The ground by my left foot shifted. Saruqin burst up from it, too close for me to strike him with the trident, a long dagger in his hand. I jerked back and instinctively lashed out with my own techniques. I created a Mud Entrapment beneath both our feet, and his dagger flashed out, its point striking for my exposed throat. I called on Hidden Burrow and started to sink, even as the dagger hit me. There was a searing moment of pain as the blade sliced my cheek, and I vanished into darkness.
The blood was hot and sticky as it ran down my face, but the earth around me was cool and refreshing. I ignored my injury and completed the Hidden Burrow to launch myself back into the room, drawing the Sundered Heart.
I burst from the ground right by Saruqin’s feet, as he had appeared by mine a moment before. I lashed out with my sword and sliced through the backs of his legs, severing the hamstrings before I shot out onto the packed earth.
Blood flowed, and I was sure that Saruqin would fall, but some unholy energy kept him on his feet. Blood streaming through his ragged robes, he wheeled away, snarling in rage, and raised his hands.
I felt the Vigor flowing through the world around me, earth and fire combining to form magma. Just like his ally Horix, Saruqin was the master of more than one element, and he was willing to use whatever it took to win.
Thin streams of magma burst from Saruqin’s skin. They burned through his robes and shot out through the air, spattering the area around him. I darted back as I tried not to be hit. A droplet struck my armor and almost melted straight through the ice.
The elements flowed again, more this time, and I felt the heat blazing from Saruqin. I called upon the power of ash to grant me Fire Immunity but wasn’t sure that would work against mixed elements, so I also drew on water to form more Frozen Armor over it.
Magma streamed from Saruqin. It flew in every direction, an indiscriminate rain of blazing destruction. I jumped back, but it still hit me. Magma melted through my armor, cooling as it went, and water and stone tumbled to the ground. Around me, granite pillars and incense pots melted at the magma’s touch. Wall hangings, ceiling beams, and ornamentation on the altar all burst into flames. I dived back as more magma shot my way, flung myself to the ground to avoid being hit, and rolled to a stop behind the melted stump of what had once been a pillar holding up the ceiling.
There was a creak as the roof, half its supports gone, strained under its own weight. Around us, flames spread across anything that could burn. The earthy scent of incense smoke was lost in the sharper smell of this conflagration.
With painstakingly slow movements, I rolled over and rose to a crouch behind the stump of the pillar. When no attack came my way, I rose to my full height, one hand clutching the Depthless Dream and the other extended, ready to use my own magic to counter Saruqin’s.
Saruqin laughed, the sound emerging hollow and distorted, warped by echoes, from behind his mask. “So, this is the mighty Swordslinger. Battered and broken, hiding from the fire of true power behind the broken remnants of the old order.”
He was right about me being battered. None of the magma had hit me full on, but it had come close enough to leave nasty burns along my back and up one arm. The charred remnants of those parts of my robes smoldered, and the smell of scorched flesh made me gag. But I was alive, and that meant there was still hope.
I considered using Untamed Torch to turn the ground to glass so that he couldn’t use Hidden Burrow, but the space was far too large, and I’d expend too much Vigor. Hidden Burrow was also a technique in my repertoire, and I didn’t want to cut myself off from it.
“You chose the wrong side, Swordslinger,” Saruqin said as he strolled around the hall, admiring the sculptures lining the walls. “With all your power and potential, you could have been part of the winning army. The world was yours to dominate. Instead, you’ve chosen the path of weakness. Maybe once I kill you, we’ll get a Swordslinger with more sense.”
He turned to me, hands raised, and a glowing ball of blazing hot magma appeared between them. I had just enough time to open up a Hidden Burrow and sink into the mud under my feet before the Magma Burst hit the space where my head had been.
The mud I’d summoned made it easier to use the Hidden Burrow. I was starting to get a sense for what was around and above me, to direct my journey to where I wanted to be. But that same sense told me that something was wrong. The mud was heating and hardening, turning from soft ground I could easily tunnel through into solid clay that would make movement impossible.
Saruqin was using his fire powers to bake me into the ground.
I pushed myself through the earth, rushing to get away from the hardening dirt and to somewhere I could emerge without being burned by Saruqin’s powers. But even ahead of me, parts of the ground were heating and hardening. I realized that I was being herded, directed by the power of Augmenting toward the place where Saruqin wanted me. It was a chilling realization, but no use at all. There was nothing I could do but burrow the way I was being sent and hope to get free further from him.
At last, I reached a spot where the mud wasn’t turning solid above my head. I redirected my earth power upward, and the Hidden Burrow shot me into the open.
I emerged behind the altar, beside the
