Tóme

    All eight of Gione’s squad members were on their feet, ready for action, with Lydia at their left edge, clutching her right side. She was just barely able to stand upright amid all the pain she was going through.   

  Serantus moved a bit upwards, preparing to launch another attack on them. Gione gestured to the men to spread round in a circle around Lydia, and then they began their attack on Serantus, releasing spells in the form of blue beams towards the figure.     

Serantus absorbed most of their attacks through its unstable body, and it was getting obvious that their attack was having lesser and lesser effect on it. Lydia waited patiently for an opening to try and slow down Serantus, she could not join in the fight as she couldn’t do magic; she could only slow down her foe for as long as she could. Yet, it was this skill that made her invaluable to her squad, as she had caught out multiple foes unexpectedly with this, surprising them before the rest of her squad dealt the finishing blow.     

Their battle was causing serious damage to the building; the dome of the hall was already down, parts of the concrete passage deck from the second to fifth floor were destroyed by stray spells from the battle strong enough to cause the damage.    

 In the heat of the battle, Lydia managed to find an opening in one of Serantus' attack and slowed it down. Gione followed it up by unleashing a powerful spell which sent it spinning upwards. 

Gione was looking majestic among his peers with the way he was dominating the battle. He signaled to two of his squad members by nodding his head in their direction to which they responded back with the same gesture. Following Gione’s lead, all three men rose up into the air and levitated to the level Serantus was.   

  Serantus, seemingly angered at the way he was stunned, looked down towards Lydia with much scorn in faces they couldn’t easily make out.   

  Gione clapped his hands loudly, sending echoes through the now dilapidated hall. The three men were infront of the Crurix. “We’re your opponents now you fart!”   

  Serantus turned its attention to the three floating men in his front, and in a vicious fury released another wild wave of magic which shook the hall and sent those on the ground tumbling. The ever sharp Gione, predicting the attack, had set up a shield to protect himself and the two with him just before the spell hit them.  

   Those stunned on the floor picked themselves up. Two of men rushed to Lydia’s side to assist her. She brushed them off, telling them to concentrate on the battle and make an opening for her.   

  Serantus launched a barrage of attack on the three men infront of him, simultaneously shooting out spells – green beans from its foggy body at them. 

The men were struggling to defend well, and were barely counterattacking. One of the men below shot a spell at Serantus, distracting it long enough for the three men levitating to circle it. They each formed a defensive shield around themselves, and stretched their hands towards Serantus. Gione then looked at Lydia, and she understood.    

 Lydia slowed Serantus down, enough for Gione and the three other men to start sealing the green powerhouse.   

  Lydia noticed something while holding back Serantus; the last attack it sent out of its body wasn’t totally directed towards Serantus' men who had shielded themselves, he had sent a couple in her direction as well, and these attacks were fast, even for their reduced speed.

 She realized she wouldn’t make it out of harm’s way in time because the attack was spreading widely, so she would still get caught in whatever direction she moved in, especially in her injured condition. 

     “Ha, he got me,” she whispered. She let out a dull smile and closed her eyes, bracing for the attack.    

 Gione and his two companions said some incantations, and, while being protected from Serantus' slowed attacks with their shields, they moved towards it, then clapped its green foggy body, which felt solid because of the sealing spell they were performing.   

  With the three men having one palm on Serantus, their hands shone light blue, and Serantus started to diminish in size. When its volume decreased to about the size of a golf ball, Serantus shouted; “Lydia now!”   

  The three men directed their hands and the shrunken Serantus towards Lydia, who was holding an emerald up to them. The men transferred Serantus into the emerald, which moved towards it from their hands like it was flowing through the air, and into the emerald.    

 After the transfer had been done, Lydia coughed, and dropped the emerald in the process.  

   She fell to the floor on her side, and in the consecutive times she coughed, she spat out blood.   

  Gione and the two others with him hurried back down to see what was wrong with her, as did the four other men on the ground.    

 Gione knelt low infront of Lydia and carried her head on his laps. He parted the hail covering her face and looked over her thoracic and abdominal region. He opened his eyes wide in shock of what he was seeing.    

 He looked up at his men and fixed his gave on one of them. 

     “Lokai take care of this!”     “Sir, t-this is beyond me by all margins!”    

 The faces of the six men standing were fixed with horrid looks. Lydia’s middle body was a bloody mess, there were two holes in her belly that looked like they were spear injuries, and gashes barely visible through thick blood every where else. Her eyes was half shot and looked dead, with her face pale. Her mouth was bloody with the blood she had spat out. 

     “Do some…”     “Gione, it’s okaa…”     Lydia’s low voice was interrupted by her low, dragging cough.     “Quick now, go to Tóme before the rebels get here, my fate’s already decided…”     She interrupted herself again with a long gasp, drawing in breath with whatever strength she had.   

  “The building’s collapsing, quickly teleport outta here!”     “But…!”  

   Gione saw that her face didn’t have life again. He reached for her wrist and felt for pulse at its edge below the thumb, and felt nothing.   

  The hall area of the building was starting to feel unstable, with little debris falling. Gione stood up, and had a stern look on his face. He had been trying to hold back his tears. The two men who didn’t do much and still had their hats on removed it and bowed towards Lydia.     Serantus looked at the Crurix, and whispered; “We’ll be back for you!”      

Gione told Lokai to carry Lydia’s corpse, and moved a few yards out of his initial position to a free space. He bent to his knees, and placed his palm to the floor.   

  Green magical circles appeared which expanded to a diameter of about two meters.   

  “Let’s go to Tóme.”     Gione entered the circle first, then the other men, with Lokai entering last while carrying Lydia’s body.  

   The circle vanished after they all entered and teleported, leaving the building in its state of disrepair.    

 After some time since the battle ended, there was a relative calm in the hall. Some heads started to pop out of half-open doors around the hall that lead to the floors below the hall. The people who were left in the floors below during the battle couldn’t come out for their safety, so had to stay hidden below.  

   Few moments after the people who popped their heads through the half-open doors had scanned around to ensure it was safe, people started trooping out the doors, with some sprinting out of the building. 

Some looked around the hall, examining the damage done. Moments later, the building itself was empty, with its outsides left in abandon and the insides looking creepily depressed.