Chapter 45 - Eternity

“ALON!!”

Tetsuo and Bianca tried to rush over to him but Eleanor launched another lightning strike by their feet, stopping them in their tracks.

“For three hundred years, I’ve been repeating the same experiment. Time and time again. Do you know what three hundred years of trial and error feels like? Boredom. Complete boredom.”

Tetsuo signaled for Bianca to hide behind him, which she did.

“When you came to me wanting to be my apprentice I thought ‘maybe it would be nice to have an assistant,’ something to change up the same weekly schedule of failures. But you just had to get curious. You had to get selfish. You ignored my rules, just so that you could try to get back to your wife.”

“How’s that any different than what you’ve been doing?! Uprooting us from Earth?! Dumping us in Alvania?! Taking all the Ficium for yourself, to keep up with your impossible goal of bringing back your brother?!”

Eleanor shot a bolt of lightning at Tetsuo. He stretched his gauntlet out and the bolt travelled into it. However, due to the leather padding on the inside he seemed to be fine.

“DON’T EVEN TRY TO COMPARE YOURSELF TO ME!! You got your wife back. You don’t know how impossible it is that of the seven billion Earthens from your home, I managed to grab her. You are the luckiest person in ALL of Alvania, and you’re still here spitting in my face. After everything I’ve done for you?!”

Eleanor kept casting reckless bolts of lightning at Tetsuo but he continued to block them with his gauntlet.

“When’s it my turn to get lucky?! How much longer am I going to have to wait until I get to see my brother again!”

Bianca shouted in Tetsuo’s ears among all the lightning strikes. “Tetsuo, I can see Alon’s still breathing! With the way she’s acting now, she's clearly spiraling out of control!”

“QUIET!!! I’ve suffered in silence for so many years!! I will not let it be ignored!!”

Eleanor gave up and threw the short sword at Tetsuo before running behind the bell to grab a new weapon.

Tetsuo looked back to Bianca who seemed to be okay. “Darling, I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t know what we can do. She can’t be killed, and she’s the strongest Ars user in the kingdom.”

Bianca pulled Tetsuo close by the collar and spoke quickly. “I have a plan but I need you to trust me okay? I’m gonna have to be the bait, otherwise it won’t work.”

Tetsuo nodded. “Alright, what's the plan?” Bianca smiled for a moment, glad that he didn’t immediately oppose the plan. She quickly gave Tetsuo instructions on what to do. He nodded and she quickly planted a kiss on him before running to one of the crates by the walls.

Tetsuo did the same, ducking behind a crate on the opposite side and removed his gauntlet. He unsheathed his knife and began carving out the leather inside. He watched as Bianca reached into the crate and pulled out a long rod of sigil chalk.

Eleanor reappeared with a new Ficium mace and pointed it at her. The mace lit up, and a large sonic boom echoed through the cave. The force of the soundwave sent Bianca flying off of her feet.

Tetsuo nearly cried out reflexively to her, but knew he needed to focus on his own role, and remain hidden.

He watched as Bianca used the chalk to scratch the ground where she landed, ruining the patterns of sigils located there. Eleanor’s eyes widened as she saw what she did.

‘Stop!! You’re messing it up!! That section could be vital!!”

Bianca stood up slowly and taunted her back. “Sorry I’m just a dumb Earthen. If only I knew what any of this was…”

“You–!”

Bianca drew a sword that was stabbed into the ground and pointed it at Eleanor. She began running at her, dragging the sword across the ground, trying to scratch up the chalk even more. Eleanor pointed her mace at her again, launching Bianca backwards again. Her sword clattered to her side.

Tetsuo finished with the gauntlet and placed it back onto his hand. Most of the leather had been removed from the inside, making it significantly more uncomfortable to wear. “Bianca! It’s ready!!”

From the ground she gave a thumbs up, but Eleanor blasted her again with another shockwave from the mace. Bianca was thrown backwards into a crate filled with sigil chalk. The wood was broken and she sat against it on the floor dazed, as chalk dust puffed up around her. Despite being incapacitated, Eleanor began to approach her with the mace in hand, bloodlust in her eyes. Tetsuo got up and began to run towards them, but they were too far. He wasn’t going to be able to reach in time.

Eleanor slowly brought the mace above her head, and stepped forwards ready to bring it down. She paused, holding it above her head, staring down coldly at Bianca. She closed her eyes and exhaled.

“What’s another hundred years alone anyways…”

Bianca sprang to life, and threw crushed up chalk she had gotten from the broken crate straight into Eleanor’s face.

“Agh–!”

Eleanor recoiled in pain trying to wipe the dust from her eyes. Bianca gave her a swift kick in the stomach forcing her to stumble backwards falling onto the ground. Her mace clattered to the ground, giving Bianca the chance to swipe it.

“Tetsuo! Get Ready!”

She pointed the mace at Eleanor and activated it, sending Eleanor flying towards Tetsuo. Tetsuo removed his gauntlet and swung it at her jaw, knocking her unconscious. He ran up to her and grabbed her arms, jamming her hands into the gauntlet. Quickly, he drew his dagger and activated it, making it glow as hot as he could. He pressed it against the forearms of the gauntlet, causing it to begin to curl and fit the shape of Eleanor’s wrists. He cast the dagger to the side once the shape had become defined enough and waited, praying she wouldn’t come to. He blew on it, although he highly doubted that would have much effect.

Bianca jogged up to him, panting.

“Did it work?”

Tetsuo nodded. “I think so.”

Eleanor began to come to. She saw the two of them looking down at her, and tried to strike, until she realized her hands were stuck inside improvised Ficium handcuffs. She tried to pull her hands out to do Ars but to no avail. She furrowed her brow, attempting to concentrate on doing Ficium within the gauntlet, but it seems like what little amount she had left had been sapped by the cuffs. Eleanor glared at them both, and attempted to strike them with the cuffs but Bianca kicked her backwards into the wall. Knocking her unconscious once again.

Bianca and Tetsuo both exhaled and collapsed on the floor relieved. They began laughing with each other completely unsure of what to even say.

Bianca smiled at Tetsuo. “It’s over…”

Tetsuo looked at her and smiled back. “Yeah…”