The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 264: One Last Try (2)

Chapter 264: One Last Try (2)

As the wind whistled through the air atop where Madeline stood. Her frantic gaze looked down on the vast circle etched into the ground. The ground beneath her feet felt charged with an ancient energy, pulsating through her being as she took a deep breath and focused on her magical abilities. She was afraid to think about the battle that went on down there, afraid to think of everyone who had done their best to keep her safe till now, the least she could do to repay her debt to them was not give up.

The twinkling lights that danced around her fingers slowly created tiny fragments in the air. It was the first time she had seen her magical energy scatter into little pieces of twinkling fragments, but as she kept on with the last step that had always been difficult for her body to subdue, she somehow, unbeknownst to her, managed to pull it off with one last pull of her strength, and the scattered fragments that hovered in front of her, suddenly linked themselves together, forming one whole energy as it took the shape of a glistening white orb.

With her hands cupped forward, the glowing energy orb rested on her palm, and when the lights died down, she was holding a small golden amulet. It emanated a soft ethereal glow, and when Madeline glanced down at her chest where the flicker of light was still visible, it no longer glowed in its usual white light but a strange ethereal golden glow that matched the color of the amulet.

"You’ve gotten the amulet!" The voice of Napoleon snapped Madeline from her trance, and she looked at Napoleon whose eyes had lit-up with hope and a look of disbelief. Madeline stared at the amulet that had been formed from her powers, and she hardly remembers Napoleon telling her anything about an amulet. She had gotten her scepter just by thinking about it, but she never asked for an amulet.

"What.... What am I supposed to do with this?"

"No one has ever been able to summon the amulet of Whitebridge." Napoleon voiced out as if he could hardly believe it, "the amulet had been passed down through generations of powerful sorcerers. The engravings you see represent the many spells it had witnessed throughout centuries. I had only read about it, but I have never seen one before, I was starting to believe it was a fallacy."

"Fallacy?" Madeline’s gaze returned to the shimmering glow of the amulet in her palm. "You mean not even my Mother had used this?"

"I’m afraid not." Napoleon shook his head before letting his cryptic gaze fall on the circle. In the middle, there was a hole on the circle that had been ignored for years. Since no one knew the use of it, they had left it untouched and only focused on creating the barrier spell. Just how many little details had been left out?

"I’ve been wondering..." Madeline uttered softly before grasping the amulet tightly in her palm, "one has to channel their powers into something before it works. They say all things are a subject to interpretation, whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of its power, not the truth." She looked at Napoleon, "Mother’s interpretation was never wrong, it was only different, but not wrong. My powers interpretation was different from Mother’s, and I know that this amulet will make it easier to complete the barrier spell."

"And where did that come from?" Napoleon blinked in stupefaction, shockingly impressed by her wisdom, and Madeline smiled faintly. "I suppose you don’t know everything then."

Turning away from Napoleon before he could retort, Madeline raised the amulet above her head. The glowing light of the amulet intensified as she channeled her intentions through it. It seemed natural, but Madeline barely knew the meaning behind the wordless incantations that spilled from her lips, and it reverberated the stillness of the hilltop, their power lingering through the air.

With unwavering concentration, Madeline completed the spell, and a surge of magical energy erupted from her being, radiating outward. With a swift motion, she brought the amulet down towards the ground, fixing it on the hole that looked empty on the circle, and it was a perfect fit. As she did, vibrant streaks of shimmering white light bloomed from the amulet, engulfing the circle in a swirling rift of magic.

The air crackled with energy as Madeline completed the final stroke of the spell, and in an instant, the air within the circle shimmered and distorted. A translucent barrier, seemingly carved from pure energy itself, materialized before her.

The barrier pulsated with a soft, arcane light, undulating like the ripples on a pond. It seemed to radiate a sense of impenetrable strength, promising protection against any malevolent force that dared approach.

The wind, now carrying the whispers of the ancient spell, brushed against Madeline’s face, her hair dancing around her head like a swirling storm. She looked away with immediate effect from the blinding light as it engulfed the whole place, and when the blinding light moved past the ghostly apparition that were starting to make their way up the hill, an agonizing shriek was heard as they were obliterated from the earth.

Cassian and Abbot had taken their fight elsewhere till they made it to a dead end that was frighteningly high. Below the dead end was a running river, and Abbot, who had trapped Cassian to the ground with his feet pressed against his injured abdomen, smirked wickedly. "I guess it has been your fate to die in the hands of mine. You can’t seem to understand that I’m the one in power, and you, you’re just a living stock of me. You’re ruining everything!!!"

Cassian, who barely had the strength to get Abbot’s feet off his abdomen, stopped his struggle when the twin blade was threateningly placed against his neck, daring him to move. "I’m giving you one last option! Whose side are you on? Mine, or that pathetic low-life human??"

The young lad was going through his own series of agonizing pain as Abbot’s feet pressed harder against his abdomen, and he was losing a lot of blood. His twin sword was right beside him, but he barely had the energy to pick it up. He had taken the risk of fighting this immortal being alone, but he was more worried about Madeline. His mind wondered if he had bought her enough time to create the spell or not, cause truth be told, he won’t be able to hold on to this pain for much longer.

Letting out a harsh breath, Cassian’s crimson eyes darted up to look at the face of Abbot, but it was only brief as he couldn’t bear the sight of what he had become. His gaze darted to Orson who was still in a critical condition, and his sister, Osvaldo, Elian, and everyone else. He already knew whose side he was on, there was no debating it, and his tired gaze darted up the hilltop where he saw the blinding light heading their way. He could not make it even if he wanted to, and that left him with only one decision.

"Forgive me, Maddie." He whispered weakly, almost apologetically before meeting the eyes of Abbot.

"Does your silence signify a yes?" An expectant smile graced Abbot’s lips, and that was when Cassian lifted his hand up for him to take.

"I’m on your side." He said it so earnestly that it was impossible for Abbot to see the lie hidden beneath his word. Smiling triumphantly, he took his feet off Cassian’s wounded abdomen, giving him the chance to finally breathe. He reached out to hold Cassian’s outstretched hand, taking it in his grasp, but before he could guess what was about to happen, Cassian grabbed his sword and swiftly pulled Abbot down to him.

The blade thrusted right into Abbot who fell on top of Cassian, unmoving. His body was too shock-stricken by the abrupt move, but that was until he heard the young lad whisper softly.

"I’ll be by your side, in hell." Saying this, he rolled the two of them off the end of the ridge. They had fallen into the running river below when the blinding light passed through the both of them, and all that could be heard was Abbot’s agonizing shriek as it reverberated through the air.

"CAS!!" Orson, who had seen his friend roll off the end of the ridge, tried to stand up, but his wound made it more than difficult for him to rise till he saw the strange light that headed his way. Alarmed, he looked away as the light swiftly brushed past him, unharmed, but when the light came in contact with any of the ghostly apparition or the demon ghost, they vanished from the Earth.

Elian stayed in his human form as promised, and when the light brushed past him, he came out unharmed, to his surprise. All the chaos that had been created vanished before the eyes of everyone, but there was no time to rejoice over it when they saw Orson crawling to the end of the ridge and calling out Cassian’s name.

"Cassian!" He looked below and was struck by the tremendous height that he took an unconscious step back, the running river was quite heavy with pressure, and Orson refused to believe what his mind had concluded on.

"Where the fuck is he??"

"Orson, where’s... where’s Cassian?" Inna reached for Orson’s side as she looked at him, "he survived the light right? But I can’t find him anywhere. He was here a moment ago, did he go to Maddie??" Inna looked around hopefully, waiting to spot her brother somewhere, but the half-smile on her lips was starting to fade when Orson’s red-rimmed gaze was fixed to the dead end below.

"Orson? Where’s my brother!"