Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 62
The dark energy Garn had fired was torn into nothingness by Triska’s tornado of wind blades. This though was hardly a deterrent as Garn simply fired another beam of dark energy. This time however he changed tactics. Instead of simply continuing to fire the same attack at the same people, he would throw them all off balance by changing which element attacked who. Not only that, with a wave of his scepter, the direction of the attacks continually changed course mid-way and attacked from different directions.
Asuna and the others spread apart and scattered as these home-seeking-like missiles of magic gave chase.
Nunully had tried covering the barrier in a thick layer of ice but found her magic being drained away and being converted in more defense for the palaces barrier and she was forced away from it.
Every shot Garn fired would miss by some degree here and there. Because the magic he fired was divided and went in every direction to give chase, his mind was doing multiple things at once, causing his focus and concentration to lower significantly.
“These damn skittering rats. Run all you want but this will not change your fates.”
Garn stamped his scepter down and the flow of energy within the floating palace changed.
“Divide…Expand!”
The barrier followed Garn’s command. As the flow of energy changed, the barrier protecting the palace split into two. The barrier around the palace shrunk significantly to where only a thin layer a few inches above the palace resided while an entirely new barrier outside of the first one started to form.
This new barrier stretched outward for a few miles, covering the sky and ground in totality. Up above Asuna, she saw the sky closing and could sense that another barrier was forming around not just her but surrounding everyone.
She imagined herself as a mouse in a jar and realized what Garn was doing.
“Everyone, escape further away, Garn is trying to trap us between two barriers and then crush us like bugs!”
Sam and everyone else turned and took off at their greatest speed but the only ones who could escape in such a short time frame were Shin, Triska with the speed of the wind, and Asuna who teleported outside of the closing barrier.
Nunully, Sam, and Kimi were not so lucky and were trapped between the two barriers.
Garn knew he wouldn’t get all of them on the first try but seeing as how he got Nunully, brought a vicious smile.
“Isn’t this nice. The first to go will be the halfbreed elf. Is this divinity on my end or cruel fate on yours? Either way, erasing your dirty blood from this world will give me a fragment of satisfaction.”
Asuna wasn’t on the best terms with everyone after what had happened with Kazuki’s death but they were all still friends. There was no way she would simply stand by and watch her friends die.
Just as Asuna was about to teleport between the two barriers, Shin grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her.
“Wait!”
Asuna was pissed but the very next moment she understood why as thousands of bolts of lightning began striking inside the barrier. Had she teleported in, she would surely have been struck by one and been fried.
“I could sense the air changing. If you went inside, you would have died instantly. Out of all of us, you have the weakest defense.”
LIghtning chased after Sam, Kimi, and Nunully at terrifying speeds. Every few seconds lightning would nearly hit them, almost causing a catastrophe. At the same time, the barrier was starting to shrink rapidly.
“We can’t just let them die in there!”
Shin agreed.
“Of course. That’s why I’m going back in. I can deflect most of the lightning but I can’t get through this barrier, that’s where you have to help me.”
“How can I just send you in and do nothing more?”
“Who said you’d be doing nothing? Have you already forgotten King Brian’s plan. We’ve only done the first part. Once me and Triska are in between the barriers, I’ll manage the lightning and she’ll deal with the inscriptions. As soon as everything is set in place, you’ll have to do the rest. Use everything you’ve got and send us in. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Asuna had been left stunned by Garn suddenly expanding and shrinking his barrier that she nearly forgot King Brian’s plan. The situation was life and death and she knew she had to pull her shit together. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed both Triska and Shin by their wrist. Her power gathered and her eyes and ring shined with purple light.
*Shine*
Both Triska and Shin vanished from in front of her and reappeared inside the barrier with Sam and the others. As soon as they were inside, Shin immediately took in a deep breath and his eyes lit up with a silverish glow. Lightning that was racing toward Nunully and Kimi reversed unbelievably and flew at Shin. Shin then began to make his own lightning. Several lightning bolts formed in his hands like spears and he threw them as if he were Zeus.
*Bang Crack Boom*
His lightning struck the other bolts of lightning and in an explosion of light and energy, the bolts canceled one another out. Sparks flew everywhere, lighting up the closed-off sky.
Triska raced to the ground and roared at Sam.
“SAM COME TO ME!”
Sam didn’t wish to leave Kimi’s side but he already knew the plan beforehand and he believed in Kimi’s capabilities.
“Gravity changed around him, and he raced downward by Triska’s side. Without even asking what she wanted, Sam raised his hand in the air, with it, the ground ripped upward and formed a protective dome around both him and Triska.
Garn took note of the strange dome beneath him and fired beams of dark energy along with fire. If his destructive power was too weak to break through Sam’s dome, then the erosion effect from dark energy combined with the blazing heat from the fire would erode the dome allowing more heat to pierce through and cook them until they were forced to come out from their turtle shell.
Inside the protective dome of Gordonia, Sam continued to repair and strengthen his dome. Triska’s ring lit up and a small orb of electricity floated in front of her, giving her some light to work with. At the same time, large metal slabs with hundreds of thousands of intricate magic inscriptions fell out of her ring and she got to work immediately.
Meanwhile in the sky, Nunully and Kimi, now having most of the lightning drawn away from them and onto Shin, changed tactics. Nunully raised a hand into the sky and a storm of rain and hail fell almost as if someone had overturned rivers and lakes. Shin continued to destroy the lightning while at the same time he made several hurricanes, which helped pick up the rain sending it all over. Inside his hurricanes, he made thousands of wind blades that could cleave a mountain in half.
Kimi sent out blinding light orbs all over the battlefield. All of the light though didn’t hinder SHin and the others and was instead all directed at Garn’s floating palace, blocking his vision.
Garn couldn’t see the battlefield with his eyes but at his level, he didn’t need eyes to fight. He could sense the flow of magic in every direction and to him, these meaningless attacks that couldn’t penetrate his barrier were pointless and were the last acts of weaklings who desperately clung at straws.
With Asuna outside of his barrier and Shin focused on the lightning and Sam and Triska domed up like cowardly little armadillos, Garn once more changed his attack pattern. He found both Nunully and Kimi exposed and he launched the power of fire and light at Nunully and the power of darkness at Kimi.
The sky filled with darkness but Kimi wasn’t one to back down and her power rose. Because of this, one half of the sky became blindingly white and the other half-pitch black as the two’s powers contested with one another.
At the same time, Nunully already had her entire body covered in condensed ice armor. She was quickly bathed in flames and beams of high-temperature bright light. Both of which burned hotter than the sun.
(I’ll kill these two and crush the others in my barrier. Either that or they’ll all just be crushed in the end. This will be the beginning of my new order. No one will dare defy me ever again, otherwise, they too will fall to my power.)
Garn drew more energy out of the 7 magic cores powering his palace and increased the output of darkness, fire, and light. This sudden change caused the power of those three elements to skyrocket. The darkness overwhelmed Kimi almost immediately and she was forced backward. One of Shin’s hurricanes rushed forward and swallowed Kimi, pulling her toward the center to protect her. His other hurricanes came crashing forward to destroy the dark beam.
Nunully as well was facing a difficult situation. She was much stronger than Kimi but the power of fire and the concentrated light was melting her ice armor far faster than she could repair it.
Garn sensed this and was becoming annoyed.
“Enough of your pitiful struggle.”
He stamped his scepter once more and he pulled more energy from the 7 cores.
“Just die already!”
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