A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing-Chapter 799 - Doing our part

Outside the barrier, which now just looked like a dome of darkness as it projected only the midnight domain, Astrid looked infuriated. "The hell does he mean ’go deal with everything else’?!" she yelled indignantly at Emma. "I’m not just going to leave him in there! He nearly died last time we went up against one of those damn people!"

Without waiting for a response, she looked at the barrier again. Snarling, she hurled another solar beam at it, and also started hacking away with her swords.

"Master will be fine, Astrid," Emma smiled softly, far calmer than her sister-wife. "He’s not the same as he was back then. Plus, he can always retreat into his dimension."

Blushing, she pouted a little and looked away. "Besides... last time he got hurt saving Emily. Perhaps it’s a good thing he won’t be distracted by us in there."

"Hey!" Astrid snarled, turning away from her efforts just long enough to glare at Emma. "Don’t say stupid things like that! With an attitude like that, we won’t be there when he actually does need us, as well! What if we hadn’t been there to carry his ass to Enkare Nkai when he exchanged mortals blows with that bitch back in Djibouti?!"

Surprisingly, Emma didn’t need much convincing, and now looked at her mischievously. "Hehe, perhaps you’re right!" she giggled, elegantly covering her lips with one hand. "It’s a good thing he has people like us, able to help him when he needs it, and cover him when he can’t be everywhere at once, right? We should be actively trying to take away his worries, not simply trying to avoid giving him more."

Astrid, a little confused at Emma’s quick turnaround, blinked sceptically, but still nodded in agreement. "Y— Yeah, exactly..." she muttered strangely, unable to figure out what Emma was thinking. Meanwhile, she never let up her assault on the barrier. As she talked with Emma, she fired another solar beam and stabbed forward.

"So... why are you still doing that...?" Emma then asked, her voice suddenly losing all brightness to gain a stern, almost dangerous edge. She lowered her hand and looked at Astrid with narrowed eyes and a frown.

She pointed over at the portal, still hovering outside of the barrier. "Your focus should be over there, taking away Master’s worries, should it not? If you expend all your energy on this, how will you be helpful to him later?"

Astrid flinched, and her body slowly came to a stop. She looked at Emma with a little surprise. She’d seen this stern side of Emma before, but so rarely that it always surprised her again when it popped up. Even worse, it always felt strangely like being scolded by her mother, despite the fact Emma and Liv, Astrid’s mother, were completely different people.

Astrid pouted almost like a scolded child as she looked at Emma. "I... B— But that confessor is the only real danger around here... I don’t need much energy to deal with any of that other trash... If I can break through the barrier, we can deal with him faster..."

Emma, crossing her arms in front of her modest chest, cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? It’s impossible for there to be another confessor around here somewhere?"

Astrid’s eyes widened at the implication. Yet, true to form, she felt mostly excitement at the prospect of a worthy opponent. "Do you really think so?!"

Now it was Emma’s turn to be a little taken aback at Astrid’s priorities. Pouting, she palmed her face. "I— ugh... Just, look," she muttered, and pointed over at the portal. "Elora’s already gone ahead, could you please just do as Master asked and protect her?"

"W— What?!" Astrid cried out, instantly swivelling over to the portal, where a lonely fairy was floating in front of it, curiously rubbing her chin and waving dark-green magic covered fingers around.

"Dammit, Elora!" she cursed, finally abandoning the barrier to rush over to the fairy. "When did you even leave my pocket?! Don’t be so reckless!" Her voice was truly filled with worry, and not just at the prospect of Erik’s reaction to Elora getting hurt.

"Hmpf," Elora snorted, her focus never wavering from the portal. "I’m not entirely defenceless, you know? Besides, I wasn’t going to wait for you to calm down."

Astrid groaned, now standing next to Elora with vigilance exuding from her every pore. "I was ju—" she began, but then clamped shut again with a pout. She was about to say she was just worried about Erik, but she knew perfectly well it was eating Emma and Elora up from inside as well.

Well, perhaps a little less with Emma, who seemed to have an endless well of confidence in her husband-master...

"All we can do is our part, Astrid," Elora reminded her with rare gentility, despite continuing to focus on the portal. "If he gets in trouble, he can hide in his dimension and tell us, after which we can still expend energy to break that thing down. For now, though, we should focus on doing our part, and keeping ourselves safe."

Indignant, Astrid grumbled under her breath about why Elora would fly away from her then, but the fairy didn’t answer, causing Astrid to pout again. Silence followed, allowing Elora to focus on the portal as Astrid watched over her like a hawk.

Meanwhile, a gently smiling Emma looked at the two contently for a moment, then waved her hand. The golden disk reappeared in front of her, and she quickly jumped on before zooming into the sky. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

She stood on her disk with serene elegance, as not even her hair flowed in the wind. When she was high enough, she looked down at the still-raging wall-battle with a gentle smile. Spreading her arms, golden light gathered around her body, and she took a deep breath.

"Dear people of Maghreb," she said gently, a warm smile across her lips, her soft voice carrying itself into the ears of every defender below. "Your leaders have wisely decided to bend the knee to my master, and requested for aid in return. By his will, carried inside my body, be healed!"

The entire battlefield was stunned for a moment. The feral attackers and the Arcanists leading them couldn’t hear her voice, but they were momentarily blinded by the golden light she emitted.

Which only got worse a moment later, when the golden light gathering around Emma’s body exploded outwards. A wave of third-rank light magic rapidly rolled across the battlements, leaving shock and awe in its wake.

One man was just about to breath out his last breath. His eyes turned up to the sky, his guts spread out around him, his killer snarling over him and lunging at his friends. Yet, at the last moment, he saw the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

"A— An angel..." he smiled softly as the pain slowly dulled. "Will you... bring me away...?" he murmured deliriously.

Just as he said that, Emma’s voice entered his ear, and golden light washed over his dying body.