Chapter 28: Dark Skies

Squad 6 ascended the mountain and scanned the battlefield littered with broken branches and disturbed earth. Hyorine led the charge. She caught sight of the two bodies sprawled out ahead. Didi and Saya lay motionless, bloodied and beaten.

Hyorine halted with her eyes narrowing. "Looks like Muffet's still busy... She would've already been here otherwise," she muttered under her breath.

"Medic team, forward!" Hyorine commanded. The two medics stepped forward without hesitation. One of them, a young woman with short pink hair and gentle blue eyes immediately knelt beside the fallen warriors. Her fingers began to glow with soft healing energy. She carefully tended to their wounds while holding onto a calm look on her face.

Hyorine's eyes swept across the battlefield. It was too quiet. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. "This isn't right..." she whispered. “The enemy wouldn't just leave them here, not like this.”

"Stay alert," she ordered. She instinctively reached for her weapon. She thought ‘... This is a trap."

An ominous wave of darkness swept over the clearing, casting an unsettling chill through the air. Tension rippled through Squad 6 as they exchanged worried glances, the medics' hands still glowing as they worked. The atmosphere felt heavy, oppressive, like the calm before a storm.

Then, the scream pierced the stillness, sharp and shrill. Hyorine’s heart raced as she turned to the source of the sound, only to see a pack of Lycans emerging from the shadows, eyes glinting with feral hunger.

“Look out!” The shout came too late.

In that instant, the nurse, still tending to Saya and Didi, nearly met her demise. A Lycan lunged at her, claws poised to strike, but in a flash, Sinque was there, grabbing the nurse's hand and yanking her to safety at the last moment.

“Whew! You just saved my buttocks!” the medic gasped, her voice trembling with relief as she stumbled back.

Sinque took a deep breath, her face pale. “That was way too close,” she replied, still shaken. “We can’t lose you. You’re one of our only two medics!”

Just then, the other medic, Tayona appeared. Her red hair tied in pigtails bounced while rushing over“What’s this? I almost lost mah head!”

Hyorine's focus sharpened while surveying the area. It was grim. They had lost a few members in the chaos. Half of their lifeless bodies littered the ground. The other half was consumed by the Lycans. A sickening feeling twisted in her stomach.

From the edge of the darkness, Yokuni emerged, perched elegantly on Cerebro's shoulder. A predatory smile graced her lips. She approached the squad with a chilling confidence.

“You all made it far too easy for us to ambush you,” she said in a smooth tone. The Lycans circled the squad with rumbling growls like thunder. Yokuni's gaze glinted with malice. “I commend you for lasting against the initial wave I sent to deal with you but sadly, you’ve walked right into our den.”

With a flourish, she gestured to her pack. “Rejoice, my friends! Your supper has arrived!”

The air filled with the snarls and howls of the hungry creatures.

With a swift motion, Hyorine unsheathed her blade. The other members of Squad 6 followed suit.

“We have to stand our ground here!” Hyorine declared despite the fear simmering beneath the surface.

“‘Stand your ground,’ you say?” Yokuni echoed. A laughter soon after bubbled from her lips.. Cerebro joined in the laughter.

Yokuni's eyes sparkled with malicious delight. “I believe showing a Lieutenant turned Lycan will surely be a huge surprise to your precious Captain Muffet. It’ll be an eye for an eye.” She smiled widely.

While observing the entire squad, she took notice to the trembling among them all, and a dark satisfaction danced in her gaze. “How pitiful. Look at you all, shaking with fear.”

Hyorine’s grin broke through the tension. “You don’t get it…That same fear is why we will win.”

The words hung in the air. This strange confidence seemed to confuse Yokuni. Her brow furrowed.

Without warning, the Lycans charged, a wave of snarling ferocity. The members of Squad 6 sprang into action with their swords clashing against the claws. Spells of Mystcry burst forth, lighting up the darkened mountain. For a moment, it seemed they gained the upper hand in fending off the advancing beasts.

But the Lycans began using the rugged environment of the mountain to their advantage, strategically pushing the squad members toward the edge. With a terrifying roar, one Lycan lunged and caused several squad members to stumble and fall off the ledge with echoing screams released before they descended into the void below.

“Stay behind me!” Sinque shouted. She swung her sword with unpracticed conviction and gripped it with both hands. “I’ll protect you!”

Tayona raised an eyebrow. “Really? You look ready to burst!”

The pink-haired medic quickly encouraged Sinque, “Just do your best! We’re counting on you!”

At that moment, Cerebro charged at Hyorine. She steeled herself and charged back.She clashed his claws in a violent collision.

Cerebro was thrust back slightly, but Yokuni’s focus remained locked on Hyorine. With a predatory grace, she jumped off of Cerebro's shoulders. “ Cerebro, Handle her, but don’t consume her. I need her to be turned.”

Cerebro growled in agreement. “That works for me.”

Hyorine’s eyes narrowed onto Yokuni. She thought, ‘That woman must have the Divine Blade on her…’ She recalled the reports they received from Didi. ‘But it looks like we may have arrived too late to save those trapped in the cages. At least now we know what that woman must have done….She turned them into Lycans.’

She felt a surge of resolve coursing through her veins. ‘I can't allow myself to be turned into one of them.’ The grotesque thought filled her with disgust.

Cerebro lunged at her, but she made a quick sidestep in order to evade a powerful swipe. She struck back under the moonlight and aimed for his shoulder. The clash of their combat sent a shockwave through the air.’ If I can just take down this beast...’

Hyorine pivoted swiftly and maneuvered around Cerebro. She began to chant. “Mystcry Arts #30, Cutting Lights!”

With a fluid motion, she raised her free hand and launched the beam of radiant forth toward Cerebro but it merely bounced off with a burst of sparks.

Cerebro chuckled darkly. “Did you truly think your Mystcry would be enough? Did you know the Senodokidatsu come with their own type of Mystcry as well?”

A golden aura enveloped him.. Hyorine’s eyes widened in realization. With a sneer, Cerebro continued, “Some of us Lycans possess powers you’ve never seen before, though most of us forgo that elemental nonsense for the raw physical power it provides.”

The blackness of his skin began to flake, revealing a sandy texture underneath. The particles swirled around him like a violent dust storm. “But me and my brother Calibro are not like the others.” The Sand coiled around him like a living entity. “This is my element: Sand.”

In an instant, Cerebro thrust his hands forward and the sand erupted from him in a deadly wave toward Hyorine like a torrent of razor-sharp shards. The sudden rush of grit and grain bombarded her.

Hyorine danced through the storm of sand. She narrowly evaded each deadly wave from Cerebro. Each time the gritty onslaught came crashing down, she noted how he left a portion of sand on the ground around her.

She also noticed the pattern in his attacks. Cerebro seemed to hesitate just before launching his next strike, giving her the opening she needed.

“Now’s my chance!” she thought. “Mystcry Arts #18: Step of Shadow!”

As she chanted, a dark glow enveloped her body which increased her speed. She moved like a shadow between the waves of sand.

She thrusted her blade and aimed directly for Cerebro’s chest but when her sword connected, she felt a jarring resistance. The blade met his skin, but there was no damage; instead, grains of sand began to pour from his body, cascading down her blade.

“What?!” she gasped, thrusting herself back in an instinctive motion. She extended her sword and tried to shake off the creeping sand that sought to envelop her weapon.

Hyorine’s growl echoed in the cold night air.

Cerebro spoke with amusement. “The moment I released my power was the moment this ended. No Mystcry spell can save you now.”

With a flick of his wrist, the sand around him surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing toward her with unrelenting force.

Hyorine felt a moment of panic. The grains slipped into her clothes, clung to her skin, and obscured her vision. She was lost in the swirling storm.

“Hyorine!” Sinque shouted from her location. Sinque was engaged in her own battle, fending off a trio of Lycans with an array of mystcry spells but even as she unleashed her magic, she couldn’t ignore the sight of her Lieutenant disappearing beneath the suffocating sands.

“Hang on!” Sinque cried while evading a Lycan’s claw swipe. The other Lycans kept her occupied which made it difficult for her to move towards Hyorine.

The tension among the remaining members of Squad 6 began to shift when they saw Cerebro’s overwhelming power. Whispers of fear trickled through the ranks.

“Things just got even shittier,” one of them muttered with concern. “Well girls, you all know what we gotta do, right?”

They exchanged glances, and something dark yet exhilarating passed among them. While facing off against the Lycans, they struck with renewed vigor. Eerie smiles crept onto their faces. The fear that had once gripped them transformed into a fierce resolve.

“Kick their asses! No more casualties!” one squad member shouted.

“I’m gonna survive no matter what!” another added while raising her weapon high.

With a unified roar, they channeled their energy into their spells, sending forth a barrage of magic that crackled with newfound strength. Lightning surged, flames roared, and beams of energy sliced through the night. They tore through the Lycans that dared to approach them.

“Let’s show them what squad 6 is all about!” one shouted, and together they charged into the fray.

The world spun around Hyorine. She teetered on the edge of the mountain with her breaths shallow and labored. Cerebro loomed before her.

“Now, now,” he drawled with a wicked grin twisting his lips. “I’m not supposed to kill you. A drop like that would be… unfortunate.” With a flick of his wrist, the sand at his feet obeyed his command, rising like a serpent poised to strike. It thrust forward, slamming into Hyorine's back with a brutal force that sent her away from the cliff.

Hyorine grunted as pain lanced through her. She struggled to push herself up. The rocky terrain was biting into her palms. “Looks like I’ll have to dream…” she muttere. Her mind drifted, painting visions in the darkness—a dream of defeating Cerebro, a dream of saving her squad, a dream of Captain Muffet’s praises echoing in her ears, and a dream of obtaining that Divine Blade from Yokuni. Each image flickered like a star in her mind.

Cerebro chuckled darkly. “What good is dreaming? You’re standing on the brink of despair, and yet you wanna cling to foolish dreams? ”

Hyorine shook her head. She pointed her blade outward and it began to pulse with energy. “Dreams are powerful,” she declared despite the tremor of pain that echoed within her. A darkness began to swirl around her sword, coalescing into a luminous aura. “The moon’s power is one of dreams, and it is a power that’s with me.”

The moment those words left her lips, the darkness around her blade transformed into a radiant energy that illuminated the night. An electric charge seemed to resonate with the very essence of her spirit. She felt the connection between her dreams and the reality she fought to shape.

“I will turn this dream into reality…Dream, Lunarise!”

At her command. A soft, silvery glow enveloped her blade. The Lunar Moon charm at the hilt of her sword pulsed with radiant energy. Its light was dancing like stars against the backdrop of the dark sky.

The blade, now fully transformed held a moonlit aura. It seemed to hum with newfound power.