The runes on the half wyvern's body glowed.
Her wings spanned out in full. Her claws leave the ground.
The floating crystal between her and the gate gathered power.
A silent beam of immense flames stabbed into the ivory flesh.
The ground shook.
Hikari gripped her sword tight.
Her wyvern scale armour ringed with power.
She slowed her breathing.
The humming of her armour stopped.
In an instant, her armour broke into a thousand pieces.
The individual scales flew outwards and stopped abruptly, hanging in midair.
She created a glittering cloud of broken glass.
Bit by bit, the grey wyvern scale began glowing with searing golden flame.
The cloud of scales began moving. Slowly at first, gradually turning into a raging whirlwind with her and Ella in the center.
The hordes of the ivory plant demons would be shredded to pieces the moment they attempt to swarm through it.
Hikari waited. Her eyes peeled at the opening from where they came.
Hordes upon hordes of demons they came across on the way here. The ruckus they would cause burning through to the heart of the nest is sure to draw all of them here.
She channeled her powers, augmenting her senses.
The ground and walls are all part of the great nest. Foes could pop out from any direction at any time.
The ivory gate sizzled behind her.
Drip. Drip. The sound of dripping water.
Silence.
She waited and waited.
She pushed her senses, searching for any foe hidden from plain view.
The storm of whirling scales continued raging.
Nothing.
Drip.
Drip.
The ground rumbled. The ivory gate shifted its flesh as more and more of its flesh was incinerated by the beam of flames from the half wyvern.
Silence.
Drip.
Drip.
The sizzling sound of fire.
Woosh. A wave of fire gushed outwards from the point of contact, incinerating the entire gate.
There was a massive column made of crystal, dwarfing even Hikari.
It extended in both directions deeper into the stone than what Hikari could sense.
Its brilliant glow of golden light illuminated the entire cavern, shadowing the glow of pink flowers.
Vines wrapped around it from top to bottom.
Badum! Badum! Hikari felt as though the beating heart was right before her.
Ella powered down. Her claws touched the ground the same time as the crystal she was channeling.
It was quiet.
Drip.
Drip.
Gradually, Hikari winded down her raging storm of scales. The pieces assembling back onto her body.
She plucked her sword out of the ground and approached the massive pillar of mana cautiously.
She flinched. The air around her turned biting cold.
The ground was frozen. The traction on her caterpillar boots kept her from slipping.
Crack! The sound of cracking ice as Hikari stepped on the frozen ground.
Hikari turned to check on Ella. She was looking straight ahead.
Crack! Crack! Her claws sank deep into the ice.
The scales on her back stood on their ends. Her wings fully spread out.
Hikari stopped.
Badum! Badum!
Before her, a knight in a kneeling position encased in ice. His sword in his hand stabbed onto the ground. The runes matched the ones Hikari held in her hand.
His body was covered in a full suit of wyvern scale.
Hikari could hear Ella hissing and whispering words in her cryptic runic language as she continued to approach the frozen knight.
"Ella"
The half wyvern ignored her.
Suddenly, the vines around the chamber began shifting.
Hikari clutched her sword. Her wyvern scale armour glowing with power.
The vines converged and slammed into the ground beside the frozen warrior.
As the vine clump pulled itself out, a pink flower bloomed before them.
From its core, a woman emerged.
Her skin, her hair and gown was of pure grey that they could hardly be distinguished from each other. Her eyes were made of a thousand tiny pink petals.
Ella hissed loudly. Her claws glowed with wyvern flame.
"(true of flesh…. )" Hikari heard a ringing voice in her head. It wasn't coming from Ella.
"(pure of flesh….)" The voice echoed.
The woman scattered a bundle of petals onto the knight's frozen prison.
Ella leapt into the air, unleashing a wave of wyvern flame barreling towards the woman.
A wall of vines rushed from the ground, blocking the flames.
Ella dove into the wall of vines and shredded through it with her flaming claws.
The woman was gone.
Crack! The frozen prison cracked and crumbled into pieces.
Ella turned towards the knight awakening from his frozen slumber.
The knight picked up his sword, assumed a thrusting stance and charged towards the half wyvern.
Ella remained rooted in place as the tip of the sword barrelled down on her.
Clank! A swing from Hikari's sword knocked the knight's sword away. The mass of her body crashed into the wyvern knight.
Hikari threw a punch, the jagged scales on her knuckles sinking into the flesh of its head.
"Burn the heart!" Hikari shouted.
Ella paused.
Then, her confused look turned to determination.
The wyvern knight was quick to regain his stance and charged Hikari.
Hikari knocked his sword away and made a counter swing.
The wyvern knight was only slightly smaller in stature compared to Hikari.
After exchanging two swings, Hikari could gauge that their blades were exactly the same.
But her longer arm allows her to press the initiative.
Light swings from different directions. The wyvern knight easily parries, deflecting the direction of Hikari's sword.
After a heavy parry, sensing an opening, the wyvern knight stepped forward.
Hikari quickly pulled her sword back and blocks, locking their swords together.
The wyvern knight quickly senses he could outpush Hikari and disengaged.
Hikari circled the wyvern knight.
In the background, Ella tore away at the vines. A swarm of plant demons covered in spikes jumped her in all directions.
A flap of her wings allowed her to dodge her foes that could not fly. She charged up a breath of flame and incinerated them.
Clank! Clank! The wyvern knight easily blocks Hikari's light blows.
He was starting to get used to the rhythm of Hikari's attacks.
Hikari was patient. She just needed to hold him down.
Clank! The wyvern knight violently pushed Hikari's sword away, creating an opening to thrust his sword at Hikari's abdomen.
Hikari tilted to the side, the blade skittered along her wyvern scales.
Stab! Hikari pushed her sword into the wyvern knight. She felt only a shallow penetration.
The wyvern knight swings his sword but Hikari grabs his sword arm.
Woosh! Hikari unleashed a wave of RazenHeir flame, setting the wyvern knight alight.
The wyvern scales on his arm spiked out in response, but Hikari held firm, the spikes unable to pierce her skin.
Hikari's sword came in for another stab.
The wyvern knight jumped and grabbed her arm.
Hikari let go and swung her arm, flinging him towards the wall.
The wyvern knight supported himself using his sword, shaking off the ice that got stuck on his body.
The runes on his scale glowed, the RazenHeir flames stuck to his armour were extinguished.
He held out his hand. A whirling frost gathered, materializing into a transparent sword.
The wyvern knight charged towards Hikari. In a twirling motion, his dual swords threw repeated blows at Hikari.
Hikari held firm, moving her sword just enough to block.
She could feel the chill from the frozen sword in her bones.
The wyvern knight widens the distance. Flames built up on his sword, a whirling frost gathered on the other.
Hikari held her sword vertically in front of her, her other hand behind her back.
The runes on her sword glowed. The left edge glowed searing golden while the right glowed blue.
The wyvern knight unleashed a cross slash, one of flame, the other of frost.
Hikari swung her sword twice in quick succession, the ice cancels the flame, the flame cancels the ice.
The wyvern knight appeared above her, both swords over his head.
The scales on Hikari's arm rattled with power.
As the wyvern knight closes in, a sudden sharp telekinetic blast knocks his legs back, throwing him off balance.
His dual swords stabbed into the snow as he landed facing the ground.
He quickly pushed himself off the ground.
As he lifts his head, Hikari's sword comes down.
The force of both her arms split the knight's head in two.