Chapter 560: Hope’s Arrival

The wyvern’s whiplike tail snapped through the air with a crack like thunder as ice exploded from the tip. Cold shards sliced the skin of Syd’s arm, staining her shirt with blood as she blocked the attack from striking her face. Thrusting with her blade in a counterattack, Syd charged the blow with Break the Bulwark at the cost of one hundred stamina. The skill proved immediately useful as it allowed her sword staff to punch through the shield that appeared between her and the possessed beast with ease, though she winced at the perceivable drain using so much stamina put on her body. She had already expended much of the invisible resource earlier in the night, so she could feel her energy flagging as she had been given no real time to rest ever since the Playwright had confronted her in the streets. Still, the expenditure was worth it, since her blow struck true and pierced the wyvern’s chest in a killing blow.

Syd checked the notification for long enough to confirm that the wyvern had been slain before dismissing the intangible box from her mental vision. She had been surprised by presumably dead enemies showing her they still had some fight left in them far too often as of late, so she wasn’t taking any more chances. But with the battle raging all around her, she couldn’t afford to let her attention stray, either.

As her blade slipped out of the dead creature’s chest, Syd spun in midair and sliced at the stymphalia that was flying behind her. The slash missed, barely, but it forced the possessed bird to dodge to the side, which put it in range for Dys to punch its head with a hammer blow. There was another loud crack that echoed in the air above the sea as the stymphalia’s neck was broken, but Jadis noted that no notification appeared in her vision to confirm the Demon’s death. Dys didn’t chase after it as it fell from the sky to the water’s below, though. It was more important for her two selves fighting the aerial battle to stick close together. She had other options for cleanup.

Before the possessed raptor struck the water, a stone the size of a gnome curled into a ball struck it first. The midair collision created a burst of feathers and blood, as well as a new blinking notification to appear in Jadis’ mind.

“I need more rocks!” Jay shouted as she picked up another from her dwindling pile. “There are too fucking many of these assholes!”

“Keep calm,” Noll told her as he raced by her position to drop off several more stones that would make for suitable projectiles. “Their numbers are thinning.”

Keeping calm wasn’t easy. Normally, Jadis had a preternatural ability to stay focused during battle, which served her especially well in frantic fights like this one. However, with Alex giving birth to their firstborn daughter in a cave some yards away while hostile Demons attacked their position… she found that she was struggling to maintain her usually cool head.

Glancing over her shoulder to stare into the dark mouth of the cave wasn’t helping. With how the moon was angled, Jay couldn’t see into the rocky alcove, so she couldn’t visually confirm that everything was alright. She couldn’t hear anything as well, but that was normal. Even if she was in pain, Alex didn’t express herself verbally. Her childbirth wouldn’t be accompanied by screams. She also didn’t want to keep calling out to her lover, either. Not just because it would distract Alex when she was most certainly focused on a very important matter, but also because she had to keep her attention on the water.

More Demons had made their way to the island.

Jay hurled a smaller, palm-sized stone, which was still sizable considering that her height had been doubled by her Mirror Magnification spell, at the black eel-like creature that slithered up onto the shore. The notification that let her know that an essence leech had been slain quickly popped into then out of her vision as she dismissed it just as rapidly. The sneaky, soul-sucking Demon’s had just started to appear, along with other enemies capable of swimming. Or maybe they were walking under the water on the sea floor? She couldn’t imagine that the simulacrum that had tried to march up the beach had been able to float before it had been turned into hundreds of broken shards. No matter how they were making their way to the island, Jadis absolutely would not let a single one come near Alex and their soon-to-be-born child.

Noll’s blade sliced through another one of the leeches, ending its short life in an instant as he raced around the shore like a whirlwind of fangs and fur. Every creature that rose up out of the dark waters of the Siren Sea to step foot on the rocky island that wasn’t hit by one of Jay’s rocks met his sword instead. Jadis knew she would have put her all into protecting Alex no matter what, so she fully believed that she would still be managing if she was on her own, but Noll’s arrival had definitely made things easier. The vet had already killed many of the Demons that were in the little coastal village across the water before swimming over to join her. Not all of them, though, which was why more hostile Demons were rising out of the sea.

“I still haven’t seen the Seraphim!” Jay called out to Noll as he passed by her position. “Have you?”

“It might not have followed you,” the old wolf growled. “That one has been guarding Kastoria.”

“You know who he is?”

“Used to be Vitus. Strong. Fell with Kastoria.”

Strong. Jadis didn’t take that assessment lightly. Noll didn’t refer to anyone as strong unless they measured up to his standards, which meant there were plenty of elite combatants who hadn’t earned that description from the veteran mercenary. Jadis remembered the feeling of the red-feathered Seraphim’s burning smite on her skin and grimaced. It hadn’t done too much damage, but it had hurt worse than being actually set on fire, and that was something she had plenty of experience with. If the possessed Seraphim stayed in Kastoria, that would suit her just fine.

Revenge for the attack against Alex was something Jadis would be getting after she made sure her lover and child were safe.

As the minutes ticked by, Jadis saw that Noll was right. The number of flying enemies was falling off. The stymphalia and wyverns were many, but not infinite, and her two selves were able to slay them with increasing efficiency as their numbers dwindled. She hadn’t been counting, not since her attention was far more concerned with other matters, but she would be shocked if Kastoria had many flying Demons left to defend its walls after so many had been felled by her hands. It felt like they had sent out their whole aerial host after her, which had not turned out well for them.

During a brief respite in the onslaught, Dys flew higher into the air and scanned the surrounding area. It was hard to see, but now that she knew what she was looking for, she could make out the city of Kastoria in the far, far distance, even without any lights. Dys couldn’t see any more creatures flying through the air to chase after her, which meant that the Demons had either ran out of pursuers capable of flight or they were purposefully withholding some of their defenders. Either way was good for her. However, as Dys searched the skies for enemies, she also looked for any movement on the land. She remembered seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of crawling horrors making their way out of the consumed city’s walls to chase after her. It was possible that the host of landbound Demons had given up as soon as she had flown out of range, but Jadis didn’t consider herself to be that lucky.

The fog covering the ground made it hard for Dys to see anything that might be moving below it, especially combined with the lack of light. Still, she didn’t see any huge masses sprinting along the shore, which gave her some hope. Scanning the fishing village, she saw some movement there, but not much. She had no idea how many Demons Noll had slain before joining her, nor could she guess how many might still be under the waves, making an underwater approach towards the island, but it looked like at least some of the Demons had decided against further pursuit, for whatever reason.

Why exactly any of the Demons would halt in their mindless aggression was flitting through Jadis’ mind when Dys spotted a distant light on the horizon. Spinning in the air to face the glowing speck, she saw that it was coming from the southeast, several miles inland, and was moving fast. Considering the direction and the golden hue that the barely visible, indiscernible shape was emitting, there was only one answer Jadis could think of as to who the flying mote of light could be.

“Of course she followed me…”

Dys uttered a few choice words about stubborn angels under her breath as she dove back down to help her other self deal with another wyvern that was creating huge, unnatural gusts of wind with its wings. Severina stayed on her mind, that third of it at least, as she fought. She had no doubt that the Seraphim would spot her thanks to her massive glowing energy wings, but she still couldn’t help but worry that her blonde lover would somehow miss her and keep heading for Kastoria and far greater dangers.

Sev following her wasn’t what Jadis had intended, but she couldn’t deny that she needed the help that the Justicar of Light could offer. At least everyone else she had left behind was safe back in Glanum. While Jadis wasn’t certain where the Playwright was, she knew he had to be closer to her than the others, just because he had been casting his magic at her during the fight against the Demon Dragon. The asshole was powerful, but there was no way he was strong enough to cast magic over those kinds of distances. That was plain unheard of on Oros.

As Dys broke the wings of one of the remaining stymphalia and sent the flailing beast falling to the sea below, she kept a nervous eye on the golden speck. The light that she was all but certain had to be Sev reached a parallel point with Jadis and the island, then went further past, closer to Kastoria. Jadis was considering what else she could do to get the attention of the distant figure when she saw it slow, then turn and head directly towards her.

Jadis let out an internal sigh of relief. Severina had seen her, and she was coming her way. They would be able to link up in a matter of minutes. Sev could help her and Noll fight off the remaining Demons in the area, giving Alex the time and safety she needed, and then they could all head back to Glanum as fast as inhumanly possible. Jadis almost felt like she could relax. Almost.

“Severina’s coming!” Jay called out, both for Noll’s benefit, and Alex’s as well. “I don’t see any enemy reinforcements, either!”

“You won’t see them,” Noll practically barked in his gruff tone as he sliced apart another mire hound that floundered from the water onto the shore. “Tunnels.”

“Tunnels? What tunnel—”

Jay cut herself off as a flash of red light burst in the distant sky. Her attention whipped to the spot, as did the gazes of her other selves.

The rapidly growing golden speck that was Severina had ceased its advancement. Instead of flying forward, Jadis could see her light moving in rapid, tight patterns as she dodged through the air. More than that, she could see a dark red flame burning next to the golden light, crashing into it and creating shockwaves in the otherwise placid night sky.

It was the red-feathered Seraphim, Vitus. The possessed man was attacking Severina. Jadis’ first instinct was to rush over and aid her lover, but she was forced to reject that idea as soon as it came. Severina was too far from the island. Jadis couldn’t abandon Alex, not in her current condition. Not even with Noll there to help protect the Demon. Jadis had to keep at least one of her selves nearby, no matter what. She had to. But Severina…

Jadis kept one set of eyes on the battle between Seraphim as she continued to fight off the attacking Demons. She had hope that the fight would be a quick one; after all, Severina was massively more powerful than she had been before thanks to Lewd Lover’s Bond enhancing not just one, but two of her major stats. Sev could unleash dozens of smites before running out of magic, and each smite had an incredible amount of power behind it. However, as Dys and Syd finished off the last of the aerial opponents who had chased her to the island, she saw that Severina and Vitus’ fight was still going. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse, with bigger explosions of dark fire and flashes of blazing golden light.

“She’s still fighting him,” Jay ground her teeth as she looked into the distance. “She shouldn’t be having this much trouble!”

“She should at least be heading towards us,” Dys said as she landed on the rocky beach. “Gods, this is already messy as shit and it’s getting worse.”

“If you need to go after her…” Noll growled as he came to a stop next to Jay.

The number of Demons crawling up from the sea had slackened, but Jadis had no doubts that there were more. She just couldn’t bring herself to leave Alex’s side, not when her safety wasn’t guaranteed. Not even if it was.

“I can’t…”

Noll grunted in a knowing way. Rolling his shoulders, he motioned with an empty hand for Jay to go towards the cave where Alex was hidden.

“I’ll go after her. Sky fighting isn’t easy for me, but I’ll figure something out.”

“Thanks,” Jay breathed out, her chest feeling tighter than normal. “I… I really appreciate it, Noll.”

As Syd landed next to Dys, the two of Jadis struck at the lesser Demons that were even then still emerging from the sea. Noll attacked a few of them as well, but he was already putting his sword away as he prepared to cross the water again. In the meantime, Jay rushed inside of the small cave, ducking low so that she could fit inside.

“Alex?” she called out, seeing her lover’s neon-blue markings in the dark. “Are you doing okay? What can I do to help? Are… you…”

Jay’s voice trailed off as the light of her white plasma tendrils illuminated Alex. And the small figure cradled in her arms.

“Jadis…” Alex said in a hushed, almost reverent tones. “She is… Here… Meet our… Hope…”

It felt like the world under her feet had fallen away as all other thoughts and concerns fled her mind. She couldn’t even remember what she had been about to say not a second before. The whole of her existence had focused down until it was just the two beings who lay before her. Even her other selves had gone still as stone.

Jay fell to one knee before the Demon curled up in the back of the dark, stone alcove. She couldn’t truly believe what she was seeing was real. Not without touching to confirm. Reaching out with a shaking hand, she saw the dark blood of her enemies still staining her pale skin and pulled away, immediately regretting the very concept of bringing something cruel and horrible into the presence of the two in front of her. Before she could fully withdraw, one of Alex’s tentacles wrapped around her arm and pulled her close again, wiping away any of the foul remains that lingered until she was once again clean as fresh snow.

“Hope?” Jay asked, her voice trembling so much she couldn’t recognize herself.

“Hope…” Alex grinned more widely and with more joy than Jadis had ever seen on her face. “She is… Our Hope…”

Jay leaned closer, her forehead pressing against her lover’s as she looked down at the Hope that they had created together.

She was the most beautiful thing Jadis had ever seen in her life.

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