Chapter 179: Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Nine: All Out

Fire preceded the creature out of the rift, the ground was burning away several feet in front and rapidly spreading out in a circle around the tear in space. If this kept up it wouldn’t be long before the nearby trees and building caught alight.

Behind the wall of heat, the being that was it source approached. A woman wreathed in flame, if she was wearing clothes, I couldn’t make them out behind the spiral of fire that wrapped around her body.

Serin and Aetherin were still grounded either side of the opening to the void, but as the women took a step outside Aetherin seemed to vanish, a moment later Serin disappeared too. It was the sound of the air cutting to the side of me that drew my attention away. The pair reappeared just to the side of Altria, Celine, Beth and me.

“What is she?” I asked in a panic.

It was Aetherin that answered. “A higher flame demon.”

“Are we in trouble?”

“We could be, they’re a natural enemy of mine…”

The creature was taking its time stepping out of the portal it had created. Maybe it was because there had been no response to its opening attack, or just because it didn’t think any of us were a threat to it.

The light from the spreading fire had stopped any of us from noticing the dark cloud that had covered the moon. The flame demon hadn’t noticed either, as she stepped out of the portal and checked her surroundings. Her gaze fleeted from us to Enna and Liz who were still the far side of the scorched trail. Then she looked up, just as huge bolt of lightning dropped from the sky. Liz hadn’t been waiting for her to attack, she had been busily preparing her own strike. The bolt appeared to be a direct hit, as I squinted from the intense light, then my eyes adjusted.

The lightning had hit an invisible barrier just above the fire demon’s head. Sparks flew in every direction and electricity was arcing all around her, but nothing seemed to touch her.

Liz stood firm continuing her attack her arms flung forward as she put every ounce of strength, she had into it. The bolts intensity increased, and the light grew so bright I had to avert my eyes. Then the light stopped.

I looked up and across the way, Liz had fallen to her side and Enna was desperately trying to get her to her feet. I looked across to the demon, there was no sign of damage to her whatsoever. The attack had failed to reach her.

As my mind raced, trying to think of something I could do, then Aetherin vanished from my side. She reappeared just in front of Liz, flipped up and opened her parasol horizontally, barely a moment before another wall of flame was directed at them.

The fire was too intense for me to make out directly what had happened to them, but at the point of impact the wall widened. I could only hope that Aetherin had managed to deflect the attack somehow. Two arrows whistled past next to me. They flew through the air only to burst into flame and turn to ash before ever hitting their mark. I felt a tug on my clothing and turned to see a very concerned looking Celine behind me.

“Master, we should escape. This isn’t going to end well.” She said as she reached for my hand.

“But you can’t take everyone!”

“No, but I can take you and one other.” She said glancing at Serin.

“No, we can’t! We can’t leave the others to fight alone.”

Celine tugged at my hand. “But!”

“No… If you can get to Liz, can you take her? At least we could get the artifact out of here.”

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“I’m not going to do that!”

“Then none of us are going anywhere.”

The wall of flame died down. Aetherin was still standing, her parasol was charred but she appeared uninjured herself. Everything to the sides of her was burnt to a dark crisp, behind her were Enna and Liz. They were safe for now.

Liz had got back to her feet, but she was looking wobbly. I doubted she would be able to launch another attack like that, she had gone all out and put everything she had into the first. As I turned to look at the flame demon, I noticed Serin was bathed in a blue light next to me. She nodded at Altria then dashed forward. I knew this attack. Altria had slung her bow on her back and had begun a complex chant. Everyone was starting to go all out. I quickly glanced from side to side, but there was no sign of Beth.

As Serin drew closer to the flame demon, she caught her attention. With the turn of her hand a wave of fire flew at Serin. Seeing this Serin thrust her sword forward and the blue light extended in front of her parting the fire as it went. Like a flash Serin jumped forward, landing strike after strike in blur.

 Then out of nowhere a white light shot out from the trees behind, it was Beth. She jumped and brought her blade down on the demon and dragged it down her body. The woman was bleeding, but she wasn’t out. The pair were already jumping back out of range when a whirlwind of fire span out several feet in every direction. Both girls were caught in the very edges of the attack.

I glanced back at Altria, she hadn’t completed the chant… We needed just a few more seconds.

Without giving it much thought I ran forward, and an idea flashed through my mind. As I got into range I let off “disarm” the flames that wreathed the woman vanished, just as I’d hoped. The only problem now was her full attention was on me. I panicked and ran across her path, letting of a mana wind strike as I ran. It slashed her across her body unhindered by her fire.  

I lost my footing, that was my first thought, but as I fell and looked down, I realised that a void had opened below me, and I was slipping inside. At least I had bought us some time. As I passed below ground level, I felt something grasp me around the shoulders and I was rapidly lifted into the air. It was Enna! We quickly gained altitude, soon watching the fight from twice the height of the trees.

While we were circling overhead, Altria finished preparing and unleashed her attack. The flame demon was surrounded by a sphere for an instant, then the sphere imploded on itself. The force of the implosion pulled the branches of the trees downwards and even wobbled Enna as we flew past. Altria dropped to her knees, and the flame demon’s body was twisted in on itself. There didn’t seem to be anyway she could have survived an attack like that.

“It’s not over yet!” Aetherin shouted as the demon’s body twitched.

Aetherin was still standing guard in front of the weakened Liz, she looked over the rest of the party, but the only member on the ground that wasn’t injured or drained was Celine.

The demon was quickly regenerating and reinflating itself in front of our eyes. As she sat up and tried to get to her feet, Aetherin pounced. There was a boom, as she disappeared from her position. At the same time the demon’s flames reignited. Aetherin reappeared just in front of her like a flash, but was immediately engulfed in flame as she crossed paths…

The demon’s flames were extinguished as her body fell to the floor. The only thing still burning was the surrounding area and Aetherin, who was holding the demon’s head in her hands.

“We need to land!” I shouted.

Enna dived to the ground and let me drop as soon as we were close. I quickly took my cloak and threw it over Aetherin and rolled her on the ground away from the flames. She was seriously burnt. Her skin was charred to a crisp in places and she didn’t seem to be regenerating. She was still alive, so chances were she would regenerate eventually, but I was still worried.

I checked my surroundings as I sat next to her body. The rest of the girls were still standing and making their way towards us. Serin and Beth were injured from the fight, but they looked in a better state than she did. I turned back to Aetherin and activated “special heal”, it didn’t have the effect I was hoping for her wounds didn’t seem to be healing at all. Realising it wasn’t working, I panicked a little while I thought of what to do next.

Blood. I rolled up my sleeve and placed my arm up against her mouth, but she was completely unresponsive. “Come on Aetherin, Drink!” I pleaded.

She didn’t stir in the slightest.

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