Across Eternity: Book 5 - Chapter 4
Date: 4/26/2024,
Categories:
Fantasy
Author: Sage_of_the_Forlorn_Path
... bloody splatters by the blades and clubs of the fiends. They were led by a bronze knight, realizing he was horribly outmatched. Mustering what little courage and mana he had, he aimed his hand at one of the hulking brutes. “Fireball!”
Spheres of burning mana shot from his palm, hitting the fiend and exploding like Molotov Cocktails. The flames splashed off the metal plates while exposed hair and flesh burned as if doused in oil. Standing three feet taller than the knight, the burning fiend snarled and charged, wielding a massive cleaver.
“For the Pack!”
“Zodiac: Badtha!” Valia intercepted, and her sword shattered the fiend’s, sending shrapnel in all directions. “Zodiac: Teez!”
She then spun around and slashed the fiend across the chest, carving through metal and flesh alike. The fiend staggered back, pouring blood like a waterfall, and Valia cut off one of his legs. Her goal wasn’t to kill the fiends, but to take them alive so Noah could study them. Removing the limbs was the only way to keep them down, and even then, she had to be sure they couldn’t reattach them.
A reptile-based fiend held out his hands, and mana blades extended from his claws. He chased Valia, slashing at her with the long mana blades, and though she managed to dodge, one swing struck a soldier and chopped him into pieces. It was not Profane magic, but beast magic augmented by the parasite. Valia swung wide towards the fiend’s shoulder, only for her arm to be grabbed with monstrous ...
... speed.
“Die, Uther filth!”
“Zodiac: Rakshon!” Valia instinctively cast, strengthening her body as the fiend bit down on her neck. Her skin and muscles were as tough as steel, but still, the fiend’s clenched jaws made her cry out in pain, and even when his fangs broke against her flesh, he just bit down even harder, trying to crush her bones. “Zodiac: Baol!”
She pulled back her free hand and punched the fiend in the face with all her strength, shattering his skull. Disoriented but resilient, the beast released a garbled howl of fury and tossed her aside, sending her crashing through a nearby house. Though dizzy, she was unharmed and got back to her feet. As she rushed outside, a shadow enveloped her, and she looked up to see a great pair of wings.
A bird-type fiend dropped out of the sky towards her. She narrowly dodged his talons before he blasted off back into the sky, but failed to block the headbutt of a charging fiend. The blow knocked Valia through the air, and she hit the ground without her usual elvish grace. This time, she was slow to stand and found that the fiends had escaped, scattering back into the city and leaving behind several dead soldiers and a slain knight.
“Damn it!” Valia hissed as she punched the ground.
After seven hundred years, seeing comrades die on the battlefield was something she was accustomed to, but these days, every loss burned her, filling her with anger and pain. Once again, she’d failed to save someone who needed her. She was ...