Crown

Ezīmagon Se Iemny-Into the Womb

Vanaleigh who was waiting out on the ocean, saw enemy ships approaching and set her soldiers into action. She managed to sink quite a few ships before damage to her own fleet caused her to retreat back onto land. Any ships that made it to shore were met with Tekina and Kaito who were stationed at the forest that they first entered Solaria through. Since they had battled there before, they therefore had better knowledge about its layout. At the first sign of movement, they sprung to action. They worked swiftly and quietly, disposing of intruders without so much as an indication of their presence.

Anyone that slipped through was promptly crushed by Dryad Kenta, her flaming arrows blazing trails through forest and her hooves sending tremors throughout the land, instilling terror into the enemy soldiers who began to fear what was inside the forest. Tekina had used her telekinesis to lift many of the fallen trees into the air in order to set traps. As soon as enemy soldiers marched through its path, she'd drop the trees on them. Kaito was elsewhere in the forest, taking enemies out one by one.

Over in the village, Nikiro was with Phoebe and Avarice. Nikiro had long since helped the villagers to evacuate and Avarice sat on his horse equipped with Phoebe's latest gadgets and armor. The intricate patterns on the armor glowed as he moved. As soon as they heard soldiers making their way towards the village, Phoebe unleashed her little creations.

They were hundreds of robotic droids, modeled after the guardians that once aided Illya's mother in Aruma An. Phoebe stood at a pedestal, directing the robots. The robots began firing lasers and ripping into the ground outside of the village, creating tremors that threw the enemies off. The hundreds of robots that began to pour out from the plume of smokey mist that surrounded the village, horrified the Sindarian soldiers but their loyalty to their king urged them to continue.

The others were stationed further up, near the base of the volcanic mountain on which the palace sat. Astrid and Ea were in the phantasmal geysers, Sin and Ri-is were in the Volcanic Blade Canyon. Both locations were the only to paths that lead to the palace, which meant that the Sindarian Soldiers were forced to cross paths with them. Astrid and Ea effectively subdued the enemies that trickled through with their crashing waves and superior command over the water around them. Sin provided aerial attacks with his twin pistols, occasionally sending down a hail of fire when they got too close. Ri-is worked with him, with his master of sorcery to make the soldiers see illusions, effectively disorienting them. Many soldiers fell into the volcanic lake in the surrounding area.

Takeru, Themis, Araht and Illya, stepped through the other side of Takeru's portal. They ended up at the apex of the palace. They could hear the commotion from below them. By this point, Illya's arm and leg had fully healed, though it did take longer than usual because of the extent of the injury. When Illya looked over the summits edge she immediately set her army into motion. From below her, they began to assisted Vanaleigh's troops on the battlefield. For the most part, everyone was able to keep the enemy troops at bay. At least that was until Sana and Li came through a portal as well, ending up right where Illya had come out.

As soon as he stepped through the portal, Sana used one of his contracted spirits to create a bolt of lightning that lit up the sky. Illya watched intently as she once again got into position. She didn't know who or what he was signaling but something about the ominous flash spelt trouble for her and she could feel it. The second that Avarice saw the flash, he ushered his horse forward. Phoebe was too preoccupied to think quick enough to stop him. So when he used his sword to shatter the stone above her pedestal, that was supplying the energy for the robots, she couldn't stop him. When she shattered the stone, he ran his horse a little too close to her, causing her to fall over and hit her head on the pedestal, knocking her out.

By the time Nikiro came to see what was going on, Avarice had already set a trap. Nikiro looked at Avarice, half surprised and half annoyed that he hadn't picked up on this turn of events sooner.

"Avarice! What are you doing?"

"What I have to, to make mother realize how wrong she is about everything."

Avarice didn't bother explaining further, he needed to act fast if he didn't want Nikiro getting in the way of his plans. Avarice waited for Nikiro to draw closer to him, when he did, a portal opened up beneath his feet and from it came a shock that rendered Nikiro temporarily stunned. Nikiro fell to his knees as he felt his body go limp.

"Don't worry. You'll only be like that for a few minutes...but by then it'll be too late."

When Nikiro's power faded, the barrier around the village did as well, allowing enemy soldiers to advance into Solaria and what was worse, Avarice was leading them right to the palace, right to his mother.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Li was the only one strong enough to take on Themis. Themis was trying to serve as some kind of shield for Illya but Li's ferocious attacks forced him to battle her. Takeru sprung to his friend's aid as they both tried to fend of Li's attacks.

Araht had transformed and started to back up in front of Illya animalisticaly. Fox ears protruded from her white hair and nine tails fluttered behind her as she bared her fangs at Sana. She stood defensively in front of her elder sister while Illya summoned her bow. Illya readied an arrow and aimed it at Sana. She needed a solid hit and if there was one thing she knew for certain that would hit, it was her arrow. After all, she had prided herself for never missing a single target for years now.

As she took her aim, Sana decided to call upon the power of another spiritual being from Aruma An that he had a contract with. His body transformed into a visage, similar to Araht, nine tails and Fox eared. Illya immediately recognized it as the being that could use spatial magic. She was able to discern this seeing as she had battled Sana in this form when she was younger. She instinctively looked towards his face to try and read what his next move would be. When she made eye contact, his eyes flashed yellow. She didn't even realize the mistake she had made.

As soon as Sana began to move, Illya fired the arrow. In the blink of an eye, she found herself standing where Sana was. She glanced down in confusion when she felt something warm spread on the lower half of her body. She was absolutely mortified to see that the arrow that was meant for Sana was now rooted in the lower half of her stomach. Blood oozed from the wound and she dropped her bow. The panic and fear that rose from her gut and died in her throat, was so overwhelming that for a moment she didn't feel anything.

"Did you forget? The other ability I have in this form? You must have. When I made eye contact with you earlier, I froze time for you long enough to make us switch places. I feel bad for having to do this but I can give you one more chance, join me and I'll heal you...after all...shouldn't the life of your baby come first?" He sneered.