<"Take them all alive and don't let the Tyrant escape. He will make a fine gladiator in our arena and an interesting specimen in our labs."> The elf lord said (AN: in elvish, ofc).
"What do we do?" Morok had no idea what those words meant, but he didn't like the sound of them nonetheless.
Suddenly, all those ballerinas that were slowly surrounding them from every side seemed to have become aware of his existence.
Quylla cursed their bad luck and not being Awakened as she took her Forgemastering Wand out of her dimensional item and established a mind link with everyone to not waste time talking.
'We fight or we die, no third option. If they capture us, escape would be impossible. Every one of those guys is at least as strong as an academy professor and judging from their equipment, they have no lack of resources.
'Our only hope is to take them down while they still underestimate us. Nalrond, you focus on recovering and pull us out of the Fringe as soon as you can. Friya, you and I must buy some time.' Quylla thought.
'What about me?' Morok asked.
'You should leave. One date isn't worth such a risk. Please, if we don't make it, tell Faluel what's happened. She's the only one with the kind of power necessary to break us out from any prison.'
Nalrond used a healing spell from one of his magic holding rings to force the short arrows out of his back, even though enhancing his metabolism also meant to hasten the spreading of the poison they were imbued with.
He couldn't fully heal himself nor cleanse the poison without becoming so weak that he would need to rest. There was no time nor need for that. He shapeshifted into his Rezar's body that not only was unscathed, but also had such a huge mass that neutralizing the effects of the now diluted poison barely affected his vitality.
The elves reacted to his metamorphosis by pointing their short swords at the group and encasing them inside hard-light walls.
Elves had no Awakened among their ranks, but all of them were capable of using true magic. Actually, they were incapable of Awakening without exploding like an overinflated balloon.
Their mana cores weren't faulty like those of monsters, undead, or Abominations, nor did they lack the ability to perceive the world energy. Elves couldn't Awaken because they were blessed by a very high affinity toward all the elements that didn't match the strength of their bodies.
There was a reason why magical beasts were limited to two elements and they needed to evolve into much more powerful forms to wield them all. Otherwise their bodies wouldn't be able to endure the surge of world energy that Awakening caused.
The two elements limit of the beasts was akin to what impurities were for humans, a protection rather than a harmful restraint. Elves, however, were born with perfect bodies that wouldn't produce any impurity, allowing them to freely channel mana and to live up to one thousand years.
On top of that, their mana cores would naturally evolve up to bright blue over time, making it impossible for them to survive the Awakening process without the intervention of an entity whose power rivaled with the Guardians.
That and their low fertility were the main reasons why they had lost the war against the humans millennia ago. The elves lacked the power of the violet core, of Spirit Magic, and the time humans needed to nurture a powerful mage was the same they needed to conceive a single child.
'I could Blink outside the cage, but those elves and their glowing eyes remind me of Lith's Life Vision.' Friya thought. 'As Quylla said, we only have one shot at this.'
She stepped forward, breaking the mind link to not have foreign mana mess with her spell. Going all-out right of the bat meant making a great impact on the enemy's morale, but it also meant that she wouldn't last long.
Her newest creation required such a focus that even the faint mana poisoning caused by the mind link might make it fail. Friya spread her arms, releasing a volley of energy bullets that phased through the constructs and hit the waves of incoming elves.
Soul Vision had the same effects as Life Vision and so much more, yet Friya's spell moved so fast that not even activating air fusion had allowed the elves to dodge the bullets.
'She's no Awakened and she had no spell at the ready.' M'Rael studied Friya from a distance, to coordinate his units akin to what Solus did for Lith. 'The spell she used against my soldier belonged to dimensional magic, but what can she hope to achieve with chore magic?'
Friya replied to his question by activating the tier four magic holding ring that Lith had gifted her. It unleashed the tier two Gravity Magic spell, Hard Fall. All those who had been hit by the projectiles collapsed onto the ground in a creaking symphony of broken bones and constructs.
Not even earth and fire fusion could enhance the joints of the elves enough to support their bodies that now weighed twenty times more than usual. They felt like a giant sat on them, making it hard for them even to breathe.
Yet the reality was much worse. Their chests were now so heavy that their lungs lacked the strength necessary to expand and draw air in. On top of that, the pressure made their faces slowly dig through the soft soil, filling their mouths and nostrils with dirt.
With their broken noses already bleeding profusely from the sudden impact on the ground, their death was a matter of seconds.
'That's impossible!' Enemies and allies thought in unison. 'Not only is gravity magic too hard to practice with fake magic, but it also affects a huge area. Such spells are dangerous even for its caster since gravity magic doesn't deal direct damage but only passive effects.'
They were right. Even powerful Awakened considered Gravity Magic akin to a riskier version of War Mage spells, something that could only be employed in an open field, away from both the caster and their allies.
Friya had thought for a long time how to tap into her true potential as a Dimensional Mage until she had realized that Gravity Magic worked according to similar principles.
Both disciplines required hexacasting and the ability to manipulate all the elements at the same time. Yet while Dimensional Magic required to focus into two spots to bend space, Gravity Magic consumed a lot of mana because its effects applied to a much larger area.
Friya had been forced to give up on the idea because she had no wish to be involved in large-scale wars and because in close combat Gravity Magic was more a liability than an asset.
Entering the Fringe, however, had given her project a second wind.
Mogar's help had allowed her not only to simplify Gravity Magic enough to use it with fake magic, but also to find a way to combine Gravity with Dimensional magic. Her earlier chore magic spell had allowed Friya to lock on the dimensional coordinates of the elves and unleash Hard Fall solely on the marked targets.
