Assured by the fact that his powerful companions, who had much more experience and power, would go after the monster soaring overhead, Mec turned his attention on the remaining collection of crimson beasts that stood before him. With the use of the Equinox, eliminating beings made of pure magic would be a trivial affair, or so he hoped. He shivered as he filled his lungs with air and focused on closing off the Anima's powers from manifesting into the animals.
To his amazement, several of the beasts began to fade away, the same as the pachyderm that had charged him. Before Mec could count them all, about half of them disappeared entirely. Likewise, before he could celebrate, he realized he had suddenly lost his breath. He leaned on his wooden pole as he struggled to catch it. Why?, he wondered. Why is this so tiring now?
He could only recall two significant uses of his unique ability. The first, when he had used it against Olenna's doll when she had went after Shallan. Despite Olenna's vast power, the effects were immediate. The doll was unable to perform spells and Olenna barely clung onto control of its wooden frame. The second time was when Mec had tried to eliminate this curse, facing the terrible power that he now knows stems from Akuji. That was a different ordeal, entirely. In a realm completely separate from the reality he stood in, Mec faced trials and fought hard to win against this great power, and his victory was only a small one. It kept the curse at bay, but could not eliminate it completely, and his powers were slowly sapping away at his energy.
The current task at hand exceeded any challenge Mec's Equinox had faced before. After all, he sensed both Cho and Akuji's powers, in incredible, awful quantities, emanating from the magical beasts. Furthermore, there were several targets he needed to focus on. They were also beginning to close in on him, and Shallan, who he could sense was behind him. Mec's heart pounded through his chest as he assessed the situation. His remaining energy would go much further if he relied on his more basic spells to subdue the creatures... or at least hold them still.
The creatures only seemed to hasten their approach as they drew closer. In his peripheral, Mec barely noticed the red flash of a panther spirit descending from a tree branch above him. It curled its lithe body just as it pounced, baring bright white fangs and claws. It was time to act. With a huff, Mec hurled his wooden staff towards the creature. As it sailed through the air, the wood slackened and writhed as it took on the form of a serpent. It wrapped around the panthers body and constricted around its trunk and limbs. Mec stepped out of the way as the creature collided with the ground, kicking up dust. Mec raised a hand in front of him with his palm facing skyward, and with it ascended several wooden shoots from the ground around him. Vines suddenly burst from the shoots, snapping loudly as they constricted around several of the remaining creatures.
He needed to finish them off in one move in order to conserve his energy. Mec took a moment to observe the battlefield around him, only then realizing that Shallan had run into the fray. The mage's gaze raced to find his partner. Just after locating her, a dry gasp erupted from his throat. In that moment, Shallan was struck by the corrupted pegasus, sending her tumbling across the dirt-laden plateau. Before he could do much else to react, another red flash overwhelmed Mec's periphery, and a loud roar filled his ears. Having been distracted, Mec had not noticed the massive ursine charging in the midst of the chaos. Steamy breath emitted from the bear's jaws as it unleashed its fangs, threatening to crush the mage's throat.
The mage regained his senses just in time. As the bear's jaws began to clamp down around him, they dissolved, vanishing into the same nothingness the other creatures had gone to. Mec mentally cursed himself for having to spend the extra energy on the Equinox, but he figured he still had enough power left to finish off the remaining creatures. Having them in closer proximity would help. He raised a balled fist to his chest before pulling downward, commanding his collection of vines and branches to converge on one another. Even the serpentine staff rolled its prey into the cluster, until all of the creatures he had trapped had been bundled together in a grand wreath. Mec reached out a hand, and the wooden serpent leaped into it. It stiffened in midair, and what Mec caught was his wooden staff, back to its original form. Pressing the tip of the staff into the ground, Mec beckoned forth his ability, immediately closing off the Anima that powered the summoned creatures' forms. The creatures began to fade in unison, and the vines and shoots began to snap and crackle as they were relieved of their burdens.
Soon after, Mec repositioned himself closer to the rest of the group. Cho had gone after Shallan, helping her regain her bearings. Olenna was in the process of capturing the harpy. Her efforts proved successful as the creature was slammed to the ground by Mec's feet. However, Mec recoiled. Something was wrong, and the evidence was overwhelming. An immense pressure weighed down upon him. The familiar maliciousness of Akuji's magical presence was strangling, so much so that even the Anima around them seemed to drip with its ichor. In fact, the golden bindings that Olenna had used to bring down the harpy were literally dripping, it seemed.
It was quickly evident that Akuji's overwhelming power was being directed towards Olenna in an effort to free its host. Responding to Olenna's command, Mec turned to face the creature that was pinned before him. With careful deliberation, he lowered himself onto his knees, positioned just above the creature's head. Now that it was being held still, Mec could recognize a few of Clair's features blended into its monstrous appearance. May they remain, once this over. He set aside his staff and placed his fingertips on the monster's forehead. Focused hard on the Anima around him. Tightened his jaw as he prepared to use his ability on this dangerous foe. When he finally summoned the Equinox, he felt a pulse through his fingertips, and the world around him vanished.
Cho watched as Mec seemingly prepared a ritual, gently supporting Shallan's shoulders with his tiny hands as she sat up. The small mage had given the woman a once over look. She seemed scratched up, but no immediately dangerous injuries stood out. However, she would be completely defenseless if things headed the wrong direction in Mec and Olenna's struggles against Akuji. "Come on," he told Shallan, just as he sensed Mec's grip on the Anima begin to tighten. "We need to stand back." He helped Shallan rise to her feet, urging her onward, away from the time bomb before them.
After they took a few paces, Cho let go Shallan and let her move about on her own. It was still dangerous for him to perform any of his usual magic in the presence of Akuji's corruption, which continued to spread around them. It was even infecting Olenna's doll, a very precarious predicament. Cho feared that if he destroyed the doll or the tethers that Akuji's powers traveled upon, the harpy would be freed he may even hurt the puppeteer herself. If Mec's powers worked as promised, then it would not matter anyway. Akuji's control of the Anima and Clair's body would be over momentarily.
A moment did pass. Then another and another, with the outcome Cho had been hoping for. Olenna continued to fight a losing fight for control of her doll and her threads, and Mec was unmoving. No, actually, he was beginning to slump to one side! Cho sprung forward, catching the mage before he would fall to the ground. After Cho lowered Mec down gently, he observed the unconscious mage's face. Underneath his eyelids, his eyes darted around, the same as one does when they dream. His breathing was surprisingly normal, but his skin had grown quite hot. Cho took these as signs of Akuji's resistance to Mec's powers.
Cho rose to his feet and stepped backwards, unsure of what to do. It was possible that their mission was about to fail. "Hold on, Olenna!" he urged, but it was an empty request. Even he could see that Akuji's corruption had almost completely taken hold of the doll, and Cho could not simply stop forces of nature the way Mec allegedly could. In a few moments, Akuji would have another host to fight for him, another catalyst he could use to trigger the transformations of dozens of cursed souls across the continent.
The ancient child's small, pink lips scowled. Unless Mec and Olenna prevailed, and soon, there would be no beneficial outcome to this fight. The best he could do would be to destroy what he could of Akuji here, and gather up the rest of the pieces later. His other affairs would have to wait, perhaps, until he could find a way to completely destroy the scourge this time. Without announcing his intentions, Cho raised one arm towards the sky. A bright blue bolt jolted through the length of his arm before soaring into the clouds above them. In response, the sky darkened with storm clouds and the plateau grew as dark as night. The trees responded in kind and whistled as a gust passed by. A thunderclap joined the symphony moments after lightning had flashed, shining its light over everything. Soon, the sounds crescendoed into a furious ensemble as the ground around them tremored. A terrifying roar trumpeted from high above the clouds, so loud that it made the thunderclaps sound like whispers in comparison.
"Victory... is mine." The unnerving voice came from Olenna's doll. Low, gravelly. The doll slowly began towards him, but Cho could see that it was not moving freely quite yet.
"Olenna..." Cho sighed woefully, lowering his arm. Then, in an eerily spontaneous fashion, an intrusive smile writhed across Cho's face. He laughed a loud, childlike laugh. "I missed you Allister! Did you come back to play with me?"
The doll did not respond. Slowly, almost painstakingly, it turned its head skywards, as if it could actually look to the clouds with eyes unseen. Dark red corruption poured from the wood of the doll, bellowing out like smoke. Crimson droplets condensed and dripped down the wooden fascia, arms, and legs, as if the pores of the wood were soaked with blood.
Another roar echoed from the skies above them and Cho's grin shrunk into a more rueful smile. "Allister isn't there any more, is he?" The rueful smile morphed into a deep scowl. The doll had begun to release the bleeding strings that held the struggling harpy. "Go away!" Cho shouted. A bright, blue light descended from the clouds above them.
Then, suddenly, it all vanished.
The stormclouds, the crimson threads, the corruption that seeped from the orifices of Olenna's doll, the streak of blue flame that burst from the sky, all vanished without a trace. Sunrays lit up the area with a gentle warmth. Cho's jaw dropped as the wooden doll creaked loudly and fell to the ground. He spun around towards where he had left Mec, but the mage was no longer unconsciously lying on the ground. In fact, he was very much active, his arms wrapped around a woman Cho had never seen before.
Mec cried out for Shallan. "Bring her some water! She's alive, by the heavens she's alive!" Clair felt so thin in his arms, and her hair was shorn short, but it was undoubtedly her. He wrapped his cloak around her body before gently laying her back down, supporting her head as one would a baby's. The mage laughed like a fool when Shallan joined him, filled with so much emotion that tears began to stream from his eyes.
While the pair celebrated and cared for their friend, Cho silently dragged Olenna's doll towards his camp. At first he thought to help with Clair's recovery until she awakened, but he trusted that if her condition was critical enough, he would be summoned. Besides, there were few who knew how to properly care for Olenna's magical constructs, and while Cho was not familiar with all of the intricacies he would at least be able to get the thing functional enough.
He huffed in frustration when he finally reached his destination. Would Mec turn the Anima back on when he was done celebrating? Now, fully experiencing the effects of this so-called ability, Cho could say with confidence that he did not like it. That was a matter for another day, he thought, as he got to work on Olenna's doll. If the gods smiled on them, Olenna would soon return to a healthy Clair, a subdued Akuji, and a satisfied Mec and Shallan.
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