“What’s the matter, Syllis? Are you shocked?” Aura gestured towards a man back in the spectator seats. It was Edward. “That doctor can reattach limbs, organs. Including the heart.”

‘No way. A doctor like that wouldn't be working for this family. Instead, he’d be paid ten times his current salary to work for the Laurier's. Hell, he might even be brought to Adelaide.’ Syllis couldn’t quite believe her, but her actions meant more than words. If she truly threw the crow towards her to demonstrate her lack of worry over injury, then it had to be true.

Besides, the doctor had already impressed Syllis beyond her imagination with his efficiency in healing. Why not believe in him possessing the otherworldly ability of revival. ‘The only way to kill someone with that man around would be to steal the heart…’ Syllis smiled at the thought of stealing Aura’s heart.

“Then I guess we shouldn’t hold back.” Syllis looked over towards the audience, including Edward who seemed to have taken the compliments in stride. “Let us give them a show.”

After sending the crow out, Aura gave Syllis some time to deal with this newfound knowledge. It was polite, but she would certainly live to regret it.

Syllis decided to use an aspect of her bond she’d only recently learnt. After her loss to Clyde, she realized her lack of creativity in how she utilized her bond. It was mostly just the raising of ice pillars, the most novel move of hers were the ice shards that hovered above.

During their fight, Syllis thought a weapon made from her ice to be impossible. But it was through the attempt that anything impossible was made true. So she decided to do it.

Several days of intensive work and she managed to form a somewhat functional needle-point spear. Shaping a partisan just wouldn’t work. There was too much nuance in its end and the crossguard slightly before it. So a simpler weapon was needed. This was the point of the needle-point spear.

It was light and didn’t have any ridges or divots. In all senses, it should be the easiest to create. Even so, Syllis only managed to make a truly well made spear a few hours before Clyde had visited her again. The center of gravity could be adjusted to Syllis’ liking and overall, its edge was much sharper than her dull, wooden partisan.

Time was a problem though, and so Aura’s reluctance to attack straight after her previous assassination attempt was greatly appreciated. It took Syllis nearly thirty full seconds to shape her needle-point spear.

Aura was stunned at her craftsmanship and her face crept into a frown. Maybe she realized that it was a mistake, underestimating the secare nymph.

Syllis whipped the wooden partisan towards Aura who easily side stepped it before going on the move. She wasn’t nearly as aggressive in her fight with Clyde, but now. Without the fear of severely crippling her opponent, Syllis wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

Her steps clacked against the moist ground. Frost was made before being almost instantaneously melted by Aura’s ephemeral fiends. Both crows ran alongside her.

The first crow flung itself towards Syllis, lunging at her from the side. Syllis raised a spike, impaling it. At least, under normal circumstances it would have been impaled. ‘Damn these hellborn fiends!’

With no flesh to dig into, her crag had merely wedged itself in between several complex bones. The other crow flew in front of Syllis, the same ethereal screams radiated from its body, like a dozen tortured souls were trapped within.

‘This…’ Syllis smiled while twisted around the leg of the unrestrained crow. “Neat trick, summoning these two crows. Might wanna hold off until you’re adept enough to move both of them simultaneously though.” Syllis teased Aura, who was merely giving off the illusion of being more competent than she truly was.

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‘In reality, your bond is unrefined. Inferior to mine, as you are to me.’ Syllis spun around the monstrous ribcage of the aggressive crow. Standing so close wouldn’t have been possible without her bond supercooling her body. The sheer heat would have killed an ordinary person by now.

Thus, what would have been an obstacle for anyone else to avoid was prey for Syllis. As her azure blade easily glided through several ribs, the crow shook violently before toppling at the sudden loss of its center of gravity.

It shrieked in its own voice, unlike amalgamation of ambient souls that bellowed before.

The pierced crow managed to escape, diving towards Syllis from high in the sky. It tried to avoid her sightline. Unfortunately, ambient screams didn’t prevent it from being recognized.

Two twisting pillars of ice intertwined as they whirled and through the various bones of the undead creature. Several of its wings flared outwards, trying to swat away Syllis as if she was a fly. This time it was truly trapped. The heat they passively emitted wasn’t that large an issue if the ice was consistently maintained.

Though, between maintaining her ice crags and spear. It wasn’t the easiest to keep track of. Syllis could feel the slight tugging of Coryzan at the depths of her mind.

Without the threat of a second crow to deal with, Syllis focused back on the toppled one. Although it has managed to rise by now. Its ribs did not heal which surprised Syllis. ‘You’d think a creature so ethereal would be able to regenerate… I guess her bond’s limits are pretty clear.’

Syllis sliced at the creature's neck, or rather its spine. In a flash, it’s somehow together head was lobbed onto the cold ground. She reached down to grab it.

It was important to understand how these creatures worked. They most certainly weren’t Aura’s most powerful fiends and if the others worked in a similar way, even the simplest tests now would prove invaluable to the rest of the spar.

Her hand couldn’t reach into the visibly empty void between its bones. No blood seeped from where it had been cut. The creature had some sort of invisible body that was holding it together. ‘But it doesn’t bleed.’ The ground didn’t absorb any liquid, its color remained without shifting at all.

‘What an odd creature?’ Syllis didn’t have the time to think through what this meant.

Both crows dissolved simultaneously, just as the ephemeral horses that pulled Aura’s carriage had less than an hour prior. Their bodies left fleshy goo that writhed on the ground before even that was gone.

“I apologize for underestimating you, Syllis.” Aura Therman looked towards the nymph with scary eyes. Her piercing emerald clashed with Syllis’ seafoam color. One was like a sparkling gem and the other, like a pristine sea. “I won’t make this mistake again.

‘Danger.’ This was the only thing that radiated throughout Syllis’ mind for several seconds after Aura raised her arms high above her head.

One rift tore open, even louder screams emanated from within. They cried out. “Please! Help me! Save us! Kill us!” It was a gruesome thought, that these souls would rather die than rot in that hell.

Syllis entertained the thought of Aura transfiguring those souls into the twisted creatures she sends into battle. It was entirely possible, but many things were possible. This was the nature of anathemic bonds. Some were incomprehensible, and in that lack of understanding. Everything becomes possible, and no one has any way of knowing. Even Aura herself might not be aware of what her ephemeral servants were.

Syllis could rush in, but she still lacked understanding. The crows held her at bay, and she’d wasted a considerable amount of energy dispatching them.

‘I might now get a similar chance again… What if she stalls me? Those rifts have to take a considerable mental toll, could I hold out longer? Well, not like I particularly want to start hearing ‘its’ whispers again.’

The fearless nymph charged towards Aura, first throwing a crude, conjured javelin to disrupt her ceremony. But it was too late. Aura turned to dodge it as her next infernal abomination exited from the grand rift.

Six pure orange eyes stared right into Syllis’ soul. They radiated light like Asanoch’s false sun. If Syllis wasn’t facing this being, then she might have worshiped it. Its daunting appearance was certainly worthy of it being deemed a great entity.

Its expressionless head opened its mouth wide. Inside, several hundred teeth lined the sides. Even more terrifying, a large tongue wiped them clean of its previous meal.

It wasn’t right to call it a dragon. That might’ve been an insult to this creature who only wore stubs on its back, perhaps its wings were torn from its skin. A mighty roar sounded when Syllis saw the stubs. Its wounded pride seemed to hate its wounded hide.

Only a second later, it appeared. Mere feet from Syllis. It was a lot taller up close and instilled in her what she could only interpret as true horror.