Necra turns to the temple, sensing the intense rise in pressure. It immediately slams down onto the two with a strangely telegraphed stomp.
Aki raises a shield over Dent and dodges out of the way.
The telegraphed move was only a taunt. An onslaught of aqueous blades land from outside, cleanly slicing through the temple walls and cutting everything they hit.
Aki and Dent defend themselves, retaliating with their own spells to break or block the blades.
Their defence leaves them open to an overhead blast from Necra's mind alteration magic.
The world turns upside down for Aki and she stumbles into a slashing blade from an addled Dent.
Against the reinforced acolyte cloak, the worn blade breaks instead. The shock simultaneously frees the two from the manipulation spell.
"I'm okay!" Aki counters Necra's water blades with her own water manipulation magic, turning the vicious attacks into a defensive wall and giving the pair some breathing room. "Are you!?"
"Cowardly and shameless!" Dent turns on a dime to cast a powerful wind spell. "The dark is your domain but the sky is mine. Allow me to show you why."
Wuthering waves cut through Necra's attacks.
His spell appears less like simple harsh wind but as though Dent had condensed the entirety of a devastatingly violent hurricane onto his broken blade.
A sonic boom occurs the second he launches the spell, pulling even large rubble after it and cancelling any of Necra's waterborne attacks.
Necra pulls away toward the city but the force of the spell yanks the owrou back in despite the speed of its retreat.
The resulting explosion of wind and solid shadow rocks the island and drops it several metres
Aki and Dent are lifted up from the suddenness of the drop and slam down again as Necra recovers.
The attack leaves Necra's emotions in even greater turmoil. In that lull, Aki feels her Gift latch onto a pleading chant for Winter coming from within Necra. Desperate and raw.
"If I could just find a way to reach those emotions, I could calm Necra down." Aki frowns, squeezing her wrist tightly as she thinks.
"Everything would be easier if I could just beat some sense into it but…" Aki's eyes blaze, wreathing her onyx eyes in a burning acid green light. "Damnit, I'm NOT abandoning you Necra."
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[Crown Ability Activated: Eyes of the Heart]
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This time, the souls within Necra paint a tapestry of dazzling stars amidst a night sky. Aki can't come close to counting just how many lights she senses within Necra's recesses, but the number doesn't matter.
"I need to tip their balance. If I can force them into equal standing, it'll be easier to calm Necra."
Necra stabilises and focuses its attention down on them.
It resumes its assault; throwing miasma, launching shadowy spikes, whipping with water, and tearing away at the temple with wide swipes, forcing the pair away from the safe hill.
Rock and ruin tear away, exposing more of the temple's underground. Pieces of land float in the air, held aloft by the intense concentration of mana and miasma.
Aki and Dent split away, using the rubble in the sky and the ground alike to avoid attacks.
"Necra's drawing us to the city!" Aki backflips over a sweep attack and lands on Dent's back. She clings to his shoulders and retaliates with a volley of spells.
Necra fails to block every hit and one of Aki's witchbolt strikes it in the chest.
GRREEYAAH!
Its howl is mixed with the sizzling sound from the direct hit.
As Necra flails, its hood flies up and releases an obscuring mist, spreading a perception-blocking magical effect.
Yet, Aki's Crown ability is active, allowing her to see past the effects of a hoodless owrou to get a grasp for what she seeks. Even so, Necra's face still remains half obscured by shadows, only baring its lower face, decrepit, wizened, and rotting.
Long and wild hair-like tendrils flow behind it as if underwater. Miasma leaks from every inch of its surface, appearing like ink pouring down glowing white paper.
There on its head, around the base of its neck, Aki sees a much brighter soul stretching itself toward the forehead. Brilliant gold light tinged in darkness swirls within this soul in particular and whispers its last emotions like an obsession.
"Protect the temple… is that Pelgaius!?" Aki focuses back on the present and yanks water from the air to form a shield against a miasma bomb.
With the mist as a shield, Aki yanks at Dent's hair and pilots him to move toward Necra.
Even absorbed, the temple guardian's presence still feels strong. More importantly, it glows with brilliant light overpowering much of the darkness around it.
But it is quickly being worn down by the berserk souls clamouring for control.
"If I can just…" Aki extends her mana and her mind to grasp the souls within Necra.
Pelgaius is the first she reaches. Its presence is staunch and cold even against Aki's grasp, resisting her influence. Its strength bends as soon as Pelgaius realises Aki is trying to empower its.
Nearby glowing souls feel the influence of Aki's warmth melting away the cold exterior of the temple guardian and start to help her push back against their rampaging companions.
Still, Aki is too far away to firmly grasp the balance and Necra vehemently resists. It cries out, destabilising the floating rubble and ruins. Before everything drops too far, a wave of miasma explodes out.
Aki swings her pendulum around fast and forms a water bubble around them while Dent controls the winds to pull the crumbling stones to them.
The deathly mist swirls violently against the shield, shredding the waves but dissipating before it can do damage.
"Dent! I need to get close to Necra!"
Dent rolls over, freefalling toward a wall that spins rapidly in place and bounces back up to a stable perch along another wall of a floating spire.
"What for!?" He shakes his head, thinking better of it. "It shall be done."
He spins the broken blade in hand, urging the wind to follow his command.
A beam fires at them but Aki deflects it.
Tschutschutschutschut – BOOM!
With a sharp curve, the beam lasers through the stone, destroying the tower underfoot.
Integrity crushed, the tower crumbles and Dent has to redirect his magic to keep them from falling.
"I cannot build a path like this." Dent pants. Already his stamina – which was running on fumes – rears its oncoming end.
"Restore Stamina." Aki casts the spell once more. She squeezes her wrist.
"Stop it, save your mana." He scolds. "The owrou will consume a lot of it."
"No way! What's the point if you die?"
"I-"
"Shut up, I have enough power to keep you healed AND help Necra."
Aki squeezes Dent hard from her perch on his back and speaks with conviction.
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Aki Title: Cr¬wn of H¬ma¬¬tas (1%)
LE: 62/72 HP: 92/260
MP: 30/390
SP: 40/65
More: ⟲
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"This'll be fine."
A volley of shadowy lances, exploding orbs, and perceptive manipulation assails the pair again, pushing them further away from the temple grounds but not any closer to Necra now that it's wary of Aki's grasp.
Getting any closer looks to be impossible and Necra's gloating laughter grows louder. Its toothy sneer wide as it wears down their defences.
An explosion of mana from behind Necra makes it cry out in pain. The thousands of disharmonious voices sound like a discordant orchestra far too loud than they should be in the thin open air far above land.
Turning their attention behind it, Aki spots a group of worse-for-wear sailors holding an ancient looking cannon. Smoke sizzles from the barrel and even more mana swells into its chamber, ready for another blast.
Necra vanishes, leaving dozens of doubles in the mist and lashes out against the cannon group.
"Skies, Dent, they're gonna get killed!" Aki yanks at his hair and points urgently.
"They would buy us time to recover, but not much, they spoke." Dent winces.
"You heard them?"
"My air magic is versatile."
Dent catches his breath for the few precious seconds before Necra returns its attention to them. "Do you have any plans on how to broach this or are you going to wing it?"
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[Tactician Lv. 2 – Insight Granted]
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"Just get me over Necra for a second then get back. I'll handle the rest."
Dent looks over his shoulder at her with a quizzical look but nods without another word.
Necra sweeps her arm in a wide arc, pulling chunks of the city and island with it. In one quick move, the floating landscape is shifted upward several dozen metres.
"Our time is up, it appears."
Strengthened and renewed, Dent leaps deftly across the rocks, dodging buildings and parts of buildings with Aki's guidance. His wind magic staggers the rubble and holds against Necra's attacks just long enough to leap from one to another.
Aki pulls Dent this way and that, letting [Precognition] and [Tactician] abilities find the best route.
Moments later, they are over Necra.
In one last effort to push them away, it releases a gaseous shield. With Aki and Dent's combined water and wind, the pair rips through the mist easily to reveal the owrou underneath.
Its hood flutters wildly, its mouth a gaping O of surprise.
"Now!"
Aki spins Dent around and kicks off his back, flying like an arrow directly at Necra's face.
Seeing Aki zooming toward it, the violent emotions from the berserk souls lessen for a moment before returning sharper and fiercer than before.
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[Crown Ability Activated: Eyes of the Heart]
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Once more, Aki reaches out and grasps at the souls.
Behind her head, the Crown that had only peeking small glimpses into the tangible world flares to life. Starting from a central bisecting light, the halo extends quickly followed by three more points on either side.
"I'm sorry if it hurts but let me help you!"