.
Flame filled everything in front of me, wall to wall, ceiling to floor. It was like facing dragon’s breath head on. The mass of oncoming heated air leaked around the edges of Durandal’s [Shield of Oranos] for a moment, until he extended it to the walls, adding to the heat flash that hit me. The inferno roiled with the intensity of a house fire until the demon’s attack spell at last exhausted its supply of mana.
While waiting out the firestorm, I put all eight mana types into circulation at once. I pumped Earth into [Body Fortification] then drew more from the ample supply surrounding me.
I went into motion the moment it ended.
For the Starfire Jade Writing Brush, the normally incompatible combo of Fire, Water and Wind produces the very same [Ice Javelin] that Màra used against me during our duel. I poured that combination in as I dashed forward, recklessly taking wing in this narrow space. The Brush converted it into a volley of icy spears at my opponent.
The spear had to be a legendary class magic weapon, to produce an attack of that scale. That was a gut-instinct calculation, not informed knowledge, but when I saw him furiously parrying the missiles rather than chaining the spell for a second shot, I knew he couldn’t launch that second shot. He was having to wait on the tool’s cool-down time.
I stopped the Wind while continuing to pour in Fire and Water. The brush converted it into a heavy blast of high-pressure steam.
He had raised a [Fire Wall] to defend against [Ice Javelin]. It was the worst possible defense against steam.
Bellowing in fury as my attack sliced through his shield and struck him, the asura beat his wings furiously to retreat from the blast. But I had momentum already, and I was coating Durandal with the Wind mana I was no longer pushing into the brush.
I could ignore the vanguard. They had been roasted by their own leader’s fire attack, in his haste to counter the threat of Durandal’s [Holy Strike]. As I passed their charred corpses, I dropped the mana flow into the brush, coated my body with the Water mana and attacked with my blade. The [Fire Wall] was already collapsing thanks to the steam attack. The Wind on Durandal’s blade easily blew the remainder away as I swung through it.
If I hadn’t been aiming for the spear that emitted the fire attack, I could probably have connected with his neck just then. But the spear was priority. My eyes were telling me it was recharging rapidly. I connected with it below the spearhead, but he had been reinforcing it, so I failed to slice through it. Instead, however, the force of the blow (amplified by the Wind reacting with Demonic mana) rotated him.
He had two hands on the spear. Which left him two hands free. One of them was gripping a fist-sized black scarab rapidly charging with Demonic mana. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything good, so I chanted “[Purification!]” as I pulled back, bringing the brush back up.
A fist of Demonic mana struck me in the shoulder of my sword arm, almost causing me to drop Durandal, and the flesh in that area went numb. I had intended to purify the scarab, but instinct drove me to whip the brush around to cast it on the sticken area instead. I was using the brush end, but Talene had nothing programmed into the brush for Healing mana, so it painted a nice wide swath of the [Purification] magic across me, wiping it clean of whatever the attack had been.
I continued pouring Healing into the spell and turned the Brush on him, letting loose on the scarab and the hand holding it.
The asura had been bringing the spear back around when the [Purification] hit him. He jerked that hand away and backpedaled, forgetting whatever attack he had been planning with the spear. The scarab went flying as his grip failed under the mana assault.
As I dumped more Healing into circulation out of my core, I prepared another swing with Durandal and pressed forward again. He successfully parried with the spear, then lunged, forcing me back in turn while I ward him off.
I saw massive Fire gathering with the spear again. It was definitely charging for another attack. I poured more Fire and Water in as I directed the Brush at the hands holding the weapon. This time, the gout of steam sprayed the demon at close range, catching the spear, the right arm holding it and the right side of his upper body.
This brush was a devasting weapon in the hands of somebody with high mana capacity. I wondered if Talene knew that when she loaned it to me. The asura again struggled backward, this time running into the two fiends that had been behind him.
I dropped the attack and followed with a lunge. Durandal’s point found his chest, but the armor he was wearing stopped the blade from penetrating more than a couple inches, and it was too low for the heart. I spun my body in a reverse somersault to kick the demon off my blade.
As I did, I felt Water mana flowing with in me, and the form of an unfamiliar spell. I couldn’t focus on it in the middle of the fight, but I knew that Chiara had just begun something.
The demon was staggering, but not defenseless. He had managed to hold onto the spear despite the steam attack, and jabbed defensively with his spear to drive me away. I backed while parrying, then poured the triple combination, Wind, Fire and Water, into the Brush. A trio of [Ice Javelins] poured out, striking him in the chest and perforating his armor, although still too shallow to be immediately lethal.
I was curious by now where that [Fire Wall] was, or some other shield that he might use in replacement, since [Fire Wall] hadn’t been effective. But he had two empty hands, one of them limp after the [Purification] hit it, and I finally realize that the black scarab now laying on the ground behind me had been his main magic focus. Was I keeping him off balance and unable to retrieve whatever backup or alternative he had?
It had been less than fifteen seconds since this fight began, so this was probably the case. Which meant I was in horribly close range, once he did manage to switch to a replacement.
The repeated strikes from the [Ice Javelins] sent him flying backward, knocking the fiends left and right as he blew between them. He landed on his back on the ground, several paces away.
I was now between his fiend underlings. One of them was already recovering, and preparing to fire some unidentified style of mana weapon at me, holding it a bit like a crossbow or rifle as a charge of Earth mana blossomed within it.
The old man was on the ball; the [Fortress of Gaia] appeared around me even as the danger registered in my mind. The weapon fired, impacting on Durandal’s shield.
Something about [Fortress of Gaia] prevents Newton’s third law from working correctly. Or possibly, it simply anchors itself in the nearest available bedrock. The spray of [Earth Bullets] simply shattered as they struck the shield, while I felt no impact. I leveled the Brush on him and struck him with a gout of high-pressure steam.
A Water mana based [Magic Arrow] fired out of the tunnel behind me at that moment, but it wasn’t headed at me or my current opponent. It targeted his partner, who had just struggled to his feet.
I had been too focused to hear Chiara chanting the [Magic Arrow] spell, but I heard her call out “[Wind Chaser!]” as it flew, and felt the form of the magic she had just used.
Knowledge of how it worked soaked into me as the arrow flew. It was a different kind of guidance magic than the [Guidance] Ceria used. It used Wind mana to steer the arrow as it flew.
It struck the [Earth Shield] he put up, failing to get through despite the great force. But his magic defense played nice with Newton. The attack knocked him backward and prevented him from carrying out whatever attack he might have planned for me.
I pressed my attack on the first fiend, and he parried with his ‘rifle’. It was a bad choice. Durandal broke it into two pieces, causing an eruption of raw mana that injured the fiend.
While additional [Magic Arrows] flew out of the tunnel behind us, continuing to harry the second fiend, I dumped Wind, Fire and Water into the Brush and fired [Ice Javelins] into the injured fiend at point-blank range. Two of them skewered him through the heart. I sent an additional volley into his head, then jumped back several paces to get distance between me and the other fiend before he managed to escape Chiara’s harassment.
I looked back toward the asura. He didn’t seem to be dead, but he hadn’t moved for several seconds. Several imps had run up from behind him and were now forming a protective wall with mana-enhanced shields.
Out in the main cavern, the archfiend had left the immediate area, but I could feel repeated shocks telling of an ongoing battle. If Diur was still fighting with his main body, he was putting himself in serious danger.
I was furious at him. Had he forgotten the plan was to let the archfiend trap himself inside this tunnel? I had taken a stand against this asura on the theory that his superior would come to back him up. I would retreat, they would follow, then Diur would come in behind them, right?
Instead, he seemed to be trying to divert the archfiend’s attention away from me.
Chiara was running our direction, having paused the [Magic Arrow] spell. I could feel in my pathways that she was maintaining it while moving, something I didn’t know one could do. Usually mages stand still when using advanced missile spells. Since no more arrows were currently in the air, I dashed at the second fiend, matching swords with him. He was strong, and skilled at magic swordsmanship. He managed to hold out against Durandal and me for several blows before I shattered his sword. I severed his neck with the next swing.
A [Magic Arrow] flew past me as we fought, and a second as the head flew. I checked to see Chiara’s target and discovered the asura getting to his feet. The imps were valiantly warding off the arrows as the asura gathered himself.
I cursed my foolishness as I realized the asura had used the opportunity as he lay on his back to rearm his trump card. The spear was fully charged.
