Lena walks past you with a huff.
"Since there's no way I can convince you not to go through with this. You might as well let me help you. Gods know you're going to need all the help you can get. I can get you underneath where you need to go. Where they'll take her. Fortunately for us I know the full process of how this was going to go originally."
Polka, Watame and yourself follow after Lena toward the falls descent as she continues.
"A couple stages are being skipped since Flare is all grown up now, the original plan was to study her biology and growth and when she came of age and a certain magical proficiency, she would be brought to a special building that would house the final steps of their plan."
"What is this crazy final plan of theirs anyway?" Polka asks.
"I wish I knew, but that building is perfect for holding Flare. It'll have the strongest magical wards and access to tomes and spells most mages can't even imagine. It's the guild masters tower which is attached to the research center."
"So Lena has our entry, that's one step out of the way." you say with your mood improving.
"Are only the guild leaders allowed in that tower?" Polka follows up.
"As far as I know, yes."
"That's another good thing for us, that way we don't have to worry about anyone else butting in!" Polka says.
"So we go in, kick their butts and get Flare!" Watame says psyching herself up.
"Slow down!" Lena demands. "Okay even if you do all that, what's the exit plan? You can't just pick a fight with the magical guild leaders and leave like nothings wrong? They'll sick the full force of their guilds on you!"
While you loved the enthusiasm Polka and Watame were showing, Lena did have a point. You did not exactly like the idea of having to fight a full guild of mages, multiple guilds at that. You think back to the incident at Rahndel's mansion, and how some of the men defected once their boss got exposed.
"All these guild mages can't be bad people right Lena?" you ask. "Would they really all be okay with what their leaders are doing?"
"I have to assume they wouldn't be."
"That's my exit plan then. Exposing them for the monsters they truly are. Flare's mom was a respected mage right? I don't think most of the people who saw and lived with her in their day to day lives would be cool with their leaders killing her in cold blood. I don't think they would be cool with them kidnapping her baby either."
"You're asking a society of elven mages to show sympathy for a half-elf and her mother? You're insane."
"I'm asking them to show sympathy for a person. A person who gave up everything for someone she loved, and that someone she gave up everything for. Someone told me some elves are rigid, stubborn, inflexible, but I think they'll prove him wrong."
"The optimism of humans is truly astounding sometimes." Lena muses. "I'm starting to see why Flare put all her trust in you. Fine, once I get you in I'll spread the word as much as I can. I doubt I'll get very far till the guards lock me up though."
"Oh I got just the thing for that then!" you say, reaching into your pocket and taking out one of the emblems the captain gave you. "Show this to the guards and they should let you off the hook. Captain Aldren from the city south of here gave these to us for helping him out. They'll let the guards know you're on his good side."
"Thank you Anon. Lets get you three something to eat then. You haven't eaten since breakfast and you're going to need to be at full strength to pull this off. Oh I'm sorry, and you as well Undine. Do spirits eat?"
"In my physical form I can eat, yes." Undine answers but also seems to immediately get lost in thought. "But I cannot recall if I need to for energy. It has been so long so I have been here in this form."
"Undine, this probably isn't how you wanted this to go, but can you give me a summoners crash course please?" you ask the spirit walking beside you as you approach the bottom of the falls. "Last time we worked together you were in control of my body, so how does this work now that you're actually summoned and beside us?"
"You are asking how we can best fight together, correct? We have a couple of options as of right now. Since I have been summoned physically here by your will and mana, I am now capable of using my own mana and strength to aid you. However due to how new our bond is, I would estimate that I cannot be a certain distance away from you without losing my connection to my physical form."
"So stick together, not a problem."
"As far as my abilities are concerned I should be able to use a lot of the same magic as when we first made our pact. Although it will not be on that same level. We had both the benefit of the ocean being closeby, and me performing a full spirit possession onto you."
"So what determines your strength and power now?"
"The best way to describe that would be you. Your will, your mana, your connection with water helps to fuel my own strength. The stronger and deeper that all grows, the stronger I can become."
"Sounds like a true partnership, I'm down for that. Next question, how long can you stay like this?"
"That is a good question. I would have expected your own mana to be all spent from summoning me, but you appear to not be very spent at all. Should my own mana run out I would need to siphon some of yours to stay in my physical form."
You do a quick test of making a water mana coat around your first and it comes rather easily.
"You're right, I think I'm still running on almost a full tank."
"That one guy's magic hand thing was practically oozing mana though." Polka brings up. "Almost like he had trouble keeping it all together, I bet in all that time he was trying to squeeze the life out of you, some of that mana was seeping into you."
"Does mana really work that way?" you ask skeptically, with Polka you could sometimes not be sure if she was being serious about something, or just exaggerating.
"Polka is right." Undine confirms. "In that case, I should be able to stay in this form for quite some time. Once summoned, I'll require very little mana to maintain it. I can use my own, yours, or even the natural mana of the water itself."
She dips one of her feet in the water at the bottom of the falls and gives you an encouraging smile.
"This is great! Undine! And you're really okay with helping us fight? I kinda literally dragged you into this after all."
"We have a pact, Anon. You don't need to ask those kinds of questions. I will do what you ask."
"Yeah but you have a choice in it you know. If we're a team then both our feelings matter. I won't ever make you do something you don't want to, or are uncomfortable with, Undine."
Thank you Anon, that's very kind of you." Undine's confused expression turned to a smile. "You are certainly an interesting summoner."
"I guess I'll take that as a compliment. Anyway, is there anything else I should know as a summoner?"
"I think it will be best to learn as we go. I'm still getting reacclimated to a lot of this myself. Let the rest just flow and come to us."
"That's very you. Alright, fine by me."
You were so engrossed with your conversation with Undine, that you didn't even notice you were back in the city already. After covering Undine in the robes you had on, Lena had led you all to a small shop where she told you all to wait outside while she got some easy and quick things for you all to eat. The fact that you are now an actual summoner now does well to distract you from the fact that you had a very important mission ahead of you.
Lena comes out a few minutes later with a bag under each arm. You all sit under a nearby tree and begin to eat your share of the easily packaged food and snacks Lena provides. You didn't realize just how hungry you were, you guess getting your stomach squeezed to its limit builds up an appetite. After the four of you make some progress into your food, Lena starts to go over your entry plan.
"There's a very small underground tunnel system that mages used to use to get materials that were sensitive to the sun quickly through the day. We'll enter through the one in the Library. From there, we make for the Masters tower. I have to assume as soon as you're in they will detect your presence, so I wouldn't bother sneaking around, try to hit them hard and fast. With any luck you'll catch one of them alone."
No one really has any questions, there isn't much to ask. All you needed to know was how to get to where Flare is, and Lena has that all taken care of. From there it was only a question of how you wanted to kick the asses of these so-called leaders. Your mind drifted to a few possibilities as you ate.
Should you wait for Captain Aldren's help? That may not even work, we would have to prove Flare was kidnapped, and that might take too long. Thinking of the captain also brought you back to his warning about how someone would try to turn Flare into a weapon. You don't buy that crap the one mage said about Flare working with them for some kind of messed up birthright. Plus, you know Flare well enough by now that she would never willingly work with people like that, so every second counts.
Even with the dire situation ahead of them, you see Watame and Undine happily talking to one another. It was good you were able to fulfill one of your promises, another should be no problem right? Polka however, was being uncharacteristically quiet, as she munched on her food while keeping to herself.
"Polka? Are you good?" you ask as you move yourself to sit next to her.
"Do you really think we can do this Anon? I know I talked tough earlier, but I was practically helpless before. I couldn't do a thing to help you or Flare. I might just hold you all back again. These are high class mages after all."
So the girl has moments of weakness after all, surprising, but it doesn't suit her at all. Speaking of suits, you can't help but notice the shape of clubs back in her eyes.
"That doesn't sound too much like the fox I met in jail. The one who was seeing sunshine where there wasn't even light. The girl who helped me see the way out of a bleak situation. You could never hold us back, Polka. You can only help push us all forward. I Know we can do this. I also know there's no way we can do this without you."
"But Anon…"
"No buts" you say standing up. "We all got caught off guard earlier, you can even say we failed. You know what though? I've failed at a bunch of stuff my whole life. It sucks sometimes, but I found out there can be charm and something to learn, even in failure. As long as you are still breathing and standing, you can bounce back better than ever. Let's show those creeps who they're messing with and get our friend back."
You offer your hand to help Polka up, again she looks at it pensively, and then turns away.
"Anon…I shouldn't. I'll end up feeding off you again, especially now."
"Is that why you were a little weird earlier about me helping you up? But you took my hand shortly after we first met, you said you wouldn't feed off me just by touching me."
Polka nods, still not making eye contact. "That's true, but since it's been a little while since then, I may not be able to help myself, it's like an intense hunger we kitsunes get. I don't want you to think you're just some meal to me."
"It's okay if you do. You said you can see a bit of my soul that way right? Well, see and feel for yourself that I believe in you, you're my friend and I'm yours too. You're Omaru Polka. You're gonna give this city a performance they'll never forget."
Polka finally turns her gaze towards you, and reaches up to take your hand. After a brief hesitation she takes your hand in hers and you pull her up to her feet, not letting go.
The strange sensation you felt back in the jail cell with her comes back in full force, perhaps even stronger this time. It takes almost everything you have to stay standing atop your wobbling legs. Polka takes a deep breath and with an audible "Pop" from her mouth, her smile returns.
"You weren't joking. That soul of yours is downright inspiring! You really meant every word of that didn't you?" she asks as her smile grows larger, the clubs in her eyes look to change to stars now, you can't help but wonder what that's about.
"You did say you wanted to be on that list of people who gets a nice speech about them from yours truly didn't you? Don't think I forgot."
"I did say that, didn't I!?" Polka says as she lets go of your hand and begins to laugh. "When you put it like that you make it sound like I'm needy. Even clowns get embarrassed sometimes ya know?"
"Well there's a little more where that came from." you say unstrapping your spell book and opening it to Polka. "You are likely the proud new reader of my very own soul-tied spell book too Polka! Right?"
Polka looks at the open pages of your book in surprise. "I can? Me!? I really can?! You're right though! All those silly letters that aren't blue suddenly make sense to me. Amazing! How did you even do that? I don't think I've ever touched it before."
"Something Flare suggested to me. She thinks it's tied to my soul, and since you've been a little personal with that a few times, it makes sense that the book would let you in. There might be a little more to it than that though, like Watame and Flare, you mean a lot to me already Polka. And-"
Polka puts a finger to your mouth to silence you.
"You mean a lot to me too Anon. We can save the mushy stuff for later though, we're still short one person I would love to have here for this."
"You're right Polka, we got a rescue to perform. Undine, Watame, you both ready?"
"Mhmm!" Watame says as she empties a bag of chips into her mouth and Undine simply nods at you.
The five of you briskly trot through the city streets, the populace was bustling and conversing about seeing the five guild masters flying overhead earlier.
"For a bunch of people who don't get outside much, word sure travels fast." Polka comments.
"Those specific guild leaders being outside at all is enough cause for interest." Lene says. "They're usually locked up in that tower of theirs for weeks on end."
"Hey Lena, are there more than five guilds in the city?" Watame asks.
"Yes. There are about ten respectably sized ones in the city"
"You don't think they're all in on this sick plan to take Flare do you?" you ask, if there were possibly going to be even more opponents, you wanted to at least mentally prepare for that.
"No need to worry about the rest. Most of the guilds don't interact a lot with each other. The five you saw earlier are more of an exception. Any more would be too many hands in the pot, so to speak. If any one of them had their way, they wouldn't need the others to share the power with in the first place."
"What a nice group of people." you mutter.
The library that is meant to be your entry point to the underground tunnels stands before you. It is easily twice the size of the one in the human capital. Quietly, Lena leads you through the back halls of the library to what is seemingly a dead end. With a wave of her hand, a door appears on the floor before the wall.
Down the small stairway you go, as Lena closes the hatch door behind you. To your surprise, the underground walkway was completely lit up by magical lanterns that hang on the walls along its path. Lena takes the lead again as you all begin to run at a brisker pace. She remarks that a turn you all just passed would lead into the research center she mentioned earlier, which meant the tower's entrance was only a short run away.
Reaching a dead end Lene looks up.
"This is it. Fortunately it looks like the door hasn't been tampered with. Everyone, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm no good at fighting and can't come with you. Even though Flare is Naname's daughter, I'm unable to fight for her again."
Lena looks lost in thought, as if replaying older memories to herself.
"This is the part where Naname would tell me that it's okay if there's things I'm not good at, because there's certain things only I can do. She was always pushing me to find new ways to use my talents. I have to still believe in those words for her daughter's sake. I'm going to spread the word of the leaders' crimes. There are still elves who respect me for my research. I can start there."
"Thank you for getting us this far Lena." you say. "Now let us handle those jerks."
"Don't thank me yet. I still think your odds are slim to none, but if some human was able to summon the great water spirit, Undine, maybe he can make a miracle happen. One last thing. When you run into the mage in the red robes again, aim for where his missing arm would be. Externally exerting mana like he does to make an arm for himself leaves him very vulnerable to magical disruption. If you can land a good hit there, it would be like hitting him right from the inside. I don't think the rest sustained any noticeable injuries like that, but I pray Naname left them all with scars for you to exploit."
"Fight well all of you." Lena finishes and turns away to do her own task.
You open the door hatch slowly and peek through. Seeing that the coast is clear, you motion for everyone to follow you through the door. There are immediately stairs leading upward as the group begins to climb. After about fifty steps, the group comes to a closed door. You check the knob which turns with ease and peek through the small crack in the door.
A luxurious room decorated with fancy furniture comes into view. Bookshelf upon bookshelf of tomes stretch to the ceiling, and various trays and tables can be seen all around the room that are lined with all sorts of bottles and glasses. This was clearly more of a lounge than some magical mage research room.
The blue robbed mage can be seen sitting in a large armchair with a book in one hand and a glass in the other. Fortunately none of the other mages you saw earlier look to be here.
"The blue one is all alone." you whisper behind you. From what you remember this one did not do anything particularly dangerous during your last encounter. You would have preferred to find the red or white one alone, but beggars can't be choosers at this point you suppose.
It was time though, time to show these nutjobs what happens to people who mess with your friends.
"Watame, would you honor us with leading our battle cry?" you say.
Getting the gist of what you asked she smiles and nods. Pulling out her harp she strums a few test notes before gathering her determination and letting loose a loud song of strengthening.
"Flare! We're coming to get you!" She shouts as her magic takes effect on the four of you. She kicks down the door and you all charge in.
The door coming down startles the mage out of his relaxed stupor as he turns around to see what the source of it was. You already had your book open and shining.
"Stellar!" you shout as a powerful beam of starlight shoots forth, hitting the chair dead on sending it, along with the mage, hurling into the opposite wall.
Undine follows up with two powerful streams of water from her hands, pinning the mage to the wall with its torrent.
Books are sent flying from the elf's body crashing into the shelves, as well as the force of your spells. The mage flails around helplessly under the pressure of Undine's waters.
In an instant, you and Polka have your swords plunged deep into the mage's shoulders. With the mage effectively trapped, Undine lets her water die down to let Watame charge in for a fierce headbutt into the mages midsection. All the wind comes out of him in a single gasp.
"Oi elf!" Polka snarls, twisting her sword. "I'm giving you one chance to tell us where Flare is. If anything other than that leaves your lips, you'll be sorry."
The mage tries to make some gesture with his head, but it is almost fully obscured by the hood of his robe. You do the needful and pull his hood back to reveal a much younger looking elf than you were expecting. No facial hair whatsoever, and a face that was almost baby like by elf standards, looks up at you terrified.
"Please please please!" he says. "I'll tell you anything! I didn't even want to be here! Just don't hurt me any more please!"
"We don't got time for your babbling." you say angrily. "Cut to the chase or you'll be the one that's gonna get cut."
"Yes yes! Your friend is at the top of the tower. The others want to make her into some super weapon. I have no idea what they're even talking about! I only became the leader of the Blue mages guild a couple years ago! The old leader died of an illness!"
"I don't buy it." Polka says. "Why did you go along with that ambush at the falls then?"
"They told me the half-elf was some traitor! We needed to bring her in. That stuff about giving her ultimate power Master Glidmoore said up there, that was the first I heard of any of that, honest! I asked them to explain once we got back, but they told me not to worry about it, something about a new era of power for the elves. I was only able to become a guild leader because I'm really good with magic circles!"
This was a slight predicament. The fear in his eyes told you he could be telling the truth, but how could you be sure he wouldn't say anything to save his own skin? Your mind is brought back to your first meeting with Hector, how he made you realize the fact you are not the kind of person who can kill another in cold blood without being absolutely sure it was the right thing to do. You knew you hated these mages for what they did, for what they wanted to do to Flare, but you still couldn't bring yourself to kill this one.
"Check his body." Undine suddenly suggests, almost as if she could sense your internal conflict. "If he bears no scars of battle he is likely telling the truth."
Nodding, you awkwardly feel around and open the mage's robes, checking for anything out of the ordinary.
"The only scars I'm gonna have are the ones from your swords. Now please let me go. If I knew the top five guild leaders were up to crazy stuff like this, I wouldn't have accepted the position! I was perfectly happy making new wards and magical formulas. But all this? Half-elves, murders, attempted murders? I don't want any part in this!"
"Kinda a bummer that our surprise attack got wasted on a guy who wants to turn tail." Polka laments. "What you think Anon?"
"Well no one else has shown up yet. We might get another chance. And you're gonna help us!" you say turning back to the blue mage.
"What?! That wasn't the deal."
"Neither was me getting thrown into the falls, but that didn't stop the dude with the bad attitude from doing it."
"Fair point. How am I supposed to help you anyway? I'm not gonna fight the other leaders, that would be suicide."
"Nah I don't need the chance of you stabbing us in the back. If you really don't like what your fellow leaders are up to, I want you to leave. Go to your guild, spread the word of what those creeps have been up to. Expose them once and for all."
"You're insane! That won't actually do anything."
"Well." You say nodding to Polka as you both pull your swords out of the boy's shoulders. The enchantment on their blades does their job and the elf's skin is left unpunctured. "It'll be less surprising for everyone when we kick their butts out of this tower. You can look for the woman that was with us earlier, she's spreading the word now to anyone who will listen, but I'm sure a guild leader like yourself will have an easier time attracting a crowd."
"You're not leaving me much of a choice. Fine, I'll help you with your little cu, mostly because my life depends on it, but also to stick it to those nutjobs. You'll find master Eldris tinkering with his metal contraptions again four floors above me. Between you and me, I do not care for those hand sized mana canons of his. Nothing good can come of a weapon like that. If you manage to not get killed, break them all."
"Hey! Maybe there's hope for you yet!" Polka slaps his back. Now get going uhhh…what did you say your name was?"
"I didn't." The elf groaned. "But I am master Lorenz of the blue mages guild. Save your half-elf friend if you can. I shudder to think what sick stuff they have planned for her. And don't think the others will be pushovers like me. I don't know the details of this plan, but I can tell it's been in the works for a long time, and I doubt any of them will back down from seeing it through."
You watch the elf hobble away to what you assume is the actual entrance and wait a few moments to be sure he wouldn't be coming back. The rest of you make for the opposite doorway which reveals an ascending staircase.
"You think he will really do what we asked?" Watame says as you all run up the stairs.
"No idea". You answer. "He didn't really seem like a madman though, I believe him when he says he doesn't want part in any of this."
"Lets focus instead on the next opponent." Undine suggests. "The elf before mentioned something about a mana canon? What is that?"
"Bad news" you say grimly. "They're these weapons that can just shoot concentrated magical energy at incredible speeds. Whoevers using it doesn't even need to supply it with their own mana. We fought a guy who had a high powered one before. It's got enough force to punch a hole right through someone."
"If he's really got some of those you'll need to have your mana coat at the ready." Polka says. "With any luck you might be able to deflect one of those shots that way. But only try that as a last resort."
The group arrives at the fifth floor of the tower, a large circular room just like the previous stands in front of them. While the last room was comfortable and inviting, this room was cold and ominous. Only the bare minimum was allowed. Workbenches littered with various metal gadgets and other unrecognizable objects are scattered throughout the room. A green robed figure stands in the middle facing the entrance.
"A shame that little upstart turned traitor." Eldris says loud enough for the group to hear as he takes off his hood, revealing a scowling bald elf. "But I'll be more than happy to deal with that later."
"Your scheme ends tonight!" You shout, as you lead the group slowly into the room. "We're gonna kick all your asses and take Flare back with us! Everyones gonna know the crazy shit you all did. It's over."
"Forgive me if I'm not that concerned. Nothing catches me off guard you see. Your little conversation with Lorenz, I heard it all." He holds up a small black box. "This little contraption can transmit sound from a receiving end. Quite useful, I have some set up in the tower as well to allow me to talk to my colleagues. And well…they're expecting you now. So we are rushing our operations a bit."
"What the hell does that mean?" Polka growls. "What are you doing to Flare!?"
Eldris shrugs. "It's a little outside my area of expertise, but if I had to make a guess. I would say her mind is being tortured right now. It's going to be reshaped to what we need it to be."
"You're disgusting!" Watame spits.
"That's the price of progress sometimes. Though it's pretty easy when I'm not the one paying the price after all. You'll all lose here today. You'll lose the half-elf first, then your lives. Then, Lorenz will lose his, and then that little meddlesome scholar who helped you get here. I should have taken care of her like I did the half-elfs father."
The way this elf spoke made your blood run cold. How could someone talk about the loss of life so casually? It was almost as if he got some sick pleasure from it.
"Oh. You look rather surprised. I guess I wasn't supposed to tell you that part. Everyone should be able to take pride in their work. It was the maiden voyage of my hand cannon technology. The poor bastards never knew what hit them. And to think I got to shoot the half-elf's mother in the same place. Oh it doesn't get much better than that."
Polka was now shaking with rage beside you. Her fangs poked through gritted teeth and the pupils of her eyes were now the shape of spades.
"How can you just treat life like it's nothing! Those lives you end just to test your little toys! They had meaning! They had things to smile for, smiles to give others! And you just took that away. You took all that from Flare! All for your own sadistic greed!"
"Sticks and stones foxgirl. None of those lives were of any more use to me, so better to just be rid of them, and all the better if I can get some useful data from it."
"Anon." Polka starts. "I don't want to do this, but you three need to get further up the tower. This guys the worst but I don't think he's lying about how we don't have a lot of time left. Magic that warps the mind is dangerous stuff. We can't make Flare endure that, we might really never get her back. I'm going to take care of this guy."
"Polka we need to fight together!" Watame pleads. "Together we can take him down."
"I know Watame but we're running out of time! I can do this though. There's no way I'll lose to a guy like him. Not after what he did to Flare's parents. Anon…please?"
The situation does sound dire, time is something you don't seem to have a lot of. You want to stay together as much as you can, you are all stronger together. Polka does have a good point though. Splitting up might give you the best shot at getting Flare back in one piece. You also know Polka wouldn't ask this of you if she didn't think she could pull it off.
"Alright Polka." you say as you raise your hand high above you. "You're on! Break a leg and make sure you break both of his!"
She smiles and gives you a high five. She walks out in front of you all and recomposes herself. "I'm gonna go all out from the start you guys. I'll get you all to the other side."
The air around Polka begins to flicker with mana, sparks of red, blue, pink and purple fly around her hands. After the storm of mana brewing around her seems to reach its peak, it suddenly calms. Whatever she was planning, it was about to begin.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Polka begins to shout. "For your entertainment and viewing pleasure. Omaru Polka presents! Grand Idol Magic: Hologram Circus!"
With hands outstretched above her, streams of magic rise up and hit the ceiling above. In an explosion of magic and colors, a red and white striped tent stretches over the walls and replaces the room's scenery. All sorts of objects start to appear, tightropes, a stage, a troupe of circus animals. The entire room is transformed into a brightly colored circus.
"Anon!" Polka turns back beaming . "This is thanks to the soul energy you shared with me! This is my circus! There is only one last preparation to be made everybody! Then the show of a lifetime can begin!"
With a twirl of her cane a catapult appears underneath yourself, Watame and Undine. You were all perfectly seated within its launch pad. A flick of her cane again cuts the catapult loose and launches the three to the other side of the room. The entity of the rooms passes below you, Eldris looks up at you scowling after seeing his workshop be changed into something that was actually fun and joyful. Your own amusement is cut short as the hard ground is fast approaching.
"Umm Polka!?" you yell, panic quickly setting in for yourself and Watame too.
"Annnnnd Pol!" and with a click of her heels, a soft landing pad appears below you. The impact bounces you all right out of the open doorway. The circus wall then completes itself.
"This is a private show after all everyone! Now it's showtime!" you hear Polka say from beyond the tent's wall.
"Give em hell Polka." you say before you turn and lead Watame and Undine up the staircase.
—-
Eldris stands unimpressed by the spectacle. "Do you really think this silly display will save you from the magic of a master?"
From inside his robes Eldris pulls out a mana cannon that is perfectly sized for his hand.
"I can conjure real power! Real objects. Your clown show is nothing compared to me."
"Don't underestimate the power of idols." Polka grins. "You just might regret it."
"I'll only regret ending this too soon." Eldris retorts as he pulls the trigger of his cannon aimed at Polka. A blast of green mana erupts from its barrel at lightning speeds.
Before the blast can hit its mark, a white hooked cane appears from Polka's side and pulls her out of the way by her waist. With a jump and a snap of her fingers, a trampoline appears below her and propels her up to the overhanging tightrope.
Annoyed at Polka's theatrics as she poses to stick her landing, Eldris fires multiple shots from his mana cannon at her. Again the shots fail to hit their mark, the tightrope itself moves to carry Polka out of the line of fire. In frustration he continues to fire, but each shot somehow keeps missing as the fennec slowly makes her way toward the middle of the tightrope.
At the halfway point Polka is directly above where Eldris stands. Another volley of shots comes her way. With a dramatic pose, she lets herself fall off the tightrope, heading straight towards Eldris. He fires again with her in his sights, but only the click of the trigger comes from his cannon. He had used all the mana stored on the device.
Polka gathers her mana in her right fist as she comes crashing down onto the elf mage. The blow sends him staggering. Polka quickly jumps to her feet after the fall and prepares her next act as something wild shines in her eyes.
A colorful cannon now points at Eldris, Polka lights the fuse with a snap of her fingers and a multi-colored cannon ball flies forward.
Eldris' patience was already at his limit. He holds up one of his hands, and a solid steel shield appears to meet the cannonball halfway through its flight.
The mage fails to see the grin on Polka's face from behind the shield he had created, as she loads herself into the cannon. With a slight adjustment to the cannon's trajectory, Polka is sent flying right over the shield with her sword drawn and ready.
Eldris proves to be a master of his craft as he creates a sword almost instantly to meet Polka's; the clash of steel causes sparks to fly.
"Isn't this fun!?" Polka jokes, a maddening look flickers across her face.
"Your clownish antics have grown tiresome, you meddlesome fox! Do you think anything you can muster is a match for what I can conjure!"
With feet now planted on the ground, Polka continues to press her sword against Eldris' with a smile.
"Why don't you check behind you and find out?"
"Don't insult me!" Eldris barks, not taking his eyes off his opponent. He fails to notice the giant circus lion with the look of a stuffed animal approaching from behind before he is swept to the side by its claws.
Pushing her advantage, Polka meets to join swords with Eldris again, this time she keeps a hand free to gather her mana and land a direct punch into his gut.
Eldris responds by letting loose his mana in a gigantic pulse, pushing Polka away.
"I am the master of the green mages guild. I will not be humiliated by some clown! This…This farce of magic. It is not power. It is a joke. This! Is power. This is true magic!"
Eldris begins to conjure again, a mana cannon materializes in both of his hands.
"Those little lazy man's weapons again?" Polka jests. "Those aren't real magic you fake!"
"Wait till you see what these ones can do. These are not mere devices. These are fabricated with my very magic." Eldris says as he raises one at Polka and fires. A stream of fire erupts from its barrel toward her.
Polka ducks before her head is blazed. Eldris fires a second shot. A gust of wind comes this time, blowing Polka back further toward the wall.
"These do not only shoot mana! They will fire whatever element I will them too! These are also directly linked to my mana! So don't go counting on them to run out this time. And look what I can do, with two at once!"
With a mad look in his eyes Eldris fires both cannons at once. A spiral of ice and fire rocket towards Polka. Before the spiral can reach its mark, the giant circus ball rolls past Polka who grabs on for her escape. Eldris continues to fire one shot after the other. Polka scrambles to the top of the ball and begins to run.
Fire and ice push against the colorful ball, but it stays steady and moving under Polka's feet. Frustrated, Eldris fires another shot, this time a spread of metal spikes leave the barrel, puncturing the ball easily. Polka flies forward onto the ground hard and rolls to try and recover.
"Your party tricks stand no chance against real magic! Just give up!"
Pushing herself to her feet Polka grins and laughs. "And here I thought this was my show, but you're the one cracking me up!"
"If the reality of your impending failure makes you laugh you really are just some deranged clown."
"I'm laughing because you're so ridiculous. You think the only magic worth anything is the kind that can hurt people. That's just sad."
"Magic is a tool for getting what you want, a power to be honed so no one can ever stand against you. A force to use to crush your enemies!"
"That's what's so funny!" Polka laughs as she slaps her knee. "How can you see all the fun things around you at this very moment and think that magic is only good for destruction. It's sad you didn't smile more. This whole thing could have probably been avoided."
"I smile plenty. Seeing the results of my tireless years of research and practice. That brings me cause to smile. I'll be smiling before the night's end too. When we have in our possession a tool of immense power. There will be no limits to what I can make."
"I'm afraid that's one smile I can't allow to happen. You see…my dream is to bring smiles to the world, to make people happy and give people hope when they need it most. To be an idol anyone can look to and forget their problems for a while. To face the next day better than they were before!" Polka says as she straightens herself out, with determined eyes fixed on Eldris.
"In my short time with my new friends I learned something though. There are people out there who want to take smiles away from others for their own gains. That's something I won't allow to happen. You stopped an entire lifetime of smiles for two people in love. Then you want to try and take away Flare's smile forever? That just pisses me off!"
"I grow tired of your babbling fox! Burn!" Eldris fires two streams of flame next. Polka stands firm to face them. Three metal rings suspend from the ceiling in front of the fires path, taking the fire for themselves to become ablaze. Eldris changes to shots of metal spikes again, Polka still stands firm. The rings ascend upward to make room for a trampoline that rolls to deflect the spikes. Eldris barely dodges the unexpected return of his weapons.
Another shot is fired, this time lightning. Before reaching halfway the lightning makes a sharp turn upwards, funneling into one of the metal support beams of the circus tent.
"How!? How are you doing all this!?"
"This is my grand idol magic; hologram circus." Polka says with pride. "I can only do this every once in a while but it was the perfect way to beat you. This entire room has been made into my stage. Everything here has its own will and it's decided to help protect me. Normally everything would just be inanimate objects, but today I put a little extra secret ingredient into it. Now everything you see around you, will help me take you down!"
Polka takes a second to look around the room at her creations. Even in the midst of a great battle with a hated enemy, she thinks about who she is fighting for, a dear friend who she wants to show the full splendor of this magic to someday.
"I made this magic so I could bring smiles and laughter to the world. A one fox traveling circus! I'm afraid the show is about to start its final act ladies and gentlemen! Polka needs to catch up with her friends!"
"It's still all party tricks and nonsense! You may have gotten a few surprise attacks on me but you are nowhere near taking me down."
"Let's see if you still feel that way after you see the finale."
Eldris immediately fires raw mana from his canons in anger. The smoke from the attack cleared to show Polka standing with her arms guarding her front. The mana coat around her shined with an impressive purple flair.
"You've never been to a circus show have you? Don't you know the star of the show is at their strongest during the finale!?" Polka smirks.
Polka then jumps to the nearby stage panel and with a click of her heel the stage extends upward towards the ceiling.
"For tonight's final act we are pleased to present! The hall of Polkas!" Polka yells to the crowd in her mind. Various pieces of the circus equipment begin to glow and change into upright mirrors, all moving to gather and encircle Eldris.
"Oruka Poluka!" Polka chants as she begins to march in place.
One after another, an image of Polka appears on every mirror all doing the same march.
"You think you can fool me with a mirror clown!? Let's see how your grand finale looks after I shatter them." Eldris barks as he aims one of his cannons and fires a beam of mana. The Polka in the mirror takes off her hat and holds the bottom towards the incoming beam. The mana beam goes right into the mirror and into the Polkas hat, who puts it back on with a confident smile.
Eldris cannot believe his eyes as he begins to fire madly. Every variety of element escapes the barrels of his canons toward any Polka he can see. From using their hats to twirling their swords, or just simply moving out of the way, the mirrors welcome the blasts into them and they are quickly rendered harmless. Every individual Polka, each seeming to have a mind of their own, taunts and mocks Eldris after every missed attempt to hurt them. The circle of mirrors continues to close in around Eldris, all his attacks unable to halt them.
"Everyone! We hope you enjoyed tonight's show! To send you all off with a bang we prepared some amazing fireworks!"
Across the mirrors, the Polkas seemingly talk with and instruct one another. The mirrors then glow and begin to transform. Unable to stop whatever is happening, Eldris is soon enclosed in a dark space. The mirrors then converge and magically take the shape of one big fireworks launcher.
Polka jumps off her stage with a flip and lands next to the launcher. "That was a lot of mana you fired in my mirrors you know. It's bound to make some great fireworks. So thanks for your cooperation! Have fun!"
Eldris screams as Polka lights the fuse with a flame from her finger. With a hard windup the launcher fires with a massive colorful burst. Eldris is launched towards the ceiling before an explosion of mana erupts in an assortment of colors. All manner of fun shapes light up the circus air, hearts, stars, even an image of Polka's Flare's, Watame's, Undine's and Anon's faces.
Eldris falls back to the ground with a thud and Polka does a thankful bow as the circus begins to disappear. She turns and gives a broken and burnt Eldris a few taps with her cane.
"Still alive huh?" she says to herself.
Polka looks around Eldris to find scraps of metal armor all broken and scattered around his body and the floor.
"I will not die from your pathetic excuse for magic." Eldris wheezes.
"I didn't need you to die anyway." Polka shrugs. "Yeah you might deserve it, but that's not up to me alone to decide. I think Flare is gonna want to have a few words with you anyway once this is all over. Although…you'll probably have wished I killed you." Polka puts on a mischievous smile.
Polka starts to walk away before she suddenly remembers something and turns back.
"There is one more thing I need to make sure of before I go though." she says as she comes back to Eldris and raises a foot high above his leg. A loud crack echoes in the room, and then another followed by a scream from Eldris.
"Promise fulfilled." Polka says dusting her hands off as she makes her way to the ascending staircase.
"You'll never save her." Eldris gasps. "You already admitted that spell of yours couldn't be cast again so soon. The others will know. You're all finished."
"Yeah I'm pretty spent." Polka admits. "Magic of that level really takes everything you have. I have to keep going though. Flare needs my help, and I told my friends I would catch up with them. Polka never breaks a promise to her friends. So cya later."
—-
"That was some impressive magic Polka just used." Undine states as the three of you race up the staircase. "She's a kitsune, correct?"
"Yup that's Polka alright!" you answer. "She's one of the people who helped me get better with my own mana which ended up helping get you back here, Undine."
"Polka is going to win!" Watame cheers. "She's really good with her magic and knows how to fight too!"
"That's right Watame. So we gotta do what we can to clear the way to Flare for when she catches up to us."
Three floors higher the group comes to another door.
"Alright Watame, would you do the honors?" you say moving out of the way.
Watame smiles and kicks down the door. Another circular room stands before you, lined with bookshelves, tables and furniture. It was a lot like the first floor, but less equipped for relaxing and entertaining. This was perhaps more traditional of a mages study. Two figures, one in red and the other in purple robes await you.
"Eldris let these ones get past him it seems." The one in purple remarks.
"He's always been lazy." The one in red responds.
"I suppose I'll offer you our congratulations." The purple one directs at the group. "No one has ever made it this far up the Master's tower uninvited before."
"Like anyone would wanna visit you meanies anyway!" Watame retorts and sticks her tongue out.
"The sheep girl might be onto something there, eh Rezlen. Your demeanor usually puts off anyone we talk to." the purple mage jests.
"Shut up Moroe. If you're not going to help me kill these pests, then stay out of my way." Rezlen snaps, as his crimson mana arm is released from its hiding spot within his robes and begins to grow larger.
"Yes, Yes I fully intend to help. These interlopers have made quite a mess of things already. I am rather displeased about it. By now that turncoat is probably spreading all sorts of falsehoods about us. It's going to be such a hassle to clean up."
"Two for one sounds good to me." you say, readying your spellbook. "You with the disgusting arm! I got a score to settle with you, so let's see how strong you are when you don't have the jump on people."
"As if I needed the element of surprise to overpower a weakling like you. I barely felt you struggle back at the falls." he responds snidely.
"This time you're facing Watame, Undine and I in a fair fight! And we're about to blow the walls off this place!"
The three of you steel yourselves for the battle to come. You know this won't be easy, but together you can overcome anything.
"Undine, back Watame up for me, I got the one in red alright?"
"As you wish summoner." Undine says as she raises one of her hands and in a blue flash of water a trident appears.
"This time we get to fight together." Watame says, stepping forward. "You helped to free me that day, Undine. I'm going to help you too now! Here we go everybody!" Watame lets loose a rallying song, filling her and her two companions with vigor.
"Stellaruke!" you shout as you begin your charge toward Rezlen.
Moroe lifts a hand. With a faint glow, pillars of earth erupt from the floor in front of the three. You side step them and continue forward with Watame and Undine close behind.
You decide to try something new and switch your weapons before the veil of starlight leaves your body. Even after closing the book and strapping it back to your side, the spell still holds, you can still feel the connection to the book and your own power fueling its magic. With your sword, you slice through one of the appearing pillars meant to stop your advance.
Rezlen's arm of mana surges forward and you meet it with your sword. With your foe engaged, Undine propels herself forward by producing a small geyser of water beneath her feet, reaching Moroe before he can halt her advance with another pillar of earth. A stab from her trident meets a copper glow at his chest, he had been able to create a mana coat just at the point of impact. He is sent stumbling backward but is uninjured.
Moroe quickly sets up an earthen pillar to shield himself from another direct assault, but is unprepared as Watame closes in, and with a mighty dropkick shatters the pillar.
"Get him Undine!"
Undine holds out her hand and a jet of water fires at Moroe, the surging waters send him flying back within their current.
Meanwhile, you are slowly losing ground against Rezlens magical fist, as he wills it to become bigger and bigger. Not being able to match the raw strength of it with your own, you disengage and roll along the ground sideways to avoid being flattened. You switch your weapons again and aim for the crimson mage.
"Stellar!" A powerful beam of starlight bursts forth and is met by Rezlens arm again which retracts to shield him. The arm of mana is left fully intact and opens its palm toward you.
"Let me show you how a real concentrated beam of magic can work." Rezlen grunts, and from his mana palm a beam of crimson mana fires.
"Stellashiled!" you shout in response. The shield of starlight takes the shot from Rezlen, but is barely holding together with cracks forming all over. Next comes the fist, as it shatters what's left of the shield and looks to crush you next.
You are blown away from the impact of the magic fist slamming into the ground in front of you. The book shines as you get ready for another spell, this time aimed at Rezlen's opposite side, one that didn't have a giant arm of mana to shield him from your attacks.
"Stellar!"
As the beam of starlight closes in, Rezlen holds out his other hand, and a crimson magical barrier forms, shielding him from the blast.
The next thing you feel is the giant hand swipe you to the side and you are sent rolling along the floor.
Damn how am I supposed to land any hits on this guy? You think as you start to stand back up. That crazy arm of his can just get as far as it wants from him, and any long range attack I have will just get stopped by another barrier. Should I try to use the fifth spell? No, that's too risky. I don't know what it does yet, and on top of that, I need to keep something up my sleeve for the last of the leaders. I'll have to win this battle without using it.
My only hope might be to get right in his face, launch a stellar spell right in where his arm used to be. If Lena's right, that might be the only way I can win. But even with the Stellaruke spell I wasn't able to get close enough before that arm of his cuts me off. Wait, "cut off". That's it!
"Even if he can reform the mana for his arm really fast, I should be able to cut a path for myself. It's a long shot but I gotta take it! Here I go! Stellar!"
You fire a beam of starlight right into Rezlen's approaching fist. They collide and Rezlen channels more mana into his arm to push the opposition back.
"Stellaruke!" you shout as soon as the stellar spell connects and you switch to your sword once more. You run forward and begin to slice the fist of mana along the side as you continue your advance.
As the arm continues to split between your blade's edge you can see Rezlen strain himself and suddenly, his arm splits even further without your help. The two separate ends begin to mold their shape so that they form two separate arms attached at the bicep.
One comes down at you from above, but you manage to jump out of its path, only to be punched by the other which sends you hurling across the floor.
"You gotta be kidding me!" you yell in frustration as you push yourself to your knees.
"That was almost impressive that you managed to cut through my mana coat." Rezlen taunts. "As you're well aware now, displacing my mana won't help you at all. I am a battlemage of the highest caliber. None can harm me from a distance and none can get close to me. That's why I'll never forgive that traitor to our people for what she did to me. The humiliation I endured. Rezlen the invincible sustained a permanent injury."
"Oh cry me a river." you spit. "You were the ones who started it."
"And to salt the wound, we had to fabricate a story to explain my injury." Rezlen continues. "It didn't matter how grand it was, or how much it made our people praise my prowess. I will always know that I was injured by that spineless traitor. It's that rage that fuels this arm, that makes it hunger for destruction. And I'm all too happy to oblige. Mouthy upstarts like you are fun to crush. Better yet, is that you put your allegiance with that filthy half-elf."
Suddenly someone like Hector looked absolutely sane next to this guy, even so, this wasn't looking good. You might just need to hold out until Undine and Watame beat their opponent and can help you.
Meanwhile, Moroe struggles to weave enough spells to keep Undine's and Watame's combined assault at bay. Boulder after boulder is cut in two by slashes of water. Watame channels musical notes from her harp to strike Moroes.
"Watame, you need to go help Anon." Undine says suddenly.
Confused by the sudden request since they have a clear advantage, she looks behind them to see Anon struggle to his feet.
"I don't think he can best this enemy alone. I will continue to fight this one."
"But Undine..."
"Watame, you are the only one who can help him now, your magic will be your key to victory. While mastery over the flow and shape of mana is powerful, it has a weakness. To maintain such hardened mana takes immense concentration, unwavering focus of its shape. Disrupt that and you both can win."
"How can I do that though? my magics mainly good for supporting everyone. The nice notes I can play make people feel better."
"So what would happen if you played not so nice notes?"
The wheels in Watame's head begin to turn as she starts to understand what Undine means.
"Ok Undine I'll try, please be safe."
"I will, little sheep, I'll get you to Anon, I believe in your victory." With a wave of her hand a geyser appears below Watame and a stream of water hurls her over towards the other battle.
With the slight break from their assault, Moroes finally has a chance to recollect himself and waits for Undine's next move. "Fighting an actual elemental spirit might be above my paygrade." He huffs.
"I had a feeling your heart wasn't really in this. Are you having second thoughts?" Undine says, pointing her trident at him.
"Make no mistake, I'm not a traitor like that whelp you met earlier. It's more than enough to bide for time. The little half-elf you were instructed to help save, doesn't have much time left. It's not like anyone can actually defeat Rezlen anyway, so best to just keep myself in one piece so I can enjoy all the rewards later."
"I don't know how much the world has changed since the years I have been asleep, but my summoner strongly believes that what you want to use his friend for is wrong. As the queen of the waters I will do all I am able to stop you." Undine declares as she lets loose another stream of water into her opponent to push him back further as she restarts their battle.
The rush of flying across the room almost distracted Watame from the fact she had a job to do. She looked below and saw Rezlens mana arm form back into one and starting to stretch towards you.
You ready your sword to try and fend off the approaching arm, you were out of good ideas, but then you see Watame flying toward you. How does this fluffy sheep always know just when you need a renewal of hope?
Watame lands on top of the fist with a mighty thud from her legs, and uses it as a springboard to dismount herself to be side by side with you.
"I'm here to help! And I got an idea!" Watame says cheerily at you.
"You're a lifesaver Watame, whatever it is you got in mind, I'm with you all the way!"
"I don't really know how to explain if this will work, but you might want to cover your ears a little just in case." Watame tells you as she grips a few strings of her harp tentatively, debating if they are correct, before pulling them as far as they can and letting go.
A mismatch of notes and vibrations make an awful sounding chord that echoes through the room. Not sure what to expect, you wince at that sound against your ears, but in that brief instant you notice the effect it has. The mana of the approaching fist ripples and shakes, as if scrambling to keep its form.
Watame looks on with excitement at what she had managed to do. However, the fist is still fast approaching as you take Watame by the hand, and jump to get you both out of the way.
"It worked Anon! It worked a little but Undine was right!"
"What exactly was she right about?"
"If I can make a really awful noise, I can make it hard for that guy to keep that arm together! I can Disarm him." She was extremely proud of that one, too proud while they both were in mortal danger.
The crimson hand turns toward you once more, palm open as a beam of mana begins to burst forth.
"Stellashield!" you shout as you step in front of Watame. The shield blocks the attack, but remembering how this went last time you had to act quickly.
"Charge!" you follow up as the shield's energy flows into your hand, you see the fist making its way toward you.
"Stellar!" The powered up beam of starlight leaves your hand and makes a hole right through the hand of magic.
Watame follows up with a misplayed crescendo of magical notes, all hitting the disrupted mana and causing the entire arm to shake once more.
The two of you could really do this! When you work together like this, no one can stop you, not Noel, not Rahndel, not some power hungry mages.
"Watame! Can you use my spell book for me?" you ask, your strength from within was just about empty, and you know you will need more spells to win this battle.
"Mhmm!" she nods. "We're gonna take this guy down together."
"Damn right! He's not gonna know what hit him." you say as you hand Watame your book and unsheathe your sword again. "We're gonna get as close as we can to him and then you're gonna rattle his head again with what you did earlier okay?"
"You got it Anon! Let's do this! Let's take him down and go save Flare! Here we go! The second spell! Stellaruke!"
"And let's see how you handle this, you one armed jerk! I'm gonna meet your mana coat point for point!" you declare. You concentrate on forming a coat of water mana around your sword's blade as a bright blue glow starts to envelop it.
Not appreciating your taunting, Rezlen begins to barrage the two of you with a series of mana beams, but you continue to charge; knocking the beams meant for you and Watame out of the way. The hand moves to block your path forward, open palmed ready to grab you both in its clutches.
"Now Watame!"
Watame lets loose another off tune chord, this time with her very voice, the sound waves echo in the air. Your mana coat vanishes in an instant, but at the same time Rezlen's arm of magic struggles once again to hold its solid shape. A solid slash downward opens a path forward to Rezlen.
"You noisy insects!" Rezlen groans. "This poor excuse for a strategy will never work! My arm is ready to strike again!"
Anger fueling him, he wills his arm to stretch upward toward the ceiling, the fist changes to the form of a dragon's head as it breathes down fire at you from behind.
"Anon! Fire!" Watame shouts and points.
Okay time to put up or shut up. Ebb and flow, ebb and flow you repeat to yourself in your mind. As you channel mana in your free hand you concentrate on everything water is to you, you need its rage, its force, its power to overcome the heat of flame. As ready as you'll ever be, you turn to the scorching fire and throw your hand toward it. A powerful eruption of water leaves your first that collides with the oncoming fire. The hiss of dwindling flame fills the room, as your spell buys you both just enough time to escape before the rest of the fire reaches the floor.
"That was a real water spell Anon! Good job!" Watame says, relieved that she won't be cooked to a crisp.
"Well I am a summoner of the great spirit of water aren't I? Undine might think I'm lame if I can't do one."
"Anon! Aim at that mage!" Watame commands, her focus brought back to the task at hand. "Stellar!"
Once again, Rezlen is quick to form a magic barrier with his other hand to block your beam of starlight. This time however, the barrier looked to buckle a little.
"What was that? I'm sure that was the same spell from earlier but it was stronger? Rezlen asks himself. "No matter they'll die soon enough."
"A-Anon! The dragon is still getting closer! I don't wanna get eaten!"
"Why not double your troubles?" Rezlen sneers as mana extends and forms around his other arm. The mana begins to expand and harden, changing its shape to match the first arm. Now the head of a dragon was facing you in both directions.
"Watame! We're gonna go full speed, let's put it all on this next combo attack. It's all or nothing now, are you ready?"
Watame struggles to steel herself but nods. "Full speed coming up!" She sings a song of strengthening to make you both faster and the spellbook shines with her inner strength.
"Stellaruke!"
"Okay follow close behind me Watame! I'm gonna cut a path right through." Once again you bring the shine of blue mana to your blade. You gather all the courage you can muster as you run straight toward the newly formed dragon head, this wouldn't stop you. Flare was counting on you, not fire, or a dragon, or even an entire guild of mages would stop you from saving your friend. The dragon of mana opens its mouth as flames start to pour out toward you.
With a roar you bring your sword down, cutting the flames in two, the properties of the water mana in your sword act as a deterrent to the flame magic.
"One more time!" you shout as you slice once again, cleaving the dragon head in two.
With the connection severed, the mana coat that formed Rezlen's newest weapon disappears, leaving only a short distance between you and him.
"Keep going Watame!" you cheer, as you b-line for Rezlen's opposite arm. With a hard tackle into its bicep, you wrestle it off its original course.
Rezlen turns his focus to you as he tries to shake you off his artificial arm. There was no way you were letting go, not when Watame was about to deliver the attack that would seal your victory. Too late does Rezlen notice the very ferocious sheep jumping toward him. He raises his free hand to create a barrier, it begins to form but Watame takes a deep breath.
Watame lets loose a blood curdling scream. The magic of her voice penetrates the mage's senses, making the inside of his head ring. The mana that made up his arm begins to fizzle and disappear, unable to retain its shape.
The sound of Watame's voice makes your ears ring too, but you still pick yourself up off the ground and slice through Rezlen's robes to reveal his empty arm socket.
The book shined brightly in Watame's hands as she gathered her strength for the finishing move.
"Stellar!" she yells with feeling.
A point blank stellar spell fires into Rezlen's side, old scar and all. He howled in pain from the blast as he was sent flying across the room.
Watame and you breathed heavily, the effort took a lot out of you both. When the smoke cleared Rezlen was still moving, slowly trying to sit up. Watame was the first to act this time. She runs as fast as her legs will carry her and as Rezlen was starting to rise and concentrate his mana, she slams into his chest with her head. His breath and blood both escape his throat.
"That's for bullying my friends!" She says in victory.
Undine and Moroes continue to clash, water spells against earth spells. Moroes keeps his actions calculated and minimal. Undine wears a confident smile, she knows something he doesn't, and that worries him.
From beyond Undine, Moroes can see a bright flash of starlight. The smoke clears and two figures can be seen coming in his direction. The realization starts to set in, Rezlen has lost.
"Still think you can keep stalling for time?" Undine prods at Moroes increasing doubt. "Now that my summoner and his comrade have beaten their enemy, you will be next."
Moroes puts on a fake smile and begins to channel a massive spell. Soft earth floats and encircles him before coming together to form a protective sphere around him. After molding together, the earth hardens and turns to solid stone. Then, as an extra protective measure, a coat of copper mana spreads across the stone. The spell did not end there, the floor rumbles near the door leading to the next staircase, as a wall of stone rises to block anyone who would wish to go to the top of the tower.
"I know I probably don't stand a great chance of beating all three of you without major risk, but I don't have to beat any of you. As long as you stay here, we win." Moroes' voice comes, carried by his own magic.
Undine looks annoyed at the cowardice of her opponent. She allows her trident to vanish as her hands rise up to mark the beginning of a spell. Under Moroes floating boulder of protection, water begins to form and rise higher and higher. Undine wills the water to completely envelop the stone prison Moroes had made for himself.
The spirit of water begins to gather power in one of her hands. With an open palm pointed toward the tower wall, a powerful stream of water erupts and strikes the wall. The masonry begins to give under the increasing pressure, she can feel the wall begin to give and crack from under her spellwork. Satisfied with this, Undine stops her jet of water and focuses her attention back to the boulder she has ensnared. With a mighty heave of her will and arms, she forces her waters to carry and fling Moroes and the stone that he thought protected him, at the wall of the tower that was on the brink of falling apart.
The force of solid stone reinforced by magic was too much for the tower wall to handle. Moroes was ejected right through the tower wall, and down into the city of Lu'shaldor. With the mage who created it gone, Undine made short work of the wall meant to halt their advance with a simple blast of water from her hand.
"Turns out I didn't need to beat you either." Undine scoffs.
"Undine! That was so awesome!" you yell, the thrill of watching Undine work such intense magic wills your legs to move you to her.
"You just threw that guy out of the tower?!" Watame asks.
"He was planning to crawl under a rock so to speak and never let us advance. That would be rather troublesome. I decided the quickest way to remove that problem was to expel him from the tower. I'm glad to see I was right. I'm also glad to see I was right about the two of you conquering that enemy together."
"Alright! There's nothing keeping us from the top now." you say.
"Oi! Everyone!" Polka's voice comes from the other side of the room. Your eyes widen to see that it's really her, holding herself up against the doorframe and out of breath.
"It's Polka!" Watame cheers. "She won!"
"Just in time!" you wave to Polka. "We got clear path to the top, so let's go save Flare!"
Forcing herself to run across the large room, Polka rushes over to all of you.
"I'm never going up this many stairs again after this." She groans, and takes a look around at the results of the battle you just had. "I saw the red guy with the weird arm down for the count when I came in, was there another one here?"
You extend a thumb toward the hole that Undine put in the wall which caused Polka to put two and two together.
"That must have been so cool! Okay next time, I'm not gonna miss a thing."
"You missed something cool?! I didn't get to see what kind of crazy stuff your circus magic got to do." you whine.
"Summoner." Undine says to bring you back to focus. "The final battle likely awaits us at the top. Although we are united, we have all expended a lot of ourselves to get here, myself included."
"Yeah, you're right." you reluctantly admit. "I used almost all my mana on mana coats and that water spell. The power I use for my spellbook is pretty tapped out too, I might only have one or two spells left in me."
"Me too." Watame adds. "I could probably give you one more spell Anon. How are you though Polka?"
"My body is totally screaming at me and I have pretty much no mana left. The hologram circus spell takes everything I got and then some. Buuuut." Polka says as she starts to form an idea. "If your spellbook really doesn't take mana. I could read your spells for you Anon. I might be all fresh on that front."
"Would you Polka? That would be great, it might give us a fighting chance." you say as you hand her your spell book.
"So I've never actually used any kind of spell book before. Any pointers?" Polka asks as she flips through the pages to familiarize herself with it.
"First you focus on the spell you want to read." Watame starts. "Then you let all your feelings just swell up until BOOM. And then you say the spell."
"Hey, you were there when I explained this to Flare." you add in.
"I was kinda not paying attention." Polka admits brazenly. "But I remember the part where you said it was something learned best by doing."
"So you instantly threw out everything else I said before that huh?" you joke.
"Yup! I learn much better with practice anyway. I promise I'll use this to help us get Flare back."
"Well you already know what the first four spells do, the fifth is still a mystery though."
"There was something odd about the fifth spell Anon." Watame starts. "Even though it was there and I could understand it, the spell wouldn't glow like the others would when I thought about reading the spell."
"Yeah that is a little strange, but then again, so is the book itself. Let's focus on how we can win with the spells we have and our own strength. Everyone, let's go save Flare."
With that you all walk toward the final staircase with determination. The next battle might be the toughest yet, but you had no choice but to win. Flare was your friend, she confided in you and was someone you deeply respected. The two of you both knew what it was like to grow up being judged by others just because of where you came from. You promised her she would never have to feel that kind of loneliness again.
It's time to stop another evil wizard.