Alitia: Welcome to Millenia

XXXIII: True Face

Luce stared at Rune, or rather, Anneliese, in shock. Come to think of it, Iris had mentioned the mysterious Anneliese a time or two here and there, but she never bothered to concentrate on it. However, Luce wished now more than ever that she had decided to pay attention to the person Iris mentioned in passing so often. Maybe Iris had some ideas as to how Anneliese could be defeated now that they were face to face in battle.

"Iris, what are we supposed to do if we want to win this fight?" Carys asked, narrowing her eyes and creating a sphere of ice magic in one hand. "You seem to know her pretty well, and if that's the case, then tell us how we can take her down!"

"I've been friends with her for years, but that doesn't mean that I've been fighting for her for all those years! I don't know how to fight her off!" Iris shouted.

"What about we mess around with her portals? If we can lower her energy levels by forcing her to pop around inside her portals, this will be much easier, right?" Sophia suggested.

"That's going to be a lot harder to deal with now. I mean, look at her. She has minimal access to her magic without transforming, but now that she's shown her true colors, she's going to be a lot harder to defeat," Tanith replied with a shake of her head. "I wish all we had to do was mess with her portals at this point, but I think we're too far to try that."

Anneliese touched the ground with one hand, creating a large crack in the ground made of swirling purple energy. It looked like the night sky, Luce noticed, before jumping into the air. The other girls all followed suit, leaving the concrete behind.

"We need to get Helena back!" Tanith shouted, pointing to where the unconscious fire mage was lying on the garbage pile nearby. She dove through the air, going over Anneliese as the princess crouched on the ground. She managed to scoop Helena up into her arms, though the height difference made carrying Helena awkward for Tanith. The wind mage already wasn't the strongest physically and was one of the smallest members of the team (second only to Carys), leaving her to struggle as her wings nearly gave out and sent her tumbling downwards.

S.M. was the first one to reach Tanith, and she took Helena quickly before flying to a nearby building. S.M. set Helena down on the roof before crouching beside her, checking for a pulse. When she found one, S.M. let out a sigh of relief. Going back into the fight likely wasn't going to work since Anneliese seemed to be targeting Helena for whatever reason, which meant it was time for her to stay still and go on the defensive. This wasn't S.M.'s favorite fighting style, but the universe wasn't exactly giving her many options, so she would have to deal with it.

The cracks in the ground began to emit smoke of a deep violet hue. The smoke spread rapidly, and Luce found herself coughing when she held her breath a moment too late. Her eyes went fuzzy, and she wasn't sure of what was going on around her, just that the world was spinning as far as she was aware. Tears formed at the edges of her eyes, and she crashed into a wall. Pain flooded the right half of her body, and she realized she had rammed straight into bricks positioned on one side of the alley.

Luce saw Nebula fly above the smoke, creating a sphere of magic before hurling it at Anneliese. Since she was focused on fueling the smoke, Anneliese didn't notice the orb until it was too late, and it hit her in the shoulder and caused her to collapse to one side.

The smoke vanished a few seconds later, but it was replaced by a thick layer of purple goo hanging in the air. The smoke, or what was left of it, coated Carys, and she fell through the air, wings unable to pump with the gunk on them. Carys let out a cry of shock before hitting the ground.

Tanith, Sophia, and Sylvia fell to the ground shortly afterwards. Luce's left wing was covered in the goo, but her right wing had escaped the gunk thanks to having been forced up against the wall. She still wasn't able to fly, but she was better off than her friends were.