The fine rain fell on the smoking rubble, creating a veil of mist between Safiraand the Lieutenant. Each drop that touched the burning ground hissed, evaporating into clouds of steam.
Safira raised her hands, her fingers trembling slightly. A sphere of fire appeared between her palms, pulsing like a crimson heart.
"Take that!"
The fireball cut through the humid air, leaving a trail of steam behind. The Lieutenant laughed, spinning his spear with a fluid motion. Flames danced around the weapon, forming a shield that dissipated the attack in a shower of sparks.
"Is that all?" he scoffed, stepping into a puddle that instantly boiled beneath his feet. "Little fireballs won't defeat me, girl!"
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The flaming spear cut through the air, but Safira danced backward, her drenched cloak clinging to her body. Her feet slipped in the mud, but she maintained her balance.
He's fast... but I'm faster. A fleeting smile crossed her lips. I've really improved.
With a quick gesture, she conjured three spheres of fire in sequence.
FWOOM! FWOOM! FWOOM!
The Lieutenant spun like a whirlwind, his spear drawing circles of fire that deflected the projectiles. The explosions illuminated the night, casting grotesque shadows on the ruins.
"I WARNED you!" he roared, advancing through the smoke screen.
Safira didn't retreat. Instead, she felt the heat grow in her veins. A new sphere formed - larger, brighter, pulsing with raw energy.
BOOOOM!
The clash of magics made the ground tremble. Pieces of charred wood flew like hail, while the heat wave distorted the air around them.
The Lieutenant swallowed hard. How does she have so much mana? This isn't normal for a child...
Their eyes met through the veil of flames. Both were breathing heavily, auras of fire dancing around their bodies. The rain evaporated before it even touched them.
"Are you going to keep this up?!" the Lieutenant growled, his arm muscles tensed as he held the spear.
Safira didn't answer. Her fingers clenched, the flames growing even larger. The heat was almost unbearable now, burning her own arms, but she wouldn't stop.
Just... a little... more...
The air crackled with magical energy. Somewhere in the distance, a roof collapsed with a muffled crash through the rain.
Shit! Who the hell is this girl?
Safira raised her hands in a triangular gesture. Her eyes, now living embers, cast sparks that illuminated her soot-stained face.
Dozens of magic circles appeared in the air, each giving birth to a sphere of fire that pulsed like a dragon's heart.
The Lieutenant involuntarily took a step back.
What the hell is this?! Her mana reserve... His spear was smoking, the metal beginning to deform under the incessant heat.
"Don't underestimate me, girl!" he roared, his arm muscles bulging as he concentrated all his mana at the tip of his weapon.
With an impetus he didn't even know he had, he batted the fireballs away.
Safari felt it, more than understood it. Her feet planted firmly on the soaked earth, knees bent. An incandescent magic circle opened beneath her feet, illuminating the debris around her.
Something within her awakened.
Her teeth sharpened into fangs. Curved horns emerged from her forehead, growing a few centimeters. Nails transformed into claws. And when she put her hands together before her chest, a torrent of primordial fire gushed forth like a dragon's breath.
BOOOOOOM!
The two forces collided in an explosion that made the entire village tremble. Already broken windowpanes pulverized. Roofs collapsed. The shockwave ripped trees from their roots.
The Lieutenant screamed as his defenses crumbled.
"SHIT—"
Fire engulfed him.
For an eternal instant, his outline could be seen in the curtain of flames, a ghost dancing in agony, before dissolving into ashes.
Safira fell to her knees, the transformations receding. The cold rain washed her face, mixing with sweat. She looked at her hands, human again, still trembling with the power they had channeled.
What... what was that?
On the other side of the village, a new explosion lit up the night.
"Colin!"
◊❱───────⸂◍⸃───────❰◊
The forest swallowed the fugitives in its dark embrace, where only the rustling of leaves and the moaning of the wind broke the silence. Yamillya's father advanced among the robust trunks, each step calculated, each breath an effort against the pain throbbing in his ribs.
The moonlight filtered through the treetops painted silver streaks on his blood- and dirt-stained face.
He stopped.
A hand pressed the wound on his flank as his eyes turned back. Behind him, among the trees, figures moved, flickering torches and the clinking of armor.
"Alright..." he murmured to himself, his bloody fingers clenching into a fist. "I'll hold them."
The first soldier emerged like a ghost from the bushes.
"There!" the cry echoed in the night.
Hell broke loose.
Fire gushed from a soldier's outstretched hand, illuminating the forest in shades of orange and red. Ice crystallized in the air in another's hand, forming deadly needles. The smell of ozone filled the air moments before lightning was conjured by the last one.
The veteran smiled.
His sword came to life, the air around him distorting as if over embers.
WHOOSH!
The first wave of vacuum cut through the flames like a knife through butter.
CRACK!
The ice stalactites shattered into a thousand fragments that sparkled like diamonds under the moon.
The thunder died before it was even born.
"Damn it! Split up!"
He was already moving.
The first was cut in half along with a tree. Before another soldier could concentrate his magic in his hands, they were severed, followed by his head.
"Idiots! Finish him! He's just a wounded man!"
SWING!
One of the soldiers had managed to cut Yamillya's father in the back, but he turned quickly, decapitating him and concentrating mana in his sword, cutting in half the man who came behind him.
CRASH!
He was stabbed in the rib by another soldier and turned with a powerful elbow, breaking the soldier's jaw.
Again, he was stabbed, this time in the shoulder, falling to the forest floor with his opponent. His thick hands went to the soldier's neck, strangling him.
He exerted so much force that he managed to break his neck, throwing him aside and quickly rising, picking up his fallen sword from the grass.
Another soldier was preparing to impale him from behind, but he dodged, deflecting the sword to the side, creating an opening.
CRASH! CRASH!
He was stabbed twice in the back and turned, decapitating the soldier, falling with him.
His vision was starting to blur, but the soldiers had not all been defeated yet.
"Get up! Damn it..."
The old warrior felt every drop of blood running down his torn clothes, mixing with the dew on the ground.
SWISH!
He spun at the last instant, avoiding the treacherous blow. His sword responded, opening the soldier's belly like a sack of grain. Warm guts slid onto the damp ground with a wet sound.
CLANG!
Another attack, another defense. The warrior's blade plunged into the second soldier's chest, pushing him against an old oak. The tree's bark cracked with the impact.
Damn... The agonizing soldier drew a short dagger.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
Three quick blows to the warrior's ribs before his body slid down the tree, leaving a red trail on the bark.
The world spun. His vision blurred. Two remained.
"Let's finish this old bastard!" one of them shouted, his hands already glowing with elemental magic.
Fire and ice danced in the night, only to be swallowed by the vacuum of the warrior's sword. With a roar that echoed through the forest, he advanced:
CRUNCH!
The blade entered the abdomen and went up, splitting the soldier like firewood. Blood gushed onto nearby trees, painting the leaves red.
Just one more!
The last soldier saw the sword flying before feeling the cold metal between his eyes. His body fell like a sack of potatoes.
The warrior leaned against a tree and slid down a trunk, his breath a hoarse wheeze. His trembling fingers touched the pendant on his chest, the same one Yamillya carried, the same one Colin returned, the same pendant that belonged to his deceased wife.
At least... Yamillya and the others are safe.
A blood-stained smile appeared on his face as darkness took him.