546: To Those That Oppose Me

“Huh?” Olivia thought she felt a light tremor beneath her feet.

“What now?” Steve asked, nonchalantly resting his spear horizontally on his traps.

Olivia only paid enough attention to Steve to make sure he didn’t move against her. She pressed the palm of her hand against the wall and concentrated on her hearing.

“What are you doi—?”

“QUIET!” Olivia shut up Steve just as she felt another short tremor. This time stronger. And this time she heard it too. Then another. And another, longer, louder.

“W-what did you do!?” Steve asked nervously and took his spear into his hands properly.

“It wasn’t me,” Olivia said, though she too now felt uneasy as the rumbling grew stronger and louder by the second. The steps beneath her started trembling. Then the walls.

“WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Steve shouted at Olivia as cracks spread all over the walls. “WHAT KIND OF DEMON-FUCKER MAGIC IS THIS!?”

Olivia did not even get the opportunity to answer. As the rumbling grew louder and stronger it took considerable effort to stand upright while both keeping a defensive stance and an eye on Steve at the top of the staircase in case he used this opportunity to attack. However, the big musclehead’s sense of balance turned out to be far from impressive compared to the nimble ninja. Steve couldn’t even hope of taking a step without falling over.

“There she is!” someone shouted behind Olivia. She turned her head and saw several guards armed with swords, stumbling up the stairs.

“Watch it!!” on of them shoved the other after a narrowly avoided accidental stabbing.

“The Demon-fucker underling is casting some kind of spell!” Steve shouted. “Kill her right now!”

“You heard him guys, mo—”

A deafening boom rocked the place.

“Ah!?” Olivia got smacked hard against the wall. Groaning from the pain in her shoulder and arm she looked down to where the guards stood just a moment ago. She saw a contorted arm poking out from beneath a boulder.

Shit! Olivia turned around and sprinted up top from the death trap she found herself in. Not a moment too soon as a large boulder crashed right where Olivia’s head was a second ago. Up ahead Olivia only saw Steve’s feet right at the disintegrating exit from the staircase. The entire place crumbled all around her.

The sprint up a few dozen steps that couldn’t have lasted more than a couple of seconds seemed to go on forever as time seemingly slowed down for Olivia. She leapt from side to side in the narrow staircase that felt tilted at an increasing angle. This made the life-or-death task all the more difficult. Avoiding falling rocks and ever-increasing gaps that appeared one after another in place of solid steps.

“Ghn!” Olivia grimaced when she felt a solid hit against her skull, but still managed a final, desperate jump and barely made it through the opening as it collapsed behind her. She roughly landed on the floor right next to Steve who laid flat on his back. A cloud of dust and small debris followed Olivia out of the staircase as the rumbling refused to stop.

Half-numb, through the shaking, noise, and dust Olivia crawled further until she ended up against a wall. Coughing from the dust in her airways, more in her eyes, Olivia was longer able to see anything. She pressed her back against the wall as tightly as she could and listened to what sounded like an avalanche right in front of her.

_____

“Hmmm… Not bad at all!” Mary smiled as she looked through where the door and wall to her captivity used to be.

“Ah… Pretty…” Remi managed to say through her ragged breaths. Remaining on her knees beside her queen was about all the naked guard could do as she did not have the strength to move a muscle. So, Remi just admired the play of colors in the sky as night gave way to dawn. Though it would be some time still before the sun appeared above the walls that surrounded the city, the view was still incredible.

And after the time she spent within these walls, the fresh breeze on her cheeks was rejuvenating to both body and spirit. Remi leaned her head against Mary’s thigh and smiled. She wished this moment wouldn’t stop.

Mary’s smile though wasn’t for the sky or the fresh air. It was for the destruction she unleashed on both the Pits and the fortress proper. With the heavy damage to its foundations a considerable part of Belmot’s impressive fortress crumbled on the city below, causing untold deaths and casualties.

“That’s what happens to those that oppose me,” Mary said menacingly while barely conscious Brittany collapsed behind her.