Chapter 33 - For Anemus - No Time 2/2 - Final

"But what the hell is going on here?"

Athena couldn't understand... No. She didn't want to understand what was going on.

The moment she saw tornadoes in the distance in the desert, she knew what was happening.

Athena was beginning to think about what to do and also the worst possibilities, which made her heart shrink and her face darken.

"Athena, what do we do?" Lunnia asked seeing the expression on Athena's face.

"I…" Athena looked at Lunnia. "I don't know... First, let's land."

Lunnia followed Athena to the ground and saw the woman leave Kima behind and walk toward the tornadoes.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"They're there, Lunnia. They need me!"

"Yes! They do! But if you go there like that, you're going to die!"

"So what do I do?"

"That girl said you used a skill that negates the skill or magic of others when Death was in your body..."

"But that was Death, I don't have that skill, all I…" Athena's eyes widened and a small smile formed on Athena's lips. "There's a way for us to know what's going on there!"

Athena sat on the cold sand of the desert night and focused on Fotiá to establish a mental link with the nymph.

***

Inside the castle, Gion maintained two protective barriers. One to protect Neu, Eun and Fotiá and the other to prevent the wind elementals from merging with Anemus.

'These bastards are taking advantage that she is fragile to try to take her body. Glad she was strong enough to hold out until I arrived. But now what to do?'

Gion rearranged his thoughts and rummaged through his memories about this kind of problem, but nothing came to mind.

It had only been five hundred years since he started helping the nymphs and during the age of the immortals, when the nymphs were as strong as their masters, it never happened and after that, no nymph reached that stage.

Seeing Anemus suffer so much, Gion considered killing the nymph, but then he thought of Athena and how she would never forgive him.

"Argh!!! Ytria, what am I supposed to do?" Gion muttered through his teeth.

Gion was strong enough to get rid of the elementals if he abandoned Anemus, Fotiá and their servants, but then it would make no sense.

When he saw no choice but to kill Anemus, he heard hope resurface in Fotiá.

"Mommy? Mommy is you?" Fotiá asked, looking anywhere with a huge smile. "Fotiá is fine. Gion is protecting Fotiá! But Mom, Anemus is sick." Fotiá made a saddened expression. "Anemus protected Fotiá from a lot of monsters and now she seems to be in a lot of pain. Mommy, help Anemus?"

"Fotiá, are you talking to Athena?"

"Hm!" Fotiá nodded to Gion.

"Tell her to get rid of these tornadoes, they are monsters who want Anemus' body!"

"Mommy, Gion said the wind monsters want to catch Anemus!" Fotiá said in an agitated way, without explaining too much.

***

Athena smiled, relieved that Gion was protecting them and rose from where he was with hatred directed at the elementals.

"Lunnia, how can we kill elementals?"

"No, but I know how to sever their connection to the material world."

"Great! Explain it to me on the way." Athena said, drew her sword and started running towards the castle.

"First..."

Running after her, Lunnia explained in minute detail and breathlessly lagged behind.

Athena ran with all her strength. The strong wind and sand made the task more arduous, but Athena didn't mind.

The wind was so strong that it lifted huge boulders and pieces of ancient city walls to impressive heights.

Seeing this as a form of locomotion, Athena used [Death Aura] and jumped on a boulder and from that one jumped on a higher one and jumped on another.

However, before reaching her new floor, Athena was pulled closer and flung into the air.

She was at a height she had only reached when she was on Kima's back. From above she could see the center where the six elementals met inside the castle and also their entire cylindrical body.

"Where is it...?"

Athens was not worried about the fall. In fact, she didn't have time to worry about falling. Hers were focused on finding the nuclei of elementals.

"Where?"

Athena was about to be thrown again when she saw something glowing green inside one of the elementals.

Athena smiled defiantly as she found the core, but then again she was flung into the sky without any resistance.

Athena snorted and writhed in the air desperately, in an attempt to straighten her stance, and then she felt something catch her waist and begin to take her down.

Athena looked down at her abdomen and saw Kima's huge, white, furry paws. He was exhausted from the trip, but it was his duty to make Athena fly.

Kima dove at an absurd speed, giving more thrusts with her wings and throwing Athena into the tornado.

With her sword drawn, Athena passed through the core that looked like a fairy or something that was a fairy.

A body about eight inches long, without an arm and without a head, served as a receptacle for the elemental's essence.

"[Hew]"

The instant Athena went through it, feeling disgusted and more hateful to the elementals, she cut it off and turned it into nothing.

At that moment, the essence that was inside the body was also pulverized and the energy contained in it exploded, throwing Athena away.

Athena hit the sand hard and rolled over a hundred yards. She broke nothing, but her organs couldn't withstand the force of the impact.

When she stopped rolling, blood gushed from every orifice. Athena felt suffocated, desperately trying to get her helmet and breastplate off her armor, but the lack of oxygen makes this action almost impossible.

Athena's bloody eyes were almost out of focus when she saw the silhouette of a panting Lunnia.

"Athena! What were you thinking? I told you to put the essence aside and just destroy the receptacle!"

Lunnia took off Athena's helmet and armor, letting her breathe as she lay on her side.

"You don't... Corgh! Said the receptacle was a fairy... Corgh!" Athena complained. Her voice was scratchy and choked with blood she spat out with every cough.

"My mistake. [Healing Hands] this isn't going to be very effective because... Well, you know, I'm part demon..."

Lunnia snorted the words as if she mocked the requirements of magic and Athena laughed as she felt her organs return to places they should never have left.

After some time there, lying down, receiving treatment, Athena faced the starry sky and had an idea.

"Lunnia, what was the area hit by the skill that killed one of those people in the mountain ranges?"

"I think around 125m in circumference... Why?"

"Do you think you can reach Gion and the others inside the castle?" Athena rose, putting aside her armor and helmet.

"I think yes."

"Then I need to stay away." Athena said and tied her hair into a ponytail. "Kima!!"

"Like this?" Lunnia asked, Athena smiled and jumped on Kima's back.

From a distance, Lunnia understood what Athena intended to do.

Athena flew away from the remaining elementals, landed about twenty meters from the things, and sent Kima back to Lunnia.

As soon as she found herself alone, Athena drew her sword and took aim at two of the closest elementals and roared her skill with a voice full of power.

"[Eradication]!!!!"

The energy of the mana used ran from her arms towards the blue-gray sword which had been dull until then and which now glowed intensely and released all that energy into the elementals that had disappeared silently.

Athena's heart seemed about to explode with speed and a wide smile spread across the woman's face.

In reaction to the disappearance of three of them, the remaining elementals stopped attacking the castle and turned to Athena.

That would be a source of despair for anyone, but Athena was even more elated to see what was happening.

As Athena celebrated with leaps of joy, at having taken the elementals' attention of Anemus to herself, the elementals merged into one another and became a giant humanoid wind being.

Athena faced the giant coming towards her and ran to the other direction still under the effect of [Death Aura], making the elemental follow her until it no longer affects the castle and its surroundings.

The fight didn't last long. In fact, there wasn't even a fight. It was a unilateral victory for Athena, who using her new skill, simply made the elemental disappear.

Athena ran back to the castle, climbed what was left of the stairs and entered the bedroom door while shouting the names of Anemus and Fotiá.

Fotiá ran into Athena's arms while Gion laid Anemus on what was left of the bed.

"How is she?" Athena asked. She smoothed Anemus' sweaty greenish-blond hair, noticing her high fever.

"You can't see her mana?" Gion snapped. "Give me the harpy blood!"

Anemus' mana felt like a torrent of lava and blades and it made her writhe and moan in pain. She was feeling her blood melting her organs as the air from her lungs shredded her from the inside out.

Blood ran from her nose, eyes and ears and blisters and cuts appeared on her skin.

Gion mixed the ingredients without any kindness or care, at this point all Anemus needed was to survive, they didn't have time for a refined potion.

After grinding and mixing everything, Gion blew all the dirt from the room with wind magic and drew with fire magic a magic circle twenty feet in circumference.

In the circle he had drawn the three moons forming a triangle, with the sun as the guide and seventeen symbols and words forming and ensuring their existence.

Athena laid Anemus naked in the middle of the circle as carefully as if she were dealing with fragile crystals.

"Now make her drink the potion." Gion said as he blew the rest of the bedroom ceiling somewhere to bathe Anemus in moonlight.

Neu handed Athena the wooden bowl of a pinkish liquid that had the texture almost like goo and smelled worse than it looked, making Athena scowl at the liquid.

Athena lifted Anemus' head carefully and drained the potion into the nymph's mouth, but she didn't swallow.

Athena waited to see if she reacted to the taste and when Anemus turned her face and spat out the liquid, Athena lifted Anemus' head again and whispered in her ear.

"This is the first and last order I give you as your master. Swallow the potion, Anemus."

Athena put the potion in her mouth and transferred it to Anemus' mouth in a kiss and so they stayed until Anemus swallowed.

"She would be very happy if you did this when she wakes up." Gion commented when Athena walked away from the circle.

"Begins!" Athena ordered impatiently.

Gion slammed his staff to the ground, making a sound hard and loud enough for Lunnia to hear outside the castle, and activated the circle that glowed blue, yellow, red and then green as the man chanted.

"Darga etu saero yirm negh lerk..."

Every word Gion uttered had power and that power went straight to Anemus' body that began to arch on the ground as her skin glowed and changed color.

"Saero dum erb aqw!"

The chant came to an end, Anemus was now floating in the air and her body glowed a smoky green light.

Her voice sounded more mature in her moans, which sounded more like sleepy complaints than someone in pain.

When the light went out, Anemus was sleeping on the floor in a fetal position and three pairs of yellow-green wings grew from her back. Her greenish-blond hair was much longer, her face and body was that of a girl of fifteen or seventeen, and when she opened her eyes, they were the same emerald green as Athena's.

Athena and Fotiá hugged and caressed the girl, who didn't seem to understand what was happening.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Athena said, her voice filled with relief and affection. "You got it!" Athena looked at Gion, who was turned away.

"Th-of course I got it! Hmph!" Gion responded with shyness and arrogance mixed in his voice.

"Anemus are you alright?" Athena asked, examining the nymph's body.

Anemus covered her breasts and closed her legs in shame at her nakedness and looked at Athena.

Anemus thought that if she got older, her feelings for Athena would disappear, but on the contrary, Anemus loved Athena even more. More than she could keep.

"Athena…" Anemus' voice was soft and clear.

Athena looked into the girl's eyes, she was smiling genuinely, full of happiness.

Anemus didn't look away.

"I…" Anemus pursed his lips.

"Hm? You?" Athena asked tilting her head.

"I love you...."