Chapter 22 (1/2)
My burning lungs threatened to initiate a strike as I ran up the hilly road leading to the school campus. I considered myself a decent enough runner, but there was a hell of a big difference between the track field and the city streets, not to mention I was lugging around a large spear that threw off my balance and made sprinting even harder.
Speaking of the spear, I actually turned a couple of placeholder heads as I dashed past them. Was it just me, or were the streets getting more alive over time? Not to mention the old placeholders would've continued to carry on with their conversation about the weather or the local sports team or whatever even if a giant radioactive fire-breathing lizard of thinly veiled nuclear metaphors stomped right next to them. A guy with a spear shouldn't have even registered.
But I digress. I had more important things to worry about than placeholders. I took a huge breath, much to the continued protest of my lungs, and got ready to dash again. I came to a stumbling halt after just one step. There was a familiar, wispy tendril of silver light waving back and forth not too far ahead of me. I turned my stumble into a brisk walk and headed towards it. Once I got close enough I was fairly certain about what it actually was. The last time I saw something like this, it was Angie's magic. I used the opportunity to catch my breath and reached out towards the gently undulating misty something-or-the-other and tugged on it three times like it was one of those old-timey doorbells.
After a brief moment, the thread trembled and was hastily retracted. Now all I had to do was to be patient, but I was really bad at that, so instead I used the momentary lull to close my eyes and used my Far Sight to check the locations of the others. The dots of Josh, Snowy and Crowey were still in the direction of the school, though they were strangely fuzzy. I could sense the others in the area as well. The princess and the class rep were only a couple of blocks from me while Angie was... above?
I opened my eyes and looked up just in time to see the girl falling towards me, her form drenched in a thick layer of silver light. I tensed up for a moment, my brain caught between the impulse to try and catch her and the question of just what the hell she was doing in the sky. Thankfully both of those issues were solved at once as she opened a pair of large, slightly translucent angel wings on her back that broke her fall and let her land as softly as if she just stepped off a curb. The logical part of my brain wanted to inform me that, while big, those wings obviously didn't have the surface area necessary to break the fall of a human at terminal velocity, let alone raise one into the air, not to mention how a sudden deceleration like that should've pulverized her bones like they were made of cookie dough. A more accepting part of my brain, which was already acclimatized to this world, countered by pointing out it was obviously magic, and there was probably some kind of spell or enchantment that let her fly and negate G-forces like that. The third part of my brain then told both of them to shut up because we didn't have time for this, and they graciously obliged.
Where was I? Ah, right. Angie.
She was in the middle of fixing her ruffled, slightly damp hair. Maybe she was taking a shower when Josh was taken? More importantly, she was wearing a fairly unusual garb consisting of a pair of white boots with metal greaves, what looked like a long, white tabard with a blue circle pattern on the stomach that showed off her legs (to the point where I was sure just a small gust of wind would have revealed her panties), a small chest-plate that only covered her right breast, and a pair of large bracelets just above her wrists. I would've questioned what the hell she was thinking, going outside dressed like that, but then I recalled Snowy and how she had a weird outfit when she transformed, and I wisely shut up. It still made me grind my teeth though, and I made a mental note that if I survived this night, I would do something about those outfits. It was getting bloody cold lately, and fighting in those stripperific clothes just didn't do.
But speaking of transformations, Angie now also sported a pair of fashionable wings and a pointy halo that kind of looked like a very stylized compass rose. The look fit her, and I already knew she was a Celestial, but I had to admit she looked quite mesmerizing in the dark all the same. Her outfit was still stupid, but even that couldn't ruin the image. No, what did it were the streams of tears and the trail of snot running down from her nose.
”Leooooo!” she bawled as she suddenly threw her arms around me and squeezed hard enough to give a Siberian bear a run for its money.
”Here, here...” I patted her on the back while she unceremoniously wiped her nose on my jacket. I didn't dare to tell her to stop, so I quietly waited for her to finish sobbing. It happened sooner than I expected, as only a few seconds later she separated from me.
”I can't find him Leo,” she said in a mousey voice. ”I looked everywhere but I can't find him. He disappeared. I tried but I—”
I raised a finger to her mouth. ”Shhh...” I chided her as I closed my eyes. No matter how I looked at it, the three of them were still in the school building, though their dots were still a little hazy. Since I was standing anyways I decided to use my Far Sight properly and after a second of concentration I was staring at Crowey standing in the middle of a dark area that I vaguely recognized as the school's track field.
Just as I was wondering why Angie couldn't see him from up above I noticed something that should've been blindingly obvious from the beginning: a small, slowly swirling circular cloud of some kind. It was right next to Crowey, hung in the air vertically like a large bathroom mirror, except it looked like a miniature whirlpool of stars and it was emanating a soft violet light. Then, just like that, I finally connected the dots and it shook me out of my Far Sight.
”That son of a bicycle merchant!” I exclaimed angrily as I began walking, practically dragging Angie along.
”What? What happened?”
”I figured out what they are trying to do!”
”What?”
”They are—” I began, but then I noticed someone running on an adjacent street and I shook my head. ”I'll tell you when everyone gets here. I don't want to explain it to all of you individually.”
She obviously wasn't entirely satisfied with my answer, but at the very least she didn't protest and just followed after me without a word. We got to the school gates just a few seconds before the class rep showed up from the aforementioned other direction. She was panting heavily from the exertion, even more so than we were, and she was already in her frilly green mage clothes with the big witch-hat.
”Leo! And... Angie?” She looked over the girl at my side in her obviously Celestial attire and furrowed her brows above her glasses. I waved to her and said:
”Evening class rep. Yes, it is Angie. Yes, she is a Celestial. No, we don't have the time to explain.”
This time she turned her frown at me. She had the good sense not to start a fight though, so she only nodded.
”Where are the others?”
”They should be here momentarily,” I answered and, as if on cue, a car's headlights illuminated us as it rounded a corner. I expected it to be a large luxury car, but instead it was a dark-brown family sedan that stopped by our side. I glanced at the two girls stepping out of it and I could only shake my head.
From the back seat came the one I was actually expecting. The princess was wearing a red summer dress that made me feel chilly and a pair of sneakers, creating a weird combination that told me she dressed in a hurry. The other person exiting from the front, on the other hand, was as prim and proper as ever, even in her casual clothes.
”What are you doing here?” I asked my assistant in a tone that might've been a little too disapproving in hindsight. In my defense, it was probably the stress speaking.
Judy gave me a flat look and pointed at Angie.
”She said there was trouble at school, so I came.”
I looked at the girl at my side and she shrank back with a sniff.
”I panicked, okay? You told me to call the others, so I called everyone.”
I sighed and looked at the other girl exiting the car after exchanging a few pleasantries with the woman in the driver's seat. Judy followed my gaze and said, ”She was on foot, so we picked her up on the way.”
”I see,” I said, though I was honestly a little disappointed. I expected that at least some of the Dracis muscle would be with her.
I wanted to greet Judy's mother too, but then the car honked and leisurely rolled away, interrupting the flow of the conversation. Speaking of interruptions...
”That reminds me,” Judy spoke again. ”My father wanted me to tell you that he still has a shotgun, so no funny business under the night skies.”
I blinked at her in astonishment before I buried my face in my palm.
”Typical,” I muttered under my breath before I shook myself and looked over everyone present one by one. ”Is everyone here?”
”I called Sebastian,” the princess informed us a tad dejectedly, ”but he wasn't available. Father is coming back from China and they are at the docks. It will take time for them to get here, and he said they might not be able to act before they get a permit because it's Magi territory.”
”Speaking of which,” I turned to the class rep next. ”What about you guys?”
She shook her head sharply.
”There is a Gathering in Glasgow. All the Schools were required to attend, so there was only a token staff present, and I can't contact them.”
”So this is all we have?” I clicked my tongue. I feared this might be the case, but it still made my heart sink. As far as I could tell, this was something of a climax in narrative terms. As silly as it might have sounded, it would've been anticlimactic if the authorities could swoop in and deal with the problem instead of us, so they were all conveniently tied up elsewhere.
That made me wonder; was there some sort of overarching intelligence guiding this world, like a writer or director who set up all of these coincidences? Or was it something that arose naturally through a chain of causes and effects just by having the right people placed in the right place at the right time? These were questions I've been battling with for a while every time a contemplative mood struck me late at night, but this was the first time such things directly impacted my life. I didn't like it, but I had to work with what I had.
That said, I had more important things to worry about at the moment, and I could always discuss this with Judy later. I had to focus on getting Josh and Snowy back first.
”Can I address the elephant in the room?” Ammy spoke up while raising a hand like she was in the classroom.
”Which one?” Judy asked back.
The class rep frowned at her for a change and pointed at Angie.
”Since when are you a Celestial?”
The girl, who unbeknownst to me was conspicuously hiding behind me, cocked her head to the side.
”I don't know...” she answered a little uncertainly. ”Since I was born, I think. Why?”
”No, I mean...” The class rep let out a frustrated groan and turned to the others. ”Don't you have anything to say about this?”
”I knew already,” Judy said nonchalantly.
”You did?” Ammy and Angie exclaimed in perfect unison.
”The Chief told me.”
Angie glanced up to glare at me and pinched my arm.
”Didn't we agree this was a secret!?”
”Ow! Hey, stop that! I told her because she is my assistant. She has to know these things.”
”I already figured it out,” Elly stated next with just a hint of smugness.
”You did?” Angie gaped at the news. ”So only Ammy didn't know?!”
”I had my suspicions,” the class rep stated hesitantly. ”Considering that we had representatives from all other factions, I thought you had to be either a Celestial or a Knight, and no offense, but you are really not the knightly type.”
”Precisely.” The princess nodded in agreement, now with more than a ‘hint' of smugness. ”It was exactly how I thought as well.”
I wanted to point out that I was pretty sure I was the one who gave them that idea, but I decided to refrain from objecting in fear of further antagonizing Angie. Speaking of which, the Celestial girl slumped her shoulders and let out a disappointed whine.
”Amon knowledge?”
I was honestly surprised by her reaction, but to be fair, the others were giving me weird looks as well. Okay, all except my loyal assistant. She was too busy taking notes.
”No!” Ammy exclaimed in borderline anguish. ”We've been trying to figure out how they do it for centuries!”
”... Why didn't you just ask one of them?”
”I think you are underestimating the weirdness of your situation,” the princes enlightened me, earning a curiously raised eyebrow in the process. ”Normal people don't make friends with Abyssals.”
”You are friends with her too,” I countered, only to get shot down.
”That's because you introduced her. Decent people don't associate with Abyssals unless absolutely necessary.”
”Some Schools even have a kill on sight policy,” the class rep added.
”That's harsh. Also, we are really losing our track here.”
”You... are right,” she reluctantly agreed. She was still giving me a perplexed stare, which I didn't like, so I smiled at her to throw her off-guard.
”Of course I am. I'm always right,” I told her jokingly, and the nod she gave me in return had worried for a moment that she took me seriously. Either way, it didn't really matter. ”So, any other questions before we rush into dangers of epic proportions to rescue our friends?”
”I have one,” Judy raised her hand without looking up from her notes. ”Where did you find that spear?”
”Yeah!” Angie exclaimed like she was waiting for the opportunity for ages. ”It's been bothering me since forever, but no one else seemed to care!”
”I was curious,” Elly added a touch hesitantly, ”but as you said, no one mentioned it so I thought it would be awkward to ask.”
”So? What's the story behind it?” Ammy rounded the circle with her own inquiry.
”Long story short,” I began, but then paused to actually trim my story before I continued. ”On my way here I ran into a Faun sent to kill me.”
”You did what?!” the princess paled, and I sent her a sharp glance to convey my disapproval of her interruption.
”As I was saying, I ran into this Faun that Crowey sent to kill me. We had a bit of a chat about honor and mutual respect before we dueled.”
”You did what?!” came the echo of the first question, this time from Angie. I ignored her and continued.
”Well, technically it was a ritual of dominance we fought...” I paused and raised my left hand to my forehead and wiggled my fingers, ”...in our minds. It is hard to explain, but I won and so he let me borrow his spear.” I looked over the aghast faces surrounding me and decided that I would stretch my luck just a little further. ”By the way, did you know that Faun talk in Shakespearean English? It's freaky.”
”Okay, that's it,” the class rep objected with an annoyed slant on her lips. ”You're just messing with us at this point.”
”I'm not,” I protested, but it fell to deaf ears.
”If you don't want to tell us why you have that spear, you could have just said so.”
”But I already told you how I got it. I'm one hundred percent serious.”
”Sure,” Ammy muttered dismissively before she turned to the others. ”That aside, if what Leo says is true then we have to enter into an already existing Restricted Field. I can do that, but it will take a while to open a gateway. Watch my back.”
I gave her an affirmative nod and we headed to the track field in a tight cluster. Once there the class rep pulled out a familiar magic staff from thin air. She probably had some sort of hammer-space where she stored it until she needed it. I wondered if she could lend me one once this was all over. It would make carrying stuff around so much more convenient.
Jokes aside, we stood guard around the class rep while she chanted in a language that sounded like gibberish, yet my newly minted language awareness told me she was pretty much arguing with the universe about breaking down the rules of physics for a moment so she could do her stuff. It was weirdly fascinating, though not particularly fun to listen to. In fact, I was getting dangerously relaxed and had to repeatedly remind myself that we were about to enter a battlefield at any moment. It was just that, well, I didn't feel like I was in danger. Not yet. Maybe it was because my expectations were very much betrayed by the lack of resistance. Not that I was about to complain, but still, I thought there would have been at least some token trouble by this point.
”Leo. Trouble,” Angie chirped at my side in a hushed tone, making me roll my eyes and swearing never to ask for problems in the future lest the universe would think it was a challenge.
”What is it?” I answered in a whisper myself for some reason.
”I cannot open the gateway,” the class rep said in a normal voice.
”Me neither.” We all looked at the princess questioningly and she sheepishly averted her gaze. ”I thought I try my own way. I cannot open a gate for others to go through, but I thought I could jump in ahead of you and draw attention away from the gate... or something.”
”Please don't do that,” I told her firmly. She was getting ready to glare at me, but I cut off with one of my own. ”I'm serious. Going in alone is dangerous, and the last thing I need is for you to get hurt.”
She tried to frown at me all the same, but she just as quickly looked away again.
”Fine, I won't do it.”
”Good,” I clapped my hands lightly. ”Still, you helped us learn something important.”
”I did?” She perked up immediately. I nodded.
”Yes. You established that the problem isn't just with the class rep's spell.”
”Definitely not,” spoke the subject of my statement. ”It feels like there is something stopping my gate from opening on the other end.”
I would've liked to sit down and ask her about how her spell worked and maybe figure out a way to overcome the problem, but I doubted we had the time for that. I turned to Angie next.
”What about you?”
”Huh? Me?” She pointed to herself and I nodded. ”Errr... This is the first time I did something like this, so I have no idea.”
”I understand,” I told her reassuringly before I turned to Judy. ”Your opinion?”
”Railroad,” she stated dryly, and I nodded in agreement.
”Yeah, I don't think we were supposed to just jump in there. It would've lacked proper buildup.”
”This is the final boss we are talking about here. It is only natural.”
”Well, he is more of an introductory villain in my opinion, but your point still stands.”
”Of course it does,” she told me with a barely perceptible smirk that didn't touch her eyes. ”I think if we presume that we were not supposed to enter this way, it means there should be another way we are supposed to use.”
”So you suggest a different approach?”
My assistant nodded sharply.
”Yes. Not to mention, opening a glowing portal in the middle of the hostiles' operation would have exposed us to crossfire.”
”I... didn't actually think of that. Very well, we should do this the more conventional way.” I turned on my heel to address the others, but when I did so, I found them staring at me like I was a strange, exotic animal. ”What?”
”What were you talking about?” Ammy rep voiced the question reflected on all their faces.
”It's... complicated and we don't have the time to explain. Let's just get going.”
I turned around again and began walking at a brisk pace towards the edge of the track field while ignoring the protests of the class rep. Once she realized I wasn't going to tell her anything she gave up (though she swore she would pester me later) and we repeated our attempt to crash the party via portal a couple more times, each time a little farther from the field, until we finally made progress.
”I can do it!” Elly yelled out loud, then she toned her voice back and repeated. ”I could do it, I mean. We could enter the Restricted Field here!”
”That's neat...” I told her, careful not to let too much of the irritation show up in my voice. We were in front of the school's main entrance by then, meaning we were practically back to where we started. In other words, we wasted a lot of time for nothing. I clicked my tongue in frustration and gestured at the class rep. ”Open the gate here please.”
”I'm already doing it,” she responded between two waves of her staff.
Since the process took some time, I used the opportunity to sneak a quick peek at Josh and company. To my relief, they were still in the middle of the purple-tinted field. There was something that bothered me though, I couldn't see the portal to the Abyss anywhere. I hoped this meant they ran into technical difficulties like we did and it gave us some time, but I knew better than to pin my hopes on something like that.
On the other hand, by the time my perception returned to my body, the class rep's gate was all but open already. I didn't know how I actually knew that, but just looking at that swirling magical mist in front of her was like looking at an hourglass. I didn't know how soon it would be finished to the second, but I felt I could give a fairly accurate guess. I still had no idea how I did that, perceiving magic I mean, but I resolved myself to figure it out as soon as possible once the present crisis was averted.
It took only a few more seconds for the class rep's gate finally open, and it did so with the sound of a longing sigh as its edges shimmered into existence. Did that mean that the ball of magic I was looking at before was entirely invisible until this point? Again, I really, really needed to experiment on this one.
”I'm done. We should get going,” Ammy stated while straightening her wide-brimmed hat.
”Yes, we should,” I agreed with an uncertain nod. I couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling that there was something I was forgetting, but I obviously couldn't remember what it was. We stepped through the portal one by one (even the princess, who insisted that she could totally do it on her own if she wanted to) and in a few short moments we all stood in front of the same school building tinted in an eerie shade of purple.
”Everything's clear,” the class rep stated in crisp words, and I had to agree. There was nothing out of the ordinary in sight.
”Let's go,” Angie urged us and we complied.
We circled around the main building and were just about to round the corner leading to the track field when an unexpected chill ran down my back.
”Stop!” I yelled, startling the girls around me.
”What? What?” The princess glanced left and right frantically as she scanned the area for enemies. I gestured for her to stop and pointed in the direction of the track field.
”There is some kind of barrier here,” I told them flatly. It took me a second or five to make it out in the dark, and they probably had an even harder time doing so. It wasn't exactly a wall per se, more like a row of thin pillars of magical light reaching about ten meters high with a barely visible, shimmering field of glowing mist stretching between them.
The class rep deliberately inched forwards beside me, with one hand stretched out. She slowly reached for the barrier. When her fingertips brushed against it there was a sudden sizzling noise and she jerked her hand away with a hiss.
”Good catch,” she told me with attempted gravity ruined by her sucking on her burned finger. ”If we walked into this, we could've been seriously hurt.”
”What kind of barrier is it?” Elly asked while straining her eyes. ”I can't see anything.”
”It's like...” Angie spoke between two hums, her form once again bathed in the white tendrils that cautiously tapped against the invisible force-fence. ”It seems like a specialized barrier. It is coming from many distinct points around the school, like fence-posts with a wire stretched between them.” She paused while she cocked her head to the side like she was listening to a distant sound. ”I think it's tuned to only let certain people through. If you are not on the list, you get zapped.”
”But how!?” the class rep glowered at the barrier. ”How did they erect this on the school grounds, right on top of our School!?”
”Does it really matter?” Judy piped in with the same question I had on my mind.
”She's right.” I agreed on the spot. ”You guys can figure out how they did it later, we should focus on our rescue operation for now.”
”But we are walled out,” Angie piped in with an obvious point.
”Right,” I muttered irritably as I looked over the barrier one more time. I followed it with my eyes and figured that it circled the entire track field. It was unlikely that there would be any holes in it we could exploit. ”Can we break through somehow?” I asked no one in particular.
”What about dragonfire?” Judy proposed, and all eyes focused on the princess.
”That's right!” Ammy exclaimed. ”Dragonfire can break magical enchantments and barriers.”