Moments crawled past, and still, the poor souls lingered around Alicia, statuesque and moaning under Arcane’s divine touch. The moans even etched anxiety upon her unconscious face, yet the flowing tendrils on her fingers refused to wane. They pumped their way into the folk’s mouths rhythmically, and pain, searing pain, was the only thing they offered. Those not rendered unconscious by electrocution were put back to sleep. Aside from that feisty little resistance, the township of Otnagochi felt rather quiet.
Until Wisesa arrived.
"Stupid girl!" the man shouted. "I should have refused to come with you from the start, now I'm already sickened by more blunders." His hands, glowing with yellowish flares shaped like a tiger's face, struck the ground with force. "I should have searched for Barong's deliverance spell alone!"
Strange cracks began to circle Alicia, and suddenly the ground rebelled up in a heave, blocking her view, and severing the electrical tendrils. The arcane forks always found their way around, intelligently crawling up the stone for their earlier victims, before a squad of masked shinobis materialized above the upheaved grounds.
The arcane forks morphed into raw fury, launching shock pummels at the shinobis. Yet, the shinobis were honed for swiftness, as many of them plunged and wound towards the lass—though still ultimately failed to reach the last step towards her cloth. They entrapped themselves in the spirals of evading Divine tendrils.
Consecutive blasts heralded more signs in the sky: streaks of white and orange painted the heavens, converging on a single point before surging downwards as a colossal fiery sphere, a man-made meteor with trailing tails. Arcane tendrils disrupted the sphere, and the formation was ruined, disclosing a legion of Tamoanchanese pyromancers riding the flames. They eventually became of help to the shinobis and turned into tanks of snake-faced pyro shields that repelled the incoming tendrils. How the divine had cursed them. The tendrils pulverised these shields into ephemeral fireflies with much ease.
The practitioners had more tricks up their sleeves. Those struck by Arcane might billowed into white plumes, while more and more practitioners showered from above. Their arrivals were relentless, and their movements were chaotic and discordant, obscuring visibility further with the white billows they emitted upon being hit. A temporary distraction while four shinobi leapt from beneath the ground, right behind Alicia!
Alicia immediately shot the Arcane power beam, collapsing all four in a heap. But that, too, was a mere distraction. Smoke and mirrors designed to sear eyes.
The lass soon sensed her movements were restricted. Her head lowered; her hands and feet were tethered by fiery coils in the form of horned snakes. Six coils each.
"Don't make those shackles burn her skin!" came the loud command from Wisesa's mouth. The stone wall crumbled, revealing Wisesa with his hand still sunk into the ground, alongside the four pyromancers who had thrust out their staffs.
Alicia ground her teeth—or rather, the violent side of her. She quickly gathered her Arcane energy and attempted to take flight. The serpentine shackles were pulled upwards, challenging their anchors on the ground.
Now way was Wisesa going to let that happen. As Alicia ascended, the ground from which the snakes hooked rose into a lean turret. Wisesa plodded backwards with his hands as if pulling a mooring rope—a string of sturdy earthen objects to keep Alicia grounded. Such peculiar earth bending.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
That sort of treatment would provoke rage in even someone whose consciousness was buried in the realm of mystery. Her entire form began to glow bright blue, and the violent hurricane wind that followed prickled everyone’s skin with gooseflesh. Sparks of Arcane might flaked off the serpentine coils like porous iron. Their moorland beneath them rapidly eroded.
"More coils of your snakes!" shouted Wisesa. His throat felt even more parched as he glanced at the other troops. "Why stand still, fool? Hit her, quick!"
The pyromancers cast more shackles. The shinobi lunged at the lass. But the additional entanglements only made the explosion inside Alicia even less constrained…
…And a fierce gust struck everyone with sand, fire, blinding light, and a deafening drone.
All fell, mingling with the debris—all except Wisesa. His hand still clutched hard at the earthen rope, but he already felt his hands burning from the grit rubbing against them.
And Alicia's fate? The sky was once again her throne, triumphant amidst the various cheap tricks of the practitioners.
"Fucking bitch!" Wisesa roared during the wind. "Why aren't you recovering, you bastard!"
"Orb! Listen to me, can't you cut ties with her?" Barong shouted, hoping he could reason with the divine grace sphere.
Except what stood before them was the union of Alicia and Orb.
The silent treatment equally incensed the Patron of Lands. "Jump to and defeat her!" he ordered his host.
"I'd do it without being told anyway!”
Wisesa hurriedly leapt, stomping on the rocks as makeshift platforms until he was level with Alicia, who was preparing to launch another wave of purifying electricity.
"Grab tight her hands! Break them if necessary!" Wisesa permitted Barong.
"I said only to defeat her, Wisesa. Your course of action is rather extreme!"
"She's destroying everything here, idiot!"
Barong had no intention of continuing the potentially meaningless debate. He extended himself, swerving before Wisesa arrived and managed to intercept both of Alicia's hands.
Alicia was not without a fight. The Arcane might gathered in her hands clashed with Barong's energy, and the beast hummed as if distorted. "Hurry up, Wisesa!"
Wisesa threw his fist!
Before the knuckles touched her nose bridge, the bookworm lunged into the land of clouds, and Wisesa struck empty air. The bespectacled girl channelled Arcane energy once more onto Barong's hands until they were disintegrated in energy ripples. She would never fall into the same hole twice.
Barong's hands were in the process of regenerating, but the distraction was enough for Wisesa to pedal his feet in the air, and then crash into Alicia's stomach. They plummeted through the turbulent clouds, shaking and erupting the ground upon landing.
As the dust settled, Wisesa was on top of Alicia, his left hand choking her. The lass lay convulsing, uttering no words, only fitful breaths behind gnashing teeth that betrayed her visceral rage.
"One hit... and you're gone," Wisesa said, stuttering to raise his right clenched hand. A grave mistake. Alicia had already drawn Arcane energy from Orb, swiftly seizing both his hands and wrenching them upwards until his scream mingled with the double snap of his arms!
His extreme discourse turned against her hands.
Alicia kicked Wisesa away in the stomach and rose to her feet.
"Wisesa!" Barong raged. "Enough! I will indeed break both hands of your wielder, Arcane Ball!"
That was until Izel came from the side and slammed her serpent staff into Alicia's temple.
Thunk. It was a hit. Alicia staggered a few metres before her knees buckled.
Alicia looked down. A short while later she lifted her head. Her stare at the surroundings was blank for a moment. The stare of ruby eyes that were still gathering consciousness.
Orb slipped from her hand.
Alicia's mind reeled. She knew the last time she was in a bunker, not on this chaotic battlefield. Her face puckered, breath catching, eyes glazing over with the realisation of the worst-case scenario.
"Wisesa," Alicia whimpered. "Wisesa, where are you—"
She spotted him sprawled not far away. But before she could react, five shinobi pounced on her, forcing her face into the mucky dirt.