The process of sneaking around the back of the fight was somehow both easier and harder than Jayler had originally expected, and he had no idea how he was supposed to feel about it.
Zelda was the one handling the barrier that made them invisible to the outside world. She had one hand held up as she focused on walking forward, and the rest of the group was crowded close to her to make sure that no traces of them were shown to the outside world. The monsters of Ice magic didn't have much intelligence to speak of, but Alba most certainly did, and they wouldn't hesitate to send the mindless beasts in the direction of the intruders. If that happened, they would lose the element of surprise, and everything would undoubtedly fall apart from there.
"The battle outside has already begun, and it seems to be in full swing," Tavi remarked with a light frown. He was still holding tightly to the communicator that Liathine had given him. He was taking his job incredibly seriously, even more so than he took most situations and duties of his. It was almost impressive that he had found a way to look even more stern and detached than most other times.
"Good," Zelda replied simply. "What groups have started to fight out there? When we came in here, it was only Tuila's group that had started to engage the monsters." She led the group slightly off to the left and closer to the wall to avoid a small pack of beasts that roamed a bit too close to them.
"It seems that Tuila's party and Valdez's group have both started to engage the beasts of ice," Tavi responded. "The command was just given for the second team to join the fight and help to fight off the offending beasts. In other words, there are going to be more monsters leaving the cave soon enough, and when they do leave, Alba will have even fewer defenses."
"I bet that they're starting to catch onto our strategy now," Lex commented with a frown. "I somehow suspect that there's going to be something that happens within the cave. I mean, if there are all of those fighters out there, then they must know that there's more to it than that... I mean, we know how intelligent Alba is, and they wouldn't just lave such a wide gap in their defenses, right?"
"I don't know if I would go that far," Jay said. "Alba is now likely aware of the fact that there are other groups of ours that are camouflaged somewhere around here, but they don't know how many of them are lying in wait. On top of that, they have no way of saying for sure how much each group is going to have at their disposal. in other words, they only have a vague idea at best of what it is that we're getting up to, so we can't exactly trust them to know everything about our plan."
"We don't know for sure if they've even come to realize that we're coming in here," Zephyr declared. "Then again, I suppose that's the point. Even if Alba is a good strategist and all that with their army of monsters, I don't think that they're going to be able to just figure out that they're missing out on fighting a few members of our party. I mean, everything is so chaotic at this point. I can still hear the fight even all the way back here in the cave."
The group fell silent for a brief moment to see if Zephyr was right or not, and sure enough, they had a point; the battle was little more than a distant echo given how far away they were from the scene of the fight itself, a sign that everything was starting its slow descent into chaos, assuming that the point hadn't been reached already. Jayler let out a sigh. He hated the fact that he had to hear this, if he was being honest. It made him wish that there was more he could do for the groups that were outside the cave, but he knew that he had a mission of his own. The strategy had been specifically crafted for the sake of everyone being able to take care of the jobs that they would be best for.
"If Alba is going to notice that anyone is gone, it's going to be the two of us," Zelda continued, gesturing between herself and Jay. "The two of us have been the greatest thorns in their side up to this point, haven't we? During their two invasions of the castle, we were the ones to send them retreating, and I doubt that they took too kindly to being forced to leave the palace behind because they were bested by two teenagers on both of their attempts."
"But again, the fact that the battle is a chaotic mess lends to our advantage. We knew that it was going to devolve to this, and that's why we decided to set everything up this way. If the fight is a mess, then Alba may not notice that you guys aren't there. They're just going to keep waiting for you to show up, and if we never do appear, then they'll suspect that we're just lying in wait for even longer than every other team, and that could certainly work to our advantage," Zephyr pointed out.
"I'm glad that you have confidence that we aren't going to be stopped at some point," Tavi muttered. "I personally fear that there will come a time where we are unable to escape our foes for some reason or another, and that could very easily break the cover that we have been trying to establish. The masking magic will only be able to aid us in our attack for so long, and I'm certain you are all aware of such a fact."
"All it needs to do is hold long enough for us to get to Alba. From there, we can tell Liathine that we're there, and hopefully her group will be able to splice everything in a way that will keep attention off of us. After all, if Alba is worried about the cave being invaded further, then they're going to have to send the majority of their forces out rather than using them for defense," Lex declared.
"But we still have to remember that Alba isn't exactly a slouch in combat. In fact, they're incredibly skilled and potent when it comes to fighting. Arian and I fought them once in the past. I suspect that this was because we were Skylian Mages. After all, if we were the Skylian Mages the way that they likely thought we were, then that would mean that we were destined to go to Cloudpeak to find Ronan, and they were trying to stop us from doing that," Jay said. "The point I'm trying to drive at here is that Alba is not someone that we should underestimate. If we do that, then we're only going to find trouble, and we seem to run into it enough on our own that the last thing we want to do is invite more catastrophe into our lives."
"All we can do for now is continue pressing on the way that we have been," Zelda concluded. "We've been walking for quite a while, and we haven't run into much trouble yet. If all goes well, then we're going to be able to keep up that streak, though we won't be able to say for sure until after we've encountered the end of the battle. The cave is much larger than I expected it to be at a first glance, if I'm being honest."
"Alba is a powerful mage. If you want my opinion, I'm going to guess that Alba has been using magic to make this place so big. I mean, it really is a lot larger than one would expect, and given the fact that they've got so much power at their disposal, it's pretty easy to put the pieces together," Zephyr shrugged. "I guess that it doesn't matter much right now though. If this place is made of their magic, then it's probably going to fall apart when we defeat them. That's not going to be important to us until after we defeat them though, so for the time being, we can just take things easy."
Jayler nodded his agreement. He was glad that they all knew what they were doing; this process would undoubtedly be much more frustrating and terrifying if they weren't fully aware of what they had to accomplish. They still had a lot of work ahead of them, and he was going to make sure that they took care of it as soon as possible. Alba had done more than enough damage as it was, and they had to resolve everything before it grew worse. After all, that was part of what it meant to be Hanilia.
~~~~~
Arian still didn't like fighting.
His relationship with combat was complicated at best. He didn't want to be a soldier in the first place, if he was being honest. It was the reason behind his creation, but that didn't mean that he at all wanted to follow in those footsteps. Mersall had forged him with powerful magic while Odysseus' ghost seemingly found a way to breathe life into his body, granting him strength beyond normal comprehension and a purpose to act solely as one of the most powerful fighters that Hyperion's world had ever known.
But that didn't mean that Arian liked combat. He never wanted anything to do with this, and fighting as a Fearbringer under Mersall's direction had been agonizing for him. His departure from the Fearbringer army had been the best decision that he could have made for himself even though he knew that it undoubtedly left the Fearbringer leader and Lakinya general steaming with rage. Mersall's death had been a relief to him since for Arian, he thought that it meant he would never have to fight again. He had been planning to leave the fact that he possessed multiple elements a secret and live out the rest of his days in peace with nothing but smiles and laughter.
The dream from Lyloc had changed all that. She had made her intentions perfectly clear, and Arian didn't have a choice but to follow her words when she pointed him in Jay's direction just before he could awaken from the vision. The path of his life was changed permanently that day, and it wasn't as if Arian had been given the option to protest in the first place. That locked him in on the path that he had followed ever since; adventure, mystery, intrigue, and unfortunately, combat.
Arian was a halfway decent fighter, he liked to think, but as he fought alongside Jubilee, Ronan, and the rest of their group, he realized that the only one who he could really say confidently that he was stronger than was Ronan. While Arian did have the skill and the training from his days as a Fearbringer, there was one thing that was holding him back that he unfortunately couldn't protest to: his own hate for fighting that led to hesitation. He lacked the confidence that he needed to be able to be fully effective, like there was always a chain attached to his arm to make sure that he didn't unleash his full potential.
Gemini punched one hand at the air, and a gust of wind spread through the sky to slam some of the monsters back. That gave Jubilee the perfect chance to send out a pair of fiery blasts that were in the shape of an 'X' toward the monsters. Those simple attacks were easily able to shred the creatures to pieces, and Arian had to confess that he was impressed. He knew that Jubilee had an inherent advantage over the monsters because of the fact that she had Fire magic as opposed to many other elements found within the group, but it was still beyond incredible to him.
Arian closed his eyes and concentrated on pulling his energy together in much the same way. He punched at the air, and a blast of purple magic pulled away from his skin and slammed into the monsters' chests. That was all it took to knock them off balance, and from there, Ronan stomped on the ground. The stones that rose up from the earth almost slashed the beasts to ribbons, and if they had been made of flesh and blood, it would have been a most gruesome sight. Arian was glad, not for the first time, that they were fighting against monsters that were hardly even alive to begin with. He was happy that Alba's attempted experimentation in developing life had been far from successful in actually making what they were looking for.
Valdez was a much stronger fighter than Arian would have expected just by looking at him. Valdez was a quiet and stony man in terms of personality, but his fighting prowess was something else. He normally spent his days working as a tactician within the Draconic Superiors, but he was no slouch in terms of combat. He sent attacks in the direction of the monsters, and the beasts were cut to ribbons once again. Water splashed in every direction, and Arian wondered what wonders a mage of that element would be able to pull off if they were surrounded by creatures of this nature.
Luke stood slightly away from the rest of the group, and he summoned a sword before slashing in the direction of the nearest monsters. That was all it took to cut off a few arms from the beasts, sending the icy chunks to the ground. Upon closer examination, Arian realized that the creatures weren't entirely filled with ice; there was some water at the center, and that allowed them to be easily defeated in comparison to a solid block of something frozen. Arian couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Alba had made them hollow because of the fact that their previous creations were made entirely of ice and had been defeated. This attack was sudden, so they had to cover for their tracks no matter what, even if it resulted in something sloppy.
Cordell closed his eyes and changed his shape through the use of his Matter magic. When he rushed to the center of the nearby monsters, he was little more than a streak of red energy. He expelled a blast of magic that reminded Arian a lot of fire, though he knew that it wasn't truly Fire magic due to Cordell's element. As soon as he was at the core of the group, Cordell slapped one of the beasts, and from there, the molecules of the monster began to fall into disarray. It was a terrifying process, but at the same time, Arian couldn't bring himself to look away.
Arian shook his head and tried to focus on the situation at hand. He couldn't afford to get distracted by the magical displays that his comrades were capable of when he had to continue fighting for himself. He didn't think that he had seen even a trace of the group that Liathine and Tuila were leading since after their conversation with Alba drew to a close. It hadn't been hard for them to be so completely consumed by the monsters of Ice magic, and it was up to him and everyone else to focus on fighting them off.
"I hope that we're getting close to the end of this battle," Ronan remarked as he came up beside Arian. Ever since the ice outside the cave had melted, the Earth mages among the party had been given a new advantage, and that was something Ronan was all too happy to take firm hold of as he stomped one foot against the ground. A series of spikes made of rock rose up from the ground and pierced every monster that was in his range. Ronan smiled to himself before turning his attention to another beast that was nearby. The rocks shifted themselves out of the ground before spearing at the monster that Ronan had missed, and once again, ice and water were sent spraying in every direction.
"You should put those rocks back soon," Gemini pointed out, her voice careful. Arian was about to ask what it was that she was referring to, but he noticed soon afterward. He glanced down at the ground where the spikes had come from before Ronan started to release the attack. There was now a hole where there had previously been solid ground.
"If the monsters don't have a way of getting to us, then that means that they aren't going to bother focusing on us in the first place," Valdez agreed. "They need to be able to think that they can attain victory. They're hardly smart to begin with, but they need at least something that they believe can be accomplished."
Ronan nodded, but he hesitated a bit before shifting the earth to his whims once again. There were a few monsters that had wound up in the hole that he had summoned, not yet having realized that approaching the group was a poor decision to make because of the gap in the ground. Gemini punched at the air with one hand, and a green plant of magic materialized itself before smacking another few monsters into the hole.
That was the last thing that Ronan needed, it seemed. The space in the ground had become completely filled with monsters, and he clapped his hands together with a wide grin. From there, the earth started to compress around the beasts, and when it completely slammed together, the monsters that had been pushed beneath the surface of the earth were crushed in the blink of an eye. The ground had been leveled out so perfectly to the point that Arian wouldn't have known that anything had happened in the first place if he hadn't been there to witness the display of Ronan's magic.
It took Arian a long time to snap back into focus after he saw Ronan's attack reach its successful execution. Ronan wasn't the best fighter in terms of technical combat training, but he did certainly know how to use his skills in a way that was crafty enough to execute the points that he was trying to hit for the sake of the battle at hand. Ronan was smiling brightly to himself, and Arian could tell that he was going to make for a great fighter one day. There hadn't been much time to train him up to that point because of the sheer activity that had been consuming all of their lives as of late, but the time would come soon enough. Part of Arian's mind wondered if perhaps he would wind up gaining more experience along the way too.
A few minutes later, Arian was in the middle of releasing simple blasts of Mystic magic in the direction of another group of monsters when he felt something in the area shift. He glanced around in an attempt to get a grasp on what it was that had suddenly changed, but once he did notice it, he felt like a fool for not observing the change sooner. Hurtling down from the sky was a large comet that looked as if it was going to send the battlefield into a state of complete explosion.
Arian was preparing to summon a shield even though he hardly specialized in such a brand of magic, but he was cut off when Valdez took care of it instead. He didn't drop the shield until after the fiery comet had made contact with the ground, kicking up so much fire and steam that it was difficult to see outside the barrier for a short period. Arian heard whistles and shrieks of pain from the mindless beasts, and he had to stop himself from wincing openly at the agony that they were clearly going through. When the barrier did finally dissipate, Arian was given a somewhat clear view of what it was that had caused such a violent explosion. The attack had cleared the battlefield and then some, giving him a perfect opportunity to notice that the tides of the battle were starting to shift.
Flare's group had joined the battle, and Arian immediately found himself starting to smile. For someone so young, Flare sure did have a lot of promise as a fighter, and the fact that she could already pull off such large displays of magic at just the first level of magic truly was incredible to him. He wasn't entirely sure of who else was with her because of the distance between their parties, but he recognized the bright red of Flare's color scheme even from far away. He found himself flashing her a gesture of approval even though he knew that she wouldn't be able to fully make out what it was that he was doing.
Arian turned back to his group when another monster entered his field of vision. Luckily for him, it wasn't long before Jubilee disposed of the creature in question with a quick blast of Fire magic so effortless that it was almost hard to believe. She gave him a gentle yet prideful smile before continuing her work in terms of clearing out the battlefield.
Arian found himself wondering how it was that Valdez had known to put up the shield to stop the attack, but when he noticed the communicator that had been shoved into a pocket that Luke had been given, he remembered the fact that the groups were all in contact with each other. Luke had probably heard about it from Liathine and passed on the message to Valdez since he wasn't the best with shielding magic either. It was unlikely that they would be able to pull off such a large attack again since Alba would be attempting to prepare for something so huge in case it repeated, but Arian did have to say that it was fun while it lasted. He would have to compliment Flare after the battle ended to say that she had done a great job with that.
"They're getting closer to the back of the cave," Arian heard Luke murmur in Valdez's direction. "Liathine is going to start having our other distraction teams appear at a faster pace than before because she wants as many of us out here as possible before they engage with Alba. From there, the last few teams will show up, and that will be an extra distraction while the stealth team takes them out once and for all."
Arian felt something inside of him do a flip at those words. He couldn't tell if he was more happy or nervous to hear that they were getting closer to the end of this fight. He knew that it was one of the two, but he couldn't quite determine the truth behind his own thoughts no matter how hard he tried. He wanted Alba gone, yes, but at the same time, he was worried because he didn't have any eyes on the stealth team. He wouldn't know if something happened to them until it was too late, and that dread and agitation didn't sit well with him in the slightest. It was an objection he had to the plan from the start, though he never voiced it since he was hardly the same tactical expert that many others within the party were. He knew that he would just wind up looking ridiculous for being so worried about people that he knew would be able to take care of himself if he said something, but that didn't stop the fact that he didn't want to think about all the ways they could get hurt.
"I see," was all Valdez said in response. He had always been a man of few words, and even being in the midst of one of their most important battles yet didn't seem to change that. He simply focused on sending out small blasts of his Death magic in the direction of the monsters that trespassed too close in his direction, uncaring as to nearly everything else that was happening. He was focused on carrying out the purpose he had been given, and he was choosing to ignore everything else as long as he had the chance to do so.
Arian took a deep breath and let out a sigh before trying to follow in Valdez's lead and concentrate on the matter at hand. This wasn't the time to be distracted, and he was fully aware of such a fact. The group in the cave would find a way to take care of themselves one way or another. He just had to have faith in the fact that they were chosen for the job for a reason. He couldn't be distracted at one of the most important moments thus far; any slip up could result in someone getting hurt or worse, and while Arian wasn't the best under pressure, he knew that he had to keep this fact in mind. He felt as if he had fumbled enough already even if he had done his best to not show it outwardly.
As Arian continued to send energy blasts at the monsters around him though, he couldn't help but wonder how the group within the cave was doing. He wished nothing but the best for them, again wishing that he knew what was going on with them. Still, he had a job to take care of, and this was the last time for him to even dream of slacking off whether it be due to concern or anything else.
~~~~~
They were close. Jay could feel it.
At a certain point, mages started to gain the ability to at least loosely detect the magical levels of those around them. Jay wasn't sure when she had reached this specific line, but she most certainly had. Her experience with her own magic was minimal, but it most certainly served its purpose. In this case, it was telling her that Alba was getting closer with each step they took. In other words, the battle would be ending soon enough, and they would have to deal with that one way or another.
Jay wasn't the only one who was starting to see this. Zelda and Tavi had both grown more tense, their expressions turning strict. Jayler and Lex were catching on and noticing that something was wrong, and that in turn made them start to feel on edge and anxious too. Zephyr was the best at acting calm out of them all, but they were still clearly putting up a front rather than feeling such a thing naturally. Everyone was fully aware of the implications of the coming battle, and they wanted to be ready for it more than anything else.
Zelda suddenly held up a hand to force everyone to stop walking, and Jay followed her gesture immediately. She swallowed dryly before watching Zelda point ahead of them. The back edge of the cave was in view. There was a deeper part of the cavern that seemed to glow with a gentle blue light. The illumination pulsed between being the palest blue that Jay had ever seen to being the boldest sapphire color that one could ever imagine witnessing. The Ice magic monsters seemed to function well enough in the dark, but Alba most certainly couldn't go about their business in complete blackness. If the final wall wasn't enough of an indicator that they had arrived at their destination, then the blue light most certainly was.
"This is it," Zelda declared. "This is going to be where our final battle against Alba starts and ends. One way or another, it all finishes today. You had better be ready for what it is that's coming next, because once we start this, there's no going back."
The group's members looked to one another before nodding their understanding. Tavi reached for the communicator that he had been given, and he began to speak into it a moment later. "We've arrived at Alba's segment of the cave. We will be starting our attack within the next two minutes. If all goes well, we should be out of here soon enough," he said. The device offered him an answer that sounded a bit like Liathine, but Jay couldn't make out the words completely due to her distance from the speaker. It seemed as if Liathine had agreed with Tavi's decision though, as he put the communicator back where it had been resting previously and nodded to Zelda.
"If everyone's ready, let's get right to this then," Zelda announced. It didn't take long for the six of them to glance to one another one last time, and when they understood that they were all prepared, then Zelda nodded to herself. "In that case, let's get to this."
Zelda didn't drop the barrier quite yet, instead taking the group to the back of the cave slowly and carefully. Soon enough, Alba themselves came into view. They were standing at the back of the cave with a small projection made out of ice crystals in the air before them. It seemed to be displaying the battlefield, Jay noticed, though Alba hadn't yet noticed that they were there.
Weapons were raised, and Jay grabbed at her sword before priming it in Alba's direction. She glared intensely at the Lakinya before her as Zelda finally dropped the barrier around them. Jay steeled herself, slipping into a defensive position in preparation for what was to come. At long last, the time had come. This was it. One way or another, the battle would be over before the day drew to a close, and Jay couldn't wait.
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Getting closer to the end baby!
-Digital