The elderly woman with ice-chip eyes moved first, her hands blurring through seals so fast they left afterimages. "Frozen Eternity!"
The air crystallized instantly, temperatures plummeting as ice spread outward in a wave that turned the ground beneath Liam's feet into frozen death. Frost climbed up his legs, attempting to lock him in place while the other four Elders launched their own attacks.
From the left, a mountain of a man with scars crisscrossing his bare arms slammed his fists together. "Earthshaker Fist!" The ground erupted, massive spikes of stone shooting upward like the teeth of some underground beast, each one sharp enough to impale and thick enough to crush.
From the right, a thin Elder whose face looked like worn leather released a technique that made the air itself burn. Invisible flames spread outward, heat so intense it turned stone to glass, oxygen igniting in spontaneous combustion that created a sphere of absolute destruction.
