The hooded figure stood in place, raising the clunky metallic arm to her companions.
"Serafina, stay still."
"Sure." Serafina sighed, casually putting her arms behind her head, stretching back while yawning.
The figure removed their hood, and it was in fact Chizoba. The next figure removed his hood, and it was the same scrawny man that was in the church.
"What in…what is going on?" Cassandra yelled, her eyes darting around towards everyone in the room.
"We're here to take the greave." The scrawny man replied calmly, his smug grin striking every possible nerve in Cassandra's body.
"Done and done!" Serafina yelled out.
"Excellent." The scrawny man said with a slight nod. "Now then, the orange haired one. Take her."
"What?" Roxanne screamed. "W-wh-why?"
"She's important. The head ship of the New Legion wants to see her."
"I'm not going." Cassandra replied slowly, slamming her axe on the hard metal floor. The man didn't look at all intimidated.
"Are you sure about that?" He continued. "You, miss Cassandra, are a key. The key to the destruction of the Lux Congregation, if Chelic isn't mistaken."
"But…I don't want to destroy the Lux." Cassandra said slowly. Her breathing got heavier as she finished the sentence. That couldn't be the reason, right? She couldn't be here to destroy the sky world. No repressed memories were crawling back, so she couldn't be one of them.
Right?
"You'll learn. Grab her."
The two large figures among them reached out to grab Cassandra while she was still disoriented. Roxanne managed to leap and shove her out of the way, allowing Cassandra to stumble to her feet. She quickly charged energy into the axe and let out a mighty swing, throwing a horizontal line forwards and shocking the two men unconscious.
"Wait, are they…" The scrawny man stepped back, quickly reaching down to check the pulses of the two men.
"Alive." He sighed with relief. "Quick, grab her!"
Serafina put her hands around Cassandra's waist, pulling her back towards the entrance. Roxanne kicked her in the back as hard as she could, loosening her grip just enough for Cassandra to break free, readying a swing towards her.
"Uh-oh." Serafina said just before her head made contact with the axe, only to once again turn to dust just as it connected with her head. The dust trailed to outside the entrance of the facility, only for Serafina's head to pop in a second later.
"Had a double outside, don't worry!" She said with a smile. "Anyway, no killing, right?"
"Correct." Chizoba nodded.
"Got it." She stepped back into view, holding the Saoloro Bow in her hands. She readied the bow towards Cassandra, and she barely managed to dodge. The arrow slowly melted into the thick metal wall and made vines grow in its place. Cassandra just had to run past the New Legion figures, axe in hand. She swung it with as much ferocity as she could muster, and most of the hooded figures stepped back to try to get out of the way. Chizoba tried catching the axe in her mechanical hand, but only ended up stunned in place.
"Serafina, put on the greave." She commanded, trying to adjust her arm back.
"On it!"
Serafina put the greave on her right foot. She felt the warmth from the foot move to the rest of her body. She felt better. More energized. She threw the bow to the scrawny man. Time to test it out.
She leapt onto Cassandra's exposed back, kicking her with the greave. She stumbled over, and an explosion hit her spine. She lurched over in pain as the searing heat hit her back, putting her in agony as her healing clashed with the destroyed skin.
"Get her!" The scrawny man yelled.
The remaining Legionites grabbed Cassandra, with Serafina casually throwing Roxanne out of the way when she tried to intervene.
"Now then, to the skyship." The scrawny man commanded. The robed figures took Cassandra away while Roxanne struggled to get back on her feet. She got back up, yelling out something incoherent as she did. She had to walk over. Do something. Her legs were in agony, especially her recovering one. Her hands still shaking, she got her phone out. Opened her texts with Julian.
'CASSANDRA AND GREAVE TAKEN GET TO DOCK ASAP IGNORE ME'
Sent.
Julian checked his phone, getting the message from Roxanne. He went pale as he did so.
"We need to get to the dock!" He yelled out towards Dakarai and the Maximo's. Without saying anything, Samuel ran towards the stairs that led there, with the rest pushing the hospital bed Julian's bear was on. They were met by several more robed figures as they left the town, all ignored by Samuel. About another dozen of them.
"One second." Adebayo said, rubbing his hands together. He placed his hands on the one in the front, causing him to seize up and drop to the floor. Adebayo then landed a series of punches on every figure there, and all of them dropped before they even had the chance to fight.
"No skill at all." He muttered to himself as he went back to the group, carrying the bear to the top of the stairs.
They were on floor one. Julian ran to his own ship as soon as he could, while Adebayo ran behind him to find the others. As Julian ran, he heard noises coming from the dock. Yelling noises.
As he got closer, he noticed Samuel's red tracksuit sticking out like a beacon in front of one of the ships. He noticed Chizoba in front of the hooded figures, fighting him off. He had his hands in his pockets trying his best to look as nonchalant as possible. But his façade was clearly fading as Chizoba's metal arm clashed against his leg more and more. She eventually pressed a button on her arm, turning it to a bat and bashing him across the head with it. Samuel was knocked down, but he got back up almost as soon as he hit the ground. He finally took his hand out of his pockets, aiming his fingers towards her elbow the arm was attached to. Chizoba looked to be in pain for a brief second but raised her arm. Samuel tried to dodge, but Chizoba ended up landing another hit clean to his skull, knocking him out.
"Hey, hey, hey! Another guy behind us!" Serafina yelled.
The scrawny man looked behind him and saw an enraged Adebayo approaching them. He ordered his men to grab Samuel, and Serafina joyfully ran over to him, a dagger in each hand.
Adebayo rubbed his hands together as she ran over to him. She instantly tried landing a full force kick with the greave, which he managed to block with the energy he stored up. The explosion still landed on both his hands, burning them. But that wasn't important. He tried landing a punch to Serafina, but she turned to dust as the punch was about to connect.
"Behind you!"
Serafina tapped Adebayo on the shoulder, stepping back when he tried landing another punch. She immediately stepped in as she was done, slashing him with her daggers across his face. She jumped up as he stopped to take in the pain, landing one more kick with the Inariu greave in his chest. The explosion went off, and Adebayo fell to his knees, defeated.
Serafina looked to see the status of the ship. Samuel was knocked out and Cassandra was probably inside with her axe. Just as she was about to go join them, she felt a punch to her head.
She turned around to see who did it. A man with a robotic leg who looked incredibly fearful. He landed another punch to her face as she turned. This wasn't going to be fun. He was too weak. No need to use her clones. She carefully put a dagger in her pocket, casually stabbing him with her remaining knife. Both hands on the handle, just shy of his heart. If he really wanted to kill her, he'd get stronger and try again. Then it would be fun.
But just as she took the knife out and watched him fall to the ground, she felt something get past her. She looked behind her, then back in front, and Julian next to the bear.
Julian crushed a fistful of bugs into his left hand, spreading the guts all over the bear. He touched the bear with his bug covered hand, telling it to go to Serafina. Serafina ran to him, both daggers ready to strike. The bear quickly got out of his bed, slamming a paw down on Serafina as she approached, knocking her to the ground. Julian got behind the bear as Serafina kicked it with the greave, causing an explosion in its stomach area. The bear stayed upright, almost slashing Serafina before she stepped back.
Serafina let out some dust that reformed into another clone between Julian and the bear, and quickly put her own mind into it before the bear's slashes got too intense for her. Her old body turned into dust that went back into her, and she held a knife to Julian's throat.
"Stop the bear. Stop the bear now!" She yelled. She was actually scared. This bear could actually hurt her. She'd kick him with the greave, but there wasn't enough space to run up.
Julian just grabbed her by the head, headbutting her and letting some built in energy sear her. Serafina looked stunned, and the bear grabbed her. Julian ran behind him and placed a hand on the bear, who immediately grabbed a recovering Serafina. It ripped the greave off Serafina's leg, and finally slammed her on her head against the metal. Serafina quickly crawled away to make some distance, throwing her daggers before letting some dust out, which reformed into a clone that she caught the daggers with after she transferred her mind into it. The new body also transfered the pain. She was too hurt to fight. He won. They needed to get to the cluster, and they needed to do it now. She looked at the Greave as Julian put it on. She ran to the ship which was lifting off the ground in a panic. The bear was quickly gaining traction now with Julian riding on its shoulders and stood the genuine risk of catching up to her. She made one last dust clone and put her mind into it. She looked back briefly at the clone, and it drew blood as the bear pushed past it. She finally barrelled into the airship, yelling out orders as soon as she got there.
"Go, go!" She yelled.
"Where's the greave?" Chizoba yelled.
"Cassandra's friend with the bear got it!" Serafina yelled while fighting back tears. "And if we don't go, we're doomed!"
"Start the airship!" The scrawny man commanded. One of the men started up the ship, and it whirred to life. It was quickly lifted off the ground, only to be stopped briefly.
"What is it now?" Serafina yelled, her panic seeping in.
Chizoba looked out the back window of the airship, and Julian's bear was clinging to the end.
"Full power!" The scrawny man yelled. "We'll drop them over skyspace!"
But just as the legionites went full throttle, more things started rupturing around them. When they looked outside, icebergs were quickly erupting from the metal and surrounding the ship.
Julian looked to where the icebergs were coming from. From inside the building where Ola worked was the figure of a young girl. She held a spear in her hand, and every time she forced it onto the surface below, another iceberg surrounded the airship.
"Sorry if I'm late!" She yelled out to Julian. "But everything's fine now! For I have arrived!"