Store liberation

We arrived at the intersection before the department store, after rushing over on foot. We saw police tape lining the outside of the southwest entrance and orange cones that help redirect traffic from the area.

Did they really set this up in the short time it took to get here, I thought, seeing some curious civilians standing across the street, filming the whole ordeal on their cellphones.

"Has anything come out of the gates," Cristal asked the brown-haired Slayer that was observing from the outside.

"From the looks of it, we have three minotaurs and a few Whispers in the building," he answered, noticing her face slightly clenching up. "A team was sent in to rescue any civilians left behind, so we're still waiting on them."

"Alright, thanks for the info," she signaled for us to be on stand by raising her right hand. "We'll handle this." She began walking in with the rest of us following close behind her.

"Wait, that's not part of the procedure," he got in front of her, extending both of his arms out. "Let the rescue team come out with better information; then we'll come up with a plan."

"Right, and run the risk of those Whispers getting out?" She walked past his display. "Not a chance; we'll neutralize them before they even get a chance to corrupt anyone."

He didn't know what to say after that and let them pass by, trusting the confident leader he had just met.

We walked in the store with the heavy hitters upfront, mages in the center, assassins on the flanks, and Jacob along with Besute guarding the rear.

"Cristal," Ivanka called out to her before they were fully inside. "My powers will get in your way. I'll take my team and secure the perimeter along with the police."

"Alright," She turned from the front of the group, giving her a thumbs-up, "good luck."

Once inside, Cristal asked Tiresias to search the surrounding area using the spell he'd used in the pool that one day.

"Right on with the three minotaurs," he acted as if he could see her as he turned. "I would say around 13 Whispers in total, some in groups and some alone, as well as three injured."

After he finished, we heard a sudden crash coming from the men's clothing section.

With that split-second distraction, Tiresias lost hold of some of his awareness only to gain it back the next second, seeing the movement that had already begun.

"Max behind you," he softly shouted, fearing that it would draw attention to us.

Without thinking, I swung my arm behind me, expecting to hit something before my eyes caught up, but the second I felt my arm connect, it latched on to me with an immeasurable grip.

"Don't look into its eyes," Cristal shouted as I got a good look at what was on me.

It reminded me of a gray squid with the suction cups that lined its long but thin tentacle. I tried reaching for my dagger at my side, but it used its other tentacles, restraining my left arm before I could even reach halfway down.

Time felt as if it was slowing down when I saw where the two flaps of its eyelids were, seeing them slowly open, revealing the ocean blue gems they were hiding.

My vision went dark after that short glimpse, feeling as if someone was covering my eyes while I tumbled to the ground. But I was still able to hear Emily cast "iron binding," followed by the sound of meat being roughly cut, followed by it hitting the floor.

'Rose,' I called out.

Only silence followed as the figurative coverings lifted from my eyes, seeing a blurry Jacob shaking me senselessly.

"Are you alright?" he helped me get up.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I took a look at the bruises it had left up and down my arm. "Does this need to be treated?"

"No, you should be fine," Cristal said, stepping closer. "So tell me, how did you feel about the eyes," her face full of anticipation.

"They were amazing," I looked down at the carcass Besute was poking at with his sword as I explained, frantically remembering the details of those legendary eyes. "They were treasures of the sea."

"Alright," she let out a sigh of relief, tapping my right shoulder, "glad you're ok."

After that, I had my dagger ready for the rest of our silent walk, still wondering what could have happened if I looked longer at those eyes. Tiresias pointed out some lone Whispers to take out as we make our way over to the racket that was the men's section.

We hid in the clothing aisles, quietly watching as one of the minotaurs fought off three Whispers that had clung on to it.

"We're dealing with intelligent monsters," Markus told the group, continuing to look onto the battle. "The minotaur is purposely squinting their eyes to avoid the trancing effect."

The minotaur had a red tone to its skin, held a stone cleaver in its right hand with two slightly curling horns near its pointy ears, and seemed to have a reflective gem necklace.

"I could take care of them in one go," he told Cristal, getting up from his nealed position.

"Try to keep it small."

He extended his arm towards the minotaur, placing an imaginative target on it as it frantically stomped around, swinging its cleaver right over its skin.

"Now, incinerate," he said, followed by a small ring of blue fire that rapped the ground around the minotaur, engulfing it in flames as the silhouette of the monster slowly began to disintegrate.

But we didn't get a chance to admire the light show as right after the heat cooled down we heard the sound of two loud pairs of footsteps heading towards us from different directions.

"One coming from my right and the other in front," Tiresias shouted.

Donavan stepped up, ready to meet the one in front along with some of the other heavy hitters.

Cristal did the same, but with the one coming from the right. As she heard the footsteps speed up, she sent electrical currents to the metal objects in the section, effortlessly guiding them to her and pointing them towards the noise.

Once the minotaur came into view of Donavan and the others, it stopped like it knew it wasn't a good idea to rush in, even with the stone sword in its hand.

Donavan didn't give it a chance to think as he immediately rushed in, closing the distance that the minotaur left the second he sprung from the ground with the others following behind him.

The minotaur was quick to react, using the flat side of its sword to swat at Donavan, sensing he was the strongest.

Those behind him observed as the air behind him began to turn a faded orange and saw as his fist connected near the center of the sword shattering it as if it were glass. The opening allowed the other to dive right in and finish it off without a struggle.

Cristal quickly took out her minotaur, blinding it with the tips of metal hangers as soon as it showed its face, and impaled the rest of its body by rapidly firing metal tubes, bolts, screws, and wires.

"Man, I feel useless," I muttered to myself.

"Me too," Stella said, now next to me, watching the events unfold. "I was planning on blinding them with light," she sighed, "but things ended too quickly."

"I feel like I would have gotten squashed by those things."

"Most likely would," she smugly said, looking at me with a dumb grin.

"You're not funny," my voice full of dry sarcasm as I sharply shook my head.

She softly laughed and then headed to go help finish getting rid of the rest of the Whispers in the store.

"So we have a green one here and a light blue one three sections south," Cristal referred to the portal in front of us. "Since you 12 have already handled a portal, you all can take this one," she pointed to the yellow one.

"But that's yellow," I muttered.

"Just one second, everybody," she finished saying as she walked through the yellow portal.

"What!!!??" Joseph turned as he looked at the rest of us.

"She's scouting the area," Donavan answered, "just in case we need to find a way for you to blend in."

After a minute of waiting, she returned and told us to sit tight before we entered as our clothes would make us stick out like a sore thumb.

One call and 15 minutes of talking later the clothes had arrived along with Ivanka and David's team. They were similar to the ones we wore to the first portal on the island, with the difference being more holsters and pockets.

"Markus," Cristal called out, noticing him picking up the gems that were around the minotaur's necks.

"Yes," he stopped in place to look at her.

"Give each of them a gem, we don't know specifically what kind of currency they use, but rocks are valuable everywhere."

He sighed and reluctantly handed each of us a gem. When we finished changing, we stepped into the portal onto what next awaited us.