Blutsatchel and Acis reached Marichi, who lay sprawled on the ground. Acis gently helped him to a sitting position, while Blutsatchel stepped forward, facing Burtu, her hand already coiling with red, crystalline energy.
"…What happened?" Acis murmured, her gaze sweeping over Marichi's bloodied, lacerated body. She tentatively reached for one of Lezschill's hands, still embedded in his shoulder, but Marichi flinched back, a sharp groan escaping him.
"Is he okay?!" Kacis called, hovering mid-air, his worried face twisted over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, later." Marichi forced the words past his lips, his voice strained.
"We need to get out of here." He gestured back in the direction they'd just come from, a place of impossible horror.
Acis looked at him, her brow furrowed with concern, hesitant to move. Her eyes flicked to Kacis and Blutsatchel, both poised for battle, a silent challenge in the air.
"Just go!" Blutsatchel shouted at Acis, waving a dismissive hand, red shards flaking from her palm.
"No… You too." Marichi wheezed, the last surge of adrenaline draining from his body. Blutsatchel turned, a flicker of confusion in her eyes.
"The person that Kacis just hit…" He explained as Acis, with Blutsatchel's swift help, hoisted him onto her back.
Acis's hands unraveled into crimson threads that snaked around him, pulling him securely onto her back before tightening their hold. Marichi's eyelids felt heavy, but he forced them open, straining to see Burtu. Only the bare ground greeted him.
Where…?
A cold spike of unease, then alarm, flooded his skull as his eyes widened in sudden, stark fear.
Kacis, noticing Marichi's reaction, now fully faced forward, focusing on the empty spot where Burtu had just been. The ground lay empty. Burtu was gone. Instantly, Kacis's body went taut, every muscle alert. He drifted slowly, scanning the perimeter, a silent hunter.
"What about him?" Blutsatchel demanded, a sharp edge of anger in her voice as more flakes of red shards dusted from her hand.
Then, a low growl rumbled from Kacis's right. Startled, he shifted subtly left, snapping his head toward the sound. There he was, Burtu, hung in the air, one hand extended, an unsettling grin splitting his face. A dark stain of black blood smeared beneath his lower lip.
"See, I can fly too." Burtu chuckled, widening his jaw in a grotesque parody of joy. He then executed a sudden somersault, kicking his leg downwards, attempting to extend his reach and connect.
Kacis drifted swiftly away. Burtu's leg connected with nothing but air, striking the ground below with enough force to leave a small crater, a testament to his raw power. Now grounded, Burtu raised his head, eyes blazing, and lunged forward. Kacis evaded, weaving left and right as he floated, a dance of avoidance.
"Where are you going?!" Burtu roared.
"I don't know who you are." He lashed out a kick, hitting only empty space.
"But killing you as well would make everything a hell of a lot better!" He bellowed, baring his teeth, saliva clinging in viscous threads from his upper to his lower lip.
"Shit!" Acis tried to rush in to help Kacis, but the burden of Marichi on her back hindered her movements.
Why am I doing this?!
How am I even carrying him on my back?!
She huffed, frustration and exhaustion warring within her.
Kacis continued his evasive dance, subtly leading Burtu away from the others, a strategic retreat. Burtu, his eyes squinted in frustration, then suddenly squatted, shaking his head and sighing. He pulled his hands downwards as if grappling with the very air itself.
Immediately, the air around Kacis condensed, slamming violently into his sides. Burtu's lips curved into a victor's smile, but Kacis, with a grunt, blocked the crushing force with his elbows, straining, his muscles bunched against the invisible pressure.
W-What the…
Kacis pushed his elbows further from his body, actively shoving the air itself away, a desperate exertion against an unseen wall.
"No…" Marichi groaned, his voice weak, as if the effort of speaking was draining his last reserves.
Blutsatchel saw Marichi struggling, his hands trembling. Her red shards sharpened, coalescing into the tip of a spear on her right hand. The protruding shards ripped the remainder of her gloves off, leaving her hand bare and menacing as she wore a grim expression.
"Get him out of here!" She commanded, waving her hand in the opposite direction of the unfolding chaos.
Acis hesitated, buckling slightly under Marichi's weight before regaining her footing. She looked at Blutsatchel, her face etched with doubt.
"But Kacis!" Her breath hitched in her throat.
"Wait…" Marichi choked out, a new urgency in his voice.
"Jorel…" He pointed a trembling finger at Jorel's unconscious body, lying terrifyingly still on the ground.
"Wasn't he our target?!" Blutsatchel asked, disbelief coloring her tone.
"Let's just leave him for dead!" She retorted, striding closer to the prone body, then kicked it, and spat directly on it, a gesture of pure disdain.
"Yes… But not like this…" Marichi coughed, his voice thick with pain and principle.
"Or else… We'll be no different from them." A deep, cold hatred flickered in the depths of his eyes as his pointing finger retracted, forming a trembling, white-knuckled fist.
"So… Please." Marichi begged, lowering his head in a plea, a rare moment of vulnerability.
Blutsatchel just bent her head down, her short hair obscuring her eyes, as black blood dripped from her right hand. Acis grunted, but then her finger, tethered by her threads, fell, pointing down towards the ground beside Jorel.
"Huh?" Burtu's head snapped around, his gaze locking onto Marichi, who was slumped on Acis's heaving back.
Noo!
His mind groaned, instantly piecing together Marichi's potential escape.
His hands contorted into a strange pose, tears streaming down his face, as a chilling chorus of cracks echoed from his back, a grotesque rearrangement of bone and cartilage. Kacis, confused, instinctively recoiled, but then felt a monumental force slam into his front.
He brought his hands together, bracing, pushing forward to defend, but the invisible might overpowered him, driving him backward, slamming him against the jagged, stake-like trees. The air behind him solidified, becoming as unyielding as bricks.
"Argh!" Kacis grunted, straining to fly forward against the relentless pressure, only to be shoved back again.
The force gained momentum, relentless, pushing him until the bones in his hands felt on the verge of splintering.
My hands!
I-I can't keep going like this!
Kacis shuddered, fear seizing him.
Then, a sudden thought sparked. He veered sharply to the side, but the force slammed into him, unrelenting. He recovered, choosing to fly backward rather than block, watching as the invisible wall eradicated everything in its path, even tilling the ground beneath it.
Kacis ascended, trying to escape the moving wall. He flew higher, but again, the force connected directly with his body, shoving him back, washing him in immense pain. He immediately flew backward, desperate to put distance between himself and the ever-encroaching wall.
Wait…
The realization hit him, stark and cold: the force wasn't a singular blow---it was a wall, vast and unyielding, a moving barrier of compressed air.
---The end of chapter 43---