Noah optimistically thought that they had a decent chance of survival at the present moment. Well... that was until the undead appeared. He blinked for a moment, lowering his guard, as he eyed the creatures. Wow. They were waaaay uglier in person than in textbooks. And they smelled like rotten flesh.... Meat gone off. He scrunched his nose, trying to hold his breath at their foul smell. Ugh.... a bubblehead charm would have been useful about now. Their smell was only exacerbated by the fact that they were on fire. He rolled his eyes. Of course some of them had to be on fire too. Like Julien, he thought extinguishing the flames was their best course of action. Thus he moved. His eyes widened as he readied an augmenti to fire but then he heard Aboli advising to use fire. “On it.” He nodded, changing course and moving his wand in a whip like wave, sending a non-verbal fire rope towards the inferi. Hopefully he got a few of them. “I think we should switch to...”

He didn’t have enough time to finish his sentence before a terrifying growl from a SHE- DEVIL. Who? What? Where? Why was she covered in ..... he couldn’t quite tell but he evaded her attack with a quick protection charm. Lightening cracked, separating him and Aboli for the briefest of minutes. “ABOLI!” he cried as he subconsciously made a potentially fatal mistake as he turned to check on her which led him wide open to be the perfect dummy for the Neo Alliance Goonies’ Cruciartus Curse.

He had been right in his lower abdomen. And every description that he had read in Defense Against the Dark Arts class simply could not do it justice. Oh yes. It was very much worse than the a thousand gif knives slashing into his body. He felt on intense searing pain wash over his very being. It started slowly but exponentially grew in levels until it was unbearable. He shut his eyes (as if that would help the pain) and dropped his wand. His wand and his body hit the hard ground at the same time, producing a thud. Then the pain hit him like a school bus hitting a certain plastic blonde. Yeah. From that movie. Or so he had imagined this is what it must have felt like.

Much worse.

The searing pain erupted across the seventeen year old’s body, causing his muscles to seize and him to crouch over. Every single cell was on fire. He painfully gasped for air to fill his lungs but found barely any to satiate that hunger and stop the pain. He bit his lip, drawing blood as his body involuntarily shook. The blinding pain continued surge, forcing him to take shallow breaths to bear the pain. Fleeting images passed through his mind. Memories combined with his present reality. He felt sick.

Uncontrollable tears rolled down his face as he tried to fight back but failed. Would the pain stop if he couldn’t breath? If it were the end for him would be finally find peace instead of every bone and muscle being simultaneously shocked, burned, and ripped apart.

Eventually it stopped and he gasped for air and finally found it. However, he barely had any strength to stand. Noah found himself grimacing as he willed himself to sit up. He had to get back up and fight. He couldn’t stop and give up right now- even if he wanted too. He really wanted to sleep.... To go home to his family. Hug his parents, his siblings, his friends..... Aboli. No he couldn’t sleep. She was here. So was Minjae. Kimmie too. And his mates. He couldn’t leave them to fight the good fight without him.... Sleep was tempting but he didn’t have plans to be come one of the undead just yet.

The lion boy weakly looked up through heavy eyelids at Aboli before placing one shaky hand on the ground behind him. It took every fibre of his being and his stubborn mind filled with determination to grip his wand. “I-I’m....” His voice was shaky as he willed himself to get up. “I can stand... I think.”

———
WHERE WAS TORRANCE SPADES?!? AND HOW AND WHY was he so fast?!? Involuntarily, she pouted. Her little legs couldn’t keep up and besides she wasn’t that short!!!.

She weaved her way in and out of the crowd, dodging and deflecting spells as she charged towards the castle. He had to have made it inside. He would have gone to the action to help.

When she got inside the front door, she looked behind her to find that she had been separated from Simon. She paused, debating about heading back onto the battlefield to find him but stopped. He would be fine. She knew it. Or seriously hoped. She needed to find Tory.

She rounded the corner to find... INFERI ON FIRE?! Students on the ground.... A man collapsed or was he.... Oh no.... Her eyes scanned the scene and then found Tory flinging spells at two women. She paused, not knowing how to react. She had never ever ever seen him so ENRAGED.

Vi readied herself for another fight but quickly cast a shield spell before firing a non-verbal BOMBARDA! at the INFERI before following up with a few stinging hexes and stunners. She had to get to Tory.