As if hearing Noble, the Dragon Prince shot a column of fire directly into the sky. It did not reach the three Masters, but the heat stole any moisture from the air.
Of course, between the three Masters, they had no actual fire. Only Flint could have pulled off such a feat. If he were here...but he wasn't, and nothing would change that.
They wouldn't have flames, but that didn't mean they couldn't bring some heat of their own. They had their own powers, and together they could move mountains. Looking at the molten hillside full of cracks, they were already halfway there.
'Time to rid the world of this Remnant.'
Noble touched the cape tucked into her belt. It was still wrapped around the cursed hand mirror. With a little maneuvering, she kept the corner wrapped around the looking glass while shouldering the main part of the mantle.
While not the perfect solution to the problem, it did protect her torso from the immolating flames. The free part of the cape wrapped around her like a second skin. It would not affect her fighting or her flight.
"Ready?" Noble smiled at her companions.
She was worn out, suffering from both soul damage and physical and emotional fatigue. Roan and Aether, too, looked like they were running low on essence.
The two cohort members had been holding out against a Remnant of the Doom War. It was a task they never should have had, and yet the two men had done the impossible–delaying the Prince and preventing him from coming down the hillside.
Now the three of them would have to do something even more impossible: kill the unkillable.
'So what? I have already done that once today...'
Roan nodded. "We are carriers of the Spell. We were born for war."
Aether clenched his fist. In his hand, a bow of starlight formed. An arrow of white light appeared in his other hand.
"As you said, this ends today."
Their time was up. Growing weary of waiting for the humans to descend, the Remant flapped his wings. Lava was pushed in every direction, flowing down the hill and cooling in rivulets. The entire hilltop was covered in its glowing veins, nearly reaching the shore.
Noble and her companions were less concerned about the redecoration than they were about the dragon lifting from the ground. While he wasn't the most steady flyer, he could still put the cohort within firing distance with a little more height.
So they would not give him that chance.
Aether raised his bow. In the starlight, he looked like an ancient hero as he let his arrow fly. Beneath the night sky, the man was in his element, and the sparkling dots overhead only served to fuel him.
Out of the three Masters, he was in the best shape.
The arrow left his bow in deathly silence, but before it could reach the dragon, it split into dozens of silver strands. The net of starlight looked similar to the one he had used against the Others earlier that evening, but more refined.
In this fight with the dragon, Aether had clearly been practicing.
The net caught the Remnant across the mouth, and Noble seized the opportunity. Normally, starlight would not have any substance, but Aether's powers imbued it to have length, width, and depth like blazing ropes.
And Noble could manipulate ropes. The weight of the net changed, becoming heavier as it wrapped around the Prince's maw. His already awkward flight was pulled to one side, sending the dragon off balance.
In a flash, lightning streaked from the heavens. Under Roan's guidance, it found a gap in the dragon's scales and penetrated his skin.
The Prince roared, breaking the net that held his teeth and embers at bay. Fire poured out, but the angle was too wide to even singe one of the Masters.
Aether clenched his jaw from the back of the griffin. "Not quite there," he mumbled.
Whatever he was after, the performance had fallen short. But it had given Noble the opening she needed.
Lifting her Zenith, Child of Promise dove at the Dragon. With his wings outstretched, the loose spines were easily visible and even easier to reach. The floating Master tore into the soft skin, punching a hole through the stretched section before the wing could retract.
She came through the other side, her sword dripping with Dragon's blood. But her victory was moot. It would take hundreds, if not thousands, of those holes to make a difference.
That would take all night or longer to accomplish that task, even if the dragon were cooperative. Of course, he would not be. Already, his wings were folding for him to land, protecting his sensitive skin from the poisoned tip of Noble's blade.
Child of Promise sighed. Even if she could fully remove the Dragon's ability to fly, it would not kill the monster.
Noble evaded the tail as it came swinging her direction. The whirlwind following its passing sent her spinning back.
The Prince raised his head in defiance, looking at her with his menacing good eye.
Peering at her from below his crown of horns, the prince's gaze was so daunting that Noble felt that if she looked at it too long that her soul would shatter.
'Now that's power…'
The floating Master looked away. So what if the Prince could kill her from the inside out? She would make sure that didn't happen.
Following her lead, Aether dove from the back of the griffin toward the Prince's back. He ducked and rolled onto the scarred scales, stabbing blades of starlight into the breaks as he ran.
The whipping tail bent to snap the fly from its back, but Aether jumped again. Noble caught him up in the air, making the dragon's effort fruitless for the second time.
"This is much easier at night and when I'm not forced to remain on the ground." Aether sailed toward his two companions and climbed back on the griffin. "You are both fortunate to be able to move in any direction."
"Watch out!" Roan's words came just as a clawful of red-hot slag came sailing at them from below.
Three more projectiles followed the first, causing the sky to fill with molten comets. The griffin was forced to dive to avoid getting either its wings or its passenger singed.
Noble let a blazing boulder pass as she followed the path with her eyes. When it was at the perfect spot, she used the momentum to spin the flaming ball of earth back to the source with her levitation.
She felt quite smug in her clever use of the weapon against her enemy until he turned, opened his mouth, and swallowed the molten rock whole.
The dragon blew out the smoke between his teeth.
'You're next,' he seemed to say silently as he stalked along the ground.
The next barrage of fire and earth made the sky feel like it was falling.
Noble had to drop down close to the ground and use her powers to deflect the salvo.
Roan and Aether were not so lucky. A large piece of molten earth slammed into the echo. The griffin and his passengers fell from the sky.
Seizing his chance, the dragon breathed deeply to deliver his most devastating blow yet.
His goal? To drown the world in flames.