Back at Dunscaith, Kihli and his fellow hunters were fighting off the invading Heralds. Despite their lack of numbers, they were cutting down cultist soldiers by the dozens, fighting as one while Kihli, with Scathach's copy of Gae Bolg. Was making short work of the Heralds' most formidable units. Kihli finishes blowing away a group of soldiers with a single swipe of the spear, noticing the Heralds' shrinking numbers. He hears a fellow hunter in distress and turns to help him, throwing Gae Bolg and seeing strike a Herald before he could land a killing blow on the hunter. Retrieving the spear, Kihli helps his fellow hunter back to his feet, who then said to him over the carnage:
"Captain! There's more coming!"
Kihli turns in alarm, directing his attention to the edge of the forest and seeing more cultist soldiers emerging and charging at them, even more than before! Kihli grimaced at the fact that they had been only fighting a supplementary battalion so far, and this was the bulk of the Heralds' forces. Looking around, Kihli could see that some of his hunters have fallen, and with this new force closing on them, they were REALLY at a disadvantage.
That did not mean Kihli was about to give up, for he swore on the people of Dunscaith and Scathach herself that he would defend their home to the last man standing. Brandishing his copied spear, Kihli remarks:
"Well, one thing they aren't lacking is tenacity..."
_____
Scathach struggled to get up, still healing from the blow she had taken from the Seraph as it had the Shadow powerless in its grasp. It then slammed the Shadow's limp body against the floor before tossing him a great distance and crashing into a pillar. The Seraph then turned its attention to Scathach now that she was a sitting duck and easy threat to eliminate. Scathach finally felt her body fully heal just as the Seraph's eye glowed and fired another explosive orb at her. She wraith dashes out of the way, dodging and weaving additional shots from the Seraph as Scathach made a mad dash for the Eye. The Seraph stopped firing to instead fly and collide with Scathach, sending them off the altar, spiraling and crashing into the ruins below.
Scathach groaned as tried to recover but found herself grabbed by the head and lifted off her feet once again. Whirring with a sound that pierced her ears, the Seraph reeled back its claw to drive it through Scathach's chest. As it came, Scathach kicked it away, so it barely misses her. Then in a seamless motion, Scathach clamps the Seraph's outstretched arm between her legs before then reinforcing herself and twisting her hip. With the sound of groaning metal, she rips the Seraph's arm off by the elbow, sending it staggering forwards close enough for Scathach to then kick it in its face and free herself out the Seraph's grasp.
Scathach falls backwards on to the ground but flips back on to her feet, summoning Gae Bolg as the Seraph recovered, seeing the sparking mess on its arm where half of it used to be. The Seraphs' eyes glowed, and Scathach saw that it was trying to recall its severed claw, so she swiftly projected a copy of Gae Bolg and launched it at the body segment, pining it to the ground so it could not fly back to the Seraph.
When she did that, Scathach saw to her surprise the severed arm degrade and disintegrate before her eyes... and in turn discovering the Seraph's weakness.
The Seraph whirred again as if in frustration, changing its damaged body to in its mind engage its opponent more favorably. The Seraph's claw was replaced with a blade, and it proceeded to hover in mid-air. Scathach prepared herself for another intense bout seeing how this foe still had a lot of fight left in it.
"Does this thing ever run out of tricks?!"
The Seraph then released four round segments out of its body. These orbs hovered around the main body of the Seraph and glowed with Energy before the creature flew at breakneck speed at Scathach, ready to slice her to bits. Scathach jumps out of the way, glancing away the Seraph's weapon with the shaft of her spear. The Seraph circles around for another pass, but Scathach sees the out of the corner of her eye the orbs the Seraph have deployed earlier fly around and shoot white-hot beams of light at her, forcing her to evade and putting her in the path of the Seraph.
Scathach bends backwards just in time as the Seraph's arm-blade edges past her face. The Seraph then turns back in midair and fires a blast from its eye, forcing Scathach to evade again. This time, the Seraph's orbs circle around her and fire converging beams. Scathach was forced to conjure a barrier to avoid getting seared, and that was when the Seraph dived down at her and bludgeoned Scathach's barrier repeatedly. Straining, Scathach weighs her options... maintaining this ward with the Seraph this close to her was sapping her mana fast...
That was when she saw the Seraph's orbs reposition behind the Seraph, looking to concentrate their fire exactly where the Seraph was trying to break through her barrier. Scathach saw her opening as she sees the orbs glowing once again to fire... her ward cracked and about to shatter.
As the Seraph raised its arm-blade again, Scathach dissolves her rune prematurely, letting the Seraph fall through. Shifting to wraith-form, Scathach just avoids the Seraph's weapon and flies around the Seraph as its orbs track, trying to shoot her down. Scathach's mist body weaved beneath the legs of the Seraph in its confusion and causing it to get hit by its own orbs shooting at Scathach. The Seraph whirred in distress and its drones stop shooting momentarily, giving Scathach the opportunity to take out these pesky drones.
Scathach proceeded to project copies of Gae Bolg to sail and destroy three of the Seraph's orbs. Circling around, she sees the remaining one attempting to fire at her and Scathach quickly casted an ice rune to incase the orb, so when it fired, it simply blew itself out of existence.
With the drones destroyed, Scathach could concentrate on the Seraph itself, who was still staggered after getting hit with friendly fire. Scathach wraith-dashes and severs the Seraph's one remaining arm with Gae Bolg before it could react. Scathach blows it up with a fire rune and twirls Gae Bolg to bat away the Seraph's head before it could fire an eye-blast at her. Scathach spins and sweeps the Seraph's legs in a singular motion, jumping on top of it after it fell backwards on the ground. With the creature pinned and helpless, Scathach reels back Gae Bolg to drive it through the Seraph's head.
"Now I've got you-!"
But before Scathach could react, she saw the Seraph's "chest" suddenly open and break away from its body, seizing Scathach and sending her tumbling backwards, catching a glimpse of something crystalline and glowing inside the machina before being slammed to the ground. The Seraph gets back on its feet now it had somehow turned the tables on Scathach, who was trapped and struggling to break free of this "claw" that burst out of the machina's chest. Scathach reinforced herself and pushed against the Seraph's grasp, but it was feeble as it started draining her mana.
"My... power..." Scathach groaned out as her circuits dimmed and to her horror saw the Seraph repairing itself, forging replacement body parts out of the mana it had stolen from her...
_____
Kihli yelled as he cut down another Herald soldier, and then more one after the other as they stood no chance against him with Scathach's projected copy of Gae Bolg; a single, well-placed thrust or slash all but guaranteeing a kill as the cultists with their meager steel weapons and armor could do nothing against it. Turning, Kihli ducks to avoid a sword-slash from behind and tripped the offending Herald foot soldier with his spear before stabbing him down in the back.
Even as a copy, Gae Bolg was still deadly, but it was really Kihli's prowess and battle instincts, honed by Scathach's tutelage was what made Kihli borderline untouchable to his opponents. As he pulled the blade of Gae Bolg out of the dead cultist's corpse, Kihli was still confident that with the weapon in his hands, he and his fellow hunters fighting can still make it through this battle despite the-
Kihli suddenly froze in his tracks, feeling open air in his hands rather than a solid weapon. Looking down, he saw to his horror Gae Bolg disintegrating before his eyes.
"No," Kihli let out as panic set in. "No, no, no no no no NO!"
He had not only lost a critical advantage in this battle, but seeing the projection of Gae Bolg fade made Kihli fear that something terrible happened to Scathach... wherever she was. Kihli had no time to dwell on it as another soldier attempted to jump him. He draws his backup sword and trades deflective blows with his opponent before stabbing the Herald in the abdomen.
As the Herald soldier collapsed, Kihli then heard a disturbing sound of energy dispersing like an explosion and saw nearby that a Herald mage had joined the battle and began blasting away many of Kihli's fellow hunters like they were fodder.
Kihli was only a fighter, and without any magecraft of his own to rely on he thought that he had no chance squaring off against an actual mage, especially without Gae Bolg. Fearing the tide of battle turning against them, Kihli rallies what few hunters were still alive and yells:
"Fall back!"
_____
Weak and depleted of mana, Scathach struggled to free herself from the Seraph's appendage; her arms eventually giving out altogether as the last traces of mana left Scathach's circuits. All her fighting was for naught as the Seraph repaired itself and used its newly remade claws to grab Scathach's head and lifted her off her feet. Retracting its appendage back into its chest, the Seraph then proceeded to slowly crush Scathach's head, making her scream in pain.
"ARGH!"
Just as it felt like her skull would cave on itself, out of nowhere the red blades of the Shadow sailed at great speed and severed the Seraph's arms, freeing Scathach who collapsed on the ground. The Seraph spun around just in time as the Shadow flew in and collided with the creature before it could react, sending them crashing a distance away.
Dazed and in tremendous pain, Scathach weakly opened her eyes to see the Shadow, empowered and glowing all-violet going toe-to-toe with the Seraph, which looked to be putting up an even greater fight than before, and it would not be long until the Shadow tired himself out even at full strength. Needing desperately to help her mentor, Scathach tries getting up, but her body in its weakened state had yet to cooperate.
The mana in the atmosphere was gradually replenishing her strength, but it was not nearly fast enough as she then saw the Shadow getting knocked down and blasted by the Seraph standing over him. The Shadow conjured a barrier to hold off the assault, but the nearness of the Seraph was gradually draining his mana.
While the Seraph had endless endurance...
"Shadow..." Scathach groaned as she tried again to get up, using her spear to support herself as her legs wobbled. She fell on her knees as her legs then gave out, much to her frustration.
"Damm it! I need to fight! Heal faster...!"
As her head rested against her spear, Scathach noticed something about it; a blue wisp of soul-energy snaking around the shaft and blade...
Scathach gasped in epiphany. She had slayed a Legless earlier, whatever souls it was made up of got retained by Gae Bolg. She had nearly forgot her spear had that ability and can use the souls trapped in her spear as a temporary source of power.
There was not enough the spear at the moment to go full power with, enough for one powerful rune cast at best, but Scathach figured if she could just find some more...
The answer came to her as she then looked up at the violet sky, and Scathach saw something that had not been there previously...
A trail of wandering souls... passing into the beyond...
Acting immediately, Scathach tried going into wraith-form to fly up towards them, but her circuits were still in havoc after the Seraph drained her. Scathach decided that she will have to throw Gae Bolg up there.
It was far... but as Scathach forced herself back on her feet, she knew that she had to try, even if she only had enough reserve mana in the spear to make just ONE reinforced throw.
Scathach raised her spear above her head and reeled it back. Tapping into the one soul in the weapon to substitute for mana, Scathach's circuits glowed violet as she reinforced herself for a boost of strength.
"Let my aim be true!"
Scathach yelled as she put all her might and strength into launching her spear skyward towards the trail of souls high up in the sky. Gae Bolg sailed, breaking the sound barrier...
The Seraph had just drove its claw across the Shadow's face, knocking him out before picking him up off his feet to drive an arm-blade to finish him. But as soon as it picked up the audible "boom" from Scathach's spear, the Seraph immediately turned around, dropping the Shadow like a rag doll before barreling towards Scathach...
Scathach watched as Gae Bolg sailed into the violet sky towards the soul-trail, and gasped when for a moment it looked as though the spear would not make it. Then miraculously, an updraft gave Gae Bolg just the nudge it needed for the blade to contact, and when it did, it flashed a bright violet as became empowered by captured souls. Scathach raised her hand to recall Gae Bolg to her grasp-
(SHRNNT!)
Scathach gagged and coughed up blood, looking down to see the Seraph's blade jutting out her chest. Her body goes limp as the Seraph picked her up and then threw her body into the nearby lake of fire. The Seraph curtly turned away to finish dealing with the Shadow, who laid barely conscious under a pile of ruined debris.
Barely clinging to life, Scathach descended into the corrosive depths of the lake; the wound on her body leaving behind a trail of blood while the liquid fire burned away at her skin. As she started to get tunnel vision, Scathach could glimpse a massive, shadowy entity before her, making a thunderous sound like a heartbeat which reverberated all around her. Her outstretched above her, Scathach succumbs to her injury, losing awareness as Gae Bolg fell in the lake and descended after her...
As the shaft of the empowered spear reached her hand and snaked between Scathach's fingers, the slightest touch of skin allowed the transfer of souls between the weapon to her body... and Scathach's hand burst to life and grasped Gae Bolg as the rest of her body lit up...
Within moments, the surface of the lake burst to reveal Scathach, glowing bright violet and hovering above the surface. The Seraph turns around and whirred in alarm at the sight of the soul-empowered prodigy of the Shadow, glaring down on it and pointing her spear at it in challenge.
"I'm not done with you yet..." Scathach taunted as the Seraph went back into combat sequence, seeing her as the biggest immediate threat...
_____
Back at Dunscaith, Kihli's forces were scattered as Heralds entered the village where the fighting resumed. Having lured the enemy where they would have more of a tactical advantage, Kihli advised his fellow hunters to scatter and lure the Herald soldiers where they can easily pick them off... but there was still a problem.
The Heralds have sent in a cultist mage, and Kihli knew taking him out of the picture will ensure they can still save the village. Kihli took it upon himself to take out the enemy mage, hiding in a ruined hut and waiting for him to pass by.
One thing Kihli did not count on was for the Herald mage to be accompanied by an entourage of soldiers.
No matter... Kihli thought. I'll just have to get creative...
His sword and concealment cloak at the ready, Kihli went invisible and dashed out of the ruined hut, taking out the nearest Herald soldier before he knew what him. The cultist mage turned and blindly fired a spell, but Kihli under his cloak had already moved on to the next one, severing the guard's calves and using his body as a shield from arrow fire. Kihli then forcibly kicked the guard's body at the mage, making him stumble before sidesteping an archer, tripping him and defecting a spear from another guard. Kihli slashes across his chest, grabbing his spear before using it finish off the downed archer with it.
Just then, the mage had recovered and fired a spell at Kihli, which made his cloak catch fire. Kihli hurriedly discards it, throwing it to block another spell from the cultist, this time making his cloak disintegrate altogether. Making a break for cover, Kihli pulls a dagger to throw at the mage, who shot it out of mid-air before firing another spell at Kihli, forcing him to dive behind another ruined hut as the spell exploded near his feet.
Wincing painfully, Kihli quickly got up, knowing the mage was about to blast his cover away. He got up and ran as sure enough, his hiding spot exploded in flames behind him.
"Keep running, insect!" the mage taunted. "It won't keep you alive for long!"
Another spell was fired at Kihli, who only barely managed to avoid it. He hid inside another hut, as the mage continued gloating.
"You mundane fool! Believing you stand any chance against a wielder of magecraft with your primitive weaponry! You and your friends are already dead!"
Kihli grunted in frustration. The mage was so arrogant that he was practically toying with him by this point. Worse was he was right... Kihli was not a mage. He was a severe disadvantage against this person who was shooting fireballs at him...
What on Earth was he able to do against that? All Kihli had was his sword, which was useless, and the spear he grabbed from a Herald guard. Even if he threw it, the mage would just shoot it out of mid-air before it hit him-
That was when Kihli felt something against his foot. Looking down, Kihli saw it was a vial full of-
Plant oil... which was flammable...
Kihli had an idea... he took the vial and some twine, running out of the back of the hut just as the wall exploded. The cultist mage laughed maniacally as Kihli dove behind a carriage, taking the opportunity to fasten the thin vial near the tip of his spear.
"Nowhere to hide now! I've caught you, little insect!"
Hearing the mage close by, Kihli broke away from the carriage before it was blown apart, shielding his eyes from the shrapnel.
But instead of running, Kihli spun his heel and reeled his spear back to throw at the cultist. When the smoke cleared, the mage briefly froze when he saw Kihli at the ready with his spear... recalling all of Scathach's training in an instant.
"Catch this!" Kihli yelled as he let the spear fly, watching as it closed the distance between him and the enemy mage. The cultist instinctively made a veil of fire with the wave of his hand, turning Kihli's spear (and the vial tied to it) to ash...
And in turn causing ignited oil to splash on all over the cultist's robes...
"ARGH!" the mage screamed in agony as he was set ablaze and fell to ground where the flames eventually consumed him. Kihli breathed a sigh of relief, silently celebrating the fact that he outwitted and defeated a mage. He made a mental note to boast about it to Scathach later...
"There he is!" a distant voice snapped Kihli's attention. "Their leader! Bring me his head for the zealots!"
Kihli got up and drew his sword as he found himself swarmed by Herald soldiers, some with bows and some with spears. Kihli was all alone... and having barely survived a fight with a mage, he was exhausted and could hardly stand.
He might not survive this... but Kihli was not fixated on dying. He had already made it this far, and if this lot was the remains of the Heralds' forces, then thinning out this rabble would allow Dunscaith and its people to see another day...
As well as ensuring Scathach would not be alone... even if...
Kihli forced that thought down, instead readying his stance to fight like his life depended on it... Scathach showed him that was how he could fight at his best. Tightening his grip on his sword, Kihli prepared him for his most grueling fight yet, not only in hopes of maybe surviving it... but to also see his love one last time...
"I'll make you proud... teacher," Kihli whispered before charging forward with a yell...
_____
The Seraph releases orbs to separately fire at the empowered Scathach, who by spinning her spear in front of her deflects every shot before then swinging to release a violet energy wave that destroyed all the Seraph's drones at once. The Seraph morphs both its claws into blades to retaliate, but Scathach blinks out of view before appearing behind the Seraph and cuts off one of its arms. The Seraph stumbles forwards before taking to the air to get distance between it and her. It fails as high above, Scathach had already blinked above the Seraph and kicked it forcibly across the head. The Seraph was sent flying across when Scathach blinked ahead of it to swing at it with her spear, knocking it backwards.
The Seraph suddenly stabilized midair to fire and eyebeam at Scathach, who dove down to the ruins to avoid it. The Seraph continued firing, destroying pillars and stonework but too slow to track Scathach, who burst out of a dust cloud to knee-kick the Seraph in its "chin," launching it upwards. However, Scathach seizes its legs with a stand rune and uses its momentum to spin and throw the miscomputing Seraph down to terra firma, sending the machination crashing through a pillar and landing on the main altar.
The Seraph got up and attempted to repair its arm, but Scathach jumps on its back and drive Gae Bolg through its newly reforming limb. The Seraph tears itself away and spun its head to continually fire its eyebeam once again. Scathach breaks away and flies in a circle, avoiding the beam until she blinks behind the Seraph and sends it skyward again with an upwards swing of her spear. Bits fly off as the Seraph eventually stalls midair, and from below, Scathach pours energy into Gae Bolg to throw it at her helpless opponent. Scathach lets it fly, the Seraph detects it coming and morphs its one remaining arm back into a claw to stop itself in air and deflect the spear away, sending the weapon spinning over and behind it.
Just as Scathach expected...
Scathach blinks behind the Seraph and flips upside in midair, extending her let out above her and using her foot to "kick" the blunt end of Gae Bolg, and sending it back at the Seraph as it quickly turned. By kicking her weapon, Scathach sent her spear at her foe with more force than she could by throwing it. As a result, Gae Bolg rockets at the head of the Seraph, breaking the sound-barrier as it flutily raised its claw to block-
(RIP!)
The blade of Gae Bolg tore through the Seraph's armored claw and struck the machination in its one, glowing red eye...
The Seraph whirred in agony, its eye now a sparking mess as Scathach blinked above it to dive down and send it crashing back to the ground. A light glowed bright in Scathach's chest as she continued pushing against the helpless, sentient shell of the Seraph, and right before they hit the ground-
(BANG!)
Violet energy erupted from Scathach's body as the stored souls burst out of her chest and returned to the sky. The Seraph was left as a crumpled mess on the crater it formed on the altar, hardly able to move with all its limbs mangled and unable to assess the damage without the use of its one eye. As it attempted to get up, Scathach jumped on top of it, pining it to the ground and yelling as she swung her spear down, tearing open the Seraph's damaged chest until it revealed its crystalline heart. Wasting no time, Scathach grabbed the jagged gemstone, yelling as she attempted to crush it in her hands.
"DIE ALREADY!" Scathach exclaimed (partly in annoyance by this point), shutting her eyes as she used all her might in getting the Seraph's crystal to break. The Shadow had recovered and made it to the altar just in time to see-
(CRACK!)
The crystal finally broke. The Seraph made an ear-piercing sound akin to a scream as light erupted from its heart and engulfed Scathach...