The Saintess stumbled back, and in that brief moment where she was immobile, I sent the spells I had pre-cast flying at her. Three Frost Javelins arced through the air, looping around each other before they crashed into her.
It was not enough to discombobulate her, but it was clear it damaged her aura. Lilith steadied herself before thrusting her spear at Braz. He was fast— I had known he was fast. But I didn’t expect him to keep up with Lilith. And he did, just for a moment.
Braz sidestepped the attack, bringing his cutlass down at her knees. It bounced off her aura harmlessly as she took a step forward and jerked her knee forward at him. Braz dodged it, but couldn’t react to the follow up attack as Lilith swung her spear at him.
Luckily for him, a glowing whip of energy intercepted the attack, wrapping around Lilith’s spear. Ginah yanked her whip back, trying to pull her weapon away from her. Lilith tsked and pulled back harder, causing the pirate Captain to stumble. But before she could do anything else, Kai shot her once again before she was swarmed by Jack and a dozen other pirates.
But even outnumbered, the Saintess cut through the pirates with ease. They were supposedly the best fighters in Luke, and yet they were being cut down like flies. Jack staggered back away from the fighting, a bloodied wound on his chest as Ginah’s whip grabbed hold of Lilith’s legs. She nearly tripped, but caught herself before my Frost Javelins smashed into her back forcing her to fall face first onto the ground.
The problem with having negated Lilith’s miracles meant that I was also severely impeded. My array of spells to cast was severely reduced, but with all the water vapor in the air, it also meant I could cast Frost Javelins much easier than on land. And considering that was one of the stronger spells I knew, it actually proved to be a boon to me. Still, we were losing. So I turned to my Dwarven companion and spoke hurriedly to him.
"What’s taking so long? Why isn’t your Annihilator cannon working?!"
That was supposed to be our secret weapon in this battle; the moment Lilith tried to attack us instead of cooperating, he was supposed to blast her off the ship. But evidently, it did not happen.
Instead, Gennady was looking over the weapon confused. He took out the Greater mana crystal and placed it back inside, before smacking it a few times. However, when he pointed it at the downed Saintess, nothing came out of it.
"I… don’t know!"
"You said it would work now that you’ve got a Greater mana crystal!" I shouted, exasperated.
"It’s supposed to work! I don’t know why it’s—"
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. While we were arguing, Lilith had gotten up and was knocked back down by Kai— and some of the mana crystals adorned on her clothes cracked. The aura around her fizzled for a moment, its radiant glow suddenly becoming less vibrant and more transparent.
She must have noticed this, because when she got back up, she was livid. I felt a strong build up of mana inside of her, and my eyes widened.
"Look out—"
My body moved by instinct; the dangerous feeling forcing me to act before I could think. I brought my hand forward as Ginah and the other pirates heard my warning and backed away from Lilith. Perhaps if I didn’t act, they’d have been killed in an instant. But what I did was not enough.
Dispel Magic. Somehow, the spell worked on her. For just a moment, I felt a band of resistance coming from her as I held the miracle back from being unleashed onto the ship. But Lilith was strong. She broke through my spell, releasing a burst of flames all around her.
It was like when she sunk The Lightbringers Vessel, but weaker. She must have held back knowing she’d sink the ship. She wanted to simply repulse the pirates from swarming her— and it worked.
Ginah managed to get away from the blast just in time, but Kai wasn’t so lucky. Half of his body suffered severe burns from the attack, forcing him to drop his gun as he writhed in pain. Other pirates were hit by the attack, and many of them were dead or dying on the ground between me and Lilith.
The Saintess looked at me with eyes full of anger and fury. More glowing lines spread throughout her body, but this time they didn’t concentrate into a single attack. She took a step forward, and I blinked.
She had been fast before. Quick on her feet— able to cover distances very quickly. But I could at least see some movement. Now, I didn’t even notice when she reached me. It was instantaneous.
Lilith swung the butt of her spear at me and Gennady. The Dwarf managed to brace for it and was knocked to the ground. I wasn’t prepared for it and all and went flying a dozen feet through the air, before landing on the bulwark of the ship with a thud.
I picked myself up in a daze, trying to regain my bearings. But Saintess Lilith was once again above me in an instant. She stared down at me with a tiny red glow in her malachite green eyes. Her entire body pulsed with energy, radiating so much excess mana off it. She didn’t seem to notice as she brought a foot down on my hand, stopping me from reaching for my staff. I grimaced in pain.
"I didn’t want to hurt you, but you leave me no choice. Now, all your friends will die. Now you have no choice but to suffer as I kill them all—"
Dispel Magic.
