"Come on," she said, voice still carefree. "Do you really think those weak spells can harm me?"
As the words left her mouth, the sky crackled and a beam of light crashed down at her. I did not stop with the Lightning Strike, immediately following up with a Burst Cyclone; the air exploded into dozens of blades of wind shooting out in all directions
Bahr did not sit idly either; he followed up alongside me, determining that this woman was as much of a threat to him as she was to him. A large green magical glyph formed where Lilith had been standing, glowing brilliantly for a moment before a jungle of thorns shot out, engulfing the entire area.
I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I turned around and started running back towards the beach. I saw Braz disposing of the last of Bahr’s bodyguards, looking like he was about to come back me up. I waved my hands wildly in the air and shouted.
"Get out of—"
His eyes widened, and I did not think. I just jumped out of the way, following Braz as he dived into the water. A streak of flames ran down the pier where I had been standing, blazing with such intense heat I could even feel it in the water.
I took a deep breath as my head bobbed out amongst the rough waves, trying to pull me away into the sea. I clung onto one of the wooden pillars holding up the pier, turning around once again to Braz and Kai who had paused in shock just before the half-destroyed wooden platform I had been on. I shouted one word.
"Run!"
It took an instant for Kai to process this information and act; he began shouting orders back at the remaining pirates still on land as they scattered away from the docks. Braz took a moment longer to react, but eventually conceded and swam back towards land.
Truth be told, I could have had them help me. I could have asked them to attack her, distracting her as I escaped into the shadows unnoticed. But this did not involve them. This had entirely to do with me and whatever carelessness allowed me to get caught. Did Lisa betray me?
I shook my head as I climbed back up onto one of the intact piers. Think later, I thought, deciding that that did not matter at the moment. Just survive.
I glanced back at Lilith, and saw her engaged in combat with Bahr. He charged at her, his body being wrapped by an armor of vines and brambles— his entire being engulfed by nature. He clobbered Lilith, wisps of green energy around his wooden arm. She was actually knocked back, but not before stabbing at him from a distance.
The Half Elf howled as the tip of the spear nicked his shoulder. It sliced cleanly through whatever protection the magical protection he wore offered him, dealing more damage than any regular spear should have done with such a wound.
She was about to follow up with a lethal strike, but was knocked off balance as two Stone Spears crashed into her back. I was running away as well— trying to escape rather than stay and fight. But she was about to kill him. If he died, she would have easily caught up to me and captured me.
I followed up with a Frost Javelin. She easily smashed it into pieces and was about to leap for me, but Bahr grabbed her by her legs, and with a swing, threw her into The Lightbringer’s Vessel. It was then, suddenly, I felt an intense feeling of unease overwhelm me for just a moment— it was familiar. Like I had felt it before. Similar to how I felt at the beach over a month ago.
It screamed… danger?
I continued down the pier, my foot stomping loudly on the hard wooden surface as I was about to reach the end of the pier back to land when there was a massive explosion. The Lightbringer’s Vessel split into two and began to sink as Saintess Lilith landed right in front of the Half Elf who was also about to flee.
She stood there in front of him, covered in glowing red lines, inside the storm of ice and fire. A brilliant crimson aura exuded around her, protecting her from her own miracles than wildly destroyed everything in the pier. It ebbed away at Bahr’s armor, tearing it apart slowly as he tried to back up.
Then I realized what the feeling was; it was that of mana being pulled— a spell being cast. But this was different in many ways. Firstly, it was a lot of mana. I could practically feel it screaming at me, blaring loudly into my ears— completely taking over my mana sense. That was the danger I felt.
And instead of mana being forced from the surroundings into a magic circle, it was a concentration of mana within her body. Only the mana inside of the Saintess moved, nothing else.
Rushing forward at him, she parried a strike and slashed him across his chest. He fell onto one knee, grasping at both the wound on his arms and his upper body as Lilith brought her spear down at him. I tried sending a Fireball back, but I was too slow. She lowered her weapon—
And it stopped right at the darkened wood surrounding Bahr. The Elysian Shell had stopped the killing blow, with only a small mark where Lilith had struck. She frowned, before getting engulfed by the blast of flames I had sent at her.
She simply backed up as the aura around her protected her from the attack, although the lines streaking throughout her body shone more brightly for just a moment. The Saintess shot me an annoyed look,
