Before the Skeleton Lord could attack again, the massive chunk of Ice that was the Blizzard Blade struck, forcing it to block with its shield, just as it had earlier. Only now, instead of individual, small but swift blades we were wielding a single, massive Blade. It took a lot of Astral Power, even with the reduction in cost from the Crown of the Northern Wind, what we were swinging around, easily out-massed us by a factor of three. If not for magic playing fast and loose with the laws of physics, the blade would be swinging us, not the other way around.

There was a loud, rumbling sound as the Ice crashed into the shield and we felt Astral Power surging out of us, forcing the blade forward. At the same time, the Skeleton was pushed back, the charge utterly stopped. It tried to circle but we kept hounding it, slowly getting used to the weight of the Blade and how to best utilise it. But even as we did, the realisation came that, even if we were pushing it around and even beating it to the ground on one occasion, we failed to inflict actual, meaningful damage. The armour it was wearing, together with the aura of Death that slowly drained the vitality of everything around it was too much to overcome on our own.

“Rai, get your act together!” we shouted, our voice echoing through the forest, even as I felt the magic of Jakyl settle around me. It wanted to make us move at his pace and for a moment, our rhythm was disrupted, allowing the Skeleton Lord to recover its position. Pushing back on the magic connecting our minds, we forced him to dance to our tune, a tune that echoed to Rai.

Rai entered the fight, just as the Skeleton Lord was charging forward once more, betting on us, being able to disrupt the charge. Once again, Astral Power flooded out of us and into the Blizzard Blade, breaking the charge. Only this time, we had been smart about it and realised that weight was key and in this case, we had the mass advantage. Instead of trying to strike from the front, we had struck from below, forcing the Skeleton to stagger but not fall.

As Rai’s blades sought out the Skeleton’s back, the Winds of the North surged around the Blade, using the moment that Rai’s blades impacted and disrupted the Skeleton’s recovery to our advantage. Our strike was not meant to disrupt or unbalance, this strike, with the full weight of the Northern Wind and a wave of Astral Power behind it, was meant to lift.

Instead of tumbling back, the Skeleton Lord was knocked up into the air on a ballistic trajectory. Laughing with cawing sounds, we struck again, letting Astral Power flood out of us, as we struck it, again and again, using the fact that it had nothing but air to push against to our advantage, allowing us to inflict some damage with heavy hits that it couldn’t brace against or parry away.

It also gave us an idea and the strikes started to come from one side, and one side only, battering the tumbling Skeleton Lord through the air like a broken kite. Towards the cleft, formerly known as Shadow.

Our breathing cames in gasps, the sheer amount of Astral Power we had channelled in a short time physically exhausting us, but it was enough and with one more surge of power, the Skeleton Lord was batted out, on a trajectory that would see it crash into the wall on the other side, some seventy metres down.

Sinking to our knees, our wings folding protectively around us, we tried to catch our breath. We had dealt the Skeleton Lord a brutal blow, the sheer rock walls acting as the ultimate, blunt weapon, but we had yet to destroy it. The battle was paused, but not over.

It took some focus, to maintain the balance between our two halves, to maintain the Avatar-State without a foe to battle, but if we split now, we would have to fight the Skeleton Lord separately or try to escape. Neither seemed like a wise idea.

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“Get ready, it’ll return soon.” We warned the others, walking over to the spot where Myra lay, still prone.

“Olivia, help us, we need to get her back to her feet,” we ordered, spinning our Blood Magic to staunch the bleeding so that Olivia’s magic could take it from there. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it should get her back up in time.

Following the progress of the Undead was simple, the power emanating from it now full and truly unleashed. We had a feeling, the Undead was seething with rage, a curious thought to have about an Undead. Maybe, it was not so mindless after all.

We froze, when the pack-bond between Sigmir, Ylva and us twinged, the focused mental state of combat bleeding through it. The Undead, on its journey back up the hill, had found and engaged them.

“Rai, with us, fast!” We ordered, beating our wings to speed towards the other two, dragging the Blizzard Blade with us. Getting to the other two, only took a few moments but in that short time, the Undead had started to push them. An angry howl echoed across the land and I felt our other half, the wolf to our raven, take the field, Sigmir and Ylva becoming one, just as we had.

Hearing their fight in the distance, we started to dive, pushing us forward with Wind Magic, even as our Ice-Magic anchored the Blizzard Blade to our talons, so we could add the weight of our body to the blow.

Feeling our approach, the Wolf pushed the Skeleton Lord off balance, forcing its shield wide, just in time for us to land a crushing blow from above. Finally, the armour on its arm gave way, the blow strong enough to crush it outright, pieces of dark metal falling away.

“We stand…” we began, taking a breath just as the Wolf finished “...Together.”

With those words, four beings in two bodies started to engage the Skeleton Lord, exchanging blows, Wolf and Raven flowing around each other, knowing where the other was at all times. The pack worked together, as one, seamless unit.

Fighting as one, nothing could stand against us.

The pup joined in after some time, not part of the unit but as the student of a part of us, he was part of the pack. His movement wasn’t as integrated but the repeated attacks from the flank took the Skeleton Lord’s attention, pushing its demise further and faster. Openings were exploited, especially the shattered pauldron, the large gap in the Skeleton Lord’s armour a perfect target to strike.

The Skeleton’s sword-arm was the first part of it to break, the gap in the armour just too large to allow it to keep things together.

With its main weapon gone, it was forced to solely use the edge of its shield to attack, each of its strikes generating an opening for the others to exploit and those openings quickly turned destructive. Without the threat of the sword, the pup and the Raven could focus their attention on their magic, not attacking the physical structure of the Skeleton Lord, but striking at the vulnerable magic hidden beneath the armour. The armour, that still had a massive hole in it.

It tried to strike down the pup, the edge of its shield chopping towards his midsection, but the pup merely vanished in a slowly dissolving cloud of darkness, reappearing a few metres away. The failed strike unbalanced the Skeleton and with a howl of determination, the Wolf struck in the opening, the large, silvered blade of their axe shearing through the flexible armour around the Skeleton’s knee, sending it to the ground.

With no leg to stand on, the Skeleton Lord tried to defend itself with blasts of magic, only to be denied by the working of the Raven, allowing the Wolf and the pup to land crippling blows.

Only undead determination allowed the Skeleton Lord to fight back, as the Wolf and the pup methodically destroyed its armour and the body below, neither of them hesitating while the Raven kept them safe from the Lord’s deadly magic.

Finally, raising the Skull of Cursed Deliverance, the Raven focused magic into one last, final blast, to deliver the Skeleton Lord into the next life. Where it might find peace once more.