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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

"You're running out of zombies. Is there a certain amount of times you can revive them before they like... Run out of juice, or something?"

"Do you really want me to stop concentrating to explain the laws of necromancy to you, mageling?"

"...I guess not. At least the demon zombie is holding up so far."

Malakai was swatting away the hoard of DSTF soldiers Tyrath had apparently gathered along the way like they were nothing. He tossed them aside with his magic as if they were nothing, as if he didn't think they were worthy of being touched by his host's hands. That worked to their advantage and allowed the undead to last longer, their bodies battered and broken but whole enough for Tyrath to puppeteer them around the destroyed courtyard time and time again. The strain it was causing was evident as she saw sweat beading the demon's face, her own twisted in concern as she looked between him and the battlefield. How long was he going to be able to keep this up? When he ran out of energy to raise the dead, would Ignas still be lying in that crater or would he stand and face Malakai once more?

"We're so fucked, aren't we?"

"Ignas needs to get up." Tyrath didn't take his eyes off the soldiers or the sluggish demon still swinging its sword at Malakai, not even when the living demon at their side slipped into the midst of it all to fight. "I am not accustomed to doing this, and I have my limits even if I escaped the drain of Malakai's spell. I would offer you some of my power," He grimaced, "But I need all of it for our defense."

"I know." Adelaide nodded in understanding. Her ring burned and rebelled each time she tried to draw more power from it, her body at its limit as she tried to formulate some sort of hail mary to get them ahead in the fight. "We need something that's going to distract him long enough for someone to either gut him or get Ignas off his ass and back in the fight." Where the hell was Onigoshi at, anyway? When Isen had dropped it and she'd portaled him off to somewhere safe, she'd lost track of where it was at and focused on trying to dodge Malakai's attacks.

"I don't suppose you have any other tricks up your sleeve. I'd even take Danica showing up to fight him for a bit." Adelaide wiped her bloodied hands on her pants and sighed. "Hell, I'd take just about anyone if they could stand against him." She jumped at the loud rumble of brick breaking as Virgil was flung into a nearby building, cursing and taking a step back to survey the damage and any attacks coming their way.

"He will fight until his last breath, just as his brother."

"I wish Clara were still alive. She's probably the one person that bastard might have listened to." Samara's illusion magic would have come in handy right now, but without a source to pull from properly they were shit out of luck. The ring was straining at its limits with every drop of magic she pulled to keep herself alive, Tyrath stood strong but seemed to be pushing his own limits, and Ignas was still embedded in the ground hopefully still breathing.

"We have company." An arm came out and pushed her back a few steps as Tyrath moved in front of her, watching a sputtering drone soar over a building and come to circle its way around the undead Malakai continued to destroy.

"You're standing on my foot, Adelaide." Adelaide whipped around at the sound of Lorelei's voice coming from behind her, staggering back as she caught sight of the older woman standing there wearily. When had she gotten there?

"Your little toys cannot hurt me, Lancaster." Malakai was sneering as he turned a stumbling soldier into nothing more than a puddle of blood against the ground, stepping over it as if it were an insignificant little bug he didn't deem worthy of laying his eyes on. Adelaide watched as the drone continued to sputter and work its way around the courtyard, opening and closing a panel as Lorelei recited line after line of spells at her side. She didn't remember her grandmother looking so haggard the last time she'd seen her, and if she was here, then where was Isen?

"I thought Isen was with you."

"Hush, child." The drone seemed to be struggling to stay in the air as Adelaide watched it try to pull at the dark tendrils of magic Malakai was using to destroy the few remaining undead. "It was supposed to work."

"Shouldn't it have an orb?"

"I worked with what I had. It should have worked, it worked before." Lorelei sounded defeated, cursing loudly when Malakai sent the drone to the ground with a deafening crash and explosion of metal.

"I need you to make an illusion." Surely Lorelei still had magic left if she was here trying to help. Maybe she had enough to conjure up an illusion of Clara. "If we make him think that Clara is here, maybe he'll be distracted long enough for me to get to Ignas and make sure he's still alive." It was the only solution she could think of, and that all banked on the illusion being strong enough for Malakai to believe it for even a minute.

"Adelaide, I never met her, how am I to create an illusion of something I never..." She trailed off and then her eyes went wide before she whirled around and pointed in Tyrath's direction. "You, demon. You control the dead."

"And I am rapidly running out of them." They were down to the demon he was controlling and what was left of Virgil trying to avenge his brother.

"Do not let my body rest until this is done." She turned to Adelaide, grabbing her granddaughter's hands despite the dried blood coating them. "You will create the illusion. Take from me." Adelaide gave her a bewildered look until Lorelei squeezed her hands tightly, nodding her head once before giving Adelaide a stern look. "What I have is yours. Take it and do what you were meant to do and do not stop until that demon is dead."

"Hurry, little mageling. We are almost out of time."

Malakai had seemed amused fighting Tyrath's small hoard of undead at first, but it was becoming apparent that he was losing interest and intended to come straight for them once the brothers were out of commission. Adelaide searched Lorelei's face for any sign of trickery, for any hesitation, but found nothing but a clear determination in the older woman's eyes as she nodded.

"I'm glad you decided you were a Lancaster again." Adelaide closed her eyes and held onto Lorelei's hands tightly, taking a deep breath as she began to draw from the familiar magic of her own family line. It came pouring in like a burst dam, snaking its way through her veins and winding its way around her own magic and into the ring. All she needed to do was forge the pour of magic into the memories she'd taken from Clara's belongings, mold them into something worthy of drawing Malakai's attention from the fight and to the past before this war.

"Little mageling." Tyrath's tone was full of warning as she felt Lorelei stumble against her, and when Adelaide opened her eyes it was just in time to catch her grandmother as they both sank to the ground on their knees. Lorelei's expression seemed to change by the second as Adelaide watched her bolt jerk and spasm before it seemed to regain some sense of humanity, a deep shudder of a breath sounding in the air before she gripped Adelaide tighter and closed her eyes. "I cannot bring her back a second time." It took a moment for Adelaide to realize that the fall and spasming from Lorelei's body had been her drawing her last breath as her magic poured into her granddaughter, and tears stung at her eyes as she leaned in and pressed her forehead to Lorelei's.

"Thank you, grandmother."

When she pulled again the remainder of the magic slammed into her like an invisible wall and sent her tumbling back, separating the two Lancasters as Adelaide found her vision replaced by an onslaught of memories that she'd gotten from Clara. The sky was lit with brilliant orange and red hues as the sun peeked just above the skyline, wildflowers scattered among the greenery as far as the eye could see. The pain of her battered body and panicked mind had been replaced by a humming sense of peace as she reached out her hand, trying to grasp at the memory before her as it exploded outwards and into the courtyard.

"My horizon."
 
"My horizon."
Malakai had begun to grow tired of the constant interruptions. It felt like every witch, demon and familiar in the city was coming to Adelaide's aid, and as easily as he slew them all, more kept seeming to rise from the woodwork. Even Lorelei, a remnant of his past, poked her head out of her hole with a failed attempt at subduing him. The entire thing felt almost comical; they continued to throw everything they had at him and it barely made a dent. His power continued to surge, and even as the Lancasters shared their magic, he showed little, outward concern for what may come from their union. Tendrils flared once again, annoyed with the corpse foot soldiers that continued to get in his way, dispatching each with similar ease until, finally, he stared down something that caught him off guard.

'No." He breathed out, spitefully. "You don't get to invoke her memory."

Isen watched, still concealed from view by anybody involved, as Adelaide mimicked a familiar friend, contorting her grandmother's syphoned magic into an illusion of the only person they had ever known Malakai to truly care for. A memory, born anew, standing as real as any flesh and blood could. Staring across at the vicious demon, her voice spoke something that seemed to trigger him, and Isen began to eye Onigoshi's resting place all the more. This might be the exact distraction that he needed.

"You are not real." He continued, but even his mind, poison and deluded with power, seemed to show a slight falter at the possibility that somehow, someway, it was a ghost from beyond the grave that had arrived to aid Adelaide next. "You cannot be real."

Isen weighed his options while Malakai was occupied. One charge, one goal. He could use it to reach the sword, or he could try to get to the blade first and then use it to drive it through the heart of their wretched foe. Without Ignas' magic, would it even be strong enough to kill him? And if it didn't, was he okay with what would happen next?

In a moment like this, normally, he'd look to Adelaide for guidance or comfort. Even just seeing her, sometimes, was enough to put his flurried mind at ease, but with Clara in her place, it posed a different problem for him. He had watched her die. He had felt happiness turn to sadness in Ignas' heart, all too well, when he was there with him as she breathed her final breath. He helped dig the grave that her body rested in, he had helped the demon grieve. While she was a beacon of hope, a beautiful flower in a garden of weeds, she was also an all too poignant reminder of what he stood to lose. A star that had burnt itself out. A loved one's light lost when it was needed most.

He couldn't.

He wouldn't.


He believed what he had said. He'd rather die with her than live without her.

Creeping out from the wreckage, he knew he'd be seen by every body except for Malakai, as he chose to move at the demon's back. He hoped nobody would give him away, and that they'd been transfixed by Adelaide's illusion. All the while, each step he took brought him closer to the resting place of his weapon. This had to work. She needed to hold out, just a little bit longer...
 
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