We prepared ourselves for my grand plan and got into position. I didn't want Ophelia to be doing too much for now, so I had Code carry Havoc over his shoulder for now until we got into position.
"You good?" I asked him.
"Worry about yourself," Code replied, adjusting Havoc over his shoulder. "Besides, I'm only gonna need one swing if your genius plan works. You only need to create the opening for me."
"No promises," I said with lazy cheer on my face, eyes closed and giving him an eager thumbs up.
Code simply held the bill of his cap with two fingers and sighed.
Ophelia was behind us, ready to go. "You boys ready?" she said sweetly as she skipped her way to us.
We both nodded.
"Then let's get going, shall we!" she said as she laid her hands on both our shoulders, sinking into the sand seamlessly.
At high speeds, we flew through under the sand dunes all the way to the edge of the hourglass. Ophelia had already known where the near edge of it was since she had tried to escape earlier.
Once we got close enough, she shot us all up into the air as if we were leaping out of water.
"This is it!" Ophelia shouted through the high winds.
"Throw me over there!" I pointed straight to the glass.
**Earlier**
"This hourglass is a type of magic item," Code said, "So that means the glass itself is the barrier. Nullifying magic items are rare magic tools. The thing with them is that they have two layers. The nullifying magic barrier and the physical barrier. It's meant so nothing on the outside can retrieve the contents on the inside, even if they break the outer layer. However, since it's the opposite way around in our situation, and we have Greed..." he trailed off, turning to face me, nodding. "This should work… In theory."
"Well, let's test out that theory. We won't know until we try, right, Greedy?" Ophelia faced me cheerfully.
"Right," I said. "I need a good position though... Think you can handle, babe?"
"Oooo... double entendre... and that second part is the reward later, me likey..." she said coquettishly.
Code gagged. "Let's hurry up, shall we?"
**Back to present**
While in the air, Ophelia threw her feet back and pushed off like there was an invisible wall behind her; she jetted us toward the barrier.
There were small particles of sand everywhere, so as we flew and got closer, Code readied his hand, and at the right moment…
Snap!
Switched himself, Havoc, and Ophelia with a grain of sand a few yards behind where we were flying. The only one that didn't get teleported—was me.
I was left flying alone, using the momentum that Ophelia had used to go forward.
In the air, I repositioned my body with both my feet facing the glass wall ahead of me. Racing faster and faster into the barrier until final collision.
SLAM!
The sound of my boots landing on the nullifying barrier wall, rippling it upon impact all around the massive hourglass.
The momentum of my landing kept pushing me into it, so as the ripples finished their course and rippled back from whence it came—the barrier imploded all at once in an instant.
SHATTER!
"Ha! It worked." I said with forced surprise, falling from where I was after my pierce went through.
"CODE, YOU'RE UP!" I yelled.
I fell just below where they were headed, with Code and the rest of them behind, flying in the direction just overhead.
"AYE," he yelled back.
Ophelia now put her hand on Havoc to let Code move. Code stuck his foot out, and from below him in the air, emitted a pentagram that expanded quickly around the entire hourglass. The pentagram spread horizontally, glowing once it reached its desired size, then disappeared.
Code now looked like he was standing in mid-air. He unsheathed one of his long swords from his side slowly, forming a finger symbol as he did. Still holding onto the hilt of it all the while, it glinted from the light as he drew his blade. And with one swift horizontal motion, he chanted with his eyes closed,
"Space Manipulation Magic: Overworld Slash."
SWISH!
A drawn-out clanging sounded from his swing.
Ophelia kept him positioned there as his slash cut past the drifting, shattered pieces of the nullifying barrier and onto the second barrier, all around the entire bottom half of this hourglass.
Another part of Code's magic ability is being able to expand the area of contact by matching its size with the pentagram he summons. By doing so, he's able to combine the size of his target with even the smallest form of contact into one. By doing this, slicing the whole gigantic glass barrier was equivalent to him using scissors to cut a piece of paper.
Code sheathed his long sword, and just as he did, the glass had officially broken off.
He grabbed Havoc back from Ophelia and she swooped in, grabbed me, and just like that, we were out.
***
Having dispelled the nullifying magic barrier and physical barrier, the Compression magic on us dispelled as well, and we returned to normal size, flopping on the ground which was only a few inches away from us now.
As we sat, there was a hooded mage with us, stepping back in shock as we appeared, almost out of nowhere, beside him.
"How did you—" he said, not even finishing his sentence.
His face was shrouded by the hood of his jacket, and the place we now found ourselves in was extremely dimly lit.
It appeared to be an abandoned church, crumbling and ravaged with weeds and vines all over it. The light from outside barely peeked in all throughout the place.
And his attire seemed a bit too familiar...
"The hell?" I grumbled, pushing the others off me and faced him.
Ophelia got up and dusted herself off, taking a look at the mage who was there as well. She blinked twice.
"Umm… Who are you? And why does your uniform look like—"
The startled mage stuck out his hand to her, attempting to cast a spell. I bolted toward him and grabbed his wrist, twisting it as he folded from my mere grip.
"Not a chance," I said in a low tone, glaring at him with intimidating eyes.
I forced him to his knees as I firmly controlled him with one arm.
Just then, other mages in the same attire emerged from all angles. Some were on the ground with us appearing from the shadows, others up on pillars, and more on the second level of this abandoned church. They readied their magic in an attempt to subdue us. Sigils glowed in the air through patches dark all around us.
"Fuck, we're surrounded," Code said as he whipped around.
"Release him and surrender." One of them said.
I took my time as the mage below me continued wincing from my grip. When I finally released him, he scurried to his peers, who continued to draw near us ever so slowly.
When he ran back, I noticed the logo on the back of his jacket.
The only lights here were coming from the old, stained-glass windows throughout the place and a hole in the ceiling directly above us—making it look like we were in the spotlight.
As the mages stepped into the spots of light, I knew immediately who they were.
Charcoal dark fur hooded jackets, dark attire, and that logo on their backs…
We were in fake Black Wolves territory.