That's So Wizard

Chapter 83 - Doin' It For Themselves

Sweat ran down from beneath Lucy's hair and down the bridge of her nose as her muscles tensed—hands locked on pieces of metal to adjust the direction of their teleportation mechanism. Mara helped as well, though she wasn't quite tall enough to reach it all. Meanwhile, Kali stood back with her eyes closed, and pointed in various directions.

"That's right. A little bit to the left... stage left. That's the other left. And up next. I think."

Lucy was feeling exhausted, as were the rest of them. They had been tirelessly working toward finding and putting a stop to their sister's scheme. At the very least, they wanted to speak with her. "You think?"

"Right there! It's hard to narrow it down to a specific point, but I think Kevin is right about there. You sure about this, though? We'll probably be popping right into a prison cell or something. You know what they do with wizards there."

"I know." Lucy shook her head. "But this is personal now. We should no bias towards their decision to capture wizards. But we do know Anzu spoke with officials after that attack, and it's our responsibility to make sure such a disaster doesn't happen again."

"I still can't believe she'd do something this extreme," Mara muttered.

It was finally prepared. Lucy stood before the center of the room, and she opened up a smoking fissure across the stone floor. The glow of flickering flames could be seen within. One by one, they hopped inside. Lucy, Mara, and then finally Kali. It sealed up behind them as if it was never there to begin with.

***

Taj's hand trembled with frustration which caused the plastic of the radio's case to crackle. Beside him sat a table with Kevin's belongings, as few as they were. A bracelet, a ring, a wallet, and a phone. His captive, the boy in question, refused to speak, which was not all that surprising. But once again he raised the radio up to his mouth and stared daggers. "You're so certain this isn't your friend?"

"Positive."

"I'll give the call to execute him then, if you're so confident!"

"Go ahead and try!"

He slammed the radio down on the table next to the other items, and whipped his wrist out forward. The bandages that made up a layer over his outfit unravelled from his arm and flew through the air like a snake before wrapping around Kevin's neck. It tightened unbelievably quickly, so much so that it caused Kevin to jump in his seat and widen his eyes.

"I was tasked with getting certain information. And you should know that we have no obligation to let you back out of here. So then, knowing that, will you still not speak? Your parents still live, and I doubt they'd want to hear of an unfortunate accident."

Kevin's gaze blurred under the pressure of the noose. His eyes squinted as he countered the man's sharp stare with daggers of his own.

Unknown to them at first, a crack started to form across the tiles of the floor near the far corner. Smoke and light began to emerge, and it caused Taj's attention to snap in an instant. He retracted his bandages, and leapt back to the wall where a phone was mounted. It was dialled with no hesitation. "Intruders! I don't know how they managed to open a portal in here, but—" His statement paused as he saw the shape of the intruders appear.

Three devils, each a different height, but related. Lucy stood in the front with two of her sisters behind her, and her expression was fierce. Flames trailed out across the ground and up the walls around them, and he remained with her arms crossed over her chest. Slowly, the fissure sealed behind them.

"Lucy!" Kevin shouted as his vision barely spotted them behind.

He dropped the phone and raised one hand into the air. "Stop right there. You're intruding on private government property. It doesn't matter who you are, Princess of Hell. This is strictly forbidden!" He lunged forward, and his bandages whipped out to grab Lucy by the wrist. Like a bolt of lighting, Mara zipped towards and through the material, snapping it in half with one whack of her wrist.