Chosen By The Lover's Constellation-Chapter 60: Storm of Hearts, Part Sixteen

Lianna kept her hands on the magical barrier, the energy pulsating beneath her fingertips.

Sylver worked diligently to heal the burns inflicted by the obstacle, her sorcery weaving a restorative melody through the air. Lianna’s eyes, however, remained fixed on the disconcerting spectacle beyond the shimmering shield.

Mel’s hands trembled with arcane power. She raised it up, looking poised to unleash a devastating spell upon Enverna. In her eyes, however, Lianna could see turmoil raging inside of her.

The air itself seemed to quiver with impending chaos.

[Please,] Lianna begged, making sure to keep her eyes on the altercation behind the barrier. [Please, please. Don’t let her cross the line.]

Fear clenched at Lianna’s heart as she grappled with the uncertainty of her own ability. Would Target Analysis kick in on time? Could she stop this before it went too far?

The whispers of doubt echoed in her mind, drowned out by the urgency of the moment. The seconds stretched, time elongated into an agonizing crawl, and Lianna felt the weight of her power’s unpredictability.

[Why can’t you give me a time or something? COME ON, WORK ALREADY!!!]

She’d stopped truly feeling the fiery sensation a while ago. But, she still couldn’t step through the barrier. The innate fear of the unknown danced with the sparks of arcane energy on the other side of the magical wall.

Sylver’s healing touch soothed Lianna’s physical wounds, yet the mental strain intensified with every bolt that came out.

The air crackled with the release of celestial energy as Mel unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts toward Enverna. Enverna, nimble and quick, dodged gracefully, evading the first few bolts with a dancer’s finesse. Lianna held her breath, eyes fixed on the chaotic display.

Enverna’s movements were fluid, a mesmerizing dance amidst the storm of magic she was forced to weave through. She wasn’t trying to attack Mel, but the mage had backed up far enough to where even if she wanted to, Enverna would have to close a massive gap to attempt a single strike.

However, the unpredictable nature of the magical assault soon caught up with her. A stray bolt veered off course, finding its mark on Enverna despite her agile maneuvers.

Lianna’s eyes widened in horror as the electrifying energy collided with Enverna’s form. Her fiance hit the wall, launched into it by the impact.

Mel herself looked stunned. As though the possibility of hurting Enverna hadn’t been real until this very moment.

"Enverna!" Lianna cried out, a sharp pang of distress lacing her voice, though they couldn’t hear her through the barrier.

Mel hesitated. She looked down at the culprit, her own hand that had launched the spell.

[Stop,] Lianna pleaded. [Please.]

She glanced at Lianna. The crimson-haired girl tried to communicate the stress and fear that Mel herself was causing her to feel.

But, for some reason, it was as though seeing Lianna made Mel’s resolve stronger.

She raised her hand again.

A surge of worry gripped Lianna as she saw Enverna recovering from the shock, determination etched on her face. Enverna now held her spear and looked at Mel as though she were just another Fiend.

Enverna had just barely gotten up before the next set of spells shot out.

The dance between them persisted after that, each lightning bolt met with a swift evasion or deflection.

The tension in the room escalated with each passing moment, leaving Lianna on the edge of despair, yearning for the moment when she could break through the barrier and aid her friends in their dire struggle against the chaotic magic.

All this time, Lianna kept her eyes on the ongoing struggle. The lightning being launched was reflected in her pupils.

As Mel continued to assail Enverna with magical onslaughts, Lianna’s anxiety intensified. Her hands remained pressed firmly against the magical barrier, desperate to breach the wall that separated her from her friends. Sylver’s healing efforts continued, gradually mending the wounds inflicted on Lianna.

Suddenly, just as Enverna managed to narrowly avoid another bolt of lightning, a pop-up message appeared before Lianna’s eyes, breaking through the intensity for just a moment.

No, two messages appeared.

Lianna’s heart raced as the information flooded her consciousness. Her hands went straight through the barrier that had been keeping her way. Not only could she move through it, but she also knew how it worked, which would be important for later.

Right now, however, she had to focus. It was done, she was in the room with them, but the situation was dire. Enverna had just been struck by another lightning bolt.

Lianna scanned Mel’s status.

MP: 75/400

She was relieved. Checking to make sure, she looked at Mel’s status and saw that of the two lightning-based spells Mel possessed, one cost 25 mana, and the other cost 100. Logically, given that she’d been spamming spells this whole time, it wasn’t hard to deduce that Mel had declined to use the stronger ability.

Now, she just had to pull what was left of her friend out from the depths of her mind.

"Mel," Lianna spoke softly, her voice carrying a mix of desperation and fear. "This isn’t you! We’re friends! Enverna is our friend!"

However, Mel seemed engulfed in a turbulent storm of emotions, and Lianna’s pleas fell on deaf ears. The girl’s hand, from which all that destructive power had burst out, was trembling as she held it up. Mel had a focused expression but the tears at the corners of her eyes betrayed the conflict raging in her heart.

"S-Step aside!" Mel yelled out. "I need this!"

"You don’t," Lianna replied, getting closer.

As Mel prepared to launch another spell, Lianna walked forward.

Mel hesitated, her gaze shifting between the pop-up and Lianna. In a desperate bid to halt the escalating conflict, Lianna implored once more,

"Mel, please! I don’t know what you were offered but look. Look at me! We can figure this out together!"

Mel’s eyes fell upon her, baffled.

"You..."

"I know you probably got some offer, right? A lot of power in exchange for... something. You don’t need it. You have all the potential in the world on your own. Please, just listen to me."

Without waiting for a response, suddenly, Mel unleashed another surge of celestial lightning.

Lianna flinched, hands held up as the bolt traveled to her.

It landed.

But, Lianna felt nothing from it. She was left unharmed.

A momentary pause hung in the air, a tense silence broken only by the crackling of residual energy.

As Lianna understood what just happened, she pressed on, undeterred by the impending danger.

As the bolts neared, Lianna felt a subtle shift within her, a resonating hum from her Instinct, {Target Analysis}, providing a sense of assurance.

Two spells had been analyzed almost simultaneously.

"S-Stay back!" Mel held a hand up, walking backward herself. Suddenly, she was the one who looked scared. "I’m warning you! L-Lianna, I will...!"

Hands clenched into fists, Lianna continued. Until, finally, Mel used up what was left of her mana to launch one more lightning bolt. And, again, it did nothing to Lianna.

Mel’s mana finally depleted, leaving only the echo of spent energy in the air. Realization dawned on both of them. It was done.

Mel’s hand remained held up but it lost its strength.

Lianna closed the remaining distance. Mel cowered, as though Lianna planned to hurt her. To retaliate. Instead, she enveloped Mel in a tight embrace.

Lianna could feel Mel’s heart pounding hard against her chest. The girl shook. Tears fell atop Lianna’s shoulder as she kept her there.

The silence that followed was punctuated by the weight of unspoken words, a moment where they may as well have been frozen in time.

"Mel, it’s okay. It’s over," Lianna whispered, the warmth of her voice carrying the reassurance she desperately wanted her friend to feel. The chaotic storm of emotions within Mel seemed to wane, replaced by a profound vulnerability and a deep resignation.

"I just wanted to..." She trailed off and Lianna tightened her embrace a little.

Letting go of Mel momentarily, Lianna walked to the center of the room.

Here, there was a plate masked as a piece of stone and she pressed down on it. The barrier disappeared.

{Target Analysis} had revealed these plates to her as a purposefully hidden mechanic that would dissolve the barriers, letting Lianna deduce that the purpose behind the barriers was to trap raiders from outside the city. The existence of these plates meant that if any actual local got trapped they could free themselves rather easily.

Unfortunately, the traps did their job a little too well in this case.

Sylver walked in and immediately went to heal Enverna, just as she’d been doing for Lianna.

All the while, Lianna held onto her friend.

The crisis had been averted... Momentarily.

Although this barrier had been lifted, they were still trapped.

This was because {Target Analysis} also revealed to her that anytime one of these barriers shot up, another, far more problematic barrier would go up with them.

See, the traps were likely meant to restrict raiders. But, what if a thief popped up from within the city’s own walls? If that happened, another safeguard had to be put in place.

One that made it so that Lianna and the group weren’t quite done just yet.

"Um, everyone," Lianna spoke up. "We... We have to go deeper into the city. The place where we came in from is walled off."

Therein laid the problem.

"The mechanism to release that barrier is up ahead. We... Uh, have to go to it."

None of the other three girls said a word.

Despite it feeling like each of them had hours’ worth of things they wanted to say.