Kat Pov f
When the notification popped up that Jahi had vanquished her own Fiend I was beyond relieved, though my thoughts were yanked away as the spell that I was shaping demanded my attention, its complexity and power requirement requiring my full attention as I found that fine balance between empowered the spell and keeping it from overloading.
The last thing I wanted was for it to explode in my face, especially since it was Ice Mana that had the innate ability to spread a deadly frost that was near impossible to get rid of if you were unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of it.
That would be an almost guaranteed death for me, so I funneled my mana carefully into the runes and kept it evenly distributed as I prepared to unleash a swirling blizzard of extremely sharp and deadly snowflakes upon the cultists occupying the center of the city.
It was a spell that would singlehandedly turn the tides of this battle in an instant, and it was something that would net me an exorbitant amount of experience to push me through more levels as I attempted to make the most out of this.
With the deaths of many Fiends already marking our kill tally, the Fingers were attempting to find some sort of hope to latch themselves onto as they sought a way to win this fight and see their future come to fruition, the hope of witnessing the blooming of a world meant entirely for them held close to their hearts.
On one hand, the appearance of this many Fiends was already worrisome enough, and many of them were showing a prowess that demanded a modicum of respect, but the presence of so many Death Jackals who had been honed to a perfect edge by the Sultana herself meant that the quantity of them didn't matter that much.
On the other hand though, this many Fiends at such a low level made me wonder where they were coming from, and if there was something else at play here besides the already known objective of the Fingers and the likely objective of their Fiendish partners; was there something a step beyond even their goals?
Where were the strong Fiends that brought death and destruction in their wake merely by existing, the same quality of Fiends that had almost ripped Leone from us prematurely?
If we could get rid of the cultists in general and reveal only those Fiends then this battle would potentially become easier than what we had hoped in our fervent prayers, but the likelihood of that being the case was slim, the same way I had a feeling that this long, charged spell of mine was likely to never get cast.It was a slow buildup of mana that needed to happen for me to release this wide area of effect spell, and the feeling of eyes on me had returned once more, so I switched some of the runes out as quickly as I could so that I could guarantee something came of my efforts.
Each rune that I redrew and added to the Ritual Circle glimmered that cold cyan that I had come to know, and my hands moved as fast as they could as I switched the spell into something far less grand, and yet as I pushed the Ritual Circle forwards and began to activate it someone appeared right in front of me.
By 'someone' I mean a Fiend, and the sudden appearance of a relatively normal yet clearly non mortal being was enough to make my heart drop as they stared at me lazily, their cerulean eyes filled with mild contempt and boredom as they raised a well manicured hand. "This has no place on the battlefield, dog."
Their voice was silky and relaxed as they flicked their hand to the side, and before I could even react my Ritual Circle shimmered before shattering into pieces, the mana within pushing at the constraints placed upon it before escaping into the atmosphere, rendering my efforts null as this Fiend just cancelled my spell like it was nothing.
"Such a crude implementation of your talents... though what can I expect from-"
"[Hoarfrost Lance]!"
Before the Fiend could finish speaking I uttered an incantation and leapt backwards, summoning a spear of ice beneath their feet and attempting to stab either their leg or their stomach, but just like before they waved their hand and shattered the spell.
"Never mind."
The boredom was gone as they stared at me straight on, and after a second the Fiend nodded slightly before vanishing from sight, teleporting away like it's job was done here despite so clearly having the upper hand.
Looking all around myself, I was about to make a beeline for anyone else only to have the Fiend reappear before me, but this time there was an all too familiar face joining them as they pushed that newcomer forwards.
"Back up that boasting of yours, mortal."
A heavily bejeweled and arrogant looking man stumbled forwards before warily readying his hammer, staring at me for a few moments before smiling wryly as he said "Guess we meet again, hun. Not the most ideal circumstances..."
The Caliph was standing in front of me, and before I could reply the Fiend butted in, saying "Show me more, dog. You have nifty tricks for one so young, and apparently there is bad blood between the two of you. Bare your fangs and use them, or die. This self important bastard is well within your capabilities, I believe... and if not, I'll have rid the world of an unworthy talent."
A hint of a smile tugged at the Fiend's lips, though as my own lips parted to utter another incantation they flickered away, this time between the Caliph and I as it grabbed at us, taking us to somewhere new, somewhere that was devoid of combat.
We were still within the city, but the distance between Jahi and I was quite noticeable now since there was no way I could outrun something that could teleport this far in an instant, so I warily kept it within my line of sight before looking towards the Caliph, who had readied his hammer yet again.
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