Every single ti the group fought tooth and nail to get an inch closer to Idore, it felt like there was another insurmountable hurdle to overco. Even though they had finally managed to close the physical distance using B's platforms, those who could deal large amounts of damage or unleash large-scale martial attacks were completely unable to actually touch him. Their weapons simply phased through his form.
It was a complete waste of resources if Alba tried to use her specialized weapons again. If she threw them, she risked losing sothing incredibly valuable that belonged to her, because she couldn't even hurt him in the first place. anwhile, as the Pagna warriors briefly stood there paralyzed by the sheer impossibility of the situation, a localized rampage was still happening around them as Idore ruthlessly swung his fire whips.
Two of the blazing tendrils arced down from the sky and slamd with teor-like force right on top of Tilion's heavy shield.
BOOM!
Flas exploded outward in all directions upon impact, the sheer kinetic force cracking the stone floor and instantly destroying several of the rising structures that were near them. Tilion grunted, his boots sliding backward against the scorched earth, but the shield held firm against the onslaught.
"What an incredibly interesting shield," Idore claid, his voice echoing from above with morbid curiosity. "I guess we are going to need sothing a bit larger to break it!"
Idore stretched out his hands, and the two fla whips instantly dissipated into thin air.
Now, instead of whips, sothing far more terrifying was actively condensing between Idore's outstretched palms. It was flas again, but the raw fire was big, swirling violently before being forcefully compacted down into a single, dense ball. Each ti the Grand Magus forced the magic to condense down, a suffocating wave of pure mana and blistering heat would pulse outward in all directions, warping the very air around them.
Then, the flas would aggressively expand again, creating a giant ball of fire almost swallowing the smaller, condensed core, as even more raw mana was pumped into the spell. And then, with a sickening hum of power, he would forcefully condense it down once more.
"We have to stop that. We have to stop that right now. If that hits anyone, I don't think they'll be able to block it!" Rayna mumbled to herself, her eyes wide with terror as she felt the ambient temperature skyrocket.
Her mind raced through her options. She thought that maybe her special items—the enchanted boots—would allow her to rapidly traverse the battlefield and phase through whatever area-of-effect or item Idore was using. But she quickly realized it would be completely useless. There was only one person currently on the field whose item might just work against this level of magic.
And that was B.
B was in possession of the unique sword that Raze had originally crafted for Beatrix—an incredibly powerful cursed item that allowed the user's body to physically phase through anything. If B perfectly calculated the exact point where an attack would be redirected, she could probably use her powers to go straight through the blast wave unhard.
However, B didn't do this. She realized sothing critical: simply blocking or phasing through a few of his overwhelming attacks wouldn't change the tide of the war. Even if she could perfectly phase through the flas and get right next to him, she wouldn't be able to defeat the Grand Magus on her own.
He was fundantally different from the other elite mages they had faced. His high-tier spells were instantly cast without a single incantation. He was able to react and move faster than that of a seasoned Pagna warrior, even at close range, and the raw strength of his magic was simply devastating.
Besides all of those terrifying combat factors, B couldn't afford to play the hero right now. She desperately needed to focus entirely on maintaining and raising these earth platforms to allow the rest of the group to stay in the fight. If her concentration broke, they would all fall.
As the group tried frantically to break through Idore's defenses with their attacks, nothing was working. Their Qi strikes continuously moved harmlessly right through his phantom body.
And high above them, it looked like Idore was finally ready with his fully condensed, pulsating fireball.
"Now, I'll just give this a little spark to fire it out," Idore said to himself, a cruel smile stretching across his face. "But who should I go for first?"
He looked down at the battlefield like a god surveying insects. He looked at Tilion, who was stubbornly gripping the large shield that had successfully blocked a number of his lethal attacks already. He looked at Alba and Lince; the two of them seed to be producing the largest, most disruptive Qi attacks so far.
There was the strange Hybrid, Amir, who had done next to nothing in the fight so far, but Idore cautiously thought maybe he would bring trouble in other unpredictable ways. And finally, there was B, who had made those incredibly annoying floating platforms.
"I'll get rid of you!" Idore declared, his eyes locking onto his chosen target.
He winded his arm back, crackling with blue energy, and with a vicious thrust of his Lightning magic, he struck the back of the condensed fla ball.
The fusion of elents exploded its sheer strength, making the ultra-dense fireball shoot forward as fast as a literal lightning strike. And as the blinding projectile tore through the air, it was heading straight for Tilion, who was bracing himself behind his shield.
"DON'T BLOCK THAT ATTACK!" Kizer shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice tearing with panic.
Seeing sothing that devastating flying right towards you, it was only natural human instinct to want to raise your shield to take away so of the lethal strike. Even if Tilion didn't believe his shield would be able to fully withstand the attack, his muscle mory was screaming at him to brace for impact.
But, against every survival instinct in his body, he listened to his fellow ally.
He forcefully jerked his arms, moving the shield out of the way. But because he was understandably hesitant in his split-second movent, he couldn't dodge the projectile completely. The blistering fireball hit him directly, tearing right through his physical body. It instantly burned a horrific, gaping hole directly right under his chest and straight through the upper bit of his stomach.
Then, when the projectile finally crashed into the ground directly behind him, a explosion of flas went off. The concussive shockwave caught Tilion's ruined body, violently flinging him through the air and sending him crashing into the debris far away.
The other Crimson Crane mbers watched in absolute horror. They didn't know if Tilion was still alive after taking a direct, bodily hit from an attack like that, but they could only pray.
There was a grim reason for his sacrifice. Tilion possessed a special cursed shield that had been ticulously crafted by Raze. One of the terrifying, absolute curses bound to the item was this: if the shield itself was ever fully destroyed in combat, then Tilion would instantly lose his life.
Which was exactly why it was vitally important for him to drop his guard and allow the lethal attack to hit his own flesh. Because, without a shadow of a doubt, Idore's condensed lightning-fire attack would have utterly shattered the shield to pieces.
Regardless of whether he was currently dead or barely clinging to life in the rubble, one thing was absolutely certain: Tilion was permanently out of the fight.
"Now," Idore claid, his hands glowing as he prepared to cast again. "Let's get rid of a few more."
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