Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2), D'Artagnan Rey [essential reading .txt] 📗

worn down by their time in the abyss. While he was certain she could outlast it, he wasn’t sure how long it would take before she could eliminate it. Either way, neither of his friends could take one of his two adversaries. He needed to take care of these grunts and get to Salvo. His instincts didn’t like that he merely stood there and made no effort to attack them as well given how much he seemed to want to hurt them.

The young swordsman looked at Achroma. It was a fine long blade but he would probably be better off at the moment with two shorter ones. The ghouls lunged at him, one on either side. He moved to defend against the one with daggers and would try to dodge the other, but he might have to take the blow. Seconds before they stuck, Achroma’s light flashed. He held firm against the attacker’s blades and anticipated the blow from the other one, but it never came. When he glanced back, he gaped in astonishment. The second being was held back by another sword shaped exactly like Achroma but made purely of the white light that ran through his blade.

Devol kicked the ghoul off him and the floating sword swiped at the other to force it back. He spun his sword and the duplicate copied his movement before it turned to face the other assassin. This was something new and very welcome at the moment. With more assuredness granted to him thanks to the magically appearing weapon, he lunged at the creature in front of him and the light sword attacked the other.

His adversary held its daggers up to block him but was no match against the heft and strength of his sword. He almost shattered the daggers with a strike and knocked the ghoul's hands away before he spun and used the momentum to carve through the creature’s waist and slice it in two.

He turned to see the other trying to reach him, but the light sword no longer mirrored his actions and instead, tried to either attack it or simply held it at bay by deflecting it. Devol leapt forward and tried to run his blade through the creature’s head but it caught his blade as he landed. He struggled against it for a moment, looked at the light blade, and smiled as he snatched it by the hilt and drove it into his adversary’s stomach.

The ghoul’s grasp weakened and he yanked his majestic out of its hands before he raised it high and arced it down through the creature’s skull. As its body collapsed, black liquid seeped from its skin. The light sword vanished from his hands and he was baffled for a moment. He didn’t want that to happen, he thought wildly. Then again, he did not know how it had appeared in the first place.

Devol looked at Jazai, who had finally trapped his opponent and weakened it with a shock cantrip before he used a mana blade to behead it. Asla was already finished. She tossed the head of her opponent to the side and he grinned. It appeared he was the only one to show any ingenuity in his finishing blows. He and the wildkin moved forward to confront Salvo, who had turned to look at them. The young swordsman felt a nervous chill despite the heat when he realized that the mask seemed to smile at him.

“Oh, no!” Jazai shouted and pointed frantically into the sky above the pit. “He’s going to roast them!”

Asla and Devol whirled and both scowled at a large orb of flame far above, close to the top of the dome. The boy lunged at the fire magi before he could register what he was doing. He swung his blade over his head in preparation to strike Salvo down. Before he could complete the motion, the fire magi whipped a hand out and struck him across the face to hurl him several yards and close to the fire-wall. Asla managed to bound closer and stopped him.

Devol stared at the large man while he tried to regain his footing from the impact. Had he been that strong before? He did not remember fighting him physically but someone who used fire magic like that usually preferred to fight from a distance. They didn’t train that much in physical combat. He and Asla glanced at one another while Salvo stared at his hand with his head tilted to one side. It appeared even he was rather impressed by how much power he had unleashed in one blow.

“Incredible isn’t it?” the fire mage asked and returned his focus to the group. “I had heard about the malefics, even when I was your age, but never paid them much attention. They were powerful, sure, but the tradeoffs… Well, I was fine with Kapre when I eventually got my hands on her.” He pointed the wand at the large fire orb and lowered it. The three friends watched in horror as the orb plummeted past the fire-wall and into the pit, which erupted in a pillar of flame.

“No! Wulfsun, Farah!” Devol shouted before the explosion knocked both him and Asla back. He turned to the fire magi with fury in his eyes. “Salvo!”

“So you are finally showing a little spirit!” The man laughed, waved his wand in front of him, and sent a whip of fire at the swordsman.

Jazai moved quickly in front of him and held a hand out. “Frost!” A wall of frost formed in front of the group which Salvo’s flames made impact with and caused steam. “It’s burning too fast,” the diviner warned and he grasped his two teammates and blinked out of the way before the fire bored a hole in the ice.

Salvo winced and balled his hand so tightly that he realized he could potentially snap Kapre. Under normal circumstances, that wasn’t a concern but given his new accessory and the unnatural strength it gave him, it was a