Elsewhere...
"How are things?" Dieci asked as she and Otto fired another volley of suppressive fire into the crowd of weird women. "I'm worried about my family."
"They should be fine." Otto replied as she fired another Ray Storm into the crowd. "These things are fast." By her own estimations, nearly a hundred of these women had avoided her Ray Storms and had attempted to get close to her and Dieci for an easy victory.
Attempted, because Deed proved that she knew a similar moving technique to the Mariages and was able to drive them off. Well, that and the fact that she could split into at least eight copies of herself.
Dieci raised an eyebrow. "Been practicing?" The last time Dieci checked, Deed could only get four clones, well, three if you didn't include the original.
"Yeah," Deed nodded as she chucked her sword behind her head, bisecting one of the Mariages as it tried to sneak up on her. "Mom has been helpful, so has Val. Never thought that Dragon magic was so useful."
"The Doctor never knew about this magic." Otto said as she clapped her hands and then spread them wide, sending a green wave outwards and into the crowd. "Even so, I do not have any clue how to make this go any faster."
"Mom did teach us that new spell." Deed spoke up, causing Otto to blink, before nodding at her twin. "Do you mind if I try it?"
"Feel free," Otto held up a hand and the three were covered by a green bubble. "I do not think I can keep this field up for very long against their assault."
"Can I fire out of it?" Dieci asked, getting a nod from Otto. "Good." She aimed her cannon into the crowd, blowing several of them away. "You know, I'm surprised they're dying so easily."
"They seem to be made for numbers, to overwhelm their enemies, but they are not made especially tough." Otto regretted saying that as, a moment later, over ten of those women were suddenly around them and stabbing through the barrier. "Deed, where are your clones?"
"Sorry," Deed said, sweat falling down her face as she concentrated on the magic she was gathering. "I am not used to using Dragon magic and keeping my clones up."
Dieci grunted as she slammed one of the Mariages with her cannon, only to cry out as one slashed her across her legs, rear and lower back, tearing into her flesh and forcing her to her knees. Turning her head, she could only watch as the Mariage that had cut her legs raised its arm back to stab her. 'I'm sorry, grandmother.' She said to herself and braced herself for the end. 'I deserve this, after what I did to, huh?!' Her eyes widened in shock as she felt a hand on her legs and a sinking sensation as she disappeared through the ground.
A second later, she reappeared next to Otto as the Mariages around them were hit with a purple streak that bounced off of each one, causing them to jerk and fall one after another. "Sheesh, you need to be more careful, Dieci." Sein said as she popped out of the ground next to them, smiling. "We heard about the fires and I got worried about my cute little sisters, so I asked Tre to help me come down here." She tapped Dieci on the nose and looked at Otto, who looked relieved. "So, what's going on? You three looked like you had it well in hand a moment ago."
"This," Deed said as she pointed her hand out at the mass that was making their way towards them, "Chaotic Disintegrate!"
There was a cracking sound that turned into a loud roar that filled the air before a flash of white erupted in the middle of the group of Mariages. Sein, Dieci and Otto all had to cover their faces and look away from the bright flash. When the light and sound had ended, the three blinked their eyes and looked at what happened to the Mariages.
Or rather, what remained of them as all that was there was smoking body parts that littered the ground. Amazingly, there wasn't a single damaged building or a crater from the devastation.
"Woah." Dieci's eyes were wide as she looked at the destruction. "How come the ground isn't destroyed?"
Before anyone could answer her, there was a thud and Otto turned, gasping as Deed was laying, face down, on the ground. "Deed!" Otto grabbed her sister and lifted her up. "Are you okay?"
"F...Fine..." Deed gasped out, panting lightly as Otto helped her to her knees. "Tired..."
Otto looked on, worried for her twin, suddenly remembering what Filia had said about using the higher end Dragon magic that they could.
*Flash*
Filia looked at Wendi, Deed, Sette and Otto before sighing. "Even though you can use this spell, you should know that until your bodies get used to your Dragon magic, it'll be pretty draining on you."
"How bad?" Sette asked, curiousity tinging her voice.
"Well, I'm not sure," Filia chuckled, "I only know that partial Dragons have always had difficulty using high-tier Dragon magic. Anyway, as for the spell itself, it was designed to be strong enough to stop most Mazoku and evil beings cold. It won't work on high level Mazoku, but then again," Filia sighed and shook her head, "they cheat, almost nothing works on them anyway. There should be very little to any damage to your surroundings, so it won't destroy the city if you use it in the middle of downtown." She looked at Wendi, who's eyes lit up in glee. "However, this will still hurt people badly if you use it in a crowded area, so don't be stupid with it."
Wendi giggled nervously and rubbed the back of her head.
*End Flashback*
"Impressive." Dieci blinked as Tre walked up behind them, nodding at the damage, before looking at her. "You left yourself open." Before anyone could say anything, Tre knelt down next to Dieci and put her hand on the girl's legs, a soft light coming from Tre's hand had Dieci staring in shock. "What? Learning some basic healing spells never hurt anyone." Tre smirked at Dieci and used her free hand to ruffle the girl's hair.
Dieci smiled at that. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," Tre looked at Deed, who looked ready to pass out. "This was just one area, we've got a lot of these things left.
Sein looked around the city and shivered as she saw the bodies all over the place. "This is... A nightmare."
The others could only nod.
(---)
Elsewhere...
Miyuki panted, the Sword of Light in her hands, Arashi and Vivio were behind her. If Miyuki could look at them, she'd see that they didn't seem afraid of what was going on, at least as long as she didn't look at their legs, which were wobbling. Not that Miyuki would have blamed them. She was good, she was very good, but she was one person, with no magic against at least several hundred identical enemies that could change their arms into weapons and sometimes move so fast that she swore they were stealing tricks from her family's handbook.
Still, she had the Sword of Light, her own skills and a few tricks up her sleeve. If she wasn't guarding Vivio and Arashi, she'd be able to tear into this group of enemies easily. "I need a miracle," she muttered to herself as she dodged around a slash at her face, slashed upwards to cut that Mariage in half and kicked the body away from her, before spinning and lobbing off the head of another Mariage.
Part of Miyuki hoped that this wasn't bothering Vivio and Arashi too much. Doing another quick spin that had her crouching as a result, Miyuki was glad that a wave of energy erupted from her sword, cutting at least twenty of the Mariage in half.
The next thing Miyuki knew, the ground in front of her erupted upwards, sending the Mariages flying, before a giant fireball lit up the early morning sky. Turning, Miyuki thought it was her mother, before staring at who was there. "...Aunt Luna?"
Luna Inverse smirked at Miyuki. "I might not be quite as good as Lina is... But I still have some magic and sword skills that I can use." Pulling out a thin long blade, Luna made her way to Miyuki, carving her way through the Mariage until she was next to her niece. "Besides," Luna said as she and Miyuki made their way into the crowd, hacking and slashing, "Lina would kill me if I didn't do what I could to save her children."
Miyuki nodded and gasped as several Mariage disappeared from in front of her. Spinning around, her eyes widened as they appeared behind the children. "Damn!" She ran for the kids, hoping that she could make it.
Just before the Mariage could stab downwards, both Vivio and Arashi disappeared in a black flash. Miyuki didn't even bother wondering what just happened, she had seen that before. Instead, she just grinned and drove Gorun Nova through the Mariage's neck, decapitating it. "Arashi, where'd you go?"
"Up here!" Looking up, Miyuki sweat-dropped as she saw Vivio and Arashi on the roof of the house. "Go nee-chan!"
"You just stay there then!" Miyuki yelled and turned around, narrowing her eyes at the Mariage. "You freaks messed with the wrong family."
"Indeed they did." Luna said as she jumped back to land next to Miyuki. "Say, can I borrow that for one second?" When Miyuki handed it over, Luna grinned and pointed it at the Mariage. "I've heard that this thing can do some crazy stuff, so... Rune Flare!"
Luna had been expecting a large ball of flame to erupt in the middle of the Mariage, scattering and destroying most of them.
Miyuki didn't know what a Rune Flare did, but she knew it was a magic spell from her mother's world, and she was hoping it was a good spell.
What happened next had them both gaping in shock.
A ball of flame appeared in the middle of the group of Mariage that was about the size of a basketball. In less than a second, it quickly grew to the size of a large television, then to the size of a compact car, and expanded further to the size of a Sherman tank. Before either Miyuki or Luna could make sense of what was going on, the ball of flames exploded outwards in a spiraling motion, destroying and knocking over everything on the street that wasn't nailed down, and several things that were, including both Miyuki and Luna.
Groaning as she sat up, Miyuki gaped at the scene. Sure, there were still Mariage coming at them, but they were almost a block away, even if they were closing in fast. "...Aunt Luna," Miyuki said as she took the Sword of Light from her aunt. "I don't think I ever want to see that again."
"At least not so close," Luna nodded as she stood up, grateful that the explosion never reached the house behind her. Taking a few steps forward, Luna looked up to the roof and sighed as she saw that Vivio and Arashi were both okay. "Well then, Miyuki, shall we dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
"Too bad it's not Saturday night." Miyuki smirked as the two rushed forward to deal with the oncoming Mariages.
Hopefully someone could figure out how to deal with these things before too long. After all, Miyuki might have been good, but she was only human, and she didn't have unlimited stamina for this.