Witnessing Bori get struck by the beam, Sage's actions came to a halt. A sense of disbelief overcame her as she looked at the geezer who lay on the ground. Through their mutual bond he felt extremely faint, as if he would vanish any moment. Now there was truly no hope of saving him.
God dammit! Fuck! She cursed while dodging an incoming beam from the elemental.
She was not willing to give up. Somehow, somewhere, there must be a way for her to save the geezer; a way for her to avoid being cast back into the Deadlands. She was determined to save Bori no matter what! This she thought as she resumed the action of rushing towards him.
The elemental, seeing that it had failed to hit her once again, switched targets once more. It raised its hand and fired another beam at the geezer on the ground. However, its plan was foiled when Sage appeared by his side and evoked a [Stone Wall]. Then, for safety's sake, she erected another and then another. Only with three Walls separating her and the elemental did she feel it was safe to examine the old necromancer.
The beam to the gut had truly not helped his already miserable condition. When Nyx had dragged him out of the rubble he was already in bad shape, but at least he was still conscious and able to move. Right now there was no movement from him. As for a pulse, she touched his neck and found it was still there but it was so faint it practically non-existent. If the geezer remained here he would most assuredly perish. The best thing to do at the moment was to carry him away from the battlefield as carefully as possible.
Unfortunately, the task was impossible at the moment.
The beam that had struck Bori had harmed the cat to the point where it could only shriek and retreat. At the moment Sage could feel that it was hiding within the tower's debris trying it fix itself. It was not in a condition to carry the geezer away while she distracted the elemental.
As for her; if she picked the necromancer up and ran, chances were that the geezer would die on the spot from her aggressive handling of his beat-up body. Also, the elemental would definitely chase her, which would only serve to make the injured old man a burden and put him in bigger danger.
It seemed the elemental was not interest it smashing the [Stone Walls] because it skipped them and appeared right next to her. Then it thrust its hand at her chest like it had done the first time. Fortunately, she had already been on guard against a repeat of this tactic. A [Force Wall] appeared almost immediately to separate the two of them, causing the elemental's hand to bounce off the barrier.
The elemental condensed a beam in its palm and was about to fire it when Sage launched her second spell, one which she had already used previously. [Darkness] enshrouded the area around her, engulfing the place where the elemental stood.
Unfortunately for her the light elemental seemed to have been on guard as well because it retreated just before the shadowy wisps completely covered the area. A second later the light that composed its body brightened to chase these wisps away, dispelling the [Darkness] once again in an instant.
Witnessing this action, Sage paused to think for a moment.
Pure elementals did not possess a complex intelligence; that was the general consensus among all knowledgeable sorcerers. Yet the actions of her opponent were nothing if not well thought-out. This being had switched targets the moment Nyx had gotten the geezer from under the rubble and had been warry enough to dodge her [Darkness] spell unlike the previous time. The only way that could have happened is if the sorcerers were full of shit and knew nothing, that there were intelligent elementals in existence.
A more likely scenario was that the conjuror was puppeteering the being from somewhere. If they was close by she would most definitely have been able to feel where the controller was, so the fact that she could not meant the distance was considerable. It was a testament to just how advanced they were.
However, at the moment she could care less about the person behind the scenes. As long as they did not show up in the middle of the fight they were a secondary concern. What she primarily wanted at the moment was to get away but with the light elemental. But that did not seem possible. It seemed the only way for the fight to end was to defeat the foe.
With this in mind her thoughts became more resolute.
She looked at the elemental and raised her open palm in its direction, sending a black [Fireball] towards it. Of course with the being's speed it was impossible to get hit by such a thing. The elemental leisurely dodged the [Fireball], causing it to soar into the sky to God-knows-where.
Sage's attack was not finished though. The next attack she cast was a low level one, [Blind]. This spell was instantaneous and practically unavoidable. Unfortunately, a 2nd Order dark element spell was far from able to inflict harm upon a 7th Order light elemental. Although the spell settled up the being's face it fell apart almost instantly.
It was only after the attack failed that she realised how stupid it was to attack the elemental with a blinding spell. Even if it had not been a light elemental and the spell had settle there would have been no effect. Elementals by nature were simply masses of elements given form and consciousness. They have no eyes to see or noses to smell but sensed through other means. It was impossible to tie them down by normal means.
Unfortunately she did not possess the extraordinary means that could be used to tie one down so she switched back to trying to cause harm. However, the elemental launched its own attack consisting of golden streams before she could follow up. When the beams were discharged towards her she made sure to dodge, while moving bit by bit away from the geezer to draw the fight away.
Throughout all this she was intensely focused on the elemental. If it switched targets again she was more than ready to raise another [Stone Wall] to protect him.
After the elemental's multi-beam attack, it was her turn to attack. Raising her hand, she cast [Thunderbolt], sending a thick bolt of black lightning towards the elemental. It came as no surprise to her when it managed to dodge once more. It did not deter her as she once again cast [Darkness]. After that she cast [Dark Field] for a strengthening effect.
This time, when the light elemental tried to dispel the dark terrain it proved much more difficult than the previous times. The two terrain spells fortified each other, causing them both to be resistant against the elemental's light. Its attempt to chase away the darkness almost had no effect. The two spells even helped each other regenerate after its failure.
This caused the elemental to burst out with an even stronger light. A halo with a glow far brighter than day appeared above its head, immediately dispelling the previously stubborn darkness. Sage felt this new light hit her skin and gasped in pain. This light had a corroding effect on her. Even so, instead of [Blink]ing away she remained rooted to the same spot.
Because it did not matter anymore. She had finished channelling the spell she had wanted to for a while now.
[Forbidden Zone]. Even a mage of the highest Order would not discount this spell. It was incredibly amazing… except for the fact that it took five seconds to cast. That was practically an eternity on the battlefield, which was why most mages who knew this spell usually did not cast it unless they had a partner to cover them.
The nature of this spell was that it created a field in which the caster set two restrictions. The first restriction was what the type of magic that could be used and second on the race that could enter. Those who did not adhere to the restrictions would be met with heavy penalties, even if it was the caster.
When Sage cast the spell naturally the magic she chose to restrict was Light Magic. As for the race, it was elementals.
Immediately after the [Forbidden Zone] was deployed the halo on the elemental's head vanished and its bright body considerably dimmed. The ball of light that it had been about to fire as a beam shrunk to less than a third of its original size. The penalties for violating the restrictions were no joke. Even though the spell was only of the 6th Order it had managed to strip a 7th Order elemental of its strength.
There was no way she would waste this opportunity.
[Blink]ing in front of the being of light, she cast [Darkness] once again, enveloping them both. This time the weakened elemental was unable to dodge. In the thick blackness she witnessed it be eroded by the shadowy wisps of the spell until it disintegrated. Then the presence of the light elemental vanished completely.
It was over. She had won.
Unfortunately there was nothing to rejoice about. That was because just as she had finished the fight with the elemental she felt her bond with the geezer shatter.