The grass behind them shifted ominously, and a new figure emerged from the shadows.
His eyes glowed crimson like a blood moon hanging low on the horizon, veins pulsing with unnatural rhythm beneath his pale skin.
Fresh cuts lined both arms, still bleeding, but instead of weakening him, the flowing blood seemed to feed his power, making him stronger with each drop spilled.
"Shit," Mira muttered, recognizing the signs immediately.
Sera stepped up beside her, adjusting her grip on her weapons. "We can't let him touch us. Blood magic gets stronger the more contact it makes."
The Blood Mancer didn't waste time with words or threats. He raised one scarred hand, and crimson tendrils burst forth from his wounds, living whips of solidified blood that twisted through the air with serpentine intelligence.
Mira fired a lightning bolt, but the tendrils curved mid-flight with impossible agility, dodging the electrical discharge entirely.
Sera loosed a rapid volley of arrows, three in quick succession, each aimed at vital points.
One struck home, punching into his shoulder.
But it didn't matter.
The Blood Mancer yanked the arrow free with barely a wince and immediately used the fresh blood pouring from the wound to seal it, flesh knitting together in seconds. The extracted arrow clattered uselessly to the ground.
He stepped forward purposefully, blood whips flaring wider and longer.
Mira and Sera split apart instinctively.
Sera dove left and loosed another arrow mid-roll, her form perfect despite the awkward angle. Mira darted right, electricity crackling and flaring from both palms.
Their attacks hit simultaneously from opposite directions, shock and steel converging on the target.
The Blood Mancer staggered but absorbed the impacts, converting the damage into fuel. He snarled, an animalistic sound, and his power visibly intensified.
He surged toward Sera with frightening speed.
She flipped backward with practiced acrobatics, but a blood whip lashed out and grazed her leg.
Searing pain burned through her thigh like liquid fire. Her leg trembled, nearly buckling.
"Sera!" Mira screamed.
She launched a concentrated lightning bolt point-blank into the Blood Mancer's chest, pouring everything she had into the attack.
The impact blasted him backward violently. He crashed into a tree trunk with bone-breaking force. The bark exploded outward, and the entire tree cracked with a sound like a gunshot as his body carved a crater into the wood.
Mira rushed immediately to Sera's side, dropping to one knee. "You good?"
Sera winced, nodding through gritted teeth. "Yeah. Shallow wound. I can still move."
She pressed a torn strip of cloth against the bleeding gash, eyes flicking upward cautiously.
The remaining attackers had regrouped during the brief respite. Four still stood watching with predatory patience, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
The Blood Mancer struggled to extract himself from the splintered tree, but his breathing remained steady. He'd be back up soon.
Dorian Valthorne stood at the clearing's edge, completely untouched and looking mildly entertained by the spectacle.
He leaned casually against a stone outcrop, golden eyes following every movement with the detached interest of someone watching an interesting play. Behind him, Evelyne Crowne stood with arms folded, her violet gaze sharp and calculating.
"Young Master," she said softly, "should we send in the rest? End this?"
Dorian chuckled, the sound rich with amusement. "No. They're performing adequately. Let's not make it too easy, where's the entertainment in that?"
He looked directly at Sera and Mira.
"They're remarkably persistent. I'll give them that much credit."
Evelyne tilted her head curiously. "You admire them?"
"Not admire," Dorian corrected with a widening grin. "I enjoy watching them struggle against inevitability."
Back in the clearing's center, Mira helped Sera fully to her feet.
"We need to regroup with the royals," Mira said urgently. "Get them farther away while we still can."
Sera shook her head firmly. "No. We lead the attackers away instead."
Mira's eyes widened. "What? You're bleeding, Sera. You can't—"
"We can't bring this fight to them," Sera interrupted, wrapping another strip of cloth tighter around her thigh. "We split up, draw the enemies away in different directions. Buy the royals time to escape completely."
Before Mira could argue further, the ground shook violently.
A massive wall of packed earth rose behind them with a thunderous 'crack', completely cutting off the trail they'd used earlier.
Another wall erupted to the right. Then the left.
Every escape route sealed off in seconds.
"Damn it," Sera muttered, the tactical situation collapsing around them.
Mira turned slowly. The remaining four enemies stood in a loose but deliberate formation, spreading out to completely flank them and eliminate any blind spots.
The Illusion Mage, young, androgynous features twisted with concentration. The Frost Mancer, a woman whose breath fogged the air around her. The Voidfire Mage, eyes like empty black pits. And the Earth Mage who'd just trapped them.
The Blood Mancer was still extricating himself from the destroyed tree, but his recovery was accelerating. He'd rejoin the fight within moments.
Mira's fingers curled, sparks crackling dangerously between them. "We have a serious problem."
Sera nocked another arrow despite her injury. "Understatement of the year."
A bone-chilling breeze rolled across the clearing as the Frost Mancer stepped forward with menace. Her breath fogged visibly, and a layer of frost formed beneath her boots with each measured step, leaving a trail of ice.
She raised one pale hand, and ice bloomed like deadly flowers.
Jagged spikes of frozen water exploded from the ground in rapid succession, racing toward them in a line of crystalline death.
Sera rolled sideways with a grunt of pain, drawing and firing in one fluid motion. Her arrow shattered one approaching spike. Another caught her already injured arm, the ice cutting deeper than steel with cold that burned.
Mira shot a concentrated bolt of lightning to intercept the remaining spikes, crackling energy shattering the ice path.
But that distraction was exactly what the Illusion Mage needed.
The clearing shimmered like heat waves over summer pavement.
Sera blinked, and suddenly Mira vanished completely.
"Mira?!" she called out, panic flaring in her chest.
No answer. Just oppressive silence.
Instead, a copy of the Frost Mancer materialized from the distorted air. Then another. Then three more. All moving in perfect unison, making it impossible to track.
Sera gritted her teeth. She spun and fired, striking one directly through the chest...
It vanished like morning mist.
Illusion.
Are all of them false?
But which one was real?
A disembodied whisper echoed from everywhere at once. "Can you find me before I bury you in frost, little archer?"
Sera pivoted sharply, slashing behind her with a blade, but it cut only grass and empty air.
Meanwhile, Mira stood frozen, not physically, but mentally trapped within the Illusion Mage's constructed domain.
The battlefield had completely disappeared.
She now stood in a desolate field of ash and skeletal trees. And there, lying motionless in a spreading pool of blood, was Kael's body.
"No..." she whispered, stumbling forward despite herself. "No, he can't be..."
A figure emerged from the swirling ash, Sera. Her face was burned beyond recognition, eyes hollow and accusing.
"You couldn't protect any of us," the illusion said with crushing disappointment. "You were too weak when it mattered."
Lightning flared involuntarily in Mira's trembling fists. She knew logically it wasn't real, but the emotional impact felt devastatingly authentic.
"I'm not weak," she whispered to herself, trying to anchor her mind. "I'm still fighting."
She clenched her teeth hard enough to hurt and slammed both palms together with desperate force.
CRACK!
A massive surge of lightning burst outward in all directions, raw power obliterating the false reality.
The field of ash and death blinked away like a shattered mirror.
She was back in the real clearing, breathing hard.
The Illusion Mage stood across the space, genuine surprise flickering across his features.
"Nice trick," Mira growled, raising both hands with renewed determination. "Now let me show you mine."
She thrust her arms forward, unleashing a concentrated beam of lightning that cut across the field like a sword of light.
The Illusion Mage's scream was cut short as the bolt punched straight through his chest, burning through flesh and bone like paper. He collapsed in a smoking, twitching heap.
But there was no time for relief or rest.
The Voidfire Mage stepped forward deliberately.
His eyes were empty black voids, veins around them glowing with sickly purple light. In his cupped hands burned violet flames that looked evil, hungry, unstable, eager to consume.
He whispered something in a language that hurt to hear and hurled the corrupted fireball.
Mira darted aside, but the attack wasn't aimed at her.
It landed directly between her and Sera's positions...
The explosion erupted into a wave of shrieking heat and absolute darkness that swallowed everything.