The lipless mouths of the undead deformed into cruel grins after dodging the bullet, revealing that their maw extended almost to the back of their head.
They activated the power of their fellow Draugr Chosen, further growing in size and power while the wings of the Vampire’s Chiropteran form allowed them to fly despite the air sealing arrays.
They moved nimbly back-to-back, in a spiral of razor-sharp claws and teeth that couldn’t be dodged in the small space of the corridor. At the same time, however, they only offered Friya a bigger target.
It would have taken Thundercrash a while to fire the next shot, but she had no need to wait. Friya just pointed at the incoming Grendels and a bullet popped out the tip of her forefinger.
The senses of the Banshee and the air fusion further boosting their lightning reflexes allowed the undead to dodge again despite the close range. Yet Friya adjusted her finger again and a third bullet came out again, this time from too close for the undead to avoid.
The head and torso of one of the Grendels exploded, producing a shockwave that sent the other slamming against the wall.
‘Who would have thought that I’d find a new way to use the first dimensional spell that I’ve ever learned, Loop?’ Friya thought to explain to her flabbergasted companions what had just happened.
The bullets of the railgun were too fast to intercept them with a dimensional fissure, but Friya knew their trajectory. All she had to do to recycle a potentially missed shot was to open the entry point of the Loop spell behind her target and the exit point in front of her forefinger.
Loop kept the two openings perfectly aligned, so even if the bullet missed a second time, Friya would get another attempt until she either hit her mark or lost her focus.
The remaining Grendel got back on his feet with a kip-up, lunging at Friya with so much strength that each one of his claws generated an air blade that cut through the stone of the corridor.
Phloria moved in front of the attack and used her Adamant shield, Breaker, to stop it. Each one of the four Awakened could Blink to safety, but it would mean losing their advantage and giving the reinforcements the time to block the rest of the corridors.
The Mage Knight conjured her personal tier four Spirit Magic spell, Stalwart Defender.
The penta-elemental spell used the light and earth elemental aspects to form a thick barrier that only let the light in, the fire element to convert the kinetic energy of incoming attacks into heat that the water element would neutralize, and the darkness aspect to eat at anything that stuck at the barrier for too long.
The combined effect of the enchanted shield and the spell neutralized the air blades before the Grendel could recover his balance, leaving him helpless against the burst of Origin Flames.
Lith and Tista breathed each on a different side of the creature and the moment their flames overlapped, they produced a powerful explosion that sent the undead flying back.
‘Something’s wrong.’ Lith said. ‘He should have died already. The Grendel’s immunity to magic comes from their bodies being one with their blood cores. Yet Origin Flames are no magic and they should have burned him to dust already.’
What Lith and the rest of the members of the Hand of Fate had failed to take into account was that with each Chosen that they killed, the survivors became stronger. Night could only share so much energy with them so the fewer they were, the more power they would receive.
The Grendel was still alive because his body was covered by a thick layer of darkness magic that protected him from the Origin Flames. Night’s energy flowed endlessly, intercepting the mystical fire before it actually reached its target.
Yet the explosions bought Lith enough time to conjure his Void Flames. The black fire filled the corridor, burning the furniture and enchantments alike before hitting the undead.
The three types of flames reacted badly to each other, causing an explosion that pierced through the layer of darkness and blew the Grendel to bits.
The group was about to celebrate their victory with a quick high-five when they noticed that the shockwave had turned bright white and it was coming their way. In such an enclosed space, the violence of the fire spread along both sides of the corridor, forcing them to Spirit Blink.
‘Don’t you dare mix Void and two sources of Origin Flames ever again!’ Phloria said when a second look at the corridor, revealed that everything had been burned away.
Furniture, paint, and even the pavement’s marble tiles were gone, revealing the bare rock underneath.
‘Good gods, I never thought that combining Origin Flames could be so devastating.’ Tista said while admiring the results of their team effort. ‘I wonder if we just created the Primordial Flames like Xenagrosh and her Phoenix friend.’
During their stay in the Desert and after receiving Xenagrosh’s lessons about Origin Flames, Lith and Tista had tried several times to replicate the combined attack of the Eldritches-hybrids.
They remembered well how the Primordial Flames had dealt great damage to Night and were eager to add them to their arsenal. Yet despite their efforts and countless tries, the only thing that they had achieved was a series of explosions.
The Flames refused to combine, eating at each other like hungry beasts fighting over a carcass during a famine. Even after Lith had discovered the existence of the Void Flames, things hadn’t changed one bit.
The strength of the explosions was the same, the only difference was that Tista had to breathe her Origin Flames in advance to not get blasted away by the much faster black flames.
To add insult to injury, Tista had proved to be incapable of producing Void Flames, no matter how hard she tried.
They had come to believe that her Red Demon wyrmling form was the lesser equivalent of a Tiamat and that even if she managed to fuse her life forces together, her power would be no match for a Divine Beast.
On top of that, they had come to the conclusion that to produce the Primordial Flames, the strength of the two users had to be the same, like Kigan and Xenagrosh. They both produced bright violet Origin Flames whereas Tista’s blue flames were much weaker compared with Lith’s deep violet.
Yet all of their assumptions had just crumbled in the face of an overwhelming power that could only be explained with Primordial Flames. The white light, the destruction of stone and spells alike would have required several tier five Spirit Spells, not just three breaths of fire.
‘I think I know what’s happened here.’ Solus said from her ring.
‘You do?’ Lith and Tista asked in unison.
‘It’s just a hypothesis based on my empirical observations and reasoning since even the Eyes of Menadion are blinded and-‘
‘Dammit, Solus, we are on a mission!’ Phloria scolded her. ‘If you have something to say that can increase both our survival and success chances, just say it. Save the lectures for later.’
Phloria also telepathically emphasized the sounds of battle that came from the other corridors and the possibility that soon more undead would come, forcing them to fight again.
