Ivy looked up at the evening sky, she could see stars slowly waking up and igniting the night. She looked behind her as Neo and Lilith were trailing behind. Neo refused to say anything to Lilith and didn't bat an eye when she apologized. Ivy exhaled and continued walking until she could see a massive clearing.
Ivy's sudden stop made the two curious. They both made beside Ivy and could see a couple of ruins around the place. One of them had chess pieces, while the others didn't contain anything. Ivy walked in the clearing while Neo held Lilith back. Neo already knew what Ivy was planning.
Lilith tilted her head before understanding Ivy's intention. Considering that there is another demon roaming in the forest, it was best to not stay in a group and get ambushed. Lilith sighed before pulling out twin swords and waited for them to attack. Neo noticed this before crouching down and watched with an eagle eye.
When Ivy arrived at the ruin, there were twelve pillars covered with vines, moss, and cracks. Each chess piece had a cylinder podium underneath, some of them were black, and others were color of gold. There were a few that were missing making Ivy think that others have been here before. Ivy quickly snatched a golden pawn and walked back before hearing some rustling to her right.
Before Ivy knew, there was a group of students running away from a massive scorpion. It has a black exoskeleton with white bone plates and a glowing stinger and pincher. Ivy noticed a student fell, which gotten the attraction of the scorpion. It lifted its stinger and slammed it down onto the student.
PING!
The scorpion retracted its stinger and pulled away to reveal Ivy's Mana Barrier. It let out an ear-piercing scream before slamming itself into the shield only to be met with a destructive punch, a massive dent in the scorpion's bone armor, and killing it. Ivy let down her barrier and helped the fallen student.
The girl bowed and thanked Ivy for saving her. She had cinder color hair and rose-colored eyes. The girl wore a black long-sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, over which is a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front. The skirt of her dress has red trim and redlining. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trims around the top, and red soles.
Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins and a large silver buckle on her wide black belt, slung around her hips on an angle. Attached to her belt are a pouch and a row of bullets.
Ivy nodded her head before feeling the ground shake. The other students also noticed the sudden shake before hearing a bird screeching. They looked up to see a vast, raven-like bird with a mask-like, white bony structure overlying the upper front of its head. It also has four glowing red eyes, two on each side of its head.
Neo stood up before sensing something off with Lilith. When she looked at the demon, she was in a full shake and was practically hyperventilating. Neo kneel down to ask, but she could already tell that Lilith was too shaken. Neo knocked Lilith out cold and hid her in some bushes. She heard Ivy yell out and felt the same overbearing presence from early. Neo then saw a massive beam of dark Mana trying to break through Ivy's Mana barrier.
Taking the chance, Neo tried to locate where the demon that launches the attack. She failed to notice the multiple shadow figures until she saw Lilith stabbing and massacring the shadows.
"H-How..is...Ivy dealing?" Lilith panted, her expression was worse as she limped a bit. Neo wrapped Lilith's arm around her as she helped her see the dark Mana beam.
It was incredible that Ivy was able to create a barrier in time to save all the students. However, some of them were injured and needed a bit of attention. The ones who weren't hurt had their weapons and gear out. Ivy told them that the moment she drops the barrier, they need to dive out of the bubble and into the forest. Most of them disagreed, but they all noticed that Ivy was slowly slipping.
"You either get out and carry the wounded or get hit and probably die from the beam," Ivy said with a tired face. She was trying her best not to let anyone die, but if ignorance blinds them, so be it.
Everyone agreed to leave. Though it was a tough decision, Ivy smiled at them before counting down how much time she had left.
Five.
Those who weren't known for strength took the injured. There were at least two people per carrier. This would minimize the chances of having more people die. Ivy took a deep breath and envisioned the next course of plan.
Four.
One of the male students remembered about the Flare Gem, he tossed it to one of the other students. All of them nodded at Ivy, indicating they were ready. Ivy didn't return anything, but her left arm started to glow before its pieces started to rise a bit. The parts all gravitated back to Ivy's arm as she understands what her plan was gonna be.
Taking in one more deep breath, Ivy dropped the barrier, and within an instant, Ivy was slammed into a tree. Everyone else followed as planned as a few peeked out to see about Ivy's condition. Ivy's body was limped over with blood leaking out, Lilith stared at Ivy before trying to break free from Neo.
Neo covered Lilith's mouth and shushed her before pointing at Ivy's left arm. It was pulsating with dark Mana, and the parts were slowly levitating. Lilith stood down but had a sword out just in case.
("What are you planning, Ivy? It's not like that beam can defeat that demon,") Neo said in her mind as she watched the cloaked demon slowly moving towards with its army of shadows trailing behind.
Ivy's vision was a bit blurred; however, she pulled out the Flare Gem and tossed it high in the air before staring directly at the demon. She held onto her left arm before condensing the dark Mana and sending it towards the devil. The demon was surprised by Ivy's action; however, this should be expected since its shadow figure's report.
When the beam came in contact, the demon sliced the laser in half. Not caring about its minions. Ivy was slightly surprised before feeling the wound on her side slowly worsen. She took a knee before seeing her vision blur.
The demon smirked before lifting its finger, which lifted Ivy's body, and curled the finger so that Ivy's body came close. The devil looked at Ivy's disheveled hair and face. It looked at Ivy's moon-like eyes before laughing in a demonic voice.
Ivy could tell that hearing the demon's voice was leaning more on a male demon than a non-binary demon. She smiled before lifting her right hand and blasted the male in the face, breaking free of the grasp she was feeling.
She slowly got up before feeling a sharp pain coursing through her body. Ivy looked down before seeing the demon's sharp nail digging inside her stomach. She could see the face slowly regenerating from her earlier blast.
"You won't be leaving here alive, I'll be seeing you in Hell," the demon laughed as he pulled his nails out and watched as Ivy started to bleed out.
"IVY!" Lilith shouted as she was finally let go. She ripped off her collar before launching herself at the demon. Her transformation was quick as Lilith became a 15-meter dragon in height. Lilith picked up Ivy's body before slamming her tail into her once ally.
Some of the students came out and prepared beside the sudden appearance of a dragon. They saw everything and was worried about two things: is Ivy okay, and where did this dragon come from?
Neo came out and analyzed the situation. She knew that Ruby and the others were coming, but long will that take? More students could get injured or worse, killed. Neo already knew that Ivy isn't likely to go down without a good fight, especially with a sorry attack like that.
Neo rushed behind the few remaining backlines of the shadows and started putting them down. Once she was done, Neo covered the back of the demon. She learned how to control Mana from Ivy, so although her barriers were a bit weak, Neo was confident about saving herself and a few others.
"Reckless idiot," Neo murmured under her breath. She stared with determination in her eyes to kill this demon.