Lucia's Point of View

Helmsforth Temple

Moments Prior

Cassidy was waiting beside Arthur’s bed while I stayed just outside his door. She’d been in there awhile. Not that I could blame her. She was probably the closest person to Arthur out of all of us. Maybe she felt like I did and realized that all of this seemed off. Alwin was with me when Ziah arrived. I barely acknowledged her appearance as my eyes drifted back to the door.

“General.” Ziah greeted.

“Sergeant.” Alwin replied evenly.

She gestured to the door. “Is this…” The Zugal trailed off as her green eyes became downcast.

Alwin sighed. “It is.”

Gesturing to the door, the Sergeant weakly spoke. “May I?”

“You may.” I answered before Alwin could and moved away from the door.

“Thank you.” She said with a soft nod and opened the door.

However, as soon as she did, she let out a horrified gasp before drawing her sword and charging inside. Alwin and I moved to look inside as she roared in anger. Looking inside, we saw a Demon holding Cassidy Reed in one of its many arms. Ziah slammed her swords into it, but there was some manner of armor coating it.

“Unhand her, you filth!” Ziah screeched as the Demon swatted her away.

It tossed aside Cassidy, who hit the wall before landing. Bringing one of her hands to her throat as she coughed, Cassidy struggled to get to her feet. Alwin moved past me as his magic ignited, and he pulled Ziah back. There was no doubt in my mind that this was a Ghoul. Separating us from the Ghoul, Alwin erected a barrier that pinned it on the other side of the room while Cassidy stumbled over to us. Ziah helped her get on her feet more steadily.

“Where did this Demon come from!?” I shouted.

“It came in through the window and had me by the neck before Ah even knew it was there.” Cassidy croaked as she pointed behind it to where all manner of flowers could be seen. “Ah didn’t hear it at all.”

To our surprise, it ignored us and turned its attention to Arthur. Before we could figure out how to proceed, the Demon began slamming against the barrier in front of where Arthur lay motionless. Alwin grunted as it wailed against his magic over and over.

Gritting his teeth, he spoke in a strained tone. “I need some help here, Sergeant!”

Taking a combat position, she readied her sword. “No!” I ordered and looked to Alwin. “On my signal, make a small opening where the Ghoul is.”

He eyed me for a moment and nodded. As I gathered magic into my hands, I remembered Arthur’s words to me about visualizing my magic. Fire gathered in the palm of my hand and formed a condensed ball. Given that this was a Ghoul and armored enough to stop a sword in its tracks, more and more magic was fed into my attack.

With the Ghoul’s attention now on me from the amount of magic I gathered, I shouted. “Now!”

Shooting from my palm, Alwin dropped the barrier and encased all of us in the room in a shield. My attack hit the Ghoul directly as the entire wall behind it was destroyed. Alwin lowered the shield but kept his magic activated. Smoke filled the room as sunlight slowly began to filter in from the giant hole leading outside.

The smoke and dust started to flutter a bit as it wafted eerily. All of us readied ourselves when we heard some of the rubble moving, and a figure appeared in the smoke. To our surprise, though, it was General Kheri who looked at all of us concerned and alarmed as many of us were glaring at her.

“It’s just me!” The General stated in a surprised tone and looked around confused. “What happened in here?”

“A Ghoul infiltrated the Temple and almost killed Cassidy.” Alwin stated as he gestured to the redhead while Ziah looked at her neck. “I believe Lady Lucia, Sergeant Ziah, and I were able to kill it.”

Kheri looked out the wall as the smoke cleared, and she nodded. “I didn’t see anything that looked like a Demon, and that was a powerful enough blast that I don’t think a regular Demon would be able to survive.”

Many of us moved over to the missing wall as Cassidy and Ziah checked on Arthur’s body. “Why would the Ghoul go after Arthur if he is already dead?” I questioned in a grim tone.

Neither of the Generals responded when a giggle sounded off from above us. “Is that so?” All three of us looked up to see the Ghoul on the rooftop across the way with a large grin on its face.

It wasn’t a second later that bells and all manner of alarms could be heard coming from the lower parts of Helmsforth. From the Outskirts to the Lower Rungs, warnings began to blare in our ears. My eyes widened when I saw all manner of grotesque creatures flying towards the Temple.

“Today is a good day.” The Ghoul above us said gleefully in a sweet tone before jumping down and attacking us.

Summoning more of my magic, I shot off multiple spells as we all moved to defend ourselves. Cassidy moved next to Arthur and tried to protect him. However, given that the Demon was targeting Arthur’s body, the rest of us had to protect her.

“Wake up, Arthur! We need you!” Cassidy shouted and shook him. “Arthur!”