Barring a Miracle

"Kosi! No!" Noble rushed to the Symncus's side in a moment. Already the teeth and inside of his mouth were coated with the disastrous poison of Counsel's creation.

More foam fell on the ground, making a hole around the creature's furry face. 

"It was self-defense!" Ender screamed. 

"He was defending me!" Noble's face grew red with indignation. "Stay with me, Kosi, please!"

Kosi groaned and spit up more vile liquid. The ground around him was quickly disappearing. So were the rows of sharp teeth in his mouth. 

"It's no use," Ender turned away clutching the black Heart to his chest. "You have to move him before the ground collapses entirely." 

He pointed to the pile of broken glass.

Another earthquake's rumble reluctantly forced Noble into action.

With great speed, she arranged the glass into a makeshift bed on the ground before laying Kosi on top of it. And just in time, the place where he was cracked and caved in on itself.

The earth was beginning to crumble.

But Noble didn't care. The whole world could fall apart right now as long as Kosi survived.

"He should have listened," Ender's words incensed Noble.

"You should have listened!" She shot back. "Everything is falling apart because of you!" Noble held back the tears in her eyes. "Hold on!" She told Kosi gently. 

She turned away, her eyes swirling like two hurricanes.

She would avenge her faithful friend and protector.

The estoc in her hand gleamed with the incandescent light of the essence flowing through it.

"You!" She screamed a second time.

But before she could take down the horrible human, something more horrible shrieked from behind.

Attracted by the smell of coming death, the first of the corrupted abominations dove from the sky.

Noble turned in time to see the monster seeking to gorge itself on uncorrupted flesh.

The flying creature had no cargo like it had during the last battle, which is why it was so much faster than the bulk of the horde. Up close, Noble could see a humanoid figure trapped beneath the stretched skin of the pallid abdomen.

It ducked its head, diving toward Kosi with blinding speed.

But it never found its mark.

Guided by Noble, the Unlikely End sailed through the air without its master.

It plummeted deep into the abysmal creature, barely slowing down to deal the devastating blow of its enchantment.

The flesh melted away like butter as the creature did not even have time to scream.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Soaring Sentinel.]

Noble paid the voice of the Spell no attention as she continued to guide the estoc on its path of destruction.

The next target would be another beast: Counsel.

As if anticipating the strike, Ender cried out. 

The whites of his eyes clouded with darkness as he gripped the Heart in both hands. The ball pulsed as the pounding became audible. Then, about the time it looked like it would burst, it disintegrated, releasing tenebrous more wisps of smoke in every direction.

The formless darkness snaked up Counsel's arms and then filtered into his nostrils. 

He gasped, clawing at his chest.

A burst of power flew out from Ender, blowing dirt and debris in every direction.

The shockwave hit Noble like a wrecking ball, knocking her back. The glass around Kosi shattered into a fine mist, covering him with a fine powder. Kosi closed his eyes, his body convulsing from the impact. 

But it was the [Unlikely End] that suffered the most. As Noble was closer than her Memory, she was hit with the wave a millisecond before. Her focus was disrupted, causing the estoc to turn tip down as gravity took hold. 

So when the percussive force slammed into it, the whole of the weapon suffered. Small cracks formed on the metal surface of the blade and the handles. The Memory was breaking. 

"No!" Noble dismissed it a moment before it was destroyed entirely. The Memory returned to her soul sea for another day, but it would be of no use to her right now. She summoned the [Ruby Tear] in its place.

Noble watched in horror while the new weapon manifested in her hand.

Fissures on the ground formed below Counsel's feet, joining quickly with the others there from the earth's angry rumblings. 

Ender's eyes remained dark and uncomprehending while he continued to grab at his chest. If not for his armor, the soldier would have torn his clothes to claw at his skin. As it was the nails on his fingers were becoming bloodied from the effort. 

'Incoming!' Noble heard the voice in her head as she sensed a figure in the shadows. 

She could not see Nickel with her eyes, but her senses told her that he had a weapon like a crossbow in his hands. It seemed vaguely familiar. It was the same weapon he had used on the rooftop against her all those months ago. 

Nic aimed carefully. "Die, you worthless piece of..." 

The projectile flew straight at Counsel. It hit him directly in the chest, piercing a hole through the armor.

But it dissipated as it hit the man's skin. Ender barely seemed to notice or even care. 

A smirk twisted onto Counsel's face. He stopped his wild scratching. He looked down at where his armor had been pierced and cackled with maniacal laughter. 

"Yes!" He yelled. "I have done it." 

Another projectile followed the first, but it missed as Ender took a step forward. 

"I--" Counsel's smile faded as the sky darkened. The horde was here, blotting out the sun for their incoming master. 

The first of the creeping creatures were circling above attached to their flying counterparts. Any moment, the Nightmarish cargo would be dropped on the citizens of Crestfall to devour as many as they could. 

"You have done it alright!" Noble cried out as the Ruby Tear completed manifesting. 

She lunged forward to cut off the man's head, but she never got the chance. 

Another Sentinel dove from the sky at top speed, its claws outstretched with talons of steel. The Sentinel scooped up Ender and lifted him into the air, shaking him mercilessly as they went. 

"No! Put me down!" Ender reached for his sword to slay the wild beast, but the abomination's wild flight made the task impossible. 

Using his brute strength, he pried open the creature's claw. Counsel fell a short way through the air before being caught up by another of the flying creatures. 

The first two Sentinels were joined by a third and then a fourth. More swarmed, each trying to get their hands on the man who now possessed the Heart of their Lord. 

One of them alone might not have posed a huge threat, but the volume of creatures assaulting Counsel with tooth and nail was overwhelming. 

On the ground, Noble and Nickel were completely ignored as every available flying beast clustered around Ender. 

"No!" 

But it was too late. As one, the Sentinels took to the sky with Counsel in the center. Higher and higher they went until they were indiscernible from the rest of the horde overhead. 

Counsel shrieked, then went silent as he fought for his life. 

It was a losing battle.

It didn't matter if he was torn apart or died from the catastrophic fall. 

Barring a miracle, Ender was gone.