One second it stood, the next it was ash, burned into nothing by the pressure of Ghira's bracelets as they spun like a wheel made of stars.
The guards remained standing. Their eyes were now empty and unstable. They were corpses that hadn't fallen yet, and for reasons Tom couldn't fathom, why she hadn't commanded them forward.
However, One enemy was more than enough.
Johan raised his sword while flames curled across the steel blade. His blue fire on sword bent the air creating slight waves around it.
He stared at Ghira without blinking. "Tom, don't hesitate. If you see an opening, you strike, better if it's a critical."
Tom nodded, though his throat was dry. His 'Face' hovered into existence beside him on the chair, watching him silently. He asked under his breath, "What should I do?"
The Face did not answer. Its hollow eyes just stared. Seemed like a stalker. Tom was frustrated to react as a fly passed between them.
"Nevermind." Tom muttered and held his dagger. The fame of axis and gravity was standing.... or sitting.... whatever, beside him.
Ghira smiled. Her bracelets began to orbit faster. The violet sparks turned into burning chains of light. "Two little sparks. Two moths with fire in their bellies. Do you know what happens when moths fly into suns?"
The fight started in a millisecond.
Johan didn't wait for a moment to finish her speech. His sword bursted at her like a star in blue flame. It hissed the midair as if reality itself didn't want to hold the heat. He aimed for Ghira's chest.
She caught it with one hand while bare fingers.
The flame tried to rush against her skin, licking her wrist, trying to eat through. Her rainbow hair shone brighter, reflecting the fire like stained glass. She smirked in a chaotic act.
"Blue? How cute," she whispered.
Then her bracelets spun, snapping outward. A violet wave burst from her body, flinging Johan back through two miles. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood.
Tom's Face flickered into existence sitting on a chair beside him. Its silence held worse than any wound.
"What do I do?" Tom asked under his breath, panic bubbling.
No answer came from the Gentlesoul.
"Damn you." he muttered.
Ghira stepped forward as her bracelets spiraled. Every step left scars of flame on the floor.
Tom raised his dagger. His body shaked slightly.The Air rotated in a circular pattern wrapping the space around it. He forced it toward her. That rotation turned into invisible blades.
She stopped it. Looked at the spiral. Walked straight through it.
"Your little tricks" she said, "are nothing but toys for me."
Tom's heart pumped louder. He twisted again, this time pulling the rotation under her foot. The ground buckled as she stumbled half a step. Johan was already up, charging, blade slowly igniting hotter.
"NOW!" Tom yelled.
Johan slashed low. Tom flicked another rotation behind the slash, amplifying the momentum. The sword tore forward faster than normal.
It cut Ghira's a part of peplos, drawing sparks against her skin.
Her smile widened.
"You boys play well together." she said. "But tell me…. what happens when your toys melt?"
Her bracelets whirled faster, summoning violet flames that didn't crackle like fire. They formed together, like a choir at a funeral. She snapped her fingers.
A sphere of violet flame swallowed the air, detonating.
Tom rotated it instantly forcing its explosion to reverse, imploding into a thin point of nothing. The blast vanished midair like it didn't exist.
His knees buckled, sweat dripping down his temple. "Argh, I feel weak." he whispered.
Johan understood, the force that Tom caused to reverse a High Tier attack being a low tier drained his psychic energy.
Her violet glowing hand reached for his throat. Johan crashed into her, sword cleaving down skilfully. She blocked with her arm. Flesh seared. The smell of burning skin filled the nose. She didn't flinch.
"Do you know why your fire fails, Guardian?" she whispered into Johan's face, pushing him back. "Because my flames are not bound by heat. Your heat is warmer, lad. Bring it on already!"
She shoved him back with a wave of violet, his sword cracked because of the ray waves.
Tom gasped for oxygen. He flicked his fingers—three rotations snapped into existence. One around her feet, one above her head, one behind her spine. They twisted like gears, pulling her body awkwardly.
Her bracelets spun, cutting each rotation apart like silk threads.
But it gave Johan the window.
He rushed again with the sword blazing brighter, shifting from blue into streaks of black at its edges. He slashed a wide arc.
Tom boosting it with a spiral force at the last moment. The blade connected, cutting deep into her shoulder, not enough to injure though.
Dark blood, the floor bathed by the stingy, venomous blood.
Ghira staggered a bit. It was the first time, she looked at her wound in centuries. Her smile didn't fade. If anything, it grew even more.
"Good." she purred. "Good, draw blood. Make me feel again!"
Her bracelets rushed furiously. She swung her both arm upwards and a flood of violet fire erupted, shredding through walls, melting everything that exists.
Johan blocked with his sword, the blue flame clashed against violet in a storm of colors.
Tom bent space again by rotating the violet fire into thin, harmless streams but each time he did, his body weakened. His vision blurred.... his knees shook.
Think.... Think.... Not brute force.... Creativity.
He remembered the lore.
"The Ocean that bestowed light."
Ghira's name written there. Beautiful, innocent, caring. Emperor Wactj's wife.
Is it the same woman? Or just a mask wearing her name? He didn't know.
But he knew she was going to kill them all like animals.
"Johan!" Tom shouted. "Combo-high swing!"
Johan nodded, rushing forward again. He swung upward, his sword slashing for her neck.
Tom rotated his momentum mid-air, snapping the swing into a downward strike instead. The fake-out caught Ghira—her bracelets blocked high but the blade came low, biting into her ribs.
Violet fire exploded outward. The shockwave threw Tom back into a wall, blood poured from his nose.
Ghira staggered again, blood dripping slowly from her ribs. Her bracelets were spinning violently now.
Sounding like chainsaw's sound around your home at midnight when your alone. Her rainbow hair shone brighter, almost blinding everyone's sight.
"Do you think this matters? That your scratches change the tide? I gave my body to birth empires. And now? I will take it back!"
Her bracelets fused, merging into one massive ring of violet fire, floating behind her head like a halo.
Arlong was still in the corner.
Praying.
Then the bow in his lap, splintered and useless just moments before, snapped back into shape.
The wood looked ancient but better, sreading some kind of magical pressure.
Johan glanced mid-fight. "What the heck—Arlong, now's not the time for—"
Arlong went forward and stood , lifting the bow. His voice was low. "Time is exactly what I've bargained for."
Tom stunned, even as blood dripped from his nose. " Huh? what are you talking about?"
Arlong didn't answer. He notched an arrow that wasn't there and from the bow's string, darkness faded, condensing into a jagged arrowhead. The thing looked like it was carved from a precious concept itself, drinking in all evilness nearby.
He drew it back.
When he let go, the arrow didn't fly. It slipped through layers of space, it wasn't obeying rules of existence at all. It reappeared midair, point-first, grazing Ghira's halo of violet flame.
The flame sputtered. For half a moment, her bracelets went out of control.
Johan roared and rushed in with the sword ablaze. Tom twisted the angle of his swing with a spiral, forcing the strike deeper. His sword bit into her side.
Ghira staggered backwards. Her blood spattered the ground in violet arcs. She turned her head slowly, eyes locking on Arlong and brought out a smile.
"So. You're the hidden one."
Arlong notched another invincible-arrow, his voice was steady but eerie. "My arrows don't hurt anyone. They pierce the thread that ties you to yourself. Tom cease the target immediately."
Tom felt a chill. "What does that mean?"
"Means she will not bleed, instead, her one of capabilities will be ceased." Arlong muttered. He loosed another arrow. This one sliced past her cheek. Her rainbow hair dimmed for a blink, as if the arrow had stolen a fragment of her light.
Ghira's bracelets spun violently, her laugh broke into hysterics. "Good! GOOD! Break me! Strip me apart! I welcome it!"
She lifted her arms. Dozens of purple stars formed into existence, each boiling with heat beyond measure. The air distorted around them.
"Stars, never should exist." Johan muttered, stepping back slowly.
"Move!" Tom shouted.
They just dodged. Johan was the one rolling hard to dodge. His sword cut one in half before it vaporized a canyon. Tom twisted his spirals, redirecting two of them off-course but one clipped his shoulder.
Flesh sizzled, blood bursted as the star pierced upper part of his shoulder clean leaving embers and ashes. He got injured, clenching his teeth.
Arlong stood still, loosing another arrow. The shot collided with one of the stars and instead of exploding, the star dimmed, shrinking into nothing before impact.
Johan glanced at him mid-fight. "What the hell are those arrows made of?"
Arlong didn't blink. "Some calls it divine, someone miracle, blessings, for me it's just a bundle of curses."
Ghira tilted her head back, laughing like a woman at a wedding gone mad. Her bracelets spun so fast they began to blur.
Tom saw it. Her skin was cracking inside. Her form…. was warping. Horns? No, shadows of horns. A flicker of tail? Something was showing. She wasn't just human anymore.
Johan growled through clenched teeth. "She's—"
Ghira cut the curse with raw flame, her laugh spiraling into shrieks. "Yes, say it. Call me what I am. You already feel it."
Her bracelets slammed together. A surge of violet light built in her chest.
Arlong's eyes widened. "She's charging something!"
Tom staggered to his feet. He rotated the air wildly, preparing to deflect. Arlong loosed three arrows in quick succession, their curses tearing faint cracks into Ghira's aura.
It was too late....
She screamed crazier in a mournful way.
A violet-white blast erupted from her body, a gama explosion so violent the desert shook. The sky split in every direction.
Flames rolled out across ten thousand kilometers, annihilating mountains, vaporizing the lands, buildings, space, creating violent storms and thunders, erasing everything.
It was like an artificial supernova brightening the night for seconds.
They were twenty thousand kilometers away from the bunker. Yet, everyone there felt the aura, especially.... Radahn.