Surprise showed clear on Jason’s face as the rocks closed their distance. Despite the speed that Juliana attacked him with, he managed to bring up a shield. The first spear hit it, sending huge fractures through the bubble. The second spear shattered the remains of the shield leaving the third to strike him square in the chest.
Jason let out a grunt and fell back on his rear.
“Hey,” Juliana said as she crossed the small dueling ring. She offered out a hand to the fallen red-head as she said, “that was a pretty good shield and pretty good reflexes with it.”
“I wasn’t even thinking,” he said as he gripped Juliana’s hand and pulled himself to his feet.
“A dodge would have been better, tactically, because I wasn’t controlling the spears beyond the initial launch. Good nonetheless.”
“Thanks,” he said with a small smile.
The sound of shattering glass echoed behind Juliana. A bolt of white lightning shot mere inches from her shoulder into a wall.
Juliana did not hesitate for one moment. She shoved Jason back to the ground and followed him down. Only then did she dare to look back at what happened.
It was the bull. Eva’s winged bull lay sprawled out on its side in front of one of the windows. Sickly black liquid left streaks where it slid across the ground.
Four white-robed nuns jumped through the window as the beast lumbered to its feet. They wasted no time in slinging lightning at the beast.
A bleat from the beast all but shattered Juliana’s eardrums. It rattled around inside her helmet just as much as it rattled her skull. The ringing in her ears died down after a moment and the sound of the room returned to Juliana.
Professor Kines’ voice faintly drifted over the sounds of panicked students, lightning, and the bull charging. He shouted at the students, ushering them out a door.
Eva ignored him. She stood in her dueling ring with a blank face. Even as Shalise ran towards the door, Eva merely watched in her usual, eyeless manner. A few globules of black liquid hung in the air just above her outstretched hand.
Juliana looked down at Jason. Her dueling partner crawled away from the battle on his hands and knees. Figuring he could take care of himself, Juliana turned towards Eva.
With a flick of her wand, earth pushed against her feet and hands. She surged forth in the direction of Eva. Juliana’s balance failed her half way there. She tumbled and rolled to Eva’s feet.
There would be bruises in the morning. It was the first time she’d ever tried anything like that.
Eva barely registered her. Her face remained blank through dodging a bolt of lightning. Juliana felt a tinge of pity for any who dismissed the girl on account of the band of leather covering her eyeless face.
“Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”
“There are students stuck there,” Eva pointed across the room.
Sure enough, several pairs of students were trapped between the wall opposite the door and the battle that was slowly moving to the center of the room. Most huddled together or were as far away from the fight as possible. None looked in a good position to get up and run around the edges. Not with all the lightning that missed the bull.
How they missed, Juliana couldn’t fathom. The bull was as big as a small shed. Missing the broad side of a barn definitely applied here.
“I didn’t know you cared,” Juliana said.
Eva turned her face down to
“How heartless. We should leave them to Professor Kines and get out.”
“I’m curious. I’ve never seen the Elysium Sisters use anything other than lightning, fire, and their–admittedly powerful–shields. This is a rare opportunity to see if they have any other tricks.”
“We could get killed,” Juliana said. Even so, she turned her eyes towards the unfolding conflict. “How is this a rare opportunity?”
“Well,” Eva said slowly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “this time none of those attacks are aimed at me. A stark difference compared to every other time I’ve seen the nuns fight.”
The nuns were putting up quite the fight.
Juliana hadn’t been present for the battle in the cafeteria. She had
So far, all but one of the nuns stuck with lightning. The spare held a battle-axe made of pure white light in one hand. Staring at it caused Juliana’s eyes to sting. Like staring at a bright light after spending too long in the dark. She could
Juliana didn’t know whether or not Eva could even detect the axe. She’d describe it later.
Apart from the lightning, scorch marks–from fire by the looks–lined one side of the bull. If so, it had been extinguished.
None of the nuns seemed keen on testing their ‘admittedly powerful’ shields.
