FINISH HIM!

 Millie and Niles continued their fight, him getting the upper hand a couple times (which shocked her, considering his malnourished frame). Other times, she was on top, throwing a few punches his way. The pair had devolved into a full-on wrestling match on the ground. At some point, she’d started slamming his face into the stone below him.

He knocked her off of him, right into the throngs of Soul Stealers and nearly into Bria as she bit one of them. She muttered at the taste. It wasn’t at all like the raw meat she subsisted on, tasting horrible and artificial. It turned out that werewolf saliva wasn’t the only thing that could repel them. A well-placed zombie bite would also do the trick. And Anita, just being a full-blown ghost? Outright immune, it would seem.

Anton was slicing his way through the creatures, Shay having told him that the witch was facing off with their target. Wanting a piece of that action, the former architect was making his way toward them.

Millie pushed herself back to her feet, collecting Final Draft from the floor. She saw Anton attacking with his sword, and Niles pushing back with the Faux Final Draft. The witch rushed forward again, focused on them rather than the sounds of battle behind her.

Niles had focused on the floor for now, his eyes glowing orange as he smirked. “Know what I’m picturing right now, wtich?” he asked Millie.

Her response was to kick him in the torso. “Was it that?” she asked.

A laugh. “No. I’m picturing the floor giving out at random spots, dropping whoever happens to be standing on them to the flames below.”

“...There are flames below?” she demanded.

“Will be when I picture it. So, now who’s the sell-out?”

She began to picture that as well, imagining people she’d grown to care about in a relatively brief time and her best friend from back home falling. And that was very much not something she wanted. Instead, she started visualizing something else to replace that. She forced herself to get a very strong mental image of the wall nearest Niles coming down and crushing him below it.

Sure, that probably wasn’t something Talia would want, given that this was her home and all that. But she wanted the same thing Millie did: for Niles to be stopped once and for all. Yes, the wall to come down and the floor beneath him to collapse. She wanted to be entirely sure that he was dead.

Anton had a similar thought, wishing to avenge half of one of his wives as he rushed Niles with his sword. Niles threw an orange shield around himself, frustrating Millie to no end. She growled at him, visualizing everything crashing down on him. Everything. Enough to shatter his shield, to crush him the way his giant monster had crushed Valentina’s body.

The pink glow took over again. She could feel it threatening to burn her, but she didn’t care. Her rage was focused. Focused entirely on his downfall. Her focus almost faltered for a moment when she heard a yell, but she kept it up.

Niles. Needed. To. DIE.

The glow began to overtake a wide area around the witch, as she pictured him meeting his end from a wall collapse. She could hear the wall’s structure start to crack. The wall close to him crumbled, the pieces falling on his head. He let out one final scream as it all crashed down on him, some of his blood being coughed out.

But there was one thing Millie had neglected to do. Anton had the forethought to throw a shield around himself when the wall came down, but Millie was so focused on that revenge that she was also caught in the wreckage.

She could just barely make out, in her pain-induced haze, the remainder of the creatures fading from existence. The witch was trying to keep from passing out, but it may have been a losing battle. Her vision was blurred, and she just barely made out Anton as he rushed to her side.

As she passed out, the other remaining mage checked for a pulse. Still there, still acceptable.

He soon walked around the area, assessing the damage. Bria and Anita were both just fine, and Shay had kept to the air, holding Valentina’s head in one arm, her mace in the other hand. Lia was exhausted, but otherwise okay, going to check on Nibbles.

Nibbles had taken a lance to the shoulder from one of the creatures, having nullified the more horrific aspects of it by licking the wound right away.

Sara had made her way down from the wall, having exhausted her web supply once again, but was otherwise unscathed. Talia was in definite need of blood right now, and a bit devastated at the condition of her home, but the fountain had returned to normal once more. Didn’t fix the wall that was brought down, but that could be dealt with a bit later.

As for Amaia, they’d been run through by a piece of debris around the same time that Millie got hit by some from the other side of the room. It definitely confused everyone when it happened… How did that happen when the wall closest to them was still very much intact?

What nobody had seen when it happened was that faint orange glow when the dullahan was hit. One last little act of spite from a dying jerk.

Anton had started to go around the room to help whoever he could, starting to move some pieces of wall off of Millie, since she was closest. He started to look her over investigating some more. She seemed mostly intact, save for her right leg. That felt disconcertingly soft. Like the femur had been outright pulverized. He frowned, making his way to the dullahan next.

“...Is she okay?” they asked, glancing at Anton as he reached them.

“Yeah, though that leg’s probably broken. Now let’s get you taken care of.”

He carefully pulled the piece of debris from Amaia’s torso, hurriedly visualizing the wounds healing. A blue glow surrounded his hands and formed in his eyes as the healing took place. As soon as the dullahan was healed, they walked over to Millie to double check that she was, in fact, okay.

For some reason, they’d become rather fond of this witch. It may have been that they’d never met a human so enthusiastic about this world. Most humans they’d encountered had been terrified, having crossed over from Fae Circles. But no, this little weirdo was more than happy to be there. It may have been how much she cared for her dog, as well. Personally, Amaia had thought Nibbles to be a bit attention-starved (particularly when in dog form), but she loved that pup in both dog and wolf form.

Anton approached Nibbles next, using another healing on her leg injury before she also rushed over to her human, sniffing her intently. Figuring that she was still alive, she licked her face.

Millie brought a hand up to pet her, eyes still closed. Like it was second nature to her. After a moment, she tried to sit up, yelping at the pain that shot through her thigh.

“The hell…?”

Amaia helped her to the best of their ability. “I think you might have brought that wall down,” they told her.

“Okay, so, I wasn’t aiming for myself,” she groaned.

“Few do.”

Talia was figuring out just what all it would take to fix her home. Partially, anyway. The biggest thing that came to her mind, though? She may not need to summon another champion again. Their enemy was gone now. Would that bring her mother, or cousin, or Amaia’s brother back? Of course not. After all, that was part of what was annoying those in the Underworld in the first place.

Speaking of the Underworld, Talia became aware of a portal that appeared beside the fountain, with a green-haired woman stepping forth from it. She strode over to Millie and Amaia, flowers blooming with every step.

“Hey, so, normally, Hermes would handle this,” she said. “But he’s already taking Niles down to my husband. And I swear, if that bastard tries anything with my Hades…”

She gave a disturbing grin for a moment, before brightening up a bit. “I wanted to stay back and beat him for putting my guy through that pain, but Hades wanted him intact for his trip to Tartarus. So, I just wanted to let you two know that we’re all good now, thanks for your service, and Hades is so pleased, he might bump you up to Elysium when you die for real.”

Persephone took a moment to pet Nibbles, as the werewolf had gotten all excited about the possibility of a new friend. After she headed back into the portal, Nibbles’ tail still wiggled.

“She smelled pretty,” she said. “And she left flowers!”