Grey Burst Punch 4

Melzri was kneeling next to Viessa, the other Scythe’s limp body pulled into her arms. She was rocking back and forth, her mouth half open, disbelief and horror written in every line of her face. The void wind was spilling out of her, a physical manifestation of her grief.

Then her eyes met mine, and she seemed to collapse into herself, the scream becoming a snarl, all that tension exploding downward as she dropped the corpse and leaped into the air, one blade gripped in both hands and trailing soul fire like a dark flag.

Black wind buffeted me, pushing dust and smoke into my eyes, coiling around my limbs and throat, entangling in my hair and attempting to pull me off balance. Tendrils of Cecilia’s mana wove in and around Melzri’s, reinforcing the spell and holding it against my influence.

I felt the regalia imprinted halfway up her spine activate as she channeled mana into it. Mana condensed from the atmosphere and into her spells. Her body swelled with it, hardening and strengthening. The sword blazed darker, the flames roaring ten feet up from the blade. The wind’s claws sharpened, digging deeper and harder. Cold white flames licked her body, a thousand candle flames burning from her pores as her body overloaded on mana.

Aether burst throughout my hips, spine, shoulders, and arms, instantly bringing my blade up into a defensive position with enough power to rip through the clutching wind. The Burst Strike delivered all its potency directly into the center mass of her weapon.

With a gust, the soul flames puffed out like a candle. Steel shrieked, and the sword exploded, sending a shrapnel of broken metal spraying across the throne room. Melzri’s arm wrenched unnaturally, and something inside cracked and splintered.

Her momentum carried her past me, where she stumbled and fell to her knees, clutching her broken hand and arm with the other.

Mana condensed around her, scooping her up and carrying her away from me. “Go,” Cecilia said. “You are no more use here.”

I could have stopped her, could have followed Melzri and struck her and her retainer down before she could withdraw the tempus warp from her dimension artifact, but I had a feeling whatever punishment that Agrona would deal out in response to their failure here would be worse than the quick death I could offer.