Lance Fire 2

Before I could strike them down again, the flaming globes brightened before launching their attacks.

Each globe seemed to have a mind of its own, as the attacks fired by them were different from each other. One globe shot a barrage of small fire bullets, while another began spinning and releasing burning crescents.

I was forced onto the defensive by the barrage of attacks coming from all directions. I erected a stone wall from the ground to block the flame bullets and launched a blade of wind at the burning crescent, detonating the fiery spell prematurely.

My mind raced, trying to think of my next move. I couldn’t keep staying on the defensive, but I had no idea which flaming sphere she was hiding inside of.

The temptation to just release Realmheart grew, but I knew that was just a shortcut into solving my inadequacy by blowing off most of my mana.

Think, Arthur. How would I try to fight me if I was Hester?

The only strategy I could think of was to get on my nerves until I let my guard down. That was the answer.

I let out a roar of frustration, wildly launching shockwaves of wind and blasts of fire at the globes. Of course, the ones I hit were replaced by new ones, but I continued my seemingly agitated assault.

Coalescing tendrils of lightning around my arms and legs, I flashed forward, striking down the spheres of fire up close.

For each globe I struck down, another two took its place until over thirty spheres hovered around me.

Her mana pool is impressive.

The spheres began undulating this time while they glowed brighter. I thought they were all going to explode, but instead each of the flaming globes shot a condensed stream of fire at me.

Is this the final attack? I thought, noticing that the spheres grew smaller as they released their flaming beam.

I put on my best expression of surprise and horror and waited until all of the beams were just about to hit me before I acted.

Siphoning a large amount of mana for my core, I engulfed my entire body in a suit of fire. Absolute control was necessary to keep the fire from harming me, but timing it with Hester’s last attack would make it seem like I was hit.

Even with several extra layers of pure mana and fire mana protecting me from Hester’s barrage, I felt the fire singeing the hair on my extremities. I feared for a second that I might actually come out of this bald, but my aura kept me—and the majority of my hair—safe.

I heard Ellie call out to me in horror over the roar of the flames, but I kept my focus on the opponent. I knew Hester wouldn’t let her guard down even from this.

This next part was the hard part.

One aspect to consider for a multi-elemental mage was his strength to not just know when to utilize each of his elements, but how to utilize multiple elements in conjunction to one another.

Keeping the flaming barrier around my body, I split off a part of my focus so I could manipulate the ground underneath me.

I felt my flames tremble—a sign that my concentration was wavering.

Almost. Enduring the growing heat around me as I manipulated a hole into the ground for me to fit inside, I waited until I finally saw Hester’s silhouette through the layer of fire between us.

Now!

I collapsed my protective spell just as I fell into the ground, immediately covering the ground above me so I was completely submerged below.

The earth shook at what I assumed was Hester’s next strike.

Without wasting any time, I pushed at the earth around me, utilizing the seismic perception spell to sense where everyone was. I felt a ripple in the earth from a different location—it was the same perception spell that I had used except far stronger.

Focusing back on the task at hand, I shaped the earth around me, allowing myself to slowly move underground.

I knew experts like Buhnd were able to traverse underground as easily as if they were underwater, but unfortunately I wasn’t at that level.

It didn’t matter, though. It was Hester’s turn to be caught off guard.

I only took two seconds to gather mana around my right first for my final attack. As soon as I was ready, I cleared the earth above me and bolted up to the surface by infusing wind mana beneath my feet.

Black lightning coiled around my right arm like a vicious serpent ready to strike. Just beneath me, standing on the ground, was Hester, her arms enveloped in a fire fashioned into long blades with thin tendrils of electricity wrapped around them—no doubt her actual finishing move.

Hester whipped around to face me just as my body descended. It was too late though. I was within striking range and she wasn’t in the safety of her fire orb.

We were playing to my strength now.

My opponent’s lips moved—whether she was cursing or chanting a spell, I couldn’t tell—as she brought up her flaming arm blades.

The black lightning tore free from my arm as I unleashed the voltaic charge at Hester. The black tendrils ripped through the air until our two spells collided.

A sphere of congealed fire and lightning formed from the impact, growing larger and brighter until it finally exploded with us in the epicenter.

The cloud of debris caused by the explosion subsided and I could see the two figures.

Arthur, while disheveled, was standing. My guardian, on the other hand, had fallen back—a soft pink glow surrounding her signaling that the defensive artifact had been triggered.

Elder Buhnd clasped his hands together, obviously excited. “Haha! Brilliant!”