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Kaygren’s demonic beasts were attacking anything unfamiliar, including the army of flaming creatures intent on hunting the Laughing Man down. The result was a fiery chaos when these retaliated aggressively.
Thanks to the appearance of salamander primal, for a few minutes they’d held a narrow advantage. Then two new rifts opened, with two new sovereigns charging through. The one in charge on Mount Gull had decided that the revenants were do longer enough. More reinforcements would keep showing up the longer they dragged this out.
Sarah was watching events unfold from the base of a Celetech monument along the edge of the battlefield. She wore the same camouflage cloak as Hope and was manipulating fate to further mask her presence. As long as she remained undetected, the curse would remain dormant.
She’d considered asking Astra for permission to fight, but the raw offensive power from redirecting calamities was too good to pass up. Instead, she resigned herself to dealing with that approach’s drawbacks. Once she entering combat, her stamina would only last around five minutes, after which she’d be out of commission. She had to make that time count.
Johanna Loubor and her stormelk were still pursuing Sana and Filia. The wolf girl kept stealing cards, but never the right one. Worse, it was possible she never would.
The dullrock card they sought was now held firmly in Johanna’s left hand, along with a few others. This was undoubtedly an instinctual response on the immortal’s part. When you absolutely don’t want to lose something, you kept it in hand. The unforeseen situation was exposing a restriction of ‘I want it now’ that Sana herself was likely ignorant of. I suppose if she could snatch weapons from her opponents, that would be too overpowered. The one upside side was that, having her precious prize out in the open, Johanna was forced to move more cautiously. This allowed Filia to barely stave her off.
I’m unsure what to do… The Celetect Vortex was hampering her ability to determine the course of an already hectic battle. Not only that, she felt the pull of high sorcery on the strands of fate, further clouding her vision. She had to rely on her own judgment and decision making.
A screech caught her attention. A giant storm eagle emerged from a rift, and, with a flap of its wings, it released a twister tearing across the Celetect ruins towards Garreth Black.
Sarah grimaced. She felt that the appearance of this sovereign mean Kaygren’s arrival was immanent. There was no time to hesitate.
Leaving her hiding spot, she left drew out a dragon tooth and threw in at the ground. Hurricane force winds bursted out in all direction, knocking her back. Once the spontaneous tempest subsided, a translucent stag stood before her awaiting her command.
To maximize her effectiveness, she needed high mobility, which required a trusted steed. Not an ordinary one either, else she risked destiny twisting its mind against her. Light’s special connection to his shadow wolf had prevented this last time, but she’d wanted the ability to act independently. That’s why She’d approach Clay Donnaster on route to the twin cities and requested an immortal-level air dancer. These stags from the elemental plane of air were famous for their pacifism in that hostile place.
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She mounted the beautiful creature and felt a pang in her chest. Nearby demonic beasts had noticed the summoning and were rushing towards her. She swung her staff and one of them collapsed coughing blood.
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Their goal was obtaining or destroying Geordan Price’s dullrock card. The swiftest means to this goal was dispatching Johanna Loubor. While Jake and Garreth were the best candidates for this task, they were embroiled in a life or death struggle with Sekken, the storm eagle, and the other sovereigns. She would attempt it in their stead.
As she crossed the battlefield, the fiery explosions through which the salamander conjured its minions gradually intensified. Flaming balls of destruction rained down at her before being redirected at her enemies. Her foresight blared warnings of death through her psyche, and she knew a single mistake would be her end.
Johanna’s stormelk scrambled to dodge the flurry of pyrotechnical projectiles aimed its way. I can do this! Sarah had failed to kill Sekken, but Johanna would be a different matter. The reaction from the curse was intensifying. Once it reached a fever pitch, the immortal would be finished.
Then Sarah felt a pang of terror when Johanna steered her stormelk in the direction of a rift. She immediately broke off her pursuit, redirecting the Ether’s wrath towards the demonic beasts below. Glancing back, she was relieved to see Johanna had gone back to chasing the wolf girl.
Thank goodness… It would’ve been a disaster had the immortal took refuge on Mount Gull. Since they dared not cross over for fear of what might lurk on the other side, the immortal could wait out the battle there in complete safety. Their chances of victory would drop to zero.
Even though she failed at her intended purpose so far, Sana is proving pivotal. If not for Johanna’s fury over her stolen cards, she might’ve been reasonable and retreated. With their centuries of experience, Jake and Garreth must’ve understood this dynamic, which was why they’d made no attempt to dispatch the immortal themselves. So we have not choice except rely on ‘I want it now’…? Sarah grimaced.
Near a smaller Celetect pyramid, reality fractured in a deluge of blinding light. Waves of flames washed over the ground, and giant serpents of fire twisted up into the air, plunging towards her. She desperately diverted their course towards a much smaller boa constrictor on the ground. The revenant Saeen, the devourer, was consumed in the blazing impact.
Those were fire spirits… The curse must have created a rupture linking directly to elemental plane of fire’s Burning Sea! This would probably be a boon to the salamander and its minion, but Sarah had no time consider this. The rupture was growing in size and intensity, as were the attacks barreling towards her. While Miracle Worker flawlessly guided this destruction towards her enemies, she was rapidly approaching the limit in her ability to wield it, not the mention her stamina.
Reacting before being overwhelmed, she grabbed the second dragon’s claw Clay had gifted her. There was a bright flash, and the fire spirits converging towards her veered off of course. She watched with relief as they struck randomly, having lost their target.
That was easier than last time. The presence erasing enchantment really helps. By disappearing from the sight of her enemies, she had withdrawn from combat, thereby untriggering the curse. Although the invisibility wasn’t perfect and would be detected by enemies who were perceptive if too close, this wasn’t an issue under these circumstances.
High above the battlefield, Sarah leaned on the air dancer’s back in exhaustion. Was this all I could do? She had killed a sovereign and thinned the ranks of the demonic beasts, but these were temporary gains which would be overturned in no time.
She grabbed Miracle Worker tight, searching the strands of fate. Surprisingly she discovered there was still something she could do. Initially resisting the option revealed to her, her resolved coalesced slowly.
Decision made, she directed the air dancer over the correct spot and tossed Miracle Worker. The staff dropped into the confused hands of Gen Jiang.
Sarah nodded, satisfied. Now it’s time to find somewhere to hide and pray for the best.