"I've got to hand it to him. He's made his strength entirely on his own. He wasn't given power like I was. He didn't receive a ball of energy from some old hag of a teacher or eat a power that combined the strength of his predecessors."
"But he still has the combined strength of numerous fairy souls just like you."
"Maybe so, but I don't see how that's much different than the training that the humans do. He might gain a small amount of power each time he absorbs a mana stone, but that pales in comparison to the strength gathered from overcoming the trial of finding one. Do you know how valuable those are to the humans? Wars have been fought over Elixirs. Each one is guarded by the equivalent of an army. The effort it takes to retrieve even one black mana stone is astronomical, so don't go pinning his strength on the small amounts of power he gains along the way."
"Is he stronger than leader?" A young fairy hesitantly asks. The lilt of hope in her voice makes it clear she's only asking because she worries about her fate after seeing Inari's condition.
"That's a good question." Inari smiles with a fire in her eyes. "I've wondered the same thing. Can I overcome his transcendent control with sheer power? While I've been sitting here for centuries just whiling away the time, he's been fighting for his life. I've asked him for a spar numerous times, but he's always declined. Maybe I'll ask again after the war is over."
The eyes of the nearby fairies sparkle at the words of their charismatic leader. The flames of hope burgeon out to ward off the abyss of despair.
"Now stop floating around and get in position. We can't leave everything to Foof. As soon as that barrier drops, I want hellfire raining down on the humans. Do you understand? Hit them with everything we've got!"
"""Yes, leader!""" The feather of fairies all shout in unison as they fly off.
"Is everyone ready?!" Duke Avaritan shouts.
"""Yes, sir!"""
"Thirty seconds left on the space field, sir!" The Captain in charge of deploying and maintaining the magical defensive device explains.
"Good, we can't give that fairy bitch too long to recover. I don't know about you, but I really hated the spells she was casting. I've only got one arm left, and I'm not gonna let her take it! Let's give these tiny bastards a taste of our power, the power of humanity! That was one hell of an opening salvo but winning a war takes more than one punch! Let's hit them with everything we've got!"
"Ten seconds, sir!"
"You heard the man! Get the fuck out of dodge and blast those fairy bastards! Fire!"
"""AAAAHHHHHHHH!!""" The whole army screams as the barrier begins to fade, but these are shouts of rage, not terror. Anger has put the fear at bay. Wrath to steady the hand. Hate to fuel the limbs. The collective frothing emotion of the army is the only thing holding them together against the overwhelming force of the fairies.
"Slow!" One mage casts a spell on the top of the impeding pillar to impede its descent. The magic circle at the very top doesn't move very fast, and by reducing its speed even further, the Duke's forces have more time to act before being crushed by the Concussive Pile.
"Endothermic blast!" Another mage creates a bridge by freezing over a portion of the lava. Considering the temperature of the liquid stone, the escape way isn't likely to last long, but even a minute could save hundreds of lives.
"Blink!" One of the knights uses short-range teleportation to charge the lone fairy. He may not survive the encounter, but his sacrifice will leave an opening for his allies to avenge him.
"Explosion!" Duke Avaritan unleashes his magic and attacks the Lava Fairy without regard for his well-being. Both men know the knight's life is disposable. If he can bring down such a powerful foe along the way, then the gambit will have succeeded beyond all expectations.
Foof flies back while waving a hand across his field of view. An explosion erupts directly under the pillar where he was just recently seated. A wall of lava rises between the two opponents and is promptly blown apart by a second blast.
"Get that fairy bastard!" Duke Avaritan shouts as his troops rush off the small island surrounded by hot death. The lead magic circle at the top of the concussive pile is about halfway to the one below. Once those two magic circles combine, no amount of spacetime magic can prevent the ensuing chain reaction.
Foof quickly takes account of the situation and constructs two different magic circles simultaneously. A red magic circle forms in his right hand and a yellow one in his left. Foof swings the red magic circle over his head, forming a wave of lava from within the moat to collapse the bridge. Before anyone even has time to react, he points the yellow magic circle toward the army and produces a tremendous flash of light. The humans shield their eyes while desperately trying to ward off the approaching tsunami of liquid rock.
"Almighty push!" One mage shouts out from his position on the bridge. A wave of force vectors radiates out in all directions, causing men and lava alike to fly out from the mage's position. While the makeshift bridge is saved, several troops are lost as they're flung into the molten rock.
"Keep moving!" Before the mage has time to grieve for those he accidentally killed, one of the Captains shouts out an order, and the sea of humanity begins flowing across the bridge once again.
""Fury Cutter!"" Multiple tiny voices arise from the tree line nearby. Just as the Duke's forces manage to secure a foothold outside the lava island, numerous blades of wind fly in to greet them.