'Arrogance.'
A simple word Maya never thought too deeply about suddenly struck her mind.
'We were arrogant.'
The five of them weren't high-level elementalists yet, but Maya concluded that even just introducing one other element to the air seniors would help them tremendously against single-element limitations.
Andrea wasn't particularly extraordinary at earth manipulation, but given time she could erect strong walls to protect them. Maya was fearful about Linda's suggestion that she could try and slow down its movement, considering how skilled she was, but she surprised them with an ace up her sleeve. Isaac didn't have anything like that hidden, but he was always dependable and willing to extend his hand.
Elena was the one who shocked them the most at their short briefing.
"Why not try and kill it?"
Unsurprising, she received a couple of blank looks from her friends. Their seniors were in a dire situation unable to do anything but stall for time and Elena was talking about killing the thing.
"We don't have much time left," Elena glanced at the sky. "I don't know if it has any weak points, but if we all go for a full frontal attack, we could do it."
'We should have all attacked it together,' Maya's last thoughts of regret echoed through her mind, watching Elena seconds from being trampled to death with all their contingencies having failed.
The hellish antlers were on a path ready to impale her. Suddenly, the mutated monster was blown to the side, tumbling off its original trajectory and rolling grotesquely as it flailed its limbs.
Maya's gaze snapped to the source of power that threw it away so mercilessly. It was Tanya, her mentor. Breathing heavily as she had just made it in time to use a powerful air blast, she quickly assessed the condition of stranded students.
It was their reinforcements from the academy! Tanya, as a powerful bipartite with both air and fire at her disposal, made her way here the fastest.
Ignoring all the shock and commotion, Maya, pumped with adrenaline, sprinted toward her friend who had just nearly escaped death, as guards — finally able to approach the creature that lost its superior speed — charged toward it with weapons.
Elena stood there unblinking but expressionless. It was as if, in her own disbelief for having survived, her brain short-circuited and did not know what reaction to display.
The mere sight of Elena standing unharmed felt like a surreal dream. Without a second thought, Maya threw herself around her neck, feeling her cheeks wet as a wave of relief washed over her. Although the target of her affection—Elena—was like a firm stone in the face of such displays.
As more warriors of the Night's Guard joined from the reinforcements, they coordinated themselves attacking the creature in groups, interchanging in delivering deep slashes to its body. However, those slashes, although splitting its flesh deeply, did not seem to have any impactful effect and it was already recovering its balance.
"Step aside," said a firm voice belonging to Lady Kiana. The high priestess, arriving with the reinforcements stepped in, pulling back the flowy sleeves of her priestess gown. "Assist me, dear."
At her command, Tanya joined her and before the creature found its balance, a blinding light spread through the entire area, encroaching on arriving twilight. They have joined forces to create a controlled vortex of flames that rose high, engulfing the creature entrapped in their artificial blast furnace. The heat cooked it in mere moments.
Lady Kiana's long platinum hair had risen up carried by the heat, and joined the dance her beautiful gown performed against the hot air produced by the power surge. The guards that were close to the flames had to cover up their faces with their arms to prevent their eyebrows from getting singed.
Even in a charred state, the murderous passion still burned in the empty eye sockets of the creature even when there was no muscle or tendons on its limb to facilitate movement. It crumbled to the ground, leaving the air saturated with the smell of burnt and rotting flesh.
'So that's why Lady Kiana was a High Priestess. Her firepower was insane.'
Tanya surely helped, but Maya had a keen enough eye to tell she was mostly working on containment and preventing the onlookers from getting cooked along with the creature while the fire was the priestess's raw power. Two of them combined produced such temperatures that the flames burned with enough intensity to turn purple, burning the creature to a crisp as if it was made out of paper.
"I'm only called when such a dirty mess needs to be cleaned," said Lady Kiana while brushing off her hands.
As the flames dwindled she was already focused on delegating personnel on the evacuation procedure. They didn't have a lot of room for loitering as the night-time loomed.
The threat of the unfamiliar and terrifying creature was finally gone.
After struggling so hard, uncertain if they were going to make it, students were shocked at how quickly it was resolved. Not even seniors who showed their competence could think about attacking the creature until Maya's group intervened. And that only displayed why it was impossible to even consider.
Then all their effort were reduced to meaningless struggle when Tanya single-handedly knocked the creature off its hooves. But Maya knew a regular Child of Air was unable to produce the same effect. It was thanks to her dual affinity and her two elements being the most complimentary pair that the lines between them erased that allowed Tanya to produce such explosive strength in a single blow.
Maya found a new appreciation for her mentor. It had always been hinted she was powerful, but seeing it on display was truly remarkable. In all this mess, Maya's interest in the most frightening element of fire has ignited.
Maya was in such deep awe that she didn't notice Elena tapping on her, wishing to be released from the discomfort of her hug. It was a hopeless endeavour anyway because moments later, the rest of their squad had joined in, and Andrea and Linda squeezed on Elena as well.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Linda sobbed.
"Let's never face such monsters from now on," Andrea's voice was shaky.
Maya's gaze landed on Isaac who kept his distance. A heavy silence surrounded him as his gaze wavered to meet their eyes. Caught in a web of conflicting emotions, she observed Isaac with a mixture of concern and disappointment. The relief that their immediate danger had passed battled against the unresolved tension stemming from Isaac's momentary lapse.
Isaac's shoulders slumped, burdened not only by the weight of his own indecision but also by the awareness of the consequences. In a crucial moment, he had let them down. If it wasn't for a stroke of luck that reinforcements arrived just in time, Elena's fate would have been dire.
Wishing to say something, to placate this tension left between them, Maya was only left at a loss for words. It wasn't easy to just move past it. Maya's gaze landed on Andrea and Linda. It wasn't clear how well they could see what was happening earlier from their positions, but the tense expression and reluctance to look Isaac's way proved they had some hints.
In the whole mess, it was Elena, the chronic pariah, who suffered the most from the sudden onslaught of attention. Even the other students who could only watch the whole thing, wished to approach and say something.
As the night's guard continued their efforts to secure the area, Maya approached Isaac with a conflicted expression. As they stood there in silence, neither of them could bring themselves to speak. Isaac broke the silence with a heavy sigh and without another word, he turned away and left. Maya's heart raced as her hand instinctively twitched to grab him, but she hesitated.
'Is it even my place to speak up when it was Elena whose forgiveness he should seek?'
"…Which ones?" Lady Kiana's voice broke through as she used a surprisingly authoritarian voice while dealing with the situation. "Ah…"
Being directed toward Maya's squad, her reaction was strange when she had to suddenly face them. Her gaze landed on Elena and paused on her for a moment. It was long enough to facilitate Elena's confused expression.
"Well, be more careful next time," her words were a little awkward, like an eccentric person would be when having to placate children. Something that was out of her element.
Maya's eyes narrowed. Se couldn't help but wonder if there was some bad blood between them. Considering Elena's scorn of religion, it wouldn't be surprising. But more likely, what was apparent from Elena's confusion, they had never interacted before.
Lady Kiana looked at each of the girls, her expression tense as if she struggled to find appropriate words for them.
"Little chicks, God of Light seems to have given you their grace today," she addressed all four of them. "You seem intelligent enough to have learned your lesson, so I'll spare you from further lecturing. Proceed toward the academy."
With that conclusion, Lady Kiana moved on.