Book 4, chapter 30

Bastion rushed across the mottled grey and black landscape, his eyes scanning the desolate landscape ahead of them.

A huge plume of bright orange fire roiled up into the air in a column of flames, visible for miles. The rumbling boom echoed up the valley a few seconds later, washing over them. 

Bastion was willing to bet every ether crystal in his wallet that Zee was somehow responsible for that explosion. He loved the woman, but her propensity for causing trouble was just ridiculous. 

He cracked a smile as leaped over a deep ravine, hardly missing a beat as he tucked and rolled back to his feet.

"Do you think that's her?" Malden shouted back.

Light on his feet, Malden ran along the rocky scree, sand swirling around him in a haze. As always, the prince was as fast as ever, outpacing even Bastion's breakneck pace.

"Who else would be fighting in this blasted heat?" Bastion shouted, the wind whistling around him as he ran.

"You have a point! Should we wait for the other two to catch up before we charge in," Malden called back not slowing at all.

"No, they can catch up on their own time! Let's go join the party," Bastion said.

"That doesn't look like a party to me," Malden shouted back, pulling his war hammer from the sling on his back. 

"Sure it is, you just have lame parties," Bastion said.

"You are crazy!" Malden said, though his voice definitely carried excitement.

Bastion only grinned, letting his aura expand around him. His skill, momentum shift, had uses in combat, but it also had a lot of utility.

After his rank up to E grade, the skill could now affect things like the wind around him. He robbed its momentum, redirecting it to his body, propelling himself forwards at incredible speed.

Using the ability like this was draining, but it was also exhilarating. The rocky crags seemed to blur beneath him, as he approached where that plume of fire rose into the sky. 

It only took him a couple of minutes to cross what would take a regular person twenty. He was still in second place appearing next to Malden on a rocky ledge, overlooking the battle below.

He studied the fight below, watching Zee fight a three-on-one battle, with Dern nowhere to be seen. Judging by the damage across the scree slope, the fight had been going on for a while now. Dern must have already been destroyed or unsummoned.

Zee was in full-blown retreat, repeatedly using her movement skill to avoid a hail of axes. She looked injured, blood staining her side, her bruised face drenched in sweat.

"Thoughts?" Malden asked, his tone conversational.

Malden had to be absolutely miserably in this heat with his thick black fur, but Malden didn't express his discomfort.

"She is going to lose," Bastion said, studying the coordinated attacks of her opponents.

The three Aintar were like a well-oiled team, working together with near-perfect synchronization. All three Aintar were injured, their wounds burning with that spiritual fire, but they were clearly winning. 

Malden hummed softly, "Think we should help?" He asked.

"Why wouldn't we?" Bastion asked, giving the prince a dumb look.

"Well, I am not saying we shouldn't, but can't we let them rough her up a little bit more first?" Malden asked.

"Are you crazy, she could die," Bastion replied.

"She is doing fine," Malden said, waving a paw dismissively.

"Are you two going to just keep arguing like a married couple all day or are you going to help her?" Allison asked, finally catching up, in a shower of rock and dirt as the ground seemed to explode around her.

Her appearance was a lot more flashy than their own, which finally drew the attention of the fighters below.

As if in greeting to Allison, the axe thrower gave them each a present.

"I got it," Malden said, sand blossoming up to form a shield in front of them. The axes hit the barrier of swirling sand, but not before Bastion could steal most of their momentum. 

Drained of most of their force, the bearded axes embedded in the sand barrier with loud thuds, before falling harmlessly to the stone. Sword in hand, Allison gestures downward.

"Malden, keep the axe wielder busy, Bastion, you take the one with the flail," Allison ordered calmly. 

"On it," Bastion said, leaping off the rocky crag. 

He fell fifty meters below, his body slowing as he stole his own momentum. Landing softly on the rough rock, he channeled the stolen force back into his body. He lurched forward at eye-watering speed, crossing the hundred-meter gap and catching the flail user by surprise.

Kicking towards the Aintar's chest, he transferred all of his remaining stored momentum into his kick.

Bone shattered as his kick hit with the force of a runaway cart, breaking ribs, and sending the Aintar tumbling across the shale.

The other Aintar, this one carrying a large two-handed mace didn't look happy with him. Always one to take advantage, Zee tried to stab him in the back while he was glaring at Bastion. 

The Aintar narrowly dodged a killing blow but got a nasty cut on his side regardless. Bastion grimaced to himself, noting at least five other similar cuts on the Aintar, each burning with a vibrant blue flame.

The Aintar with the flail clambered back to its feet, drawing his attention. He was surprised. Bastion hadn't expected the Aintar to get up after taking such a heavy blow. These Aintar were tougher than expected.

The Aintar coughed up blood, but still hefted his flail, readying to charge him. Running in again was foolish, especially after taking such an injury. Still, Bastian didn't lower his guard, bracing himself to meet the charge.

With a wicked swing, the Aintar swung its flail at him with a huge two-handed swing. His opponent's eyes widen as Bastion catches the spiked ball in the flat of his palm stopping it dead in its tracks. With his skills, timing was everything. Robbing momentum was a double-edged sword, one that could kill him if he wasn't careful.

If he Misjudged the power of an attack he might accidentally kill himself when he redirected an attack. His body was strong, but still, it was not meant to handle the kind of forces he dealt with in combat.

His bones creaked, his muscles straining as he redirected the force of the Aintar's blowback In the form of a punch. His fist struck the Aintar's abdomen, puncturing his chest like it was made of soft mud. 

Bones shattered as his arm sunk all the way to the elbow. Hot blood fountain over his chest and he grasped the creature's beating heart, ripping a chunk of it out.

The Aintar bellowed in pain, collapsing in a shower of blood. Bastion hadn't expected to take down his opponent so quickly, but the element of surprise was on his side.

His opponent had underestimated him and paid the ultimate price.

Bastion took a step back from his dying enemy, looking back to see how Zee was doing.

Just as he turned, an arrow streaked down from one of the rocky crags, making Zee's opponent stagger. Looked like Greg had arrived. 

The Aintar Zee was fighting was clad in mottled grey scales that looked like armor, yet judging by the shimmering glow, it was clearly a defensive skill.

Another arrow streaked down, carving a thin line of blood across the Aintar's grey fur, before deflecting off. His brows furrowed. 

As he watched, Zee appeared in a puff of blue mist. A deadly serious expression was on her beautiful face, made all the grim by a bleeding gash on her forehead and her left eye which was swollen shut. 

Her sword shattered into a dozen pieces of razor metal and spun around her in a blur of flaming metal. Bastion hesitated. He wanted to help, but getting anywhere near that hail of death looked unhealthy. 

Those shards of metal moved like they were shot from a bow, spinning around Zee in a storm.

The Aintar with the mace was right in the middle of that storm, but he didn't look all that troubled. His iridescent scales deflected most of the metal, only taking shallow cuts. The cuts were small, especially on such a large body, but each was infused with spirit echo.

The Aintar bellowed in pain as Ethereal waves snapped into existence, and the shards of metal cut deeper with each hit, the flames burning brighter.

It was death by a thousand cuts, not a good way to go.

The Aintar didn't just stand there and take it of course. Wind swirled around his body, as he tried to smash Zee into a pulp with a club-like hammer. 

Zee was elusive as ever, a ghost amidst the ethereal waves. Just watching her constantly vanish and reappear made his heart leap in his throat.

Just because that hailstorm of metal belonged to her, didn't mean it couldn't hurt her just the same.

It would take an insane awareness of one's surroundings to avoid that hail of metal. Sadly for the Aintar, he didn't have such a thing. 

One wound after another appeared, and the Aintar gradually slowed. His face was contorted in a pained grimace on his bullish face, but judging by the set of his jaw, he didn't intend to flee. 

Calming his breathing, Bastion took a moment to see how the others were handling their opponent. The axe thrower was doing well all things considered. He was fast, and agile, avoiding traps of sand and blades of fire with grace.

Still, the combination of Malden's sand, Allison's fire, and Greg taking potshots was taking their toll. 

The Aintar was leading them on a wild lizard chance, but he was already injured. At this rate, victory was inevitable. 

The Aintar Zee was fighting seemed to recognize the same thing. He raised his horned head and shouted,

"Vulcan, run! Get out of here," Zee's opponent shouted. 

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Vulcan shouted back, avoiding getting burned to a crisp with a high leap into the air.

White hot fire shot up in a pillar beneath him, singing the fur on his legs but leaving him mostly unharmed. 

Dodging Allison's flames of purgatory skill was not easy, yet this Vulcan had done it with a simple leap.

Zee's opponent bellowed in pain, his lack of focus costing him.

Gritting his teeth the Aintar swung his mace in a huge horizontal swing," Run, that's an order, warn the grand deacon," 

Vulcan let out a mournful cry, before turning to flee into the rocky crags. 

Bastion might have been moved to let him go by the touching exchange, if not for a few things. These were ruthless creatures who had tried to kill Zee and even captured Yukna. Letting them go was not an option.

Allison's voice echoed across down the rocky valley, 

"Bastion! Stop gawking at Zee and go help Malden catch Vulcan before he can escape!"

Bastion gave one final glance at Zee and her increasingly bloody exchange with the other Aintar. 

Looked like she had it in hand, well, he might as well earn his pay.

Bastion took off, rushing after Malden, and the fleeing axe thrower.