Lyall came back down and immediately shifted into a Reinothar again, like he had done in the Sanctuary. Without the cultist mages interfering with him, he mowed through the throngs in a spectacular fashion. His speared limbs stabbed and sliced through the creatures like a hot knife through butter. The ones foolish enough to attempt to leap onto his back would get harpooned by his extensible tongue, which injected them with acid before tossing them onto the other Gerus.
To my shock, even in that form, Lyall was able to use his lightning, which I didn’t think possible. I always assumed that while transformed, a doppelganger only had access to the abilities of the creature whose form he had currently taken.
We quickly settled into a very comfortable and effective system. Between them, Conrad, Martha, and Paulus perfectly controlled the swarm, knocking them back with their kinetic blasts and keeping us from becoming overwhelmed. My fire and incineration aura further slowed and weakened them, allowing Lyall to zap and eviscerate the creatures in front of the pack without them being able to do much about it.
We were steadily pushing back the threat when things suddenly turned sour. Too busy fighting, it took me a moment to realize why the kinetic blasts weren’t as effective. A glimpse at the ledges revealed that Conrad had collapsed. He lay down unconscious, with no visible sign of injury, other than the first stabbing wounds he sustained from the Geru jumping onto his back. At least, he appeared to still be breathing.
“MARTHA!” Paulus shouted over the ruckus of the swarm screeching in anger, hunger, or agony.
I jerked my head in her direction only to see a silhouette vanish behind her even as she also collapsed. My blood turned to ice when I realized what was happening. Paulus immediatelyerected the Shield of Azriel around him. It was extremely effective against physical and magical damage. However, it required the user to stay at a specific location as moving around weakened its integrity.
The shield no sooner went up than Elliot appeared behind Paulus. The wretch reached a hand towards him only to be thwarted by the magic protection. The shield shimmered in response to the attack against it. Without hesitation, Paulus whipped out his sword and spun around, swiping viciously at his attacker. Elliot teleported a couple of meters away before throwing something at the shield. I had no idea what it was, but it acted almost like magical acid, quickly destroying it.
A brutal impact set me flying backward, and I landed hard on my behind. I barely had time to jump back to my feet and cast a kinetic pulse to knock back the massive Geru that was attempting to leap on top of me. Without the Templars’ kinetic powers, we were fucked. I couldn’t tell whether Elliot had gotten to Paulus, but with his teleporting all over the place while the Shield of Azriel was slowly collapsing, it was only a matter of time before he got him, unless Paulus managed to get a lucky shot in first.
The abominations were climbing over each other to get to us. Even my fire and intense heat aura no longer sufficed. In their eagerness, the creatures in the back were pushing the ones in front directly into us. Although they quickly died, burnt to a crisp by their direct contact with my fire and my magic blast, their corpses soon became a trap of our own making, crushing us.
I fell again, but this time too many climbed all over me. I increased the heat of my fire to its maximum intensity while I stabbed, kicked, and clawed at the beasts. Although I managed to burn them all, the time it took sufficed for me to suffer manycuts and wounds. However, I would soon be smothered by the accumulated weight of the corpses piling up on top of me.
Panic was beginning to set in as my lungs burned from lack of oxygen. And then a blast of white light pierced through the darkness created by the carcasses crushing me. Half of them got swiped right off me. With the weight now more manageable, I kicked off the other ones pinning me down with surprising strength likely fueled by the energy of despair.
And then there was Lyall, hovering over me in all his majesty, looking like an angel of light. He grabbed my wrist and yanked me up, drawing me into his embrace as he flew away from the horde trying to catch us. I hissed as the tip of one of their spiky limbs scratched the side of my left calf.
I clung to Lyall, and a potent wave of magic swept through me. My head spun, and my skin tingled. For a split second, I feared I was about to lose consciousness. But then I realized that a powerful connection establishing itself with Lyall had prompted that reaction. It was like a vortex of energy traveling back and forth between us, building in strength and intensity with each exchange, until it felt too great to contain.
Our eyes connected, and a silent communication passed between us. As one, we turned towards the swarm below us. In their mindless need to capture their prey, the Gerus were climbing on top of each other, creating a pyramid to try and achieve enough height both to reach us, and the three templars currently unconscious on their respective platforms.
On instinct, I raised my right palm facing the creatures, and Lyall did the same with his left hand, his other arm holding me safely against his body. I didn’t know what I had expected, but not the joint magical tsunami that shot out of our hands. They didn’t rain lightning or an endless stream of fire. The air simply blurred with a whooshing sound. Then as if they were swept bya powerful gust of wind, the Geru flipped onto their backs like dying roaches.
They started bubbling from within, their innards swelling out of their belly mouths, like a pastry puffing in the oven. To my shock, they didn’t burst or explode into a shower of blood and gore. Instead, their skin appeared to crystallize, turning to glass, and then shattering into white dust.
The blast took out nearly half of the swarm. We repeated the attack and almost wiped out the other half. Realizing how the tide had turned, the few still standing wisely opted to crawl right back into the pit. To my relief, too focused on trying to attack us, the Gerus never realized that vulnerable prey lay up the stairs towards the exit. Then again, the protective magic wall erected by the Templars to shield them would have included a camouflage illusion and a scent mask. Unless they cast a reveal spell—which they couldn’t do—or ventured close enough to sense their presence—which they didn’t do—they never would have suspected easy prey was within reach.
Still hovering in the air, Lyall and I stared at each other with wonder. Lord Azrael’s words about us finding our harmony which would make us unstoppable finally took on their full meaning. I couldn’t tell whether it was due to a part of his light seeping into me, the bridge he had created to return my soul which somehow never closed, or simply the love binding us. But there undoubtedly was a bond that made us powerful beyond anything either of us could ever have imagined. In my heart, I believed it was a mix of all of the above.
The foul voice of Elliot reciting an incantation interrupted the moment. He was standing in a magic circle in front of the pit. The glass-like dust left behind by the obliterated Gerus partially hid it, but its glow shone through enough to allow us to make out some of the runes on it. Focused on his spell, Elliot stood facing the three remaining women still hanging over the pit.
Lyall bared his fangs, his eyes turning red again as he raised his left hand undoubtedly to smite him with a lightning blast.
“No!” I whispered with malicious glee as I grabbed his wrist to stop him.
He cast a stunned and baffled look at me.
“Let him. I have a surprise in store for him,” I whispered.
As if in response to that comment, Elliot screamed and fell to his knees as a pale stream of energy flowed towards the women. The Oracle’s eyes snapped open, and she blinked, trying to figure out where she was and what was happening.
“What did you do?” Lyall whispered, his voice filled with awe and excitement.
“Just a wee bit of reverse engineering with a twist,” I replied in the same hushed tone.
The Oracle’s face went from confusion, to shock, to burning anger once she realized his betrayal.
“Traitor!” the Oracle hissed. “I made you, and this is how you repay me!”
“Demetra, stop!” Elliot shouted.
But she ignored him. Thanks to some clever meddling from yours truly, she managed to cast a spell on him in spite of the magic bindings that should have prevented it.
