Viv attacked the Ifrit with everything she had. The glow of crimson from her energy sabre bathed the whole store in a virulent light. Shelves broke and shattered, goods flying everywhere.

Rory tried his best to ignore the mayhem. All he could do was stare at the metal staff in one hand. The Ifrit’s fighting capabilities weren’t the real problem. What they needed was a solution to its fiery poison that had settled through everywhere.

His staff could summon ice in several forms. At first, it didn’t compute that ice and snow and the general cold could help in any way, but then he started to get an idea.

Cold had the power to freeze. To preserve. There had to be some way he could take advantage of that property and… do what? Freeze the particles infiltrating their body without turning themselves into solid blocks of ice? That sounded too fantastical to be a possibility. Rory wasn’t sure he could violate the laws of physics to that degree at his current level of power.

But then, the very existence of Sigils was so far out of the norm, he discarded the thought of physics as any sort of limit. What he needed to figure out was how to put his Sigils to good use.

A quick look into his staff showed him that the Sigils of Rending Blizzard and Frozen Lightning had grown stronger. The former was at Argent VI, the latter at Argent III. He quickly checked its description, trying to stave off the disappointment at it not being what it had been at Viridian III when he had first checked it out. At least he could use it later.

Sigil of Rending Blizzard

[Argent VI] allows summoning a rending blizzard in a 30-meter radius.

Stats

Type: Atmosphere

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Argent VI [39%]

Efficiency: Medium [45%]

A light bulb went off in Rory’s head. Of course, if he was thinking of preservation, he was in exactly the right place for it.

“Wait here,” he told April and Bo. “I’ll be back.”

April had helped Bo back to his feet, and he looked a little unsteady as he clung to his wife yet tried not to do so at the same time. It made them both teeter a little. That had to be the poison’s effect as much as anything else.

“Where are you going?” April asked.

“Going to get a new Sigil,” Rory replied.

“We can’t wait. Your wife won’t be able to handle that thing by herself for long.”

That made Rory pause for a moment. He turned to see what April meant. So far, the noise had made it seem as though Viv was tearing up the whole grocery store in her attempt to destroy the Ifrit. Rory had assumed that just because she was fighting ferociously meant that she was safe. Now, looking at the fight itself, he could see that wasn’t the case.

Viv was fighting with everything she had. Her Omnipresent Sabre was getting an extreme workout, flashing and flaring as she used it every second. When she wasn’t busy trying to slice the Ifrit with it, she sent burning arcs trailing through the air to teleport or occasionally turned herself to smoke to escape the monster’s bursts of dark fire.

Rory swallowed. It looked like the same kind of fire that Dez used, glittering with dots of blue light here and there. If only Dez had been here.

But even as Rory watched momentarily, the fight continued to shift in momentum. Viv was attacking less and less, possibly slowed down thanks to the poison’s effect, and she was forced to dodge and disappear to evade the Ifrit’s wide barrage of flaming attacks. Its wings were burning with Abyssal Inferno, the black-and-blue flames catching everywhere on the store. As if they weren’t running out of time already.

“April’s right,” Bo said. It seemed he was trying to marshal his fright and reluctance. “We need to help Viv.”

“What you need to do is stay put and stay alive.” Rory gathered in a struggling breath and went on quickly. “Trust me on this one. Don’t interfere and let Viv do what she needs to. Meanwhile, I’m going to do something I’ll need your help with soon. So, stay put.”

Without waiting to hear anything further from them, Rory dashed off. He’d wasted enough time. They weren’t wrong. Viv didn’t have long before the Ifrit overwhelmed her or destroyed the store itself.

Rory reached the dairy section of the grocery store. Things were mostly pristine on this end. He was far enough that the sounds of battle were lower, only the rising flames and the occasional crimson glow indicating the fight going on in the distance.

No time to waste. Rory pulled open the freezer before him and activated his Sigil of Weaving, the lines of light sinking into the whole container. He closed his eyes and focused. Worry and anxiety made it hard, but he managed. What he needed was something to preserve, something that could slow down the processes harmful to life, congeal it into a static state that wasn’t as dangerous as before.

Soon enough, he got the Sigil options as the freezer disappeared and its contents fell to floor. He quickly picked through the offered choices and received a Sigil of Preservation. It showed the image of a figure encased in a glassy block—of course, that had to be ice.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Preservation. Sometimes, things never last as long as you’d like them to. Here’s a little something to keep them going, regardless of their will, just a little longer.

[Cerulean IV] allows preservation casting in a 5-meter radius for 70 seconds.

Stats

Type: Concept

Rarity: Uncommon

Tier: Cerulean IV [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [30%]

Rory was glad to get the Sigil, but it wasn’t going to be enough. The staff wouldn’t let anything above Cerulean work at its current level, of that he was certain. Which meant that Rory needed to raise the Tiers of the Sigils within it.

He activated his Rending Blizzard. The wintry storm blast everywhere. For once, Rory wasn’t blown off his feet. With no time to lose, Rory used his Weaving on the storm around him, trying to obtain more Sigils of Rending Blizzard. Hopefully, he wouldn’t run out of Mana before he finished.

The storm affected the monster’s flames, attracting his attention. Rory was suddenly aware of the Ifrit screeching and rushing towards him. He was too slow to react, but thankfully, Viv teleported before him and stopped the Djinn in his tracks.

As Viv engaged the monster again, Rory Wove the Sigils of Rending Blizzard he was creating from the storm and entering them into the staff. After a while, the Sigil inside the skull-topped metal rod reached Cerulean IV. Rory grinned. He inserted the Sigil of Preservation next, combining it with the Sigil of Rending Blizzard with his Weaving.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Harmonic Blizzard. With ruination and preservation balanced by your hand, destroy one area to safeguard another, holding on to harmony at all times.

[Cerulean IV] allows remote summoning a harmonic blizzard in a 40-meter radius.

Stats

Type: Atmosphere

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Cerulean IV [0%]

Efficiency: High [52%]

Interesting. Rory had turned a blizzard that caused pure destruction into something that could both destroy and keep things safe.

Rory rushed off. The poison was getting to him. He was slowing down, starting to hurt all over.

The fight between Viv and the Ifrit had sprawled to the front of the grocery store so that their only exit—at least, the only one Rory knew of—was blocked off. Black flames washed the whole area in a terrific light, shadows swirling as though they sought to come alive and rip off their restrictive surfaces.

“Follow me,” he told April and Bo as he passed them. “It’s time to stop the monster.”

They moved quickly, Rory struggling against the fatigue. The last exchange between the Ifrit and Viv had slammed her into some shelves that had crashed atop her. She was exposed and would have had difficulty evading the monster’s attack if they hadn’t reached her then.

He smiled. Perfect timing.

“Ah,” the Ifrit said, dark eyes gleaming with malice. “Here to die altogether now?”

“Actually,” Rory said. “We’re here to live together.”

The Ifrit frowned. All its feathers were burning with the Abyssal Inferno, and now their glow intensified. “Is that so? Prove it then, mortal.”

“With pleasure.”

Rory raised his staff. He had no idea if the required motions had changed now that the Sigil itself was different, but he tried the regular motions first. A few overhead twirls like he was mixing the world’s largest teacup, then a rapid pull-down, before an even more rapid stab upwards.

The skull at the staff’s tip glowed for a fraction of a second before it was lost in the blizzard that erupted out of it. Cold clasped Rory in a grip even stronger than that of the poison, a surety that was inescapable and unstoppable. He didn’t bother trying to fight it. The wind and icy sleet soon had him in their wintry grasp. Rory couldn’t even see what had become of the others.

“Paltry magic,” the Ifrit shouted. “This will never stop me.”

As if to illustrate that point, the monster spread its wings even further. Black fire bloomed everywhere, shot with blue glints. It spread outwards rapidly, burning heavy and hard.

That was fine. The Ifrit was far from being Rory’s target. “It’s not meant to stop you. It’s meant to stop your idiotic poison.” He raised his voice so that the others, coughing as pain spiked in his chest. “Cover me.”

Rory closed his eyes. Hopefully, the others had heard and would act if the Ifrit attacked him directly. There was movement behind him. Rory didn’t open his eyes, only smiled. He could tell from the wind-muffled footsteps that April and Bo were now guarding him.

A little less worried that he’d be burned to death, Rory focused on his task. Cold. Freezing. Destruction. There was an even exchange to be had, pitting ruination and preservation against each other. Rory focused inwards, imagining the way his Sigil’s blizzard, or the aura of sheer cold from it, could reach deep within and affect everything.

And all Rory needed it to really affect were the particles of poison in his and the others’ body.

It needed something in return. Destruction needed safeguarding in exchange. Rory smiled, shivering as the cold started to creep into him with even greater intensity. There was no rule against preserving himself while destroying something within him. The same went for the others.

When Rory opened his eyes, he found himself facing death. His heart stuttered. The Ifrit’s dark inferno grew even larger, and it was beginning to wash towards them like a lightless tidal wave. April fired her gun, but it had no effect. The bullet was swallowed by the dark flames.

The black fires were eating through Rory’s blizzard. All that stopped them was Viv rising with her Omnipresent Sabre gleaming like a bloody sun. She stabbed it into the ground, the continuous stream of energy from the impact warding off the dark fire temporarily.

“April,” Viv said through chattering teeth. “Can you carve us an opening?”

Rory was about to say that her bullets were nullified by the dark flames, but when April stepped forward, he noticed that she was glancing at the ground. Instead of throwing an entire magazine, she’d pulled out a few bullets, which she proceeded to throw at the floor.

The shockwave from the resultant small blast struck Rory like fridge-sized slap, though he didn’t stagger thanks to the cold. That was perfect. Rory needed his positioning.

As the blast cleared a path to the Ifrit and Viv charged through, warmed by April’s Distant Detonation, Rory stabbed his staff forward. A flash of ice surged ahead and struck the ground before the monster just as it stepped on the patch of newly-formed ice, distracted by the blazing crimson sword bearing down upon it.

The ice cracked, then exploded upwards, trapping half of the Ifrit’s torso. Rory grinned at the twist in its expression, at the way it squawked in outraged surprise, at how it lost any way of blocking Viv. For as soon as the ice had cracked, a cage of crackling lightning shot out and enfolded the monster. Virulent arcs of electricity writhed around the Ifrit, keeping it locked in place.

That’s when Viv struck. Rory was in awe of the sheer power she displayed. She had pulled her arm back, her sword dimming and growing short. Apparently, it had been charging up. As soon as she was within striking distance, Viv flashed her arms forward in a violent stabbing motion. Her Omnipresent Sabre detonated outwards, slamming into the Ifrit like a combination of a battering ram and a missile.

The monster screamed as it was blasted right off its feet, the red energy punching right through its body in multiple areas. It crashed through the grocery store’s wall, flying all the way across the street to collide with the building on the other side.

“Is it dead?” Viv asked as she stepped forward.

Rory had let his blizzard fall, deactivating so that they could all finally warm up. Not that he could move as Viv was doing until some time had passed. He felt frozen stiff. But then, warmth bloomed from a surprising source.

Bo, also struggling to move, had managed to hold out his hand. His Sigil of Flarespike had activated, long, burning thorns throwing out blessed warmth and light. It took a while, but Rory had soon warmed up enough—with his clothes dampened by all the icy melt—that he could move again, albeit still with heavy shivers and an irrepressible chill.

“I don’t see any sign of it,” Rory said when he was finally able to join Viv.

Viv leaned forward. “Yeah, me neither.”

They were hopefully right. Bits of the Ifrit’s wings stuck out here and there from the pile of broken masonry and debris it was stuck under, but there was no other sign of life from it. Rory was silently begging that the system didn’t give this monster some sort of unkillable mechanic too.

Viv turned to him with a smile. “Thanks for saving the day again.”

“Couldn’t have done it if you haven’t held that thing back for as long as you did.”

“That’s true. We make too good of a team.”

Rory frowned, but mockingly so. “Too good, huh?”

Viv laughed. “I’m not sure that poison is out of our bodies yet. We need to get Evelyn.”

“And the groceries,” April said from behind them. “Thanks to that impromptu blizzard, there’s a lot that’s been automatically preserved. We can still use a lot of it.”

Rory nodded. “Get started on that. And Bo, can you call the others using the Sigil in the truck? I want them to know what happened here, what they’re up to, and that we’re going to need Evelyn before we die.”

Nobody took offence at the morbid joke. As everyone got busy, Rory approached the site of the fallen Ifrit. A Djinn. An evil, corrupted one, but a Djinn all the same. Time to see if they could get something that would help them later.