Angel's Ascension: Strife (Book Ten)

Chapter 31: Desperate Preperations

Riff eyed them before leaping away from the shadow snake. "What just happened? They passed out but these shadow things are still here..." He held a fist up and smacked the snake in the head.

Sola fired bullets into the shadow dragon. "I don't know but Riona said she had a plan, right? Maybe this was the plan." He quickly reloaded his weapon and exhaled.

***

"Ugh, what did you do to me?" Lucina asked. She eyed a blank room with a mirror beneath them. An outline of herself emerged and crawled out of the mirror.

Riona stood across from them. "This is the ultimate technique of harmonic energy. I'm drawing out all your dark desires and emotions before destroying them." Her eyes closed and she inhaled.

Lucina laughed out loud and faced the mirrored image of herself. "You're making a huge mistake! This is exactly what I needed to tap into harmonic energy." With a finger pointed to the floor, she grinned and stomped at the mirror.

"There's no way you learned how to use it in such a short time! You must be bluffing." Riona punched at the air and an energy blast flew to her.

"I'm not, I remembered how Lucy used it, and the same for you." Lucina caught the blast with ease and tossed it away. "This other me was holding back the ability to use it. Now I can destroy this stupid thing." She slashed down the mirror version as it exploded into dark energy particles.

Riona dashed at her and threw a punch. "You can't destroy harmonic energy! It's a pool of energy the multiverse contains itself!"

Lucina soon pushed back with both arms. "I can and you'll be the first one to see it. My will is beyond this puny multiverse you know!" Her eyes lit up until a green aura surrounded her body. She deeply inhaled and let out a deep resounding growl.

"This is impossible, her dark aura should be gone but it's fueling her." Riona skidded back. "And I can feel the pool of energy fading fast." She quickly channeled energy into her arms and punched in the air. Once it struck Lucina, it dispersed instantly and the floor shattered.

"Say goodbye to harmonic energy! I'm taking it all and getting rid of it!" Lucina yelled out. The room vanished as darkness swept through the vicinity. Silence followed while the two disappeared and a flash of light emerged.

***

Riona's eyes widened and she gasped out loud. "No, she did it! I can't sense the energy anymore." Her hands shook before she leaped to her feet.

Lucy held a hand out to the air and winced. "How did she do that? I won't be able to use harmonic energy either..." She frowned.

"See, I wasn't bluffing when I said it. Now that it's gone, you won't be much of a problem for me." Lucina swung her fist through the air with a grin. Her eyes darted to the left where the shadow snake stood. Riff and the others from his group were sprawled out on the road.

"Ugh, sorry but we couldn't take care of this creature." Riff groaned out loud. "I'm pissed, there's no way this snake can be so strong."

Yori held a sword and slashed through the neck of the snake. "Don't worry, I got this nasty monster!" She rushed over to Riff. "What wounds should I start healing?"

Sola screamed from across them and dropped his weapon. "Shit, my body is on fire with all this pain. I can't get a good hit on this dragon..." He huffed.

"Hang on, Sola! I'll be able to take this bastard down." Tex aimed a sniper at the dragon and fired a few rounds. Ice bullets struck the creature and shattered it with ease.

"W-Woah, you took it down like nothing. Thanks for the save." Sola exhaled with a smile.

Lucina furrowed her brow at them. "I guess they were weakened after I passed out. Doesn't matter, I can deal with anyone now." Her wings flapped and she grabbed her left wrist. Two dark energy beams fired out of her hand with great speed. One struck Sola and the other beam caught Riff in an explosion.