The hallways of Vanir's magic centre did give off a mystical impression due to the opaque light of the glowing crystals. But truth be told, there was nothing better than having proper lighting, like incandescent lamps or something. Surely the Vanir Government could afford incandescent lamps, could it not?
With the dim light still shrouded in darkness, the hallway was akin to an endless maze. Not only Alicia's, Odelie's head was also glaring.
The radiance from the black wizard's projectiles did not help much, either. All those shots were only aimed at the Magisterium's personnel, not as signposts. Yes, apparently there were still many masked wizards residing in the darkness of Vanir's magic bureau. As the Magisterium wizards were occupied fighting them, Alicia and Odelie were forced to separate with the others.
A number of masked wizards managed to slip away from the battle and chased after them. The two of them were even more helpless when too many Khaos champions appeared to besiege them in a magic museum chamber.
"Odelie, aren't there too many of them?" asked Alicia in a worried tone.
"Nonsense!" Odelie took out her Faith Catalyst again. Alicia, who had not had a chance to look, had the opportunity to see the astrologist's ornate planisphere.
"F-Faith Catalyst!"
"Exactly!" Odelie and Alicia then turned their backs on each other. "Now we have two 'Orbs', don't we? Fighting these minions is nothing at all!"
"If you're sure we'll win, t-then I should be too!"
"My favorite little sister is the smartest!"
The two then got ready with their respective round weapons. Both Alicia and Odelie closed their eyes to fully synchronize—one with the Arcane Orb, the other with what she believed to be the Existence, the determinator of fates. The two were so in sync, they each emitted a full glow of stardust! Alicia's stardust was more colorful, but Odelie's space projection presented sundry constellations complete with their connecting lines!
The villains certainly did not desire to wait for them spreading their charm any longer. They straightaway threw their hands at both girls. Alicia swatted those hands away with her orb and punched them in the stomach and ribs! From Odelie's side, the wizards were already shooting black energy at her. With her Faith Catalyst spinning, a shield-shaped constellation was formed. The expanse of space came soon after, serving as a barrier for the projectiles.
"My turn! This is your destiny that the Existence has shown me! This is what the stars speak!" Odelie spun her Faith Catalyst again, and the space wall dispersed to some of the wizards. The unlucky ones instantly floated in the air, becoming part of the constellations!
Alicia saw that and shouted, "Awesome! Oh, clipe!" The streaking magical projections almost crushed part of her face if she did not dodge. Furious, Alicia drew the Arcane might with her right hand, then with her open palm, she poured out a flash of blue plasma at the damned perpetrator!
Odelie stretched her hand between the floating globe, then from the golden surface of it appeared another constellation. This time it featured falling lines connected to a sphere. What was the meaning of such an image? A sign from the sky might be the answer.
A portal to the stars opened from above. The shape was not clear enough, like a pool of stagnant water. But from it, a shower of tiny stars enlivened the showdown! The masked magi were scattered by the meteor shower! Especially for those who were still wrapped around the constellations, it was a cosmic torment of a thousand pins. Alicia was not to be outdone either; she raised Orb and fired Arcane mortars at the evil mages at her side. Somehow, the two of them could become a capable magical fighting team!
"I can't believe you're such a great witch, Alicia!" praised Odelie.
Alicia replied, "Odelie, don't praise me yet! There are still more of them!"
There were still a few conscious black wizards. The battle was not over yet. But before Alicia could utilise another ultimate ability, a door behind them bewrayed on its own. An overpowering force from the door's direction suddenly pulled the young lady!
"Odelie!" screamed Alicia as she was dragged away.
"Oh, no, Alicia!" Odelie was about to reach out for Alicia's delicate hand but was instead met by the black mage's gloved grasp. Caught off guard, all the black wizards managed to restrain the astrologist's body, making her submit, almost helplessly.
***
Jubilant Jay, a shiny magic broom swept across the Mothman's face with its impassioned fibres. Bartholomew Strongbark also got in his way, summoning the pillars of the foyer and ramming them into the insect mage from behind. Unfortunately, the faithful sprinkhond appeared behind the Mothman all of a sudden. With razor blades on both forelegs, it dismembered the concrete chunks so that the Mothman felt nothing but a bath of sand.
Haddock and Bartholomew called out the spell Static Ligaveris, about to cut the insect mage's front before being blocked again by his long chandelier sceptre! The three of them remained still, glaring at each other, struggling.
The Mothman chirped to summon a spinkhond right behind the Magisterium officials. The grasshopper flapped its wings, blaring with excitement; fortunately Broin was present and tied the sprinkhond with his white vines. But wait, there was still one more grasshopper on the arthropod mage's side! Again, he buzzed loudly, followed by the large insect's stridulation in agreement. Broin in the distance diverted several birds to the spirnkhond.
Time to feast! A flock of birds tore into the giant locust's body. White slime spilled everywhere. Finally, they had some proper meat after the hunger petals stole their rations. The fate of the other sprinkhond was no less unfortunate. The nearest hunger petals stretched its body and crushed it, which had just been released from the vine coil.
From the round eyes of the Mothman's mask came the reflection of his pet being lifted up and torn apart by eagles and chickens. Before he could denote his wrath, his eyes shifted to Broin in midair, about to crush his being with a giant block of wood!
The log turned out to be his own staff, magically growing hardwood fibres at its tip. The Mothman succeeded to dodge by spinning backward.
Bartholomew was impressed, saying, "Old man! You shouldn't have pretended to be a hunchback in the first place."
"What? I am a hunchback!" retorted Broin, "If Arcane hadn't strengthened me, how could I have lifted that block like I used to thirty years ago?"
"Gentlemen...!"
Haddock's yell roused both of them as he pointed to the Mothman right in the colossal vortex, containing a thousand and one types of insect imaginable. Millions more were falling from the roofless palate, forming a waterfall of pests. Swarms of cockroaches and scorpions occasionally fell to harass the birds, who finally decided to flee the magic office. The five hunger petals were overwhelmed by the plethora of prey. Even the gazillions of insects swarmed the entire tissue of the carnivore plants and preyed on the predators.
The Mothman let out his raspy noise, echoing through the botanical garden. "I shall infect this magic office, even the whole nation, with the insect pestilence! Everything I do shall be done until I find the girl and her Arcane orb!"
The timing could not have been better! Just as the Mothman was unleashing his full potential, the Arcane might was beginning to wane within each member of the Magisterium and the Edda Order. This was serious. They had to find a way to channel their power—their remaining Arcane might—only against the Mothman, before they all became the meal of the vermin.
"Grand Magus Haddock, I request that you order the wizards to form up and cover us with protective magic," requested elder Broin. "The druid's protective rod magic is ineffective against insects that can slip through the gaps."
"Ah... I understand." Of course, Haddock understood. What could a Grand Magus not understand? Haddock then called out to his wizard troops, who were still hovering. "Gather about! Circular formation! Protective spell!"
The wizards immediately obeyed the Grand Magus' order. They gathered in a circle, then spread their small wands between their palms. A protective dome began to form like a bubble.
"No, Barthie, you will help me." Haddock pulled Bartholomew by the shoulders out of formation.
The deputy rudely threw Haddock's hand away. "Huh? What do you mean? You ask me for a collective suicide again?" Barthie replied sarcastically.
"Hey, best friends live and die together!"
"You bastard! Don't ever call me your best friend!"
Haddock summoned The Gay Jay, and said to the druids, "Barthie and I will distract that eccentrically dressed mage. Are you sure you can turn the tables?"
"Don't underestimate us!" said Broin, "Our connection with nature is closer and more intimate than a practitioner who can only raise insects!"
"Huh, I like these guys."
From above, the Mothman attempted to dispel the magic barrier with a wave of insects. "Die!"
Countless insects scattered and died in the Arcane-coated shield. All the wizards also bore agony all over their bodies.
The druids concentrated their minds and prayed together. Haddock and Bartholomew took to the air and crossed paths with the Mothman once more. He formed an enormous fist of thousands of scorpions with their metasomas outstretched, then launched it at the two Magisterium champions! Haddock and Barthie swerved and swooped down, then backhanded the mage with Arcane blasts!
Bartholomew had another thought. He took the liberty to destroy the magic building's murals without damaging the supports so that the construction would not collapse. He did not care if the rows of beautiful paintings were transformed into dusty ruins; even the murals of Vanir's three noble leaders were cruelly mutilated. The talent to destroy things was coursing through the veins of this Vice Grand Magus. The falling debris made the work of the wizards more difficult due to their impacts on the magic shields, but at least the stone rain helped crush the disgusting insects crawling all over the ground.
The thud of heavy stones disrupted the concentration of grandfather Broin's prayers. Seeing how disrespectful this wizard was to the figures on the wall, he was furious.
"Oi, damn Black Wizard! What are you doing? Stop further damaging this building! How dare you destroy the sacred paintings of Njord and his children! Do you want to kill us all with rubble?"
Bartholomew only sneered. "Ungrateful fossils. I hate these people!"
Not only being destructive, Bartholomew might be ace at creating things. With a swing of his wand, he chanted Anima-dator, and lo-and-behold, the debris gathered into a giant automaton!
"Stupendous! Classic Barthie with his automaton! Come, cripple that mage bastard!" Haddock shouted in delight.
The automaton did not need to heed Haddock's advice, as it was in its nature to pummel the giant insect tornado! Bartholomew's automaton did not need to immediately defeat the Mothman. What was happening now was already a perfect distraction, while the druids below continued to recite repeated prayers.
The Mothman was getting annoyed; he unleashed all his insects on the giant walking stones. But to no avail, the hard rock felt nothing and was not affected by anything. It would only continue to crush the tsunami of insects as long as it was connected to Bartholomew through the mana flow.
While the stone giant was occupying the pest tornado, the druids had completed their prayers. They had all firmly aligned themselves with nature.
Or rather, harmonising with the insects.
The giant stone automaton stopped its fray when all the insects were quiet. All the six-legged ones slowly turned their gazes to the gas-masked practitioner. All the buzzing made in the throat seemed to be ignored.
"What is this? Don't just see me, my little friends, chew on those damn wizards!"
The insects instead rushed to bite and prove their venom to Mothman's lower abdomen which was trapped in the insect vortex!
"Wretch!"
It was unimaginable how it felt to be stabbed by millions of insects. The Mothman straight opened his wings wide and escaped the insect vortex. Even when he was flying, he was already staggering in midair due to the poison already coursing through his veins. Then Haddock sprung, throwing his lightning javelin through the chant Fractionem Tonitrua Custos right into the chest of the insect mage. The sight was so magical that it was even more enchanting when the Insect Man fell from a height with a glowing spear full of sparks stuck in his chest. He collapsed among the treasonous insects that began to envelop his being.
"Don't let those bugs eat away at him! We have to dig something out of him," Broin ordered.
"It's useless!" said Bartholomew, as he and Haddock slowly landed. "You won't get anything out of this black mage! You've handled this before. You should already know there's a potent magic preventing any information from leaking from their brains, right?"
"Yes, we are aware of that. But we have to try, anyway. Who knows if there's a glimmer of a miracle for this one?"
One could not tell what these druids were thinking, they still came up with idiotic decisions, Bartholomew thought. What was expected of the Mothman? To reveal intel about him and his cabal? When would they learn not to let a dangerous wizard like him have even a second to breathe?
He was right. What an idiotic decision. The mage should have been killed on the spot. Neither the druids nor the wizards could see the actual face behind the insect mask. Seeing that advantage, the semi-conscious Mothman melted into thousands of cockroaches and disappeared among the ocean of arthropods. Once again, the dangerous mage escaped right from their fingertips.
"What did I tell you?" Bartholomew massaged the bridge of his nose. The druids felt foolish. At least they were self-aware, still having a sense of shame.
"Alicia!" Haddock remembered the girl who held the Divine Grace. "Blasted, we need to find her immediately!"
"Oh, Oherr, what ordeal is this again?" Broin, the druid elder was already overwhelmed. "They'll have trouble finding their way to Vanir's magic office. We must split up!"
No response came out. The Magisterium and the druids split up in search of the Child of Miracle.
All the Magisterium mages who followed Haddock found the wounded Odelie Verdandi staggering. All the black wizards had already fallen between the woman's legs. When the clairvoyant found the young Grand Magus's figure was about to embrace her, she let herself fall.
"Odelie, hang on in there! Where's Alicia?" the Grand Magus exclaimed.
"D-don't mind me .... Alicia ...." Odelie pointed at a door that the Child of Miracle had previously passed through by paranormal force. Not long after, Odelie fell stupor.
"Don't just stand around, you fools! Search the entire building for the girl!" Bartholomew ordered the others. The wizards split into groups and entered the door before dispersing. []