"Now what?" Ivy complained, holding her staff defensively alongside Sonera.
"We press our advantage," Sonera replied calmly. "It's vulnerable."
Lila remained in a state of shock, mortified by the implications of the Harrow's freshly crafted arena. She wasn't nearly as conditioned as Ivy and Sonera were when it came to deathly horrors. Moreover, she just wasn't the kind to shove it off.
Lunae, on the other hand, had wrapped up her private conversation before anyone could notice, standing behind Sonera with her shepherd's crook at the ready. There was no certainty that Rena would return to the fight so soon, but she had confidence in her willpower. Alia, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Any other ideas, Lila?" Lunae whispered into the Earthling's mind, trying to recapture her attention.
"I uhh..." Lila muttered as she stared at Rena. "We need to somehow replicate the effectiveness of our last attack. It could have been Ivy's new power."
But before Lila could finish her thought, the Harrow let out a deafening scream, reaching out with its hand before closing it tight, causing its entire body to reverberate with a violent glow. Its body, no longer encased in a steely scale, began to writhe with plantlike tendrils. The situation had escalated.
A new strategy was formed.
Rather than take on all the girls at once, The Harrow focused its attention on Lunae, casting a spell with its staff. The tip of its twisted weapon unfolded into an organic maw, a thousand tiny fingers pointing out towards the girl from its depths. Before Lunae could even react, she screamed out in pain as her entire body became enwound in a series of red wires.
She dropped her crook, helplessly dangling in the air as the coiled binds raised her high into the air. Sonera was the first to react, making a break for the Harrow as quickly as she could with a desire to free her companion. She was cunning enough to understand the bait, however, and made sure to disappear in a flash of sparks once the Harrow lunged at her.
"Shit." Ivy cursed, struggling to free Lunae with both her Psionic grasp and her own two hands. "What is this?!"
They had lost their support.
Sonera twirled around the Harrow, dressed in her ashen attire once again as radiant energy poured out of her open back. She stood firm despite the gap in power between the two, unwilling to allow Lunae to be harmed while she remained in such a vulnerable state. The Harrow took notice of this power and seemed unusually expressive as it ground its heels across the floor.
Rena may have brought it into the dream. But something about Sonera had fully captured its attention. Reaching out with its free hand, the Harrow tore a hole into the fabric of the dream, allowing the same power that had transported it across the land to spill out like a flood.
"Lila!" Ivy grunted. "Watch out!"
The Earthling watched in horror as a horde of nightmarish creatures spilled out from the small portal, their winged frames bearing the same lifeless face as the Harrow - cast in scaly flesh and written upon with strange markings. She darted over to Rena just in time, avoiding the sharp claws of the creatures as they began to buzz overhead like a dog-sized spider, waving their many limbs in a rhythmic dance.
Sonera looked back at her allies with a worried expression, unable to assist them as she clashed blades with the Harrow. But in her most desperate moment, she heard it speak to her. The once indecipherable words were translated through her mind, just so she could understand its cold voice.
"All of you, tainted. But you. Chosen."
The words scraped against her skull like a frigid nail, reminding Sonera of the strange entity that had been haunting her ever since she first realized her power in the Psionic plane. It was only then that she realized her proximity to such danger. Yrix, who had introduced her to the barren plane, had brought her into a dimension that existed within its borders.
Rena's dream.
And to think Yrix had the audacity to warn Sonera not to spend too long in the Psionic plane. Yet there she was, fighting against an unknowable monster who was no doubt a smaller pawn in a much larger game. But unlike before, Sonera was able to muster the strength to reply.
"Chosen to kill you." The assassin growled, extending the reach of her blade as it shone brightly. "All of you depraved creatures."
"An emissary of pain." The Harrow replied as it continued to fight Sonera.
"Call it what you want."
Sonera's ballet outfit began to shimmer with a multicolored refraction, using the dream around her to empower her sword. She wasn't quite sure how she mustered that strength, or if it was perhaps given to her. But she was indeed stronger.
The assassin swung with all her might, smashing her blade into the Harrow's staff, shattering it in two. But the creature was quick to recover, using one jagged end of its weapon to stab Sonera in her chest before she could reel back. She fell to the ground, coughing up blood as she wrestled with the excruciating pain.
"Sonera!" Lunae screamed as she watched the scene unfold.
Ivy kept the girl safe enough, swatting the winged creatures out of the sky with her baton. Realizing that the binds around Lunae were far too strong for her power alone, she attempted to recall what she had felt in her battle against Imura. The heiress knew it should have been impossible. That talent was far from mastered.
But in the presence of the Harrow, it was easy enough. Ivy's staff twisted and churned until it became a blackened scythe once more, cutting through Lunae's binds with ease. She could barely hold the transformation intact for a brief moment, however, as her staff returned to its normal state as soon as Lunae fell to her knees.
"There!" Ivy panted.
Lunae's eyes glowed with a blue vibrancy as she pointed her crook towards Sonera. With her Psionic grasp, she pulled the girl back to her side, encasing her wounded body with an azure colored shield. The Harrow wasn't far behind, however, weilding both ends of its staff like a frenzied maniac.
What was left of its elegant composure had been lost after Sonera's attack, causing it to rage like a feral beast. The Harrow was still quite skilled, however, mastering its emotions to unleash a brutal attack on the girls. Ivy was the one to jump in front of the creature, blocking its double-edged plunge with her staff and as many projections as she could muster.
"Oh fuck that!" Lila exclaimed as she watched Lunae helplessly cradle Sonera in her arms, desperately attempting to heal her wound. "Rena, let's jump him!"
Just as soon as the Earthling took Rena by the hand, the dream exploded with a brilliant light as the walls around them fell apart. The sinister vibe in the air had dissipated. replaced by sheer unadulterated chaos. It was just what Yrix had hoped for.
Rena threw her chakram into the air, holding it in place like a hoop before transforming Lila into a ball of Psionic mist. The Earthling sped through the small space, its borders greatly increasing her speed the moment she passed through it. Along with her Psionic speed, Lila had become a speeding bullet.
"We ball!" She screamed as if genuinely energized with a warrior's spirit.
Lila struck the Harrow from behind, saving Ivy from its fury just in time. The Earthling wasn't done, however, shooting her SMG at the creature's exposed limbs. Ivy made sure to increase the effectiveness of the barrage, using her Psionic grasp to propel the rounds and shatter them with violent force just as they entered the Harrow's flesh. Her eyes glowing red, the heiress then clutched her mace and brought it down upon the enemy with unusual might.
Lila barely even realized her SMG was still firing human ballistics at all instead of what Yrix had given her in the real world.
A strange side effect of the dream.
"Gah!" Ivy fell to the ground, her arm aching as the sheer force of her attack knocked her back.
"Fucking kill it!" Lila cheered as the Harrow flipped backwards. "Let's go!"
Rena was quick to follow up on the advantage, throwing her chakram at her enemy while enveloping Lila in her signature aura. The Earthling took advantage of her newfound invulnerability, pulling a magazine out of her firearm before sticking it into the Harrow's chest with her impermeable hand. A moment later, and just before Lila sped away, Ivy reached out to the case of munitions and detonated it like a keg of gunpowder, using her keen sight to find the explosive cartridge.
In the meantime, Sonera began to recover, the blood from her wound stounched by Lunae's Psionic grasp. She soon realized her health came at a cost, however, as her companion's breath began to hitch.
"Lunae-." Sonera coughed. "What are you doing?"
Blood ran down the girl's cheeks as she spoke. "Saving you."
"But-."
"I'll survive. You may not have."
Sonera pushed the girl away, using her pain tolerance to pick herself off the floor. She couldn't bear to allow Lunae to sacrifice herself. In fact, she'd sooner embrace the power that brewed within her to find the strength to survive.
"Sonera!" Lunae cried out as she reached for her companion.
"I'm fine." Sonera glimmered with the same refracted light as she growled. "We finish this. Now."