“Can you withstand a Blade spell fueled by a mage tower or even cast one of your own?” Jiza asked Faluel, obtaining a no in reply. “Neither do I. Revealing our presence now would be suicidal.
“Jirni let Night set up the field to her convenience and if we step out right now, we’ll be on the receiving end of Night’s spear as well and die a useless death.
“We can only hope that Jirni survives. Once the Blade Tier spell has drained Night’s energy but before the tower replenishes it, then we’ll take action. It’s not my fault if Full Domain stops our amulets and even Spirit Warp.
“If only we could call for reinforcements, we could stop that damn tower.” Jiza hated herself for having waited for too long, but Jirni’s battle prowess was simply dazzling.
With each of her moves, she revealed either a brilliant strategy or a masterpiece of magic. Just like the two Emperor Beasts, Jiza had fallen into a trance, hoping to see everything Jirni had prepared and learn from it.
Alas, now that Night had gotten back on her steed it was too late and all the preparations that the Council members had set were worthless against a Tower Blade spell.
The Archon threw the empty flask away, taking the last two proto cubes out of her arm protectors.
“You killed Manohar with that spell. Let’s see if you can do it again.” The crystal card in her left hand had a golden cube while the one in her right had the six colors of the elements swirling in a spiral.
A spark of her mana and two holograms appeared in front of Jirni.
One was Manohar, the god of healing. He was still wearing his Featherwalker armor and wielding Surgeon, his enchanted blade.
“Curse you, old hag! I hope someone has stolen this thing and is using my spell against you.” The projection had no idea that the real Manohar was already dead, yet it had his full prowess as it drew the power from the blade, the armor, and the rings.
Night’s eyes went wide open as she recognized the Blade Tier spell, Rogue Sun, taking form faster than her own.
The second hologram depicted someone wearing an armor similar to Jirni’s yet different. He was covered in Davross from head to toe, making Orion unrecognizable. He wore the armor that once had belonged to Juria Ernas, the foremother of House Ernas.
He also wielded another sword of the War series, Grimlock, and his spell called upon the pseudo cores of the blade and the power cores of his shield, armor, ten rings, and even his amulet.
As the blade gracefully moved through the air, six small elemental spheres took form, growing bigger with each rune he weaved. Manohar was the god of healing, yet he was still merely an apprentice of the god of Forgemastering.
The Mad Professor’s hologram was just a bunch of light whereas the projection of Orion’s spell conjured so much energy that the Chosen who came too close to him were devoured by a different element.
“Take your filthy hands off my wife!” He roared as the Blade Tier spell, Elemental Sonata neared completion.
Jirni had only a vague idea of what a Tower Tier spell was, but since Manohar had lost to one of them, she couldn’t trust her final trump cards.
She poured all the Life Maelstrom the armor had left into the proto cubes, bringing the power of the spells they contained on par with those cast by a Divine Beast.
Night started to chant, combining true, fake, and body cast to finish her spell first.
She fused with Orpal, using every ounce of mana from both their cores and Moonlight’s to fuel Collapsing Moon.
The Horseman’s Tower Tier spell darted toward Jirni, killing all the Chosen on its path and returning their power to Night, empowering her further.
Manohar completed his Rogue Sun as well. With only the fire and light elements, it was a basic Blade Tier spell, but now its golden light had turned silver due to the Life Maelstrom cursing through it.
The two silver beams of light clashed midway, Rogue Sun holding its own, but only for one second. The power in the proto cube was finite whereas Night constantly drew more world energy thanks to Moonlight.
Then, Elemental Sonata burst forward.
Orion had already boosted his hexa-elemental spell with his armor’s Life Maelstrom and now Jirni had added her own. The multi-colored pillar grew to the size of a tornado as the silver lightning crackled its way forward.
Elemental Sonata wrapped around Rogue Sun, protecting it and coordinating with its movements in a move that the two mages had practiced together.
Together, they pierced through Shattered Moon and trampled Night’s efforts of keeping them at bay. The Awakened cursed under their breath now that the fight had gone beyond them.
The combined Blade Spell took the entirety of the corridor, blinding their mystical senses and making it impossible for them to step in. Casting a spell blindly would have been pointless and to reach Orpal they would need to pass through the crossfire, getting obliterated in the process.
Once again, all they could do was wait and hope that their greed for knowledge hadn’t cost them the fight.
Night saw the combined spell overpowering Shattered Moon as it quickly approached her.
‘I don’t care what happens to my equipment or this body. As long as my crystal and Moonlight are in one piece, everything can be made anew. Time to get out of here.’ She stood in front of her steed, one hand still holding Thorn, the other touching the crystal snout to keep receiving energy from the tower.
The Horseman ordered Moonlight to deactivate Full Domain and to Blink her as far away as it could. The fight had gone on for too long and the light from the clashing Blade Tier spells was visible from miles away.
She couldn’t risk another Royal Fortress armor wearer joining the fray.
Rogue Sun and Elemental Sonata reached Thorn, twisting the Davross with the sheer pressure they emitted even before the energy touched the metal. The spear bent with a screech, soon followed by the Black Rose armor’s armguards.
The enchanted gauntlet turned into a blender that ripped into shreds the body that it was supposed to protect. Night arched her back in the attempt to buy time, using all of her limbs, even the head, to shield her crystal and gain even one more second.
Moonlight conjured the Blink, dashing through it and shutting it down immediately just like she had ordered. Part of the blast entered with the Horseman, hitting with enough strength to rip the breastplate open but not enough to reach Night’s crystal.
An external observer would have seen a black horse, a crystal, and several pieces of twisted glistening metal floating in the night sky for a split second before a Warp Gate opened, bringing the Horseman to a safe location.
‘This attack was a failure, but we still gained a lot from it.’ Orpal said via the mind link. ‘We’ve learned what Royal Fortress armor can do, we’ve forced Jirni Ernas to reveal her best moves, and more importantly, I finally discovered my first bloodline ability!
