Magia: The Council (BxB)

Chapter 16- Exposure

Alaric's face was indifferent when he removed his hand from Montgomery's chest, shoving her to the floor. It was just another mission, nothing more or less. There was no time for his emotions, this was war and he was a general.

He dodged the incoming blast from Ileana effortlessly and put some space between himself and his foes. His small army of mythical creatures he summoned during his fight with Javier right behind him.

He had his eyes set on the dragon who was sending a heated glare his way, his eyes shifting from a bright gold to a blood red and Alaric raised his guard even further. He knew the dragon would be the most dangerous of the targets to procure.

The teachers all rushed at him but he didn't bother taking them on, only allowing a few of his dark Spriggans and one of the Eskai to take them on as he started to make his way over to the dragon.

He didn't have to beat the dragon, just get an opening to inject it.

He watched as the dragon stiffened before quickly relaxing taking a defensive position before the Morgen and Rodriguez boys. He felt his heart pound with every step, and the blood that rushed to his ears blocked out the sounds of the teachers fighting for their lives behind him.

The other Eskai was right beside the dragon by now. He had long since ordered it to immobilize the dragon from before he had started walking towards it.

He gave the order to grab it now but he felt his heart skip a beat when the dragon spun to the side and gripped the Eskai by it's throat.

He should've known the dragon would've been able to see it.

The dragon roared out loud before throwing the massive 10-foot beast straight towards Alaric who simply opened a portal and changed the direction of the Eskai so it landed just beside him instead.

"Aurum! Your claws!" He heard the Morgen boy hissed to the dragon and smirked when he saw a moment of fear passing through the dragon's eyes before the claws quickly retracted.

There was his opening. The dragon didn't want to risk exposure.

***

"Elijah! Get up!" Eli groaned when he felt something move him a little bit. He had regained consciousness but all the muscles in his body were stiff and heavy. He could barely open his eyes.

"Leo! Look out!" That voice was Brenda's. Eli could only barely see a trail of electricity in the air and assumed that she had just attacked.

"We need to grab him and go now!" Leo shouted and before Eli had time to process the words he felt arms roughly grab him up and he resisted the urge to groan out in pain again.

He knew that something else was wrong with him. Magicule depletion alone wouldn't have him feeling like this. He felt as if he were freezing and he only just now realized that he was panting far harder than before and shivering.

"Brenda cover me." Eli realized that it was Leo that had picked him up based on the way how the man's chest vibrated when he spoke up. He was never more grateful to hear Leo, he'd regret thinking that later when they were all safe however.

"Hold on Elijah. Just a bit longer." Eli tried to hold on, but he could barely get his arms to manage a measly grip. It was all he could do in that moment to just keep his eyes open for a few seconds.

Suddenly he felt everything stop, he could tell Leo had stop running as well. He felt a cold hand press to his forehead and then heard a string of curses following it.

"They poisoned him." He immediately recognized Zeke's warm voice and he breathed out shakily, happy that Zeke was safe. He only hoped Aurum had gotten to them.

"A-Aurum?" He managed to mutter out between his deep panting.

"I haven't seen him. Try not to talk, I need to get the poison out of your system." Eli nodded in agreement but immediately regretted it when a sharp pain exploded in his head.

Zeke ran his hand above Eli's body, accessing his injuries before rubbing his hands together and placing them gently over Eli's stomach and starting to push his magicules inside his body.

"This is going to hurt Eli, but I need you to be completely still for this. Leo help me hold him down."

It took immense control and focus and he began to maneuver his magic inside Eli, going into his bloodstream and locating the traces of poison floating around in his body.

Zeke looked at Eli and grimaced, this was where it going to hurt. Zeke started gathering the poison with his magicules and pushing it towards his lungs before raising the temperature of his body to try and get it to evaporate out.

Eli screamed out in pain. Zeke was literally boiling his blood and Leo struggled to keep Eli steady enough for Zeke to quickly turn up the heat even further.

Eli started choking and before long he exhaled and a purple mist was expelled from his mouth and nostrils.

Zeke immediately started pulling his magic out of Eli and closed up the wound on his shoulder. He was running low on magic too, but he had enough to be useful in a fight.

"I got rid of most of the poison but whatever amount was already absorbed should be small enough so you're body can metabolize it with no further problems. How do you feel?"

"Like you boiled my blood." Zeke smiled at that before patting Eli's thigh and pulling him up to his feet. Eli had to lean a lot on Zeke but he didn't mind supporting the taller man.

"What happened to Spear and the undead?"

"Leo distracted the long enough with an illusion and I found them a little while after with you unconcious." Zeke explained pensive about the fact that Spear had been revived as well.

It was simply impossible to bring back someone who's body was burnt. There was nothing to tether them to this plane of existence.

"And Aurum? You haven't seen him?" Eli couldn't hide the worry in his voice when he asked about Aurum. He had a terrible feeling and knew he needed to get to him as soon as possible.

"Now that that's settled can we go help out the others now. I'm sure you've felt it but the magic is off the charts over there." Leo said pointing to the direction of the lab close to the apartments.

"Give them some time Leo." Brenda said as she pouted up at Leo who couldn't help but lean down to peck her pout.

Eli only just now fully realized Brenda's presence. "Congrats on your transition Brenda."

He saw the girl blush before adjusting her glasses and giving him a shy nod before she was pulled into Leo's chest who narrowed his electric blue eyes on Eli who merely rolled his eyes in return.

"Let's get going then."

The group set off towards the clashing magic, as quick as they could without drawing any attention to themselves from potential enemies.

Eli was now close enough to feel Aurum's emotions and he quickly threw himself off Zeke and started sprinting towards his boy. He was only hoping that he wasn't too late. The emotions hit him like a brick. First there was anger, followed by anguish and lastly, despair. He didn't know what was happening but he knew Aurum needed him.

It didn't however prepare him for what he encountered however. Eli came to a halt when he saw Javier being held in the air by some sludge demon with Fullman approaching Aurum with a syringe filled with black liquid.

His eyes flashed blue.