The scenery on the opposite side of a door was normally a known one, when stepping through a door one finds themselves making their own preconceptions of what lies upon the other side, but expectations can always be exceeded.
Stepping through the door-like portal that appeared from Sarah's magic Cyrus felt his body being forcibly tugged through the threshold. The dark seemingly endless scenery enveloping him and in the next moment he was tugged back into reality. His feet touching down onto a cold floor. His vision was blurred from the sudden shifts of colors causing him to rub his eyes as they focused. As he opened his eyes Sarah and Henry were stood in front of him and looking at him.
" So, where are we?" He questioned as he took his first steps out of the portal.
Sarah rolled her eyes in response, " Beats me, your guess is as good as mine."
Getting such a response from her Cyrus let out a small sigh, he was growing accustomed to his not so helpful guide. Taking his steps past her he walked deeper into the unknown space they had entered. Looking around it was hard to make out anything, sticking his hand out in front of him only caused it to get lost within the darkness that was all around him. Stumbling through the darkness Cyrus bumped into a hard surface, running his hand along it he felt a small engraving in it. Firmly pressing his hand into it he recognized what it was. Harnessing a bit of mana into his hand and letting it flow into the sigil a series of small lanterns lit up all around him. Illuminating the large room they were in the three of them were met with an array of tables, various trinkets, jewelry and gold coins scattered amongst them.
With the lights turning on Sarah folded her arms and made her way towards one of the tables, picking up a necklace that was on it and lifting it up, " oooh this is nice, surely that woman won't miss this."
" Aren't you supposed to be an angel?" Cyrus chuckles, going over to the pint sized angel and flicking the blue prism shaped halo that floated above her head, " and besides, don't you think pearls are a bit too mature for you" He remarked
Sarah's brow furrowed and she put down the pearl necklace she was holding, "An angel can indulge themselves, and all this stuff is already stolen I'm reclaiming it and giving it a more righteous owner. Also it's not possible for anything to be to mature for me." She'd proudly put her hands on her hips
"Not true, a bra definitely falls into that category."
Sarah's face would turn red as those words left Cyrus's lips. Her brow furrowing and her face darkening as she starts muttering words under her breath.
Laughing to himself a bit Cyrus looked down at her, " Okay that was a good one you have to admit.... hey what are you muttering about, are you chanting something...." Listening to Sarah's chant like muttering Cyrus's eyes went wide. " Oh shit!"
Realizing what was happening Cyrus quickly dashed away from Sarah, as she muttered her markings started to appear in the air once again. More and more appearing and beginning to orbit her small body. Running as Sarah chanted a spell Cyrus would be darting between table after table of random stolen goods before something caught his eye.
" Ah! There it is!" Quickly stopping at one of the tables he reached down and grabbed his dagger. " Ah my sweet, I'll never let you out of my sight again." He cooed as he rubbed the dagger against his cheek nuzzling into it. " Wait wasn't I-"
" Runic Blaze." At the end of all her chanting those two words were audible to Cyrus and with those two words the runes that had been orbiting Sarah spiraled up into a large ball of fire that shot towards the distracted Cyrus.
With a fireball hurtling towards him Cyrus's eyes went wide and in a moment's time sparks appeared at his feet, lighting kicking off of the ground as he bolted out of the way, the flame whizzing by him and engulfing a table of loot in flames.
" Hey! That could've killed me!"
" That was the point!"
" Quack"
" I thought you needed me and this core thing you can't just kill me!" Cyrus responded
" I could figure something else out, don't comment on my body!" Sarah reprimanded
" Quack" Henry quacked
" Well I mean there's not much to comment on." Cyrus smirked
Hearing another comment Sarah's shoulders started to shake. " Oh I swear to Celestia."
" Quack"
" Henry I swear to Noru! What is it!? It can't be that important!"
Looking down towards her feet where Henry had been following her it was strangely empty.
" No, no, I think he has something important to say." A mysterious voice echoed.
Hearing an unfamiliar voice both Cyrus and Sarah stiffened up, looking around the room leaning against a door was the dancer woman they had been chasing. Her long ponytail draped in front of her and her arms folded under her chest. At her feet was Henry who seemed to let out exasperated sigh.
" Oh? Nothing else to say huh? You seemed to be having fun burning my things to a crisp."
" So you're saying this dagger is yours to?" Cyrus questioned, unsheathing his dagger and tossing it in the air, flipping it on his finger and before it could complete a second flip it was suddenly gone.
" Yep, i'm holding it aren't I?" Without moving a muscle the dagger had appeared in her hand. A smirk on her face as she tossed it into the air mimicking what he did.
As his dagger got tossed into the air sparks began to kick and bounce off of Cyrus's legs. Soft crackling starting to echo around the room before the ground beneath him cracks and he shoots towards the woman. A flash of lightning streaking through the room, barreling towards the woman before his dagger could land in her hand from her first toss he was in front of her, grabbing it out of the air and slashing down with it stopping it mere centimeters from her throat.
" Doesn't look like you are to me." He muttered, his cold gaze piercing through her in stark contrast to the electrifying aura that was still crackling off of his body.
Suddenly having a knife to her throat the woman's eyes went wide. Clicking her teeth she held her hands up. " Okay, okay. You can have it back. Didn't mean any harm just needed some gold you know how it is."
As she spoke a small star started to form above Cyrus, it would barrel down towards him leaving a shining pink trail behind it. But before it smashed into him another one of Sarah's runes would fly through the air. As the star hit runes it would crack and fizzle into a pink mist as a small explosion got dispersed. Hearing the explosion right above his head Cyrus's gaze sharpened, lighting spiraling up his arm and jolting down his blade to shock the woman. Her entire body getting encased in electricity, the constant shocks eliciting screams from her. Her knees would buckle as her body went a bit limp against the wall. Biting down on her lip she grit her teeth and clenched her fist. A sea of stars would fill the entire room illuminating it in a pink starry sky.
" S-Starfall." Through clenched teeth she muttered out a single word and with it all the stars that filled the room started to rain down upon them.
Seeing the vast array of stars plummeting towards her Sarah's eyes went wide writing in the air once again, a barrage of stars cascading towards her faster than she could write and before she knew it her vision went white. Having tensed her body when the pain never came she was confused, until she quickly realized she had been picked up. Bolting and bouncing off the walls and tables in the room a single streak of lightning was narrowly dancing and weaving through the sea of stars. Carrying Sarah as he dodged the attack despite the constant maneuvering his gaze was locked on the woman's position but his stone cold gaze wasn't a net benefit.
Zipping between the gaps in the stars with his focus on her, various stars were smashing into his body, searing through his clothes and exploding against his body. Dashing back and forth he would dash towards the woman but was met with a more concentrated barrage forcing him to dash back and evade once again.
" God, why did you have to find this place!? Just a few more days and I would've been free!' The woman shouted as her barrage continued.
With her endless barrage cascading down on the room Cyrus continued to bounce off the walls, gaining little ground as his gaze stayed locked on the woman. From in his grasp Sarah looked at Cyrus and then at the woman. Every time he dashed in he was met with a concentrated blast of stars and as he darted around the room he was gradually getting hit by more and more blasts that were appearing in his blind spots.
" You and this laser focus of yours, I'll never get used to it. Stop focusing on her and focus on dodging. You better be listening to me right now." Sarah commanded.
As he continued to dodge as sarah gave a plan his gaze finally broke from the woman as he glanced down at Sarah in his arms before the sparks on his body grew in intensity. His lightning becoming a dark blue as his movements changed, his head starting to whip back and forth taking in each star as it formed. Dodging back and forth in tighter and more sporadic directions, the gradual damage becoming less and less.
" Good, you actually can listen. Now keep it up, she probably has more mana than you so you'll run out first if this keeps up. But I'll take care of that." Sarah chuckled before she would begin to chant once again. Her runes starting to spiral and wrap around and orbit the both of them. The room filled of stars being split by a dancing bolt of lighting wrapped in runic writing. The room was shaking from the explosions of the small stars, the bolt of lighting known as Cyrus continuing to avoid and snake through the sea of stars as Sarah kept chanting.
" Just give up already! I finally found a way out you're not gonna stop me!" The woman continued as her body erupted in a shimmering pink aura. The star shaped bangle that kept her hair in a ponytail shattering. Her hair lifting from the ground and starting to glimmer like a pink night sky. The stars in the room growing larger and more abundant
The room was becoming a lit with the massive stars that were flying about, Cyrus being pelted by stars that he couldn't avoid as the free space in the room became smaller and smaller. His body covered in scorches and singe marks from the countless starts that had crashed into his body, starting to slow down the electricity on his body began to flicker. That dark blue dimming and becoming less intense as he began to pant, his body becoming heavy and his once quiet inaudible breathing becoming labored, if it wasn't for the cacophony of falling stars the sounds of his breathing would be filling the room. Reaching for the last sparks he could muster the runes that were orbiting him and sarah would suddenly shine.
" Runic Disruption!" Sarah chanted as the runes that orbited them merged together and shot out in a helix like tendril and piercing through the woman's body.
As she got pierced her eyes went wide, the tendril boring right through her and yet there was no wound, not a drop of blood on her. Then it hit her, a white vein like structure quickly spread throughout her entire body, clutching her chest she dropped to a knee and all the stars in the room fizzled into nothingness.
" Now Cyrus!"
Being given his opportunity Cyrus dropped Sarah and clutched his dagger, those crimson eyes of his shifting into a deep purple and the dimming blue electricty around him bursted into a frenzy of purple sparks. Bracing himself against the wall across from the woman all the muscles in his body tensed, the wall against his feet splintering and cratering as he launched off of it. His dagger cloaked in the purple lighting as he shot towards her but then her hand shown a golden light and the blade was ripped from his hand and placed in hers. A small smirk was on her face as even in that brief moment she stole his blade once again, but it didn't stop his charge. As he barreled through the air, all the lighting that was crackling off his body ran through his body into his arm, the purple lighting snaking around his arm as he reached out and his palm met her face, his fingers gripping her head.
" Ground Zero" Cyrus muttered as his grip tightened and the lighting on his arm intensified, picking her up and throwing her into the ground, her body recoiling and bouncing off the ground before a strike of lighting followed, impaling her and cratering the ground, the aftershock cracking the ground of the entire room as he finally landed. His chest rising and falling with his heavy breathes as he dropped to a single knee.