Skulduggery Pleasant - The Fanclub Unites

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TanithloWrites

Tanith Low blinked.

"Ghastly? But I thought-"

"He is. He's gone. There's no way to bring him back." 

"Then why are you waiting for him?" Tanith held up a hand, reconsidering her question. The pain of not being able to see Ghastly again, as her true, remnant-free self, before he had died, the pain that she had been suppressing ever since she had been freed, rose suddenly in a wave. It hit her like a tonne of bricks, and she bent over a little because it hurt so much, supporting herself on the wall. She could feel Skulduggery and Saracen looking at her, but there was no judgement either. They were no strangers to pain. Steeling herself, Tanith took her pain and balled it up tight in her chest. She sharpened it, until it became serrated and barbed, and put it away carefully for later use. The swordswoman took a deep breath, and made a decision.

"Don't tell me why you're waiting for him. That can wait. Right now, we need to get back to Mevolent's collection. Our friends are in danger."

"The sword from our dimension?" Skulduggery gestured to the weapon in Tanith's hand.

Tanith nodded. "The very same."

This would have been so much easier if they had just let her know they needed a God-killer to stop Darquesse, Tanith thought. Her half memories from her time as a remnant served her well in that sense, at least. But no. Skulduggery had to go gallivanting off to another dimension, a dimension where Mevolent was still alive, risking everything to get a weapon that she already had in her possession. Now Mevolent was going to kill everyone; who would be there to bring the swords back and stop Darquesse?

"We can't hope to defeat Mevolent, even with your other sword. Not even Lord Vile can stop him." Skulduggery's voice didn't shake as he acknowledged the fate of the sorcerers he had brought into this dimension with him. They were going to die.

"Then we'll just have to buy some time for someone to get away, won't we?"

—

Kallista felt chills make their way down her spine. They were outnumbered ten to one by Redhoods alone, and that wasn't even taking into account how many people it would take to bring down Mevolent. The other members of her team rolled their shoulders, grim looks on their faces. They were going to have to fight for their lives. She hoped Skulduggery would return soon. At least with Lord Vile, they might stand a chance against Mevolent. What had she gotten herself into?

—

Dexter stared at the army of Redhoods. He knew there was no getting out of this one. He could only hope they would buy enough time for Skulduggery to come back and steal the sword. Then at least the mission wouldn't be a complete failure.

He glanced sideways at Donegan and Gracious. "Let's give 'em hell."

He brought his arm back and threw the first stream of energy across the room and into the middle of the Redhoods. Twin fireballs sparked in Kallista's hands and Gracious put up his fists. The Redhoods surged forwards.

"Kallista, with me!" Dexter shouted, and together they charged forwards to keep Mevolent occupied while the Monster Hunters dealt with the Redhoods.

Kallista threw fire at Mevolent, but he simply used his control over the air to extinguish the flames by depriving their oxygen. Dexter sent out another short blast of energy and as Mevolent's head turned, Kallista turned her flames into a whip, cinching Mevolent's arms to his body. Dexter felt his skin dry and his lips crack as Mevolent pulled enough moisture from the air to extinguish Pendragon's fire whip. Back and forth they went, Dexter and Kallista managing to hold of the powerful Elemental's attacks, but only just barely. They were fatiguing rapidly.

Dexter was wondering why Mevolent hadn't just suffocated them all already when he heard Kallista grunt as a particularly powerful shock wave of air was shot their way by Mevolent. She put her own hands out to push back at the air, but something was holding her back. She was maintaining the levels of oxygen in the room, constantly battling Mevolent as he tried to deprive everyone of air, on top of battling him. She was more powerful than he had expected; that level of manipulation required very high concentration.

Dexter felt the air slam into the side of his face and his vision went blurry for a few seconds. He cursed.

"Donegan, now!" Dexter yelled. He saw the English mage fighting back to back with Gracious, both men using their bare hands and occasionally pulling out firearms and firing bullets from the guns strapped to their legs. Bane fought his way over through the swarms of Redhoods, and placed his hands on top of Dexter's. Both men's hands began to crackle with energy, the colours of their individual beams fusing and becoming a blinding white. The energy extended up Dexter's arms until he was encased in crackling energy up to his elbows. Dexter brought the heels of his hands together, fingers facing outwards.

"Three...two...one."

The entire room blazed white from their combined power. Mevolent stumbled backwards, the first time he had faltered thus far. Dexter's eyes flashed towards movement on the ceiling - and Tanith Low dropped onto Mevolent's shoulders, holding a sword to his throat.

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"Right, well, we've got to work out what we need. We've got to work out what we need, how we get it, and what we need to get to get what we need."
- Derek Landy; sp