Chapter Text
The second she drove the blade in, Jeanne knew she’d done it wrong.
The tricky thing about sealing, Eva had said, is the amount of precise control the caster needs to have. The amount of perfectly clear intent. Sealing objects and rifts was tricky enough, but to seal a person in any form for any amount of time with everything intact was nigh miraculous.
‘It’s a lesson for another time’ Eva had said. But there was never another time, and Jeanne had to do something now.
Between Rosa dead on the floor, the sound of the hall door cracking under the assault of the Laguna, and Cereza’s hysteric grief, Jeanne did not have time to fully visualize what she needed to do.
Lunging forward, Jeanne brute forces the spell. It’s a hammer where she needs a scalpel, but it is more reliable than trying to fight off every angel that has descended to turn the clan grounds into living hell.
It's sloppy. It's all so fucking sloppy. It’s not correct at all. She’s sealed the Eye, but she’s done something wrong. She’s gone both too far and not far enough. Jeanne doesn't even have time to think about the possible consequences as she drives the knife in.
With one final burst of light, the power that blooms inside of Cereza curls in on itself and goes quiet.
The doors finally break, and a flood of angels swarm into the chamber. Jeanne spins around, ready to defend the clock tower to her final breath.
Cereza's eyes fall closed, and she sleeps.
Kyrie wakes up.
She's alone. Where's Nico? What about-
The rubble shifts off to the side, Kyrie turns to where she hears a hacking cough and a cloud of unsettled dust.
Kat sits there under a fallen metal beam. Her fancy cream and gold mini dress is all powder white, her hair is similarly chalky, and as always, she looks at Kyrie with an unparalleled hate.
Kyrie feels her shoulders drop. She looks around again. There’s no sign of either of their companions. They seem to be in some kind of pit, the rubble they walked on above concealing an underground pocket. If Kyrie strains her ears, she can hear the drag of porcelain feet, is there a cave system down here?
Sitting up, Kyrie tests out all her limbs. Everything responded as it should, nothing was numb, but nothing felt particularly good either.
She lost the lunch she packed, and with it, all of her lollipops she’d concocted for the occasion. Kyrie had to work with her current state.
Kyrie walks over to where Kat is pinned. They size each other up.
As fun as it had been to get the jump on Kat for once, it clearly hadn't been helpful. Looking down at the trapped girl, Kyrie can’t help but sigh in defeat.
“Why are we even fighting? Because you think I stole something from you that I never had either? I didn't think there were any clans at all until this year. I had to figure everything out myself also. I didn’t even come here with friends.” Kyrie’s throat is very raw, probably from all the dust. She’s not sure how much time has passed.
Kat stares at Kyrie. Not saying a word. She's probably just being stubborn, but Kyrie has a wild optimistic hope that perhaps they've reached some sort of truce. Silence is better than spitting anger.
“My friend and your friends are somewhere on this island. I don't think anyone is as qualified as we are to go save them. Are you going to help me? Or should I leave you here and come back?” And she will leave Kat here. If it is faster and easier, that is what Kyrie will do. Kat doesn’t need to worry about the lurking angels like she does.
“If you take a single shot and Virgil or Dante you’re dead. Now get this off me.” Kat only hesitates for a minute before agreeing, much to Kyrie’s relief.
Kyrie lifts the beam up. She pulls Kat to her feet when the girl seems to waver on her ability to get up on her own. Upon finally getting on her feet, Kat doubles over with a wheezing moan of pain.
“What's wrong?” Kyrie hadn't hit the other girl that hard, and she couldn't see anything visibly wrong with her. Kat waves her off.
“I'm sure it's nothing. We need to get moving.” So they do.
Scaling the steep walls of the caved in rubble is hard work. Unlike walking with Nico, there’s no easy silence, nor is there any sense of levity. If the two of them are feeling beat, what about the three completely normal humans?
It’s also steep, and footholds move even when Kyrie barely puts weight on them.
She hears Kat cough, a wet, sick sound. Kyrie turns around to check on the girl, who’s been starting to lag behind for a minute or so. Maybe she wasn’t alright like she said earlier.
“Should we take a break?” Kat looks up and scowls.
“GOD. What is your fucking problem!!” She hisses and spits, hauling herself up with pointed haste. Kyrie just blinks. That can’t have made her that mad did it? This is ridiculous.
“What's MY problem?! What's yours! You started it!” Kyrie gripes, and turns away from her ungrateful ally.
“EUGH. You're such a goody two shoes fucking church girl. Don't you ever let up?” Kyrie sputters.
“What's wrong with that? Why can't you just leave me alone?” It probably sounds more like whining than genuine aggrievance, but this is absurd. Everything about Kyrie is a problem for Kat.
Kat pauses to make an exaggerated retching sound, pausing only to make sure Kyrie is watching before starting to move again.
“Everything is wrong with that. You're a fucking witch. Act like it.” The sneer is audible. Kyrie pulls herself up, determined to at least get further away from the girl.
“You should be taking notes then.” Kyrie seethes under her breath.
“I’m asking if you’re alright, what is wrong with that?! I need you to be as functional as possible if we’re going to find Nico.” Kyrie says loud enough for Kat to hear. What didn’t Kat get about this arrangement? Does she not have friends?
“Speak for yourself. I know Dante and Virgil can handle themselves.” Kyrie chooses to ignore that jab back.
Pulling herself out of the collapsed section at long last, Kyrie does not look back to help Kat ascend the last few lengths. Instead she scans the horizon. As she expected, the entire area they’d started fighting in has been tossed up
When Kat hauls her body up at last, Kyrie already has a vague plan formed. There’s several other similar caved in areas of the ground they need to check first before moving on from this area, and Kat just grunts while Kyrie explains this to her. Good enough.
They trudge from hole to hole with no success. Kyrie thinks she spots the remains of her lunch container, but there’s no evidence of Nico or Kat’s boys.
It’s not hopeless however, in fact it’s probably for the better that the three missing people didn’t plummet as far down as they did. They circle the area wider, back tracking the routes they came through, until the only other option is to go deeper into the center of the island.
They talk as little as possible. Kyrie refrains from asking Kat about her growing difficulty to stand upright or move swiftly.
Pushing onward, they approach the shell of a mostly collapsed office building. Kyrie can’t guess how many stories high it is, as she’s never seen a building so tall in person, let alone been inside one.
Up ahead, she can hear debris move.
Kyrie almost jerks forward, but freezes in place instead. They’ve been so busy searching that it’s easy to forget the danger that lurks on an island inhabited by the Laguna.
Kat looks at Kyrie, the witch can’t tell what the other girl is thinking, but the sage creeps forward on silent feet. Kyrie follows slowly behind.
More noise from up ahead. As well as a few metal clangs. It was far too erratic to be an angel Kyrie thought. Of course, she saw new freakier angels every week at this point, so it was hard to say.
They peak around the corner into the shaded industrial cavern.
It’s Danny and Nico, similarly covered in dust and grime as Kat and Kyrie, are completely ignorant of any observers watching them scramble around.
They’re caged in by a few poorly placed metal beams. Danny is currently railing against one with another smaller metal bar he’s wielding like a sword, Nico seems to be digging around in the dirt.
“Grah! This isn’t working at all.” Danny gripes, dropping the now dented piece of metal with a loud clang. He curses when Nico throws a small piece of debris at him.
“No shit Sherlock. Why don’t you help dig us out instead of hitting the only supporting beams this island has to offer?”
It's then that Kat steps forward.
“Need some help?” Kyrie follows behind, just able to see both of their friends sigh with relief at their joint appearance.
Kat, though with less ease than Kyrie would expect, bends one of the beams so there is enough room for the two unwitting captives to hop through. They hurry away from the scene though as the other beams begin to buckle alongside it.
Upon reaching daylight, the two quickly begin to try and dust themselves off, their respective friends looking them over for injuries.
Nico’s largely fine, if not a bit scraped up from digging around earlier. Kyrie wipes a smudge of grime from the taller girl's tan cheek.
“What happened? We were only a bit away from where we were fighting. How did you two get this far away?” Kyrie looks back the way she and Kat came. It’s hard to believe a human could be flung so far and be no worse for wear.
"Nah, we got blown over there." Danny chimes in, gesturing vaguely off to the side. Nico immediately frowns at his answer.
"No! No, we got blasted over there. Then we got chased around by some freaky angels until we ran in here."
"Then the beams fell down.” Danny concedes.
“Because you were busy throwing shit at them!” Nico butts in again.
“It made them run away!”
“‘Cause they could hear the building falling down with us inside it stupid.” Nico coughs out, licking her dry lips in an attempt to moisten her mouth most likely. If Kat and Kyrie were worse for wear, it couldn't be good for someone without their powers.
Kyrie purses her lips, turning to look the teenage boy up and down.
“And you're alright?” Danny just grins. The same easy smile he’d worn when they’d met in the corner store. The same smile he stole her wallet with.
“It takes more than that to get me! I’m not half angel for nothing.” Kyrie squints. As if this day wasn't already so strange, Danny wasn’t even fully human?
“Half angel?”
“Hey, it's not that crazy.” He complains, far too nonchalant. It really is that crazy.
That isn't Kyrie’s problem however.
“They just seem somewhat…” she doesn't say unintelligent, in fact she doesn’t say anything of the sort. Kat narrows her eyes as she watches Kyrie choose her words.
“I didn't think they could break away from… their collective goal.” Most angels follow a generally predictable behavior pattern. Books had shown them to follow orders from their superior ranked kin without deviation. Demons had free will by nature, how would an angel break away from the group and…have a child? Two children? Kyrie still didn’t understand Danny and Virgil’s presence here.
“Mm yea. Mom was pretty wacky by angel standards. I think dad said she was some kind of Joy? Virgil was always way more into that stuff. It’s how he and Kat met.” Danny shrugs, waving a hand over to Kat.
“You haven't seen V?” Danny asks the sage. She just twists her mouth and shakes her head.
"Can you sense which direction he is?" Kyrie looks over at Kat, shocked by her response. A half angel sensing something might not be so far fetched, but Kat could too?
"What?" The sage raises an eyebrow, and doesn't elaborate. Kyrie grits her teeth.
“You can sense him? What does that mean? Why didn’t you say so?”
“I can only do it sometimes. It’s because he helped me make contact with the Laguna through him. Dante is more reliable though.” Kat shrugs defensively, brushing off Kyrie’s rightful irritation.
That is not how it works. Not even at Kyrie's most convoluted workarounds was it like that for her. What is going on with Kat and those two?
Danny must pick up on Kyrie’s rising irritation from her expression, and jumps in to give an explanation.
"Ah, me and V are twins. We can sort of pick each other out, he's better at it than me though." Twins? Weren’t twins supposed to look like each other? Kyrie supposes Grace and Glory’s didn’t look identical. But Vergil and… it doesn’t matter. Danny and his Virgil looked nothing alike and were also twins somehow. It just is what it is Kyrie tells herself, and she focuses on breathing deeply and remaining calm.
"You really can't feel him Kat? He's like dead ahead in the middle of the island." Danny asks Kat, looking confused. Kyrie stares at Kat. The small feeling of dread from earlier returns, her hunch was right. There must be something wrong with Kat’s powers, if not the girl herself.
“I can’t. I don’t know what's up. If we go find him, I’m sure Virgil can help me fix it.” Kat shakes her head, and starts walking off towards where Danny had indicated. Danny just shrugs and falls in step with her, rolling his shoulders.
Kyrie chews her lip, and glances at Nico. Only she and Kat made an agreement, which the sage seemed eager to forget, but it didn't sit right with Kyrie to let them wander off while Kat was this injured and impaired.
Nico looks over at Kyrie and throws her head towards the two figures hobbling away. Kyrie starts walking after them, she can hear Nico’s footsteps fall slightly behind her.
They keep up this position for about ten minutes. Kat and Danny walk ahead while Kyrie and Nico trail them by a short distance. Kyrie knows Kat knows they’re following them, because she keeps throwing unsubtle glances over her shoulder.
It must eventually be too annoying to wait them out, because Kat waves at Danny to stop walking, and waits for Nico and Kyrie to catch up a few moments later.
"What are you following us for?" Kyrie grits her teeth. Her pale face is even paler now, sweat beads at her temple, her lips are bloodless.
"I said I would help you find your friends if you helped me find mine." Kyrie states flatly. The level of pride the other girl has is almost unbelievable.
"We got it, don't worry about us." Danny assures. Clearly following Kat’s wish to go on without outsiders.
Which is a perfect time for Kat to double over and drop to her knees.
Whatever is happening to the girl, Kyrie can feel a whisper of it. Like a seizing muscle, the other girl’s magic jerks and contracts, the sage clutches at her chest and can’t seem to get a breath in her lungs. Her pale hands fail to make any difference, scrabbling at her chest and the sun shaped locket hanging at her collar. Kyrie drops down immediately to roll the girl onto her back where it seems like she can finally breathe easy.
Nico snorts at the scene and looks at Danny who’s standing there in mild horror watching Kat convulse. Not for the first time, does Kyrie wonder about Kat’s relationship with the two teenage boys. As close as they seem to be, it seems like they don’t pay very much attention to her wellbeing.
"Looks like we’re going together. Tough shit for you two." Nico snaps, leading the charge inward with only a slight limp. Kyrie just slips Kat’s arm over her shoulder and stands, she nods at Danny to get moving. The boy watches Kat with a wary glance, and then walks ahead closer to Nico.
Boys. Kyrie just rolls her eyes.
They continue on, slowing only as the terrain once again begins to incline. More debris surrounds the center of the island as a natural defense.
Kyrie had to shift Kat’s arm, taking on more of her weight as the girl continued to flag beside her. Even taking the most gradual inclines, the sage’s feet often tripped and brought both of them to their knees.
“This is humiliating.” Kat’s hoarse voice can’t even work up much volume, barely loud enough for Kyrie to hear. Her feet slip again, but Kyrie resolutely keeps her eyes on the ground ahead of them.
“What are you even doing on this island? What’s here for you?” Even if things had gone perfectly well, what did Kat’s trio need from this pile of rubble?
“What’s here for you?” Kat throws the question back. Kyrie holds in her sigh, and figures there’s no need to hide anything in this situation.
“Training. Nico’s here for spare parts to make weapons with.” There’s no reason to conceal her purposes. Though she wouldn’t put it past Kat to accuse Kyrie of lying about this.
Predictably, Kat scoffs. Her feet stumble as she hangs her head, but she still manages to find the energy to antagonize Kyrie.
“It figures. You’re here to dick around while we came here to find a way to help Virgil and Dante unlock their powers.” Kyrie frowned. Unlock? They didn’t have any abilities other than sensing each other?
“He left so few things behind we’ve been forced to scrounge for scraps. He could have rebuilt the entire Lumen clan and instead he chose to fuck around and play mayor.” Kat gripes, airing grievance after grievance.
“Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to summon a holy blade finally? We had to scrub sewer walls to find old Lumen writing. Meanwhile you prance around in that ridiculous outfit.” It’s a good thing Kat trips again, because even if Kyrie is gaining a better picture of the girl’s bad attitude, she’d surely dump Kat if she starts accusing her again.
Redirecting, Kyrie focuses on a previous point of complaint.
“Who could have rebuilt the Lumen? The last sage?” From Cereza’s explanation, it had seemed the sage hadn’t even been himself fully for the last few centuries, focused solely on his suicide mission to rebirth the universe in the Laguna’s image. Where was Kat getting her information?
“Of course. Who else would have the power? As the Right Eye he could have done anything he wanted, he had so many loyal followers and yet he never did anything. Virgil and I had to scrape through forums his followers would talk on to put anything together.” Kat sucks in a ragged breath, winded just from that amount of talking, and reaches up with her free hand to clutch at her white gold sun shaped brooch.
Kyrie frowns. Half of what Kat said didn’t make any sense to her, but the other half, unfortunately, struck a part of Kyrie’s mind she’d purposefully chosen to ignore.
She didn’t understand why Jeanne and Cereza hadn’t gone looking for more potential witches, or even seeking out rare cases like Kyrie. The fact that they had brought her to Vigrid had seemed like enough, and Kyrie didn’t want to be rude and ask questions about touchy history. It was upsetting to think that if not for incredible luck, Kyrie would be left to struggle on her own in the dark, possibly dying early to something she now knew to avoid. She licks her lips, mouth slightly dry.
Was it her birthright to be a witch? To have a clan and learn ancient techniques? It was hard to say if this was something destined for Kyrie, or something she stole for herself.
Shaking her head, Kyrie puts it out of mind again. Clearly such thinking drove Kat to the brink, it wouldn’t do Kyrie any good to dwell on it. She’d either learn one day or she’d find her own answers.
“Forums?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know what a forum is? Don't you have the internet on whatever loser remote island you crawled out of?" Kat teases, her half smile hinting that she’s not even particularly mad anymore about being half carried, half dragged anymore.
Kat wheezes lightly as they push up over another steep chunk of concrete. Kyrie bites the inside of her cheek, not commenting.
Kat looks back up at her, eyes focusing with great effort.
"Seriously?" Any antagonism is briefly overcome by sheer disbelief of Kyrie's naïveté about the real world.
"It's a very traditional island." She bites out, hoping Kat can't read between the lines and guess anymore blind spots. Even five months into her stay here, Kyrie is bafflingly behind technology wise. She’d recently had a basic computer lesson from Jeanne and had yet to recover.
“Just tell me what a forum is.” Kyrie resolutely looks forwards and focuses on placing her feet down on steady ground. Who even needs the internet? Fortuna was doing just fine without it it seemed.
Kat snorts, and graciously drops the subject.
“It’s like an online message board. You can talk with people about specific topics. I found one on the occult while I was at the library. It said angels were real, and that some people could see them, or even call them out. People who had been to Vigrid said there was a language that would give you the power to do so.”
Kat swallows for a second.
“And then?” Kyrie asks, worried the girl was about to pass out potentially. She hears Kat smack her dry lips together.
“And then Virgil responded to one of my comments. He said there were ways to test if I had the power to summon angels, and it really seemed like I had the potential. We ended up talking for hours and hours. He was my only friend, and he was going to save me.”
“When it finally happened. When they finally came down and ripped him to shreds, it was Virgil who came and found me. He wanted to find his brother and I would do anything for him. Nobody could ever prove how to actually make a contract with the Laguna. Virgil and I had to make it up on our own using Virgil’s powers as a conduit.” The incline becomes even steeper. Danny and Nico have gone out of Kyrie’s view, Kat continues talking.
“Balder must have hidden away the actual instructions for the ritual, but it really worked. I was a sage and Virgil and I were unstoppable. He was the brains and I was the magic, we tracked down Dante in only a few months, except…” She trails off, head dipping lower. Kyrie grunts, pulling the girl up another measure, and prompts the sage to keep talking.
“Except what? Was something wrong with him?” Kat nods slightly, or Kyrie imagines the movement to be a nod and not a limp shake of her head. The sage’s continuously waning energy made for a difficult read of her tells.
“He didn’t have his memory like Virgil did. It was probably thanks to his dad, who Virgil never trusted. He was some crazy history professor or something, and he totally hid everything about their mom from them. When the Laguna found and punished him, he did something to Dante’s head, and split them up to keep them from finding out.” Kat’s usual vitriol returns as she describes her friend's troubled past, but Kyrie can’t help her mind from snagging on certain details.
“Why would he do that? How did he erase Danny’s memory?” If their father was just an average human, how would he have the power to block off Danny’s memories?
“He wanted to seal away their powers. Virgil managed to get away before he could do it to him and was able to find a partial gate to Paradiso to call for help. I don’t know how he did it, Virgil said he kept so many old books that something in there could have tipped him off. It doesn’t matter anyways.” Kat’s explanation gains fervor as she speaks, and Kyrie glances down at the girl warily as she continues.
“Dante was gone by the time Virgill returned. We later found out he’d been put into the foster system, and didn’t even know he was missing his brother. It took Virgil seven years of searching to find him finally.” Kat grits her teeth, finally taking part of her weight off of Kyrie.
Vergil and Nero were hunted by their fellow demons because of their blood, why would Danny and Virgil have been any different? It didn’t add up to Kyrie, it didn’t make sense why Kat couldn’t see the holes in Virgil’s story. Was this how she sounded when she talked to Nico?
“Thats why we’re here on this stupid bullshit island. If we can find what’s left of Balder’s headquarters, Virgil can unlock his powers and restore Dante’s memory, then I can finally contact the Laguna directly instead of through Virgil.” What? Kyrie doesn’t question how that’s going to work.
“What technique would be able to restore his memory? It doesn’t seem like he has any issues currently, doesn’t he have super strength?” Kyrie can’t believe she wants to know. Any real sense within her should want to dump Kat here and take Nico back to mainland Vigrid. Every single sentence she’s heard for the last half hour have been indications of something being very wrong with all three of Kat’s group.
Kyrie shifts Kat’s arm on her shoulder and takes another step forward.
“Dante’s recovered some of his memory, but it’s not enough to let their dad keep affecting them even when they’re almost adults. The twins’ power is still mostly dormant. Especially Virgil’s, but he can unlock them if we find a portal into Paradiso, he thinks they can trigger their powers on the other side.”
Find a gate? Kyrie had never considered that Paradiso might have direct gates to their realm. How would that unlock their angelic blood’s powers?
“How can he not have access to his powers if you could contract through him?” Too many things weren’t making any sense to Kyrie. So much so that she could only glance upwards and forwards in mounting dread. What were they heading towards?
“I don’t know exactly what he’s looking for. But I trust him, he’s saved me so many times, and I want Dante to be able to remember their mother. He deserves to know everything himself, not just what Virgil can tell him about it.” Kyrie watches Kat’s eyes soften as she talks about Danny, minutely different from her tone for Virgil, which reaches a near fanatical pitch. Kyrie thinks back to Danny’s awkward, if not flubbed attempts at care.
Kyrie purses her lips, and focuses on heaving the two of them over the edge of the incline they’d been hiking up. Nico and Danny are sitting down, waiting for the two of them to catch up. Kyrie looks over at Danny.
While looking slightly out of breath, he’s otherwise alert, frowning slightly as if searching for a lost signal. He’s not nearly as helpless looking as Kat and Virgil seem to assess him to be, at least not to Kyrie’s eyes. He looks combat ready, though Kyrie can’t imagine what fighting experience he might have, he sits like a knight of the Order, watching, guarding.
Upon seeing Kat he instantly relaxes, and walks over to take Kat from Kyrie’s shoulder. The sage must have recovered some during their trip, because she talks softly with Danny, checking in on him and assuring him of her nonexistent health.
Nico is sprawled out on the ground, hair and grime everywhere, she breathes through her mouth as she occasionally shifts to unstick her sweaty limbs from each other.
Checking that Kat isn’t about to topple over on her own, Kyrie walks over to Nico.
“You don’t want to turn back?” If that’s what Nico wanted, Kyrie would gladly leave at this point. She had too much of a bad feeling right now to push her luck.
Nico’s eyes blink open and focus on Kyrie, then slide over to observe Kat and Danny.
“Do you?” Kyrie shrugs uncomfortably. She had promised to help Kat find Virgil, and had followed her this far when she knew the girl was somewhat crazy and was unwell. It went against her upbringing to abandon them now. It would be much easier and simpler for Kyrie’s mind to be made up if Nico had a firm stance.
Kyrie had forgotten that Nico was a sucker for trouble. It was how they met after all. The girl sits up from her sprawl on the ground and speaks lowly.
“I think we’re better off sticking with those two for now and leaving as a group.” Kyrie nods, and presses her lips together. When Nico lifts a hand up, Kyrie pulls the girl to her feet and walks back over to Kat and Danny.
“Do you know which direction your Virgil is in?” She directs the question to Danny, who simply cocks his head to the side.
“Sort of? It’s weird, it feels like there’s some sort of static in my head right now, sort of like earlier when you two were beating the shit out of each other.” He chews his lip and looks around with a shrug.
This close to the center of the island, the not so distant sounds of angels echo all around. An equal amount of shifting rubble kicks up dust, creating a low visibility haze at the edge of their sightlines. Kyrie thinks back to earlier.
“When we woke up we were in a hole that seemed to have a few caves, do you think whatever is throwing you off is below us?” If there was something below them, it might have been what separated them earlier. Kyrie tightens her grip on her guns, and looks down as if to see through layers of debris herself.
“Yea! That might make sense. It’s not a regular angel though, those are pretty distinct it’s more like a-”
Just like earlier, the ground in front of them erupts with the shriek of bending metal, only this time they’re luckily out of the blast zone and can fully witness their pursuer.
Blue-green metal claws its way out of the depths. A molten core pulses and spills out of the cracks, causing some of the industrial rubble to smoke and char instantly. It takes Kyrie barely a second to realise that this is a Golem. Likely placed on the island to hunt down intruders by its previous master.
The four of them stand deadly still as they watch the mechanical sentry emerge. It shifts for a moment, as if calibrating its surroundings, and then collapses back inwards into an approximation of a ball. Its metallic shell spins and whirs before finally resting on the four of them finally. Kyrie feels the dread in her gut form a heavy knot.
Kat sucks in a harsh breath, and Kyrie looks back in alarm to see the girl hunched over and pale again. Danny crouches down next to her only to look up at Kyrie in alarm.
Nico also eyes the Golem warily, Rodin has likely caught her up with the taxonomy of angels and demons. The trainee weaponsmith certainly senses the gravity of their situation, and backs towards the edge of the plateau.
Kyrie has to think fast. This Golem is likely pursuing either Kat or Kyrie specifically, considering who used to be in charge of Isla Del Sol. It likely won’t let them go again now that it’s caught up to them for a second time. Kyrie licks her lips.
Walking back over to the three, Kyrie silently traces out a circle on the ground with her toe. She watches as the purple bubble rises over Nico and Danny’s heads, watches Kat wince and clutch at her chest and then look up in confusion. Kyrie doesn't bother to explain the finer details of the spell, but she does thank the Savior that Cereza had taught it to her randomly.
“If this breaks you have to run. You have to get back to the van.” Nico looks up at that, serious for perhaps the first time, frowning deeply.
“What about you?” It’s Danny who asks. Holding Kat close, one of the girl's pale green eyes slides up and down Kyrie’s form, narrowing slightly. Kyrie just shakes her head.
“If that bubble breaks. I’m already dead.”
Kyrie spins around, drawing out her swords, on her reputation as a witch, she’ll defend the trio behind her.