The night screamed in turbulence, fire and water merged into the air and steaming filled with smoke and hid the battle ground. This once place for a strong business outpost now, it's a war. The cracking walls and burning wooden beams that held cinders in them as earth burns with flames and with magic. With all the roar of battle screaming in the confusion, above screaming chaos, it's the beating of battle as it equates to storm crashing to an immobile shore.
Lin stood beside Myrith and Lysara; his heart in his throat as he hurled spell after spell into the fray. The images of Dernporost worked their way within his mind: the art of philosophical deconstruction and combination which had given him a new perspective on how to wield magic and cast Blinding Cascade once again, blanketing the battlefield in dazzling light scorching the insurgents' eyes. But this time, the warriors of Pyrestone were prepared; dark glyphs blazed on their armor, shielded from the intensity.
"Emulate, or we are dead!" Lysara shouted in order to be heard over the racket.
The woman sunk her spear deep into the soil, and a sea-wind unleashed a tidal surge screaming through rebel ranks. It was water-buckled to look like a sentient wall, slapping soldiers dashed about like some sort of rock. But looming over that tsunami-like wall were seen the gruesome contours of another monstrous form-a giant with blazing molten axes flowing in waves, bringing waves of annihilation heat in its wake: his armor flowed crimson runes, eating at the embers surrounding Hyde Pyrestone.
"You think water can drown fire?" he bellowed, swinging his axes. Torrents of flame erupted, splitting Lysara's wave in two and sending molten arcs crashing into the ground.
Myrith moved with swift precision. Her hands wove circles of flowing mana, forming Ripple Shields that absorbed the brunt of Hyde's attack. "Larin, flank him!" she commanded.
Larin's heart pounded in his chest as he darted to the side, conjuring Spectral Chains that writhed like serpents toward Hyde. The enchanted chains looped around his arms, tightening as they sapped his strength. Hyde snarled, his muscles straining as the chains bit into his armor.
"Now!" Myrith leapt forward, tendrils of water curling around her like titanic serpents. She lashed at Hyde, waves crashing behind the power driving her blows. Lysara did likewise, spinning her spear and unleashing razor-thin blades of water that carved through the air. The two women charged forward, forcing Hyde back step for step.
But the Pyrestone general let out a yell of command and his voice crashed with raw fire magic. His chains on the arms exploded in molten sparks, and forward he hurled his axes. A blast of infernal energy exploded outward catching all three of them in its flaming embrace.
Heat surrounded him, and Larin screamed. His Living Barrier buckled under the assault, cracks spreading like a spider's web before it shattered into pieces. He was hurled backward by the force of the blast, his body slamming against a smoldering tree trunk. His vision became blurry, and he tasted blood.
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Myrith and Lysara were caught in the middle of the inferno. They recoiled in pain, Lysara falling to one knee as she fought to stand. Her spear quivered, and her balance was all but lost. Myrith staggered as her magic began to fade, her tendrils burning in the heat.
"Larin!" she gasped, horror written across her face as she saw him fall.
Hyude let out a triumphant bellow and raised his axes to the sky. He came running at Larin, with death in his heart and his molten blades blazing like the mouth of some animal. Myrith and Lysara burst forward, their spells welling up once more to intercept him, but Hyde's power was too great, his momentum too fierce.
After heavy strains, Larin thrust himself up the shuddering arms yearning. And he saw fiery power that seemed able to burn past a wall of millennia. Up surged his right hand in the final despairing parry, cast a spell: Fractured Wall. So the wall formed -- shaky, incomplete, yet jagged threads that might bend to space.
Hydes' first axe struck it with a sound like thunder. The wall shuddered and crumpled, taking but a part of the impact. The second axe bit immediately after, severing Larin's left arm at the shoulder. The pain was worse than he could ever imagine: a flash of blinding pain that rent through his body and his mind.
He screamed, his voice raw and guttural, but he had no moment to understand. Hyde's molten fury pressed forward, and the third strike took his left leg.
It was a scream of rage and of grief, and it echoed off the battlefield, from Myrith. She hurled a tsunami of ravaging power; the blow was so strong it warped the air itself. The blast sent Hyde flying backward and slammed him into a stone outcrop. Water surged and congealed into an ice prison that bound spells.
"Larin!" Lysara was already there, her spear dropped beside her where she knelt over him. Her hands radiated healing force, tendrils of water curling about his hurts, but too much.
Live with us, nephew, Myrith said on a deep breath, hands falling atop the top of the younger girl, forcing some strength down into that well. "Breathe.".
"'I.' Larin gasped for breath, his face gray and dripping sweat. He felt the cool thrill of magic at war with the agonizing fire in his veins. 'I… can't feel my arm … or my leg.' 'You are with us,' Lysara said strongly. 'Don't give in.
The flames were dying down on the battlefield around them. A heavy, choking cloud of smoke was hanging in the air, and the insurgents, their leader defeated, fled. Only Hyde remained, ensnared by ice, a flickering weakening of his embers as all his strength is fading.
But victory is at a terrible price.