“Once I kill you, the Mouth of Menadion will be mine!” Linnea said upon recognizing the artifact from Phloria’s drawings. “The True Queen thanks you for your contribution to our cause.”
‘Dammit, what do I do?’ Tista knew to be outmatched and outnumbered so instead of wasting time fighting, she kept retreating.
The Static Field array sealed Linnea’s dimensional magic as well so the seven-man unit could only fly, just like Tista. The wings of the Red Demon gave her superior speed and maneuverability that she used to keep her distance.
Two of her four eyes followed Linnea’s unit every movement while the other two searched her surroundings for the nearest ally. Yet the Headmistress kept getting closer, sending Tista into a panic.
A sudden blast of True Flames missed its target by a wide margin and the Red Demon escaped the next charge only thanks to the Frozen Flames from her wings. They covered the Bastion with such a thick layer of ice that Linnea’s physical and mystical senses were blinded.
“You can run, but you can’t hide!” Or so she thought.
The Cursed Flames reached their target and lit the sky like a flare.
“Crap, that’s our convened signal.” Nyka said. “Tista needs my help. Can you keep fighting without me, Dusk?”
“No. If not for our communion, I wouldn’t be able to overcome Mother’s seal.” He pointed at their respective weapons that were still crossed. “Without Life Maelstrom, Origin Flames, and Doom Tide, the Firstborns will be unable to fight against the seven-man units.”
“Then follow me!” The Horseman of Dawn nosedived toward Tista’s last known position and Kelia rode by her side.
They both had come to the White Griffon to protect their respective homes and Baba Yaga’s children.
“Do your worst, lesser Verhen!” Linnea said. “You are just like Nerea. You are out of your length, width, and depth! I’ll kill you just like I should have killed her decades ago.”
Tista ignored Linnea and focused on body casting. The Red Demon was still limited to tier three spells, but Linnea’s constant mentioning of Lith had given her an idea.
‘Here goes everything!’ With one last deep breath, her whole body turned into a living mass of Origin Flames.
No longer limited by her physical form, the magical runes flowed freely through her body. The Red Demon slammed helplessly against the Bastion, her rain of spells rolling off the emerald sphere without leaving a scratch.
“Do you really think you can overpower seven Awakened with that puny body of yours?” Linnea unleashed an Annihilation at Tista from too close for her to dodge.
The Red Demon had her body split into several smaller flames that avoided the emerald blast and then reformed a split second later before ramming at Linnea again.
This time, however, the Bastion was forced to a halt by the impact. The Headmistress was confused but she didn’t lose focus and kept attacking. Tista split her body and struck again, making the Bastion stop and tremble.
“What the fuck?” Linnea saw cracks as thin as a hair in the barrier in front of her, but cracks nonetheless.
‘I’m no different from Lith. Even if I’m not going to achieve the violet here, the closer I get to it, the more my mass approaches that of a Divine Beast.’ Tista used body casting non-stop not for the spells but to bring her life forces closer.
Linnea had failed to notice it because the Red Demon had willingly kept the flames that comprised her body compact and dense to the extreme. It allowed her to both hide her strategy and focus her attacks on a single point.
Were Tista still flesh and blood, her body would have already surpassed 10 meters (33′) in height and her weight reached the tons. That combined with the Origin Flames burning at the very essence of the Bastion dealt huge damage at each clash.
“Stop running away! I know of your weakness. Phloria told us that once you turn into Ethereal Aegis you don’t know how to undo it. It’s only a matter of time before you collapse!” Linnea yelled, hoping that desperation would mess up with Tista’s mind.
Only a few of the dozens of spells that the Headmistress and her Forgotten cast reached the target, but with every hit, Tista’s life force burned faster.
She replied by taking a deep breath, the flames of her body turning from bright blue into a mix of red fire and blue ice. When she clashed with the Bastion, its surface froze and those inside had their sweat turn into ice.
The cold stiffened their bodies and slowed their minds.
Another clash and the ice was gone and with it every drop of humidity in the air. Their throats were parched, the air unbreathable, their tongues so swollen that they clogged the seven Awakened’s mouths.
“I’m proud of being like Nana and even prouder of having learned from her mistakes.” Tista said. “You managed to destroy her life only because she was alone whereas I’m not!”
Dusk and Dawn galloped through her left wing while Bytra and Solus through the right. Tista and Nyka had often trained with Solus and all of their strategies involved all three of them.
The flare of True Flames was a signal to regroup and converge.
Cursed Blessing bestowed upon them the full power of the Frozen Flames that wrapped around them from head to hoof. The Horsemen struck in unison, shattering the left side of the Bastion and killing two Forgotten.
Solus focused the Blessing on her Hammers, unleashing the Furies’ Flight from the Fury and Ruination from the Absolution. Eighteen Davross hammers coated in Frozen Flames destroyed the right side and pummelled at everyone inside.
Tista’s body was now comprised solely of True Flames and she released them as well before being consumed by them. Slowed by the cold, dehydrated from the heat, and beaten by the hammers, Linnea had barely the time to notice the incoming blast before being turned into cinders.
“Help.” Tista managed to say before fainting from exhaustion.
Solus caught her on the fly and Bytra carried them out of the fight zone.
“Remarkable. A bright blue dealing with violets is nothing to scoff at.” The Raiju said.
“Yeah, but it will be all for nothing if we don’t find a way to get inside the Golden Griffon.” Solus nodded while leaving the unconscious Red Demon in a hopefully safe area.
“Why have you brought us here, Saefel?” Tessa the Titania asked.
“To show you the fight you have abandoned.” Tyris replied.
“We abandoned nothing.” Fyrwal shook her head. “We came for Phloria and failed. Our fight is over.”
“Really?” The Guardian rose an eyebrow in disbelief. “Can’t you see what’s in front of you? The fight is not over. The members of every race are fighting to protect Valeron’s legacy. Those who married into his family.”
She pointed at Sylpha who was no match for a Divine Beast with her same equipment yet she refused to surrender.
“Humans, beasts, plants, Awakened, Eldritches, Undead, Guardian candidates, and even traitors are giving their all.” Tyris pointed at the Council’s army, Vastor’s hybrids, the Firstborns and the Horsemen, Lith and Solus, and Acala.
