Holy Up

An explosion rocked the space over Granreveria. Rivera flew out from the smoke, having now suffered several small injuries in the duration of this battle. Waur stood on the ground, bleeding from several larger injuries but looking completely unfazed by his wounds. Rivera was gasping quite heavily now and her spells were beginning to wane. Her magic had done a good job mitigating damage to her and inflicting damage on Waur but she wasn't nearly quite as sturdy as the orc and her magic, while powerful, took quite a bit of energy to use at a level that would punch through the orc's armament magic. But her fights with Waur had always come down to this. Attrition wasn't Rivera's strong suit, she just didn't have the energy to keep up with monsters that were built for battle. Normally her magic would be able to wipe out entire armies of orcs but Waur was different. Waur was the only orc she knew that had such expertise with magic. Orcs weren't even a naturally magically inclined species. They were dumb, stupid brutes whose only thoughts were procreating and expanding their race. Waur was just a more sophisticated version of that. And yet he's proven to be a thorn in Rivera's side since a long time ago. He wasn't just a problem that just slips out of her grip before she could crush it but an enemy that's been matching her inch by inch with every attempt she's made to end this bitter rivalry. It was almost worthy of respect.

"You look tired now, Rivera! Are the years catching up with you? Why don't you come down here and let me treat you to a nice massage? I'm really good with my hands. Among other things."

Almost worthy of respect if Waur wasn't just the worst kind of person.

"Ugh." Rivera groaned as she slowly floated back down to the ground.

"Oh? Are you taking me up on my offer, queen?"

"Not even in your dreams." Rivera scowled as she tapped the point of her staff on the ground.

"Well, I'm more of a realist anyway." Waur chuckled menacingly, "I like to focus on what I can grasp with these hands."

And as if to make a point, Waur stretched out a hand at Rivera and gripped it shut. Rivera scoffed and pushed her hair away from her face again. Choosing not to answer the orc, Rivera turned to her next plan of attack. The fight has dragged on long enough. Her attempts at defeating Waur without further damaging her city proved to go nowhere and only exhausted each other. She had a small collection of spells that could possibly destroy Waur in one shot but it would cause substantial damage to Granreveria as well. Of those options, there was one that could deal with Waur without doing too much damage but it wasn't a spell that Rivera had the opportunity to practice much. But she was out of options anyway.

Rivera swung her staff towards Waur, holding it in front of her as she prepared to cast her last option. Magic was pulled from everywhere around them, collecting in visible threads that floated past the princesses and Waur to gather around Rivera. And it soon became clear to those that were watching that a truly dangerous spell was about about to be cast.

"Hoho. I can feel that one." Waur smirked, his bravado now shaken a bit, "Where have you been hiding something like this?"

"They call me the Disaster Witch, Rivera." The elf queen replied, "I've held back on my true power since now since it'd be like causing an earthquake to catch a rabbit. But this next one should be just right for a monster of your size."

"Ominous." Waur chuckled, "I can't say I've seen this trick before. I'm almost interested in seeing it. But what's life without a few road bumps?"

Lightning surged into Waur's arms as he began to throw lightning at Rivera. Rivera summoned a barrier that blocked the attacks but continued to gather magic without moving.

"What's going on?" Helena frowned, "Why can't she move?"

"Powerful magic can take time to cast." Kaguya explained, "I assume she's pulling out one of her strongest spells."

"How strong?" Momo gulped.

"Well, she's the Disaster Witch for a reason."

"How'd you know that by the way?" Helena asked.

"I've been speaking with the elves quite extensively for a while now. What do you think I've been doing?"

"What have you been doing actually?" Helena smirked, "We haven't seen you in a while."

"We can get into that later." Momo said, "I'm more concerned with the queen."

"Indeed." Kaguya nodded, "We should probably move."

"Move? No, we have to help her! She's a sitting duck out there!"

"Of course you would think that." Kaguya smiled, "But she's a powerful mage. I'm more worried we might get in the way."

"But..."

"I know sitting back isn't your style, Momo, but we're not here to fight with her. We're not on either of their level. The best we can hope to do is save the queen if things start looking dicey."

"..."

A sudden surge in power drew the girl's attention back to the fight. From a glance of the now immensely dense mana around her, they could tell Rivera's spell was nearing completion. Her barrier on the other hand was close to breaking. Constant desperate attacks had drawn it close to breaking but it's purpose had been served at this point. Waur stood several meters away from Rivera, out of breath from slinging so much magic at her to no effect. He may have wasted his efforts trying to sabotage Rivera but even as he stood now in the face of certain doom, Waur stood without hint of fleeing. Without thought of dodging or even defending. It was commendable. But that was the extent of Rivera's mercy. For once the spell completed gathering around her, she called out,

"LIGHT!"

And the magic burst forward in a blinding torrent of light. A giant laser big enough that it could wipe out an entire building and destroy an entire portion of a city like Granreveria. There was not a single creature in the entire forest that could survive a spell of this intensity. And in the short instant before he was hit, in the face of such overwhelming power Waur...smiled.

Teeth suddenly tore into the space in front of Waur consuming space itself as a giant maw formed in front of the orc. The light spell roared into this mouth as it closed over it, completely eating the disastrous spell with little effort, leaving Waur completely unharmed behind it. To the princess's horror, they watched the maw pull tentacles out of nowhere as if it was dislodging itself from reality. And in front of the orc stood a monster like the ones they had routed from the Paramnesia Forest except it was absolutely huge. Gigantic. This monster was big enough that it could swallow all the princesses whole and it stood next to Waur as if it was his ally.

"Surprise." Waur grinned, "Let me introduce you to my new pet, Feast. He likes eating magic."

Rivera collapsed to her knees, unable to even lift her head to glare at Waur or his pet monster. Unable to even question the abomination that had eaten her efforts for the past three minutes.

"Look at you." Waur said as he stepped forward, "High and mighty elf queen reduced to kneeling before me. I had hoped to be able to defeat you without any help. I'm almost disappointed."

Feast the eldritch monster stomped forward, eager to eat Rivera but Waur held out an arm and stopped it, "No. She's mine."

In an unnatural show of obedience, the gargantuan monster backed down. Waur turned back to River and began to step towards the elf queen that had yet to move.

"I have been thinking about this moment for ages." Waur rumbled, "The day you lay before me, defeated. I've been imagining savoring the taste of your body. To see you lie at my feet enslaved as my personal concubine, my ultimate trophy. But now...now I only feel a vexing emptiness. To see you so pathetic...I can't bear to see you like this. So now, I'll put you out of your misery."

Waur's arm ignited into flames.

"At least entertain me with your screams."

War threw a fireball at the still elf, large enough to consume her in its flames. The princesses could only stand there, flabbergasted the events that had unfolded before them. So stunned that none of them were able to even think of acting...all except for one whose petite figure ran out and stood in front of Rivera.

"Holy!"

Corissa cried out as the fireball hit her, knocking her off her feet but the flames strangely dissipated without doing that much damage.

"What?" Waur growled angrily.

Feast roared angrily as well and stomped towards Corissa and Rivera.

"Lightning!"

Momo zipped right up to Feast and kicked it in the side, blasting it into a building. Momo landed on the ground but noticed her lightning spell had destabilized somewhat. Threads of lightning lingered around her leg, thin and enervated, trailing away from her leg and into the mouth of the monster even as it laid in the house rubble. She couldn't have made contact for more than a second and it was already eating her magic just by breathing.

"Humans..." Waur growled as Kaguya and Helena ran up to Corissa's side, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Yeah, what are we doing?" Helena whispered.

"We can't possibly beat him." Kaguya whispered back, "We need to get Queen Rivera out of here."

"And how do you suggest we do that?!"

"Momo..." Kaguya called anxiously, "Can we leave them to you?"

"By myself? Not a chance." Momo frowned, "I might be able to kill the giant tentacle monster but I don't know if I can beat Waur. Fighting both alone is just unfeasible."

"Alright, I'll stay back and try to help out as well." Helena gulped, "Not sure how much I can help though."

"I'll stay too!" Corissa cried.

"What?! No, Corissa, you don't know how to fight!" Helena yelped.

"B-But I have holy!" Corissa replied, "I can at least block the magic attacks coming at us."

"You don't even know how to use it!"

"But I can help!" Corissa protested, "You'd let Roko help!"

"...Alright." Kaguya sighed, "We'll need all hands on deck for this anyway. Momo?"

"I'll take on the big monster." Momo said as Feast groggily pulled itself out of the rubble of the house.

"You're leaving the orc to us?"

"As I see it, this thing's more dangerous. Unless you all think you can deal with a monster this big that can eat magic."

"Good point, we'll leave him to you."

"Good luck." Momo nodded at the rest of the girls before she ran up, and kicked the monster into the air away from them before jumping after it.

Waur looked down at the girls from afar, looking utterly nonplussed by the events unfolding before him. He simply watched with what could only be described as a bored look as Kaguya and Corissa helped prop the weakened elf queen on their shoulders as Helena kept a finger trained on him with a fierce look in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Corissa asked, "You're still awake right?"

"Run...run children." Rivera said tiredly, "You can't beat Waur."

"We know that." Kaguya bit her lip, "But we're not leaving you on your own. You'd be killed. At best."

"Hehe. I suppose so." Rivera said as she slowly began to regain her senses, "But that's no reason for me to endanger guests like you like this."

"We've chosen to involve ourselves. It's too late to push us away now."

"I guess I'm not exactly in the position to refuse right now." Rivera winced, "Then I'll have to ask you for your help to defeat Waur."

"Defeat?!" Helena cried, "You think we can still win?!"

"There's no way we can run from him as we are." Rivera explained, "We either face him now or we get hunted down together."

"What could we possibly do against an opponent like that?" Kaguya asked.

"Focus on defending. I'll muster up a spell to kill him."

"Are you sure?" Corissa yelped, "You don't look good."

"That doesn't matter. We have to stop him."

"...Alright." Kaguya rested Rivera on the ground, "We'll back you up. Corissa, you and me are on defense."

"But...alright." Corissa nodded and stood up, "I'll do my best to block any spell he'll try to throw!"

"And I'll do as much damage as I can." Helena smiled, "That's more my style anyway."

"We'll get through this together." Kaguya nodded as she drew Calcify from her jacket, "Hang in there, everyone."

Waur watched the girls prepare themselves with an utterly unimpressed, unconcerned and unamused stare, "You humans think you can fight me?"

"We won't know until we try." Helena replied with as much bravado as she could muster.

"That's commendable." Waur said, almost yawning from this joke of a situation, "But you seem to be under the impression that I'll be slinging spells at you."

The girls could barely react to Waur's words when the orc disappeared and in a blink of an eye was bearing down on them. Helena and Kaguya's arms moved to attack but before any sound could escape their lips, Waur smashed his arms into Helena and Kaguya, flinging them through the windows of the surrounding houses. Corissa could only watch in horror as the orc walked up to her and raised his fist one more time. The young princess was too stunned and scared to move or dodge the incoming attack until she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her away, Waur's fist missing her by inches. Rivera had pulled Corissa to the ground, saving her from getting hit but still too weak to do anything else. Corissa herself could only stare up at Waur, saved but no safer than before. Waur looked down at her,

"Kneel."

Corissa's body and legs shook, her eyes darting around nervously for a way out. Waur knelt down and placed a fist right up to her face threateningly.

"Kneel." He repeated.

Corissa's body moved on its own, her mind too overwhelmed to think properly. Folding her legs underneath her and placing her hands in front of her, the princess bowed her head.

"Good." Waur stood up, satisfied, "That is the place all women belong in front of a stronger male. Remember that."

Indignity and frustration boiled in the back of Corissa's mind but it was merely a drop compared to the terrified dread she was feeling. And in the corner of Corissa's mind, she hoped what she saw would wait for a small moment longer. Corissa raised her hands off the ground for a moment...and grabbed onto Waur's ankles.

"Holy!"

"What?" Waur frowned as he felt the armament magic around his legs beginning to destabilize.

And from behind him, two spires of ice stabbed into his legs. As Waur roared in pain, Corissa felt water form around her and a hand grab her clothes as Rivera summoned a river to pull them away from Waur once again.

"You!" Waur turned around as the ice began to grow around his feet.

"Thanks for giving me some distance." Helena smirked as she hung out of the window she had crashed through from several meters away, "I work best from here."

"I'll break through this without any pro-" Waur stopped as he struggled to escape from the ice, "What? What's...wrong with my body?"

Corissa watched as Waur remained stuck to the earth just as confused as the orc.

"Tch. Fine!" Waur roared, "I won't even have to move to kill you all!"

Waur fired a lightning bolt at Helena who ducked back inside the house as the bolt blasted a hole into the wall. With the Aporian princess retreated, he turned back to the Cordisian princess who remained kneeling there in confusion. But his attention was on the elf queen behind her, as he finally recognized the faint traces of magic gathering around her fallen body.

"Lightning!"

"Holy!"

Corissa raised her hands and managed to deflect the lightning strike but only barely as she felt the force of the electricity lightly fry her hands.

"Fire! Lightning! Ice!"

Corissa continued to chant her Holy spell, deflecting Waur's spells as best she could. Despite her efforts, Corrisa couldn't escape the damage completely as the debris of the frayed spells damaging her hands, cutting into her arms and face and drawing some blood. The only reprieve Corissa found was when Helena would poke her head back out of the home she was hiding in and throw some ice spells at Waur. Corrisa's hands felt numb. Her body hurt all over. Her voice was growing hoarse. Yet she continued to remain in front of Rivera, deflecting spells as best she could until eventually her voice faltered and she was unable to properly defend against a lightning spell that struck her body and electrocuted her. Though the effect was still diminished, it was enough to lay Corissa onto the ground and all the damage she had accumulated up to that point kept her there. Struggling to remain conscious.

"Finally." Waur growled.

With a roar, the orc shattered the ice around his legs and took his first steps in a long while.

"I have use of my body again." Waur frowned, "I'm not quite sure what happened but I'm free again."

"Ice!"

Waur spun around, smashing Helena's ice attack with one swing of his fist and firing another bolt of lightning with his other hand, striking the poor princess in the chest and knocking her unconscious.

"First things first."

Corissa struggled to pull herself up as she heard and saw the orc leader approaching. No matter how helpless things seemed, Corissa pushed herself to stand back up. She had no plan, she had no hope but she knew she had to keep fighting back. It was what he'd do. But as she struggled to pick herself up, she heard a voice call softly out to her.

"Move."

Rivera's voice as calm. Steady. Almost reassuring. She wasn't trying to get Corissa to leave for her own sake. So Corissa knew what she must do. She picked herself up one last time and stared down the orc leader as he arrived in front of her.

"You humans have been more of a thorn in my side than I thought." Waur growled, "But you're still no match for me."

Corissa heard Rivera call for her to move once more. More firm this time. But Corissa stayed in between her and Waur.

"What are you doing now?" Waur frowned.

Corissa raised her shuddering hands up besides her head.

"Are you surrendering?" Waur snorted, "It's to late to do something like that, human. You'd be lucky to escape this city alive."

Corissa kept her hands up...and dove towards the orc with her hands outstretched. The orc's eyes widened and he quickly took a step back but it wasn't enough as Corissa's hands touched his muscular chest. And the instant Corissa's hand felt contact, she shouted, "Holy!"

Waur felt the armament around his chest unravel and he angrily swung his fist, knocking into Corissa's side at full strength. The princess coughed up some blood and was flung into the air, spinning around before she landed on the ground unconscious. Waur glared at the human girl, making sure she was fully unconscious before he noticed Rivera's magic building in front of him and the shine of a dangerous light.

"Light."

A bright beam shot out from Rivera's lying body and punctured Waur's chest.

Rivera laid on the ground, having exerted her last efforts in one last attack. An attack that the human girl, Corissa, had risked her life to make sure would hit. And it did hit. But it failed. It failed to be lethal. The laser had punched a hole in the great orc's chest but Waur had moved at the last second. The beam had hit a few inches off from his heart. Blood dripped from the orc's chest and lips. But he remained alive and even conscious as he glared down at the elf queen.

"RIVERA!"

The orc roared as he kicked the elf queen square in the stomach. Knocking her a few meters away from him and into unconsciousness. With the last of his enemies vanquished, Waur coughed up a mouthful of blood and cradled his chest. The wound was large but it wasn't severe. With his magic it wasn't even debilitating. It would heal. Perhaps it would leave a scar but it would heal. With that thought in mind, Waur turned his attention to revenge. He had won. Now he had the chance to exact vengeance on those that wronged him. And of those people, his anger directed him to the princess that withstood so many of his spells. The one that made not one but two desperate attacks with a magic he didn't understand to render him defenseless. Waur turned to Corissa and walked angrily over, grabbing the young girl by her arms and lifting her up.

"You...you damned human!"

Waur raised his fist to finally end the girl's life but his eyes began to be drawn to her body. A voluptuous body that was much more mature than the girl's age would suggest. Large enticing breasts, a curvy and thin waist. A nice, bubbly ass. And a face whose beauty remain apparent through the wounds she had suffered. This human had a body that put the elf queen he had fought to shame. Indeed it was enough that despite his injuries and fatigue, the orc felt his instincts rising.

"Oh..." Waur sneered, "You're quite the beauty for a human. Hmm...rather than just killing you...perhaps it would be better to keep you as a personal concubine of mine. Yes...you would make a most wonderful prize."

Waur stretched out one hand towards the unconscious girl's breasts. His body heaving in anticipation, blood rushing and drool even pooling in his mouth. Until an arrow flew through the air and pierced his hand.

"Put the girl down and step away." Roko called.