Winged spiders.
Seeing those, I briefly had second thoughts about ever visiting the tower again.
Derek seemed less concerned, stretching out his arms and passing his remaining sword into his right hand. “I’ll take care of this set, Tavare. Can you offer some mana to my friend Sera?”
Tavare turned its gaze to Sera. “Radiance has little to spare, but it will serve.”
Sera took another step back, nearly exiting the bounds of the stage.
Tavare was in front of her in an instant. “Extend your hand, friend-called-Sera.”
Sera hesitantly extended her right hand, and Tavare clasped its left hand around it.
Derek jumped forward, hacking apart one of the spiders with a flaming cut, and then surged into the midst of the others. Since he seemed to be having no difficulty, I focused on what was going on with Sera.
Tavare leaned in closer, staring into Sera’s eyes. “A binder of beasts. I am honored.”
It can recognize her attunement? Interesting, it must have some kind of detection magic.
Wait, did he tell Tavare to give Sera mana? Isn’t that supposed to be hideously dangerous?
I frowned. I was certain I’d heard that transferring mana to other people was a problem, because our bodies rejected foreign mana.
Maybe that only applied to humans giving mana to other humans? If monsters could safely transfer mana to humans, there had to be a way to use that knowledge... but I’d think about that later.
For the moment, Sera had pulled away from the strange sword-creature, and she had folded her hands in front of her. “Thank you. I am honored by your aid.”
“You are welcome, friend-called-Sera. I must rest now.”
And with that, Tavare vanished, and the sword unceremoniously clattered to the floor.
Sera frowned, knelt down, and gingerly picked up the weapon.
The final barrier fell.
I had been too busy watching Sera’s exchange with Tavare to see the threat that awaited her.
A winged humanoid with perfectly-sculpted muscles of stone. A karvensi.
I shivered. I hadn’t seen one since they’d appeared amongst the gargoyles, driving the students into shelters. But I knew very well how powerful they were. This was no mere insect from the lower floors of the tower.
Sera stood tall, pointing the gauntlet at the creature, and fired a burst of mana.
It glanced harmlessly across the creature’s skin.
The karvensi grinned.
Magic resistant and as intelligent as a human, I remembered.
Derek lashed out in the air with his crimson blade, sending a flaming shockwave in the monster’s direction.
It raised a hand, and a wall of ice — near identical to the one Sera had used — rose and stopped the blast.
Oh, and the strongest ones can cast spells.
I grimaced and wished that incredibly dangerous sword-creature was still around.
The karvensi flapped its wings, taking off into the air and settling atop the wall of ice. “Oh, hello, little ones. This is one of your little sports, yes? How am I doing?”
It raised a clawed finger and scratched at its chin. “The objective is to kill you, correct?”
Derek took a few steps back, closer to Sera. “I suppose from your perspective—”
“Excellent! I haven’t had permission to do that in years. So, if you’d be kind enough to burn...” It stretched its hands out in a t-shape. “I’d be much obliged.”
A red glow manifested across the entire stage.
Derek jumped, impossibly high, swinging his sword in a horizontal sweep — but the karvensi simply took off, floating out of reach.
Sera pointed downward as she jumped. “Freeze!”
An icy platform manifested below her just as jets of flame flashed upward from the stage.
A barrier flashed around Derek, but it was a weak one. It cracked almost instantly on impact. And when the flames died down, they left pools of molten lava across the stage floor.
Sera reached out before Derek could complete his fall. A whip of ice lashed out from her hand, wrapping around his torso, and she pulled — jerking him onto the platform where she stood. He smashed into her hard, knocking her down and nearly off the ice, but she stopped her slide inches from the magma edge.
“Thanks.” Derek knelt and pulled Sera away from the burning floor.
A blast of mana slammed into his back an instant later, knocking him flat. His face smashed into the ice.
“Don’t forget about me, children!” The karvensi flapped above, clapping his hands together. “Ice, fire...what’s next? Remind me? Ah, correct! Lightning!”
A dark cloud spread across the top of the stage. I stared incredulously.
Sera grimaced, waving a hand upward. “Shell!”
A glacial dome formed above Derek and Sera mere instants before the first flash of electricity arced downward from the cloud. Chunks of frost burst free at the impact, but the dome held.
The dome was opaque. For a moment, I could see nothing of my sister’s fate. Bolt after bolt rained from the cloud, tearing away layers of their protection.
When a single bolt finally broke through, a hurled sword emerged to answer it.
The karvensi floated to the side, dodging the hurled weapon without difficulty. “Really? Throwing swords? You do know that’s not what they’re for, right?”
The stone creature chuckled, forming a sphere of electricity in its hands.
It was still looking down at the threats it had seen before.
It had no way of seeing the crimson skinned humanoid descending through the air, clutching the weapon that had just been thrown.
Lightning sparked in the karvensi’s hands — and died as the burning blade slammed into its back.
The weapon, however, left only the slightest mark.
The karvensi spun in mid-air, grabbing its new attacker and hurling the crimson figure into the inferno below.
Meanwhile, the remains of the protective dome vanished. Sera pointed a finger at the creature above. “Bind.”
The swirling pattern of runes engulfed the karvensi, but it just laughed, turning its head toward her. “Really? You’re doing that now?”