Chapter 217: Flamme's Battle
This power was enough to level the entire village. The elves all watched in horror, their own defensive spells a fragile and flickering thing, a wave of a pure and utter despair now washing over them. The strongest of them was already defeated. The rest, a motley crew of ordinary elves and children... they stood no chance.
And at that last, final, desperate moment...
BOOM!
A massive pillar of a pure white light, without any warning, descended from the heavens and struck Bazalt with a unerring accuracy.
He had sensed it, of course, but it was too late. He was thrown back by the force of the blast, crashing through several trees before he finally came to a stop.
And then, a new figure appeared on the battlefield. It was Ela.
She had unleashed the attack and now, without a moment's pause, she turned her attention to the other demons who were now attacking the other elves, a series of a precise and deadly light spears that, in a matter of seconds, had completely turned the tide of the battle.
"Do not panic!" her cool, calm voice was a steadying presence in the chaos, and the elves' own faltering morale was now rekindled. Under her command, they began to launch their own counter-attack and to evacuate the villagers.
"Damn it! What are those scouts even doing!?" he said, and struggled back to his feet. His armor was now a charred and smoking mess, but he himself was mostly unharmed.
His eyes, now filled with a pure and unadulterated killing intent, were fixed on her. "You think you can stop me? You alone?"
He did not know where this elven mage had come from, and he did not care. All he had to do was kill her, and Lord Macht's own plan could still be carried out.
With a roar, he charged, not as a mage, but as a warrior. Against a pure mage, a close-quarters battle was the only way. And once he was upon her... there were a hundred different ways to kill her. A hundred.
But just as he was about to reach her, another figure, a figure that was even faster than he was, now stood in his way.
It was Flamme.
She was now on the ground, between him and her senior, her staff held in a steady grip, all of her earlier nervousness now gone, replaced by a new and grim resolve. A whirlwind of a magical energy now swirled around her.
"Your opponent," she said, her voice a low and quiet sound, but with a new and undeniable strength, "is me."
He was so startled by her sudden appearance that he skidded to a halt. He looked her up and down, at her human form, and at the magical aura around her, and then he burst out laughing, a loud and boisterous sound that echoed through the forest. "Hahahaha! A human mage? You think you can stop me? Get out of my way!"
He drew his greatsword and brought it down on her in a single, merciless blow, an attack that would have surely cleaved her, and the elf behind her, in two.
"Ela, take care of the other demons. This one is mine," she said, her own voice now a steady and determined sound. And without a second thought, she threw up a defensive barrier and blocked his attack.
Ela, who had been about to rush to her aid, now paused. She had seen it, the pure and unadulterated magical energy that now swirled around her 'junior sister'. And she understood. This was a test. A trial by fire. "Be careful," she said, and then turned and flew to the other side of the village. She would trust in this human, this human who had been acknowledged by her own teacher.
"You insolent creature!" he roared, and brought his greatsword down with an even greater force.
CRACKLE!
Her own barrier was now a web of fine cracks, and in the next second, it shattered, and the greatsword continued on its path.
But she was ready for it. She swung her own staff, and a new and strange spell, a spell of her other teacher's own invention, was now in play.
"Gravity Lock."
VMM!
An invisible force now descended upon him, and his own, mighty blow was stopped, just a few feet from her. His entire body, and the greatsword in his hand, was now pinned to the ground, unable to move. A gravity spell. It was a powerful magic she had learned from him, a spell she had even improved upon. And though her own version had a limited range and a short duration, and was a massive drain on her own mana, in a critical moment like this... it was a game-changer.
He was now a helpless, struggling thing on the ground, a look of a pure and utter disbelief in his eyes. It felt as if a mountain had been dropped on him. He could not move, and even the flow of his own mana was now a sluggish and difficult thing. How... how could this human know such a spell?
A wave of a dizziness washed over her. The spell... it had taken almost all of her mana. But she had bought herself the time she needed. She swung her staff once more, and a new and even more powerful spell was now in play, a spell of her own, a fusion of two opposing elements, a torrent of a blue and a white energy that now slammed into his chest.
BOOM!!!
An explosion, an explosion even greater than the one from the pillar of light, now erupted from the point of impact.
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