Jack felt the pressure even when he was quite far from where the newcomer stood. He gritted his teeth hard to keep his calm against her aura.
Lady Kaelan looked at the ash piles that used to be her men. Then she looked at Aella. Her face contorted into a mask of pure, demonic hatred.
"You!" The illuminated-level woman spat. Her voice sounded like grinding stones. "You killed my son. You little gutter-rat. I was going to sell you to the highest bidder. But now... I think I'll just watch you melt."
Lady Kaelan screamed. A high-pitched, predatory sound. Her body began to warp. Her arms elongated into powerful wings of living flame. And her legs became hooked talons.
She transformed into a Fire Harpy. A mystical creature of destruction. The heat in the clearing soared to a thousand degrees. The trees at the edge of the bowl began to spontaneously combust.
"We have to move." Reina said. Her illusion was flickering. "I can't hold the illusion for long against that kind of heat."
"Wait!" Jack said. His eyes were fixed on Aella. "Something is wrong."
The girl was facing the Fire Harpy. She wasn't running. Her purplish void flames were turning a deep, abyssal black. She looked painfully small against the towering inferno of the fire harpy. But she didn't show any fear.
Lady Kaelan raised her wings and floated upward. Gathering a great flaming ball of orange and red above her.
Aella didn't look up. She looked down instead. Then, she fell to her knees and slammed both her hands into the mountain soil.
"Give... back..." The girl whispered. It was the first time they had heard her voice. It was cracked and hollow. "GIVE HER BACK!"
The blackened void flames that were around her didn't shoot at Kaelan. They flowed downward. Like liquid ink. Sinking deep into the bedrock of Mt. Shipmount.
For a second, there was total silence. Even Kaelan paused mid-air. A look of confusion was crossing her currently avian face.
Then, the mountain replied. It was a rhythmic, tectonic thud. THUMP! THUMP!
The ground beneath the clearing erupted. An ancient, fossilized stones and roots that looked like petrified veins exploded upward. The black void flames had acted as a catalyst. Awakening a dormant consciousness within the island itself.
The bowl-like terrain shifted. A massive, rocky hand burst from the earth directly beneath the Syndicate members. It was huge. Equal to the size of a mansion. It crushed the survivors instantly. Grinding them into the dirt.
Kaelan shrieked. Flapping her wings to gain altitude. But the air itself seemed to thicken. Turning into a vacuum that pulled at her flames.
"The Mysterious Faewitch..." Chloe gasped behind Reina on the hoverbike. Her eyes went wide with a shock. "Her nature affinity is definitely not just equal to the Sacred Druid! It's off the charts."
The entire place began to reshape itself. The trees where they were hiding started to crumble. Jack swerved his [Steamrune Hoverboard]. Moving away from the source of disaster.
"Leon! Reina! Get away from here!" Jack yelled.
Leon immediately flapped his draconic wings and Reina made a drastic turn on the [Lightning Hoverbike] she was riding. Both followed Jack. Moving away from the danger zone.
Behind them, Aella stood in the palm of the rising stone giant. She was the heart of the storm. Her black flames weaving into the very fabric of the mountain.
The Fire Harpy, Lady Kaelan, was no longer the apex predator. She was now facing the Mountain Manifestation. An opponent as strong, or even stronger than her.
"This..." Jack muttered as he looked back. Watching the illuminated level being ready to battle against the literal wrath of the earth. "...just got a lot more complicated."
The Mountain roared. A sound that echoed across the entire Shipmount Island.
Jack's team had positioned themselves at a safer distance. However, even then, they could still feel the violent vibration through the ground and the air.
Another massive stone hand, different from the one holding the void-flame-wreathed Aella, appeared. It lifted itself high, and slammed down on Lady Kaelan.
The fiery harpy shrieked in fury. Emitting a sound like grinding metal. She soared higher. Avoiding the attack.
The stone hand struck the ground below where she had just been. A geyser of rock and pulverized earth erupted. Showering the area.
"This is not good. Definitely not good." Chloe stated. She sat behind Reina, clutching the edge of the hoverbike's seat. The small lightning kirin she carried was bristling. Crackling with blue sparks of electricity.
"That's... understatement of the year, Girl!" Leon grunted. Hovering beside them with his draconic wings.
Reina remained silent and observant. Her dark eyes were fixed on the battle. Her grip on the hoverbike's controls was firm.
Jack watched the clash from his hoverboard, not far from them. His expression was grim. The situation was getting more and more complicated now.
Rune flickered with an intense red glow. Indicating the sheer power and danger being unleashed in the combat zone.
The battle raged. Lady Kaelan was an illuminated-level being of pure fire. She was a force of devastating destruction. She moved like a scorching comet. Leaving trails of superheated air in her wake.
She summoned fireballs at the size of huge boulders. And they rained down toward the opponents. Each one struck with the force of an artillery shell.
Flame nova after flame nova exploded from her. Engulfing vast swathes of the mountain. Trees instantly incinerated. Rocks turned to molten slag.
The very air around her shimmered with heat. Causing distortions in Jack's vision even from their considerable distance.
Yet, Aella remained unharmed. She stood unmoving on the Mountain Manifestation's palm. Her own void flames acted as an impenetrable shield.
Lady Kaelan's fire was powerful. Yet it simply washed over the black embers. Unable to penetrate. It was like a sun trying to burn a black hole. The void flames absorbed the heat and the destructive energy. Rendering it ineffective against the girl.
In addition, the Mountain Manifestation was a creature born through the primeval will of the raw earth. It was like an immortal, regenerating titan.
Lady Kaelan's fire blasts carved out canyons in its stone body. It tore off limbs and vaporized sections of its torso. But with every blow, fresh rock surged forth. Restoring its form back together.
Cracks in its stony skin glowed with molten lava for a moment. Then it solidified. Its entire arms could be severed by a particularly strong flame attack. But they would re-emerge from the mountainside. Growing back within seconds. It was relentless. An unstoppable wave of earth's vitality.
The Mountain Manifestation's attacks were slower. More deliberate. But they possessed immense kinetic force. It swung its colossal arms again and again. Each blow was capable of flattening a sturdy house.
Its fists pulverized the ground. Sending shockwaves that fractured the bedrock. It stomped. Causing mini-earthquakes that could be felt from far away.
Occasionally, it would rip massive chunks of rock from its own body. And, imbued with Aella's void flame, it would hurl them like meteors.
These void-wreathed boulders would target the opponent's fiery form. Momentarily disrupting her cohesion. Forcing her to expend energy to block, deflect, or evade them.
But even these couldn't deliver a decisive blow. Lady Kaelan was too agile, too elusive, too powerful in her own right.
The extended battle transformed the landscape. What was once a lush, rocky mountainside became a scarred, blasted wasteland.
Basalt columns jutted from the earth like jagged teeth. Superheated by magical flames and then cooled by themselves. Rivers of lava flowed where tiny streams once ran. Ash and steam plumed into the sky. Obscuring the moons and the stars.
The air crackled with residual energy. A taste of devastation. The roar of the mountain and the shriek of the harpy were the main noises that could be heard there.
Hours crawled by...
The sheer endurance of both combatants was staggering.
Lady Kaelan was fueled by rage, desire for vengeance, and her illuminated level power. She seemed to draw endless fire from her essence.
The Mountain Manifestation was not only tied to Aella's burgeoning faewitch power. It seemed that it was also linked to the mystical geology of Mt. Shipmount. Thus, it gained its endless regeneration.
Jack recognized the stalemate. Neither could truly overcome the other in this direct confrontation.
...
But then, a new element entered the fray. Lady Kaelan, after a particularly wide sweep of the Mountain's arm, was sent careening backward. She was momentarily disoriented.
As she tried to recover, a figure burst from a hidden crevice in the scorched earth below. It was a man, wearing standard mercenary's leather set. But he was definitely not a mercenary. The fanatical eyes and the thick corrupted faith emanating from his body made it clear. He was a cultist.
He was clearly not an illuminated-level being. He was not even particularly strong by transcendent standards. Even Chloe should be stronger than him. But in his hands, he held an incredible artifact. A long, slender blade that hummed with a sickly pale light. The Sword of Purity.
"In the name of PURITY!" The cultist screamed and moved with a desperate, fanatic energy.
He lunged. A desperate, almost suicidal attack.
As Lady Kaelan struggled to regain her bearings, the cultist plunged the Sword of Purity deep into her back. The pale, unholy light flared. Temporarily overwhelming Lady Kaelan's inferno. It was a cheap shot. A cowardly strike with dubious intention but it was effective.
Lady Kaelan shrieked. Emitting a sound of agony and pure, unstoppable fury. One that cut through the chaotic noise of the battle. The pale light of the sword caused her form to flicker violently. For the first time, her flames wavered.
Before the cultist could even register his success, she turned. A whirlwind of white-hot vengeance. Lady Kaelan unleashed a focused burst of fire.
A jet of pure plasma aimed directly at the cultist. He didn't even have time to scream. He was vaporized instantly. Reduced to a puff of ash that dissipated in the wind. The Sword of Purity, however, remained impaled in Lady Kaelan's back.
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