30+ Advanced Chapters can be found at - patreon.com/Nevvan
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"Fuck, I missed," said the male leader.
"Forget it, let's finish this," said the third female leader, raising a protective wall around them. Each took their respective corners, beginning the ritual.
.
When Mary arrived, her deepest fears were confirmed, "Shit!"
"What? Starting to realize all your information's wrong?" asked Finn mockingly, appearing next to them.
Mary shook her head. "You don't understand. This is bad, monumentally bad."
Ana frowned, "What is? What's going on?"
Florence paled, coming to the same conclusion as her friend, "All those young witches, it all makes sense now. This is a training outpost."
"A training outpost, for whom?" asked Holly.
"For one of the big covens," answered Mary solemnly.
"Oh god!" Betty gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
"Think it's because of me?" asked Finn sheepishly in a joking manner.
They all frowned at how true that possibility was.
"It doesn't matter; we have to stop them. All our heads are on the chopping block," said Mary, drawing their attention to the magical show playing out on top of the pyramid.
Four obelisks rose from the ground at the four corners, discharging magical energy as intricate runic symbols were magically carved into them.
"What are they doing?" asked Tina.
"Creating a portal from this pyramid to a similar one elsewhere. It must be destroyed before that happens," said Mary emphatically.
"Why haven't you killed them yet?" Ana asked Finn sourly.
"They smoothed it out and made it too slippery, and then erected walls to prevent me from throwing things at them," Finn explained calmly.
"Enough! Here's the plan: Florence and I will work on a single devastating strike while Betty guards us. Tina will help Finn get to the top while the rest of you do everything you can to stop, distract, or take them and the obelisks down. Any questions?" Mary asked.
"Sounds good to me," said Finn, voicing everyone's thoughts. The last thing he needed was the big, bad covens he keeps hearing about to come and mess everything up before he was finished.
"Good, then begin," ordered Mary, walking close enough to be in range, into the open area between the pyramid in the center and the buildings.
Giving Betty a nod, she and Florence faced one another and began to chant, mirroring each other's hand movements as Betty let out a magical smoke from her hands, obscuring them.
Ana and Eva went for the closest left corner while Holly and Lucia went right.
Avoiding the smoke, Tina and Finn went to the side.
"Give me your shoes, and I'll put a sticking spell on them that should counteract what they did, allowing you to run up," said Tina.
"Eva, let's see if we can't catch them by surprise, help me bring the ceiling down," said Ana, weaving her hands, forming an energy ball, and shooting it at the rock directly above them.
Seeing the quicksand, Eva had other ideas and began a quick chant, aiming for the spot above the left obelisk.
At the same time, Holly and Lucia fired off their spells, aiming for the right-corner obelisk.
The four leaders weren't caught unawares as they felt the magical energy of their foes gathering below them.
"Bernard, take over, I'll handle this," ordered the third female leader, dropping her obelisk into his grumbling hands as he centered himself between the two, his hands stretched out towards both hovering obelisks, keeping them afloat. Once he grew accustomed to the strain of another, he resumed carving the symbols.
Looking up, the female leader waved her hand, forming a clear barrier above them as the explosion from Anna's attack and Eva's sand-changing spell went off. Rocks and sand poured down against the barrier, sliding harmlessly off the side.
She similarly waved her hand towards the obelisk that Holly and Lucia aimed at, their spells evaporating against the barrier she created.
Stone steps then rose from the ground as she walked over and up, to stand above the wall they made.
"This is foolish, surrender now and your lives may be spared, continue this folly and all will die," she said, looking down at them.
Ignored, she sneered, forming another barrier in front of Ana's and Eva's targeted obelisk, blocking their barrage of spells.
Seeing the vampire running over, she already had an idea of what they did and turned the sides of the pyramid into rolling pins, preventing him from climbing.
Frustrated, Finn returned to Tina for a new idea, but not before throwing another rock that shattered against yet another skin-tight barrier she had placed protectively on herself.
Shooting a glare towards him as she chanted a spell. Out crawled an army of stone creatures ready to fight for her. While sending a couple of stone spikes toward the magical smoke to stop whatever was happening there.
However, Betty was prepared and, though no one could see in, she could see out, allowing her to easily block each attack as she prepared for the coming stone golems.
Ana, Eva, Holly, and Lucia, unable to penetrate the barriers, had to switch their priorities to fighting the stone army.
Lucia resorted to raw magical blasts, slowly taking her stone enemies apart as she ran around dodging death, only for them to reform.
Holly, less perturbed than her young witch companion, created fiery whips that tore through them like butter, turning many into molten sludge.
Ana, working together with Eva, managed to come up with a one-two combo. Eva would trap them with sand after failing to turn them into sand, and then Ana would end them with magical fiery blasts.
Unfortunately, even when they thought it was over, the female leader would create more, feeling no need to exert any further effort.
"Forget them, help take out the army," Tina snapped at Finn, moving to help Lucia, who was surprisingly struggling.
Finn snorted. Stopping the portal was the only thing of interest to him. The unknown leaders already proved more than superior to any witch he'd seen, and if they were the scouts, he could only imagine how competent these big covens everyone feared really were.
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30+ Advanced Chapters can be found at - patreon.com/Nevvan