- Lucifer -
The three leaders were giving chase to Lucifer. Fenral as a black wolf with water flowing behind him as he ran. Lysandrea in a tall tower wearing thigh-high black boots over white pants and a green corset. Her blonde hair had been tied up into a long ponytail. Garuuk flew above, wearing a blood-stained black lab coat. The three had assumed that Lucifer was their biggest threat, so they didn't hesitate to commit all their strength to chasing him down.
Flying while being chased by the three leaders was taxing on Lucifer. He removed the flames from his arms, attempting to focus solely on maneuverability. Unlike Sol, this area's buildings weren't as tight, on top of that he was being chased by two demigod level threats, with one full god providing them support. As the explosions from Garuuk filled the area around him Lucifer felt nostalgia for old angelic flying challenges he used to do with Michael in Heaven. These warmer memories helped mitigate the shouts in the back of his mind telling him he was going to die for trusting the unknown.
Fenral had shrunken his size down to better suit a chase. He could keep up with Lucifer on the ground while controlling an ever-growing flow of water. Garuuk kept his distance and tried to shut down all exit paths Lucifer was taking. These two chased, while Lysandrea lined up a shot with her bow in the tower, charging her arrow with electricity. The three were growing increasingly irritated by Lucifer's evasiveness. They felt like he had trained for this exact situation.
Lucifer swerved between buildings, giving himself boosts of speed with his flames whenever he was crossing open ground. Garuuk was the most problematic, as he was the only one of the three who could fly. Lucifer had a plan, an insane plan that he would surely get yelled at for if he lives to tell this tale. He had flown around, purposefully trying to create a scenario where he could predict Garuuk's next explosion. He was coming to a one-way street, readying himself for his suicidal idea.
Garuuk laughed to himself as he shot the explosive orbs down at Lucifer, ready to cut off the fallen's only escape route. He couldn't believe what he saw.
Lucifer boosted his speed with flames, heading directly for the explosive orbs. He caught them in his left hand using his mana, channeled his own in his right, and launched both on a curve towards Garuuk. The attacks exploded against each other before Garuuk could counter. The three had expected that Lucifer would follow up on Garuuk when instead he did a one-eighty and flew towards Fenral.
Fenral's purple eyes narrowed as he saw Lucifer fly towards him.
"You archangels overestimate your strength!" He shouted as he grew to a massive size in an instant.
All around the area water was pulled up from various barrels that Fenral had set up for himself. He knew that water magic's greatest weakness is actually having the resource to use. Ever since he was made head of security he had barrels hidden throughout that he could pull from if he needed. No one except for his team and the other two leaders knew about them.
Lucifer skidded his feet on the ground as he landed. He saw the torrent of water being funneled towards him and he clenched his jaw.
' "Fire is the weakest, the most common, and the most-underestimated, so show your opponents what it means to truly wield it." ' The female voice of Lucifer's master repeated in his mind.
Lucifer outstretched his arm and blasted an equally large wave of blue fire at the water. Garuuk laughed, thinking the fire's color came from Lucifer's mana, instead of its heat. As the blue flames collided with the water and the area filled with steam, all three leaders were in shock at the heat from the attack. Lysandrea shot a lightning arrow where Lucifer had been standing, causing a giant bolt of electricity to strike down on the area.
Lucifer was hiding. He took the opportunity to take cover in one of the partially destroyed buildings. His goal was to buy time, not win against these three monsters.
- Kahvis -
Kahvis had seen Lucifer drag the attention of all three leaders away. Impressed with the action, they moved faster, hoping to effectively use the time Lucifer had given them. Their goal was to focus on the sub-commanders while their soldiers fought the more basic enemies.
"Yamato and William cover the rooftops, Jackson and Ivan sweep the buildings and eliminate any customers, Hyou and Emile head off any ground soldiers that try to go after Lucifer," Kahvis ordered his commanders.
Everyone shook their heads and split up. Kahvis charged straight into a crowd of enemies and whipped up a tornado to lift the threats. They fed their fire magic into the tornado and created a whirl of flames that slashed and burned all caught inside.
Kahvis's display of multiple affinities worried the enemies. Having hidden magic was already problematic, but to have all basic affinities was a new type of threat that none of them knew how to deal with. Kahvis's deft use of every element only further complicated things.
As archers tried to snipe Kahvis they would create stone walls and fire back with bolts of lightning. Any damage they took they would heal while pushing forward. They had seen Lysandrea on the tallest building trying to line up a shot against Lucifer. As enemies kept attempting to overwhelm them they would use combinations of magic to keep moving while eliminating threats.
'Don't betray his trust.' Kahvis thought, now redirecting their path to Lysandrea.
As they turned a corner they created multiple illusory clones of themself. The large cloud of steam that poured out from Fenral's and Lucifer's magic collision drew everyone's attention, except for Kahvis. It was exactly the moment they needed.
They channeled electricity in both arms, causing sparks to cut and burn their sleeves as they did. Before anyone realized they were aiming at Lysandrea, a single powerful bolt shot out of Kahvis's hands right as Lysandrea shot her attack against Lucifer.
Lysandrea had heard the bolt and turned to Kahvis, narrowly avoiding the attack by jumping off the tower. She knew her position was risky, but she didn't think there was someone who could use such powerful lightning magic among the resistance. She cursed her overconfidence.
- Lucifer -
The sound of Kahvis's attack hitting the tower was a sign for him to move. As he left the building a large black paw swiped at him. He covered his neck and felt the burn of Fenral's claw gash his arms and stomach.
"Thought you could hide?" Fenral's smile in wolf form sent a shiver down Lucifer's spine.
The two were in a breathless standoff. Garuuk had flown to Lysandrea to check if she was okay.
"I'm fine. Someone among their group is a powerful lightning mage. I need to handle that, while you two handle this." She told Garuuk.
Garuuk just nodded and flew out to assist Fenral. Lucifer's prior grabbing of his magic had concerned him. When two opponents with the same affinity fight the more skilled one wins a hundred times out of a hundred if it's a fair fight. Garuuk knew it wasn't fair, convincing himself that there was no way they could lose, while also wondering where lord Moloch's support was.
"They should be here by now. Unless they retreated after seeing Death?" The mention of Death's name sent a nervous pulse through his blood.
Lucifer had confidence in his ability to use magic faster than Fenral could swipe at him. He took the suffocating tension of the moment as a good thing. He breathed in slowly and exhaled even slower as his eyes were locked with Fenral's. He thought up one more suicidal plan. He didn't feel like the situation was desperate enough, but the warm feeling of blood covering his arms and stomach changed that thought.
'Never thought I would have to use this twice on one mission.' Lucifer placed his arms up in and ran at Fenral.
Fenral shrunk down, expecting a large attack. He drew what remaining water he could from the area and covered himself in ice armor. He went to pin Lucifer to the ground. Lucifer grabbed Fenral's paws as he lunged. He expected as much and chomped down onto Lucifer's shoulder. Before he could fully close his jaw he felt an extreme pain burn throughout his whole body.
Lucifer ignited his arms and his entire torso in a blue flame. His skin was burning as he did it, but not as badly as Fenral's. Fenral released his jaw's grip on Lucifer, screaming. The black wolf changed back into their giant form, shattering their ice armor. He was missing half of his muzzle and a chunk of both of his front paws.
Fenral's mind was a mix of fury, agony, and fear. He wanted to keep Lucifer alive so he could torture him with Garuuk. His thoughts were a swirl of conflicting ideas. He was barely able to stand on his two damaged legs, and his mouth tasted as awful as it felt. Casting any more water magic wouldn't be possible, not that he had much water left to begin with.
Lucifer saw an opportunity in Fenral's crazed glare.
"How did that taste? I wonder if Vázo expected such weakness from the future generations?" Lucifer mocked.
Any thoughts of fear were gone. Fenral felt a wave of anger inside of him that overwrote every rational thought he had. He stomped forward as Garuuk yelled "DON'T FALL FOR IT!" behind him.
Fenral fell forward, the burned ligaments in his legs fully snapping under his weight. Lucifer looked at the giant black wolf flopping before him and smiled. He created a blue flame in his hand.
Garuuk saw Lucifer ready to burn Fenral to ash. He shot as many explosive orbs as he could at Lucifer, hoping that Fenral would have the sense to change from his wolf form.
Fenral shifted back into a partial transformation between man and wolf. His hands were burnt and hanging off his arms, but at least he could run for now.
Lucifer stopped channeling the blue flame and flew up into Garuuk's barrage, catching every orb as he did. As the orbs floated all around his arms he saw the growing expression of terror on Garuuk's face.
'How many of these can he possibly hold?' Garuuk nervously laughed in his head, thinking that surely there was a break-point.
Lucifer caught every orb he could, completely covering his arms. As both arms were full he flew backward, away from Garuuk's attack.
Garuuk laughed, thinking he had finally gotten Lucifer to back off. He realized the nightmare he had created for himself when he saw Lucifer's arms. He shot two powerful jets of flames, hoping that he would blow up the orbs before the fallen sent his attacks back at him.
Lucifer whipped his arms forward, releasing all the explosive orbs into the flames, creating dozens of explosions. He flew into the growing cloud of smoke.
Garuuk increased the intensity of his flames, scared that the explosions he heard hadn't finished Lucifer off. He didn't hear Fenral's shouts from below. "RUN YOU FOOL!"
Lucifer came flying through the flames, moving them around his body as he did. He slammed his fist into Garuuk's face. As the demon staggered he shot two explosive orbs into their wings, causing them to fall.
Garuuk slammed into the ground, his nose was broken, and his wings in burnt pieces. He shot waves of flames all around him in a panic.
Lucifer shot down through the fiery waves, pushing them around his body, grabbing Garuuk's head and slamming it downwards. Lucifer's assisted speed with his wings made it so the moment Garuuk's head touched the stone floor, it split open, splattering the demon's skull and brains.
'One down.' Lucifer thought, trying not to wince at the excruciating feeling coming from his arms and body.