Neither side wasted time with idleness and meaningless stares. The moment mayhem was lifted, it returned with renewed fervor.
"Go after Wind!" Sevi commanded.
A rain of spells instantly found itself heading towards Rethys, and as usual he did his best to avoid as much damage as possible. He focused on the opening made by Sevi's own spells, aimed for the safest spot and absorbed the rest with his Barrier spell.
'Shit!'
He still sustained more wounds though, as he couldn't fully escape the tight net of attacks thrown at him, and neither could his basic shield hope to block such powerful spells.
But he didn't falter, and lunged forwards towards his next target, the Wind mage. Before he got anywhere close, however, the cultist cast Wind element spells at itself and its colleagues and leapt into the air, as if weightless. Two more of the cultists followed it, launching themselves in the air and away. It seemed they were more focused now on the preservation of their lives rather than quickly ending the duo's with flurries of spells.
The remaining cultist meanwhile adopted a completely different strategy, turning from ranged spellcasting to full melee. It activated infusion magic and rushed forwards, a curved blade of brightly shining ice in its hand.
The group of four cultists seemed to have settled on a solid strategy, even though no words were spoken between them. Three retreated into range while one adopted the role of melee vanguard.
The Water-attuned cultist also discarded its long robes, revealing ill-fitting silken garments that didn't adjust to its warped form, and revealing its face, with two eyes of glowing blue. Its face was visibly inhuman, each feature was only slightly warped in one direction or other, but the entire ensemble looked uncanny to say the least.
It seemed that these high cultists retained the most of their humanity right after their leader, who, at a glance, seemed completely regular.
The Water-attuned high cultist didn't have any slowness or hesitation, and wielded its weapon with proper form and motion, like a proper swordsman.
Rethys couldn't hope to react properly to its swordsmanship, untrained as he was.
'Let me handle this.' Sevi requested as she began subtly moving Rethys' muscles.
"No!!" Snapped Rethys, his voice incredulous toward the Blood mage's request. "You handle the others like you did before, I'll take care of this!"
He didn't know how to deal with the refined technique of the Water mage, but what did it matter? He had strength it didn't, even with its more powerful soul; he had reflexes it didn't, especially with its decrepit body; and he had senses it could never hope to have.
But more than that, he couldn't believe Sevi would have the gall to ask that of him. He thought he had made it clear that he wouldn't tolerate any such gestures from her, yet here they were.
Seeing the icy swordsman lunge towards him, Rethys activated the talisman of strength hanging from his neck. With the addition of Sevi's arsenal, the item's limits meant it was for emergencies only, but he figured this situation was pressing enough.
Feeling new strength flood his body, he dodged out of the way, his movements instinctual at this point. It didn't matter if it was a wretch's measly claw, a spell projectile or a sword slash, all had ether in it. And it was that ether that his senses felt, and it was using those feelings that he knew instantly where every attack came from and how to avoid it.
He dodged and swerved, curling and twisting his body to push himself out of harm's way, often to unnatural extents at times. He wasn't the most flexible of fighters, yet his body's lack of pain as well as its great strength made him unassailable in melee.
The icy swordsman's infusion magic didn't stop it from casting close-ranged spells however, and Rethys also had to watch out for those. These spells came in the form of water splashes, which he guessed the cultist would then use to freeze him once he was sufficiently drenched. A simple but terrifying tactic.
Rethys' own strategy was equally as simple and just as fearsome, requiring but a single touch. The cultist's infusion magic after all only amplified its physical abilities and would do nothing to protect it against magic. He only really needed to land a single good hit on his opponent, and it would fall dead to the ground. In fact, he didn't even need a decent hit, even the slightest graze from the crimson needle would send enough magic to doom the icy swordsman, and it seemed to know.
He just had to find his mark before too much water covered his body, at which point the icy swordsman would just snap its fingers to encase him in ice.
The cultist swordsman would thrust and lunge, yet its blade never found its goal, as Rethys would just narrowly dodge every time. And its every slash was parried by the young man's own weapon, as the needle was solid and could withstand much greater punishment than any single cultist could inflict. It was made by Sevi after all and outranked the icy swordsman's own weapon in magical rank, crafting technique, and material.
Even when the cultist tried to leverage its greater skill against Rethys, its attempts were always thwarted by the sheer extreme nature of its opponent.
Rethys would see the movements of the ether through the creature's body and would detect any movement it got up to, if not anticipate it entirely. Any feint the cultist attempted was pointless, as he could see through it effortlessly, and any attempt to parry or riposte his strikes was also pointless thanks to his physical might.
This ability to synchronize his Origin senses with his immediate opponent only got more and more ridiculous. And as time passed, Rethys could even foresee minute movements of the cultists' limbs and body, tracking them and reacting accordingly. The world around them vanished from sight as the two settled into a dance of seemingly clumsy yet infinitely complex patterns of moves and steps.
The cultist's deteriorated mind continued to awaken its prowess with the sword, and Rethys continued to match the very ether that made up its body and soul, moving with it as one.
Two sets of eyes glowing in different hues of blue stared at each other, one steeped in mindless calm, the other, bloodshot with ice-cold ferocity.
One fought with the enduring discipline of a true warrior, the glacial sword gracefully tracing perfect motions, ice recalling what the mind lost. The other meanwhile fought with the primordial, cruel fury of a beast, muscles snapping into brutally efficient motions, pain disregarded and cast aside.
And through it all, something strange was happening.
If Sevi could see now what her partner was getting up to, she would truly be terrified beyond measure.
For Rethys was observing and studying the icy swordsman's masterful infusion magic. And if it wasn't for the fact that he could not use it, he would have already shown his own slightly improved version of it.
Eventually, the frigid swordsman's flawless vigil showed a true flaw as its body began tiring. And Rethys, having seen this flaw coming long ago, finally delivered his killing strike, embedding his needle in his opponent's outstretched arm faster than it could withdraw it.
The masterful swordsman fell to the ground, its body starting to shudder violently as its magic was dulled by Origin and its body was ravaged by Blood. From there it didn't take long for its body to grow still.
Seeing his adversary unceremoniously flopping to the floor, Rethys peered at it with an indecipherable expression.
"Snap out of it!!" Sevi's voice resounded, just in time for Rethys to see a massive fireball heading straight towards him.
It was then that he realized it, that the remaining cultists' numbers have reduced enough for them to cast large scale magic. They needn't fear friendly fire now that the room had enough space, and they could move around with complete impunity.
Their minds also grew palpably sharper, their presence in his senses feeling much more defined. They regarded the duo with cold calculating stares as they kept their distance and studied them as well as their surroundings. As they were now, the three remaining high cultists may prove more dangerous than previously with the eight of them combined.
One was of Corruption, the other of Air, the last of Fire. One was an ethereal element that Rethys would have no problem resisting, yet the other two made for a bad combination.
'Of course, they'll do that.' Rethys sighed inwardly as he saw the storm of raging flames vaguely in the shape of a ball heading towards him.
He quickly renewed his Barrier, spending the last remaining bits of his energy left. That was all his magic could do, and now he'd have to rely on Sevi to reduce the barrages of spells flung at him and do his best to avoid damage.
And hope his body won't fail him.
He moved as far away as possible from the fireball's trajectory, taking cover behind one of the workbenches and hoping his defensive spell would do something against it.
The huge Fire spell detonated with earthshaking power, like a thunderclap of the greatest proportions. The light, sound and force of the explosion rippled through Rethys' body like frail paper, completely disorienting him.
He was blinded, deafened, and his entire body quivered uncontrollably. He felt all the strength imbued into him fade away, and his mind grew too heavy to think of anything. Yet before he could lose consciousness, a sudden infusion of Blood and Mind magic from Sevi instantly jolted him fully awake.
"FIRE!! MOVE!!" Sevi shrieked.
At first, he was completely disoriented, but then realized where he was and what was happening. And before the fatigue, and the huge waves of flames, caught up with him, he moved.
That spell was no explosive fireball, but one meant to spread searing elemental flames. And as Rethys ran his fastest, trying his hardest to avoid the blades of wind and missiles of fire launched at him, he eventually reached the other side of the elevated platform. Hiding behind the platform, he managed to avoid most of the flames' wrath, yet was still singed extremely badly by their heat.
"DIE!!" Sevi yelled as a tendril of blood extended from Rethys' body and then split into three, each of its prongs impaling a cultist's whole body and exiting from its head.
"...I can't..." Rethys grunted as he felt his lucidity escaping him.
He could barely stay on his feet, his limbs trembling from exhaustion and his eyelids drooping.
Before his body could yield, however, Sevi sent another surge of magic through him, giving him some vitality and forcing him to stay awake. Yet not even that was enough to stave away the price of strength, and he fell to his knees and hands. His breath was ragged and labored, and his limbs almost instantly went back to rattling like wind chimes in a storm.
He didn't know how the Blood mage planned to keep fighting as they were, with her almost being out of lifeblood and him being completely exhausted in both magic and body.
But he kept stubbornly clutching his dagger in his right hand, and straining his neck, he peered at his last remaining enemy, the last cultist, Levantros.
He saw the same sight as he first did when entering the core of the ritual wing: a tall man with an athletic build wearing silky dark robes, with an ominous white light shining from behind his shrouded visage.
Before Rethys could start preparing for a showdown against the Purity mage, however, he saw him peel back his hood, revealing a most disturbing visage.
Rethys' eyes widened as he looked at the face of the cultist leader, or rather lack thereof.
There were no features indicative of a human there, only a large, apple sized white gem fused into the flesh of his face. The precious stone was beyond beautiful, having an almost perfectly smooth spherical shape that retained the glimmers of each and every one of its facets. Each of these facets shined individually in every color imaginable, thanks to the gem's own neutral hue, and all combined together to give the stone a striking appearance.
A crude and uneducated person would liken this appearance to the eyes of a fly, thus committing a crime against beauty, the world itself, and all in it. While anyone even remotely possessing intelligence and taste would see the gem's gorgeous face as that of a breathtakingly beautiful night sky, filled with gleaming and radiant stars.
The stone was all at once infinitely captivating, indescribably noble, and horridly familiar.
Before Rethys, could display any reaction to what they had just seen, he heard loud, enthusiastic clapping echoing in the inner chamber. He couldn't believe any of it at first, yet neither his eyes nor ears were lying to him.
Levantros stood there, clapping excitedly towards Sevi and Rethys as if he had just seen them put on the most skillful of performances.
"Well done you two!" He guffawed, the snowy gem shining with something other than the pure white light of Purity.
Something so intense that Rethys felt it vividly even from where he stood, like a tide overcoming his soul, threatening to tear it and his mind apart into pieces.
It was madness. Unspeakable madness.