46: Star Child: Dunes of Tolapo XII

I channeled volt attribute mana into my legs, careful to just cycled the man through my legs and not accidently send lightning bolts flying when I stepped. My speed increased threefold as I ran circles around the ascended, it hissed angrily and tried to snap me. I easily dodged it and countered with a swift kick to its eye. Lightning arched from my foot to the ascended's head. Not enough to seriously hurt it but it stunned it for several seconds.

I carefully kept watch on my mana. It felt like by channeling it this way I was only expending mana when I attacked with my legs. Actively channeling mana as I was didn't expend any, so I could keep using it to increase my speed without worrying about running dry.

Shaking off the shock it let out a vicious roar and lunged at me. I dodged and ran inside the school building through the courtyard door with the ascended on my tail. I grabbed onto the doorframe and made a quick turn down the hall as the ascended crashed through the doorframe and let out a sonic screeches. It reverberated down the wall, knocking me off my feet and into one of the class rooms on the first floor.

"FUCK!!!" I cried. The ascended crashed into the room and hissed. "FUCK OFF!"

I popped my claws and scampered to my feet. The ascended spat a wad of venom at me but I jumped to the side barely dodging the attack then slashed at the side of its jaw. It's scales were tougher than I was expecting and my claws bounced of.

'Shit!' I thought.

The ascended turned its head to snap at me. I kicked off its head to put some distance between us then jumped through the window outside to the front of the school. The ascended followed after me, crashing through the classroom wall. I spun on my heel and charged the ascended, jumping on top of his head and then using it as a spring board to launch myself onto the second floor.

I landed through the window and that Iris and I crashed through earlier and ran through the class room into the hallway. I ran until l saw a window and facing the courtyard.

The stone building that the Indra'a and the kids were hiding in had completely disappeared. Astrid was hiding behind a large piece of rubble casting an enchantment spell sigil.

"Astrid! Is it done?!" I yelled out the window.

"Yes!" she screamed back.

A large back shadow fell over Astrid and I looked up and saw the ascended flying in a circle over the courtyard. I channeled mana into one of my sigil sheets and cast a offensive spell sigil. I held my hand out the wind as wind started to gather in my palm. I aimed at the ascended and snapped my fingers. A blade of wind flew towards the ascended aimed for its head, it sensed the attack and dodged it but not completely. The blade completely severed its right wing.

The ascended let out a pained screech as it fell to the ground, trying it hardest to keep itself aloft with its one remaining wing. It crashed a few yards away from Astrid and thrashed widely, screeching and hissing.

"Now!" I yelled out the window. Astrid stood up from behind the rubble and cast her enchantment spell sigil.

Nine massive swords of light formed above the ascended and embedded themselves in the ground around it in a circle. Chains of light shot from the hilts of each sword and wrapped around the ascended and anchored it in place.

"Yes!" Astrid exclaimed pumping her fist into the air.

The ascended bucked and shook trying to get free but the spell was holding fast. I smirked and held up my last spell sigil sheets.

"This is over." I said and started to channel mana into my hand.

The ascended stopped struggling suddenly and pointed its head in the air. It let out a loud droning noise similar to a tornado siren. I covered my ears and felt to my knees as all the glass shattered around me. My ears were ringing again as I stood and walked looked out the window. The ascended was still caught in Astrid's spell something felt wrong.

It had ceased struggling and was staring angrily at me. I started the channel mana again when I suddenly heard something, it sounded like a thousand dull beats in the wind coming from every direction. My eyes widened as it suddenly dawned on me what the noise was.

"Astrid get inside now!" I yelled. She looked up at me incredulously then froze, her eyes grew wide and she took a few steps back. A wave darkness fell over the school. I looked up and saw a massive swarm of Dr'idi'saiyo gathering high above us, coming from all over the village.

Without thinking I jumped out of the window into the courtyard. My knees screamed murder as I landed from the second story but I ignored them and ran at Astrid. Still channeling bolt attribute mana into my legs I reached her in a matter of seconds then threw her over my shoulder and ran back toward the school. We reached the courtyard door just, as the swarm descended. It was like a tsunami of flesh and fangs descended pushing everything away from its center.

Astrid and I barely made inside before the wave of evos came crashing at the school building's walls. Astrid screamed as I rushed through the school building and ran up the stairs, the wave of evos just behind us. We reached the second floor and stairwell and had to rush up to the third, not easy with a person on your shoulder. The Dr'idi'saiyo didn't try to follow us to the third floor, more preoccupied with whatever order the ascended had given them. Once on the third floor I quickly found a window then set Astrid down.

"Shit!" I gasped.

The swarm surrounded the ascended seemingly protecting it and trying to destroy Astrid's spell. The building that the girls and kids were in was no longer hidden. A dome of ice surrounded the building, and four walls of stone blocked the Dr'idi'saiyo from getting it near it. The courtyard was filled to bursting with the evos and tens of thousands more still were circling above.

"We can't do this…" Astrdi gasped and fell to her knees.

"Astrid don't go soft on me now!" I snapped as looked down at her.

"Are you fucking mental? Do you not see all those evos! We can't stop something like this! Not on our own!" She snapped back. She shook her head and looked away. "We'll have to leave and get help!"

"Iris and Jane are still out there! We leave them and those evos attack they won't stand a chance!" I barked.

"How do they stand a chance with us here now? Does that spell you were planning to cast strong enough to kill all those evos like that black hole spell ealier?!"

I held up the spell sigil sheet and shook my head. It was a offensive spell that shaped lightning into a spear to kill a single target. It wouldn't work on all of the evos outside. Astrid scowled at me.

"Then what the hell can we do for them?" She demanded. I glanced put the window at the mass of Dr'idi'saiyo trying desperately to free the ascended.

"How long will your spell last?" I asked. She frowned at me but replied.

"Another five minutes. They're not attacking the blades with magic so they won't shatter, same with the chains."

I nodded then ran into the nearest classroom. I ran over to the teachers desk and started rummaging through it. Astrid followed me into the room and gasped.

"What are you doing?! We need to go and get help."

'This is a school so they should have it somewhere! Please let Tolapo schools be like American ones!' I thought as I ignored Astrid.

I opened the last drawer on the desk and chuckled triumphantly. Inside were sheets of paper, drawing utensils, and a math compass. I grabbed all of it out of the drawer and placed them on the desk. Hearing me chuckle Astrid walked over to see what I was doing.

I looked at the spell sigil I had planned to use. It was shit. The circle that encompasses the runes was sloppy and crooked, the runes themselves were barely legible, and the paper they were written on was crumpled. It was a wonder my spell sigils worked at all let alone so effectively.

"You asked what I can do to help Iris and Jane?" I asked Astrid as I started drawing another spell sigil. I used the compass to make a perfect circle then as carefully as possible I drew the runes I wanted. Astrid gasped softly and shook her head when she realized what I was doing.

"That's not going to work!" She exclaimed.

I ignored her and kept on writing my spell. My hand started cramping but I ignored the pain as I wrote the last rune and closed the sigil with another circle. The sound of something shattering in the courtyard caught both Astrid and mines attention. We both rushed out into the hallway to the closest window in tike too see the ascended breaking out of Astrid's spell.

"You better hope this works or we're both dead along with Iris, Jane and the others!" I exclaimed as I started channeling mana into my hand. The man flowed instantly into the sigil, more than I expected. I felt light headed as the paper started to burn away and I began to cast the axiom spell sigil.

The ascended roared, sending its underlings scattering into the skies. I threw my hand into air and the spell sigil shot from my hand high above the school before it expanded. The sigil encompassed the school grounds entirely before turning pitch black like the night sky.

I felt weak in the knees and leaned against the window sill. The ascended and all of the Dr'idi'saiyo looked cautiously up at the sky. Millions of tiny lights started to appear in the spells black expanse. Resembling stars almost, though with every new star that appeared I started to feel weaker and weaker. When the finally started appeared beams of light appeared around the edges of the spell sigil and encased the entire area in a giant cage. The ascended must have realized what was going on because it suddenly hissed and darted towards the school building.

It realized too late. The millions of little stars rained down like a shower of arrows. The air filled with the pained screams of the Dr'idi'saiyo, the sound of tearing and piercing flesh, and a red mist of blood from the sheer number of the Dr'idi'saiyo that were being killed.

"Impossible…" Astrid muttered as she stumbled back shaking her head. A look of pure shock and disbelief on her face.

The Ascended screeched in pain as it fought through the hail of magic arrows trying to get to the supposed safety of the school building. As I crossed the threshold many of the light arrows changed trajectories and continued to assault it. At least three feet of its tail was cut off by a couple of the arrows.

Astrid and I hurried into the classroom behind us to look out the windows facing the road. The ascended crashed through the school wall, it's body was bloodied and covered in deep gashes, at least a hundred of the magic arrows we sticking out of it's back. It made a beeline for the alley but the mouth of the alley was blocked off by the cage at the edge of the spell sigil.

'It's trapped…" I thought feeling a sense of relief washing over me but that relief was quickly taken away when I remember what else was near the mouth of the alley.

"No! It'll get away!" I screamed.

"What?" Astrid gasped.

The ascended changed corse and went straight for the well next to the mouth of the alley. It jumped into the air then dove into the well, taking several more hits. A good chunk of the swarm tried to follow it but my spell quickly cut them down. Two minutes later the last of the Dr'idi'saiyo that were trapped inside were slain.

"You did…you killed them all…" Astrid whispered.

I leaned against the nearest wall and slid down to the floor. My vision started to go black and I felt my body go numb. There wouldn't be much time before I passed out.

'Used up all my mana…' I thought. Astrid knelt in front of me asking what was wrong but I just flashed her a devious smile before everything turned to black.