Spell 27 : The Sun

What am I thinking, letting go of my emotions like that?! 

Vanyssa rode furiously out of the camp gates, overtaking even Connor and Kiry in such a fashion that they had to stop and stare. But she didn't care. Her anger from just now had subsided only to be replaced by a bout of worry and anxiety of what's going to happen next. 

I'm usually more calm than I was just now! What happened to me?!

'Van! Hey, wait up!' A voice came from behind after her.

Oh no.. Now he's coming after me! He's definitely gonna be so mad! What do I do?

Vanyssa pulled on her reins and her horse neighed in annoyance as it pulled itself into a stop. Clearly, it was not used to such a temperamental rider. Vanyssa continued to look in front even as I caught up to her on my own horse. 

I couldn't even tell if she was mad or not; her helmet covering her entire face and all. 

'Hey,' I said, 'I'm sorry about what I said earlier. It's just that I get very emotional when people mention Aeryssya. She did show me the best parts of the game to me, but I do admit I might have gotten a little overboard with my association with her. I prom-' But before I could continue, she removed her helmet so that I could see her face, which to my horror, was tear-stained. 

She's... Crying?!

'Crow!' She sobbed. 'I'm sorry too! I don't know what got over me! I mean, usually I really don't get angry for no reason too! I don't know what came over me... It must be the stress that I'm getting in school, I guess?' She whimpered.

I wasn't really listening to her; I was just mesmerized by how delicate she looked right then. It was like looking at a fallen angel who had her wings clipped or something. 

'Hey, hey!' Another voice, this one thick with an African accent, came from the rear. 'What are you two lovebirds doing?'

At this, both Vanyssa and I sobered up immediately. She hastily put on her helmet, but even I can feel the crimson from her cheeks flush out from beneath her visor. Well, because I was blushing myself.

'Yeah yeah, speak for yourselves, you two. Anyway, we better be going. We're supposed to scout ahead. Let's get a move on!' Without another word, she spurred her horse into motion again. Connor winked at me when he passed by. I didn't know what expression to put on my face; I was just confused at what just happened.

This was like ancient China; there were barely any structures around save for some small shacks and farms we found. Along the way, we met with some other Shu warriors. We told them of our mission, and they agreed to help us. At the mention of this General Guan Yu who was holed up like a cornered animal, they were eager to fight for us.

Evidently, this General Guan Yu was a somebody in the ranks of Shu. 

Fortunately, during our scouting mission, we barely met with any resistance, save for a bandit gang who thought that we were travelling merchants with goods to steal. As Van and I readied ourselves to fight, Kiry and Connor cleared their throat and gestured for us to stand back. It seemed that they had something to show us.

Curiously, Vanyssa did not unsheathe her sword, but kept her hand ready by her side. I did the same, anticipating whatever these two lovebirds had to show us.

Connor was a paladin, while Kiry was a monk. He gathered Holy energy within his hammer to the point that it literally glowed, and with a great swing, smashed it on the ground in front of him, launching many heaps of rocks into the air that were infused with volatile Holy energy. Kiry then used this chance to make use of her deft and nimbleness to leap right into the middle of those rocks, and with her palm strokes, she sent those rocks flying straight into the enemy ranks. 

With the Holy energy imbued into those rocks combined with the force of her strikes, the rocks were basically Holy shrapnel that exploded right into the heart of the enemy. It was like watching a meteor shower that had targeting ability.

In no time at all, the enemy was taken out with just a single combination move of theirs. And they actually had a name for it too.

'We call it the Holy Babies.' Grinned Kiry as she got on back to her horse. Connor, was looking a little embarrassed, inclined his head to show that he had no part in the naming process. Vanyssa shrieked with laughter as she heard the name of their combo move.

'Seriously, Holy Babies, Connor?' Asked Vanyssa as she chased after Connor in glee. 

It was close to sunset before we finally reached the outskirts of the battle that was going on. The Wei forces had brought a considerable number of soldiers just to keep Guan Yu down. 

The situation was as such : Guan Yu had managed to keep himself alive by defending his position that was backed up by a mountain to his east. The only way for him, as well as our forces, to escape was to go west into a mountain valley that would lead right up to a port, where ships are available. However, the Wei forces had the entire valley secured with their encampments. Our current position, as we await for General Zhao Yun as well as Commander Pang Tong's arrival, is to the south, where the only thing blocking our path between ourselves and Guan Yu was just a small barracks. The Wei forces knew that Guan Yu would not go back to where he came from, so they left little resistance in the south, which was a fortune to us. 

As night fell, and there was still no sign of our forces, we decided to make camp. Connor had developed his Cooking skill to the Intermediate level, so I let him do the cooking. I assisted only in making soup and cutting the vegetables.

We talked as we ate; our only source of illumination was the Luminous Orb I had conjured. My skill level at it was so high that I could now summon multiple Orbs and they would never die out unless they take damage.

After dinner, Connor and Kiry decided to walk around our camp to make sure that we weren't being scouted by enemy spies, though I suspect that they had something else in mind. The chatter from earlier had subdued itself into the familiar awkward silence between Vanyssa and I. Sensing that we both did not want to talk, I took out my gems and started to charge Meteor into one of them.

'Say,' began Vanyssa, which startled me a little; I dropped the ruby I was holding and it smashed onto the floor. Her face dropped into a comical expression as she apologised. 

'It's fine. You were saying?' I asked while sweeping away the glass fragments with my feet.

'Well,' she continued, 'do you want to do a combination move like them?' 

I did not immediately reply her; I took up another ruby and started charging it again.

'Well... I did think about it, but I don't think that's a good idea.' I said, speaking more to the ruby then to her.

'Well, why not? She demanded, sounding a little hurt.

I sighed, and my voice was carried over the buzzing of the insects that hid in the grass around us.

'It's not that I don't think we'll make a good team, but I don't think my abilities at the moment can meld themselves with yours. You know I don't really have much supportive power; I'm more of an over-powered offensive class.' I admitted sadly. 

Not that I was trying to be humble. but I admitted I really suck at being a support if I was given the role.

At that, she giggled. A very mischievous giggle, I might add.

'For that, you don't have to worry. I think I might have just the idea...'

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Our Shu battalion finally arrived the next day, along with all of our friends. Bambsie went mad with excitement when he saw us; he literally set off a bomb under his feet so that he flew straight into me.  Alter Time kicked in, and I side-stepped so that he crashed right into the stone ground. Of course, he stood up bawling becaus his HP took a critical hit with that dive. I laughed and gave him a pat.

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Cluck was more dignified; his horse was now like a war machine of some sort. He wore armor with a tabard with some symbol on it. It looked like he had joined some guild himself. The grin he gave me told me he was thinking about the time I got to spend with Vanyssa all this while and I smiled back. 

There were a bunch of other people too; they were familiar faces that I had seen in school, though some of them were not exactly human. Dennis fronted the group and he laughed as he pulled Vanyssa into an embrace. It was like a high school reunion of some sort.

But, the excitement died down as General Zhao Yun stood forward. 

'I'm sorry to break this lovely reunion, but I believe we should move on with haste. Can I get a scouting report, please?' He asked. Connor went forwards and gave it with great detail. Zhao Yun nodded in satisfaction. He turned back to his troops, who were eagerly waiting for their next orders.

'Warriors of Shu, do you hear me?' He called out loudly. The Shu infantry stomped on the ground and rallied after their General. Pang Tong, I noticed, was looking away.

'Ahead lies General Guan Yu. We've fought long and hard to rejoin our brothers, who are in dire need of our help! A barrack or two may try to hamper us, but nothing will encumber the might of Shu! FORWARD, MY WARRIORS!' He yelled out the last part with a roar and charged forwards. The Shu forces went forwards as one, charging straight towards the Wei barracks. 

However, the Wei forces had been one step ahead of us; they had anticipated our arrival and had set up a humongous wooden barricade that we had no way of breaking down because we had zero siege weapons. General Zhao Yun struck the barricade in frustration, but there was nothing he could do. 

The Wei soldiers stood on top of the barricade, jeering at us in glee. 'Dogs of Shu,' they called out, 'try and save Guan Yu now!'

Everyone looked angry and anxious at the same time. We had reached an impasse. Nobody could have realised they were this prepared for our arrival.

There was no way around because the mountain walls on either sides of us were too steep to scale. Therefore, the only way was to break down that wooden barricade.

Wood....

I looked over at Vanyssa and she caught my eye, nodding. She was thinking about the same thing as me.

It was time to bring out our combo move.

To be honest, we both had no idea whether it could work and it was extremely dangerous on her part, but since she insisted, I gave in.

When she told me of the idea last night before we logged out, I thought she had been crazy.

I walked over to General Zhao Yun and said to him, 'General, I am going to try something. Order your men back from the barricade. It's a long shot, but I don't see how else we are going to get pass this.'

Zhao Yun saw the determination in my eyes and nodded. He made his men get back from the barricade, leaving me and Vanyssa standing side by side in front of the barricade. 

All eyes were on us; all of our friends were watching us and the Wei soldiers were laughing even harder now. They thought that we just going to try to break down the barricade with two people.

'Well,' I thought to myself, 'that's just what we're gonna do.'

I looked over at Vanyssa, my eyes burning with magic as I nodded to her. 

She took the cue. 'Leap!' She yelled out as she jumped straight up into the heavens. 

When she reached the highest point of her jump, she did a little back flip in the air so that her body was pointing head-first towards the barricade. 

'Dragon Circle!' As she wielded her claymore with both of her hands, she began to spin furiously. Her entire body was a blur of tornado-like motion.

It was my turn now.

'Cast Iron Maiden!' I encased her in a stone tomb, which would break apart with iron spikes flying out once the damage threshold to the tomb has been reached. The stone tomb was also beginning to spin in mid-air in a 360 degrees motion, following Vanyssa's movement. 

The next part was the trickiest; I concentrated and imagined carefully the next thing I was going to do, which was to encase the stone tomb even further with a Meteor.

As I felt the magic swell up within me, I opened my eyes and released the spell with all my will.

A flaming ball of rock and lava appeared right in the spot where Vanyssa was, and it had begun to spin in the same whirling motion as the Iron Maiden it had now swallowed up.

It had worked!

I looked over at the Wei soldiers; none of them were laughing now. Their shocked expressions told me that their minds had gone entirely blank.

'Eat this!' I roared.

With Telekinesis, I willed the ball of fire straight into the barricade. It was a most tiring feat; my mind burst with the effort to move the Meteor, and it successfully went crashing into the barricade, knocking it down like a bowling pin.

Furthermore, upon impact with the barricade, the meteor had exploded, raining flaming rocks upon the Wei soldiers, who were screaming in pain. Accompanied with those debris was the spikes from the Iron Maiden, which had also split open. They shot out in all directions, with increased speeds because of the motion caused by the spinning done by Vanyssa. Those spikes were also covered with flames, which went through tents and tore them apart with ease.

And Vanyssa? She was literally dancing among the flames; her entire body and sword embued with fire as well. She leapt around in the same tornado-motion, hacking and slashing with all her might. Where she landed, she left behind a trail of flames. Her dragon armor was fire-proof, so she was using the flames as an enhancement.

Within seconds, it was all over. What was previously a barricaded Wei encampment was just a burning wasteland.

Everyone who was watching cheered in awe and shouted our names in conjunction. The Shu soldiers carried us over their heads as they marched straight towards Guan Yu's camp. Over all the commotion, I could see Bambsie going crazy with delight as he mimed the motion of the meteor to Cluck, who was trying to smack him to calm down with his lance. Kiry and Connor were talking furiously, probably trying to find a new combo move to outdo the one we just performed. I could see Dennis and his friends cheering for Vanyssa as well.

Speaking of Vanyssa, I saw her being carried by another platoon of soldiers and waved at her. She caught my wave and beamed in return.

*DING*

[p=center]You and User Vanyssa have gained a Combo Ability!

Please give a name to the new ability : __________

[/p]

We had both received the same notification.

I looked at her and shrugged. She shook her head.

'Well, let's call it... Diving Sun?' I shouted to her over all the cheering.

She grinned and gave me the thumbs up.

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