A Gorgeous White (BL)

The powerful scent of iron struck Moulin's nose. He could almost taste it while the wind brushed his face when he ran as fast as he could—every minute seemed excruciatingly long.     

With a pounding heart, he arrived, with many others, before Jagra's home.      

The warriors surrounding the house were deranged, and the barrier prevented Moulin and the reinforcements from entering. He could already feel something terrible happening inside.      

Bang!     

Suddenly, a sentinel's body crashed against the barrier, startling Moulin and the men. The man fell unconscious on the ground with a loud thud.      

"Moulin!"      

Past the crackling layer of invisible energy, Erik, heaving lightly, locked gazes with Moulin from a distance.      

"Something has manipulated your warriors against me," Erik spoke once he closed the distance. He turned his head and narrowed his eyes toward the house.      

"They are keeping me from entering the house."     

Moulin spoke, "It must be inside."     

Erik was about to speak when several hostile sentinels began advancing toward him. The ones he knocked out arose once more and charged toward the Grekellian.      

"Their mana is strong and violent." Grunted Erik as he grabbed a sentinel on the neck and threw him at the others. His actions were brutish. His strength was terrifying.     

"Their perseverance is praiseworthy. I don't think I can hold them off for much longer..." His brows furrowed.      

"We will try our best to find a way. Jagra is inside, is he not? He should have realized the disturbance by now. He will do something." Moulin assured. before      

"Unless the enemy already took care of him."      

Moulin did not speak. He turned away and shouted orders through his earpiece. A colossal stone artifact is brought forth, one that would nullify barrier mana.  While the men began activating the barrier, Moulin anxiously gazed at the house.      

Jagra...     

Fingers curled against the floorboards. His nails scratched helplessly as the scorching pain swallowed his insides. The scent of flowers filled his lungs, and it burned. It felt as if he was breathing poisonous gas. His limbs weakened, but he needed to force his mind to think of a way through this misery.      

Jagra steeled his arms, grunting as he looked around the room. His bloodshot eyes settled on the counter on the far side of the craft room. As a capable mage, most of the powerful artifacts his hands created needed something that could bluff its effects if it lost control. One can never be too confident with their work.      

With his trembling body, he crawled towards it. His lips shook. Countless regrets swirled within his mind, flashing from the moment he felt sympathy from the moment he met Nara's innocent eyes. The demon had walked through the barrier right under their noses. She must've laughed at their naivety.     

He clenched his jaw. Blood spilled between his lips. He reached the end of the counter. His fingers trembled uncontrollably while he struggled to prop himself on the floor. The point where his elbows met the floorboards burned, prickling deep into his skin. He almost cried out.      

Within the small open courtyard, the winds sang harshly around a lithe little girl with fiercely glowing eyes. Nara whipped her head to the side. Her gaze could burn through the wooden walls of the house and reveal Jagra's writhing figure on the floor.      

She thought he'd die quickly. It turns out she was wrong.      

"Kill him." She spoke with a voice unlike hers.      

At the same time, a sentinel outside the house froze.  Desperate to heed the order, he turned and sprinted into the house's entrance with bloodshot eyes.      

Erik sensed the anomaly too late and could only watch, cursing under his breath, as the man entered the house. The other men blocked his way and nearly severed his arm.      

"Hurry!" Moulin turned to the mages. Urging them to pick up the pace.      

Gasping,  Jagra finally managed to pull himself over the counter's edge. His arms swung everything unnecessary off the surface while he desperately searched for the nullifying artifact.      

His heart pounded erratically. Suddenly, a glossy shine drew his gaze, and his trembling fingers were on it in a blink of an eye. His body slammed onto the floor when he could no longer hold his own weight.      

"Haah" He held up the key-sized, ornament-like device. A tiny stone shimmered, although dead,  caged within a dome of thin warping wood.      

He released a trembling breath. Eyes, moistened in relief while the pain continued to gnaw on his bones.      

However, his relief was short-lived when quick footsteps drew near the room. He was too late to react when the intruder entered, thirsty for blood.      

The sentinel looked off. His eyes, cloudy on his distortedly furious expression. His grip on his sword was unusual, instantly triggering the alarms in Jagra's head. Amidst his panic, his suffering intensified. He curled on the floor, wide-eyed and crying out, shaking uncontrollably.      

The sentinel's eyes found the weak, tortured man, and he stalked towards him with his gleaming blade.      

Jagra paled, panic boiling in his gut. But it could not mask the mind-breaking pain he was going through. He was dizzy, numbing. Blackness tugged at the ends of his vision.      

A pair of muddy boots fell into his darkening sight. Toppling in despair, he mumbled under his breath, and with the last ounce of strength in his fingers, the artifact in his palm was crushed.      

Moulin flinched.      

The rest of the sentinels stopped. Even Erik momentarily paused before snapping his attention back to the fight.      

A numbing wave of mana passed through them, washing off the heaviness of their strength before leaving a hollow feeling inside them.      

The invisible barrier disintegrated in a blink of an eye, caught by the wind.      

Jagra curled tighter, bracing for the sharp metal that would pierce his skin. He half hoped it would free him from the unceasing pain and the bountiful regrets that rushed into his mind.      

But... it never came.      

Clang!     

He flinched when the sword suddenly dropped on the floor inches before his elbow. His breath was shortening. The pain has made its way into his head. He was teetering unto unconsciousness.     

Quick footsteps hurriedly drew near the room. Sweating and heaving, Moulin finally arrived in Jagra's crafts room.     

He stopped in the doorway.      

A familiar dark hooded figure dropped the unconscious sentinel to the ground. He was very tall, exuding a mysterious yet dreary air. The man stood before Jagra, out cold and trembling on the floor.     

Moulin narrowed his eyes. He recognized him. This person was the one whom he had chased before he met little Erthyl.      

"I will not hurt him," The man said.      

Truly, Moulin sensed not an ounce of hostility from the man. But could he really trust him?     

"Go. The children need help..."     

Moulin clenched his jaw, "If you take him, I will hunt you down."     

As though acknowledging his words, the man silently lowered his head slightly before turning his attention back to Jagra.     

.....     

The winds in the courtyard were harsh, almost sharp.  They wanted to cut through the youthful cheeks of the terrified and trembling young, huddled underneath a sturdy tree. They clutched at each other, shedding rivers of tears, but they kept their voices for fear of angering the demon hovering over them with horrifying blood-red eyes.      

They knew her before, but now, she was unrecognizable. Her mouth stretched abnormally wide when she smiled. Her once little frame doubled as her legs elongated grotesquely like bundles of vines roping around a thick tree. Her red claws reached out, and the children flinched and cried out, retreating away.     

They did not run, for she threatened to hunt them and tear them into pieces.     

"Shh...shh" Her voice was far from comforting. Every bit of her screamed horror in the eyes of the children.      

Erthyl's throat was dry, and his voice hoarse. He spasmed, struggling to calm his panicked heart, but his tears kept falling endlessly.      

"Shut it..." Nara snapped and turned away.      

The children whimpered, flinching when she raised her arm. Her fingers drew little circles until a glowing red line formed in the air, sucking an invisible force that seemed to pull all life into it.      

Nara's face, no longer innocent-looking, bore into them with a smile that terrified them even more. Suddenly, the children quieted. The winds roared as several pairs of little bare feet hovered over the ground. The cold dried their tear-stained faces and swept away their fearful expressions. They looked frozen and wide-eyed, lost in a trance of a dark voice whispering in their minds.      

The incoherent voice pierced deep into Erthyl's mind, drilling into the most vulnerable parts of him. Hopelessly, he succumbed.      

Filled with despair and resentment, he felt tired and sleepy; something probed him to let go as a hollow feeling began to expand inside him.     

A cracked laugh escaped Nara's lips.      

'Praise me, My Lord!' Her joyous voice shook through the children's minds, echoing endlessly.      

The earth cracked beneath them, parting as violent mana began to bursts from the seams. The portal expanded, allowing potent miasma to contaminate Helios's fresh air. Nara pleasurably closed her eyes, basking in its glory, trembling in excitement.     

A dark world opened, releasing the accumulated hate and fury it had kept for several years.      

Whoosh!     

"...!" The demon's eyes snapped open.      

The arrow pierced through her thick red arm, splurting blots of black liquid unto the untouched grass beneath her hovering form.      

She growled as she turned around to face her enemy.     

His snow-white hair looked immaculate and beautiful despite the raging winds, but it was his eyes that caught the demon's attention. Silver and glowing, sharp as a knife, brimming with cold fury. In a blink, another arrow materialized in his bow. Moulin was silent. He stood on the balcony with threatening eyes, aiming a deadly shot at the demon beneath him.      

Nara faltered briefly at the sight of him. The searing pain of the arrow lodged within her arm reignited the madness inside her. She laughed and snapped the arrow in half before pulling it off her arm with a bit of scorched flesh clinging to its crystal surface.      

"Hello, young master." She spoke, with a tilt of her head, in a way that reminded him of her innocent and scared little self that won his trust so easily... mocking him.      

Moulin clenched his jaw. 'This cheating little-'     

  The winds burned, searing his cheeks. He pulled back and released.      

A burst of energy spreads, and the arrow pierces through the air, leaving a trail of white. It shot towards Nara's smirking face. However, she moved, arms stretching so fast, pulling a child to face the burnt of the hit.      

Alarmed, Moulin's eyes glowed, and the arrow disintegrated before it could touch the child's forehead. His heart pounded in fear.      

"Tsk, tsk... How admirable." Nara shook her head with a pout. She flicked her wrist, returning the child to the levitating circle of children.      

"Laughable. A soul like yours caring for such insignificant creatures. Like you, so naive, submissive... A perfect morsel for terrible devils. What a pitiful destiny."     

Moulin narrowed his eyes, "Let the children-"     

"Hm?" Nara's face contorted as though she could not hear him. "The children? Why, they are quite occupied, I'm afraid. Aren't they such helpful creatures?"     

He wanted to sew that mouth shut. Moulin gritted his teeth. If only he could get nearer, but the demon was always a step faster than him, plucking one child from the circle and threatening him with their lives.      

Amused by Moulin's inner struggle, she said. "Come and join us... A closer look wouldn't hurt you-"     

Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind nearly toppled the she-demon's tall frame.      

A shrill cry of an eagle revertebrated throughout the place, along with it, a painful burst of mana. Grass trembled and trees shook.      

Thud!     

Moulin landed on the ground swiftly. His sudden calm expression was unnerving. His back is straight, like a sturdy tree amidst a massive storm. He glanced at the dark skies briefly, sighting the noble eagle circling around him.      

"Sairon..."     

Then amidst the harsh winds, a loud shout reached his ears.      

"Moulin!"     

He saw Ghana. Glowing blue eyes and her hair ripping the breeze. Behind her, many sentinels eyed and drew their weapons at the vicious demon. They circled her, keeping a safe distance so as not to let her threaten more lives.     

Nara narrowed her eyes with gritted teeth, snarling. The pests were trying to corner her!     

"Come near, and I will rip them into pieces!" She threatened. Eyes bulging in fury, and perhaps... fear.     

She tried to release her scent, but for some reason, it wasn't working.      

"The nullifying artifact is working, Captain. Locked unto the demon's position." reported a sentinel through Ghana's ear. She nodded.     

Nara's face contorted in extreme hatred.      

The young man with silver eyes gave her a cold, sharp look.     

"Give up."