Gritting her teeth, Cecilia seemed to have come to a decision, and she began moving backward. Alicia and I had to run after the dueling pair in order to keep up and continue providing our support – not that any of our spells were having any real impact. Unfortunately, after unleashing Betelgeuse, the intensity of my assault had faltered greatly.
"Cecilia! Stop! You're getting too far away!" Alicia cried, but her friend completely ignored her warning.
Actually, Cecilia was no longer paying any attention to me and Alicia. She was concentrating solely on avoiding getting killed by Hades' relentless barrage of attacks. But even Cecilia was unable to keep up her impenetrable defense for long – the further she withdrew, the more ragged she seemed, and she finally seemed to slip and fall as Hades bore down on her. There was no way the giant warrior wouldn't recognize the opportunity, and he closed in on Cecilia's mistake, swinging his scythe with a triumphant bellow.
And then Cecilia was flung through the iron-wrought black gates of the cemetery where her mother had been buried.
With a bestial holler of victory, the berserk Hades jumped in after her, ready to finish Cecilia off once and for all.
I began to race desperately toward the graveyard.
"Richard, wait."
To my surprise, Alicia had stopped moving. She stared in the direction of the cemetery thoughtfully, as if realizing something. She then shook her head and turned to me.
"Even if we chase after those two, there's nothing we can do to help Cecilia."
"Then what should we do?" I demanded.
Alicia turned to stare at Selina, who was still idly standing by the edge of the park opposite the graveyard.
"'…if we defeat the summoner, the summoned spirit will also be vanquished,'" she repeated what I had just said, as if something in my statement had occurred to her. I wasn't an idiot, and I immediately understood. "In other words, if we can defeat that woman, then we shouldn't have to worry about that gigantic monster."
"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. I'm ready to summon one of my most powerful soul beasts anytime now."
Cecilia had bought me enough time to finish the casting process for one of my Celestial Guardians, but I had held it back for now because I didn't want to get her caught up in the destruction. Once Cecilia was a safe distance away, I would summon Vermillion Phoenix or White Tiger and envelop the iron goliath in a gigantic spell of destruction.
The reason I hesitated was because I knew a contracted spirit wasn't going to be destroyed by a soul beast so easily…
"Use it against her if you have the chance," Alicia suggested, pointing at Selina. By now, Selina had turned away, bored, and was strolling after her contracted spirit into the graveyard.
I frowned. I would rather keep my Celestial Guardians as a trump card against Hades, but I couldn't underestimate Selina either. Not that I wanted to hold back, but she gave me a strange feeling. I instinctively felt that if I revealed my hand too soon, Selina would devise a countermeasure in quick order and neutralize my most powerful soul beasts easily.
No, I could only summon them when her guard was down and I was confident of finishing her off in a single attack.
Alicia wasn't paying any attention to any of my doubts. She was already running after Selina. When she did so, I found that I was in a dilemma. Should I help Alicia in defeating Selina, or should I just summon my Celestial Guardians and assist Cecilia in destroying Hades?
The choice was clear. Even if we destroyed Hades somehow, Selina as a summoner would have more spells up her sleeve. She was the real danger here. Furthermore, during this whole time she had done absolutely nothing to assist her contracted spirit. In other words, I had no idea what sort of abilities or spells she possessed, and that lack of knowledge would prove fatal.
Alicia was the one in bigger danger, and we stood a higher chance of ending this whole farce by defeating Selina. The decision couldn't be any more straightforward.
I began sprinting in Alicia's direction.
While Selina strolled into the forest right next to the cemetery, Alicia pursued her relentlessly. For now, she was tracking her target stealthily, using the trees as cover. When Selina's back was turned on her, Alicia took aim with her guns and depressed the triggers.
Two violet beams of ferocious energy streaked forward, blasting toward Selina's head and heart, but before they could hit her, they dispersed harmlessly against a barrier.
"Ah, Alicia Violet, right?" Selina smiled as she slowly turned around, cocking her head. "I've heard of you."
"My, I'm honored." Alicia emerged from the trees when she realized that Selina knew exactly where she was. She maintained her aim, both guns pointed at Selina. "I didn't think you know me."
Selina shrugged. "I really don't, to be honest. The Violet family is way too insignificant for me to bother learning about them."
Alicia narrowed her eyes at that, but she didn't rise to the bait. Instead, she calmly loosed a couple more shots, but they scattered ineffectually against a shimmering barrier that enveloped Selina.
"Did you come after me alone? That's not wise." Selina smirked as she shook her head, brushing her gloved fingers along her long, dark hair. "Or did you think I would be vulnerable without Hades to protect me?"
Alicia said nothing and merely fired off a couple more shots, which were displaced by Selina's barrier.
"How foolish…I was a summoner before I made a contract with Hades, you know?"
"!!!"
A massive shape loomed out of the trees and struck at Alicia, but she quickly jumped away, cartwheeling in midair and firing off a barrage of high-powered shots at her new assailant. The huge figure staggered, chips of rock peeling away from its chest, but it was otherwise intact.
"That's…"
A second massive figure joined the first and they stepped out of the gloom, their huge, vaguely humanoid bodies illuminated by the moonlight. Alicia frowned.
"Golems."
Two gigantic stone golems, each about the size of Hades, lumbered forward. Alicia adjusted the settings of her guns while she evaded their attacks. The first golem stomped on her position, but she vaulted away. Infusing her Divine Devices with magical energy, she decapitated the golem with a headshot, her magical bullets obliterating a big chunk of the golem's head and chest.
"Impressive. My golems may not be as powerful as Hades, but to think you could still so easily destroy them…"
The second golem swung its beefy hand, trying to smash Alicia to the ground, but she gracefully evaded it. Landing on top of the arm, she then unleashed a second volley of pointblank shots, cratering its chest and breaking off its head. The golem silently twisted around, trying to swat at her with its other arm, but she flipped away and perched on its shoulder while hammering its head with repeated shots from her glowing guns.
Finally bereft of its head, the golem slumped down. Alicia was about to turn to face Selina, but something small and fast streaked past her face, almost cutting her throat. Alicia managed to spin away and land elegantly some distance away from the doomed golem, a thin line of blood dripping from the snow-white skin of her cheek.
"Oh, you dodged that. My assassination skills must be getting rusty."
Selina giggled as she hid her mouth behind her hands. Around her, a flock of silvery birds were flapping their wings. They resembled doves, yet emanated formidable power. Alicia was aware of how dangerous they were, almost having her throat torn out earlier by one.
"Let's see if you're good at shooting down multiple targets."
The flock of doves streaked toward Alicia at Selina's command. Alicia gritted her teeth and began to run, firing relentlessly into the flock of doves. Every shot struck with flawless precision, bursting the dove apart into fragments of crystal that rained on the ground, but for every one she slew, two took its place.
Within a few minutes, the entire space between Selina and Alicia were filled with doves. To make matters worse, a fresh pair of golems advanced from behind the distracted Alicia, lumbering forward to join the fray and catch her in a pincer attack.
"…!"
Alicia realized that she was cornered…
Screech!
"?!"
Selina raised her head and her jaw dropped when a flock of black crows descended upon her horde of doves. My Corvus began tearing the smaller birds apart, their wicked claws and curved beaks hooking into their bodies and ripping into them.
With the assailants in front suddenly in disarray, Alicia was able to avoid the Golems by diving to the front. Twisting around, she fired upon the closest golem. Her first few shots merely cracked the rock-hard surface of the slow summoned beast, but she gradually infused them with more power and blew out its head.
Its comrade, on the other hand, was now almost upon her, lifting its arm to crush her. Alicia tensed, getting ready to jump out of the way…
…when an enormous bear smashed the golem to the ground. Bellowing bestially, it rammed its claws into the golem's head, gouging out a good amount of rock, and tore off its head. The golem went still, the magical forces that animated it fleeing like dispersed smoke.
"Tch!"
Selina turned around with a click of her tongue when I arrived. I had thought I succeeded in taking her by surprise, but my arrows detonated against her barrier.
"!"
To my bewilderment, Selina actually closed in on me. I tried to shift my aim, but I wasn't as accurate or skilled as Alicia, and my arrows missed. The next second, Selina was crouching in front of me, lashing out with a kick. I brought my knee up and parried her foot, and then swung my bow at her head. Selina then dropped to the ground and swept her leg at my feet, her tightly corded muscles rippling underneath that tight bodysuit of hers.
I hopped above her sweeping kick, the reflexes that Dad drilled into me during his martial arts training coming into play. I then countered with a kick of my own, but Selina deflected it with her hands. Her leg then whipped out like a coiled serpent striking, almost catching me off guard, but I brought my elbow down to deflect her foot from my chest.
"Richard! Break away!"
I obeyed when I heard Alicia's shout, and her bullets whizzed into the woods where Selina and I were locked in a deadly duel. In order to engage me in close range, Selina seemed to have deactivated her arcane barrier, and she was forced to dodge this time, diving to the undergrowth and almost disappearing from sight.
Then the bullets hit home and set the thicket aflame.
"Did I get her?" Alicia asked as she hurried over to where I was standing. I observed the mild fires, the orange conflagration flickering against the lenses of my glasses, and shook my head.
"She got away."
"…I see." Alicia looked frustrated, but there was nothing more she could do. Instead, she turned toward the graveyard. "Then I guess we should return to support Cecilia now."