17 Into the Breach (2/2)
”I should let the Toad pass?” Nene was confused.
”When we are done, you should run away from the Toad and the entrance.” Orisa explained the grand plan.
”Gotcha. Sounds hella lame, but it's way better than to just give up and die.”
”I'm ready,” Toatre called Orisa, ”you need to stay on the frontal Seal. Are you familiar with Pulling?”
”No, but we don't have a choice, anyway.”
Toatre took out all the Mana ink she had and poured it over the pile of crystals. They began to glow.
Orisa stood on the Seal and felt like a third hand grew out of her. That hand was holding an enormous weight, bulging and shaking under its pressure.
”I'm ready.” She said to Bavan. He nodded and began chanting:
”-Major Overflow!-”
”-Lesser Owl's Eye!-”
”-Lesser Sage!-”
”-Major Discharge!-”
Orisa felt a strong wave of power rolling over her. She felt incredible. She felt like Archons.
'POWER OVERWHELMING.'
Bavan turned to the Toad and threw a weakening spell:
”-Major Conduit!-”
”Nene, stop the Toad in front of me so that I can touch it. We are ready, waiting for you!” Orisa's voice trembled with excitement. She was scared to death, but all the power set her insides ablaze.
Nene timed her leap perfectly. Right after the Toad slammed against her barrier, she jumped back and landed right in front of Orisa.
The Toad hammered the doorframe with its body, obliterating it completely. It jumped at Nene and when it was about to land Nene swung her halberd:
”-Brandishing Strike!-”
The Toad stopped in its track, stunned for a moment. Bavan acted immediately, pointing his wand at it:
”-Lex Aterna!-”
Red beam flew from the wand's tip and struck the Toad.
Orisa pulled inside all the Mana she felt from the pile of crystals and recalled the sensation from that day with Rita:
”Fatality.”
She thought that she already felt the real pain when sugar blob struck her with the Smite spell. That pain was nothing.
It felt like she accidentally took a seat on a small volcano. The moment she pulled Mana and recalled that lightning sensation, everything inside her exploded. Her vision instantly went blank from the pain, and she coughed out a fountain of blood.
Only because of Nene's skillful measurement the Toad was stopped right in front of Orisa. Her's legs gave away, and she collapsed forward. By a miraculous push of willpower, she stretched her arms forward and transferred the charge into the Toad.
Unlike the time with Noble imbeciles, there was no explosion. When Orisa's hands made contact with the Toad's body, it visibly shook. For a few moments, the Toad was electrified, and then a giant lightning arc came out of the Toad's back and struck the ceiling, creating a big hole. The arc left a huge scorched mark on Toad's back. That spot was smoking and hissing.
Orisa fell on the floor, bleeding heavily from mouth, ears, and eyes. The only thought that she could produce was 'It hurts...' With every breath, she coughed more blood, and her breathing became weaker and weaker.
Suddenly the Toad started moving. It shook a bit but then steadied itself, stood up and looked at Orisa's body that was laying on the floor right in front of it.
Nene clenched her halberd with both hands and shouted with all her strength:
”-Berserker's Rage!-”
Her body began to glow red. All her muscles visibly bulged up, all the sweat on her body instantly evaporated.
She growled inhumanely and struck the Toad, but her weapon bounced back from the slimy skin. Nene howled like a beast and repeatedly attacked the Toad. With every strike, the Toad was pushed back slightly, but otherwise unharmed. It shot forward with its tongue, but Nene slapped it away with her bare hand and leaped forward.
Her halberd came down on the Toad's back, and with a sick splashing sound its blade went inside through the charred spot from Orisa's lightning.
The beast roared in pain, and Nene howled in mad excitement. She pulled out the weapon and struck again, diving into the same spot. Green blood spilled all over the walls, more being added with each following strike. Nene was covered in a thick green liquid from head to toe. She kept striking again and again. The Toad no longer moved, it made no sounds except squashing noises of a blade going deeper into bones and flesh.
”Ne...Ne...” The barely audible moan was the last thing Orisa did before she stopped breathing.
Nene kept hitting the Toad's corpse, saliva oozing from her wide open mouth, mixing with green blood all over her face.
Toatre quickly moved to Nene, turned her around with a strong pull and slapped her cheek soundly.
”Wake up. Orisa needs you. Now.” Her voice sounded angry for the first time in this world.
Consciousness returned to Nene's eyes. She shook her head and looked around. When her eyes caught the scene of Orisa lying on the ground in a pool of blood, motionless and breathless, she gasped.
”Shit. I'm sorry-”
”Do something. Not too late.” Toatre's voice was tense.
Nene came to Orisa and slammed the halberd into the floor.
”-Warlord's Order: Reinstatement!-”
A green pulse came out of the pole. Orisa's body began to glow.
”-Warlord's Order: Sanctuary!-”
A wide white circle appeared on the floor. Orisa's body began to glow even brighter. Bavan pointed his wand at her and chanted:
”-Major Plea!-”
”Not enough.” Said distressed Toatre.
Bavan leaned down to Orisa, turned her on the back and began CPR. He placed his hand on her chest and pushed hard, then released the pressure. He made the same move twice a second, counting to thirty, then clamped her nose and gave her two breaths.
After the second round of the CPR Orisa's body shook and she gasped loudly.
”Orisa, how do you feel?” Toatre settled down on the floor by Orisa's side and took her hand.
”Been better...” After lying for a bit, she sat up. Looking at the Toad's corpse and Nene's look, Orisa furrowed her brow.
”The heck? Couldn't you have done it earlier?” Orisa glared at Nene so intently that she shivered.
”I told you! The skin was too slimy! I say we are lucky that you burned away some of that mucus.”
Orisa looked at the pile of now empty crystals and muttered:
”Why wasn't that enough? I used so much Mana...”
”Because you are doing it in the most inefficient way possible,” Bavan replied in a slightly sympathetic tone, ”instead of creating magic, creating forms, casting spells you are just burning pure Mana.”
Orisa was still visibly confused, so he continued:
”It's like you have some money in a bag, and you just throw the bag into your enemies face in hopes to deal some damage. But you could have bought weapons or hired a guard, using the same money much more efficiently.”
Orisa nodded depressingly. 'Whatever I do, it's not enough. It's always not enough.'
”I say, we are lucky that you were here. You charred that fatso for good.” Nene got closer and patted Orisa on the back. ”You saved our lives.”
Orisa looked at Nene, startled. Both Toatre and Bavan nodded.
”We all did great...”
---
AN:
To get a slightly better idea of what's going on, I'll add some spell's descriptions here. If you think they are unnecessary, tell me in the comment section, please.
Overflow - increase Magic potential (doesn't work on pure Mana burn, was useless for Orisa)
Owl's Eye - increase concentration (better Mana manipulation, easier to focus)
Sage - empowers Mana control (easier to cast spells, allows more complex spells, was useless to Orisa)
Discharge - increase lightning potential (easier to convert Mana into lightning, produces more lightning from less mana)
Conduit - weakens resistance to shock, electrocute and lightning.
Lex Aterna - increases damage from the next strike, whatever it is (even if you bite your lip)
Plea - empowers healing received by the target.
Fighter's abilities:
Brandishing Strike - usually used with hammers, axes, spears and other pole-based weapons. Sends a shockwave to stun or shuffle opponents.
Berserker's Rage - switches the user's body into a ”primal aggressor” mode - empowered attack, faster/better reflexes, no defense. Also, leaves the user with only one goal - to attack, focusing every brain cell on this task. Eats stamina way faster.
Warcry - boosts attack power and toughness (protective layer over the skin that absorbs damage)
Acceleration - empowered reflexes.
Decoy - attracts enemies to the user (in later chapters I'll explain its mechanic and the reason why it works that way)
Warlord's Orders (unique skills of the vas Flamie bloodline):
Reinstatement - complex spell that both cleans, cures, mends and heals.
Asylum - in an open space creates a protective sphere that blocks anything that the user considers 'harmful' or 'enemy'. If there are any objects/constructions nearby - bolsters their durability. Must be supported by the user, or will cancel out.
Sanctuary - creates a field that increases the effectiveness of any positive effects and actions.
Field Commander - greatly boosts the user's characteristics. Slightly boosts characteristics of allies around.