Chapter 125 Don’t make me beg
The gates lay twisted across the lawn.
Witches poured through the breach in ordered ranks, staffs striking the earth in unison. Violet sigils flared brighter with every impact. The chant rolled forward, layered and precise, pressing against bone and breath.
Kane shifted as he ran.
His wolf hit the first line before the circle could close. Wood splintered. Robes tore. A staff cracked beneath his jaws, and the pulse of violet light snapped off with a hiss. A second witch thrust her staff downward. Energy burst outward and struck his shoulder. He staggered, recovered, and drove her back into the grass.
Marcus shifted beside him and barreled into two more, forcing them apart before they could link arms. Devon moved behind them in human form, twin blades flashing. He cut through carved wood and forced another witch to drop her staff before she could complete a symbol in the air.
Alexander stood beyond the chaos, dark smoke curling from his frame. He watched.
Aria stepped forward.
Silver light slid over her skin and gathered at her palms. A witch lifted her staff toward the house. The sigils flared. Aria thrust her hand forward. Lunar energy struck the staff and split it down the center. The backlash threw the witch off her feet.
Amanda moved through the torn grass without looking back.
She knelt and pressed her palm flat to the ground.
The lawn bucked.
Stone ridges tore upward beneath a cluster of witches attempting to form a ring. Their footing vanished. Roots lashed around their ankles and dragged them down before their chant could stabilize.
Alexander raised one hand.
Smoke shot outward in a narrow surge and slammed into Kane’s flank. The wolf skidded across the grass and rolled, claws gouging trenches as he forced himself upright.
Devon pivoted as two witches flanked him. One swept her staff low, violet light slicing toward his knees. He leaped the arc and drove a blade through the carved sigils at the top of her staff. The wood exploded in his hand. The second witch completed her symbol and a pulse struck his chest. He dropped to one knee.
Marcus shifted back to human form long enough to hurl a fallen spear through her shoulder before shifting again and dragging Devon clear.
Aria felt the rhythm in the witches’ chant tightening.
They were not casting in isolation. They were weaving.
A line of violet light shot from one staff to the next, linking them in a glowing arc aimed at the residence wing. The air between the witches and the house warped.
“No,” Aria breathed.
She raised both hands and drove silver power into the space between. The impact cracked like ice under strain. Violet and silver collided midair and splintered outward in violent shards of light. Windows along the house burst in a chain reaction.
Amanda flinched but did not look away.
She slammed both hands into the earth.
The ground answered with force.
A jagged wall of stone erupted between the witches and the house. The linked violet beam struck rock instead of glass. The barrier shattered, but the delay broke their formation.
Kane surged back into the fray, jaws closing around a witch before she could recover her staff. He flung her into two others and tore through the gap he created.
Alexander moved at last.
He did not run. He crossed the distance in a blur of smoke and solidified in front of Amanda.
She rose to meet him.
Dark energy lashed from his palm and struck her shoulder. She staggered but held her ground. The grass at her feet blackened where his power touched.
“You reached too far,” he said.
She drove her heel into the soil and lifted both hands.
The earth beneath Alexander’s boots split open. Roots shot upward and coiled around his legs. He dissolved into smoke and reformed behind her, striking her across the back with a surge that threw her forward.
Aria saw the motion and reacted.
Silver light arced from her hands and cut through the smoke before Alexander could fully disperse. The beam forced him into solidity for a breath. Kane seized the opening. His claws raked across Alexander’s side and drew blood that steamed against the night air.
Alexander’s eyes snapped to Aria.
A wave of dark force exploded outward from him in a widening ring.
Marcus was thrown backward into the broken fountain. Devon slammed against a tree trunk hard enough to crack bark. Kane hit the ground and rolled.
Aria dug her heels into the grass and braced, silver light flaring around her like a shield. The shockwave struck and splintered against her barrier. Pain shot through her arms, but she did not lower them.
The witches regrouped behind Alexander.
They shifted formation without words, staffs raised high. Sigils blazed brighter, casting sharp violet shadows across the battlefield. The chant resumed, deeper and faster.
Amanda wiped blood from her mouth and stepped to Aria’s side.
“They are building something,” she said.
Aria felt it too.
The air above the witches twisted into a funnel of light and smoke. The vortex lowered toward the house, slow and deliberate.
Kane shifted back to human form and grabbed a fallen blade. Marcus limped forward, blood streaking his temple. Devon rose unsteadily and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Break the circle,” Marcus growled.
They moved together.
Kane and Marcus charged the left flank. Devon cut toward the right, blades flashing in tight arcs. Aria sent a concentrated burst of lunar force into the center of the formation. Two witches went down, but three stepped forward to replace them without missing a beat.
The vortex dipped lower.
A window along the reinforced wing shattered inward.
Amanda inhaled sharply.
She closed her eyes for one beat and then dropped to her knees.
Her palms slammed into the ground.
The vibration that followed did not ripple outward. It drove down.
Stone beneath the witches liquefied and surged upward in a violent column that split their formation in half. Staffs snapped. The chant faltered.
Alexander struck her from behind.
Dark energy speared through her shoulder and pinned her to the ground. The grass beneath her ignited black.
Aria screamed and hurled everything she had into a single focused beam.
Silver light punched through the smoke and struck Alexander square in the chest. He was driven back several steps, his hold on Amanda breaking.
Kane reached her first and hauled her upright.
The vortex overhead wavered but did not vanish.
Amanda’s breath came unevenly. She looked at the sky, then at the witches regrouping despite their losses.
“I have something,” she said.
Aria’s hands trembled at her sides, power still humming along her skin.
“What.”
“A spell.” Amanda swallowed and steadied herself. “It can collapse their weave and cut him off from them.”
Alexander straightened in the distance, blood marking his side, smoke already sealing the wound.
“It needs more than me,” Amanda continued. “My power will not hold the structure once it forms. It will tear through.”
Aria stared at her.
Amanda stepped closer despite the chaos around them.
“I need part of yours.”
Aria’s jaw tightened.
Another pulse from the vortex cracked through the air and splintered stone near the house.
“I am on your side,” Amanda shouted over the rising chant. “Do not make me beg.”
Aria hesitated one breath longer.
Then she exhaled and stepped forward.
“Hold my hand.”