42 (42) Battle of Celeste

"My turn."

The hair on Lysine's arm stood on end and a shiver ran through her veins. The three scales on each of her had however, felt a sudden spike in temperature. The serpentine attributes of a Lamia were more sensitive to change in enviroment. Although the temperature spike was short and not by much, Lysine was aware that the human girl before her was a flame elementalist. Any normal spell that any being cast (unless completely mastered) would have have a sign, a warning if you must.

It was much safer being cautious, hence Lysine prepared for the likelihood of a flame spell. What Lysine didn't expect was that the flame burst forth from Celeste's sword, engulfing the entire blade with a rose fire. The heat drastically increased and the two daggers that Lysine held were becoming evermore hotter as it stayed in contact with the flaming blade.

Lysine's current position prevented her from retracting her daggers and fleeing, if she tried, then it would open up dozens of clear opportunites for Celeste to advance her attack.

Lysine felt the force from Celeste's sword abruptly disappear, she looked up and found that Celeste had also vanished from her view. A sliding sound came from the centre of the room, followed by a soft, but impactful thud.

Turning round, Lysine located Celeste, she stood half kneeling with her sword braced infront of her, a large flaming circle was also prejected out of the blade, similar to a hoplite's shield. If one traced the skid marks on the floor, you would find Kraton's heavy club a few metres from Celeste, it was difficult to piece together the situation as further back Kraton stood flailing backwards with his right arm stretched backwards, still in the shape of clutching his club.

Kraton toppled over and fell backwards, he had only just managed to pull his club back out of the ground but he had fallen over straight after he tore it free from the ground's grasp. Kraton had used his brute force to tug the club, ignoring all proper practises and stances for such a situation, this led to the inertia flinging his weapon from his grip and leaving him in a miserable state. It was pure luck and coincidence that it struck Celeste, nothing more. Well, it might also be due to his Innate Talent, but he had already forgotten it had a multiplier of luck as well, how the hell did that even work?

Celeste realised that it was her own mistake for ignoring one of the Bosses, this was her first time facing a dungeon with a Double Boss, what's more was that she still had no party; this meant no way to interrupt or distract the other Boss, she could only rely on her skill and patience to whittle both of them down.

*Woosh*

The vast, flaming shield curved backwards and more flames burst forth from Celeste's sword, or more specifically from the ruby jewels embedded within the hilt of the sword. These gems were being fed Celeste's own pure, elemental fire in order to concentrate and control the mana much more efficiently.

The flames started to bend in more intricate shapes, more tones of red tinted different areas and in a matter of seconds a large Phoenix materialised, letting off a hollow, but loud roar. The roar deafened the two Bosses for a second, but this was enough time for Celeste to recover before the Bosses could take advantage of her vulnerable state.

"S***, isn't that thing meant to screech not roar!" Kraton cursed loudly as he uncovered his ears.

"SCREECH"

The Phoenix rocketed towards Kraton, letting out an earpiercing screech. A liquid stream of fire poured out from its beak, surging towards the empty-handed 'giant'. Kraton frantically crossed his hands infront of him and activated Harden. The hairs all along his arms seemed to stiffen and become petrified, as the flowing fire collided with his arms, Kraton was pushed backwards, his arms smouldering and black smoke entered his vision.

The Phoenix suddenly rammed into Kraton, exploding upon collision. The tremendous force sent a shockwave which knocked Kraton into the air. When he crashed back down again, his whole arm had turned charred and blackened but other than that, he seemed unharmed.

Whilst Kraton had been being roasted by a fire chicken, Celeste and Lysine resumed their clash, their swordplay and movement looked elegant yet ferocious; seemingly like a deadly dance.

The debris on the stone floor vibrated with each clang and clash of their blades, the two females began to get used to their opponents' rhythm and the tembo sped up. What once was a waltz was now becoming like a rapid tango as blades interweaved with each other, every step, every motion paralleled its partner's.

Every so often, they would throw in a suprise in attempt to catch the other off guard. A little flame here, and another tail swipe there, when Lysine burst forward with Dash and her explosive momentum from her wings, Celeste would answer back with her own spells: a shield, an explosive rose and sometimes engulfing part of her own body on fire.

Celeste was only one level higher than Lysine, but Celeste clearly had the upperhand. This was strange because monsters normally were more powerful than players of the same level, and had equal strength to players a level above them.

But step-by-step Lysine was being pushed back, her ferocious offence started to become an impenetrable defence. Impenetrable yes, but still forced to be on the defensive. Celeste outmatched Lysine in tactics, movement and technique, as well as this, she was still commanding the Phoenix at this moment.

When the Phoenix was detonated, Celeste's movements increased by a fold. No longer needing to split her mental focus up helped her trace Lysine's movements, however in the heat of the moment, Kraton had recovered.

Using his Hide skill, Kraton pounced from Celeste's blind spot without making a sound. She was barely saved by her instincts and agility but Kraton's hardened fist still landed squarely on her right shoulder. Her sword arm became weak, a numbness spread along her arm making it impossible to swing her sword and maintain a grip on it.

Instead of attempting to sword fight with just her left hand, she stored the graceful sword away. A rune appeared beneath her feet, a sliver of concentrated mana snuck out from her left hand and connected the intricate nodes and lines of the rune.

Seeing Celeste's open vulnerability, both Bosses shot towards the fiery princess. A dagger from the left, and a blackened fist from the right. The attacks filled Celeste's vision but she didn't flinch nor close her eyes.

A split second before the two strikes connected, a blaring, scorching fire shot up from the ground, the rune seared a crimson red which melted the floor. The gush of flames knocked aside the dagger and flung Kraton up and backwards. His arm now limp and burnt.

A fabulous blaze formed a thick wall infront of Celeste, the air shimmered and seemed to melt around the flames.

Celeste inhaled deeply, unfazed by the smoke or the heat. Her arms were trembling from the battle, and sweat poured down her forehead.

There was a saying: When one is cornered, they are the most dangerous.

The current circumstance was evidence, Celeste's flames were on a whole other level than the ones that engulfed her blade, or the ones which made the Phoenix. The wall didn't die down, the red and white flames grew instead, consuming the air and rocks in the room.

Another rune appeared hovering above Celeste's left hand. Orbiting stars slowed down and formed a pattern around the rune. As more stars became aligned, the fire wall started to move, responding to Celeste's will.

The two Bosses stared in awe at the growing wall, the flames seemed constrained by an invisible net, their desire to break free was tangible. As the flames moved, it no longer looked like a wall. It was more like a massive brick, a mighty fireball.

The floating rune flashed green and then disappeared, a second of silence, the flames seethed in anticipation, their silence was their jubilation.

The flames surged forth, spreading out wider and wider. Within the period of a breath, the flames covered the whole width of the room. Kraton and Lysine shrunk back as the flames towered over them. The flames made the room feel cold, all the heat in the room seemed to have vanished, to have been eaten by the monstorous flame.

Celeste felt weak, full of fatigue. This spell consumed all her mana, all her mental strength. She felt proud, the spell was enough to raze this small town into ashes unless it was stopped. But what could stop it?

"BARREN!"

Amidst the roar of flames, Kraton's voice sounded.

His shout did not prevent his demise.

The fireball suddenly shuddered, colliding with something. Before the flames had even dispersed a glint caught Celeste's eyes. Like stars in the night sky, shiny glints appeared piercing through the flaming blanket.

One glint turned to ten, ten became a hundred, a hundred became a thousand. The flames parted as the glints cut through them, leaving countless holes within the diffusing flames.

"How.. What?"

Celeste's eyes opened wide as thousands of shards of glass were shot towards her. Just before she became impaled, she found a crystal wall behind the dying flames. Lysine stood behind the wall, a look of fright still in her eyes.

Celeste felt her body become light, soft glowing particles rose infront of her. Death; an alien feeling to her. As her vision faded away, she looked towards the wall which foiled her plans.

Impossible.

She could swear the crystal wall had eyes.

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