Rituals, Regrets, and Really Dumb People

Chapter 14: Everyone's a Hero in Their Own Story, Part 2

I chained shots of scalding blood towards Typhous, but Ishmael intercepted each one. He swiped the air and negated every bolt I launched, dissolved every gout of red into nothingness. He had to be extremely careful, lest Lilly and I overwhelmed his defenses. I did not stop, nor did Lilly.

She went in for Typhous again, but Ishmael put a stop to that. He was shielding Typhous with one hand and keeping Lilly away with the other. When she got close, he pushed her back. The third time she came in, he punched her in her gut and wrangled her by her neck. He forced me to stop my volley by holding her out like a shield in front of him.

"Here you go, Sanguine. Don't want to accidentally hit her, do you?"

I stopped my volley and stepped towards him. He dug his fingers into Lilly's neck, right where the shoulder met. His fingers punctured her soft skin, caused her to scream out. She even tried to elbow him, but it missed, as to be expected.

"Whoa there, Ishmael," I said, trying to stop him from doing anything hasty. "Not her."

"Ah, a weakness," Ishmael said as he squeezed down into the wound he made. Lilly screamed out again. "My, my. You should never reveal your weaknesses to your enemy, Sanguine. It leaves you vulnerable."

Yeah, he was right. Call me a little sentimental, but I did not want her to be killed. I, again, tried to step forward, but he tutted at me.

"No closer, Sanguine."

"Kill 'em both, quickly," Typhous said. "That was too close."

"Coward," Ishmael called Typhous. "Just focus on staying alive. These two won't be a problem."

Ishmael raised his hand above their heads and pointed his fingers down at the back of Lilly's crown. I saw that disgusting decay energy he was conjuring, a beam to hurt Lilly with. His fingers wove the delicate energies together, readying himself for a killing blow.

"I'm going to kill this woman, Sanguine," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "There's nothing you can do about it. I'm going to kill you afterwards. Going to save my people. You've failed totally, powerless as you are. Does that hurt?"

"This is your floozy?" Meredith called out from the console at me.

"Shut your mouth!" I screamed at her before I turned back to Ishmael. I needed a plan.

Damnit. What did Bob and She say again? I needed faith? God couldn't come down here and save us. Faith in humanity? We were alone here! Faith in myself? Maybe. That's just corny, but I recalled that my bolt had knocked his own off trajectory at the battle of the docks. It was going to be a skill shot, that was apparent, but I had a little plan devised now. I wasn't going to beat Ishmael in a battle of the arcane; I had to be underhanded about this.

"No," I told him as I pointed my gun-finger towards the power he was conjuring. That was pretty cool, right? Right?

Okay, anyways, he was close to shooting Lilly. I could see Ishmael's energy form into the shape of a spike. It was almost on instinct that I went at it. I shot a lancet at the forming energy. My hope was that it'd negate it, mess it up if you will. And it did. The lancet hit it, sent the conjured energy into a frenzy and made it explode into a light. It blinded all—all except me. I was hoping for a distraction like this, I was prepared for such an outcome.

I ran towards Lilly, pulled her from Ishmael and threw her away from us. The Ancient was still getting his bearings as I ran through him. I knew I wasn't going to tackle him; wish I could. No, the truth was, I was going right for Typhous. I hit that bastard with my full weight, knocked him to the ground. I swung my morning star out and smashed him right in the face. He was somewhat undead—maybe fully—so it didn't kill him, but he did spit dark blood everywhere.