Down with the Ship!

...

"Kunkka's pulling a 'Jack Sparrow'..." Michael mutters as he sees the Thalmor flagship begin to get bombarded by its former allies.

"I have no idea who that is, partner..."

"A pirate permanently high on cocaine... Or something along those lines. Whatever, let's just clean up what he's left for us." Michael sighs as he glides over another ship and summons a Light-Strike-Array atop it, incinerating it with the large beam of summoned solar light.

Thankfully, the Thalmor ships looked half like they wanted to retreat while the other half wanted to stay and fight... Regardless, Michael was happy to clean up what's left.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere :

Maria was sitting in the basement of the Eye of the World, waiting in front of the small mirror that depicted the battlefield outside... She'd been given the task of operating Michael's 'Secret Weapon' while staying in the safety of the tower. Thankfully, it hadn't gotten bad enough for him to signal the go-ahead.

Someone was setting fire to Winterhold but there was nothing she could do about that, nor had she been told to fire upon the Thalmor navy that'd appeared, though, it didn't seem much of a threat after those two ghost ships had attacked.

*Knock. Knock. Knock.*

A knocking draws her attention, her face firming as the mirror shows her the entrance of the spire... There, she spots a short, hooded figure waiting with a familiar-looking staff in hand... She knew it well, as it was the one her daughter would usually carry...

"C-Charlotte..." she mutters, completely stunned by the turn of events.

*Knock. Knock. Knock.*

She knocks again, forcing Maria from her state and rebooting her mind. Now thinking rationally, she forces herself to stay sitting, as if she got up she'd be unable to stop herself from opening the door and hugging her daughter.

Unfortunately, Charlotte doesn't knock a third time, instead, choosing to create her own entrance. She raises her staff and summons a storm of ice that begins peppering the glowing blue walls of the Spire, doing no damage whatsoever despite the sheer power of the spell.

*Crash!*

*Thud!*

*Shatter!*

A litany of spells is thrown at the Spire, all of which fail to leave even a crack... Unbeknownst to Charlotte, her presence had actually strengthened the Spire's defences due to her identity as a Champion of Clavicus Vile... The Spire was tapped into the veil, making any Daedra or any Daedric-influenced individual completely unable to do anything to it.

*Flap! Flap! Flap!*

The sound of slapping wings signals Illococoo's arrival, and Maria was dreading the moment the dragon-girl recognised Charlotte.

"Hey! Stop smacking my home or else!" Illococoo exclaims, her voice deepened in her dragon form.

Charlotte turns around, allowing the wind produced by Illococoo's wings to blow back her hood, revealing her face. Her glasses were slightly cracked, her eyes bloodshot with large tired black bags under them. "Sylphid..."

"B-BIG SIS!?" Illococoo yelps, half happily surprised and half despairing... She'd been told about Charlotte's situation, and she'd been trying to forget it while Michael worked to help her... Until now...

"Shut that lizard up, bring it down and bring me its skull." an angry voice growls from the chain around Charlotte's neck.

"S-Sylphid... R-run..." Charlotte utters in a lifeless tone as she raises her staff towards the dragon.

*Chkauw!*

The short blunette slams the butt of her staff on the ground, summoning a hand made of ice to form and reach up to grab the dragon.

Illococoo does a barrel-roll and barely avoids it, still somewhat taken aback by Charlotte attacking her. She was still her familiar after all, so the bond they shared made it hard to go against her.

She passes this issue however by simply dealing with the threats coming at her, instead of Charlotte herself. "KREN LIZ!" she shouts, causing the giant ice hand to instantly shatter.

Charlotte reacts to this by forcing the moisture in the air around Illococoo to freeze, causing ice to quickly form on her scales which all but disables her wings.

The dragon begins plummeting towards the ground but the situation is easily solved by her shouting "FEIM!", which turns her body ethereal for a moment, allowing the ice to fall off and granting her flight back.

This back and forth continues for a couple more minutes until Tiffania and Megumin arrive at the Spire after dealing with the pyromaniac Thalmor infiltrators.

"Charlotte!?" Tiffania exclaims in surprise, almost dropping her wand at the sight of the girl.

This is met by a storm of ice which Megumin luckily counters with a blast of hot fire which turns it into steam. "Ice princess versus demon fire god queen!" Megumin chirps as she spins her staff in her hand... Which allows Charlotte to freeze the floor under her, Whic when combined with some elemental wind magic knocks her and Tiffania over like bowling pins.

"Stop big sis! I won't let you hurt anyone!" Illococoo exclaims as she glides over, a shout on her lips. "IIZ SLEN NUS!"

A wave of ice shouts from her maw, catching Charlotte and encasing her in a solid layer of ice which leaves her looking like an ice statue.

...

Everyone waits for Charlotte to break out and do something, but nothing happens for a minute or so after the shout...

Illococoo lands next to her as Tiffania and Megumin recover their footing and make their way over. "Poor big sis..."

"I-is she...?" Megumin trails off, not wanting to be the one to ask.

Illococoo shakes her head, "She's just frozen... The shout does no harm."

"What should we do with her...?"

"We should sedate her and keep her asleep until we find a way to fix her condition. Michael said he was working on it, but..." Tiffania offers.

"Will that work?" Illococoo asks, hopeful.

"Er, guys?" Megumin mutters, drawing their attention and pointing to the crack forming on the ice statue...

"Oh, crud..."

*Shatter!*