“Myrin! How much longer do we have to last?!” She yelled out while preparing her Sacred Treasure for another attack. The wind buzzed in her ear as countless light-based attacks rained down on them all.
Over on the other side of the platform, Myrin held tightly to his paint brush, “I am not sure! Probably another five minutes?!” He drew another animal that swiftly came to life and chased after the flying enemy.
As he said those words, another streak of light attacked from his left. Thankfully, the bubble shield he had previously illustrated absorbed the damage. Still, he was sure it wasn’t going to last for long.
Myrin grit his teeth as he glanced over to the center of the platform. Sitting peacefully in a lotus position was their mistress. Her hair was flowing upwards, resisting both gravity and the raging wind. Every strand glowed in a soft yet brilliant platinum hue, as if the anima itself was solidifying outside of her body.
In fact, that was exactly what was happening. If one were to look close enough, they would see a strange, ghostly apparition beside her—an ethereal echo molded in her image. And unlike her physical form, this one was shaped by the stars themselves. Within the ghostly apparition were the visage of countless galaxies and other orbiting bodies. And ‘her’ eyes… They were hollow yet seemed to see far beyond anyone else.
Most would be left stunned if they had witnessed this scene, but to Myrin, this was just another normal day in Star Fate Guild. After all, he had seen this exact thing happen countless times over the years.
Every time the mistress encounters a new prophecy, she enters this trance-like state where she would be left unable to interact with the physical world at all. Even though predicting when it happens was impossible, Myrin never found it to be an issue since the mistress usually never leaves their guild base.
This time however, wasn’t the usual.
Talk about bad luck! For her to enter a trance while flying in the air was dangerous enough, but for an enemy to attack them at that exact moment too? Was this fate or a coincidence?
As for the enemy itself, that too was a mystery. Even now, they were using some technique to hide in plain sight. Or, maybe their speed was so fast, they simply couldn't see them at all… Nevertheless, he could tell that it was a magus with a light-based affinity from their attacks alone, even if identifying their location was close to impossible.
The enemy also seemed to have a good understanding of their abilities as well.
Myrin’s cast speed was relatively slower since his spirit plant magecraft was limited due to them being in the air, so every spell needed more anima to function as intended. As for his artistic skills, at the moment, the best use for them was to erect defences while allowing Tina to bombard them with arrows.
But because the enemy knew of this, they had started paying all their attention to him rather than her. No, more specifically, their target seemed to be on the mistress herself.
With no way to defend herself, Myrin was forced to continuously reinforce the barrier with no way to fully support Tina in her attacks…
“Alright. Enough of this.” He shook his head. “I'm tired of playing.”
Without holding anything back, he expanded his Soul Realm to its maximum size and even further beyond. Blood leaked from his nose as he focused all his attention to forming the spellform.
Axiom after axiom manifested in tandem as a large array covered the skies surrounding the speeding platform.
“Garden of Spirits” The words shook the anima itself. Tina, who was trying her best to shoot down the enemy, stopped for a second to glance at her companion. A frown took over her face.
This spell… It was a 3rd Circle spell that creates a gateway for spirits within the Beyond to enter the physical world. The difficulty of invoking its complex spellform already makes it one of the hardest spells to cast in the 3rd Circle. And yet, Myrin was able to do it in a matter of seconds.
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Still, both of them were aware that it won't last long… Myrin knew he could only maintain it for a limited amount of time.
While the barrier formed from his drawing continued to protect against the light attacks that seemed to be hitting harder and harder as time went by, the Garden of Spirits was also beginning to take form.
The enemy seemed to have noticed Myrin’s plan so they were becoming more and more desperate.
“Go!” Myrin’s voice commanded the spirits. Soon, an array of creatures began to take shape. There were ones that were a mesh of different creatures jammed into one, while others took on a more understandable form. Either way, every single one of them looked dangerous.
As for their target…
The army of spirits raged forward. Myrin didn’t waste any time to first reinforce the barrier then he began drawing duplicates of the spirits themselves. With the references right in front of him, it wouldn't take long before the army doubles in size.
Seeing this, the enemy finally began taking more defensive measures. The light-based attacks slowed down. Tina took the opportunity to shoot more arrows in their direction, but their speed remained just as fast as before.
“Damn it!” She cursed as she pulled the ethereal bowstring once more.
From there, the battle grew even more chaotic. Since his Soul Realm had rapidly expanded, Myrin was able to fit the entire battlefield itself within his reach. But that also meant that the pressure he was exerting on his own anima was extremely taxing. It won’t take long before the Garden of Spirits will begin to unravel itself…
Myrin, however, didn’t mind this.
After all, he only casted that spell as a distraction. His real objective was to lock in his focus on the enemy!
“Found you!” His smile widened. Even though the enemy knew of their magecraft, it seems they were still unaware of his Soul Realm’s inherent ability. His thoughts were now being read by him!
He glanced over at Tina and shouted a command, “To your 3 O’clock!”
The woman wasted no time to let her bowstring sing. An arrow even bigger than the one before it split the air as it headed for the enemy.
A bright explosion colored the night sky.
“Did we get him?” Tina asked. Myrin squinted his eyes as both the Garden of Spirits and his Soul Realm unraveled themselves… It would be an understatement to say he wasn’t tired, but he couldn’t lay down to rest now.
After all, the enemy… was still alive…
He shook his head and frowned, “Ready yourself.”
As the smoke cleared, a veiled figure took shape. He stood plainly in the air—two streaks of light shooting from his feet, allowing him to defy gravity. But what Myrin and Tina were focused on was his injuries.
Indeed, Tina’s attack did damage… He held onto his bleeding abdomen tightly, trying his best not to hunch over.
The crew, however, didn’t concern themselves with this. The Star Platform that Sienna had created with her Soul Weapon was still moving rapidly toward Celestine Citadel. In just a few minutes, they would finally gain the advantage of being firmly planted to the ground.
The enemy however… also knew this. Myrin thought that the last attack would deter them from acting out for a while, but he was wrong… He had underestimated just how determined they were to kill them.
Up in the air, he witnessed the veiled figure expand his Soul Realm one last time. Soon, an array of swords formed of light began to manifest themselves.
Crap! Myrin was sure that even if he drew another barrier, it would not do anything. He glanced ahead to where the platform was heading—there was still a bit of time before they landed…
And without the mistress being awake, neither of them had any way of controlling the platform itself to try and dodge the attacks.
Just as he and Tina were about to brace for impact, they noticed something strange. The swords that were being manifested… they were falling from the sky…
Their attention shifted back to the veiled figure. A vibrant yellow flame was now emanating from his chest. Even he looked surprised…
As if an invisible curtain had unfurled itself, two new figures emerged from nothing. One was a young lady wearing a magi’s robe and cone hat. Her arms were covered in dense dragon-like scales that seemed to burn in flames of pure gold.
The lady’s wings flapped rapidly as her monstrous claws held tightly to the enemy.
Hanging from the young lady’s feet was another magus wearing a matte-black checkered robe. The young man’s amber eyes gazed back at Myrin—his lips curling up into a smile.
“Cassia? Soren?!”