Thankfully, the armor held firm long enough for Atticus to descend from the skies like an avenging angel, lopping off Alistair’s head with one clean sweep of his sword.
The air beca thick with the scent of blood. So of it splattered onto Daphne’s face and clothes but that was the least of her worries. She heaved a sigh of relief and rolled herself upright as Atticus hastily pried Alistair’s body off hers with his powers, throwing it near his head.
"Daphne, are you alright?" Atticus grabbed her by her shoulders, looking over her frantically.
"I’m fine, but the syringe!" Daphne exclaid.
She quickly reached into her pockets, only heaving out a sigh of relief when she realized the glass was still in one perfect piece. Good. It hadn’t shattered during the tumble.
"The plan worked," Daphne said with a beam, but that smile quickly fell when she looked at the syringe properly. It still had its contents inside. The serum was never administered to Alistair. "Oh no."
"What’s wrong?" Atticus asked.
Daphne’s face was pale as she held up the syringe for Atticus to see. "The serum... I didn’t get the chance to inject him with it yet!"
A loud bang echoed through the street, causing Atticus and Daphne to whirl back simultaneously. They turned just in ti to see Alistair’s headless body pick up his missing head before placing it right back on his own neck. He twisted it as though he was an owl, spinning his head around just to slot it back in its place.
As soon as Alistair’s head was placed over the stub of a neck, his skin began to weave the wound close. Blood and flesh ford right before their very eyes, stitching Alistair back into one piece seamlessly in the span of seconds. Without the serum, Alistair’s body could still move freely even without his head attached to it, unlike Silas.
"You threw his head right back at him?" Daphne asked, flabbergasted as she turned to her husband in despair.
"My mistake, I didn’t look where I was throwing," Atticus replied rather sheepishly, but otherwise unbothered. He was more worried about his wife’s panic than the demonic monster that just reattached its own head after getting beheaded. "I’ll just do it again. Not a big deal."
Daphne felt her lower eyelid twitch. Not a big deal, he said. Oh, how she wished she had her husband’s confidence all the ti.
"You..." Alistair’s eyes narrowed sharply on the husband and wife duo, his gaze now fixated on Atticus instead. "You’re the one that caused this. This is all your fault!"
Without warning, he pounced right for Atticus, this ti, completely ignoring Daphne. That didn’t an she was safe, however, as Alistair’s claw swiped through the air rather dramatically and would’ve sliced right through Daphne if it weren’t for the ring on Atticus’s finger.
She instinctively raised her hand to shield herself, only to peep through when she realized that Alistair was caught in the middle of the air, his arms unable to move beyond the purple barrier that surrounded his entire body.
Atticus had him under control with just the flick of a finger. Now that the rat had climbed out of its nest, it was more than easy for Atticus to handle him.
"Would you do the honors, my dear?" Atticus asked, gesturing for Daphne to go ahead with the serum.
She jerked back to attention, pulling out the serum to administer it. Only, there was sothing odd about Atticus’s purple magic. The intensity of its color kept fading and darkening, pulsing in a manner that she had never seen before.
"Wait..." Daphne said, taking a step away from Alistair.
It was right in ti too, for a line suddenly appeared in Atticus’s obsidian stone, causing his magic to fade entirely. Alistair was instantly freed from his magical cage, allowing him to land safely as Daphne quickly backed away.
She wasted no ti, quickly setting a small patch of the ground on fire so that Alistair was trapped in a ring of flas, similar to what he had done to Nereus back then.
The flas she conjured, however, were much weaker than the combined forces of Alistair and Drusilla back when they had trapped Nereus. As such, Alistair simply grinned sinisterly after a short mont of surprise.
"You think that this feeble fla can keep caged?" he taunted.
Daphne gulped. She never thought it would. She just hoped that it would be sufficient enough to buy Atticus so ti to co up with a plan b.
Atticus, thankfully, wasn’t down for long. He simply observed the crack in his crystal for a short mont, clicking his tongue in annoyance. This was a good piece of stone that had served him for many tough years. However, he wasn’t surprised that it needed to be replaced already, after everything that had happened in the last month or so.
But that was alright. The ring was rely a fancy piece of jewelry that helped him gauge how much magic most people could use. In other words, they were binds that had Atticus’s full potential reined in. Now, he was set free.
"Daphne, now!" he yelled.
Atticus put out his hand and just like before, a shiny radiance engulfed Alistair right as he tried to pounce for a second ti. This ti, without the obsidian ring, the aura of Atticus’s magic was an off-white color, barely even visible to the human eye. However, there was a layer of thin shimr that caught the light of the sun, shining with specks of silver and gold.
"Ugh!" Alistair groaned, his veins darkening as he struggled against the grip of Atticus’s magic.
Only this ti, it seed even harder to get out of it compared to before. Just attempting alone had Alistair’s face so constipated that his veins looked as though they were about to pop.
"How?!" he roared. Even with his mind corrupted, there were still minute monts of clarity. This was one of them― seeing soone use magic without the aid of a crystal.
"Daphne," Atticus said, ignoring the rabid mongrel. "Now!"
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