Yes, it has been way longer than intended, and I have no excuse for that. Got an Oculus Quest though, so that's cool. Anyway, as apology I made an extra-long chapter, and we are finally near the end of this flashback! It's gone on longer than intended, but hopefully it's been insightful.
"Downdraft!" Sandalion called, pulling the air from the open sky down to the ground in a current that snuffed out Enjya's flames as Karin jumped off the edge of the ruined hall they had entered on, her fingers crossed in a Shield to protect her from both the wind and the shock of her feet hitting the ground.
Her eyes were narrowed as she stepped forward, checking that her filter was still stable in the air currents as she watched Ifrit's motions, the dark cloud spinning in the Downdraft but nut dissipating as she'd hoped. It made sense, an animal whose body was made of gas would need to have magic strong enough to withstand Triangle-class at least, but it was still something she had to worry about, and with Sandalion protecting her from fire spells, he wouldn't be able to help her fight.
She swallowed the lump in her throat as she faced the child, shifting her hand to a fist as she took a step back. "What are you doing here? His Majesty isn't here, he already evacuated." She spoke calmly, but she felt her legs trembling where she stood. She'd only just decided that she was weak and therefore should stay out of things, yet as soon as something went wrong, she hadn't hesitated to get involved. Why didn't she just stay out of harm's way like Sandalion was doing?
Enjya hummed, looking up at the sky as his short hair blew in the wind, the magical gas cloud swirling around him. "No, he's definitely here. If he wasn't, then why would there be so much magic in one place? Ifrit's and my Wildfire sensed it, besides that Kent person, this is the largest collection in the city!"
"That's just my personal willpower!" Karin called over the wind, gritting her teeth. "Why are you fighting, anyway? What would you want with the king?" She had already started a fight, she couldn't just back out without trying, but she was aware she still didn't have the strength necessary to win. Last time, he hadn't had Ifrit available either, but now it was at his side and seemingly immune to Downdraft's effects, twisting and contorting itself in the currents like a mosquito in rain, it was a new factor whose threat she didn't know.
"Why does everyone keep asking that? Why does it matter? Are you going to try to seal me away too?" He kicked one of the chunks of Gabbro Shield to the side, shaking his head. "The old guy tried to surround me in this rock, but it didn't work. Are you going to do the same with all this wind?"
Karin's fist tightened, and her gaze hardened as she shifted her foot behind her. So, he really was just mindlessly fighting, like she thought. A strong person without the sense to use his strength wisely…
She was weak and knew it, but this annoyed her. Seeing someone who by all rights could become an influential noble or even a Chevalier, yet chose to simply destroy whatever was in front of him and unthinkingly follow instructions to kill people he didn't actually know, it made her angry. Sure, it was bad to attempt to change things without having the power to back it up, but wasn't it worse to abandon her duty when she could still fight?
Sandalion's words echoed in her head as she jumped forward, her Windwalker carving a path behind her and blasting her through Downdraft as she raised her hand, the Chevalier Style Fist ready in front of her as she shouted wordlessly. She wouldn't be able to deal with Purgatory Flames again. If she was going to do anything, it had to be fast. The palace had already been heavily damaged, and if Philippe was safe somewhere. She trusted that Sandalion would prioritize defending himself over aiding her, so she should be able to go wild and not worry about ruining the already unstable structure.
Fist was her best Chevalier Style spell, and boosted by Windwalker, she was faster than every other student at the Academy. Enjya had been facing mostly slow opponents who stood still, and she hadn't had the preparation before to act accordingly, but now she was ready, foot planting on the ground as she swung forward.
Her eyes widened, and instinctively, she pushed another Windwalker in front of her, severing her momentum and freezing her in place, the powerful gust of wind seemingly not affecting the boy, who tilted his head as he looked up at her.
She stood still, her fist hovering in front of his forehead, the two staring at each other in a dead silence that had descended onto the room, before his smile dropped as he raised his hand to grab her outstretched arm.
"I didn't even see you moving. That was your chance to hit me, why did you stop?" For the first time since meeting him, he sounded genuinely confused, like he couldn't believe that she would fail to hit him.
Her reaction time was slow, and she couldn't pull her arm back in time before feeling his fingers grip her forearm, palm heated as he silently cast another fire spell. The injury on her back burned as the memory of last time made her wince, but she didn't back away, relaxing the Fist to cross her fingers in a Shield. "The wind's gone. You cast Flame Serpent before showing your face and targeted Sandalion, didn't you?"
The venom in her voice rang clear in the motionless air, though she didn't turn her head to check on her fiance. Looking away wouldn't be a good idea as her eyes moved to track Ifrit's motion in the air around the two, and the silence meant that at least he hadn't been injured.
"You don't want anyone interfering in our battle, do you?" Enjya asked, and the warmth on her arm signalled his spell being cast, though the Shield kept her safe this time, and with that knowledge, she relaxed somewhat. If Chevalier Style was enough to counter it, then maybe this crazy magic was possible to beat after all. "He'll be fine, I don't have to use Purgatory Flames when Flame Serpent is active, you know?"
"You want a one on one fight? I'm not the best with elemental magic, but Chevalier Style is something I'm good at. I can-"
Her eyes widened as her voice cracked, and the boy's eyes scrunched together in a mischievous grin as he let go of her arm, stepping back to observe her as she remained in place, frozen with her arm extended. "It took long enough. You've been breathing in Ifrit's gases ever since that annoying wind stopped, you must have a lot of willpower to withstand it so long!"
She stared forward, her throat tightening as she tried to speak, but the cloud swirling around them darkened as Ifrit neared her, Enjya stepping back as she could do nothing but watch the darkening gas.
She hadn't felt anything, and normally, paralysis took a minute at least, and it was never as complete as this. She couldn't even move her eyes to blink away the dryness or lower her arm, as if she'd been frozen in a block of ice, and she felt her lungs seizing up as she couldn't draw breath anymore. She had underestimated just how potent the intangible animal was, and who knew what sort of debris it had picked up on its path through the darkened sky?
With Sandalion out of commission, she had to think fast. Strong or not, no one could fight against asphyxiation forever.
Someone shouted something from her left, and Enjya jolted as he was blown to the right, the woman tilting over and falling to her side from a concussive blast, slamming her cheek into the rubble as her arm stayed firmly stuck outward on the ground, the positioning at least keeping her able to see what was going on as King Philippe stepped into her view, his hand wrapped tightly around the Earth Lance he held in his hand, tethered to the ground by a loose chain of rubble chunks.
Be careful of Ifrit, don't breathe it in! Karin called in her head, but like before, her voice didn't carry, leaving her immobile on the ground as Philippe walked right into the cloud, which had dissipated somewhat from the force of his spell.
"When I heard that it was just a child who did so much to Chevalier Bismarck, I didn't believe it." Philippe stated, narrowing his eyes. "But, looking around here, it seems I must put my personal thoughts aside." He turned his gaze to Karin, humming before speaking again. "Baronetess Maillart, you need not worry about Lord Valliere. By now, he is well on his way outside the palace."
"I thought it was odd that Flame Serpent wasn't responding to me anymore." Enjya stated. "Who among you is able to fight my fire?"
"I have no need to disclose that to you." the king stated, raising the Earth Lance as he stepped closer. "Wind is efficient. Water is versatile. Fire is powerful. But, there is nothing that can match the sturdiness of earth. It doesn't matter that I am not Square-class, I will still take you down. Consider this vengeance for Bismarck's current condition."
A few seconds passed, before Enjya laughed, and while they stared each other down, Ifrit continued swirling in the air, Karin focusing on the cloud from her peripheral vision. She knew what was about to happen, and silently started speaking in her head. She'd never cast silent magic before, but if Enjya could do it, then surely she could too.
Hægl. Ger. Eoh.
"No element is superior to others. If you're a master, then you will be better than those less than you. That's all there is to it."
Æsc. Rad. Ing.
"No more talking. You can do plenty of that when you're being interrogated." Philippe stated as he moved forward, Enjya's blue flames issuing from his body as the two clashed. Unlike Karin's one-hit efforts, Philippe was able to keep his distance and avoid being hit, dancing around the room with surprising grace for the bulky lance he swiped to block the blue fire, the chain replenishing its mass whenever the fire burned it away.
Yr. Nyd. "Si...gel…" Karin found herself able to slowly move her lips, but as she found herself regaining her movement and painfully turned her eyes towards the battle, it was clear that she was too slow.
Philippe stumbled back as Ifrit's cloud shifted from a breeze blowing in a circle to a raging maelstrom, kicking up dust and adding the loose particles on the ground into its mass as the king found himself trapped inside, swinging his lance but unable to hit it as it possessed no body to strike.
"What is this?!" he shouted as he coughed, waving his arms as Enjya jumped out of the earth mage's range, laughing as he raised his hands to either side.
"You all keep asking me what I want, but even I don't know!" he said, his pitch raised as the blue fire moved to form a hollow sphere floating in the air in front of him. "I don't care about this rebellion, and I don't even know my own name! Maybe your death will satisfy my curiosity! If it does, then I'll give up!"
The fire vanished, leaving the air to move forward, a slow-moving region of air that shimmered from heat distortion as Philippe he dropped the Earth Lance, favoring speed to escape over carrying the heavy weapon with him. "What is...that?" His voice was lower now, and his movements slowed as he reached for his throat. "The air is...my breath..."
"My partner isn't just made of dirt and soot." Enjya's grin suddenly dropped, the boy leaning forward as his arms lowered, a long exhale before speaking again. "It can suck away oxygen and anything else that can burn. Do you know what happens when the seal is broken?"
As Karin struggled to fight the paralysis and bend her outstretched arm to pull herself up, Philippe collapsed, coughing as the debris stung his eyes while he clutched at his throat. "That isn't something a child should know...You're...You aren't human. What are you...Some kind of beast? Are you an ifrit too?"
The boy ignored the question, and Karin could do nothing but stare forward as Enjya kicked the ground, sending himself backwards as the heated air pushed away the smoke and opened a hole to send fresh air rushing into the space it had been sealing.
"Backdraft." came Enjya's voice, low and serious, as the hot air ignited, the depleted air acting as a vacuum to pull in oxygen and ignite it in a chain reaction that blew Ifrit's gaseous body away, the dust dissipating into the air as Karin's mouth opened, the woman finally having managed to get onto her knees as she flinched, her eyes closing from the blast.
There was no way Philippe had survived. Against something like that, the only person durable enough to survive was Innocentius. No, she couldn't pretend there was any way the king had escaped when he was already disoriented from his suffocation.
"H-..." Could she really do it? She had finished her chant, and as much as it pained her to admit it, this was the perfect time to cast the spell. Her king was dead, and there was likely no one around, or they would have come in to help before it got to this. It was her chance to finally cast her strongest spell, but if Enjya just countered that too…
Her eyes remained firmly shut even as she felt the explosion die down, and as she heard Enjya's footsteps approaching her direction, she shivered, unable to move even though she had mostly recovered.
This was an unbeatable enemy, someone that nothing had even scratched. Yuya couldn't win. Downdraft had done nothing. And now, the king was dead. What could she possibly hope to accomplish? She'd decided that she was weak and should act as such, but why had she gone back on her word so quickly? Why did she have that urge to fight when she knew she would lose?
She cried out as Enjya's fingers tangled in her hair, dragging her up as her eyes were forced open to look on the boy, but she could say nothing before his knee rammed her chin, sending her falling to her back and coughing as her breath was knocked from her by the impact.
Was she going to die too? After promising Sandalion she'd be alright, after accepting the role of a defender despite the jerks from the academy telling her she couldn't, now she was at the mercy of a destructive child with little regard for his surroundings.
She was an adult now, but at that moment, she felt small. A child facing something she couldn't possibly hope to match, wielding a pebble against a flail. It was no wonder that she lay on the ground, staring at the sky, black from soot though it was barely noon. She had passed the point of pain now, crossed into numbness. Why, when she, a descendant of the great Valliere family, struggled to connect just three elements, why could someone so many years her junior so completely overpower her?
It wasn't fair. Why was she cursed never to fuse her magic properly, never to control herself with the skill that even some of her servants and slaves could? Why was some random commoner she had never heard of able to bring ruin to this city with so many Square-class mages present?
Her fear began to melt away as she grit her teeth, anger welling up in her chest. She couldn't think that way. Sandalion was right about her, she had stronger magic than anyone else. All she had to do was believe in herself long enough to say the words necessary.
A small smile formed on her face, and Enjya tilted his head. "You're going to die, shouldn't you be afraid?"
It was lucky for her that she hadn't cried out to the king, or it would have cancelled the runes she'd silently been casting. She couldn't answer him, but like Philippe had said, why should she? This spell would be as much reply as he needed.
"Heavy Wind."
