As Ashton charged towards the halflings, he could hear Miranda say something as they got close to her.
"You don't have to waste your strength by running into my arms when I can just save you the stress." She rasped, her long tongue still sticking out of her mouth as she did.
Before Ashton could move another inch in his running track, Miranda's long tail had swept him off his feet and she wrapped her tail around him as she lifted him off the ground.
"You really want me to snack on you first? That you had to run into my beautiful tail first?" She rejoiced, almost cackling as she did.
"Ashton!" Chainy called from the ground as he looked at how Miranda's tail was swerving him in the air.
As Ashton got lifted off the ground, Miranda's tail tightened around him like it was going to squash him like a lemon. Ashton tried to wriggle himself free from her ferocious grip but the more he tried, the more her hold on him tightened.
The only ability Chainy could use at that moment was his physical strength. He knew he could try to manipulate Miranda's mind but also, Ashton was already in his way of making that a success.
"Ashton," Callista called from within urgently. "Why do you keep forgetting you possess arcane magic?"
"I cannot find myself, Callista. Her hold is too hard on me. I might get squashed in the next minute." Ashton yelped aloud. The veins in his body were now visible as Miranda's hold tightened around him the more.
At that moment, Chainy had been attacked by the two other halflings who had come with Miranda and he had momentarily lost focus on rescuing Ashton from Miranda's hold.
Seeing that no one was there to save him, Ashton managed to pull his dagger out from its sheath despite the hard grip around him. But his plan suddenly came crashing down as the dagger slipped through his finger falling to the earth that was beneath him.
"Fuck!" He cursed aggressively.
Miranda who had also noticed what he was planning to do at first began to cackle at his failed plan.
"You think a mere dagger can hurt me? Oh my, this meal of mine is really dumb and stupid!"
As she said those words to him, his demeanor changed causing him to get really angry at Miranda. He lowered his gaze upon her as she had lifted him from the ground way above her own height.
"You think trying to save myself is stupid?" Ashton asked her his voice suddenly turning cold and menacing. "Well, I guess that makes you the stupid one here."
"Eh?"
While slowly channeling the arcane magic through his system, he closed his eyes subtly controlling something that was moving unbeknownst to Miranda. His dagger that had fallen to the earth began to swerve like an earthquake was moving below it and with a single swoosh, the dagger levitated from its initial position and made a mad dash at Miranda and comfortably plunged itself into Miranda's right eye.
"Arrrrr!" Miranda screeched holding the dagger firmly as she was ready to pull it out of her eye. "You peasant!"
She successfully removed the plunged dagger from her eye and as she was about to shift her focus back to squishing Ashton, a wide gust of red wind suddenly blasted out of Ashton, loosening Miranda's tail grip on him in an instant.
Ashton could have fallen back to the earth with a loud thud but surprisingly, the same gust of wild wind that had ensued from within him kept him in the air making him float like a superhero.
Miranda reeled backwards in an instant as one of her eyes had gone blind while her tail had suffered some harsh magical burn. She fell to the earth and one would have presumed she had died.
Ashton turned back to Chainy and he could see he was still battling with the other halflings that had charged at him. Ashton landed back to the ground and picked his dagger up in an instant before dashing towards the halflings Chainy was trying to keep off with his physical strength.
The moment Ashton had gotten close to where they were, he jumped into the air ready to sink his dagger into the back of the humanoid mammoth halfling. He landed behind it successfully but the halfling screeched out loud before swinging its back ferociously which sent Ashton flying into the air.
The boy cascaded into the ground with a loud thud and he felt his back bones move from there where they had been etched since the beginning of his life.
"Ashton, I think it's best if you escape for now. These halflings seem stronger than you are."
"I do not care, Callista. I have to win this fight!" Ashton spat.
"You're exhausting my energy really fast…I might disappear from within you anytime soon."
"You do not have to worry about me exhausting your energy because I will try not to get hurt in the process." He said and then he began to course his energy into his arms to aid him to get back up on his feets but before he could successfully attain that, the archaeopteryx halfling screeched towards him flapping its wing ferociously and with a single grab with its sharp claws, it lifted Ashton off the ground taking him far deep into the sky slowly.
"This bastard wants to drop me from above!" Ashton said to himself as he began to think about a way to set himself free from the archaeopteryx's hold before it takes him far deep into thin air but he found no subtle way to attack the bird.
"Ashton…" Callista called at him from within as if she was losing her breath really fast. "I'm fading…you are consuming a lot of my powers."
Callista crumbled to her knees, her right hand firmly clasped around her neck as she tried to hold in what she was losing.
About thirty one thousand feets away from the land, Ashton peered to see what was below him and all he could see was a world full of boxes as if he were a NPC in a Minecraft world.
*SIGH!*
He finally allowed himself to relax in the archaeopteryx halfling hold, his head tilted backwards as he views the world below him upside down. Chainy was still evading the mammoth halfling by every possible way he could as all he had left in him was a little strength to evade attacks.
After all, he doesn't have any elemental ability that could aid him deliver sickening attacks at the mammoth halfling. Miranda was still laying a yard away from where Chainy was.
He rolled his eyes up to see the wings of the one who was taking him into what seemed like the outer layer and as he watched its wings clap, a small smirk appeared on his face.
"Drop me!" Ashton said in a whisper and the archaeopteryx halfling heard him say that to it.
The archaeopteryx halfling looked down to see the host he was carrying with its sharp claws and as it did, the look on Ashton's face sent a fear strickining message through its mind making its heart skip on beat and before the halfling could make another move, its claws freed Ashton unconsciously making the boy fall back into the earth gradually.
"Callista, I'm sorry if this will also kill you." Ashton began to say as gravity pulled him back from the sky in full force. "I think death is the only way to save you from me."
"Y–you really want to die here? What…about Marcus? Did you not come here for him?" Callista said back to him, her breath now short.
"Who said anything about dying here?" Ashton asked her, suddenly stopping mid-air while defiling the law of gravity abruptly.