Cornered

Haruki huddled against the farthest corner of his cell, arms over his head as dust rained down from the jagged hole now gaping in the wall. The spider limb had withdrawn, but its impact left the dungeon trembling, the air thick with the metallic stench of blood.

From somewhere beyond the corridor, the muffled and frantic voices of the guards rang out:

“Activate the turrets on the tower! Now!”

Haruki’s head snapped up. He blinked through the haze, heart pounding, mind screaming for him to stay down. To wait. To let the soldiers do their job. That’s what he was supposed to do, yes? He wasn’t a fighter. He was just some nobody office worker too immature and unprepared to do anything worthwhile.

But the sounds of men dying – the sounds of their bodies hitting the stone and their armor cracking open – it echoed something inside him. An instinct that was difficult for him to fully understand.

He only knew that this instinct – was pushing him forward, leaving no room for hesitation.

He scrambled to his feet, boots slipping on rubble, and stumbled toward the gaping hole. The hall outside was wrecked, walls cracking all over, with chunks of stone scattered around like children’s toys. The guards were already rushing up the stairs, weapons drawn, their faces pale but grim with purpose.

Here, Haruki stood at the bottom of the stairs, with no power in his hands. Here…

He ran up the stairs.

Outside, chaos reigned.

The courtyard was a battlefield illuminated by the shifting glow of magic and fire. That Spider Wizard loomed at its center – the half-ghoul, half-arachnid abomination and its spindly legs striking like spears, leaving craters wherever they landed.

The other two Deacons lay crumpled near the courtyard wall, their bodies motionless, stone masonry cracked around them where they had been flung like ragdolls. Crumbling the statues and several of the pillars.

Loto knelt alone, bleeding from a gash along his temple, one arm limp at his side. But his remaining hand was steady, raised and aimed, his forefinger glowing with gathering light as he took aim at the monster once more. Even now when he was battered and broken, the man radiated his defiance for the monster to see.

The Spider was about to land a critical strike when a sudden sound far above distracted it away from the Deacon. Its many glowing eyes now drawn toward this strange sound with a deep rumbling hum. One of the two towering spires on either side of the courtyard roared to life.

Perched on top of it was this construct that seemed more alive than forged. A towering crystal array suspended within a lattice of blackened steel, humming with raw magick.

Veins of light pulsed along its surface like blood through arteries, converging on a single massive crystal shard that spun lazily in midair, held aloft by glowing runes etched into the turret’s frame. Each hum of its core sent ripples of distortion through the air, bending moonlight and shadow alike, holding within a power too heavy for the light to comprehend.

Immediately, the spinning crystal fired.

A beam of concentrated energy pierced through the night sky, so bright Loto had to shield his eyes. The Wizard shrieked, its entire frame jerking as the beam cut past, grazing its armored body. Flesh and foul ooze sizzled under the holy light, smoke rising where it was struck.

It bellowed in fury and leapt back, skittering with unnatural speed.

But still – even in the panic, the monster puked out a bulbous, glistening orb, covered in melting webs like that of candle wax. And in an instant, it spat it out toward the tower at a maddening speed.

Several balls followed shortly after the first one, wrapping the construct in the sticky substance before violently exploding into a noxious blast covering the entire area. The men operating the turret had been instantly flung off the platform.

From behind the battle’s chaos, a blaze of orange cut through the gloom. Kiera burst into the courtyard at a sprint, her eyes locked on the Spider Wizard with unyielding determination. Loto’s bloodied face contorted in alarm as he caught sight of her.

“NO! Stop!” he barked. “Get away from here!”

But she was already in motion. With a snap of her wrist, a flurry of flaming arrows materialized, crackling with heat as they arced through the air. They streaked toward the Spider Wizard, who moved with terrifying speed, each massive limb skittering and twisting on the walls, on the trees, on the crumbling pillars, on the windows, and back on the floor again. The arrows struck stone and shattered into embers, lighting the courtyard in bursts of red and gold, but not one found its mark.

Kiera didn’t seem surprised. Instead, her hand darted to a fiery rope trailing from her palm, yanking it with all her strength. The sound of rushing heat filled the courtyard as the Spider spun to face a new threat: three massive cannons of solid flame materialized from glowing circles behind it, their barrels glowing like a river of molten steel.

With a strong yank, the cannons roared, echoing toward the sky.

The barrage that followed began to light up the courtyard like dawn, fireballs screaming toward their target. Yet the Wizard was faster still. Slipping, sliding, ducking, doing all manners of bizarre movements including contorting its own skeleton into awkward positions, doing anything and everything to avoid the fire attacks, his body morphing into a blur of limbs and shadow.

A single heartbeat later, jagged limbs erupted from the ground like spears, shattering Kiera’s cannons into fragments of dissipating flame. Instantly knocking Kiera herself off balance.

The thunderous hum of power drew their attention upward. The last surviving turret on the other tower sparked to life, its spinning crystal glowing brighter than the moon, charging for a devastating blast. Soldiers manned the controls, shouting orders over the chaos.

All efforts were in vain, however, when a sudden glint of webbing shot skyward.

The Spider Wizard’s arm twisted, and a massive cocoon of silk slammed into the tower, snaring the two soldiers at their posts. They screamed as the webs constricted, pinning them to the hard stone surfaces. The turret’s glow died down with the men down.

All hope – now drained from the courtyard, drowned out by the cackle of the monster.

And still…

In this courtyard, now a ruin of shattered stone and burning webbing, Loto was still here. He staggered to his knees, his robes torn and stained crimson, but his hand remained raised, his finger pointed forward, barely glowing now. And still the yellow light continued to sparkle, albeit trembling with strain.

“Not yet… not yet…” he muttered.

His eyes narrowed at the skittering blur that was the Spider Wizard. The monster darted between the wreckage, its grotesque limbs slipping in and out of portals, striking like spears from every direction.

Then, with a sharp exhale, Loto steadied his hand, a glint of defiance sparking in his bloodshot eyes.

“Die!” he hissed, releasing the shot.

The blast cracked like thunder, a streak of blinding white light that struck the Spider square in its torso, scorching the surface of its body and forcing the creature into a screeching retreat. The hit wasn’t enough to kill it, but it was enough to halt its momentum.

Seeing this defiance, Kiera too refused to give up. She moved without hesitation. Her flames burst outward, twisting and contorting under her command. They wrapped around the Spider’s legs like molten chains, glowing hot as they cinched tight.

The monster shrieked and thrashed, its limbs tearing at the ground, portals opening and closing desperately beneath it. But Kiera held firm, every ounce of her strength poured into the blazing shackles.

The Wizard turned its many eyes upward, and for the first time:

The monster felt fear.

It should not be possible, the soldiers who were controlling the last turret should have been knocked out.

But the person standing on that tower was no soldier.

He had no training, no Echo, no power, no abilities, not even courage. Nothing.

So why was Haruki here? How was he here? That question haunted him as all his limbs trembled with weakness.

Haruki did not even know how this turret was supposed to work. Its magical components were beyond his understanding. But what he did know, however, was what he saw.

And what he saw was the soldiers from earlier placing their hands on the panel of the turret, activating its power.

And that was all he needed to know.

The unconscious soldier beside him was slumped against the control sigils, his arm limp. Haruki swallowed hard, grabbed the soldier’s hand, and pressed it to the glowing panel.

For a terrifying moment, nothing happened. Then the turret flared to life with a low hum, its crystal spinning faster and faster, building energy that crackled like lightning. Haruki winced at the heat, but his instinct forced him to hold on.

The Spider Wizard’s screech rose to a deafening pitch as it realized what was truly going on.

With a thunderous roar, the turret discharged. A blinding lance of white energy split the night, striking the Spider dead-on. The blast tore through its body, vaporizing every cell, every molecule, every disgusting speck of poisonous ooze, down to the very last atom. Drilling the flesh deep, searing all unholy barbarism out into the open before finally – leaving only a cloud of ash and a scorched crater in its wake.

The courtyard fell silent.

Haruki’s breath came in ragged gasps as he slumped against the turret’s frame, his arms trembling. Below, Kiera’s flames flickered and died, and Loto lowered his trembling hand.