432. Severance

A white vortex blasted through the sky. White flames that blended gray as it shot towards the dark inferno. Gula had seen this counter-storm form— she had looked on as little balls of light flitted up from the multitude of corpses scattering the landscape and coalesced into the [Will O’ Wisp]. She watched as the Spirit’s form expanded and crashed into the twisted Demon.

A strong gale swept over Gula as the impact sent a tremor rolling over the hills outside of the city. Gula heard the chittering— the scream of agony coming from Libid as his black flames peeled away. The white and black fire melded together at the center and turned gray. The column of white flame pushed the entire dark inferno. Libid’s fiery body flaked away, wisping off as the intensity of the Spirit’s attack heightened.

“This…”

Gula’s eyes bulged. Libid’s Grand Skill was actually being pushed back. And this sight— it emboldened the Humans. They cheered and unleashed their own magic alongside this powerful tornado of white flames. Finally, the realization settled in: Gula knew they’d lost.

For a moment, she looked towards Libid. She considered saving the [Jinn]. Teleport him out with her. But she knew that would’ve been impossible. Not in his current form. So, as the white flames ebbed away at the dark inferno, Gula’s figure blurred.

And she vanished.

“Huh.”

I blinked, watching Willy’s body contort from a tiny little [Will O’ Wisp] floating at the tip of Edithe’s staff to that infernal typhoon of wrath. He wasn’t laughing, yet I could almost hear his happy voice echo within the roaring fire. He crashed into the [Jinn] and pushed the black fire back. The firestorm shrank, washed away by the white fire and reeling in pain.

My gaze snapped to the side as I heard a voice bellow.

“Now’s our chance!”

Daniel charged forward, raising the Sword of Alexander as the Human armies rallied behind him. The [Jinn] tried to push Willy back as tendrils of black flame lashed out, but the [Hero] swung his blade up. His slash cut through the dark tendrils before it could push Willy’s combined attack with Edithe back.

I spread my wings wide and turned to Orgaf. Daniel was right.

“Orgaf!”

“Right.”

The [Rogue] nodded as he vanished into my shadow. I raised my iridescent scythe and bared my teeth.

“Let’s take down this [Jinn] with everything we’ve got!”

And with that, I propelled forward with a single beat of my wings. We charged back into the fray, flying straight for the true body within the black flames. I swerved and flew alongside Willy— I nodded at the [Wil O’ Wisp], and he said only one word in response.

“Go.”

I laughed as I spiraled around his expanding flaming body before diving straight into the [Jinn].

“Burn!”

I pointed and a deluge of rainbow-colored flames poured out of my fingertip. It scraped away at the black flames, but it wasn’t comparable to Willy’s assault. However, a blast of magic inundated the dark inferno from afar. Not a single blast, but a massive barrage.

I glanced back at the Human armies as they unleashed their magic. Their spells and their arrows and whatever projectiles they could muster. I grinned as my clone joined in, sending a wave of gold and silver flames.

“Come on!”

I yelled as I flew forward. My clone led the path as I fought to get to the core of the flaming void. It was like wading through the deepest depths of the ocean itself when I couldn’t breathe. It was like being smothered by a thick forest where light couldn’t breach its canopy, and the heat was too oppressive— literally crushing me.

This was a Grand Skill like no other. Even in its reduced and weakened state, it could’ve killed me.

Yet, I still pressed on. I wasn’t alone, after all. Willy’s flames burned away the darkness. There was a literal army behind me. Edithe and Daniel did everything they could to support me from afar. And Orgaf was trailing after my shadow.

“We’re getting closer…”

My gaze fixed only on the fragmented form of the [Jinn]. The true body of this firestorm. It waited for me above the morning clouds. Scattered and broken pieces of the vague form of a [Jinn]. Like a vase that was shattered and left crinkling the carpet.

I watched my clone leading the way as only darkness surrounded me now. We were beyond even where Willy’s flame reached. The heat was palpable here. And the path my clone burned grew smaller and smaller. She tried her best, but like a flickering candle in a winter storm, she was snuffed out.

Still, she refused to go out with a whimper. My clone exploded— a brilliant golden cross that expanded outwards. The black flames tried to crush it, but that only caused it to explode a second time. A wilder blast. One that nearly consumed me in its fury.

I didn’t shy away from it. Instead, I soared higher. Further into the dark firestorm. Heading for what was the true body of the [Jinn]. I burned through my own clone’s flames and unleashed my own iridescent fire into the void. It opened up a new path. One that I followed as I continuously poured my magic to the sky.

At first, it was easy. I felt like I could keep this up forever. But just like my clone, I slowly found myself being overwhelmed. The closer to the heart of the storm, the more dangerous the whipping black flames were. It encroached on me, eating away at my own Divine Essence as I was forced to use my Divine Nebular Scythe to tear through the black flames.

“This is annoying—”

I could see my destination ahead of me. Even with the blanket of flames, [Manifestation of the Old Gods] pulled through, letting me see into the depths of the dark inferno. I was in its face now. The eyes of the firestorm turned inward to face me as I fought back.

“I just need to…”

I trailed off, and a figure appeared from beneath my wings. Orgaf leapt out and swung with both his daggers. The veil of darkness sliced open as he yelled.

“Finish it!”

I blinked, looking at the opening he gave me. A moment passed as Orgaf began to fall, but he continued to tear through the dark flames for me, using the shadows all around him as his weapon. I grinned and blasted forward with a burst of flames.

“Thanks!”

And I saw it. Finally, I saw the true body of the [Jinn] with my own two eyes. There was no need for magic to look into it. To see the ethereal form of a Demon, cracked and shattered. Broken into five separate pieces. His head floated at the center of the broken body, twisted and contorted in pain. Its face was like a Human skull, although it had long jagged teeths and a pair of horns protruding from the forehead and curling back like hair.

The [Jinn]’s facial expression didn’t change, yet the head turned to face me like a moving statue.

“PERISH, HUMAN.”

There was a gap between the rest of the firestorm and his true body. A sphere where there was open air. But as I flew through it, a column of black flames descended upon me— the strongest flames I’d faced. I raised my Divine Nebular Scythe, blocking the attack as I gritted my teeth.

“YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME.”

The [Jinn] continued. Tendrils lashed out as I sliced the pillar of black flames in half. I looked up and conjured up half a dozen arms, each holding up their own quickly made fiery weapons. I cut through these tendrils as I yelled back.

“I… should be… the one…”

But my voice was drowned out by the roaring flames. I forced myself forward, even one of the fragmented body parts of the [Jinn]— what looked to be a leg— floated towards me. It began to rapidly disintegrate.

“...saying that…”

And my eyes widened. A blast of black all-consuming flames shot out. A cone of intense heat. One that went straight for me. I raised all my arms and weapons whilst creating both a fractal and fire barrier. But his magic was too overpowering. It ate away my barrier as it blasted me back.

Perhaps I would’ve died. But I raised the Greaves of Alexander just in time to take the brunt of the attack. I screamed in pain as I went flying, descending back into the firestorm.

“FOR MY KING, I WILL LAY WASTE TO ALL OF THE HUMAN LANDS.”

The [Jinn] spoke as I saw his figure disappearing in the distance. As the shroud of his inferno closed after me. I gasped and tried to fly back, but my body was burnt and injured. I’d expended too much of my energy to get here. Not even the Boots of Alexander of the Greaves of Alexander could help me now.

“I can’t…”

I tried to push forward. I really did. But I was falling into the abyss. I gotten so far, but I’d lost it all. My eyes closed as I sighed.

Then a voice cut through even the [Jinn]’s screaming— through the roaring flames. A quiet voice that almost seemed to shush everything else around us.

“You’ve done enough.”

I looked down at a knight’s visor as a metal glove patted me on the shoulder. I blinked at Kaitlin Darkhelm as she gave me a nod. She’d followed the path Orgaf and I carved out, and was now here. She didn’t float, as much as she fell with me.

“Now I’ll take care of the rest.”

She said simply. I opened my mouth.

“Wha—”

And with a burst of light, the knight shot forward. She raised her shield, diving through the air as the black flames inundated her from all sides. But somehow, even if the fire assailed her from behind, it curved and struck her shield instead. It was like all attacks were being absorbed by her shield. As though it was a conductor of sorts, attracting the flames like a metal rod did for lightning.

Even as I fell and the fiery drapes closed around me, I watched her press on through the eyes of [Manifestation of the Old Gods]. With that single leap, Kaitlin Darkhelm crossed into the heart of the storm. Where there were no flames. Just a broken body.

“YOU—”

The Demon bellowed, but Kaitlin didn’t listen to his words. She continued like an unstoppable force, shooting forward for the true body of the inferno with her shield raised. She wasn’t as fast as Orgaf, but nothing could slow her down.

“DIE!”

Not even the deluge of black fire did anything to stop her. The [Jinn] sacrificed its arms and legs, unleashing a flame more powerful than anything I’d seen so far. But her shield absorbed it all. Or no— it wasn’t her shield. It couldn’t be. It had to be a Skill of sorts. However, I couldn’t focus on that. Instead, I saw the way the Commander of the Vaun Qieur Empire Swordsguard Forces finally lowered her shield and brought up her sword.

“The only one here dying is you, Demon, to your blind loyalty to your king.”

“I WILL NOT FALL HERE!”

All that was left of the [Jin] was a skull. And it slowly burned away as he poured out the last vestige of his life into an attack that would’ve overwhelmed me. Like the entire force of the dark inferno concentrated into one blast.

Kaitlin Darkhelm didn’t falter. Her sword flickered as her eyes narrowed. She spoke in a whisper, charging into the impending wall of black flames.

“[Verily The Vim Vigor Of Your Vaulted Potent Power Will Never Waver When I Am Within Your Encompassing and Eternal Embrace. Empower Me With Your Salubrious Strength So That I Shall Slice Through My Enemies In Your Spirit, Oh Lord.]”

And she slashed up.

“[Sanctimonious Severance].”

She tore straight through the darkness. Everything her blade touched was sheared in half. I watched as her Grand Skill completely overwhelmed the [Jinn]. She shot through the wall of black flames and reached the Demon’s skull. Her blade shattered the bones and sent a ripple across the black firestorm.

My eyes widened. I watched as the [Jinn] let out a final chittering cry as his shattered body smashed apart, flying in all directions. The dark inferno twisted around me. For a moment, I thought it would’ve crushed me again. But then the black flames exploded out like a plume of dark steam.

I looked around as the sky wheeled and I saw the gathered armies staring. The dark inferno shot out in a ring across the sky, but it didn’t burn anything. Not even the clouds. I blinked a few times before as the Humans broke out into a cacophonous cheer, and Kaitlin Darkhelm continued ascending to the clouds.

“Huh…”

I looked at her back— I saw the power of the Commander of the Vaun Qieur Empire’s Swordsguard Forces. She turned in the sky, her face still covered by her helmet, but I knew she was looking down in satisfaction at her work.

“She really is strong.”

I remarked idly as, finally, the siege of Alyras was lifted. We had won.