Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

160 - Healing Flowers on Fatal Venom

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"Mythical Vessel: Scorpius!"

I stopped dead in my tracks as Ignatius's booming voice echoed throughout the Coliseum and jerked my head in the direction of the male. He rose slightly amidst his flames before being completely consumed by them as they shot outwards, extending vast distances in every direction. Slowly but surely, the fires morphed and folded themselves into four pairs of burning legs, a hulking torso, powerful pincers and a jarring, muscular tail, complete with a sharp stinger.

"He's a Mythical Ves-" I gasped but I was cut short as a powerful punch rocketed me into the concrete wall. Zacharias' hand grabbed onto the back of my head and he zoomed around the outer edge of the arena with his wings, dragging my face through the solid architecture as he did. He screeched to an abrupt halt, releasing me temporarily as he did. My momentum caused me to move a bit further ahead of him and, knowing this, he waited until my ankle was within easy reach before latching onto it and proceeding to hurl me over his head and into the ground repeatedly like some mindless beast. Unable to find a moment to recover, I was left to absorb all of his damage as I struggled to collect my senses.

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Evelynn Zephyr - POV;

"Holy! Fucking! Shit!" Sorine blurted out as we put a safe distance between the transforming and exponentially enlargening behemoth that Ignatius continued to become... and grow he did. Before we realised it, we were at the opposite edge of the field to Ignatius whom now easily occupied almost a half of it. His gargantuan arachnid body pressed against the invisible barrier which violently trembled as it resisted his tremendous power. From what I'd heard, after our devastating show at the end of our semifinal clash with Blaze, the officials had doubled down on improving the integrity of the protective barrier around the arena. To ensure that our fight would not bring harm to the audience, the already powerful shield was made some five times more durable than before and was constantly being maintained by a number of skilled, independant magicians. Despite all this, the mere pushing of the Mythical Vessel's body against the defensive layer seemed to be putting significant stress on it.

"Evie!" Satella called out from her seated position as she held tightly to Jacqueline's sleeping body, "Xyder is taking a beating! And what the hell is that creature?!"

I looked in Xyder's direction, anger building in me as I watched him be pummeled by Fenix' heir. The earth-shaking roar belted out by Ignatius swiftly pulled my attention back to him however. Biting my lip, I alternated my glance between the scorpion and my brother repeatedly before finally murmuring, "Xyder can handle himself. I know he can. He's the next Regulus of the undefeated Zephyr Clan and he's my little brother. With him occupied however, someone has to step up to the other threat standing before us."

"You're going to fight that?!" Satella yelped.

"We don't have a choice. It's as Grandfather said. We have to win... but more than that, a warrior of Zephyr never backs down! We fight, even to the bitter end if it means protecting those who depend on us! If we back down here... we'll have failed not only our friends, family and clansmen... but we will have failed the world!" I declared.

"Th-then let me help you!" Satella insisted.

"You're in no shape to fight Ella. On top of that, we need you to keep Jacqy safe. My job for you is to carry her as far away from the clash as you can. Take the three unconscious girls you beat as well. Make sure all of them aren't caught up in the crossfire. Besides, even if I didn't need you to do that, I wouldn't let you go in with me anyway," I remarked.

"Why?! Because I'm weak?" she pressed.

"No. You're strong. I know you are. Sometimes I wish I had a heart as strong as yours. But when we get back home, you're going to have Xyder sweep you off your feet and then you'll finally make me an aunty, isn't that right?" I continued.