B6C9 Amulet

A wave of black crashed into me.

"DECEIVER!"

Salem's voice boomed like thunder. Felt like it, too, as my body was slammed down into the ground, pinned under a wave of what looked like black light, but felt as solid as rock. Her face was twisted, not in joy at Weiss' grief, nor Watts' agonised betrayal, but fury. Rage. All of it aimed at me.

I struggled to breathe.

"Stop!" Blake cried.

"SILENCE!" Salem barked. All sound was snuffed out. "KNEEL."

Everyone collapsed instantly. Even Weiss, despite that she was already on hands and knees. She fell atop Willow and Watts, crying uncontrollably. My attention was torn back to Salem as the force crashed into me, the command demanding I kneel. Curl up. Die.

T-Three Levels.

Still, the Exp came.

My eyes flickered fitfully.

"Deceiver," she hissed. "I will crush you like the worm you are. Too long have I waited. I have allowed your trespass because you amused me. But to strike at me twice, once when I was distracted? To wound me two times? Yours is an existence I have tolerated." She sneered down on me. "No longer. There will not be a third time."

My vision began to black out. My chest was being crushed, my entire body, and I couldn't draw breath into my lungs. I was going to suffocate before she squashed me like a bug. My free hand flailed toward the mass of black, plunging into it, for all the good it did. It wasn't her arm, more a mass of demonic energy.

The Exp from Willow continued to pour into me.

F-Four… Levels….

Something inside me moved. Shifted. Information crashed into my skull, into my very soul. My eyes flashed bright blue, as did my hand, lodged inside of the black mass crushing me. I felt a rush of heat, of force, of something more. My fingers closed around something in the darkness, something familiar. My amulet. Her amulet.

My lips formed words I'd never uttered. Shouted them.

"Purify!"

Light exploded in front of me. It pushed me down, but it also let me breathe – tearing away the dark energy that threatened to crush us all. The oppressive nature of it was shattered, and from the corner of my eye I saw everyone move, suddenly free of Salem's influence.