To say that the battle against Dreisang was going poorly was, to put it nicely, an understatement.
Ophilia had thrown up a haphazard barrier of earth magic to try and block out the onslaught of elements being sent her way, but there was only so much that could do for her under the sheer force Dreisang was casting in her direction. She flinched each time magic rattled against the barricade that only barely managed to stop her from being thrown across the room. Alfyn had taken up residence beside her, and he was using vines to root both of them to the spot. Being thrown around at massively high speeds thanks to Dreisang's wind magic felt like the best way to end up with a broken bone or three, and Ophilia wasn't fond of the idea of shattering her ribs.
Granted, staying behind the barrier of earth wasn't doing much for her in terms of helping to win the fight, but that was something she was willing to live with, at least for the time being. She needed to find a way out of this sooner or later though. Dreisang's onslaught showed no signs of letting up, and that meant she would need to figure out the solution on her own. Dreisang wouldn't have been throwing this much at the travelers if he didn't think they could handle it. That had to mean that they had the solution at their disposal. All they had to do was figure out what that solution was.
Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done, especially when Ophilia had to put all of her energy into not being thrown around like a rag doll in a tornado. Even when Dreisang wasn't using wind magic-though that seemed to be his favorite element out of those at his disposal-he was finding other ways to make Ophilia miserable. The other travelers seemed to agree. Cyrus had taken a place behind another wall of earth, though he was straining to maintain it. The barrier was much larger than Ophilia's own shield since he was also trying to keep Tressa, Therion, and Primrose out of the line of fire. Olberic, meanwhile, was pouring all of his effort into keeping him and H'aanit safe. The huntress had attempted to fire a few arrows, but it was difficult to aim when the battlefield was consumed by so much chaos. How could she even attempt to release a shot made of thunder magic when there was too much going on for her to focus?
"What's the plan, Phili?" Alfyn questioned with a weak hiss. Sweat was starting to bead across his forehead, though he was doing his best to hide it. Upon closer examination, Ophilia realized that his plants spread out farther than just the space around her feet. Alfyn was trying to keep all of the travelers in place along with Linde, and that put a lot more pressure on him than it had any right to thanks to how strong Dreisang was. He wasn't going to be able to keep it up for much longer, and every single one of them knew it.
Ophilia did her best to concentrate at the sound of Alfyn's voice. This was a test. It had to be. Dreisang was trying to see just how strong they were and how far they had come since their first battle against Aelfric. He knew they had the tools needed to defeat him at their disposal. It was just a matter of figuring out where each piece fit into the greater puzzle. Figuring that out was easier said than done, but most importantly, it was still possible, and that was what mattered most.
Ophilia's mind sprinted rapidly through every gift the gods had granted them up to this point. She had heard of their blessings through scripture as well, and she was confident something in there had to be able to help them. Aelfric's blessing was that of a second chance, but it was difficult to use something like that when there wasn't even a first chance to take advantage of in the first place. Alephan's unmatched wisdom couldn't be the solution either. Brand had overwhelming strength, Draefendi had endless focus, and Aeber paralleled them both with unmatched speed, but what good would either of those do when they could barely keep themselves alive to begin with? There had to be some other answer.
That left Sealticge, Dohter, and Bifelgan. Considering the fact that the travelers were going to need more than just good fortune and money, Ophilia was happy to cross Bifelgan off her list of suspects. That left only the charity of Dohter and the overreaching blessings of Sealticge. Alephan had the ability to concentrate all of his power into a single strong blow, but Sealticge could extend the reach of her abilities to all. Perhaps that was where they were supposed to start.
Ophilia flinched as she felt another blast of magic come her way. The rock wall behind her was starting to give, and it would only take a few more hits before it fully crumbled. How could she use Sealticge's extended strength to end this fight? The main issue was that none of them could land a hit on Dreisang since they were too focused on self-preservation. They had to fight back by getting rid of Dreisang's offense. If they could transform their defensive tendencies into an offensive strategy, then they would be able to distract their opponent long enough to come up with another tactic that would end the fight.
The barrier of earth finally shattered when Dreisang released another blast of magic that Ophilia didn't recognize. It came in the form of a massive column of energy that slammed into the barricade three times, and the third and final hit sent fragments of stone flying in every direction. Ophilia and Alfyn, unlucky enough to be closest to Dreisang out of the travelers, were left completely exposed in the aftermath of the strike, and the apothecary let out a strained sigh as he tried to create another barrier of earth before Dreisang could attack again.
He didn't react in time though. To be more accurate, Dreisang acted too quickly, and he threw out a massive blast of ice magic straight toward the pair. Alfyn ducked down as close to the ground as he could, trying to bring up a barrier of plants to keep himself at least somewhat safe, and Ophilia threw her arms over her head. She was about to brace herself for impact...
When she heard a small sound like a flick of a finger against a mirror.
Ophilia remained still for a moment before she looked up, seeing a shield of transparent magic had appeared in the air in front of her. She blinked a few times just to make sure that it was real, but the barrier did not fade. Instead, the shield reflected all three of Dreisang's ice attacks. The blue crystals were sent flying back in the direction of the sorcerer, and he slid backwards when the blows hit him. He groaned as he tried to dig his heels into the ground below, though that did little to stop his forced retreat from the travelers.
Ophilia dropped her arms slowly, trying to figure out just what had happened. As soon as she thought about it though, she realized that this was a piece of Aelfric's magic. Aelfric had the ability to deflect magic, and that was one of many techniques he used to ensure his dark fire defeated Galdera centuries upon centuries prior. Ophilia had heard of the technique a few times while working in the church, but she had never seen it put in motion. The power had been resting inside of her ever since she first gained Aelfric's blessing, but this was the first time she had seen it put into use.
While Ophilia was distracted with the sudden discovery of one of Aelfric's other gifts of power, Dreisang was forced to avoid the last of his blasts of ice. However, he realized a bit too late that he wouldn't be able to launch himself out of the way in time, and the magic instead struck him across the side in a grand arc that left him unable to use his staff for a few seconds. The ice had spread across his robes and trapped his dominant hand in one position, and it took him a few moments to free himself from its grip once again.
"That was amazing, Phili!" Alfyn cried out as he forced himself to his feet. Now that he had a break from Dreisang's elemental barrage, the apothecary allowed himself to breathe, though he was shaking from the exertion of maintaining his magic for so long. "But I don't understand how you did that."
"It's one of Aelfric's types of magic," Ophilia replied. "And if I had to guess, I would say that it's the best solution we have to being able to stop Dreisang. If we can distract him for even just a few moments using the reflective barrier, then we can set up an attack that will help us to win the fight."
"But how are we supposed to set up the barrier effectively?" Alfyn questioned. "I agree that it's probably our best bet to winnin' this battle, but he could attack any of us, and we wouldn't quite know where we should defend ourselves until it was already too late. How can we counter somethin' like that?"
"That's where the gifts of the other gods come into play," Ophilia answered with a light smile. "All we need to do is use the power they've given us to our advantage. Sealticge's blessing is that of extended reach. If we can use her special ability to extend the range of the reflective barrier to cover all of us, then we should be able to hold Dreisang off long enough to come up with another plan."
Alfyn nodded. "You've got a deal. You should focus on casting the shield, and I'll do everythin' I can to set you up with Sealticge's special power. We can explain it to the others while Dreisang is distracted next time too."
Ophilia opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by the sound of ice shattering nearby. A quick glance up told her that Dreisang had broken free of his restraints, and he was now stalking closer to the cleric and apothecary with a surprising amount of rage painted across his features. They had already run out of time from her first distraction, so they would need to ask the rest of the travelers to get involved first while Ophilia and Alfyn carried out the first part of the plan. It was hardly a flawless idea, but it was the best thing they had at the moment, and Ophilia was willing to take that.
"Distract him for a few moments! I have a plan!" Ophilia cried out. Cyrus and Primrose both peered around from behind their stone barricade to nod as proof that they had heard her. H'aanit, meanwhile, sent an arrow of thunder magic spiraling toward Dreisang. It would not be enough to hold him back for long, and all of them knew that, but the shock of the electricity against the remaining water from the ice attack stunned him for a few extra seconds while the rest of the travelers gathered their bearings.
Therion twirled his dagger once in his hand before he allowed the shadows to consume him. He darted around the back of the room as quickly as possible to try and stab at Dreisang from behind. The sorcerer whirled around just in time to stop him, but Therion ducked down before he could be struck across the abdomen with Dreisang's massive scepter. While Therion stole Dreisang's full attention, Primrose twirled around and concentrated her power into the Shadow Fan, doing what she could to increase Therion's speed. It was hardly a foolproof way of keeping him out of danger, but it would suffice as long as they needed a distraction.
Ophilia, meanwhile, pressed her hands together in front of her chest, drawing her magic to a single point through her staff. White magic slowly began to build around her palms before it spread outward, creating the same shield from a few moments before. The barrier was only in front of her though, and she frowned at the realization. They wouldn't be able to stop Dreisang with just one shield.
A matter of seconds later though, the barrier began to multiply, and it appeared in front of all the travelers in the perfect position to deflect any potential strikes they could have received from Dreisang. Alfyn let out a sigh from his place a few feet away, and he dragged the back of one hand across his forehead. "That really takes it out of you, huh?" he asked.
Ophilia nodded. "You can say that again," she agreed. She wouldn't be able to do much throughout the rest of the fight because of how much the shield spell had drained her energy, but at least the others would be able to take care of everything to come. That was a weight off her chest even if this wasn't the perfect solution any of them were wanting.
However, it seemed to be paying off already. Therion dodged a blast of fire from Dreisang's scepter, but he wound up walking straight into a trio of dark explosions in an attempt to escape. The thief threw his arms up to try and minimize the damage, but much to his surprise, he had nothing to worry about. Instead, the barrier Ophilia had summoned acted as the perfect buffer, sending all three blasts of Dreisang's magic right back at him and leaving Therion safe for a few seconds longer. The thief let out a prideful scoff as he once again returned to the shadows and abandoned the view of his opponent.
Olberic and H'aanit finally allowed themselves to fully step out from behind their own barrier of earth, and they watched in silent shock and awe as Dreisang was pushed into a corner thanks to his own magic. That was far from how they had expected this battle to end, but who were they to complain about it? If this would bring them that much closer to safety, then they would take the opportunity.
Primrose spun the Shadow Fan twice, and strength rushed through each of the travelers' bodies. Olberic took this as his cue to pull his blade back in preparation for another massive attack. They had gotten this far by taking advantage of Sealticge's gift of extended reach, and Olberic intended to do his part to end it through the power of Brand's unmatched strength. H'aanit followed his lead, and she concentrated as much energy as she could into her bow to summon the strongest arrow she ever had. She may have had the least experience with her weapon when compared to the other travelers, but she knew her way around a bow and arrow no matter what, and she would make sure Dreisang knew it.
The boost of strength Primrose and the Shadow Fan's power had provided allowed Ophilia to push herself back onto her feet, though her legs still shook much more than they had any right to. She reached one hand out to Alfyn to help him up, and he gladly accepted her offer. As soon as they were both back in position, Ophilia closed her eyes and focused on attacking Dreisang with the strongest attack she had. For all his overwhelming strength, Dreisang didn't do well when taking damage. He was frail, and that was his greatest weakness. He opened the battle with such overwhelming offense so he wouldn't need to worry about putting up any defenses since that was his weakest point. If they could hit him hard enough, he would go down, and that would be the end of it all.
Alfyn raised his axe high before he slammed it against the ground, channeling the strength from his exhaustion into a single blow that sent the ground spiraling into tremors. The earth rocked from the force, and plants and rocks rose from the floor to restrain Dreisang and hold him in one spot. The sorcerer raised his staff in preparation to cast a spell that would free him, but he never got the chance. Ophilia released her own light attack, and Dreisang's scepter was sent flying, eventually landing on the ground and sliding over to where Cyrus stood next to Tressa.
As soon as Cyrus picked up the scepter, he felt its power rush through him. His eyes went wide, and he blinked a few times to try and ground himself under the weight of this new strength. While Cyrus was focused on reorienting himself, the rest of the travelers turned their attention to Dreisang. Therion rushed toward the sorcerer with his dagger in front of him, and the stab was fast enough that Ophilia barely even saw him move before the hit made contact. H'aanit followed Therion's stab up with a thunder arrow that stunned Dreisang just in time for Olberic to slam his sword into the ground, shaking the earth once again and leaving the archmagus too injured to move.
Cyrus raised Dreisang's scepter above his head, and magic rushed free from the gemstone at the peak of the staff. The blast was pure white, and it hit Dreisang with enough force to send him flying while releasing him from the confines of rocks and vines around his feet. Once he finally fell still, Dreisang glanced up at the travelers, though it was clear that he had surrendered. There was no way for him to win this battle, and he was fully aware of it. The least he could do to himself was surrender while he still had some semblance of his dignity.
Dreisang let out a small laugh as he nodded. "Thou art strong... Thou foughten well to maken it this far." He used the wall behind him to push off the ground until he was back at his full height. From there, he began to concentrate his remaining energy on healing himself, though it was clear that no matter how much he recovered in the next few minutes, he wouldn't be able to fight again. The travelers had won, and he had to admit his defeat.
"I'm glad we impressed you," Ophilia smiled as she allowed herself to breathe easily for the first time since the battle had started. "Though you certainly gave us a run for our money for a while there... Then again, that's part of the point, isn't it? You need to test us to see if we're worthy of your power."
Dreisang nodded. "And thou hast proven thyselves and then some. Consider my power as yours from this moment forward." He shifted his posture slightly and pressed one hand to his chest. Energy flooded through each of the travelers' bodies, and when the surge finally ended, it felt as if the world had changed enough to last a century in the span of a few seconds. "Thou now holdeth the power I usen in battle... Unparalleled magical strength is my blessing. Beyond that, thou now possesseth the power of energy, the purest form of magic known to this world, and its corresponding weapon, the Aether Scepter."
"The purest form of magic..." Cyrus murmured as he looked at the scepter in his hands. No wonder he had seemed so shocked when he first grabbed the weapon after it fell at his feet. If the magic was truly that powerful, it would catch anyone by surprise.
"Thou still haven a long journey ahead. The road will be dangerous and will end in a flame bathed in shadow," Dreisang went on. "One day, thou will be prepared for the war to come... Until then, usen my power well. I will be depending on thou, as will the other gods. Proceed carefully and safely, young travelers... The future resteth on your shoulders."
Before anyone had the chance to ask what Dreisang was referring to, light consumed their vision, and they were returned to the area just in front of the carving in the shrine once more. Cyrus was still holding tightly to the Aether Scepter, and he barely seemed to notice that his surroundings had changed for a few long moments. He was too entranced by the magic crackling just beneath his fingertips. Just as Dreisang had said, the Aether Scepter had the purest form of power known to the world of Orsterra, and Cyrus adored the strength it held.
"Well... That takes care of that," Therion remarked. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a nice long nap at the nearest inn. As much as I appreciate Dreisang being nice enough to give us his magic and his staff, I can't say I agree with him giving us that much of a thrashing. He needs us alive if he wants us to save the world, right?"
Ophilia sighed and shook her head. "He does... But he knew we could handle it. That's why he didn't hold back," she said, though that did little to assuage the ache in her torso from the various hits she had sustained. "Still, I agree that going to an inn would be a good idea. We can rest in Duskbarrow once we arrive there."
"What's the point of even going to Duskbarrow in the first place?" Therion questioned as he rubbed at his temple to try and dispel the warning pounds of a headache. "We know that the shrines aren't ever this close together, so why would there be another one in town? We can just use the Warp Staff to teleport to Stillsnow now and save ourselves the energy."
"But there is something of magical interest to be found there, and we will have to investigate it sooner or later," Cyrus pointed out as he finally pulled himself out of his trance in full. "I would like to see what is waiting for us in Duskbarrow regardless of how interesting it will be. Even if it does little for us at the moment, it would not hurt to investigate for a short while."
"We'll go to Stillsnow as soon as we're finished looking around there," Primrose assured Therion. She shot a nervous glance to H'aanit out of the corner of her eye, seeing that the huntress was plucking at the string of her bow anxiously, desperate to make the time pass by just a little bit faster so she could go to speak with Susanna. "Besides, I doubt we'll have much of a reason to stick around in Duskbarrow. As long as we go there, we can use the Warp Staff to return later. It never hurts to save ourselves the time later, especially since there's always the off chance a shrine could be there."
"We should go on and get it over with then," Alfyn sighed. "As much as I'd like to say that I'm lookin' forward to the adventure, I'm wiped after that fight. I could use a nice long nap at the inn too. I think all of us could."
"First, I believe we should address which of us will be carrying the Aether Scepter from this point on," Olberic chimed in. "All of us already holds one weapon from the gods, and this one is a bit... Unorthodox. We should choose someone to hold onto it in future battles."
Ophilia cast a glance to Cyrus, and she let out a small laugh behind one hand. "I think Cyrus should take it. After all, he's the strongest mage out of us all, and he would probably find the most use from it. Besides, I'm sure he'll be able to draw out a lot of this 'pure magic' from the gemstone when given the chance."
"Thank you, Ophilia," Cyrus nodded, glancing up once again from his admiration of the Aether Scepter to smile at her. The instant he was given the chance, he had gone right back to staring at it, too infatuated with the new weapon to care much for the discussion taking place around him.
"That settles that then. Let's get going," Tressa declared. She started back toward the entrance of the shrine, though she wrapped one arm around her abdomen along the way. "I don't think I ever realized magic could hurt so much. It's better than getting stabbed or something, but still... Yeesh."
The rest of the travelers offered vague groans of agreement as they left the shrine behind and began the mercifully short journey to Duskbarrow. H'aanit was happy to lead them down the path of least resistance that would keep them out of the reach of the monsters in the area, though luckily, she didn't need to do much. Most of the beasts around Duskbarrow were elsewhere that allowed the travelers to make their way to the town with relatively little issue. However, the fact that so many monsters were staying away from the village bothered Ophilia a lot more than she wanted to admit. Why were so many beasts avoiding this place? Was there perhaps something disturbing about the magic found there that was driving them away? The mere idea made Ophilia shudder.
As it turned out, she was right to be disturbed. As soon as she set foot in Duskbarrow, she was hit with a massive wave of nausea that sent her tripping over her own feet. She nearly collapsed against Primrose, but the dancer was quick to steady her before she could fully fall. "Ophilia, are you alright?" Primrose asked intensely, though her voice sounded faraway, like it was being distorted by a layer of water that separated Ophilia from the rest of the world. In many ways, it reminded her of the sickness she had felt when she saw that strange woman in Bolderfall so long ago, and she absolutely despised it.
Primrose's hands steadied Ophilia for a few agonizing seconds as the cleric forced herself to come back to her senses. Ophilia blinked rapidly before the world finally came into focus around her once more. "Yes... I'm fine," she murmured, though it barely felt like her speaking with how out of it she was. "Something about this place... It disturbs me. I don't think this is a good place to be."
Cyrus nodded and took a few steps into the town. "I agree that there is something strange in the air... I somehow doubt what we are searching for is a shrine," he whispered before glancing down to the lanthorn where it hung at Ophilia's hip. "The Ember isn't responding either. It isn't leading us anywhere, and that must mean that there is nothing for us to find here."
Ophilia nodded at that, beyond relieved to know that they wouldn't need to stay any longer than they already had. She was desperate to get out of there and collapse into a bed until her energy came back to her. Now that the travelers had arrived in Duskbarrow, they could do just that, and she couldn't wait. "We should go to Stillsnow now," Ophilia said. "We don't have a reason to stick around here, so we should go."
Cyrus nodded, and he reached for the Warp Staff among his things after securing the Aether Scepter on his back. "Is everyone ready?" he questioned. A quick glance around the group told him that they were all prepared, and Cyrus took that as his cue to raise the staff into the air, summoning its energy and transporting them all away.
When Ophilia felt the ground beneath her once again, she was confident she was in Stillsnow. She opened her eyes slowly, and despite having just teleported across the continent, Ophilia felt better now than she had back in Duskbarrow. The magical energy there had truly been rancid, and just thinking about it was enough to make her nauseous. Coming to Stillsnow had been the right call.
"We should go to rest at the inn," Primrose declared. Beside her, H'aanit opened her mouth to protest, but Primrose cut her off by raising one hand. "I know you're afraid of what could be happening with Z'aanta, H'aanit. Still, running yourself into the ground isn't going to help anyone. You need to rest just like the rest of us. After we take a few hours to sleep and recover from the battle against Dreisang, we can look around Stillsnow together. How does that sound?"
Everyone in the group watched H'aanit carefully in an attempt to figure out how she would respond. Primrose had a point in insisting H'aanit rest like the rest of them; the skin beneath the huntress' eyes was dark, but the rest of her face was all too pale. She was exhausted, and the battle against Dreisang had only made it worse. She knew just as well as the rest of them that she wouldn't make much progress on her own, especially with how tired she was. It was time to sleep, and everything else could come later.
H'aanit took in a deep breath before letting it out. "Alright," she agreed, though she didn't have the energy to say anything more. The huntress gladly followed the rest of the group in the direction of the inn, Linde curling around her legs all the while. The snow leopard decided to save her excitement at being back in the cold weather for later, too focused on helping her partner to feel better for the time being.
In the fifteen minutes that followed the group's arrival at the inn, they paid for their rooms and split up under their usual arrangements. Ophilia set her things down with a heavy sigh before practically collapsing on the bed. A quick glance across the room told her that Tressa had somehow been even faster in settling down, and the merchant was already snoring slightly from her uncomfortable position with her head resting on one arm. Ophilia allowed herself a small chuckle at the sight before she closed her eyes, and a matter of seconds later, she was asleep, and the world fell away around her.
So... I owe you all a bit of an explanation.
For one of the first time in the two years of this story's run, I missed a Thursday update. For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter, that's because my laptop decided to break on me, and that threw a massive wrench into my plans. I was able to get it fixed, but that still messed with me majorly, so this is going up at midnight on Friday (Saturday technically) instead of Thursday. Sorry about that. This won't influence next week's update at all since my laptop is now back in action, but I wanted to explain why I was late for the uninformed.
Now, let's actually talk about the chapter. I said before I didn't want to use the cheese strategy for Dreisang as the entire fight since that would kind of take the fun out of it... But I decided to use it for half the fight. It's both a nice easter egg and a piece of the strategy to fight the gods since I've been focusing on that so much in the past. This will not be the gimmick with Steorra to ensure nothing gets too repetitive, but I referenced it a bit here. You know... As a treat.
As another minor life update from me since last week, I have officially finished Octopath 2! I'm still struggling against the secret boss, but I'm getting better, and I adore this game with everything I am. It's incredible. And... Yeah, I'm really looking forward to being able to novelize the second game too. I'm going to start double updating this story after the completion of Ashen Souls or Thousand Lives (whichever finishes first), so when that time comes, this story will receive updates on Thursday and Sunday. However, that will be a while since I'm still on chapter three of both those games' events, so... Oops. We'll get there one day. Until then, I love Octopath. Gah.
Next week, we're going to kick off H'aanit's chapter three. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital