“Please.” Kenzo scoffed. “If anyone was in the way, it was you and your whining.”
“Excuse me?”
“Leave my girlfriend alone,” Kenzo whined, imitating Lena. “Leave my boyfriend alone. Wah.”
“Oh, you want to talk about crying over boyfriends?” Lena asked, her stare pointedly locked on Kenzo’s reddened face.
He hadn’t cried, but his eyes did tear up for a second when he believed Gael was about to be crushed. It left his face a little splotchy.
“At least my boyfriend was useful in this battle.” Kenzo folded his arms and turned his head away. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Gael held out his arms, showcasing his full suit of armor. “Look at me. I was a baddie. A total king. You can’t deny it!”
Kenzo kept his pouty expression, mainly because he got a silent giggle out of Gael flailing about for his attention. Lena went to check on Ellie and Hayden.
“Thanks,” Kenzo thought. “For your lame idea, Frost. It was helpful or whatever.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Then I proceeded to drift away toward the presence of my core self. With all the other magics finally settling and the threat of the Celestial Coven diminished—at least here—I followed the pulse of my telepathy. My core self was nearby, resisting some type of trap. If I could interact and free myself, then I could enter this battle and put an end to the invasion.
Chanellecontinued rotating through her elements and cosmic energy, not finding anything that managed to cut through Bardot’s diamond armor or keep him back for very long.
“You need to retreat,” I thought at her, having linked our minds. “Your magic is good, but—”
“Good?” Chanelle wheezed, exhausted from keeping herself and the students safe from diamond projectiles. “My magic’s the damn best. Versatile and deadly. Like all the best bi girls.”
I huffed, ignoring her taking this lightly. Despite her positive attitude—for the students’ benefit, no doubt—her body became sluggish the more this fight dragged on. While dodging projectiles wasn’t easy, close combat was a non-starter for her, and Bardot kept trying to box her in.
“Look, diamonds are damn near impossible to destroy,” I thought. “Your whip isn’t the weapon that’ll break that armor apart.”
“You’re right,” Chanelle pulled her whip back until it vanished. “They can melt, though, can’t they? Everything melts.”
“What are you planning?”
“What temp do you think? Like 10,000 degrees or some shit.”
“A little over 4,000,” Jennifer thought, much to the mental murmurs of everyone’s surprise. “What? I pay attention in science class. And knowing when minerals melt is fascinating.”
Now that she, Tia, and Olivia had woken back up, they had a solid defensive line. Layla and Amani guarded the door from encroaching fiends. They were drawn to the massive source of magic that Bardot and Chanelle released. Jennifer and Olivia channeled their psychic branches, enhancing my partial manifestation strength to create a telepathic link between everyone.
I wished they had a bit more magic at their disposal. Then I’d be able to connect to one of my other manifestations, reach Milo or another Global Guild member, or better yet, figure out what happened to my core self.
How I desperately wanted to find out where my core self was, but I couldn’t abandon Chanelle during this battle.
“Tia, you wouldn’t happen to have an ice shield or something resistant to light and heat?”
Tia cocked her head. “I might be able to whip something up.”
“Sweetie, love the pun.” Chanelle smirked.
Tia groaned at her choice of words.
“What are you planning?” I asked.
“Something spectacular.”
“Let’s end this.” Bardot summoned a great sword made of diamond, then conjured several diamond spikes to protrude from the blade like jagged branches. “I’m bored with your silly little whip trick.”
