Chapter 51.5

After flying Tessa safely back towards the ground, Amara turned her focus back towards Davenport. She trusted that Tessa could handle the other witch, especially with the siphons offline and her magic blocked by Imani’s knife. A quick glance across the river showed that Vee was struggling to gain footing. Swords continued to dance in and out of portals, smashing into Enochian barriers that seemed to be appearing with less and less time to spare.Thrilled that Gautier’s chaotic whirlwind was over, Amara summoned a concentrated blast of hellfire behind her and rocketed towards Davenport, her claws at the ready. As expected, the Headmistress saw her coming and disappeared into a portal, and Amara instead veered back towards Vee.

“Doing alright?” Amara asked.

“Better with you here, love,” Vee said, winking as she gasped in exhaustion. “She’s been keeping me pinned down, but I’ve managed to avoid anything serious.”

“Let’s turn the tables. Alternate portals, keep her moving, and we should be able to exhaust her magic. Chloé said the siphons just ran out,” Amara said, turning her eyes back towards Davenport’s new position. An errant blade erupted from a portal to her left, and she deflected it with her gauntlet before crouching low to the ground and charging at Davenport once more.

As expected, the Headmistress disappeared through a portal once again, but this time Vee was ready. Davenport appeared at the base of the cliff, and Vee charged her as soon as she landed, slashing out with her angelic sword and nearly catching the Coven Head square in the chest. Vee was forced to retreat as a series of swords flew out of nearby portals, and she summoned more barriers to shield herself as Davenport retreated once again.

This time, she appeared closer to the tree line, several dozen feet up, and Amara immediately gave chase. Based on what she remembered from her last fight, Davenport tried to stagger how often she teleported herself around. Amara suspected that the combined mental burden of tracking so many portals, and also her own position, was difficult to manage, and it was time to exploit that weakness.

Amara closed the distance within seconds, cloaking her claws in hellfire and acting like she was attacking with reckless abandon. As suspected, Davenport did not try to flee this attack, instead opening a portal directly in Amara’s path to redirect her attack towards Vee. Having expected this, Amara immediately cut off her hellfire and dismissed the chitinous gauntlet on her right hand. She reached out, grabbed Vee’s wrist, and the two girls immediately spun in a tight circle to throw Amara back through the portal before it closed.

Emerging back where she started, Amara summoned another blast of hellfire underneath her feet and waited for the portal to close. Once it did, another explosion rocketed her towards the unsuspecting Davenport, who’d clearly thought she’d sent the demon halfway across the battlefield.

The protective binding in Davenport’s clothing crunched underneath Amara’s grasp, but she was forced away by another flurry of blades before she had the chance to push her advantage further. Unlike last time, she didn’t have the luxury of overwhelming force, and was trying to play it safe while she whittled away the Headmistress’s protections.

Amara let herself fall for a moment before pivoting in midair and soaring away from Davenport. Another glance around the battlefield revealed that Tessa was close to winning her bout with Gautier, and Amara smirked in satisfaction.

She looked back at Davenport, who was currently in the middle of avoiding several Enochian arrows. She attempted to redirect all of them at Amara, but Vee dismissed her attacks before they had a chance to backfire. This barrage continued for several minutes until Vee forced Davenport to reposition again. When the Coven Head appeared again, this time above a picnic area opposite the waterfall, Amara flattened her wings and dove out of the sky.

As she flew, she blocked two more swords that flew out of nearby portals, then spun to lash out with her bladed tail. She landed another solid hit on the Headmistress, and this time she managed to draw blood.

Davenport gasped in pain, then reluctantly disappeared into another portal. Before Amara had a chance to reposition, however, she heard a pained scream coming from the opposite side of the clearing. Gautier had fallen to her knees in the shallows near the waterfall, and Tessa had just kicked her over after having severed the last of her magical connections. Tessa then looked over at Amara, nodded slowly, then started running to join the fight against the Headmistress. Beside her, they both caught a glimpse of Chloé, who silently indicated she was ready to rejoin the fight.

After locating Davenport again, who now stood on the opposite field as she attempted to catch her breath, Amara began charging. She condensed another ball of hellfire, then used the explosion to close the distance in a matter of seconds.

As she soared through the air, another barrage of angelic arrows preceded her arrival, forcing Davenport to split her focus. Amara took advantage of this hesitation, digging her claws into the Headmistress’s protective corset before managing to rip it off entirely.

Shouting in fury, Davenport disappeared into another portal, but not before Amara saw her reach into a pocket. She pulled out a small magical stone, one that pulsed with an incredible amount of power, and Amara watched as this magic poured into Davenport, rejuvenating her abilities and putting her on even footing with the rest of the combatants. As she closed the portal behind her, she launched another series of swords at Tessa, but all of them were deflected by iridescent, glittering barriers.

Tessa ducked underneath the barriers and began to strafe around the Headmistress, pulling her attention while Amara flew the opposite direction. Even more bladed weapons appeared from another onslaught of portals, focused entirely on Amara and Tessa as they tried to pincer Davenport.

A soft hand on Amara’s shoulder indicated she was safe, and she allowed the swords to harmlessly phase through her body while she kept running. Vee’s barriers continued appearing around Tessa, keeping her safe, and soon Amara and Tessa had closed in on the Headmistress.

Davenport seemed more concerned with Tessa, no doubt due to her magic-blocking knife, and pulled a sword out of a portal to deflect the witch’s attack. This choice left her exposed to Amara once again, but rather than taking an unnecessary risk and going for Davenport’s tattoos, she focused on continuing to chip away at the Headmistress’s defenses. More protective clothing fell to pieces, but before Amara could finish the job, Davenport disappeared into another portal.

She appeared across the field and Vee immediately gave chase. While she ran, crouched low to the ground, Amara took to the skies and began throwing concentrated bolts of hellfire at Davenport, giving Vee the same cover fire she’d provided earlier.

Each time her hellfire vanished into a portal, Amara dismissed it before it had a chance to hurt her friends. Her artillery gave Vee enough time to close the distance, and her angelic sword glimmered in the sunlight as she leapt at Davenport. The Headmistress, however, had already summoned another portal, and was ready to leap inside. Her progress was immediately halted by Chloé, who reappeared between Davenport and the portal before releasing a terrible shriek that rattled even Amara’s eardrums, despite how far away she was.

Glittering Enochian barriers kept Vee’s ears safe as she pressed the advantage, brandishing her sword and slashing at the last of Davenport’s protection, the clothing falling to the ground. The Headmistress was still fully dressed underneath, but without any magical wards to keep her safe, she was completely exposed.

A flurry of blades appeared, forcing Vee back and giving Davenport a chance to disappear into a portal. When she reappeared, she was hundreds of feet away, standing atop the cliff as she scowled in disgust. Something changed in her demeanor, and Amara watched as she held aloft the strange stone that empowered her magic, then crushed it in her fist. A storm of magic appeared around Davenport, but instead of directing this magic into an attack, she channeled all of it into one last portal. It appeared behind her, and on the other side Amara saw some kind of chamber she didn’t recognize.

Davenport was trying to flee.

All four girls gave chase. Vee leapt onto a series of Enochian platforms, Tessa held onto Chloé while they flew closer, and Amara began condensing another burst of hellfire. Each of them was desperate to stop Davenport from escaping, but the Headmistress was simply too far away. She jumped backwards, landing safely in the strange chamber behind her, and the portal started to shimmer as it prepared to close.

Amara stared at the chamber on the other side of the portal. She knew what she needed to do, and she only had one shot. She opened her wings, forcing herself to a stop, and took a deep breath as she cast her thoughts back to the last time she’d seen her mother.

Opening her eyes, Amara stared closely at the chamber on the other side of the portal. A massive wall of books stood proud behind Davenport, while a roaring fire sat in a magnificent fireplace nearly a dozen feet away. Above the fireplace sat an ancient painting, one that seemed to depict a younger Davenport.

The smell of old books, dust and paper tinged with the ash from the nearby fireplace. Davenport’s scent, a strong earthy tone with hints of vanilla, mixed with the smell of oil paint that clung to the art above the fireplace. Charged electricity and burnt ozone overpowered the other smells in the dimly lit chamber, results of the portal opening and forcing space to bend to its will.

Vee’s face flashed through her thoughts, her beautiful eyes illuminated by the dawning sun as they confessed their love for each other.

Amara closed her eyes, pictured the space behind Davenport, and connected with her magic. Hellfire swirled around her, clinging tightly to her skin, and she fell. She fell through space, her magic catapulting her at incredible speeds while the fabric of space crashed and roiled around her.

She landed on plush carpet, inches behind Davenport, who had no time to react. Amara grabbed the Headmistress’s arms, pulling them taut as she gasped in surprise. Amara leapt forward, carrying the witch with her as they jumped through the portal moments before it closed. The two of them fell dozens of feet as Amara leapt off the cliff, landing with an incredible crash next to the water at the base of the waterfall. The incredible storm of magic Davenport had created just moments earlier faded entirely, having been consumed by a portal attempting to connect to such a faraway location.

Davenport tensed in Amara’s arms as she hissed, “Do it, demon! Show them all what you truly are!”

Hesitation. Amara looked down at Davenport, the source of so much misery, and she felt her rage bubbling up again. She thought of all the years of torment Davenport had put Tessa through, how much misery she’d attempted to force upon the students of Aurelius University.

“I’ll never stop!” Davenport shouted. “I’ll turn your angel friend over to the Church, I’ll strip Tessa of her magic, and I’ll ensure that no one can ever seal this campus again!”

Hellfire roared up around the two of them, whispering sinister promises to Amara. How much harm would she be preventing if she stopped this here? She could prevent all of Davenport’s future schemes with one simple act. Wasn’t she already damned? Already a lost cause in the eyes of Heaven?

She felt her flames dancing at her fingertips, eager for retribution, eager to make Davenport pay for her crimes. Before Amara had a chance to act, however, she looked up and saw her Vee, dancing across the tops of glittering, Enochian platforms. They locked eyes, and Amara saw endless hope reflected back through the gaze of her love. There was no part of Vee that doubted Amara at this moment, and that hope filled Amara with strength.

Reaching out to her hellfire, Amara gripped it tight and pulled it close. It coalesced around the two of them, but before it attached itself to Davenport, Amara breathed deep and condensed the flames as tightly as she could. Now barely the width of a laser beam, her hellfire raced across Davenport’s body in less than an instant, perfectly disrupting all of the Headmistress’s tattoos. Her magic, already weakened by the fight, vanished completely as the runic language holding it together fell apart.

Davenport screamed in pain, but not from the flames. Her shouts of agony came from witnessing the fall of her reign, the end of her hold over the coven that had been her life for decades. She fell to the ground and wept, punching the earth beneath her as she bellowed in rage.

“You’ll regret this!” Davenport shouted. “Without me, NO ONE can close the Gate! You’ve done nothing but ensured your own destruction! You have no idea what lies in wait!!”

Amara stepped in front of the Headmistress, dismissing what little hellfire lingered in the clearing as she watched her friends step closer. Vee landed first, the scattered energy of her angelic platforms mingling with the heavy mist from the nearby waterfall, creating a faint rainbow that itself spun together with the halo that now appeared over Vee’s head.

Vee stood by Amara’s side, squeezing her hand as she spoke. “So we’ll protect it. We’ll keep everyone safe, with or without your help.”

Tessa ran up next, standing opposite Vee as she flipped a knife in the air. “As long as people like you try to exploit us, we’ll be here.”

Above them, Chloé reappeared as well, her stark white hair billowing in the breeze. “No matter what steps through that Gate, no matter what the universe tries to throw at us, we’ll stop it.”

Amara squeezed Vee’s hand in return, looking to all of her friends as they cemented their victory over the crazed Headmistress. Beaming with pride, she turned her attention back to Davenport. “We’ll face it together, and we’ll do it right. Without secrets, without lies.”

In front of them, her hopes for infinite power dispelled for good, Cassandra Davenport finally succumbed to her defeat. Without magic, and without power, she fell unconscious to the ground.