Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 140: Two Against Five

Toren Daen

The surprise the mages felt at Renea's churning mana lasted for barely a second. The vicars at the edges of the courtyard leapt into action, barrelling toward the austere owner of Bloodstone Elixirs and me. I slashed Oath at one of the approaching dark-hooded vicars, a plume of fire erupting from the edge.

One of our enemies took the lead in the charge, holding his bulky hand out. A blade of grave-black ice began to form there: a massive greatsword that seemed to coalesce from nothing and howl at the world. His every step pulsed with minute, misty particles of black cold that sapped the life from the flowers, dark frost spreading along their petals.

The vicar batted aside my torrent of flame with a flick of that massive sword. I barely had time to bring Oath up to the side to deflect the attack. Even through my telekinetic shroud, I felt as the massive sword–taller than even I was–sparked off my red-patterned saber.

I immediately shifted my stance, a coating of fire erupting over my knuckles as I twisted with the strike. I threw a punch at the vicar's exposed chest, expecting to crater it.

Instead, that suffusing aura of grave ice sapped my fire of its strength, a deep cold spreading through my limbs that made me feel slow and weak. My fist hit the vicar's chest, knocking him back a step, but it was far weaker than it should have been.

From underneath his hood, the vicar grinned. I inhaled, feeling as his aura coated the inside of my lungs. My entire body started to creak as dark ice spread across my limbs, hampering my speed and making my entire form feel like death.

I snarled in anger, thrumming my heartfire and fire magic. An unfocused coating of flame spread along my body, fighting against the chill. Simultaneously, my innate aether healed over the frostbite left behind.

Just in time for me to throw up a wall of pushing force, then duck. A stream of blue-black lightning–each tendril strangely solid and refusing to dissipate–was suddenly diverted high into the air.

Another vicar had fired that–one that was holding further back. I caught a flicker of surprise on the faces of my enemies. No doubt they expected my slowed reactions to allow a clean hit from that sneak attack.

I chanced a look to my side. Renea was engaged in a deadly duel with a man wielding an axe of blood iron, deflecting his swipes without even shifting her feet. Her deep white mana blade seemed to guide the man in a delicate dance that only he could lose. When the other vicar, holding kukris of soulfire, tried to jump at her from behind, the dark-haired woman casually threw a backhanded punch, cracking the man's nose and slamming him into the dirt.

Yeah, she had that covered. Feeling reassured by her strength, I bolted for the greatsword vicar. I layered a shroud of sound over the edge of Oath, then enveloped that in a burning nimbus of fire. I quickly closed the distance with the vicar, swiping deftly. The man, slowed by his massive sword, struggled to shift his weapon into the path of my attack.

The aura of black frost around the man ate away at my own fiery barrier, but I pushed on. Every time Oath flashed, a bit more of the fire coating it was slowly snuffed out. I pressured the man, shifting around the garden, leaving footprints that burned and froze respectively. The man was sweating to keep up with my speed, and at our angle, the wall of Bloodstone Elixir's headquarters blocked me from Jorta's sight. He had no way out. Until finally, the shroud of sound beneath my weapon was revealed.

I feinted an upward cut. Having fallen into a pattern, the vicar naturally tried to smack it to the side. Expecting this, I then shifted to a stab that maneuvered its way right past the vicar's massive sword. Only the tip pierced his shoulder, but that was all I needed.