As Claudia walked towards Dmitri, she could see that his sleeve was in tatters, clearly the result of injury. Reaching him, she took his arm to inspect the damage only to find a thick golden scar. Her eyes widened upon seeing it, “What is that?” she gasped.

“Uriel blessed his sword,” replied Wayte as Dmitri and Claudia embraced.

“A sword did that?” she asked in surprise.

“Good thing he did too,” replied Dmitri. “Draycott hit me with his blade; the corruption had begun to set in before Uriel’s blessing took over.”

“Well I’m just glad he did then,” she replied with a smile on her face.

“Alright you two,” interrupted Wayte. “You have a demon to destroy, and then you can enjoy each other’s company.”

Dmitri cleared his throat, “Yes, well let’s get some of these horses and get down to Akahaziel.”

Mounting up, they rode back into the fray. As they sped through, and passed the fighting, their spirits dropped at seeing the sheer number of demons and how much they were overwhelming the remnants of the human defence. More than once demons tried to tear them off their horses but Wayte or Dmitri’s blade, or a quick burst of magic from Claudia soon prevented the demons from succeeding. As it evaded one demon grasping out at it, Claudia and Dmitri’s horse stumbled after the ground beneath them buckled as another demon pulled itself from the earth. Unable to regain its balance, the horse was pulled down by a pursuing demon. As Dmitri hit the ground in a roll, he saw that Akahaziel was fighting Uriel just beyond a group of demons ahead. Claudia regained her feet and let loose a blast of magic that spread out in a big shockwave. Dmitri got to his feet, “Wayte, I’m sorry, but you have to protect Claudia and I now; we cannot do this without you.”

Wayte nodded as Dmitri ended the link between them and went to turn back to the fighting but Dmitri stopped him, “Use this,” he said, holding out the blessed golden sword.

Taking the sword, and unable to find the words to convey his feelings, he nodded once more in thanks. Turning back to the tide of foul demons, he braced himself ready to stop any encroachments.

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“So we create elemental shields first correct?” asked Dmitri.

Claudia nodded and reaching out with her magic, she linked with Dmitri. The bloom of magic as they linked surpassed anything that Dmitri had ever felt. The look of ecstasy on Claudia’s face said that she too was experiencing the bliss. Giddy with the feeling, Dmitri began to call up elemental shields, each a layer from a different element.

Akahaziel felt an enormous burst of power as Claudia and Dmitri linked. Turning his head ever so slightly so as to not lose sight of Uriel, he could see that the infernal mortal Dmitri was calling on the elements. He loosed a blast of corruption in that direction, but one of his demonic children caught the blast and was obliterated.

As the demon that Wayte was fighting was destroyed by a blast from Akahaziel himself, he saw that they had gained Akahaziel’s attention. “Dmitri,” he called out as he stepped in to stop another demon, “you had better hurry, he doesn’t like what you’re doing!”

Uriel, seeing that Akahaziel was momentarily distracted, lashed out with a powerful blow that bit deep into the demons flesh. Akahaziel howled in fury and focused on Uriel with swing after swing, his claws raking across Uriel’s armour, leaving great gouges across the otherwise flawless surface.

Dmitri was now surrounded in a shimmering barrier formed from all four elements. Focusing deep within herself, Claudia drew deep on her magic and the shields shimmered and disappeared. Feeling empowered, Dmitri nodded to Claudia with a smile, “Let’s end this.”

Uriel felt Claudia’s magic behind him and he let loose a scattered barrage of holy magic. Demons that were hit screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, the holy fire searing them deeply. Humans that were hit seemed to glow, their wounds closing and their strength returning, all fatigue gone. Also hit by the barrage, while deliberate by Uriel but unnoticed by Akahaziel, was Dmitri. As the holy magic impacted against the elemental shields already surrounding him, the magic fused together. Taking a deep breath, the feeling icy cold, Dmitri stepped toward Uriel and Akahaziel. He reached out and touched Uriel on the arm, Akahaziel, in the background stopped and stared. Uriel turned and saw Dmitri standing there, hand outstretched as if waiting for something. Uriel handed Dmitri his sword, “It is only fair that I let you finish this Dmitri.” With that he spread his great white wings and took to the air.

Akahaziel was incensed, “Uriel!” he screamed, “Return and face me! These pitiful humans are nothing!” He let loose a blast of corruption at Dmitri to prove his point.

As the corruption sped towards him, Dmitri had to restrain himself from trying to dodge, as it was, he still flinched as the blast hit him and the shield dissipated and the blast of corruption was reflected and sped back towards Akahaziel.

Akahaziel hadn’t given up his tirade and was still yelling at Uriel as the corruption hit Dmitri. But when the blast failed to affect Dmitri and instead reflected back at him, he stopped and stared. Try as he might, he tried to dodge out of the way but the blast caught him.