A Spirited Battle

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 14, Post Number 350

-Outside the Abandoned Cabin-

A few days after the job on behalf of the sultan in Desierto, Leona was back in the field, this time in the area around the Abandoned Cabin. She wore her green, white, and gold outfit with Argent Gloves and carried both Shoki and her Silver Longsword on her left hip plus Ses Revanche in her right boot. Ordinarily carrying two swords that could harm the supernatural would be overkill, but today PG-13 was with her as backup. PG-13's plasma staff was as harmful to ghosts as a broom, which was why she had brought two anti-spirit weapons with her. Since he was programmed to use any and all weapons that humans could use, Leona could throw him Shoki or the Silver Longsword and watch him go to work.

Leona's left shoulder was also doing better thanks to regular usage of the guild's hot springs and abstaining from combat for a few days after the trip to Desierto. As a result she was mostly fit for combat, but she still brought along PG-13 as a precaution in case her left shoulder decided to fail her at a critical time. He might not be able to do much good underground because she was not sure if he could climb down the wooden ladder without breaking it, but above ground he was her backup plan.

Leona's mission was to investigate rumored paranormal activity under the cabin and eliminate it. The information she had gotten was incomplete, but the Order of Lightbringers believed that it was the work of some dark mage trying to make an Essence Orb out of the captured souls of innocent people. The Order was not sure if it was the work of the individual whose lab Order Knight Jessica and Leona had raided a little over a year ago, but they strongly suspected that that was the case. Accompanying her would be Order Cleric Amanda, the green-clad blonde who was one of the Order's senior clerics.

Leona dreaded going into the tunnels under the cabin because that likely meant another swim through the cistern and that nearly killed her the last time she had to do it. She had underestimated the distance to the surface and had also reached the limit on holding her breath. Only the intervention of Order Knight Jessica saved Leona from drowning in the cistern. Ever since then Leona was wary of swimming and had not entered any water that was not a shower or the guild hot springs. She might have to swim in deep water again before this job was over, but she was not going to like it.

In front of the pair loomed a small army of zombies about thirty strong and wearing a mishmash of different styles of clothing. Some wore ordinary clothing while others wore armor of varying types, suggesting that the former were thrill-seekers and the latter were adventurers who had entered the area in search of adventure and treasure but instead found only death. Leona noticed that the zombies were fairly spread out across the area and that picking off isolated individuals would be easy for an experienced mage like her. It would be even easier for PG-13, who was built from the ground up as both a bodyguard and a combat machine that moved with the speed and grace of a human.

Leona decided to split the workload with her faithful droid companion. She would let PG-13 go first and she would take on any zombies he missed. It might be lazy for the Wizard Saint of Courage to let PG-13 do the work, but Leona had long ago learned not to underestimate zombies just because they were slow and dumber than her at her worst. The Bacors roaming Fulci had taught her that not all shambling corpses were slow and dumb... some of them were fast and could think at a basic level, coming up with some crafty tactics to overwhelm a more powerful opponent. Besides, PG-13 could not be turned into a zombie no matter how many times he was bitten, so why not let him go first and follow behind to clean up any zombies that he missed?

Leona would play it smart and do just that.

"PG-13, attack any zombie that you can find. I'll follow behind you and clean up." Leona said to him, bringing out her Silver Longsword. The ends of PG-13's plasma staff flared to life and he twirled it before sprinting off to engage the nearest zombie, which was around 10 meters away from them. Leona watched as PG-13 leapt into the air with the staff held in both hands and slammed the end down on the zombie's head, smashing it in and claiming the first kill. He rushed forward to engage a zombie clad in full chainmail just a meter away and bashed its head in with a left-to-right horizontal swing. Leona followed behind him and took down a zombie approaching from his left with a stab through the temple.

Leona planted a foot on the zombie's shoulder and pried the blade out of its temple, then turned to attack a zombie in full plate mail and missing its left arm only a meter way from her. She would need to take off its helmet first, but that might be easier said than done. She rushed towards it, then slipped behind it with a Zephyr Dash, then used her hands to lift off the helmet and quickly stepped back. She dropped the helmet and rammed the Silver Longsword through the back of its head, killing it instantly.

The Wizard Saint tried to retrieve her sword when she heard moaning behind her and left the Silver Longsword where it was, instead drawing Shoki and turning around to face a pair of zombies in plain clothing. They were within arm's reach when she stepped back and performed a two-handed diagonal chop through the skull that downed the first. The second reached for her and Leona stepped back, then chopped through its skull with a two-handed downward chop that split its head down the middle. The Wizard Saint withdrew the sword with ease and looked for further zombies to kill while PG-13 finished off another zombie three meters in front of her.

Leona wondered where Amanda was. She should have been here by now, but right now it was not much of a concern since PG-13 was helping Leona clean up the zombie problem in the area. Leona pushed ahead and linked up with PG-13, who was already off and running to dispatch a shambling corpse standing two meters away wearing all steel armor except for a missing helmet. Meanwhile she turned to deal with a zombie that had a chunk missing from the right side of its neck wearing a bloody t-shirt and blue jeans.

Leona quickly carved through its skull with Shoki, then walked back to the armored corpse she had left the Silver Longsword embedded in and retrieved the weapon from its skull. She cleaned the blade of blood on the grass and sheathed it, putting it back in its scabbard and keeping Shoki out. While Leona was doing that PG-13 was cleaning up the zombie menace without any instruction from her... since she would just get in the way, she opted to stay back a short distance and let him work. In the meantime she would look for Amanda and prepare for the climb down the wooden ladder inside the cabin. Leona hoped that the pain in her left shoulder would not flare up while she was climbing and cause her to fall.

[Post Word Count: 1,272]
[Total Word Count: 1,272/8,000]

Leona stood back and watched PG-13 deal with the zombie menace by himself while she looked for Order Cleric Amanda, her partner for this job. She also looked for any zombies trying to take advantage of PG-13's absence to sneak up on her, but "sneak" was a strong word when they moaned every other step. Leona turned to her right and spotted a lone zombie with a missing right ear with a black tank top and blue jeans shuffling towards her from about six meters away. She casually pointed her left index finger at its head, channeled magic into the fingertip, fired a Wind Bullet at its head, and watched its head explode on impact. The zombie fell to the dirt and the Wizard Saint did not even have to get her hands dirty.

While waiting for Amanda Leona kept a look out for any other zombies approaching her and found one approaching eight meters away from the same angle as the one she had just dispatched. This one was a female zombie in a black t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts who had a large chunk missing out of their left bicep. Leona carefully approached it and when she was within range performed a downward right-to-left diagonal slash that carved its skull in half with no trouble at all. The second zombie went down and that was that.

She felt a strong magic signature and turned to face the source that was 50 meters away. Leona focused and saw a blonde woman clad in green. It was Order Cleric Amanda! Leona left the two dead zombies behind and walked over to greet the cleric.

"Hi there Amanda." Leona greeted the cleric.

"Hello, Leona. I see that you have been busy while you waited for me to get here." The cleric greeted her in return and commented on the Wizard Saint's activity.

"Yeah, there were about thirty or so zombies, so PG-13 and I started to clean them up while I waited for you." Leona explained. Amanda blinked.

"PG-13?" She asked. Leona realized that the guard droid and the cleric had not yet met.

"Oh, right! You haven't met him yet! PG-13's a guard droid and combat droid that I bought a little over two months ago. He accompanies me on jobs like this since he can't be turned into a zombie if he gets bitten. He's perfect for clearing out zombies and is a big help in fighting other enemies too!" Leona told Amanda a bit about her droid companion. As if on cue PG-13 walked over to them with his plasma staff active and faced Leona.

"Hostile lifeforms neutralized." PG-13 succinctly reported to his owner. He turned his blood red eyes towards Amanda, who could not help but be impressed by the droid. She involuntarily tensed up and PG-13 activated his staff for another round of combat. Fearing that PG-13 might take her as a threat towards his mistress and go on the offensive, Leona quickly spoke to him.

"She's Amanda, an Order of Lightbringers cleric. She's on our side." Leona informed PG-13.

"Understood." PG-13 said. He deactivated his staff and stepped back from the pair. Amanda breathed a sigh of relief.

"I see that your companion is ready for battle at a moment's notice." Amanda diplomatically said to Leona.

"Yeah. He's a bodyguard droid. I took a gunshot wound to my left shoulder almost two weeks ago and it hurts from time to time, so I brought him for support in case my shoulder starts to hurt. We've cleared away the current threats above ground, but I don't think he can fit down the ladder." Leona explained more about PG-13's function and why he was with her despite a Wizard Saint being strong enough to not need bodyguards. Amanda seemed to accept the reason and did not argue with her.

"Order Knight Jessica told me about the underground laboratory you two explored. She also told me that you almost drowned in a cistern during your time together." Amanda said diplomatically. Leona nodded.

"Jessica's right about me almost drowning. I come from Desierto and there's not a lot of deep water there, so I'm not a very good swimmer. I know enough to do OK in a pool, but deep water is where I run into trouble." Leona confirmed Jessica's story. She had long ago learned when to swallow her pride and be truthful about her shortcomings so that her job partners did not get any unpleasant surprises. Amanda looked at Leona and nodded.

"If we have to deal with that again, I will be sure to help you." Amanda promised.

"Thanks. Now let's go into the cabin." Leona said to Amanda. Amanda nodded and together the trio made their way towards the abandoned cabin the area was named for. The outside was exactly the same as the time she had met Kasim after he had succumbed to the infection that turned him into a zombie. Speaking of her departed friend, she remembered something about this place.

Kasim's grave was nearby!

Leona darted past Amanda and walked briskly towards the area where she had dug the grave for her friend Kasim. She noticed that it had only not been disturbed, but it had also been filled in since that time a little over two years ago. Leona was puzzled. Either someone was a good Samaritan or Kasim's body had been taken and the grave filled in to fool her into thinking it was still there.

"What is it?" Amanda asked.

"A friend of mine hid in the Abandoned Cabin became a zombie a little over two years ago. I had to kill him and once I did I buried him near the cabin because back then I wasn't a Wizard Saint and I didn't want people asking awkward questions about me hauling a body with me. I promised that when he died I'd take him back to Desierto and cremate him in his home village." Leona explained what had prompted her to dart ahead of the cleric and PG-13. Amanda stood still for a moment before nodding.

"I understand." Amanda said laconically. Leona took a deep breath.

"I'll deal with that later. Right now let's go into the cabin and do what we came here to do." Leona told Amanda. The cleric nodded. Together the trio approached the cabin door and opened it. Leona went in first, followed by Amanda and finally PG-13.

[Post Word Count: 1,074]
[Total Word Count: 2,346/8,000]

-Inside the Abandoned Cabin-

Leona, Amanda, and PG-13 entered the cabin and Leona noticed that it was almost exactly the same as it had been during her last visit. There was still a trapdoor located near the bottom right corner that led down, but it was left wide open. There were partially dry bloodstains leading up to it that showed that something had been dragged to it. That did not look good. The same awful smell of decaying flesh emanated from the tunnel the ladder led to, a detail that was even worse than the blood trail.

"I don't like this. This is way too convenient. It's almost like whoever is behind this wanted to be found." Leona remarked to Amanda on the improbability of the trapdoor being left open for them to find and go down. She looked at the ladder and saw that there was no way that it could safely accommodate PG-13's weight. As much as it pained her, the Wizard Saint would have to leave him above ground.

"I agree. However, there is little that can be done about it other than to go down and stop them." Amanda replied to Leona's remark. The Wizard Saint sighed. Amanda was right.

"All right. I'll go down first." Leona said, putting Shoki away and positioning herself to descend the ladder. At that moment her left shoulder throbbed and Leona clenched her teeth. The grip of her left hand momentarily weakened and threatened to let go of the ladder entirely.

"Leona! Are you all right?" Amanda asked the ailing Wizard Saint. Leona soon recovered and regained her grip on the ladder.

"I'm fine. I'd better go down quickly." Leona said, beginning her descent without further delay. It was a risky move, but she could not afford to linger any longer. The longer she delayed the greater the risk of the pain flaring up and causing a fall would be. First Leona needed to give PG-13 a means to fight spirits if he had to, so she got off the ladder and handed PG-13 her Silver Longsword in case he had to fight spirits in their absence.

"Here, take this. Since the ladder won't hold you, I need you to stay up here and get rid of any zombies or ghosts who approach the cabin." Leona instructed PG-13 as she handed over the sword belt with the Silver Longsword. He propped his staff against the wall, took the sword, and obligingly fastened the scabbard around his waist before reclaiming his staff. Remembering the hurried exit she and Jessica had had to make ahead of dozens of zombies when they finally got out of the underground, Leona had instructed her faithful droid to keep the area around the cabin clear of the undead so that she and Amanda would not have to make another narrow escape.

"Understood." PG-13 said. Leona then got back onto the ladder and began climbing down. Amanda soon followed. Together the green-clad blondes would sort out what was going on underneath the Abandoned Cabin and put an end to it.

-On the ladder-

Leona's night vision took effect and she saw that she still had a good ways to go before her feet touched the ground, but that was only one of her concerns. The other concern was that her left shoulder was starting to ache again. It was not sharp enough to threaten her grip, but she did not want to delay in reaching the ground. She still had a ways to go, so Leona dealt with the pain the best she could and kept going down.

Leona was halfway down the ladder when the pain hit hard. It felt like someone had plunged a knife into her shoulder. The worst happened and her grip weakened to the point she let go with her left hand. Leona clung tenaciously to the ladder with her right hand and tried to grab it with her left, but it was no use. The pain in her shoulder was too great to move the arm when she needed it to move the most.

The Wizard Saint hung on by her right hand and waited for Amanda to help her or for her to fall, whichever came first. The second outcome occurred before help arrived. Amanda was just too high up to be able to help in time and Leona plummeted to the floor before she could scream, landing on both feet and immediately falling onto her left side.

"LEONA!" Amanda yelled when she finally figured out what had happened. The Wizard Saint lay in an undignified heap on the floor... her left shoulder was hurting and she was out of breath from the impact but she was otherwise unharmed. How did she survive the fall, let alone avoid sustaining any injury to her legs whatsoever?

-Underneath the Abandoned Cabin-

Leona lay on the grimy stone floor and listened to the sound of a ladder being climbed down as she got her breath back. Her left shoulder was still hurting, but she was alive after a fall that should have broken her legs. The blonde counted her blessings and was grateful to be able to still move, if not move at her best. Leona chalked it up to the same mysterious ability that made her skin supernaturally tough; supernaturally tough was a good thing to be in her line of work.

The pain in her shoulder abated and Leona was able to get up again. She raised herself off the grimy stone floor just as Amanda got off the ladder. As soon as her feet hit the ground Amanda rushed to Leona's side and began checking on her.

"Are you OK?" Amanda asked Leona. Leona turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit winded." Leona answered, wiping the grime off of her face and doing her best to clean up her outfit a little before they moved forward.

"You shouldn't even be standing after landing on your feet. They should be broken!" Amanda exclaimed, unable to fully understand how the Wizard Saint was even standing after the fall. Leona shrugged it off.

"I'm surprised too, but it's a good thing I can stand. You don't need to lug me around while trying to get through the tunnel to fight that dark mage." Leona said casually. She drew Shoki and looked towards the tunnel, which was still wide enough to allow three people to walk side-by-side and just high enough for her to walk upright without having to duck. She focused her attention forward and spotted many humanoid forms shuffling towards them from out of the darkness.

"Looks like we've got company." Leona said, pointing towards the darkness. Amanda raised a hand and created a golden ball of light that hovered just above her head and showed the pair at least a dozen zombies shuffling their way plus more about twenty meters away but moving towards the action. Leona took a breath of rancid air and prepared to do some close-quarters fighting.

[Post Word Count: 1,173]
[Total Word Count: 3,519/8,000]

Leona held Shoki in a two-handed ready grip and was about to move into action when Amanda calmly stepped in front of her, raised a hand, and channeled Holy magic into it until the entire hand glowed gold. Once the spell was ready she fired a beam of golden light that vaporized the dozen or so zombies in front of them, leaving those behind the first group intact. Leona started to move forward to fight them when Amanda spoke to her.

"Do not bother, Leona. I will handle them. We have bigger fish to fry." Amanda said. Leona obliged and stood down while the cleric powered up another spell to handle the zombies about 25 meters away from them but closing in. Amanda readied and fired another Holy spell that vaporized the second group of zombies and left nothing but ash.

"Thanks." Leona said to Amanda. The point of Leona engaging them was to avoid Amanda expending her magic power before the big fight with the dark mage behind the activity at Abandoned Cabin. However, the cleric obliterating the zombies like that spared Leona the very real risk of her shoulder hurting at a critical time and leaving her open to an infectious bite.

"It is no problem. Now we must move on and put a stop to whatever is happening here." Amanda said. Leona took the lead and went first with Shoki held at the ready while Amanda followed close behind the Wizard Saint. After a brief walk she reached the wooden door at the end of the hallway and waited for her partner, then opened the door. Leona darted in first followed by Amanda.

-Inside the room-

Leona held Shoki in a ready position while Amanda came through and shut the door behind them. In front of the pair were eight wooden tables that had bodies strapped to them, but unlike last time there were no zombies in sight. The bodies were all rotting and the room smelled of death.

"What is this place?" Leona asked Amanda while looking over the bodies.

"It is a laboratory of sorts. We have discovered a demon cult's lair." Amanda answered factually. Leona used her free hand to cover her nose to try and block out some of the stench of decaying flesh, but it was a wasted effort. The smell was everywhere. Amanda looked towards the wooden door on the other end of the room and pointed towards it.

"There is nothing for us to do here. Let us move on and leave this place." Amanda said to Leona. Leona was all too willing to leave and nodded. Amanda took the lead and the Wizard Saint followed close behind, eager to leave the rotting bodies behind. The cleric opened the door and Leona went through first, standing watch while Amanda went through.

-In the next hallway-

The door opened up on a hallway that was exactly the same as the hallway they had walked through to get here, only this one felt a lot different. It was colder and Leona felt an overwhelming dark energy. Amanda felt it too. She had taken fifteen steps when she paused and spoke to Leona.

"This dark energy is overwhelming. I feel much sadness from those whose lives were prematurely ended." Amanda said to Leona. Leona could only imagine how all the bandits, cultists, and other evil-doers she had killed over the years felt about having their lives prematurely ended. Instead of sadness the Wizard Saint imagined that they felt a lot of anger and humiliation over being killed by a woman, especially Desierto's bandits.

"Do you detect anything else?" Leona asked the cleric as she watched the other end of the hall for activity like zombies, ghosts, or necromancers.

"Yes. I detect a very strong aura of dark magic coming from beyond that door. Something unholy is happening behind that door." Amanda replied. Leona did not ask any more questions. She pressed forward while Amanda followed behind her and watched their backs. The stench of death had eased up enough for Leona to breathe easier, but now she felt an oppressive amount of dark energy that was so strong it felt like it was actively trying to prevent the green-clad blondes from getting to its source and shutting it down. Each step towards the door became harder and harder to take, but she and Amanda had to stop whatever was going on before it spread beyond the Abandoned Cabin.

It was a struggle to reach the door, but the blondes eventually powered through it and reached the door. Leona tried to touch it, but as soon as her left hand touched the iron ring that doubled as a handle she was hit with a force that was powerful enough to nearly knock her off of her feet. She quickly released the ring as the door glowed a shimmering black and a magic barrier revealed itself to the startled Wizard Saint.

"Allow me to dispel that barrier." Amanda said to Leona, who gladly stepped back and permitted the cleric to approach the door. Amanda closed both eyes and raised her hands, chanting something in an unknown language as her hands began to glow gold. She moved her glowing hands in a circle in front of the door and walked forward, touching the barrier. It shimmered and resisted the cleric's touch for a few moments but ultimately gave way, shattering into shimmering black shards like someone had just broken a mirror.

Amanda then reached for the ring a second time. Her fingers curled around it with no problem. She paused and turned to Leona.

"Are you ready for what lies beyond this door?" Amanda asked Leona. The Wizard Saint nodded.

"I'm ready." Leona answered confidently. Amanda opened the door and the Wizard Saint went in first followed by the cleric.

-Inside the room-

Leona looked around the same room she had found the Essence Orb in and noticed that it had drastically changed. Gone were the eight crude operating tables and in their place was a giant violet ring with pale blue lines weaving around it while a shimmering pale blue center that dominated the room and gave it an unearthly blue glow. That was the source of the dark energy the pair had felt on approach to the room.

Leona wondered what she was looking at.

"This is much worse than I thought." Amanda said to Leona.

"It is a portal to the spirit realm that is powered by binding the souls of all who have died here. The necromancers must have tapped into the spirit realm for an army to help them conquer this world. We must shut this portal down at all costs." Amanda firmly told Leona.

"OK, how do we do that?" Leona asked Amanda.

"This portal is too much for me to seal alone. I must call for help." Amanda answered before closing her eyes, chanting, and forming three golden circles on the floor. Leona did not like the sound of that. Anything that required more than one Order Cleric to seal must be a very powerful creation of the dark arts. While Amanda called for aid Leona looked around the room and stood ready to stop anyone who attempted to interfere with the cleric's call for help.

[Post Word Count: 1,217]
[Total Word Count: 4,736/8,000]

Leona stood watch while Amanda called in reinforcements with one of her spells and soon enough three figures appeared inside the circles. One was Diana the pink-haired Knight, but the other two were unknown to her. One was a brunette with black-and-gold clothing while the other was a pink-haired girl with predominantly white clothing. They both had fairly powerful magic signatures despite their youth and stature.

"Leona, I would like you to meet Order Clerics Serena Anderson and Amberlin. Despite their youthful appearance they are among the Order's rising talent." Amanda introduced the brunette and the small pink-haired girl.

"So you're the one my sister told me about! You're the one who handed her her ass in front of the others!" Serena said to Leona. Leona blinked.

"My sister's Minerva Anderson, the Order Knight you dueled some time ago." Serena explained. Now Leona understood what had been said to her.

"Oh, right! How's she doing?" Leona asked Serena.

"She's doing a lot better now. But we'll talk about that later. I understand that we're dealing with some serious dark magic mojo here." Serena said. Leona pointed to Amanda and the blonde cleric obligingly took over to explain what everyone was dealing with.

"What we are dealing with is a portal to the spirit world that was opened by some necromancers who have taken the space as their lair. Should this portal remain open the spirits would swarm out of this area and take over all of the Cursed Lands, possibly all of Earthland if left unchecked." Amanda briefed everyone. Leona watched the door while the Order mages listened to Amanda give out instructions.

"Serena, Amberlin, you are to aid me with the sealing spell." Amanda instructed the two younger clerics. They nodded in unison. Amanda then turned her attention to Diana, who stood ready with her greatsword.

"Diana, you are to aid Leona in stopping anything or anyone who attempts to interfere with the casting of the sealing spell."

"Understood." Diana replied laconically. Hearing the instructions being given out made Leona think of a question to ask before the fighting started.

"Are all of the threats gonna come from outside the room or will we have to worry about spirits popping up while you three are trying to seal the portal?" Leona asked Amanda.

"I believe that the spirits on the other side of the portal will not take kindly to their doorway to the land of the living being sealed and will try to stop it by sending spirits through. Be prepared to fend off angry spirits." Amanda answered Leona's question.

"OK." Leona answered. The three clerics spread out in a triangular formation around the portal and spread their arms. They then began to channel Holy magic and glow gold as a golden circle formed around each cleric and beams of Holy magic were emitted from their palms. The beams reached the open hands of the other clerics, forming a golden triangle around the portal and cutting through the unearthly blue lighting of the room.

"Get ready, Leona." Diana advised the Wizard Saint. Diana relocated to a position beside Serena, who had closed her eyes and started chanting in the same language that Amanda had chanted in before using the spell that dispelled the barrier on the door to this room. Leona took up a position beside Amberlin and watched the door in case the necromancers barged in to put a stop to the spell. It felt like the calm before the storm. The dark energy filling the room began to weaken a little and the pale blue center began to ripple like a pond that had a pebble dropped into it before firing a basketball-sized cube of ectoplasm at the floor in front of the swordswomen.

The blob burst into numerous small droplets that began to coalesce into human shapes.

"The spirits are on their way." Diana warned Leona. Moments later a group of pale blue spirits that were roughly six feet tall appeared in front of Diana and Leona and spoke to them.

"We long to return to the land of the living!" One of them stated to the living humans present.

"We were promised that we could return to the land of the living should we aid them!" Another added. Leona blinked. Who were "they" that the ghosts talked about?

"They were tricked into serving the necromancers with a false promise of being allowed to remain here once the Cursed Lands were taken over." Diana explained to Leona.

"OK. I take it they don't know they're being used?" Leona asked. Diana shook her head.

"Not that it really matters. We can't let them disrupt the spell!" Diana said to Leona. Together the pair went into action against the ghosts and began swinging their weapons at the first spirits they came across. They were all valid targets. Screaming filled the air as each spirit screamed before departing back to whence it came; once they realized what was happening the others were not content to wait their turn to be cut down and moved to attack the two swordswomen.

Shoki did its work and cut through a spirit with each swing, as did Diana's greatsword. Together the pair was making short work of the spirits, but Leona suspected that angry spirits were not the only defense the necromancers had against their work being undone. She spared a quick glance at the trio of clerics and saw that they were making some progress on sealing the portal; a golden disc had formed over the portal entrance and another cube of ectoplasm holding ghostly reinforcements was struggling to get through the barrier, but so far the golden disc was holding.

Leona and Diana continued to clean up the initial wave of spirits, who were falling before they got a chance to harm the two. When the last of them fell a gang of slightly over a dozen men in black robes with red skulls on their chests burst into the room and saw what was going on. They did not like what they saw and quickly began preparing spells to stop the clerics.

"Our work cannot be jeopardized!" One of them yelled before his hands glowed violet. Leona pointed her left hand at the gang of necromancers and quickly powered up a Wind Blast, firing the spell and knocking five of them down. She then used a Zephyr Dash to close the distance and appeared in front of the startled men.

Mindful of being surrounded and overwhelmed, Leona immediately channeled magic into her left fist and used a Storm Impact spell to scatter them far enough apart to begin her deadly work of eliminating as many of the necromancers as she could... or at least forcing them back long enough for the portal to be sealed.

[Post Word Count: 1,136]
[Total Word Count: 5,872/8,000]

"STOP HER!" A necromancer shouted just before Leona silenced him with a stab through the chest. She quickly and neatly withdrew the sword and backpedaled to avoid the rush of men reaching to grab her, then performed a two-handed downward power chop that lodged Shoki's blade in his head. She quickly kicked the dead man off the sword and stepped back to avoid another grapple but was hit with a bolt of black magic that hit and deadened her left shoulder.

Unable to cast spells with her left hand, Leona was forced to retreat from the eleven or so remaining necromancers. She quickly turned around and sprinted to make good her escape before she could be surrounded. Diana immediately swooped in to cover Leona's retreat and cut three men in half at the waist with her greatsword before they could react to the knight's attack. While the knight dealt with them Leona took a breath and refocused on the fight in front of her, then spotted two men with violet hands raised towards Amberlin. They were going to shoot her to stop the sealing spell!

Leona jumped in front of Amberlin and absorbed the two bolts of dark magic with her body, feeling numb but otherwise still able to fight. Leona turned to the men and used a Zephyr Dash to close with them and cut off the head of one man as he raised his hands to shield himself. The other fired a bolt of violet magic at close range, but Leona ducked under the shot and stabbed the man through the chest as she popped back up to a standing position. With those two dead Leona turned to Diana and saw the Knight cleave another man in half as he attempted to shoot her at point-blank range with a bolt of violet magic. Five more robed men remained, but their fighting spirit was flagging.

"They really want us dead. We cannot stop them!" One of them shouted in despair.

"Fear not, brother. We still have one last trick up our sleeves." A second man comforted his fellow. Leona did not like how that sounded. The first speaker turned to him.

"Yes, brother. We must use it lest our work be ruined!" He said. The five surviving men immediately bolted for the door that Leona and Amanda had used to enter the room, catching Leona and Diana by surprise. By the time Leona could bring herself to give chase the door was already shut. The Wizard Saint took four jogging steps before Diana stopped her with a verbal command.

"Let them go! We must protect the clerics!" Diana commanded, reminding Leona of their true objective. Leona wanted to stop the necromancers before they could play their ace in the hole, but Diana was right. They had to protect the clerics or all of this would be for nothing. Leona turned around and took up a defensive position in front of Amberlin while the pink-haired cleric continued chanting. The pale blue cube of ectoplasm continued to pound against the golden disc that held shut the portal and the disc grew thicker as a column of golden light began to surround the portal.

That was an encouraging sign, but the pair needed to prepare for the necromancer's counterattack. Leona took advantage of the breathing space to bring out a couple of summons to put between them and the robed men. Guardian Lion and Sky Champion Rafale were perfect for this situation. Leona wiped Shoki off on the robe of a dead necromancer and sheathed it. She had regained just enough feeling in her left hand to raise it, so Leona channeled magic into her hands and raised them above her head.

"Guardian Lion!" Leona called out. A few moments later he appeared to the right of Leona and looked towards Diana.

"Is she my opponent?" Guardian Lion asked. Diana took a step back and readied her greatsword.

"No, she's on our side. The enemies will be here soon enough. Once they're here I'll let you know." Leona told the metallic lion, who stood down for the time being. Diana followed suit. The Wizard Saint then turned her attention to summoning Sky Champion Rafale. She channeled magic into her hands again and raised them above her head.

"Sky Champion Rafale!" Leona called out. Moments later the green-clad summon appeared in front of Leona.

"What do you need from me?" Sky Champion Rafale asked Leona.

"We're about to have a lot of enemies head our way and I need you to buy us as much time as you possibly can!" Leona informed him. She wondered what "last trick" the necromancers had to use against Leona and the Order mages. She soon heard screaming followed by deep laughter coming down the hall from the other side of the door and was startled. Whatever it was heralded the ace in the hole the necromancers were about to use on the mages.

"Get ready!" Diana warned Leona. Leona's left hand had regained enough feeling to be useful, so she drew Shoki with her right hand and kept her left hand free to use a spell. She had only a few moments to prepare because the door separating them from the hallway showed a vertical split in the middle of it, then a diagonal split. Another diagonal split crossed the first diagonal split, then the door collapsed and a hazy form with blood red eyes rushed into the room.

"What is that?!" Leona asked as the form passed through Guardian Lion and rushed towards her at human running speed. When it reached her it took solid form and screamed, startling Leona and giving her barely enough time to raise Shoki to block before the scythe in its hands was swung at her neck. Leona blocked the blade and tried to retaliate with a downward power chop, but it turned incorporeal and her attack did nothing.

"I can't harm it!" Leona shouted. Diana hurried to Leona's aid as the spirit screamed again and lashed out with its scythe. Leona blocked it and Diana jumped in with a downward chop, but again the spirit eluded harm by turning incorporeal at the last moment.

"Damn! It's a Death Spirit!" Diana told Leona what they were facing.

"A... Death Spirit?" Leona asked.

"It's like the Grim Reaper, but not quite the Grim Reaper. It's an inferior copy of the real thing, but it's still deadly to humans. It can only be summoned by the summoner giving up their life for vengeance, but in exchange the Death Spirit will hunt a target of the summoner's choosing until it's killed or the target's killed!" Diana answered as Leona ducked under a scythe swing. Leona popped back up to attack, but instead the creature darted backwards for three meters and turned corporeal for a brief moment, throwing a spectral skull at the Wizard Saint. It hit her left shoulder and Leona felt the left side of her body go cold. Leona collapsed to her right knee.

"LEONA!" Diana shouted. The Death Spirit darted right towards Leona in its incorporeal form. Moments later it arrived at Leona's right side and turned corporeal, preparing to bring its scythe down on her neck and take the Wizard Saint's head.

Death Spirit:

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Leona mustered the strength to raise Shoki, but the Death Spirit used the back end of the scythe to knock the sword out of her hands and send it clattering a meter away to the left. Without the holy weapon she could not hope to harm the Death Spirit even if it stay in physical form long enough to get a good swing at it. The sinister spirit then raised its scythe and prepared to send Leona's head rolling, but several bolts of Holy magic slammed into it and caused it to scream, this time in pain. Its body started to glow gold as if it had absorbed the magic.

"DIVINE SEEKER!" Diana called out. The dazed spirit turned to her and was met with a glowing yellow greatsword that it barely blocked. It desperately tried to go incorporeal but the Holy magic had hurt it so much that it could not escape to the spirit world.

"LEONA! HURRY AND GET YOUR HOLY SWORD! THE HOLY MAGIC WON'T KEEP IT IN SOLID FORM FOR MUCH LONGER!" Diana shouted.

"RAFALE, GET SHOKI FOR ME!" Leona shouted. Rafale nodded and flew over to the weapon, then tossed it to Leona, who caught the grip with her right hand. Using her special adrenaline rush to power up her strength, Leona forced herself to her feet and raised Shoki, lowering the holy blade in a one-handed power chop that cut through its left side and caused it to scream in pain. It darted away from both of them and headed for Serena, who could not defend herself because her eyes were closed and she was too busy chanting to pay attention to what was going on around her.

"GUARDIAN LION, PROTECT HER!" Leona ordered. The lion quickly dropped to all fours and ran ahead of the Death Spirit, putting his back to the spirit right as its scythe descended on Serena. Guardian Lion roared in pain and disappeared, but Serena had been saved from a fatal blow. Diana fired another Divine Seeker spell and hit the spirit in the back, forcing it to take physical shape. Leona dashed over to it with a Zephyr Dash spell and delivered a downward two-handed power chop that cut it along its back, causing it to scream and dart away from Serena. Just how many hits could this Death Spirit take?

The hazy spirit zoomed around in a circle before making a beeline for Diana, who waited until it had taken solid form before hitting it with a Holy Beam fired from the palm of her left hand and stunned the creature, giving Leona just enough time to hurry over to it and slash its right side. It shrieked again and darted back from the pair.

"How much more can this thing take?" Leona asked Diana.

"It's empowered by the life force of those who gave their lives to summon it. You've hit it three more times, so two more times should do it." Diana replied. The spirit's eyes glowed red and it made a beeline for Leona, briefly turning solid to fire a spectral skull at her before charging in just as she ducked under the skull. It made a downward stroke and Leona raised Shoki high enough to block it; Diana stabbed the Death Spirit in the side with her glowing greatsword, causing it to shriek again.

Leona expected it to flee and fire off another skull before coming after her again, but the spirit's eyes glowed red and it launched a frenzied attack on her. It kept swinging the scythe and Leona stepped back, blocking each blow but giving ground to the determined spirit with each step back. She needed someone to hit it with another blast of Holy magic so that she could hit it for the fifth and final time, but Diana was unable to assist. Instead Leona kept blocking frenzied scythe swings from the Death Spirit that was determined to live up to its name.

Suddenly the entire room glowed gold and the spirit halted its attack to look at the source of the glow. Leona followed suit and saw that the portal had vanished.

"They sealed the portal!" Diana said joyfully. The Death Spirit turned back to the distracted Leona and raised its scythe for an attack when Sky Champion Rafale flew in and knocked Leona out of the way, taking the hit for her. He vanished and a moment later a golden beam of light slammed into the Death Spirit, causing it to scream as its body was filled with Holy magic, making it vulnerable to attack.

"KILL IT, LEONA!" Amanda shouted. Leona quickly got to her feet and closed the distance at a run, then stabbed the stunned spirit through its skull. It clutched its head with its free hand, screamed, and exploded in a burst of red light. It was over. Leona was relieved that the portal to the spirit world had been sealed before they could cross over and invade Earthland on behalf of the necromancers.

"We did it." Diana said to Leona.

"Yeah." Leona replied laconically. She wondered how PG-13 was doing above ground. Once the quintet had finished scouring the lair for any more necromancers, Death Spirits, or ordinary spirits they would go find out.

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-Two hours later, outside the Abandoned Cabin-

Leona and the Order mages had spent two hours scouring the lair for any more necromancers or spirits, but they had found nothing of interest. No necromancers, no Death Spirits, no notes, nothing. All knowledge of the group had died with them. Diana clutched one of the few intact black robes in her left hand... Amanda ordered one to be taken back for study by the Order's scholars so that the necromancer group could be identified for future reference. Once that had been done the quintet had climbed the ladder and exited the Abandoned Cabin.

Leona looked around outside the Abandoned Cabin and spotted PG-13 standing over the bodies of some zombies he had killed. In his right hand was his signature plasma staff and in his left hand was the Silver Longsword Leona had given him. The combat droid approached Leona and spoke to her.

"There was a curious surge in paranormal activity roughly two hours ago that saw a spike in undead and spirit activity, but it was nothing that I could not handle." PG-13 reported. Leona looked where the droid had been and saw about twenty-five more dead zombies than there had been earlier. He had dealt with them using staff and sword... Leona would have liked to have seen that show.

"Great work, PG-13." Leona complimented her faithful droid companion. He wordlessly deactivated the staff and fell in on Leona's right.

"We will take the robe back to the Order headquarters for study. I would like you to return to Order headquarters with us. I would like to examine that shoulder wound of yours." Amanda requested. With the rush of adrenaline having run its course, Leona's left shoulder began to hurt again, leaving her in pain. Leona looked at the green-clad cleric.

"OK." Leona answered. Diana turned to Amanda.

"Shoulder wound?" Diana asked the cleric.

"Leona has a gunshot wound to her left shoulder that she sustained a few weeks ago. The pain caused her to lose her grip on the ladder and fall to the stone floor below. She should have broken her legs and sustained serious internal injuries. That fall was almost a full story, but she has no injuries from the fall whatsoever." Amanda explained to the pink-haired Knight. Diana looked at Leona like the Wizard Saint had just grown a second head on her shoulders. Leona laughed a little.

"I guess my name gave me nine lives. I wonder how many of them I used during this adventure." Leona made a joke about her name. She should have broken her legs, taken internal injuries, anything but losing her breath and laying on the floor for a few minutes after falling from almost a full story. However, she would not question how she avoided fall damage. She already had enough on her plate from the lingering effects of the gunshot wound without having to add broken legs and internal injuries to the list.

"At any rate, let us return to Holy Castle. Father Morris will be interested to hear of the results of our expedition." Amanda said to Leona. Leona nodded and followed her and Diana towards the exit to the Abandoned Cabin area. PG-13 was right beside her as Serena and Amberlin brought up the rear. Leona looked back to the place where Kasim was buried.

She had not forgotten her promise to take him back to Desierto and cremate him.

She would fulfill that promise once she had filled out the paperwork and gotten everything in order.

It would not be too much longer before she returned to fulfill the promise.

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