Chapter 1209: Growing Threat

A ninth-level elemental. The very atmosphere stirred at its presence, drawn into a lethargic, spiraling vortex by the sheer weight of its presence. Earth mana leaked from every facet, causing small spatial tears in the space around it. This wasn’t a dragon, or an arbiter, or any mortal. It was a force of nature, a disaster made manifest as sure as any volcano or earthquake.

The creature stood still, gazing around without eyes. My chest tightened slightly as its head tilted, seeming to focus on me. Its attention was brief before it moved on, yet it was terrifying, leaving me trembling. Fable’s growl reverberated through me.

"Just what is it? Why is it just standing there? Maybe it’s not hostile?" Korra asked.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "That’s not it. We need to attack. Now."

It wasn’t watching, and it wasn’t just waiting. It was gathering all of the mana it had just used to break free. That it hadn’t attacked blindly meant it was intelligent and fully conscious of the threat we posed. Patience was not a virtue I wanted to see in an enemy like this.

The others didn’t wait for another order. Korra and Gayron blitzed toward the elemental, while Grace began gathering mana in her spear. I exchanged a worried look with R’lissea, struggling to keep up with their movements even with Foresight’s help.

They reached it in an instant. Korra struck first, her mana building in long, serpentine dragon that trailed behind her like a comet’s tail. The elemental didn’t even try to dodge, and her fist landed on its chest. The dragon crashed down, unleashing an explosion of water mana. Jets of water sprayed in all directions, slicing effortlessly through stone and earth like a knife through butter.

Gayron flanked it from the side, wreathing his sword in flames as he delivered a blow to its leg. A dreadful clang rang out, steel scraping against stone. Fires spread across the crystalline surface, erupting in hissing steam where it collided with Korra’s art.

The elemental finally reacted, twisting at a hurried, almost leisurely pace. Then, without warning, its fist shot out. Korra barely reacted in time, ducking beneath the blow. The force of its punch shattered space itself, unleashing a flurry of high-compressed wind blades. The chasm wall exploded as they struck it. Thousands of tons of rubble cascaded into the darkness, filling the air with choking clouds of dust. The shockwave hit, cracked like thunder, and made my wards shudder.

Korra and Gayron backed off, looking a little pale. That single punch had crossed the threshold into eighth-level. No charge time, not a combat art. Just a punch.

The roiling clouds of fire, water, and steam dissipated. I let out an audible gasp as the crystal monster was revealed. There was a single, white scratch across its side where Gayron’s word had marked it, not even the width of my little finger. Not even soot had clung to its crystalline flesh. As for Korra’s blow, I could see no trace that it had even landed. A few small curls of water mana clung to it, but its flesh was so hard it was impossible to tell whether they would be able to erode it at all.

"This thing’s tanky," Korra muttered.

"And strong. Don’t let it hit you," Gayron answered.

"You worry about yourself. I’d hate to have to pick up your pieces after we win," she teased.

"Draw its attention," Grace said, gritting her teeth. Lightning crackled around her, charging the air with the smell of ozone. Her spear glowed a fierce, icy blue.

Korra and Gayron engaged again, dancing through the air. They flew circles around the elemental, peppering it with spells and attacks that just couldn’t penetrate. The elemental retaliated, still slow and lethargic, but each punch carried on behind them, breaking the mountains apart.

Grace’s mana reached its peak, and she shot toward the elemental. It sensed her coming and ignored Korra and Gayron, bracing itself against her spear. It was the first time it had reacted to an individual attack since the battle began, and proved it was warranted. The tip of her spear drove into its crossed arms, unleashing a shockwave that matched the power of its punches. Blinding arcs of lightning crawled out in all directions, turning the earth to molten glass where they landed.

A crystalline crack rang out, and Grace jumped back, narrowly avoiding a sweeping counterattack. A single, hairline fissure ran across the elemental’s forearm where her spear had struck, penetrating deep into the crystal.

"Damn, that’s it?" Grace muttered, scowling.

The elemental stomped on the ground, and jagged spikes of stone tore out of the ground. One of them impaled one of several flickers Gayron had summoned, killing him instantly. Grace and Korra wound around them, but one hit Grace’s side in a glancing blow. She cried out, spinning into the chasm, trailing blood where her hip had been torn open.

"Restoration!" R’lissea finally acted, casting a healing spell. It suffused the Nexus, healing Grace even as she struck the chasm wall several hundred feet below the surface.

The elemental lunged forward with unexpected swiftness, moving directly at Gayron. He released a blast of fire in three directions, summoning flickers to flank the creature. Just in time, as a punch caught his shoulder, shattering my wards and tearing his arm off entirely. He gritted his teeth, throwing himself into the next one, driving his sword into the crack Grace had opened up. His body perished, turned into bloody mist, but more chips of crystal sprayed out.

"Stay back! Let me draw its attacks," Korra cried.

My heart lurched at that. Hadn’t she seen what it could do?

Then again, maybe she knew what she was about. She engaged it directly, forcing its attention onto her and allowing Grace and Gayron to recover their positions. She lacked the same attack power as Grace or Gayron, yet she easily maneuvered around its fists. It was a deadly, beautiful dance. Long, streaming threads of water flowed around her like ribbons, gradually ensnaring the elemental.

But it was getting faster. Despite her persistent mana, the elemental was slowly speeding up. The luminescence within its core had only intensified. Since the battle began, it hadn’t once stopped drawing in mana, slowly gathering strength and speed. It was shaking off the dust and chains of centuries.

Its growing strength aside, the elemental’s attacks were fairly rote and predictable. Korra alone could keep its focus, while Gayron and Grace slowly chipped at its defenses. A few more cracks spread across its flesh where they had managed to strike the same place multiple times. Its injuries were minor, certainly not enough to slow it, but it also didn’t seem to regenerate at all. Perhaps that was its trade-off for being able to shake off so many eighth-level arts.

"R’lissea, is there anything you can do?"

R’lissea hesitated, biting her lip. Throughout the fight, she had only cast healing spells, watching and waiting for an opportunity that hadn’t come.

"It’s too strong," she whispered. "I doubt I could summon anything that could damage its armor, and its physical strength is so high it could literally walk through anything I throw at it without slowing. Summoning a dragon or elementals of my own would just get in their way."

I nodded, feeling much the same. I could call a remnant, but with the Divine Throne so near, I didn’t dare risk playing that card unless it was necessary. My power was exclusively in strengthening my allies, and even if I could attack, most of my mana was going to support the Fatesworn or repair and sustain the wards around my allies.

"Would you like me to engage?" Verity asked.

I glanced at her, my tail twitching, weighing the risks. I couldn’t heal Verity. If she ran out of mana, there was no bringing her back in an emergency. But if this wasn’t an emergency, what was? We had no idea of the elemental’s upper limits, and if it kept growing at this rate, it was only a matter of time before the others were overwhelmed.

"Don’t look so worried. Look, they’re having a great time," Verity said, reading my thoughts.

I listened, and groaned inwardly. Just as Verity said, my companions were chatting while dodging lethal blows. They didn’t share their thoughts with us, but I could feel them passing between the three of them. Korra was actually grinning like a madwoman, ignoring the blood that streamed down the side of her face from where a piece of shrapnel had slipped through my wards. Gayron had already died several times, sacrificing himself to land slightly more meaningful blows, but hadn’t slowed in the slightest.

"Alright, go," I said, nodding. "Just...be careful."

Verity vanished, materializing behind the elemental. It didn’t react to her at first, but her sword glowed silver, slashing across its back. Shards of crystal sprayed out in a fan, peppering the broken ground. The elemental jerked back, stumbling a step from the force of the blow, before turning. It gave her a ponderous look, accepting several hits from Grace without noticing, before lunging at the Fate Hero.

"Hey, eyes on me!" Korra shouted, kicking off the ground, intercepting its massive fist with a blow to the wrist.

She managed to distract it, and Verity vanished, hiding within the stars of fate. A second later, Gayron’s sword slipped into the gash she’d left behind, widening the gap. Again, Korra was there to catch its retaliation. When it overextended and missed her, Verity took the opportunity to appear again and strike the wound Grace had made on its forearm.

"It’s working," R’lissea said excitedly.

I nodded slowly, pursing my lips. Working, yes, but something didn’t feel right. The elemental had gathered so much mana already. It was stronger and faster, sure, but that wasn’t enough. We knew it was intelligent, so why wasn’t it using it all?