"What news of Blaze?" Shiv asked without hesitation.
"She is with Briggs. Apparently the shorty's wife has really taken to her, and they're getting along swimmingly."
"That's good." Shiv nodded. "I slept a long time again, huh."
"You did indeed. Now that you're properly rested, are you ready to 'sink' a city?"
Shiv laughed in response and left the room. On deck, he saw the port city they were heading toward. "Looks like they're sending out a welcome party."
"They do not look like the welcoming or partying type." Came a cold reply from the only woman aboard the ship. Esmeralda had the glass in her hand, and was searching the decks of the approaching ships with such intensity that Shiv could sense a distinct dark aura rolling off of her in waves. He noticed that the sailors were giving her a wide berth, and even Duncan had a wary look every time he glanced in her direction.
"See anyone you know?" Shiv ignored the vehement head shakes and wide eyes that greeted him when he stepped forward to stand beside her.
She glanced at him, then slowly gave him the glass and directed it toward one of the ships. "Up on the mast, in the blue fur coat. Do you see her? She taught me everything I know about combat. Now look at the ship to the left of it. No, not that one. Move over a bit… yes. That one. Do you see the big man? Yes. Suffice to say, he's going to be a problem. Now look at the ship farthest away from us. Yes, the one with the white flag. Do you see the people in the red fur coats? Yes, they look brown, but they're actually red. Yes, I'm certain. Do not test me, Shiv. Those coats are red with blood. Blood of the people they sacrificed."
"The people in your religion are supposed to sacrifice the thing that is most important to them, right?" Shiv asked.
"Yes. And they sacrificed the person they loved more than anything, and dipped their coats in their blood. Some sacrificed lovers, parents, children, friends…"
"That's horrible."
"Quite so. But that's not the issue at the moment. The problem is that those people are the elite unit of bodyguards that serve under the most powerful warrior priest to serve the church since ancient times."
"More powerful than a tsunami?"
"Yes."
Shiv laughed for the second time that day. "Do you think you can take on your old teacher while I take care of the bloody warrior priest?"
"Whether or not I can isn't the question."
"Then what is?"
"There is no question. We will all fulfill the roles necessary for the success of our individual goals. I have faith in that, and that alone."
Duncan joined them at the bannister. "Time for chatting is over. They've made the first move by leaving the harbor to attack us out here. How shall we counter?"
"Simple. Duncan, you take the big guy, Cranky takes on her old teacher, and I take out the brown company over there. Cool?"
"No, very, very hot." Duncan protested. "That guy is huge. Why can't I fight a littler one?"
"That… doesn't actually work in this context…"
"I told you to refer to me by my name-" Esmeralda began angrily.
"Both of you, deal with it. I'll see you on the other side." With those parting words, Shiv jumped, causing the boat to rock back and forth from the force of his departure.
"He didn't even ask what element his opponent utilizes." Esmeralda sighed.
"Yeah, he's an idiot." Duncan sighed as well before also jumping toward the oncoming fleet, though his departure wasn't nearly as dramatic and forceful. He was quickly followed by several of his Mirrors.
"You didn't ask either." The brown-eyed woman didn't know how to react to this, so she simply didn't. Instead, she took a breath and also jumped.
And so the battle that would determine the fate of the Eastern Continent began.
***
Shiv's leap didn't take him to the boat bearing the bloody warriors, but instead took him all the way to the city. He landed in the outskirts of the city closest to the shore, and before even attempting to catch his breath, activated [Freeze (Ranged)]. This action slowed down the horde of warriors that were leaping from the ships, appearing out of buildings, and running down the streets toward him. 'They have an incredible reaction time.'
He didn't want to pull this skill out so soon in the fight, but he saw no choice when faced with the pure numbers moving in an attack vector toward him. He pulled out the most revitalizing soup in his inventory, and began sipping it in larger and larger amounts after activating [Summon Tsunami]. He highly doubted it would bother Duncan and Esmeralda, but on the flipside he didn't think it would do much to their more powerful opponents. The skill was an area of effect attack in every sense of the phrase, focused on dealing a decent amount of damage over a wide area instead of dealing a ton of damage to a single point. Regardless, to be on the safe side he put the wave on the opposite side of the city from them.
He summoned a wave of hell on land, facing the sea.
The first wave of attackers reached him, but he pushed them back with an earthen wall long enough to take a look at the wave the height of a skyscraper, then sink underground.
Several intense seconds passed where enemy earth mages attempted to manipulate the ground into spitting Shiv back out, before they abruptly stopped. Shiv gave it a few more seconds, then shot up on a pedestal of very hard rock. There was a brief moment of unpleasant heat and wet seawater, then he reached the surface and was able to witness the pure destruction his attack had brought about. A good portion of the skillful marble architecture that made up much of the city was now gone, having been swept out to see where it was sinking to the bottom of the bay.
Suddenly, groups of mages began bursting out of the ground and coughing and choking in the water. It didn't take them long to begin throwing attacks at Shiv, however. And while the red-fur cloaked attackers had been knocked out of the sky midjump from their ship, he could see them bursting out of the water or holding onto surviving buildings and debris.
He glanced at the fleet, which had been pushed farther out to sea, and witnessed a ship exploding in purple flames. He returned his attention to the situation on hand and readied himself for a flurry of mixed elemental attacks from every direction.
They came, and he reacted by jumping far into the air. And not a moment too soon. The place he'd been standing at suddenly became awash in lightning that was truly dangerous to him. At the center of the surging power stood a woman in blood red robes, staring at him from her perch on the pedestal he'd just left. She slowly lifted her finger to point it at him, and lightning shot out from it.
He lowered his weight as much as he could, and was immediately blasted to the side by the wind. He set himself entirely on fire and pushed it outward and let the wind grab it and carry it. He focused his power on keeping the flames alive despite having no fuel, and being buffeted by the wind carrying them.
When he'd been pushed far enough over the city, he increased his weight and fell, still on fire, into the city. The water from his tsunami had mostly retreated into the ocean by now, bringing with it a good portion of the city, but a surprising amount of the people and buildings had survived the destructive attack.
He landed heavily on his feet and was immediately fending off attacks from warrior priests that had survived the destruction. He sent a wave of flaming earthen spikes out, each one ending the life of an attacker despite whatever defenses they erected, and looked up at the sky.
The sky was on fire, and that fire was spreading.
And it was falling.
That moment of distraction almost proved to be his undoing.
Almost.
A streak of lightning hit the half-collapsed wall of a building that had been behind me. It exploded in a pile of debris as Shiv stood back up from the crouched position he'd speedily assumed. He tore his gaze from the destroyed wall and looked instead at the originator of that attack.
"Do you want to hear a secret?" The woman dressed in red was not at all pretty, like Esmeralda. She instead had an air of savagery and bloodthirst that completely took away any of the beauty her physical features might have afforded her. "Do you?"
"Is this secret your kryptonite?"
"I'm not sure what that is, but I suspect that it is not."
"Well then no thanks."
The priestess laughed. "I'll tell you anyway." And she threw herself forward, wielding a pair of spears crackling with electricity.