Solus could see with her mana sense the remnants of the Switch spells that the cursed shield had used to redirect the attacks, yet something was off.
‘I know that, but somehow he also messed up with my Domination. Can living legacies be bestowed with elemental affinities or bloodline abilities?’ She asked.
‘Normal cursed objects can’t access Domination.’ Dawn would have usually had a hard time repressing her surprise since Solus had just admitted to being capable of using one of the most elusive abilities on Mogar, yet her questions had to wait.
‘No matter what kind of ingredients a Forgemaster uses, you can’t give metal or wood affinities. You and I are an exception because we both have a physical body.
‘To use Domination, a living legacy has to learn and use it by exploiting the elemental affinities of their host. Knightfall shouldn’t be able to do that, though. That guy has no streaks.’
‘Eyes on the prize! And I mean literally.’ Tista screamed in their heads as she pointed at the figure behind the barbarian.
The body of the man wielding Stargazer was still patched up by vines, his mouth moving mechanically to eat food even during the fight. His eyes were empty as he obeyed his master and gave her the means to fix the damage he had sustained.
‘This guy has no streaks either. He- Oh, shit!’ It took Dawn a second to realize that the Red Demon wasn’t pointing at the hapless man.
The surface of Stargazer was open in multiple points, emitting from each one the light of a different element. Six Balor eyes were now visible on the haft of the scythe, sucking the world energy and pumping it inside Stargazer.
To make matters worse, thanks to its ability to exchange mana and life force at will, the living legacy harmonized the six elements that the eyes stored within her own power core, turning them into an emerald aura.
‘That’s impossible! You can’t obtain Spirit Domination without a proper eye, streak, head, or whatever. Lith and Morok are living proof of that.’ Solus would have been right if not for Stargazer’s staff being made of Yggdrasill wood and the Evil Eyes’ latent power.
Just like Lith’s seventh eye had opened after channeling the energy of the other six and Morok’s formed by merging them, Stargazer operated in a similar fashion. Each Evil Eye granted the living legacy a makeshift Domination that was amplified by the Yggdrasill’s power.
Also, by mixing them with her own life force, Stargazer could employ an even more makeshift Spirit Domination. It was weaker than the real deal since without the Spirit Eye her willpower lacked the means to remain focused and was quickly dispersed.
Yet Stargazer had had millennia of practice and used her ability only at the right time, taking her opponents by surprise.
‘There’s no time to be surprised. Move that ass and show me what the heck you need the mana geyser for before it’s too late!’ Dawn’s voice snapped Solus out of it.
Windfell had finally caught up to them and the Horseman was giving her all to keep him away from her weaker companions.
Unfortunately for Solus’ group, the Warp Steps had allowed the other cursed objects to cut off the path toward the geyser. The dimensional door and the girls’ shock from being hit by their own spells had bought Stargazer and Knightfall the time to assume a triangle formation.
The scythe and the shield blocked the prey from the front while the sword chased them from the back.
‘We can’t Blink and we can’t fly either forward or back but we have to do something. You keep your eyes open. I’m going to try something.’ Tista racked her brain for a solution as she could see with Life Vision that her enemies had more spells at the ready with each passing second.
She took a deep breath, hurling a jet stream of True Flames while keeping the Frozen Flames inside her body that instantly turned to a crystal blue.
‘The Cursed Flames are too fast to be Dominated and by shooting only one at a time, we can understand how that damn shield works without taking too many risks.’
The barbarian who was wielding Knightfall smirked as he lifted the Davross shield in front of himself. The silvery surface turned black, absorbing every ray of sunlight and spark of elemental energy from the crystals etched on its surface.
Then, the Davross disappeared, replaced by a round fissure in space that swallowed the True Flames. Dimensional items couldn’t store kinetic energy so Solus used her mana sense to look for the exit point, but to no avail.
Contrary to her expectations, the True Flames came out of the dimensional fissure a split second later, giving the impression of having been reflected.
‘What a cunning bastard!’ She thought. ‘Half the shield turns into the entry point while the other half is the exit. By adjusting the curvature of the shield Knightfall can change the trajectory of any attack at will.
‘Even worse, had we attacked it with our weapons, he could have either turned them against us or destroyed them simply by closing the dimensional rift. That shield has both the perfect attack and defense!’
The True Flames hit Tista at point-blank range, turning her into a fiery ball of death that plunged toward the ground. She screamed at the top of her lungs, making the living legacies stop for a second to relish their success and lower their guard in the process.
Just like Tista wanted.
The Frozen Flames she had stored in her body countered the True Flames, leaving her unscathed and allowing her to exploit the fall to escape the encirclement. The moment she was too far away for Knightfall to Blink after her, she dropped the act and bolted toward the mana geyser at breakneck speed.
“Fuck!” The living legacies said in unison as they were now in a pinch.
Windfell was still busy with Dawn while Knightfall and Stargazer couldn’t give chase without Solus getting away. On top of that, she had generated a copy of the Fury and was now holding one Davross hammer in each hand.
Offering her a free shot would have been beyond stupid.
“Ignore the hybrid!” Windfell screamed, breaking the stalemate. “We just need the traitor. Kill her before Baba Yaga locates us and it will be our victory.”
“Your wish is my command!” Stargazer charged at Solus while Knightfall conjured countless dimensional fissures around her.
Solus used the first hammer to deflect the scythe’s head while the second moved in a rightward arc aimed at the Yggdrasill haft.
‘I can’t beat them with magic. Even without the Domination counter and the dimensional shenanigans, I’d run out of mana way before them. I have to make this quick by exploiting my superior physical might!’ She thought.
Her analysis was on point but Stargazer carried the battle experience of her maker and had gained more over the millennia whereas Solus had recovered her body for less than a year.
A slight change of the angle of impact dispersed the brunt of the impact while the Evil Eyes glared at Solus.
