan was unfazed. In fact, he actually looked like some of his strength had been restored. He gave me a... semi warm smile. It was as warm as I think he was willing to give me. I smiled back before going over, being careful to not wake the others, who were resting.

"All good?" He nodded softly.

"I'm still a little tired... but it's not as bad as before." He gripped his head lightly as I smiled.

"Take it easy."

~

When I learned I was going after him, I laughed a little. Malistaire was either going to give them back the easy way or the hard way.

Cyrus was not pleased with me going. He wanted to gather a group of Myth Wizards to storm Dragonspire. However, between my defiance and the fact that many of the wizards he considered got slammed with work (Nolan was going to be the lead and it concerned them when he showed up exhausted due to a lack of sleep from his work load.) (He hadn't even finished all of it.) Cyrus had no choice but to bring me for the charge. And while I am not the size of force he wanted, I covered for all members that couldn't make it.

When it came time for charging into Malistaire's hideout, I didn't do it quietly. I kicked through and slaughtered the place. Once at the top, I held my breath for the Undead. None had the Souls. Where'd he have them? I quickly disrupted the spell before confronting him.

"Look who it is. The two people I can't stand to see." I kept my mouth shut as I scanned the area. Show me where you have the souls, jackass.

"Malistaire... It's time to end this. Sylvia wouldn't want this."

"You couldn't grasp the concept of grief if it hit you, brother!" He then opened his hand, where the four souls weakly floated. Just looking at them showed how drained they were. Three of the four floated forward before Undead grasped them. "Death must understand what it has taken from me! I will win this battle!"

"You-" I stopped the Myth Professor before he charged forward. The three undead that stood between us and Malistaire were kids that were struggling to regain their strength. They didn't need further damage. But this time, Malistaire wouldn't pull them away. He wasn't going to get the chance.

I charged forward, activating my aura and entering a separate domain, which gave me access to the souls. I grasped them before casting again, the domain merging with the real world and destroying the Undead. I turned to the Death Master, who still had the last soul. I spoke, not giving a damn if it sounds like a threat.

"Death doesn't have an appointment for you. But I can make your visit important." My eyes flashed red before I charged forward, snagging the fourth soul before he could use it. I didn't have time to check their conditions. I had a fight to finish. I landed behind him as my wand glowed. "Of course, the only reason Death will come to see you is to collect your soul. It would be a shame if he met you any sooner." My wand changed into a sword as I raced forward, clashing with his staff.

"You little rat! You don't have the guts!"

"Yeah? But the bad news for you is I don't fear anything. I have the skills to kill you. And to hell with you!" I broke the clash before activating the full form of my aura, completely changing the field to my domain.

I beat his ass there.

My sword did most of the talking while the aura completely disabled his powers. Nothing he did got me off him. In the end, I cut him down, ending the battle. My aura dropped, dispelling the area before I turned to the souls, which rested peacefully in my grip. I overheard Sylvia's ghost coaxing the Death Master's ghost into relaxing. I also overheard Cyrus's panic. I made the sword vanish before letting my aura coat the souls, restoring slight health to them. Something told me I would be working on this for a while.

~

By the time we returned, the Myth Students had stabilized themselves and the Death Students didn't look that bad. I did get Marla's soul to full health, so while the boys rested, I gave it back to her. She smiled as she held it close.

"Warm..." She smiled as she returned it back to its home. "Thanks." I nodded before turning my attention to the other three, which weren't moving quickly. She paused. "Any luck on those?" I shook my head.

"They are moving very slowly... or not at all. I can't tell." Penny went over and paused.

"Let me see." I allowed her to take the three souls. Almost instantly, Malorn's and Declan's hummed to life, glowing brightly. I was shocked as Penny smiled. "I guess that comes with having a small aura that has barely been used. I haven't needed my aura, so they probably feel the fresh new aura I have." Me and Marla chuckled at that before she paused. "But that's only two... the third hasn't even responded." I took the souls and hummed.

"Duncan's is still weak... You got Malorn's and Declan's up." At the mention of his name, Malorn jerked up, waking Declan up from the motion. The girls lost it from Declan's reaction, which was pushing Malorn off the bench and laying down. I might've let a chuckle out, but I will not say I laughed at the confusion Malorn let out.

"Ow-" He then got up and joined us. "Uh- what about me?"

"Good morning to you too." I passed him his soul, which he took a moment to register. He then let it disappear inside before pausing.

"What-" I smiled.

"Malistaire had them. He took four souls from his students to use in his plans." I then glanced at Penny. "I'm not waking him up."

"You just don't want to find out how strong he is. That's fine." She went over and woke Declan back up, who was very annoyed, but listened since she mentioned I had something for him. Upon getting his soul back, he asked a more important question.

"Whose is that?" I hummed as I channeled my aura into it, seeing if I could get it to full health. Sadly, it merely hummed to the aura's attempt, having little to nothing else to give.

"Duncan's. But between me and Penny, it's still not healing." I then hummed. This was the one Malistaire didn't send forward near the end. He kept it with him. He clearly used this one more than the others. I channeled my aura again, getting a weak glow from it. I sighed. "I'll need more time. Or a stronger aura. Either way, until I get it to the glowing we got the other three to do, I can't get it back to him." We all looked at Duncan, who was asleep on the other bench.

"We'll figure it out."