Ezekiel found himself cursing for the umpteenth time as he narrowly avoided the razor-sharp feathers of a massive wing that swung in his direction. Shine’s exceptionally durable vessel practically bounced off the armor like feathers.
He and Invera were both bleeding, with several cuts and other injuries debilitating their offense.
Over the course of the near hour that they had been fighting, the two had been absolutely pushed to their limits, and been forced to exceed their breaking points more than once. They alternated between attacker and defender, so as to split the opponent’s attention, but it only worked some of the time.
Several instances where he had been forced to make short, ranged blind [Jumps] had also occurred. The backlash of which he had adapted to ignore at this point.
Even Shine was getting a workout, as they pushed their soul to the absolute brink to handle channeling Ezekiel’s power without suffering too severely. They would need to rest for a while after this, else they suffer side-effects after their recovery.
‘This isn’t working!’ the Void Spirit complained with a strained tone. ‘We’ve barely chipped away even half his strength, and you and Invera have both taken blows to buy each other the chance to recover mana. This isn’t the same as those pseudo Mythics from the Cult.’
‘I’m aware, but we can’t just leave him to go wipe out the city, can we?’ Ezekiel’s reply was followed by a grunt as he was knocked downward from a swipe of Derrick’s wings.
The razor-sharp feathers scraped against the [Void Barriers] that he had erected around Shine’s blade. They did enough to soften the blow to the point that Shine’s current vessel wasn’t destroyed, but there was still a scratch he’d have to look out for.
A wall of Lightning sprung up between the two battling titans, and Invera made a dash to strike as the Broodlord’s exposed back. Her pseudo armor construct shrieked as the electricity that covered her body vibrated her feathers and talons at a rapid frequency.
The two began to fall from the sky as Derrick spasmed briefly, before he tried to flap his wings backwards to knock her off. The force was great, and if Ezekiel hadn’t landed next to Invera and used his magic to negate what he could, the Lightning Spirit would’ve been blown off.
“Keep him off me for now!” Invera yelled while Ezekiel continued to force Derrick’s wings out. The pressure was getting to him, however, and he wasn’t sure he could hold it for much longer.
The Lightning around Invera’s talons grew brighter as she focused more mana into them. If she had been being whose [Truth] and [Understandings] had been focused on offense, she likely would’ve been able to do a bit more damage. This was not the case, and the best she could manage was digging her talons a few feet into Derrick’s back.
Ezekiel could see that this wasn’t going anywhere, and his spell was beginning to fail. They needed to make some space before their enemy managed to do something to retaliate.
“Fall back!” he called out to his current comrade in arms, “a direct melee won’t work for you!”
Invera, who had tried to rake her own talons through the Broodlord’s back, threw up a multilayered shield of Lightning as she retracted her talons and retreated. Several thunderous ‘cracks’ filled the air as a few of her shields took a hit from the long, whip-like feathers sprouting from Derrick’s tail. A feature that Ezekiel didn’t think the Broodlord would’ve had in his Primal Form.
Forming several [Void Panes] that crossed space with one another, Ezekiel felt the world ripple as he tore Shine across one of the wings the Derrick was using to fling feathers at Invera as she extended the distance between them.
“Sorry, Shine!” he yelled as he felt his Spirit mentally flinch under the force of his Tier five magic.
This wasn’t a spell he had used before, and he wasn’t too sure that Shine would hold up to the pressure for long.
The warping space created cracks that spread throughout the length of Shine’s path as they were swung through the air. While their blade never made contact with Derrick’s flesh, the Tier five spell was strong enough that the effects were enough to rip out several feathers.
“Evade!”
Ezekiel didn’t even think about it, and immediately [Jumped] away from the back of his opponent. The wounds he had just made healed swiftly, and the spot where he had just been, was crushed between two wings as Derrick flapped them back with his full force.
Invera took the chance to hit him with a bolt of Lightning to the chest, which caused the Broodlord to spasm as the electricity flooded his body.
Raising a hand, Ezekiel focused on a spot near the Broodlord’s face. He pushed a great deal of mana into an [Empowered], [Compressed], [Force], [Gravity Shift] spell, to crush Derrick’s head. It wasn’t enough to get his skull and the harder bits of his body.
However, his eyes were another thing entirely, and they popped from the massive physical pressure that Ezekiel placed upon them.
The temporarily eyeless Broodlord cried in outrage and pain. He immediately began flailing around, using his full strength with every movement. Invera and Ezekiel were forced to fall back even further, lest they get struck by a random swing.
When they made some distance, and while Derrick was still recovering, Ezekiel formed several spheres that turned pitch black as he held them out in front of him.
“Shoot these with as much Lightning as you can!” he called out over the stormy weather.
Invera didn’t bother to ask why, and simply filled the spheres with as much Lightning as she could. All while the little black orbs turned a violet color that sparkled with iridescent t lights. This went on for several seconds, before the sound of breaking glass could be heard from Ezekiel’s spell.
“Stop!” The Lightning cut off as Ezekiel brought the spheres closer to himself. “Can you stun him one more time? I need to make sure these hit him.”
“It won’t last long,” Invera warned, “three seconds is likely all you’ll get.”
“That’s fine. Do it now!” Ezekiel focused his [Will] into the spheres, combining different [Understandings] that added to their power. The crinkling sound of glass and sand grinding against each other beneath a shoe filled the air.
By this point, Derrick had mostly recovered, and was no longer flailing. Just in time for two separate bolts of Lightning to cross through his body simultaneously.
The Broodlord’s limbs spasmed, and he dropped a few feet as he failed to maintain his flight.
Having sensed Invera’s spell be readied and set off, he had already fired his own spells at the falling Broodlord. They made contact right as he spread his wings to regain his flight.
The combined might of Tier five Lightning, reinforced and enhanced by the Void and several stacked [Understandings] meant that Derricks form was consumed in violet light.
The force of the blast sent Ezekiel and Invera tumbling backwards. The scent of ozone was overwhelming, and Ezekiel was almost certain that he had gone temporarily deaf when things suddenly went silent. He took a moment to figure out a work around for his hearing as he regained his bearing in the sky.
Invera appeared next to him in a flash, having recovered and returned to his side.
“Can you do that again?” Invera asked with a heavy breath.
“You mean that it wasn’t enough?” Ezekiel’s voice was filled with shock and confusion, but before he could receive and answer, his senses screamed a warning.
He forcibly [Jumped] himself and Invera in a random direction, with the intent of simply being at least fifty meters away from where they were, while not being in the line of fire between them and Derrick.
Even then, he was still too slow, and the barrage of rapid-fire steel feathers pierced the shield that Invera had raised, and cut deep into his and hers flesh. The last thing he saw before he and Invera disappeared from that spot was the Winged Broodlord covered in steam. His wounds were healing and regenerating faster than ever before.
“He burned his Ichor...” Ezekiel muttered, almost in a panic, before a familiar feeling began to seep into his body.
He recognized the clash of [Wills] that came from whenever he absorbed Ichor, only this time it matched his, and he wasn’t able to crush it right away.
Worse yet, he could tell that Invera was suffering from the mana draining effects of the Ichor that the feathers were covered in.
‘Shine! Keep us jumping to random points so he can’t get a lock on us. I need to clear our systems of the Ichor!’
He didn’t wait for a reply as Shine immediately began burning their mana to make sure that they weren’t in the same place for more than a second or two at a time. They wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, but it was enough for now. Ezekiel just needed a moment to focus on himself and Invera.
“I’m sorry, but this is gonna hurt!” he called out as he mentally clamped down on the feathers that were sticking out of the Lightning Spirit’s body. Using his [Telekinesis] he ripped them out as fast as he could.
Invera cried out in pain but was able to recover her flight in a few moments. But her mana was draining fast from the Ichor in her body.
Reaching out with his [Domain] Ezekiel focused his [Will] on the Ichor that was hindering him and his ally. Pushing his soul to its limits, he forced his [Will] upon the remnants of [Will] that were in the Ichor.
He could feel himself become mentally drained, but it was enough to force Derrick’s [Will] into submission and take control over it with his own. Infusing it with his Void, Ezekiel took control of the Ichor, extracting it from Invera, and taking it all into himself.
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He immediately felt his body be ravaged by the power that was a full Step higher than his own, but he forcefully clamped down on it, before channeling it into a spell that he wasn’t sure would work.
“Get me close to him!” he called out through grit teeth. An idea he had been worried he wouldn’t have the power to pull off ran through his head. Now that he was flooded with energy, it was time to take a chance.
Shine had been doing a good job at keeping them out of the way, and none of the attacks that Derrick was sending at them were hitting. But it was obvious to Ezekiel that they were getting tired.
Worse yet, the Broodlord had managed to fully recover at this point. Though his body was still steaming from excessive use of his Ichor to regrow the feathers he was shooting at them. At this point, stopping would make them sitting ducks, but Shine had always trusted Ezekiel.
They stopped [Jumping] to allow Invera to take over.
“This will feel tingly,” the Tier five Lightning Spirit told the two Void users.
The next thing they knew, they were covered in violet light and the world seemed to speed past them. Ezekiel instinctively increased his perception. The world slowed down again, just in time to see the most recent set of projectiles swerve past them.
He could tell that whatever Invera was doing was burning her mana at a rapid pace. If this spell didn’t work, she was definitely going to be out of the fight.
“Here!” he screamed as they all stopped their acceleration right above Derrick.
Ezekiel dropped onto the Broodlord’s back, with the impact reinforced by a [Gravity Shift]. He clenched his jaw as hardened feathers pierced his feet. The force was also enough to break his ankles, but he managed to push the massive Primal creature several feet downward, while also releasing the built-up mana that he had taken from the Ichor he had conquered and consumed.
Ramming Shine into Derrick’s back with full force, he heard their blade crack, but it held strong for the moment. A flash of worry filled Ezekiel.
‘Shine!’ He nearly pulled the blade back before his Spirit replied. The plan that was semi-formed in Ezekiel’s mind flowed through their bond.
‘It’s fine! I’ll hold on until we’re done!’ Shine began channeling what little mana they still had into Ezekiel’s spell. A moment later, it was completed.
Like ramming open a door, the space beneath them burst open, and Derrick physically made contact with [Space-Between-Spaces].
His enhanced physique as a Broodlord meant that he wasn’t immediately ripped apart as he sank further into a place where he didn’t belong. But it was still painful, and Ezekiel felt his ears burst once more as Derrick let out the loudest scream of pain he had ever made yet.
“How long can you hold this?!” Invera called out from where she was circling above.
Ezekiel was glad she had gotten away. He didn’t want her caught up in this.
“I don’t know,” Ezekiel ground his teeth together, but couldn’t help but feel like the odds had shifted, just a bit. A battle of might had turned into a battle of endurance.
“Charge up and hit him!” he yelled at Invera. He could feel Derrick start struggling beneath him. “Full power! Use all your mana!”
“But I’ll hit you as well!” Invera sounded far too reluctant to Ezekiel’s ears.
“That’s the point!” He prayed that she would simply do as he said.
A moment later, Invera raised two of her wings into the sky. Lightning began to flash, and the storm that was brewing from the pressure of three Mythical beings reached a peak. The forces of nature gathered around them, and natural Lightning flashed through the sky, and struck the Spirit above.
Derrick’s struggle grew more frantic, but Ezekiel held strong. His soul bore the brunt of the weight from maintaining this spell, but Shine helped as best they could.
‘Are you sure this will work?’ Shine asked. Ezekiel could tell they weren’t having second thoughts. They were just reassuring themself.
‘Can you abandon that blade fast enough?’ Ezekiel asked. He received an affirmative pulse of confidence in reply. ‘Then get ready.’
A second later, the world was filled with Violet light as Invera blasted a full-strength bolt of Lightning at Derrick. Partially aiming to avoid hitting Ezekiel, only for her Lightning to bend due to something Ezekiel had done.
Instead of hitting Derick’s body directly, the Lightning struck a now dull steel enchanted claymore. One that had a massive amount of Void mana flowing into it.
The two elements met, and the full might of Invera’s attack was channeled past the Broodlord’s external defenses, and directly into the center of his body.
Enhanced by the Void, much like the spheres from before, the attack became significantly more powerful. But due to his proximity, Ezekiel also suffered a bit of pain. The pressure of holding another soul inside him also didn’t help matters.
One more scream filled the air, before Ezekiel finally lost his footing. Derrick had bucked him so hard that he could no longer hold on. He was nearly spent when it came to mana and would need time to recover naturally.
While he was falling through the sky, stunned from the electricity that had partially hit him, Ezekiel saw that the rift he had opened had closed, and half of Derrick’s body had been torn to shreds, but wasn’t healing nearly as fast as before.
In fact, it looked like it was healing at an average rate compared to the accelerated one from before.
He tried to raise his hand to strike with another spell but was jerked to the side as Invera caught him. From what he could sense, she had truly spent all her available mana on the spell. She was flying purely with her physical prowess at this point.
“Kill... him...” Ezekiel whispered from where he was held in Invera’s grasp.
She ignored him, and he knew why. With the Broodlord’s enhanced physique, Invera’s talons wouldn’t be able to cut him down without mana. As it was, they both had already pushed themselves to the limit. It was unlikely that either of them could handle forcibly attracting and absorbing mana again in their current states.
For the moment, he could only watch as Derrick’s body hit the ground. The flinching form glared at them hatefully, but Ezekiel could see that he had been spent as well. He could also tell that the Broodlord was conflicted but seemed to think better of continuing the fight.
Rather than attempt to chase, Derrick instead focused on healing enough to move and fly properly, as his body shrank into his more humanoid form.
Before they were out of sight, Ezekiel saw the man flap his wings and fly away, back to the Desolate Lands.
‘We’ll get him next time...’ Shine tried to reassure Ezekiel.
‘Yeah... this won’t be the only chance that either side will take.’
Both sides had lost the chance to take out one of their enemy’s strongest fighters. Now, they would have to see what the future would bring, for both their sides.
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Many of the defenders of the Feathered Peaks had been forced to fall back, and the fighting had become a tired slog for the attacking Cruor. Their transformation into their Primal forms meant that there was little to no planning that went into their offense.
At the same time, their enhanced physiques meant that they could take on more groups of Hunters on equal ground. It was only the enchantments laid down by the Scholars of the Church that allowed the tribesmen to last within their fortifications.
Which was ironic, since the Cruor would’ve easily been able to circumvent the sparsely spread-out formations.
“Shift the ground! Don’t give them an even road to pass over!” Riley called out to the Cavern Hunters and Mages that were nearby.
She was currently locked in melee with a Bone Cruor that was trying to crush her under its massive feet. She was currently slowly chipping away as its legs, which were burnt black from her flames.
A heavy kick with an [Explosive] amount of force behind it saw the Cruor fall to its knees. It roared in pain and anger, only to get a flame-covered spear rammed down its throat. A few spasms nearly threw Riley away, but she held on until they stopped, and the Cruor fell over, dead.
Taking a moment to breathe, she sent a wave of fire over her body. The remnants of Ichor that clung to her were erased from existence as they burned away. Yet her armor and tools remained untouched.
“We need assistance over here!” a Legendary Scholar yelled from behind a hastily made barricade where he and a few others were holding off a Fanged Cruor from making it past them and up the road leading to the center of the tribe.
They were all currently fighting on the ground since the Winged Cruor had been taken out first. It had been tough, and the few Legendary Hunters that were in the Feathered Peaks, both native and from other tribes, were tired.
Holding up her pistol, she fired a white-hot beam of fire toward the Fanged Cruor. The heat and force threw it to the side, where it was swiftly dealt with via enchanted swords to the gut.
“Just hold on for a little longer! We’ve almost finished them off!” By this point, less than half the forces on either side were currently fighting. But those that were, were among the strongest.
The Adepts and below had already retreated to the central areas of the mountain. Only Legendaries who could take at least a few blows were on the front lines.
“Legend Riley! Over there! The storm is dying down!” One of the Legends that was wrapped in wind sent his voice through the air for all to hear.
Focused on the fighting as she was, Riley hadn’t been paying any attention to the fighting between the Mythical beings in the distance. Now that she was looking at it, however, she knew that something good, or bad was going to happen.
The fact that none of the Mythical beings had already arrived, after their battle had clearly ended, meant that whoever survived might be unable to fight again right away.
“... Push forward! Wipe them out as soon as you can!” Riley’s command was answered with a thunderous cry of excitement as the still standing Hunters all charged.
The comparatively low number of Cruor were swarmed by the now higher numbers of the Feathered Peaks. While the fighting was a slow process that saw the Cruor taking multiple hits. It wasn’t until another few fell that the still standing Cruor seemed to shudder.
Riley had just run her spear through the body of a Fanged Cruor, the blue flame from her magic burned the wound closed and turned flesh into charcoal, when the rest turned tail to flee.
There was no apparent reason for it, but the Cruor all, as one, turned tail to flee. It was as if some silent command had been given to them, but that shouldn’t have been possible. Since any order given by the Broodlord would’ve been heard as an ear wrenching shriek that they also would’ve heard.
“Life Mages!” she called out with panic in her voice, “check for fungal spores in the air!”
Seeing the unexpected turn tail of the Cruor, she was reminded of something that she and Ezekiel had faced during their time in Quintessa and the Archipelago.
The Rot didn’t communicate through verbal commands. The communicated through a spore network that could make those affected by it do as the Rot commanded. Usually, it could only control those whose body and mind were in no state to fight them off with their mana. However, for the Primal Cruor, their minds wouldn’t be able to fend off any commands from an external source that was still among the stronger Cruor.
“Minor fungal spores currently in the air!” One of the Life Mages nearby called out. She was followed by several others that supported her observations.
“Fall back! We need to make sure that everyone is purged of any spores that might’ve infected them during the fighting. That includes those that already retreated.” Riley’s order was met with concerned looks and reluctant gazes.
The retreating Cruor hadn’t made it too far, and some of the Hunters thought that they could go and clean things up since they were currently fleeing.
“Legend Riley; where did the spores come from?” a nearby Scholar asked.
Before she could respond, a strange balloon-like Cruor, like the one that Ezekiel had killed previously, began to rise into the air. It had previously been hidden away, far enough to not be seen during the battle. The now normal Cruor that had fled quickly climbed into it. This carrier Cruor was a peak Tier four creature, so it would be difficult for anyone besides a Mythic to truly take it down.
Seeing it inflate and lift into the air, Riley could see several vein-like growths along its sides. Vents that ran along its body were emitting clouds that faded as they spread out from the creature.
“I’d say that that is where the spores came from,” Riley said to the Scholar.
“Indeed...”
Before anyone else could say anything, a figure in the air caught Riley’s eye. She immediately dropped her Spirit Armor and took to the sky on Celia’s back. The other Hunters were shocked, but then saw what she had.
Their Guardian was back, and so was Ezekiel. However, both were clearly injured from their fight.
A mad scramble was made to catch up and help them, but Riley got their first.
After catching Ezekiel when Invera dropped him into her arms, she moved to the side as Ivera shrunk down to land on Celia as well.
“Ezekiel! What happened?” She could recognize the effects of Lightning paralysis, as well as overdoing his mana absorption. “Did you manage to win?”
“... Tie...” Ezekiel mumbled out.
Riley didn’t say anything else, knowing that he didn’t want to speak more currently.
“At least you’re okay... So long as that’s the case, you’ll have plenty more opportunities in the future.” Her words brought a soft smile to Ezekiel’s face, but their moment was ruined when the rest of the Hunters arrived.
Fortunately, Celia was near the ground at this point, and they were able to get Ezekiel and Invera to the healers quite quickly.
It took a bit more time, both to recover and reset their defenses, but ultimately, a small celebration was had after the sun had set.
While they hadn’t had an overwhelming victory, they had still won with minimal losses.
Given the state of the world, taking what time they had to enjoy things was something they could all appreciate. Especially for Ezekiel and his group.
Now they just had to wait to see the results of Wendy and Ellen Soaking in the Ancient Glacial Pool. Something that took three days of waiting with bated breath, both for the twins, and for the possibility of another attack by the Broodlord.