Vorgard and Ivaad stared at each other for a while. Vorgard had been defending against his enemy's attacks since he went full form. Ivaad returned back to his incomplete beast form. His black coat scattered into crows. Many crows flew from this coat, in Vorgard's direction. The crows flew within Vorgard's field of vision, obscuring it. The mage could barely see his opponent, swinging his arms at the crows. The added subtle pecky attacks from the crows made it more difficult. Ivaad used this to his advantage.
He moved within this unpredictable formation of crows and attacked his opponent many times. Vorgard was absolutely defenceless and relied on his ability to sense Aer to block the incessant attacks. But that could only help him so far.
Swoosh! The sound of Vorgard's body moving through the air as he emerged out of the screen of crows. He was hit by one of Ivaad's attack that sent him flying out. With his hand, Vorgard made contact with the earth and steadied himself from a back flip landing.
The crows paved way for Ivaad to emerge, flying around him. The cawing sound from the crows became harsher and painful to the ears. Vorgard's ears tingled from the harsh cry.
Vorgard heard his heart pound. It pounded faster, the longer he heard the crows' shrills. His ears itched and started to bleed. His eyes were shut and with his palms tried to block his ears. Vorgard fell to his knees, his body shivering and his face lowered.
Vorgard cried out in a roar. His roar defeaned the cawing of Ivaad's crows. Ivaad shuddered, taking some steps back.
Ivaad looked at his hands and saw they were trembling. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped. Ivaad froze. Confused at what he was seeing, he wondered, "Am I shaking? To this brat?"
Silence fell on the battle. The cawing stopped and Vorgard no longer roared.
Ivaad chuckled and beat his chest. "Hmm. That's cute but you are still weak. A million years too early to defeat me".
Vorgard exhaled. His breath hot as fire. He lifted his head and his facial features had changed. Scales covered half his face and made it look rough and hard and his teeth grew into fangs.
"Transformation Magic," he whispered, "Draconian."
"Let's see about that," Vorgard said. His nose flared, letting off brim hot air that escaped as steam while he spoke.
-
Nyne pursued the fire magic user, slashing at him in his run while Maelo changed positions multiple times. This random movements made Nyne's attack miss.
Nyne got tired of the endless chase. He spun his blade and stabbed the darkened blade into the ground. Many spikes formed from Dainsleif's black aura erupted from the earth, travelling towards Maelo.
Maelo jumped into the air and away from Nyne with both his hands gestured into a pattern that imitated a gun. From his tip of his fingers, Maelo fired multiple pellets of flame in Nyne's direction.
Fire Magic: Flame Gun.
"Gard," Nyne muttered, using the exact spell which Akem had used to block his attack earlier. A transparent dome made wholly of Aer manifested, granting Nyne an all-round defense against the bullets of fire.
"Nice counter," Maelo breathed.
Nyne deactivated his barrier of Aer when he saw his opponent land to the ground and attacked no further. Nyne gritted his teeth, his vein almost tearing through his skin.
"Why!" he shouted.
Maelo was baffled by the question, having no clue where Nyne was headed with it.
"Why did you do it!" He continued yelling as he walked towards Maelo, "It was you, wasn't it?"
Maelo was no longer having it. With a clap of his hands, he conjured up a tiny ball of fire between his palms. Maelo fired this ball of flame, that expanded and grew many times its original size, at Nyne. Nyne simply stood where he was, his face staring down at the ground. His body was roughened up a little bit. The young sorcerer had no intentions of dodging neither did he make any attempts at evading or blocking the coming fireball. The heat he felt increased as the fireball travelled towards him, drawing closer whilst it scorched the earth.
"Fire Magic: Fire Ball!"
-
Gaia gasped.
Her hands were full with Kiion as her opponent. The Nortvardian sorceress was losing stamina. The weariness which her body was forced to bear as an effect of Madrea's aging curse had not completely worn off. Her body still needed time to heal and adapt itself to its youthful form.
Gaia shrieked in pain as Kiion's blade made a horizontal cut on her left forearm before he sent her flying with a kick to the chest.
"Curses!" she mouthed. Immediately tearing a piece of her cloth, she tied it tightly above the cut. This mere act would pull her a large distance away from her death as she knew well enough to not allow Kiion's poison travel more than necessary within her system.
"I need to think of something fast before I run out of Aer," she thought, breathing harshly.
Kiion swiped his blade to clean off Gaia's blood on it and started ambling in Gaia's direction.
"You cannot defeat me, woman," he said, raising his blade with its tip pointing at her.
The same technique he used on Nyne was about to be released yet again. Kiion's magic allowed him to create and control poisons; this one, he shaped to take the form of a ball of condensed magic energy.
"Perish" he uttered, giggling.
This ball of poison came at Gaia at an incredible speed. Fortunately for her, she still had enough stamina and speed to match. With the gesture of her hands, water droplets gather into a wall in front of her. The wall of water took the force of Kiion's poison shot, parrying it. The two techniques dispersed and, in that time, Kiion already moved to close the distance between the two of them. With the momentum generated from his run, Kiion jumped into the air. His giggling unending while he delivered a downward slash with his blade. Gaia moved fast enough to roll out of the way before he landed his attack, leaving the tree behind her to suffer the outcome of the attack.
Gaia escaped by a hair's breadth, in every sense of it, hairs from her head floated freely in the air and off Kiion's blade. Kiion's expression changed from overly happy and giggly to one of disgust as he looked at his sword. He stared at Gaia and she could tell that he was disappointed.
"You're a waste of my time," he said, sheathing his blade.
Gaia cringed at his expression and jumped back many steps.
"I will leave you with a parting gift, woman. Survive."
Kiion's mouth opened, and he released from it, a strange gas that spread towards Gaia. It was slow, but had a wider range than any of the technique he used so far. One thing was certain - if she did nothing to stop it, it would definitely reach her. The gas spread out and expanded its scope and range as it travelled towards it target. Kiion left Gaia to her fate of definite demise and walked away.
Poison Magic: Breath of the Baneful.
Gaia, on the other hand, tried to hastily move her body when it failed her. She felt the heavy pounding of her heart and like someone pushed down by an overwhelming force, she fell to her knees. Her eyes widened as she vomitted little blood from her mouth. Kiion's poison was beginning to take effect albeit slowly. Her act with the cloth earlier could only delay the movement of the poison through her bloodstream but not stop it.
"Damn it!" she cursed. Her left hand refused to heed her call. It had gone completely numb from the poison.
"That bastard!" she cursed again with tears in her eyes.
Gaia watched as the gas travelled towards her. She could do nothing but wait for her death to come.