The kids and villagers all stood behind Roman and Eduana. They all had a look of anticipation on their faces. Surely, their chief wouldn't lose. They had to keep believing in him until the very end.
Eduana glanced at them, her pink lips forming a smile. The two sons were confused. Why was she standing alongside their father? Shouldn't she be with them? One of them went ahead to speak, but was gently pushed back by her. She gave a shake of her. When asked to come to safety, this time from a distance, she refused with a smile. They were quite anxious as to why she would stand next to Roman while he casted his spells.
Xuan Li was watching all this, a dull look on his face. Seeing their lost faces and stressed looks, he felt even more tired.
'Why does it seem like I am an invader, threatening the villagers, and this is their last stand against me?' He mused to himself, dread creeping up in his heart.
Soon, all of them showed a hopeful look, making Xuan Li feel like he was the bad guy there!
Eduana took a deep breath. Her hands glowed for a few seconds as she concentrated power in them. For a test run, Eduana planned to launch a normal attack. A magic circle the color of a blooming rose appeared above her palm. A swirling red ball of flames rose up, bobbing sideways. Even though it was supposed to be simple, it was easy to tell that the attack wasn't that feeble. The air around it was crackling because of the mere heat produced by the fireball.
Stepping back, she released the fireball. The fireball went up, spinning on its way. A few dry twigs caught on fire fell to the ground. They were burnt so finely that even their ashes couldn't be seen.
The fire was incredibly potent.
It hit Xuan Li's body, on which he almost released a groan. His body was on fire. Not just his skin, but even his insides felt like they were burning. His veins throbbed and blood poured out of the third degree burns formed on his skin.
The villagers looked on, spellbound with what was happening. They were unaware that their chief's wife was so powerful. Almost the same… No, maybe even more powerful than him.
Xuan Li finally let out a scream of pain. He wanted to rip his skin out. The fire had died down for some reason, but he still felt as if he was being burnt alive.
'Ghost fire'
That was Eduana's special talent. She had nurtured her flame affinity so much that it had transformed into ghost fire. It was very rare to transform the quality of an affinity to such a level, but Eduana had been said to be a descendant of a gods' tribe.
Roman cracked a smile. He couldn't be more proud of her.
But this was just the beginning.
Eduana's hands acted as if she were holding a bow. Two magic circles appeared above both her hands.
A thin blue line joined both the circles.
A 'crack' resounded as blue, freezing aura filled the place, a sparkling arrow released in the air.
"Dual… Dual affinity?!" One of the villagers gasped aloud.
The baby panther looked at the woman standing ahead with interest. She was quite special. Finding such a talent wasn't normal, especially one with dual affinities.
Was her Ice affinity as potent as her fire one?
The ice arrow that had been shot towards Li was very fast.
'Thwack'
It hit him right in the abdomen.
Li's lips parted and he spurted out a mouthful of blood. Unlike before, the pain wasn't much. Only his abdomen stung, while the rest of his body felt considerably painless.
Eduana bit her lip. She couldn't help but feel disappointed. Her ice affinity had always been a bit more weaker than her fire one.
Roman tapped on her shoulder and comforted her. She gave him an apologetic glance. He nodded.
It was time for the main act to start.
Eduana walked behind Roman. Her legs spread out to give herself a better grip while casting. Roman followed her lead and took a stand.
With a 'swoosh' she and Roman extended both their hands out.
Like before, two green magic circles appeared from Roman's hands. In the center, the shape of an eagle was inscribed. On Eduana's hands appeared a red and light blue circle. The red one had a fire pattern in the center while the blue had a snowflake.
Roman's magic circles separated from his hands and drifted between Eduana and himself, combining to form a larger green magic circle. Eduana's magic circles also moved; however, they did not join, but stood slightly elevated behind the green circle, their centres inclined towards Roman's circle.
"Burst fire and Ice storm!" Eduana called out!
The red and blue circles flashed. A beam of fire burst from the red circle, and a ray of pure ice beamed from the blue circle, aiming towards the center of the green circle.
Because the fire and ice weren't concentrated into a thin arrow or ball this time, their effects wouldn't be as powerful. But, together they would be able to give a cold burn to the opponent.
Both tier 2 spells smashed the green circle, it began to spin faster and faster as more power came from the two spells.
Combined with the air affinity, the two elements were given a boost, and they started to form a huge tornado.
"Ice-fire tornado!" Both called out at the same time!
Roman couldn't help but send a last extra bit of energy to the spell. With this, he had given his all. From sideways, he could tell that Eduana was feeling the same. Her body was sweating with all the things they had done.
The green spinning circle let out a large tornado blast towards Xuan!
Fire, ice, and wind swirled around each other, one trying to take over the other in perfect harmony. This terrifying fire, ice tornado devoured all that came in its path!
The baby panther's eyes widened! 'Synchronised spell! How the hell!' A synchros spell is formed through different mages combined efforts which are difficult to pull off because of the different magic waves each caster emits. The panther was shocked.
When he snapped out of it, he realised something grave.
'This spell! It is stronger than those previous spe-' Before Xuan Li could finish his thoughts, he was eaten up by the tornado beam. The tornado beam of fire and ice didn't stop and wouldn't stop even after sweeping Xuan Li in!
The spell stopped after some time. The whole area was a mess.
This was it. They had used their most ferocious spell. If this didn't kill him, they had lost.