40 - Crescendo (Patreon)

Phoenix nodded to the cinderen as she noticed Dazien’s gaze lingering on the both of them and she recognized the assessing nature of it that reminded her of Paul; like he was searching for the answer to some question he wouldn’t voice. She was about to ask him if something was wrong but he had already returned his attention to the path ahead.

They soon arrived at a secondary staging point where the groups were getting further directions. It seemed like their party was going to be securing the perimeter line where Phoenix’s aura might be of most use and Saiya could provide healing while Dazien could help defend. Most of Uriel’s kit caused too much collateral damage to be practical for the current environment, and Rayna was warned from punching the surrounding masonry while assisting in intercepting any enemies that might be chasing down a retreating ally.

Their party in particular was guarding one of the corridors that led directly towards the battle and people were moving past to join the fight while others who were injured were retreating past them to receive emergency aid from Saiya and her before getting sent further back to the hastily erected camp in one of the massive storage warehouses that had been emptied in a rush to accommodate.

Phoenix was beginning to become restless, unused to being sidelined while fighting waged nearby. She was surprised by the feeling welling up inside her and it took a while to recognize that it was desire. A desire to fight. The desire to unleash her powers and prove her strength. To grow stronger and protect the people around her. The Wayfarer began to understand Rayna’s disposition a bit more with the bard’s constant requests for battle.

She found herself growing frustrated by just standing there acting as a walking aura beacon despite Uriel and Saiya’s attempts to distract and calm her. With surprised annoyance, she realized one of the things frustrating her, which had been slowly simmering in the back of her mind, was that Dazien had barely looked at her and hadn’t spoken to her since they left the Wayland estate.

This revelation caused her to stop the mild pacing she had been doing out of apprehension and turn to stare at the Defender who was looking everywhere but at her. With a frown of confusion, she walked over to him. Her focused movement caught his attention and he turned to meet her gaze.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked bluntly. Her nerves stripping away any attempt at tact she might have normally tried.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before saying indifferently, “You should return to Lady Saiya’s side where you’ll be safe.” She started to object when he held up a hand to forestall her, “We can talk later if you insist.”

“Why can’t we talk now? It’s not like there’s anything to fight,” she argued, gesturing to the currently empty corridor.

The warrior lifted a brow at her impatience, “We should still remain vigilant. We have a job here and we should do our best to perform it.”

Phoenix crossed her arms in front of her and asked, “Can you at least tell me why you seem to be avoiding me?”

“No. Not now. Return to your post,” the gemite said bluntly. At her stubborn look, he gave a small scowl that she had never seen on his face before as he added harshly, “That’s an order from your party leader.”

Her eyes went wide at the command and she suddenly worried just how badly she had messed up for him to treat her like this. She lowered her eyes to the floor and nodded silently in acquiescence as she returned to Saiya’s side as the voxen took her hand for comfort.

Dazien had never pulled rank on her like that before and she found that it made her more concerned than angry. They had become friends over the last handful of months and he had always stressed that he saw the title as just a bit of paper rather than power. For him to use that just to get space from her made her wonder just what kind of boundary she had crossed.

Phoenix’s anxiety went into overdrive as she mentally walked backward through everything that had transpired between them in the last few hours. Going over every word and reaction trying to identify the point where she had made a mistake. Perhaps she had been wrong to confide in her friends? Maybe the increased attention from her joining House Wayland had agitated him? Was he jealous or annoyed? Perhaps the sheer weight of the secret she had buried and hidden from him had caused him to lose trust in her? How would he react when he discovered her other secrets?

Her thoughts were interrupted by something entering her aura range that sent her on high alert: a Crystal Caster closely followed by a Sapphire one. She quickly relayed the information to the rest of the party and Dazien utilized his communication ability to inform his direct commander, who he had added to his communication network in addition to their party and Paul before they had left the initial staging area above ground.

Phoenix felt the battle energy begin to climb within her as the two auras kept getting closer and they took up defensive positions, preparing to meet a potentially much stronger opponent that came with a higher likelihood of resulting in all of their deaths. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She didn’t think she could handle losing another family member that her fellow companions had become.

The Wayfarer pushed her fears down, smothering them with the adrenaline that spiked as her heart sank when they came into view. The Crystal aura belonged to young cinderen clearly wearing the attire of one of the city guards and who was bleeding heavily while sprinting for their life. The Sapphire was a runeforged that was closing the distance behind the guard and was moving fast, a silver bow pulling back arrows composed of blue fire that were aimed straight at the retreating Crystal Caster.

Dazien raised his shield and triggered [Lead the Charge] as Rayna and Phoenix launched themselves forward to help intercept the archer while Uriel and Saiya positioned themselves behind the temporary half-walls erected as a makeshift barricade to cast from afar.

“Let dreams become reality,” Phoenix muttered as she passed Dazien, conjuring a swarm of illusory birds to help keep the enemy’s attention off of the retreating guard and buy her, the Striker, and Defender time to close the distance.

Rayna began the slow cadence of drumming footsteps as the voxen’s speed increased, dodging flaming arrows as best as the bard could, which was far better than Phoenix, though, she was slightly able to cheat with her gravity ability shunting her to the left or right by pulling herself towards the walls when needed.

All three of them ignored the Crystal Caste guard as they moved to intercept the enemy and hopefully provide cover. The rain of blue arrows didn’t seem to care who they were attacking, however, as the Sapphire Caster let loose his abilities upon them.

When the [Starlight Companions] were all destroyed from blocking the initial projectiles they hadn’t managed to dodge, all of their forms blurred further as the shadows gained strength in the darkening corridor. Phoenix pulled the enemy archer towards her and the blades she wielded, causing them to collide and Phoenix to immediately regret the encounter as the sheer force of his Sapphire Caste counterstrike sent her hurtling backward.

Rayna struck from behind then, making the archer stumble slightly at the blow from the opposite direction but he recovered quickly, triggering another ability that sent him further back the way he had come from in an instant.

A few seconds later, Dazien’s Crystal Caste shield met the Sapphire Caste weapon as the runeforged seemed to enchant it with another ability. A resounding ‘crack!’ filled the corridor and the Defender was rebuffed with an explosion of magic as his shield sundered in two. The warrior let out a cry of pain that she rarely heard from the frontliner as his arm was visibly broken in multiple places and all of the combatants were thrown backward from the backlash of a destroyed magic item that hadn’t been gradually worn down.

She recovered almost as quickly as the Sapphire Caster, pulling herself towards the ceiling to dodge another incoming volley, while incanting coldly, “Gaze into the abyss,” and scowled as she felt the enemy resist the Bane she had tried to apply. Then she heard Dazien grit out his own spell.

Ability: Call of Fealty

Type: Spell (taunt, magical, covenant)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Current Caste: Crystal 8 (30%)

Crystal Effect: Inflict a target with [Hesitation] if they do not halt their momentum, and [Insolence] if they do not kneel before you, within 5 seconds.

- Hesitation (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Agility is decreased.

- Insolence (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Magical resistance is decreased.

“Bow before your king!” the Defender recited but the Sapphire Caster just made a rude gesture with a free hand and laughed at the resisted spell.

Rayna moved to attack once more as Phoenix launched herself towards the enemy to attempt to push the runeforged with having to deal with two-on-one odds. She had managed to nick the man with her dagger as the sword got blocked and she heard the musical hit of the voxen’s [Percussion Strike] land on the enemy’s face.

“You have forsaken my rule and thus forfeit your freedom!” her party leader incanted as he tried casting another controlling spell and they could see the magically reinforced cage ability begin to take form around the runeforged.

In response, the archer triggered that same ability to teleport further back and incanted “Burn in the vortex of the frozen gale!” and seemed to use his bow as a staff by slamming the end of it against the ground. It began to glow a bright blue and the same blue flames that comprised his arrows now covered the bow and wind began to pour out from it in a growing swirl that seemed to be increasing in speed with each passing second.

As the Striker moved to attack the man at the center of the growing spell, Phoenix launched herself at her friend, grabbing the voxen around the waist and using her gravity ability once more to push both her and Rayna back toward the rest of their party and out of range of the unexpected melee ability. The winds had seemed to ignite at some point in their retreat as a tornado of blue flames surrounded the enemy, creating a lull in the fight.

Dazien moved to help the retreating Crystal Caster who was still stumbling their way down the hall toward Saiya who sent a bolt of her [Heal Life] ability to assist. Rayna moved to the opposite side of the gemite in order to grab the other side of the cinderen and the pair helped haul the injured guard behind the barricade. Phoenix followed closely behind, her mind churning as she attempted to think of a solution.

“He kept resisting my spells. How far out for reinforcements?” Uriel asked his best friend.

“Too far,” the Defender replied with a pained frown at the increasingly angered archer still in the vortex of his spell.

Phoenix glanced at Rayna to double-check that her friend was okay and she suddenly remembered something the voxen had told her a while ago as an idea formed in her mind. An insane plan that would require a crazy stunt of desperation and likely get her killed but had a high chance of taking the enemy with her.

“Saiya, I’m gonna need you to boost me in a second,” the Supporter stated quickly as she conjured more sparkling birds to engage and distract the enemy.

“What crazy scheme are you concocting this time?” Dazien asked with a slight growl as Saiya began to focus on healing him next now that the retreating ally was recovering.

“I admit it's crazy but ‘scheme’ might be a little misleading,” she replied, trying to sidestep the question, “I just figured if we’re gonna die anyways, I might as well go all out. Can’t use some of my more devastating abilities without damaging the city but this one should be fine to take on this guy.”

“He’s a Sapphire, Phoenix. He swatted you away like a bug before,” the gemite argued.

“Hence the boost… plus a few other boosts…” she admitted then said firmly, “I just need you all to trust me with this. You and Rayna should just stay back to protect the others, I’m just planning to buy some time till the reinforcements arrive. If I’m lucky enough, it’ll only take a couple minutes to end this.”

Dazien was about to argue but Uriel’s hand stayed his retort and, instead, their leader stated firmly, lifting a pair of uninjured fingers for emphasis, “You have two minutes to burst him and return, otherwise I’m coming to drag you back before Lord Wayland murders me.”

She gave a curt nod and turned to Saiya, “Wait till I’m a bit closer then hit me with it.”

The healer nodded and Phoenix didn’t wait another moment as she sprinted down the stone hall, conjuring one of the [Magi Fortune Booster] potions she had helped craft, and tipping the concoction into her mouth as Saiya’s power flowed into her.

Item: Magi Fortune Booster

Potion created from the luck of a Spotted Ladybird, the strength of a Dragon, and the magic of an Arcane Wyrmling.

Caste: Crystal.

Availability: Rare.

Type: Consumable, potion.

Requirements: Crystal Caste.

Effect: Variably increases the effects of the next ability cast. Once the effects of the ability end all attributes are equally reduced for a moderate duration based on how greatly the initial effects were enhanced.

Ability: Crescendo

Type: Boon (recoil, magical, song)

Cost: Severe mana.

Cooldown: 6 hours.

Current Caste: Crystal 9 (34%)

Crystal Effect: Mind, Agility, and Fortitude attributes, along with maximum capacity and regeneration of mana and stamina pools, are greatly increased for a target ally for a moderate duration. When this effect ends, the targeted ally is temporarily debilitated, suffering the inverse of all previous effects.

Then Phoenix triggered one of her new abilities: [Avatar of Bakunawa]. The shape-changing ability was an odd sensation as she felt her eyesight and teeth sharpen, her nails growing into sharp silver talons, her legs shifting slightly causing her to become taller and even her bones hardened.

Odder than the physical shifts, however, was the addition of a fifth layer to her aura, causing it to expand even further and enhance her Strength, Mind, and Magic attributes. The feeling reminded her to focus on using the added aura boost to push against her enemy’s own aura causing a moment of surprised hesitation to cross over him. She attempted to capitalize on the moment and opened her mouth to spew swirling white and black dragon flames all over the archer.

It was the very next moment that she registered an additional message from the book trailing nearby and internally grimaced wondering why the world seemed bent on spoiling the best cheats for her.

Warning: The selected ability, [Avatar of Bakunawa], combined with the [Magi Fortune Booster], has resulted in an excellent compatibility match for increased effectiveness. You have been temporarily enhanced beyond current Caste levels. The ensuing recoil will result in reducing attributes below current Caste levels.

Not wanting to waste any of the precious time she had, she was ready as soon as the [Eclipse Breath] ended to follow up with another spell, “Gaze into the abyss.” Now that she was temporarily pushed into Sapphire Caste power levels, she felt the Bane take hold. A flaming blue arrow managed to pierce her shoulder but she paid it no mind as she raked her new claws over the man, putting him at a disadvantage with the enclosed distance.

She noticed her aim was off, however, unused to the size and angle of slashing with claws instead of her dagger. She had done some hand-to-hand training with Bliss and her party to better embed the knowledge she had gotten from her Balanced Body tome from Warrior but it wasn’t as second nature to her as she would have liked.

She pushed her bits of training to its limits as she punched, kicked, and attempted to slice the man to pieces, stepping back only to breathe fire again. The enemy was struggling slightly with her close range, trying to block as much as he could with his bow and continually attempting to put distance between them.

Knowing she needed to end things quicker so she wouldn’t end up as a weakened Mundane while going toe-to-toe with a Sapphire Caster, she called in backup, “Tala, cover me.”

As her Familiar emerged, she engaged the man again and [Star Fire] consumed both of them. Her [Moonlit Eyes] passive helped her see clearly through the bright flames as the archer let out a scream and attempted to cover his eyes. When he dropped his guard, that gave Phoenix the moment to pour more mana into a [Pull] of her [Ruler of Relativity] to increase the speed and force of her thrust towards the archer’s chest and silver claws buried themselves into his chest.

A moment later, she collapsed to her knees as the power faded from her, and the crippling after-effects of the two abilities plus potion stripped away any remaining power she tried to cling to, threatening to take her life as well.

Her vision blurred as she looked up at the Sapphire Caster who was still standing, despite the hole in his chest, and a final flaming arrow was leveled at her face. It never landed though, as a diamond sword slammed into the runeforged, knocking him backward down the hall, and Phoenix glimpsed amethyst hair and kitsune tails pass by towards the downed enemy.

With a stray thought, she triggered both her mana tattoo and the stored-up glitter bomb of [Starlight Qi] in an attempt to stave off the quickly draining pools that would likely render her unconscious in a moment. Trying her best not to fall over as she tried to endure the sudden drop.

“Sweet flower, what did you do…” Saiya’s voice whispered nearby as Phoenix thought she caught a glimpse of a glowing tail and a wave of healing life energy flowed into her, forestalling the death that attempted to claim her once more. She slumped to the side, her cheek resting against the warm wet floor as her injuries were mended.

The Wayfarer attempted to sit up only to have the Healer push her back down while getting another pulse of Saiya’s [Heal Life] spell sent into her. She tried again, only relenting once the Sapphire aura finally vanished from her senses. Phoenix stared at the ceiling, trying to gather any semblance of thought, as the pain continued to pulsate through her entire body. Meanwhile, Saiya continued to fight back the aftereffects of her having gone far past her physical limits and the cost the magic demanded payment for.

“Will she be okay?” Dazien’s voice asked from somewhere she couldn’t see. What she did see was voxen features staring down at her and she wasn’t quite certain if Rayna had come over as well or if she had started seeing double.

“Yes but I’m not sure when she’ll be fighting fit,” Saiya’s voice replied, “Should I use [Restful Retreat]?”

“No, that’ll take us all out of the fight and we need to defend this point,” the leader replied as she hazily looked up at him, the life energy not doing much when all of her base attributes were plummeting into Mundane realms.

“I don’t have anything to just boost her Fortitude up a bit to keep her from dying if her attributes keep going lower,” the voxen informed with a hint of distress that Phoenix couldn’t recall hearing before.

“Rex, help hold the line,” Dazien commanded, then the hall was filled with a scream which took her a second to realize was her own when someone had picked her up from the floor.

The healer scolded her torturer, “Be careful! The inverse effects of those combined abilities and that evil potion have made her even weaker than a normal Mundane child. You could break bones at this point if you’re too rough.”

“We have to move her back to the staging point. The other healers can tend to her there. Just because the Sapphire Caster is dead doesn’t mean it’s safe here,” Dazien said firmly as he began moving and Phoenix groaned through clenched teeth, trying to hold back another scream, “You three stay here and guard this point, I’ll return quickly.”

“Why don’t I take her? I’m faster than you by far,” Rayna spoke up.

“Because you’re a better choice for killing whatever enemy might come down that hall than I am. If another Sapphire appears you’re the best chance for holding them back till our reinforcements arrive which should be any minute. Now, be sure to contact me through the voice chat if there’s more trouble.”

They must have nodded because she didn’t hear any more voices as her leader moved quickly back towards the encampment, dropping her off to be tended to by the healers as he went to report in person to their commander.

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