Only to collapse to her knees as she felt like she had run head first into a brick wall.
“Zagan,” she shouted, “help me–”
A cold hand pressed around her mouth, cutting her off.
“Calling for help? Is that all you can do? That is why you will die. One less summoner around will make our job much easier.”
Martina gripped the hand. The arm led somewhere behind her, but she couldn’t take the chance of missing again.
With the hand still around her mouth, Martina cast a sickly green lightning bolt straight at the arm.
Her body was wracked with pain, convulsing as the lightning tore through own flesh.
Still, she kept it going. More lightning, more and more. It was tearing through the hunter’s body just as much as it was hers.
Steam pouring off her body, Martina collapsed to the ground as her mind went blank.
Rage
Eva snapped into being on the gate she had made within her new dormitory room. She wasn’t even that wobbly from the teleport. Still, she took a moment to steady herself before moving around.
In that moment, she glanced around. Both with her eyes and her less mundane senses.
She immediately froze.
The very first thing that she noticed was Zagan. She couldn’t see him, but she could
It was terrifying and awe inspiring at the same time. Her heart hammered in her chest, screaming at her to run despite her mind claiming that Zagan was an ally.
Eva held her ground. It was all she could do to stand still. Digging her feet into the ground, Eva focused on calming down. Deep breaths helped, but only marginally.
No other presence, not even that of Ylva’s, could be felt through Zagan’s blanket of power. Prax and Catherine had both left the prison before Eva and she couldn’t sense either of them.
Hopefully that was just Zagan overpowering them and not something worse.
Prax and Catherine should at least be nearby. Ylva would be off with Zoe and Juliana. Given that the dorm room was empty of everyone else, Eva was assuming that they were out at the apartment building. Maybe even helping Zoe pack, unaware of the event out here until Ylva arrived. Though, Juliana might be wherever her parents were staying. Even bedridden or wheelchair bound, Eva had a hard time believing that Genoa would miss what was happening at the moment.
In fact, she would be surprised if regular mortals couldn’t feel Zagan.
Eva couldn’t see anything out the window. It looked out the back of the building, away from Zagan’s presence and the main Brakket Academy building, so that wasn’t all that surprising.
What she did notice were the purple lines in the sky. Since they had first appeared, they had been somewhat dim. Faint and barely visible in the daylight while simply there after nightfall. Now they were bright and almost glowing.
Whether that was because of Zagan or because Martina had summoned so many demons was a question better left to Devon.
Of course, he hadn’t come with her.
Eva had left after everyone else because she had taken the time to warn Devon.
Even discounting the issue that he couldn’t teleport alongside her without winding up as ground meat, Devon wanted nothing to do with demon hunters. He was perfectly content to watch Brakket City burn so long as he was left alone. He had even tried to stop Eva from coming.
Something Eva would hear nothing of.
She had friends here. Friends that might need help.
Zagan could hold his own. Whatever he was doing, Eva was sure that he would come out successful. Juliana and Zoe should both be away from the school and with Ylva. Eva considered running after them, hunkering down while Zagan solved all the problems.
But Catherine was still around. Despite all of her complaining about Martina and her words earlier in the evening about lacking loyalty to others, Catherine had still come here with the intention of keeping Martina safe.
And Eva was still somewhat fond of the succubus.
So Eva would help.
Rather than run from her room, Eva opened her window and dropped straight to the ground. Three stories was a long fall, but Arachne’s legs helped to absorb much of the impact. She ran around the side of the building.
And froze.
The walkway between the dormitory buildings was a torn up mess. Potholes everywhere, bricks lying about, and part of the Gillet’s front had been caved in.
An armored man stood against a winged bull. His armor was battered everywhere and even broken in several spots. He held out a sword. One that might have been beautiful with its emerald-encrusted hilt almost glowing in the evening darkness and graceful curve of the blade. But as Eva stared, she felt wary. Revulsion even. Whatever that sword was, she did not want it anywhere near her.
