Akari Chiori exhaled while putting the blood blades back in the vials. She destroyed all of the puppets without a second thought.
When she realised that no more were coming, Akari began running.
'I need to find the place where they're keeping her if she's here. This place is suspicious so most likely.'
Sending a raven to scout ahead would be smart but dangerous. In this unknown place, she couldn't afford to be unalert for even a second.
Akari saw a large door. When she got to it, she kicked it open. It was an empty room.
"Next!"
She sprinted out, trying to find the next door. Turning the corner, she found another. Akari opened it, unsurprised by the empty room.
"Fuck, ne—"
As she was turning around, somebody appeared before her with her back to her. She wore a large witch hat with long white hair and a white cloak.
"Hm? Someone is here. Lucky for me."
The appearance and voice were familiar to Akari. The woman turned. Her face was covered with a white mask.
Akari sneered while chuckling.
"You're so stupid."
"What?"
"You may hide your face but your appearance and voice are familiar to me. What's more, that irregular staff."
"I wonder. Are you imagining things?"
The witch teased Akari while pointing her staff at her. The Councilwoman made a gauntlet shield and a blade out of blood.
"Morgan Le Fay. There's no way I would forget the Queen's aide. Why are you here?"
"I do not need to answer that. Hydro Arrow."
Holding her staff with two hands, a blue blur shot out at a frightening rate.
"Shit!"
Akari shifted to the left—the arrow cut her forearm. It began bleeding. It was deeper than a cut but shallower than a life-threatening wound.
"Why are you working against the Queen?"
Akari asked, unfazed.
"Hydro Arrow."
Morgan shot out another. Stepping forward, Akari tilted her shield, causing the Hydro Arrow to ricochet into the ceiling. The witch narrowed her eyes in awe.
Morgan swung her staff with a single hand.
'She deflected Hydro Arrow, huh? I guess that's what I should expect from a Councilwoman.'
"Hell Flare."
"Vermilion Sphere."
She used the blood in the vials and on hand to create a sphere of blood for protection. The outside of the sphere exploded in response to Morgan's curse.
'The blood is dense enough to protect her against Hell Flare too?'
The sphere disappeared and Akari clenched her fist. Morgan stepped back in shock. The blood had converted into something else.
"What is that?"
It was a pile bunker made from blood. Akari dashed toward the witch. She tapped her staff against the ground.
"Transport."
She disappeared; the wall cracked after being pierced by the pile bunker. The entire room shook. Morgan appeared behind Akari.
The Councilwoman turned.
The witch aimed.
Akari cut Morgan's shoulder while she hit her hand, blasting a hole through it. The woman held in her yelp and grabbed an arm.
"Persistent, aren't you?"
She grinned.
"You think an injury like this will deter me? Have you not gotten the gist of my ability?"
"Ack!"
From the hole, blood spikes pierced Morgan's arm. She dropped her staff. As Akari stepped in for a roundhouse kick, Morgan pounded the woman's gut.
Akari fell back, recovering her breath.
'Martial arts?! A witch?!'
She couldn't express her surprise swiftly enough. Morgan dashed for another strike. She punched Akari. The Councilwoman blocked with her wounded hand—a blade of blood pierced the witch's fist.
"Nice,"
"I could say the same to you."
Akari was not expecting her martial arts to be this adept. It wasn't a problem for her, overall, it was simply a surprise.
Morgan picked up her staff.
She didn't know any healing curses. Her dominant hand was unusable for now.
"Tch. If only I had my Divine Tool..."
She muttered under her breath. Spinning her staff around, a sigil was embedded into the air. It was an incomplete circle akin to an enso.
"A—"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The room began to flash red as an alarm went off. Morgan stopped. Akari narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
[Objective complete. Curse Acceleration activated. Impact in two hours.]
"Impact... What..."
"That fucking idiot! Did he lose his fucking mind?!"
The witch exclaimed. She sighed before removing her mask and grabbing her staff. She glared at Akari. Her left eye turned black and veins appeared around her eye.
Akari created a katana of blood.
'What is that? It looks like...'
"I'm sorry for this, I'll have to kill you."
Morgan said. The air around her changed. The atmosphere of the room became thicker. Akari was wary of her eye.
"You were going to anyway."
"I was going to kill you swiftly but I don't have time. Your death may be painful but bear with it."
"You sure talk big to a Councilwoman. I'm guessing that was the whole meteor thing. Two hours, that's near sunset. I'll have to warn the Queen."
That was what Akari said, meanwhile, she thought:
'How are we supposed to destroy a meteor? If Morgan Le Fay is a traitor, what's to say that the others of the elite guards aren't? That guy who's with Ayato...'
The Councilwoman was confused but she didn't have any time to focus on the impending doom of London. She had a problem in front of her.
The witch cackled.
"I have a better idea."
·———·
(1 hour and 20 minutes until impact)
Ayato was in a taxi with Mao Zhao, Yu, and Aindeau. The boy was deep in thought.
'She hasn't gotten back to me. That was probably the place.'
He looked out of the window.
'What are my next actions? There are no leads that we have on the enemy. The only one I know is a hunch...'
He was thinking about Morgan. Most likely, if she were involved, her allies would be the elite guards of the Queen. The most important question would be why would they want to destroy London?
Do they secretly hold a grudge against the Queen?
"Oh, I have to take this."
Aindeau said, answering his phone.
"Yes... Yes, ma'am. Yes. Right next to me... The same... Okay, I'll do as you say."
Everyone glanced over at him, wondering what Ilistria had ordered him to do. Aindeau held his phone out and put it on speaker.
[Ayato Kyouya. I can't believe it.]
"Huh?"
Her tone of voice was different. It was different from the usual Queen Ilistria that Ayato had known for a brief time.
[I order this of all of my subjects and the people on the search for Ashley Renthral. Capture Ayato Kyouya and Akari Chiori.]
The air in the car became still.