Void Domain, Book 08 полностью

“But you said that perhaps these humans might be able to assist in your decision,” Eva said, turning her stare on to Zoe.

“Right,” the professor said after clearing her throat. She shifted slightly, even less comfortable now than she had been when first approaching the doll. “Well, if no crime was committed, there shouldn’t be a punishment, right? There wasn’t even any intention in the actions.”

Still staring at the sky, the doll made no indication that she had even heard Zoe. “I need to reestablish contact.”

Eva followed her gaze up to the sky.

And noticed something.

A white crackling stood out against the blue sky, the clouds, and the violet streaks.

Eva’s head spun. Everything hurt. She couldn’t think straight and she couldn’t see straight. The only thing she could see was a blinding whiteness.

Her memories were hazy. A vague sensation of seeing something dangerous followed by pain.

The crackling white in the sky. That had to be it. She saw it and had activated her shield. Had she shouted out to warn the others? No? She couldn’t think properly.

Everything hurt.

But she was alive. She had to be. If she was dead, she would be in that hallway again. Or the darkness she had fallen into when Ylva tested out her theory. There was far too much pain for either of those options.

As time trickled on, she started to gain an awareness of her surroundings. Not through her eyes, those were still out of action at the moment. But concentrating hard enough let her sense the blood of those around her.

Has it always taken so much concentration to see blood?

Arachne was at her side. As expected of Arachne. She was even on her feet. All eight of them. Arachne had shifted into her largest form at some point.

Possibly because she was fighting.

What was she fighting? A human? If so, it was a very fast human. They jumped around, Arachne slashing with her claws while the human waved around his arms as if he were swinging a club.

It couldn’t be the doll.

That’s right, we were here to talk to the doll. The doll wanted to imprison me.

But the doll hadn’t attacked. Even if it had, Eva couldn’t see the doll through her sense of blood.

Then who had attacked?

Wayne and Zoe should have been nearby. Eva couldn’t sense either of them. Maybe they had been vaporized without a shield to take the brunt of the attack. Maybe she had managed to warn them in time for them to teleport away. She hoped so, but she wouldn’t be able to find out for sure until she managed to get off the ground.

Turning her attention to herself, Eva would have cringed had she not been too busy being in a world of hurt.

Her body was very reminiscent of Wayne’s body immediately after they had gone to Zoe’s house to clear out the demons attacking the place. He had ended up scorched badly enough to require medical treatment from experts at an elven hospital. Not really an option for Eva at the moment.

At least she knew why her body ached so much.

But Arachne was fighting. Fighting someone fast. Someone using a sword. And the sky had cracked.

Eva shuddered.

If she was right, Arachne was fighting the demon hunter who had vanquished Zagan.

Eva needed to get up. She needed to help. Arachne was large, tough, and strong, but she was no Zagan.

And it had to be that hunter. He was the one who had chased them down in the wilderness. His partner must be the one who cracked the sky. Eva hadn’t thought that they would be so cowardly as to attack the school while regular students were around. They hadn’t so far, anyway.

Maybe Eva had been just too juicy of a target. With both her and Arachne essentially standing still along with Zoe—who essentially lived with Ylva—how could the hunters not attack? Wayne might have been a casualty of it all, but Eva doubted they would care. Especially not with him being friends with Zoe.

What about the doll? Did they know who or what she was? Did they care? Did she get hit as well? Maybe they had watched her kill the other demon and assumed that she was another hunter. They might have aimed their spell just enough to miss her.

Eva was guessing that the doll was still alive. Being unable to sense her at all made the guess all the more uncertain.

The hunter kept dodging to the side or locking his blade with something that Eva couldn’t see. Now that she was starting to think properly again, she could easily see that there was another combatant fighting against the hunter. One that Eva couldn’t detect through her sense of blood.

Eva really needed to get her eyes working properly again. All the maybes and mights needed to become certainties. Maybes and mights got people killed.