Luring Out The Cult

-Inside the cell, some time later-

Leona was curled up on the mattress while still facing the cell door and still trying to regain enough strength to make her move when the time came to act. She was slowly recovering physical strength and mental awareness, but she still felt sluggish from whatever it was that was on the cloth the cultist had put over her mouth before she was taken here... wherever "here" was. Her recovery was not helped by the blood red torch in the cell; the unnatural light made sleep impossible and closing her eyes did not offer much relief from how irritating it was. The unnatural color bathed every corner of the cell, so turning her back to it did not help either.

The blonde did the best she could to cope with the circumstances of her captivity. This was the third time in her career that someone had taken her captive. The first time was when she had surrendered to Medeia to spare Hargeon Town from further destruction after their duel several months ago. The second time was when the human traffickers had captured her in Capital Crocus. The third time was when she was sold to the cultists and taken to her current location. Leona had no idea if she had been captured two times or three since she had been sold to the cultists instead of being captured by them, but in the end it did not really matter... getting free and eliminating as many cult members as she could find was of much more importance.

As if on cue the cell door opened and in walked a brown-robed cultist, who wasted no time in addressing the blonde.

"Your time is drawing closer. Soon your blood will help us regain favor with our patron." He told her calmly before spinning on his heels and walking back out of the cell. The door was slammed shut and locked again. Leona took a deep breath and struggled to her feet. She had received the warning that she was going to be sacrificed soon and that was her cue to act to avoid ending her life looking at the ceiling while draped across a sacrificial altar.

Leona wobbled on her feet for a moment before steadying herself. She held her hands out in front of her at a 45-degree angle and used her special adrenaline rush to give herself the strength to break the manacles. The blonde felt a surge of adrenaline she had not felt in years before she moved her hands apart, easily breaking her bonds. Now that her hands were free she needed to remove the metal collar from around her neck. She placed her fingers on the inside of it and pulled outward, shattering the object with contemptuous ease.

The disguised Wizard Saint suspected that the noise of metal being broken was audible from outside the cell, so she needed to act fast. Leona raised her right hand and prepared an Air Pressure spell. When the spell was ready she thrust her right palm forward and fired a visible horizontal column of compressed air that hit the door in the center and blasted it open. Leona rushed through the open cell door and into the hallway.

-Inside the hallway-

Leona glanced left, then she glanced right. She quickly determined that she was in a cell block with seven doors consisting of three on the left and three more on the right. She was not sure if anyone else was being held in this cell block, so she was going to check before she started killing any cultists who tried to apprehend her. Since she was still not fully herself there was no shame in calling in some help.

Leona raised her hands to the sky, channeled magic into her body, and called for Sky Champion Rafale.

"SKY CHAMPION RAFALE!" Leona called out. The green-clad summon with a winged helmet seemingly appeared from the ceiling before descending and landing beside the blonde. Once both feet hit the ground he faced her.

"Help me get out of here!" Leona instructed him. He turned left to face the door that led out of the cell block and she felt the special adrenaline rush wear off. Even though it had been brief it had accomplished its purpose because she was now free and was about to begin carrying out the mission the Order of Lightbringers had given her.

[Post Word Count: 742]
[Total Word Count: 742/11,000]

Notes:

After making her "escape" from her cell Leona was not in the best fighting shape; her coordination was still a bit off, but at least she could move under her own power. She did not know how long she had to get going before cultists came to investigate the commotion, but she was not going to willingly leave anyone in captivity if she could help it. Leona began to knock on the door of each cell to see if anyone was in them and the first three cells to her left were empty, so she passed by the cell that used to house her and knocked on the fifth door.

It too was empty, so Leona moved on down the row and knocked on the remaining doors. She did not get a response, so the blonde had no choice but to assume that they were all empty and move on. She turned left and walked towards the door while Sky Champion Rafale followed behind her. Leona took a quiet breath as she placed her right hand on the doorknob and opened it, then moved through. Her faithful summon followed behind her and quietly shut the door when he passed through it.

-Inside the next room-

Leona and her summon found themselves in a small rectangular room that was bare except for torches on the walls and three doors; there was a door opposite from her, one to the left, and one to the right. Each door had two blood red torches in wall sconces on both sides of it. Leona had no idea where to go next, but she had a goal in mind. She wanted to find where the cult kept its books and try to find a ledger or some other documentation of her purchase from the human traffickers so that she could learn their location and put them out of business one way or another. However, before Leona could do that she needed to finish this mission.

After a few moments spent trying to decide which way to go she decided to go straight ahead. Leona crossed the room at a brisk walk and stopped in front of the door, then opened it and peered inside. There was no one in the room, but she noticed that it was another cell block just like the one she had left. She was going to check inside of it to make sure that she was not leaving anyone behind before she started fighting the cultists. Leona walked into the cell block followed by Sky Champion Rafale.

-Inside the cell block-

Leona entered the area and walked over to the first cell door, then knocked on it three times. She got no response, so she moved onto the next door. Leona repeated the process until all seven doors were checked and no one responded... even though checking for other captives cost her time she could be using to reduce the cult's membership and trying to get her hands on valuable cult documents, she did not want to leave anyone to be sacrificed. She was feeling good about not leaving anyone behind when her summon got her attention.

"Leona, look!" He said and pointed the index finger of his left hand towards the ground beneath the blonde's feet. Leona looked down and saw a thin trail of blood leading from the cell towards the cell block entrance. She suspected that one of the sacrifices had not went willingly and their captors had to violently subdue them. Leona hoped that she was not too late to save anyone, but part of her suspected that there was no one left to rescue because they had all been sacrificed either before her arrival or while she was unconscious in her cell.

"That's not a good sign." Leona said grimly as her eyes followed the trail. Her right hand clenched into a fist as she felt a surge of adrenaline that was of a mundane nature take effect. Now that she knew there was a good chance that there was no one left to rescue she was free to go after the cultists without worrying about catching innocent people in the fighting.

"There's no one in the cells. Let's go." Leona told Rafale that they were leaving the cell block. She then walked towards the door but made it only seven steps before her legs buckled in mid-stride and caused her to almost fall onto her face. Rafale hurried to her side and stabilized her with his left shoulder. She had clearly underestimated the strength of whatever was on the cloth that had been used to render her unconscious.

"Are you OK?" Rafale asked his summoner while supporting her.

"I'm not sure, Rafale. I thought I was over the worst of the effects of whatever knocked me out earlier, but it seems like that's not the case." Leona replied while leaning on him. She thought that she had recovered enough to the point she could at least move from room to room under her own power, but now she was having doubts about her ability to fight. The Wizard Saint was not going to give up, though... she had not survived this long by quitting when the odds were against her.

[Post Word Count: 876]
[Total Word Count: 1,618/11,000]

Leona was in a rough spot, but she already had a plan as to how she was going to fight her enemies. As much as she liked to earn her victories by her own efforts instead of letting her summons do the fighting for her, in the state she was in the Wizard Saint had no choice but to use them. One false move in hand-to-hand combat with the cultists could be disastrous for her. Today Leona would swallow her pride and use her summons to aid her in completing her mission.

"Let's get out of this room, Rafale. I don't want to be in a confined space when trouble arrives." Leona told him. The summon supported her as she walked and helped her leave the cell block behind. Once out of the room Leona stood on her own as Rafale closed the door behind them.

-In the rectangular room-

Rafale rejoined Leona and offered his shoulder for support once again. Leona took it as she faced the door to her right. She recalled the layout of the cult base in Silent Cemetery and had cause to believe that the door she was facing would lead to a great hall that had a library of arcane lore attached to it. That was where she needed to go if she wanted to have a chance of finding any evidence of the cult's business with human traffickers, so she was going to go right first. Before she did she would bring out another summon to support her while Rafale did the fighting. She temporarily stood under her own power to channel magic into her body and summon the Furies for support.

"O THREE SISTERS OF UNRIVALED MIGHT, GRANT ME YOUR POWER IN THIS FIGHT!" Leona used the chant that would bring the Furies into reality. Moments later a giant tornado happened and the three winged summons appeared in a triangular formation around her before standing up in unison. Leona felt a twinge of guilt upon seeing them... she had wasted their potential in the fight with Medeia by reducing them to little more than shields to protect her and having them attack the Warlord to no real effect.

"Help me, Tisiphone. I can't walk very well on my own and need your help." Leona requested of the red-haired Fury. She obliged and took over for Sky Champion Rafale, freeing up the green-clad summon to fight on his summoner's behalf. She began to walk towards the door on the right and Tisiphone gently guided the blonde to her destination. Rafale walked ahead of them and opened it, allowing Leona and the Furies to pass through before shutting it behind them.

-Inside the room-

Leona found herself in a rather large room that had nothing in the way of cover but plenty of black cult banners hanging from the walls featuring the familiar crossed red axes placed under a grinning red skull and plenty of blood red torches to provide lighting. To the left in the center of the room was a long and wide hallway with cult banners and torches on the walls. Above Leona was a high vaulted ceiling that provided enough height for her summons to use their ability to fly to its fullest extent. That prompted Leona to come up with the idea of dispelling Sky Champion Rafale in favor of bringing out Tempest Avian, who benefited the most from the high ceiling because he could use his Steel Flechettes ability to good effect from the sky.

Leona dispelled Sky Champion Rafale before temporarily standing on her own long enough to raise her hands to the sky to summon Tempest Avian.

"TEMPEST AVIAN!" Leona called out. A tornado formed around Leona and the metallic owl floated down until he was standing in front of his summoner, who had returned to the support of Tisiphone's shoulder.

"Take to the air and watch for trouble!" Leona ordered him. The metallic owl took to the air and hovered near the ceiling while the blonde and the Furies moved deeper into the room. The Wizard Saint was not seeing anyone as she approached the hallway... another look around showed that there was another door on the far end of the room. That sight prompted Leona to wonder if the cult kept the special tome that granted the power to summon demons to high-ranking cult members who signed their names in it with their own blood behind the door or if they had learned their lesson from the loss of the tome in their Silent Cemetery base and moved it to a more secure and more easily defended location.

The Silver Wolf mage paused in place for a moment and nearly drop to her knees as her legs threatened to buckle again. Tisiphone stopped and held Leona up until the weakness passed and the latter was able to stand up again. Once she was upright the blonde stayed where she was for the time being to make sure that she had enough strength to not fall over the moment she finally took a step forward and her foot touched the ground.

[Post Word Count: 856]
[Total Word Count: 2,474/11,000]

A few minutes passed before Leona felt strong enough to move again. When she did she stepped forward with her right foot and paused to see if her legs would support her. When it was proven they were strong enough to bear her weight Leona began walking towards the door at the end of the long hallway, but she kept using Tisiphone's shoulder for support just in case her newfound strength was short-lived. Fortunately for her her legs remained strong enough for her to walk at a steady pace. Unfortunately for her she would not be going undetected by the cult for much longer.

The door at the end opened and out stepped a brown-robed cultist, who paused in place upon spotting her. Despite dealing with the effects of being drugged the Wizard Saint react quickly. Before he could turn around or move towards her Leona raised her right hand, pointed her right index finger at him, and prepared and fired a Wind Bullet spell at his head. The silver marble hit the target in the head and the head snapped so far back that she heard the cultist's neck snap, causing her to immediately wince. The cultist fell dead to the floor and Leona saw the door open and the dead cultist being pulled out of the way by another brown-robed cultist before more of them swarmed into the hallway followed by a few black-robed men.

It looked like she had kicked over the hornet's nest.

"The sacrifice has escaped!" One of them said.

"Don't let her get away! If we lose her we risk losing our patron's favor!" Another told his fellows. The black-robed men pushed through the ranks of the brown-robed cultists and stopped just in front of them, then raised their hands and prepared spells that generated arcs of electricity and clouds of frost. Leona suspected that they were not going to kill her with those spells... instead they were going to incapacitate her, then drag her off to an altar to be sacrificed.

"Help me turn around and head back to the center of the room!" Leona telepathically instructed Tisiphone. The red-haired Fury helped her summoner complete the turn and hurriedly helped her get down the hallway as Alecto and Megeara flew above and ahead of them on their own initiative, something Leona was not inclined to complain about considering the circumstances. She could hear thundering footsteps behind her as the enemies gave chase and she felt an arc of electricity pass so close to her legs that the hair on her right leg stood out. She saw the spell hit close to the ground to the right and in front of her, reinforcing her belief that they were trying to take her alive instead of kill her.

Leona made it to the center of the room and turned around to see a large group of brown-robed cultists streaming out of the hallway followed by a smaller group of black-robed magic users. She did not see any of the red-robed demon summoners among them, but it might be only a matter of time before they arrived. Leona needed to deal with the enemies in front of her before she worried about any others... fortunately Tempest Avian was on standby to lend a helping wing.

"Get ready to use Steel Flechettes!" Leona telepathically ordered Tempest Avian to prepare to use his crowd control ability. She would certainly need it because she counted at least thirteen brown-robed men and five black-robed men plus more cultists of both types streaming out of the door in the hallway. When the brown-robed group left the protection of the hallway to go after the blonde she gave the order for the metallic owl to use Steel Flechettes in one word.

"NOW!" Leona commanded.

Tempest Avian complied, sending down a rain of steel flechettes that caught the cultists by surprise. Eight of them fell with lethal wounds to the head, neck, and other vital regions that had been pierced by the projectiles, but two of them survived with wounds to the shoulder and left arm and retreated to the safety of the hallway along with the three who had not been hurt, where their fellows were grouping for a push on the disguised Wizard Saint. As the brown-robed men gathered for their attack the magic users began to sling spells at Leona, who dodged them thanks to Tisiphone helping her hurry to the right to avoid the arcs of electricity and balls of ice that were being sent her way. Leona knew that she was not going to survive just by dodging spells... she needed to get rid of the enemy mages, but that was easier said than done.

When she spotted a gap in the spells Leona raised her right hand and prepared an Air Pressure spell, aimed it at one of the magic users, and then thrust her hand forward, firing a visible horizontal column of compressed air at the black-robed cultist on the far left of the hall twenty meters away. The surprised man barely had time to react in shock before he was hit in the chest by the spell and killed. Leona had killed one of the enemy mages, but there were still four of them active and an unknown number of them somewhere in the base.

Leona was doing all right so far because her hand-eye coordination had recovered enough for her to use ranged spells with reasonable accuracy, but the condition of her legs was still a concern. It would probably be best if she stayed out of hand-to-hand combat for awhile. However, she might not get that luxury because a glance at the hallway showed that the brown-robed cultists had finished their preparations and were about to make their move.

[Post Word Count: 966]
[Total Word Count: 3,440/11,000]

Leona was mentally prepared to face the group of eighteen brown-robed cultists, but she was not ready physically because at the very moment they began their charge her legs tried to give way. She spun to face Tisiphone and Tisiphone caught her in time to keep her from falling to her knees, but Leona was facing away from her adversaries and was thus unable to fight back right away. The Wizard Saint gave the telepathic order for Tempest Avian to use Steel Flechettes on the incoming cultists and turned around in time to see the projectiles descend on the mob.

They appeared to have learned their lesson from the first wave because the group was a little more dispersed, so the Steel Flechettes killed only three with wounds to the head and neck and hurt three more with minor wounds to the arms and shoulder, but the latter were not hurt enough to stop them. Leona watched as Megeara and Alecto flew in and attacked two of them without her ordering them to. She still had ten cultists to face and saw more gathering in the hallway plus the four black-robed mages, so the blonde still had a fight ahead of her.

Tisiphone released Leona and took to the air as the latter used a Zephyr Dash to relocate twenty meters and buy herself time to get ready for hand-to-hand combat. She reappeared about ten meters from the right wall and turned to face the mob, which streamed around those hapless men busy being attacked by the three Furies and rushed towards the Wizard Saint, whose legs were currently cooperating with her. That was good because she was about to face off with twelve men who wanted to subdue her for a sinister purpose.

Leona waited until the mob was ten meters away, then prepared and cast a Wind Blast spell at them. Ten of the twelve men were hit by the concussive blast of wind and were thrown backwards onto the ground, but two of them avoided the spell by darting off to the sides and continued moving in on the Silver Wolf mage in a pincer motion with one approaching from the left and the other coming in from the right. Leona reacted quickly to the one on the left... she faced him as he approached, put the index and middle fingers of her right hand together, and quickly prepared a Silver Blade spell. When it was ready she raised her right hand to the left side of her face and slashed in a left-to-right horizontal motion aimed at the man's throat just as he reached out for her throat. The spell hit before the cultist could grab her and deeply cut his throat, making him clutch the wound with both hands as he staggered backwards for five steps before falling onto his back and bleeding out on the spot.

The second cultist was surprised by the sight of Leona's Silver Blade spell making short work of his colleague and hesitated for a moment. The Wizard Saint took advantage of that hesitation to cast a Zephyr Charge spell. She focused magic into her body and crouched down, then disappeared in a "flash step" that propelled her towards the man. She successfully hit the cultist and the buffer of air the spell created transferred all of the momentum she had generated to him and knocked him onto his back while she was none the worse for wear. The cultist groaned in pain as Leona turned away and sprinted towards the back wall to put some distance between herself and the other enemies, who had recovered and were rushing towards her.

Leona easily outran them and stopped when she was five meters from the wall, then spun to face her opponents. They were still about twelve meters away, giving her time to prepare and cast an Air Burst spell. She opened both hands and channeled silver magic into them, then pushed outwards, firing a cone of wind towards the group. Six of them were hit and were knocked back, but four of them avoided the spell by quickly breaking away from the group before she could cast Air Burst. Leona had to act fast, so she picked out a cultist rushing at her from straight ahead and raised her right hand, then prepared an Air Pressure spell. She quickly pushed outward with her right hand and fired a visible horizontal column of compressed air that hit him in the chest for a kill, leaving ten enemies standing: three charging towards her plus the six that had been hit by Air Burst plus the one who was still recovering from being hit by Zephyr Charge.

After casting the spell Leona sprinted to the left and ran until she was five meters away from the wall, dodging ice and lightning spells all the while by alternating between carefully timed stops and sudden bursts of speed. When she reached her destination she spun right and quickly cast a Wind Bullet spell aimed at the chest of one of the enemies who was running straight at her. The silver marble hit him in the chest and knocked him back with an audible groan that signaled a hit, but it had not been a lethal hit. Leona watched the mob approach and tried to think of something she could do to stop them before they got into range for hand-to-hand combat.

[Post Word Count: 906]
[Total Word Count: 4,346/11,000]

Leona was debating on whether to continue fighting using her spells, techniques, and summons or just cast a Silver Tempest spell and take out all of her enemies at once when her hand was forced by the nine brown-robed enemies she had evaded earlier grouping together for another attempt to overwhelm her with numbers. They joined up before sprinting at her as a mob that was tightly packed and lacking in coordination, but Leona already had a countermeasure in mind. She telepathically ordered Tempest Avian to circle behind them and use his Steel Flechettes ability once he had done so. The summon protested that she would be in the line of fire, but she quickly assured him that the situation merited such risky measures and he complied.

Leona kept backing away and doing everything she could to keep the mob's attention on her while Tempest Avian got into place. Thankfully the metallic owl did not take long because the cultists were moving in fast. She glanced up and saw him flapping his wings before using Steel Flechettes to send a rain of projectiles at the mob... due to the brown-robed enemies being tightly packed together all of the projectiles hit their targets. By some stroke of luck all of them hit vital areas like the back of the head and the neck, killing the cultists almost instantaneously.

Leona heard a telepathic warning from Alecto, who was warning her that the black-robed mages were sending spells in her direction. The Wizard Saint ducked under an arc of electricity that passed over her right shoulder, then stood up and jumped to the left to avoid a ball of frost that would have hit her chest had she remained where she was. Leona then had to dodge another bolt of ice with a timely duck that made the spell pass just over her head. She felt the air grow cold for just a moment as the projectile passed, giving her a hint of what would have happened if she had been hit.

The Silver Wolf mage knew that she had to take out the enemy spellcasters, but they were not making it easy. She was subjected to a constant barrage of spells that forced her to keep dodging to avoid a hit that could incapacitate her at the wrong time, but thankfully she had the presence of mind to use her summons to compensate for being unable to fight the enemy mages herself. Leona telepathically ordered Tempest Avian to use his Hurricane Shot ability on one of the black-robed cultists, one who had gotten just a bit ahead of his fellows and was casting lightning spells at her. The Wizard Saint stood up and sprinted to the right, barely dodging a bolt of lightning that had been aimed at her chest.

"LOOK RIGHT!" Tisiphone gave Leona a telepathic warning. Leona spun to face right and saw the brown-robed cultist who had been knocked down by Zephyr Charge running towards her. She quickly prepared a Silver Blade spell and put the index and middle fingers of her right hand together to be the base of the "blade" part of the spell. Once it was ready Leona brought her right hand up to the left side of her face, then slashed horizontally in a left-to-right motion, hitting the cultist's throat right as his grasping hands reached for her shoulders.

The man clutched his bleeding throat with a look of shock as he staggered backwards for three steps before falling onto his back and rapidly bleeding out. Leona turned away from the fallen cultist and saw Tempest Avian's Hurricane Shot slam into the chest of one of the enemy mages and kill him. The hapless mage crumpled into a heap and the other three black-robed men stopped casting spells to take a look at their fallen colleague. They looked at him for only a moment or two before turning and running down the hallway, presumably to summon reinforcements. Leona, not wanting to let them get away, started to give chase but her legs buckled after nine running steps and that caused her to stumble for five additional steps before falling forward and landing on her stomach.

The Furies landed beside the fallen Wizard Saint and Tisiphone helped her to her feet while the other two plus Tempest Avian watched the hallway for more cultists. Leona stood up and the moment she did her legs nearly wobbled again, but the red-haired Fury offered her shoulder and the former gratefully took it. The Wizard Saint took a quiet breath as she felt a wave of mild pain caused by the fall, but it soon subsided as her thoughts turned to something else. She wondered where Athena and the other Order mages who were supposed to rescue her were and also wondered if they had arrived at the cult's base yet.

[Post Word Count: 812]
[Total Word Count: 5,158/11,000]

As Leona recovered from her latest bout of weakness in her legs she wondered if the Order of Lightbringers mages sent to rescue her were still traveling to her location. She had no idea where she was, so that was entirely possible. She recalled Athena mentioning the possibility that they might get called away on a more important task and hoped that that was not the case. She still had plenty of magic power, but her legs could not be depended upon if she got into hand-to-hand combat, so she would keep to her plan of using ranged spells and her summons to fend off the cultists.

Speaking of cultists, the wooden door at the end of the hallway opened and out rushed a new and sizable horde of thirty-nine cultists composed of thirty-one brown-robed men wielding melee weapons plus eight magic users. Leona did not see any of the red-robed cultists yet, but she was not complaining. She would have a hard time fighting the demons they could summon without a Holy weapon or Holy magic. If they showed up she would have to make eliminating them a high priority before they could call in demons to add to the Wizard Saint's troubles.

Leona felt Tisiphone let go of her and heard her take to the air along with her sisters and Tempest Avian. The Wizard Saint saw a mix of electric and ice spells be cast in her direction, so she had to dodge them and trust that her legs would hold up while she sprinted to safety. Leona turned towards the right wall and started running, dodging an ice ball that soared past her left shoulder as she sprinted and picking up her right leg at just the right moment to avoid a bolt of lightning that had been cast at her legs. She avoided the rest of the spells thanks to her speed and stopped ten meters away from the wall, then turned and faced the pursuing men wielding melee weapons.

She telepathically ordered the Furies and Tempest Avian to shield her with their bodies while she prepared a Silver Tempest spell. As much as Leona hated to do that to them she would have been electrocuted to death or frozen by the time she could cast one of her most powerful spells if she did not take measures to protect herself. They formed a wall in front of their summoner and dutifully absorbed the numerous ranged spells being sent in her direction without a complaint as she channeled silver magic into her body to prepare the spell. She could hear commands to surround her being issued and hear footsteps all around her, indicating that the cultists were trying to maneuver around her improvised shield. However, by the time they could surround her it would be too late.

Once the spell was ready Leona telepathically ordered the summons to disperse so that she could see her targets before casting Silver Tempest. They dispersed by flying upward and off to the sides; when she could see the cultists in front of her and all around her Leona thrust her right hand up into the air with her palm held up, releasing a silver tornado that emanated from her position and struck all of the enemies in the room plus her summons. The Furies screamed as they "died" and Tempest Avian faded away without a word: the spells the quartet had absorbed to protect Leona must have weakened them to the point that Silver Tempest "killed" them. However, they had bought the time Leona needed to cast her spell and the payoff was hearing all of the cultists who had surrounded her yell in pain as they were buffeted by the gale-force winds before falling to the ground. Leona looked around her and saw that the small army of cultists who had stormed into the room were all dead, including the black-robed mages, who had foolishly left the cover of the hallway.

The Wizard Saint felt a twinge of guilt for using her summons as shields because it reminded her of the fight with Medeia. She had summoned the Furies for this fight to try and give the trio a chance to participate in a battle they could win as compensation for not using them properly during the clash with Medeia, but she had only ended up sacrificing them again. At least this time the Wizard Saint had not wasted the chance they had given her.

After her victory in the latest round of combat Leona stood quietly in place and began to think about what she was going to do next.

She was not sure how many cultists were in this place and did not know if any more were on the way. Since she could not predict when her legs would momentarily weaken Leona did not want to go down the hallway and open the door only to find herself confronting another small army of robed men because if her legs chose the wrong time to buckle she might not be able to run fast enough to escape the cultists... or she might not be able to run from them at all. Not wanting to put herself in such a dangerous position, Leona stayed where she was and adopted a defensive posture.

[Post Word Count: 886]
[Post Word Count: 6,044/11,000]

-Inside the room, some time later-

Leona had waited for quite some time and had not encountered any more cultists. She had expected another small army of them to storm into the room to confront her, but she had not seen a single one, not even an overly zealous brown-robed man armed with a sword and too much confidence. She highly doubted that she had killed every one in the base, but then again she might actually have accomplished that feat. Maybe she had been taken to another secondary base instead of an important one, but one look at the vaulted ceiling above her suggested that the Wizard Saint was not in some hastily chosen hiding place.

That feature was way too extravagant to be something in a place the cult had chosen to occupy due to a lack of choices. She suspected that she had been carried to somewhere important, but she had no evidence to support that suspicion. She might get lucky and find some evidence if she headed down the hallway and looked to see what was on the other side of the door. Having grown bored of waiting and deciding to at least steal a glimpse at what was ahead of her, Leona put one foot forward and felt her right leg give way in mid-stride. The hapless blonde dropped to one knee and exhaled sharply as her knee hit the ground and a wave of pain shot through it.

Maybe she was not going anywhere after all.

-In the room, some time later-

Leona had recovered from her latest bout of weakness a few minutes ago and was standing upright, but she did not try to go towards the hallway again. She took that bout as a sign that she should stay where she was instead of heading into the unknown and risking catastrophe by losing strength in her legs at the worst time. Deciding to summon the Furies again for company and protection, Leona channeled silver magic into her body and raised her hands into the air before chanting.

"O THREE SISTERS OF UNRIVALED MIGHT, GRANT ME YOUR POWER IN THIS FIGHT!" Leona chanted aloud. The familiar tornado formed around Leona and the trio appeared kneeling around her in a triangular formation before standing up. Once they stood up all three faced Leona, who faced Tisiphone.

"Thanks for protecting me, guys. I didn't want to use you as shields, but the situation got desperate and I had to think fast before it was too late." Leona apologized for having to use her three most powerful summons to block spells aimed at her with their bodies. The other two Furies gathered around Tisiphone and stood side-by-side with Alecto to Tisiphone's left and Megeara to the redhead's right. Once they had assembled where Leona could see them the redhead spoke.

"Our role is to serve." Tisiphone said calmly without any trace of judgment on her voice.

"It is as Tisiphone said. We exist to serve you." Alecto said.

"Our job is to aid you in any way we can. I am glad to see that today our efforts have managed to bring you victory." Megeara added. Leona was not able to come up with a complex response to anything her summons said, so she decided not to even bother trying to come up with a complicated speech. Instead she went for the simple statement.

"Thanks." Leona said simply. At that moment her legs chose to give out again and she fell to her knees, groaning in pain when they made contact with the ground. It was Tisiphone who reached down to help her summoner once again.

"Allow me to help you to your feet." The red-haired Fury said gently. Leona extended her hands out to her and Tisiphone took them, then pulled Leona up. The blonde was lifted up but was unable to stand for long because her legs did not want to cooperate... Tisiphone offered her right shoulder and Leona took it, but that was not enough because the moment the red-haired Fury supported her the Wizard Saint started to suddenly lean to the right. Megeara stepped in and used her left shoulder to prop the blonde up between them.

"Thanks guys. Whatever the cult used to drug me is still giving me trouble. I couldn't have made it this far without you." Leona thanked the trio for helping her once again. Right after she said that the door she had used to enter the room burst open and her summons spun her around to confront the source of the noise. Leona was expecting cultists but found herself facing Athena and other familiar faces such as Order Cleric Amanda, Order Cleric Amberlin, and Order Knight Minerva. Also with them was a sizable contingent of almost four dozen Order Knights in full plate mail and wielding Holy longswords.

"Hey Leona, sorry it took so long! We had to fight our way through some cultists and they put up more of a fight than we-" Athena started to explain the reason for the delay in their arrival when she peered behind the blonde and the Furies and saw the robed corpses strewn about the room. The orange-haired cleric walked forward and moved a meter or two past Leona and the Furies to get a better look at the scene. Leona turned to face her as Amanda, Amberlin, and Minerva joined Athena and once the quartet had looked around to their satisfaction the orange-haired cleric spoke first.

"Damn, Leona. Based on what I'm seeing I don't think you needed us to rescue you after all." Athena remarked on the sight of the dead cultists scattered about the room.

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"Fighting them was tougher than it looked, Athena. The human traffickers in Capital Crocus drugged me with a sedative of some sort. Then the cultists drugged me again before they took me here and when I woke up I was feeling really weak. I had to wait several hours or so before I had enough strength to stand up and break out of my bonds. Even then I had to resort to a special adrenaline rush of mine to do it because my natural strength wasn't quite enough to do the trick." Leona detailed the struggles she had endured to get to the point she could fight against her captors, moving her hands to call attention to the remains of the manacles that were still around her wrists. The three clerics and the knight got a good look at them and once they did Leona spoke again.

"My legs are still kinda weak, which is why you see my summons holding me up. My legs wobbled at random times and sometimes I'd almost fall down. Other times I actually fell to the ground." Leona informed the Order quartet and the other mages who had accompanied them.

"You did well to last as long as you did and take down that many cultists while fighting against the effects of the drugs that were used on you. It sounds like you were subjected to two powerful doses of sedative that were not spaced very far apart, so it is a wonder you were able to stand even with the help of your companions." Amanda complimented Leona on her good work.

"I don't know if I managed to kill every last cultist in the base. I wasn't able to explore the rooms ahead because I was worried that if my legs gave out at the wrong time I might land in trouble that I couldn't get out of." Leona informed the rescue party that she had had no idea what was behind the doors in the distance. For all she knew there was another small army of cultists getting ready for a last-ditch defense of their base somewhere behind those doors. Another possibility was that they were evacuating critical personnel and sensitive documents they did not want the Order to capture.

"I also don't know if there are any demon summoners here or not. The only cultists I encountered were ones who wore brown robes and black robes." Leona added a warning about the possible presence of red-robed demon summoners somewhere in the base. Athena nodded.

"Thanks for the warning, Leona." Athena said to Leona. Amanda wasted no time in addressing the disguised Wizard Saint.

"I know that you want to finish what you started, but you have done more than enough for us already. We of the Order of Lightbringers will do the rest. We will teleport you and Order Cleric Amberlin to the outskirts of Holy Castle. There she and Order Cleric Serena will heal you." Amanda told Leona that her role in the job was over and told her what would happen next. The blonde wanted to go with the clerics and knights to finish the fight, but she was not going to argue with Amanda. Her legs were just too unreliable to make tagging along a good idea.

"All right, Amanda. Good luck." Leona accepted what she had been told. Athena, Amanda, and Minerva formed a triangle around Leona and Amberlin. The Wizard Saint dispelled her summons and stood upright as the trio began to glow gold and a thin triangle formed on the ground. They chanted in unison as a translucent golden barrier went up around the Silver Wolf mage and the pink-haired cleric. Moments later the triangle filled with light and Leona could feel herself being lifted off the ground before she disappeared from the cult's base.

-Outside Holy Castle, unknown time-

Leona reappeared a short distance from Holy Castle along with Amberlin. A few moments after arriving the blonde's legs gave way and she fell to her knees as she felt an intense sensation of weakness in her limbs. Her eyes also began to hurt from seeing sunlight after spending an unknown amount of time inside a building with unnatural blood-red lighting. Fighting through the weakness and pain, she took a deep breath and tried to get to her feet, but the effort was futile because neither her arms nor her legs were strong enough to be up to the task. After three tries Leona gave up and looked at Amberlin, who was visibly concerned about Leona.

"Hold on, Leona! I'll go get Order Cleric Serena and she'll help me heal you!" Amberlin implored the struggling Wizard Saint.

"OK." Leona said weakly as she used what little strength she had in her arms to change from a kneeling position to a sitting position. Once her backside was planted on the grass Amberlin turned away and sprinted for the doors of Holy Castle as the blonde stayed in place and waited for help. She took a quiet breath and closed her eyes to try and block out some of the sunlight beaming down on her.

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-Outside Holy Castle, twenty minutes later-

It had been some time since Amberlin left to got get Serena and Leona's physical state was not getting any better. Her eyes had adapted to the sunlight enough where it only made her feel uncomfortable instead of causing pain like it had when she first arrived, but the weakness in her arms and legs was not letting up at all... in fact it was starting to get worse. After being teleported she could barely move and it was all she could do to continue sitting up. Leona took a quiet breath and hoped that she would get the medical attention she needed soon.

Moments after thinking that the blonde heard the doors to Holy Castle open. She could not muster the energy to turn her head to face them, but she heard two female voices talking and rapid footsteps.

"Help is on the way, Leona!" Amberlin called out to the waiting Wizard Saint. Leona did not respond because she was in such a bad state that opening her mouth felt like it would have taken too much effort. Within a minute of the doors opening she heard the footsteps stop in front of her. She opened her eyes and looked up at Amberlin and Serena.

"You look rough, Leona." Serena made an observation on the Wizard Saint's condition. The blonde refrained from making a sarcastic retort because she did not want to insult the people who were going to help her. The cleric got within arm's length before looking into Leona's eyes from several angles for a minute or two before stepping back.

"You also look like you've been heavily sedated." The brunette gave another opinion.

"That's because I was. I was sedated twice within twenty-four hours or so... maybe. I was so out of it that I lost track of time, but I don't think I went too long between doses." Leona reported without sarcasm. Serena put her hands on her hips.

"That's more than a little dangerous because so many things could go wrong when you do that sort of thing, but human traffickers aren't known for their medical expertise." The brunette dryly remarked.

"You said it. They didn't care if they got the dosage too high or if I experienced any side effects from what they used. They just wanted me to shut up and behave." Leona verified what Serena had said about the quality of the medical "care" the human traffickers had given her.

"Everything will be OK, Leona. We'll get you back on your feet with the healing spell we're about to cast." Serena assured her. She and Amberlin held their hands out towards the blonde and focused on her. Their hands glowed gold and the clerics started chanting in unison as a thin golden circle formed on the ground around the sitting Wizard Saint. Leona saw a gentle golden light fill the circle and felt a gentle warmth that made her weakness melt away.

Roughly two minutes later the spell was finished and the circle and the light faded away, leaving Leona feeling strong enough to finally stand up again. She slowly and carefully got to her feet, then faced the two clerics who had treated her. Anticipation was written all over their faces as they waited for her to give them a status report.

"I feel a lot stronger now. Thanks, guys." Leona thanked the pair. She still felt fatigued like she had just pulled an all-nighter in the office, but now she felt like she could walk home under her own power instead of having to rely on the Furies to support her every step of the way.

"You're still going to be awfully tired, but you won't have to worry about any health problems from the sedation. All you have to do is sleep the worst of the fatigue off tonight and not go running marathons or fighting anyone for a few days and you'll be fine." Serena informed Leona that the healing spell was not a total cure for what ailed her but would still give the Silver Wolf mage a good start on recovering.

"After everything you've went through over the past two days you probably want to go home." Amberlin said. Leona nodded.

"We won't stop you, Leona. Just be careful on the road. You've got a long walk ahead of you and you probably feel like you've run a marathon, so if you feel like you need to take a break just take one. Don't push yourself too hard." The pink-haired cleric advised the Wizard Saint to use caution on the way back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall.

"I'll be careful." Leona assured the cleric. She then bade Serena and Amberlin goodbye before turning away from them and starting the long trip back to the guild hall. Her walking pace was a lot slower than her normal one, but as far as she knew the Wizard Saint had no reason to hurry, so she was not going to exhaust herself trying to get to Silver Wolf Guild Hall.

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-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 1:07 A.M.-

Leona kept her word to Amberlin and did not push herself to get home. She made plenty of stops along the way whenever she felt too tired to press on and waited until she had regained enough energy to move a little bit further down the road. As a result Leona made it home long after midnight, but she did not care... she was happy that her legs did not threaten to give out from under her during the trip. After spending time in the cult's base worrying about whether her legs would betray her at the worst possible moment she was finally free of that problem.

Leona staggered into her room and shut the door, then walked over to her desk, where the Genetic Expression System was waiting exactly where she had left it. She picked it up and opened it, then looked into the mirror and pushed the button she had used to change into her long-haired and blue-eyed form. Within seconds she was back to her natural short-haired and green-eyed look. Leona set the device down and took off her denim jacket, then hung it on the back of her chair before slowly walking over to her wardrobe, opening it, and fishing out a green tank top to wear. She was so tired that she was not going to bother changing out of her short shorts... she was just going to change her shirt and call it good.

After changing into the green tank top Leona shuffled over to the chair her jacket was draped on and put the pink tank top on top of it before shuffling over to her bed. She sat down on the edge and untied her boots, then took them off and set them off to the left. She took off her socks and put them inside her boots before shoving them under the bed. Once that was done Leona swung her feet onto the foot of the bed and reclined on her back, then rolled over and turned her back to her room door.

The Wizard Saint probably had a lot of paperwork waiting for her in the office, but it was going to have to wait until she had gotten some sleep. Doing office work required careful attention to detail and right now Leona could not give it the attention necessary to make sure that everything was right. That meant that unless any of the paperwork had to be done right away it could wait until later.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, the next day, 10:47 P.M.-

With great effort Leona had woken up at noon and went straight to her office to handle everything that was waiting for her on her desk. Some cosmic entity must have had mercy on Leona for her ordeal because there were only thirteen stacks of paper instead of the usual small mountain that piled up whenever she came back to the office after an absence of two or more days. She had finished the work at 9:31 P.M. and had went over everything one last time to make sure it was correct before leaving the office.

Now she was back in her room and reading a note she had found on her room floor by nearly slipping on it with her right foot. The slightly crumpled note was from Dr. Reid, who had requested a meeting with Leona in Motor City at the latter's earliest convenience. Leona would visit her the first thing tomorrow afternoon.

-The next day, Dr. Reid's Laboratory, 1:43 P.M.-

Leona had woken up at 9:48 A.M. and gotten dressed in a casual outfit of open olive jacket over an olive green tank top and khaki cargo pants before boarding the Albatross and flying to the clearing on the outskirts of Motor City that she normally used as her landing zone. Leona had landed there without incident around noon and after a long walk through the busy city streets reached the doctor's home at 1:37 A.M. Now she was facing her hostess, who was holding her favorite mug and was steadily drinking coffee from it.

"Hey Leona! It's been awhile!" Dr. Reid greeted her guest with her usual good cheer. She was dressed in a pink t-shirt and black skirt with brown sandals, suggesting that she had not been working on the Atlas or another project that involved physical labor.

"Yes it has." Leona replied calmly. She was still kind of tired from what she had gone through, but Dr. Reid probably could not tell because the Wizard Saint was wearing a decent poker face.

"I called you here because I need help finding a location to test the Atlas in. The ideal location would be flat terrain, but I can live with flat terrain with slight inclines. Sand and other airborne particles should be kept to a minimum because enough of it in the air intakes can clog the cooling system. I'd also like it to be away from the public eye." Dr. Reid gave Leona the criteria for the testing ground. Leona knew that Lion's Island had what the doctor was wanted, but the question was whether or not the Wizard Saint wanted Dr. Reid to know about her private island.

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