Desperate Rush Against Time, Part ????????
664 10/11 3:13 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Sabel looked down upon her opponent, her feet planting firmly upon the pillar she just created as she prepared to continue the fight, Mana and Vital Energy alike flaring around her, mingling with the Aura that she was now fully aware of and pouring into her two new swords.
The pillar upon which she stood soon became under assault from long serpents of white lightning that started climbing the tower, encircling it and rising rapidly towards the Human, leaving deep grooves into the stone as they aimed towards the black-haired one while emanating a crackling hiss.
Sabel's swords started to crumble apart, their destructive purpose activating as she first used her Warden-based sword to fill her pillar completely with her Energy before slamming her Vision-based one into the same place as her other sword, linking it and the Energy in her pillar together.
Both of her swords finished shattering and, almost as if in response, her pillar exploded, long blades of solidified air erupting from it and shredding apart the Shining Bolt snakes and leaving her in freefall towards her opponent, her eyes concentrated on meeting their own.
Light-Attribute Mana accumulated around her left hand, guided and held in place by her Aura until it stabilized in a fully physical form, a sword that she pointed right towards the Human-Spirit Hybrid, aiming on impaling her opponent in the heart.
JouleMark watched the Light sword aiming at their chest, stopping themselves in mid-air thanks to thin strings of the Light- and Lightning- Composite Attribute connecting around their body and to the ground beneath them, a quick and dirty way for them to fly even if just at a low altitude.
The thin white strings connected with various other surfaces, stilling their momentum at once before pushing them back, the [Avatar Manifestation]-using one being thrown over the falling Human before redirecting themselves in their own nosedive towards their opponent, trying to impale her open back with the sharpened layer of Shining Bolts around their remaining left arm.
Just a breath away from striking their target however the blonde's attention was stolen away by the low, heartbeat-like sound coming from Luna's orb, their gaze immediately moving to it and with widened eyes being able to see it tremble slightly, a glowing ripple showing on its previously still surface, an evident mark that something happened to Luna and that her return would be forthcoming.
JouleMark made to move towards her, Mark's own intense hatred momentarily leading the combined existence to forget about Sabel for an instant, long enough for the swordswoman to twist around, a faint Aura limb closing around the blonde's arms before the black haired one, keeping the two in place and opening them up for a diagonal slash from their Light sword, carving a deep gash into the Human-Spirit Hybrid, sending them reeling back.
"You-!" JouleMark roared briefly, Vital Mana working overtime to rapidly close the wound on their chest, their blue eyes flying to the falling Human and meeting the mocking grimace on Sabel's face, the black-eyed one having broken her fall by bending slightly while still being able to keep an eye on her opponents.
Yet they were unable to concentrate on the Human as their eyes were struck to the more immediate concern, the previously completely lightless sphere that was now starting to explode with light as stars were born and then died in supernovas, the resulting stardust attracting each other to form new stars that soon detonated, a continuous process of refinement that assured the result would be way too dangerous for them.
The sphere distorted, stretching out and distorting strongly in various directions, writhing violently and forming into various bestial extremities, arms, legs, wings, tails and heads alike emerging from the orb before they were pulled back under, the mass of Black Blood burning and causing her impurities to concentrate in small patches that then sublimated, turning into energy that enriched the whole.
A constant cycle of purification and refinement that would amplify Luna's resulting growth, enhancing her returning form even further.
JouleMark struck immediately, a long line of Shining Bolts erupting from their location towards their hated enemy, the branches of the lightning bolt connecting with the last of the remaining Anti-Luna Purification-Infused water, Flux having ceased producing it as otherwise they would not have been able to match Amber's rate of fire.
The Purification-Attribute followed the Light-Composite Attribute, melding together in a bright golden lightning bolt that aimed right for the mass of Energy and Black Blood, trying to force her to digest more hostile mattter at once, thing that would slow her down some.
Sabel immediately interfered, summoning her last Blitz-based sword and shattering it immediately, not knowing precisely the reason or purpose of the Human-Spirit Hybrid's attack but deciding that either way she would stop it, shattering her weapon immediately and in so doing creating a magnetic distortion that ripped apart the attack and caused it to rain down upon the whole area.
As she did her best to deal with the golden sparks that fell upon her, thanking her lucky star that they were mostly harmless in their current condition thanks to the Anti-Effect being concentrated on Luna alone, meaning that she could actually handle the remains of the attack.
Her Aura flared briefly, exhausting her already mostly-spent reserves to leave her unharmed yet panting heavily, her face covered in sweat as she trembled in place, the continuous Channeling of Energy straining her body to the limit, especially now that the support of her Aura ended.
Yet JouleMark was unable to press their advantage, their gaze immediately stuck to the floating orb, eyeing how it was back to being completely still yet being able to feel, thanks to Mark's experience with traveling through time, how the fabric of spacetime twisting around it, spinning ever deeper around the mass of Black Blood and Energy, being pulled in as if by an immense gravity well.
The orb started to condense, becoming smaller and somehow even darker, fully solidifying into a one meter wide sphere that despite its evident weight was still able to remain floating in mid-air.
Meanwhile in the distance, Mafel shared Sabel's current perilous situation to Amber, leading this last one to intervene immediately.
The rain fell upon the Phoenix's flames, evaporating soon after, but being able to sap a bit of their heat in the process while long, tentacle-like whips of water falling upon and trying to impale the Demonic-blooded one that responded by releasing heated air blades with each of her wingbeat, gradually increasing the temperature around her while still safeguarding the Spiritual Elf hidden within her mane.
A carefull balancing act between someone with no pratical limit on the time they could spend manipulating water but with a finite amount they could control at a given time and someone that could output a vast but finite amount of flames.
A balancing act that soon was shattered entirely.
Upon Mafel's signal, Amber exploded in a wave of Blessed Flames, immediately turning in a miniature star that evaporated all the nearby water before exploding towards the exhausted Human, enveloping her and step by step helping her to recover, Mafel jumping down from her Mate and used the golden flames around the two to cheaply Cast a Holy-Attribute Spell.
The Elf embraced the shorter one, pulling her in her arms while caressing her head gently, the Human immediately falling unconscious upon being held by the other, the sudden relaxation and sense of security causing her to crash, the pain of her current physical state that she was previously able to ignore thanks to adrenaline, now flaring even more intensely.
All the while Mafel stitched together her torn muscles and bruised, if not broken, bones, being carefull not to wake her up or fully restoring them as a precaution against the swordswoman suddenly waking up and rejoining the fight, worsening her injuries even more.
There was a very important difference after all between pushing and punishing one's own body.
JouleMark scowled, their Shining Bolts surrounding their body as they worked overtime to figure out a way to their target, past the mass of Cursed Flames that surrounded the layer of Holy- and Fire-Composite Attribute that enveloped them.
Thing not helped by the purple flames being not a firm sphere or a dome, a relatively simple barrier to surpass if one had enough power, but instead forming a spinning dome around them that meant that it wouldn't be enough to just break through one side by concentrating on a single point but instead it would need to be broken open with persistence, a much more processing-intensive method that she was able to bypass completely thanks to her experience using Air-Attribute Sorcery.
The Phoenix herself soon floated through the layer of flames, her resplendent form focused on her opponents, soon assuming her more Humanoid form, pointing her Unique Arma to her opponents, her own form and weapon both enveloped in an intense layer of Cursed Flames.
"Sorry, my Mates are quite busy at the moment. You will need to content yourselves with just me for a little while longer." She smiled, the pridefull nature of an higher-order Species evident on her face as her Aura started to flare around her for the first time since this battle began.
Flux immediately rose a wall of solid water, not ice but in all actuality solid water, before JouleMark, just in time to block Amber's sword from impaling the Human-Spirit Hybrid head, the mass of water shaking and bubbling as the heat of the Unique Arma caused the densely-packed liquid mass to start rapidly evaporating, despite the Spirit's best efforts.
Amber grabbed onto her Blazing Blade of the Piercer with her other hand, tightening her grip on her weapon before transforming her thrust into a vertical swing, cutting the wall in two at once and forcing the Human-Spirit Hybrid to retreat or be eviscerated.
Her lips twisted into a wide grin, a wave of fire erupting from the tip of her weapon and covering her in a burning wave that forced all the water around her to evaporate at once, using the newly created mist to hide her following strikes, launching an endless rain of blows that marked her complete change in tactics from a defensive one to a fully offensive one.
Things certainly aided by the shift to her more intense but smaller-scaled form.
All the while invisible cracks started to spread on the mass of Black Blood floating in the distance, the clock signaling the end of the fight progressing to its inevitable end.
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