Relia burst into motion, kicking off the courtyard’s stone floor toward the temple. A Cloaked Master could sprint faster than a helicopter, and her body was far stronger than most. Life mana raced through her channels, enforcing every muscle, tendon, and bone.

  Still, a quarter mile separated her from the ancient ziggurat. Could she make it in time?

  Her boots slapped against the wet concrete. Her surroundings passed in a blur as she dodged the thicker pillars and vines.

  Storm’s Eye completed the technique in its open mouth. The massive Missile dominated the horizon, brighter than the sun, streaking toward the temple.

  Relia pumped her legs and ran faster. Faster than thought. Faster than sanity. Pure instinct guided her feet. She didn’t bother dodging the obstacles now. She smashed straight through them, leaving a trail of broken stone in her wake.

  “We’re not gonna make it!” Glim said.

  She was right. Even at this speed, the ziggurat was at least two or three seconds away. They didn’t have that long.

  Relia tossed her arms straight back like a diving falcon. Bursts of pure mana flew from her palms, slamming into the courtyard’s floor and launching her body into the air.

  She pushed more mana through the soles of her feet, shredding through the rubber of her boots. The temple approached at a frightening speed, but she couldn’t afford to slow down.

  ‘’ Relia sent to Glim.

  Glim followed her line of thought, identifying the ring of sigils that surrounded the temple. Relia couldn’t defend the structure herself, but she could reignite the defenses they’d lost.

  A second later, the symbols appeared as bright purple highlights in her vision.

  Relia adjusted her path to land directly behind them. Then she crashed into the temple’s stone base, hard enough to leave a crater. The impact sent sharp waves through her body, but she was no stranger to pain.

  White light filled the world as her enemy’s technique closed in. Relia stretched a hand toward the nearest sigils and filled them with Angelic mana. The markings drank in the power from her Aeon soul, leaving her completely drained.

  The shield sprang back to life an instant later—a wall of crystal light between Relia and her attacker. In that moment, she caught a flicker of surprise through her bond. Modern-day sigil grids weren’t designed to receive power this way, and Glim hadn’t expected it to work. But Relia knew her old master; Lyraina had prepared for a moment like this.

  The ground trembled with the clash of their techniques. Vibrations shook her bones, hard enough to rattle her brain and darken her vision. Angelic mana or not, Relia was still just a Master.

  Pain followed as she struggled to hold the shield. Shattered bones. Blinding light. Channels like sandpaper. The rest of her felt distant, as if it belonged to someone else.

  “Get back!” Glim shouted.

  Relia tried, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even feel her physical body anymore.

  Glim transformed into a pure Missile and slammed hard into Relia’s stomach. The impact drove the air from her lungs and sent her thirty feet into the air.

  Somehow, Relia managed to somersault backward and land on the ziggurat’s lowest tier. The ground crumbled away below them, destroying the sigils that powered the shield. The dome faded to clouds of pale blue mist, mingling with the storm like a breath in a winter gale.

  Glim changed back to her human form. “We need to retreat! We can’t take another hit like that.” No sooner had she spoken than the entire ziggurat shifted forward until they stood on a slanted surface.

  Relia knelt on the sloped stone as Storm’s Eye slithered between the distant clouds. She’d broken too many bones to stand, and she’d drained the last of her mana. Even her Aeon soul was dead weight in her chest. “Is everyone else safe?”

  Glim didn’t reply, and that was all the answer she needed.

  “I’m staying,” Relia said. “Are you gonna help me or not?”

  “Help you ?”

  “It’s not about that. I just need to buy them more time.”

  Glim’s eyes went momentarily distant as they took in the rest of the battlefield. “They’re almost all evacuated. They just need another minute.”

  Relia nodded. “I can give them that. Now, are you with me?”

  The spirit’s face hardened with resolve. “Just tell me what you need.”

  Storm’s Eye released another attack, far quicker than the first.

  Relia opened her thoughts and showed Glim the plan. The mana spirit vanished in the same moment, joining Relia behind the mental wheel. But Relia didn’t fade this time. Instead, they each took on a different role. Two minds driving a single body.

  Glim opened her Aeon soul and absorbed their attacker’s energy. Relia never could have managed this on her own, but Glim had better reflexes, more willpower, and decades more fighting experience. The power flooded through them—hot and wild like drinking from a geyser.

  At the same time, Relia cycled the Angelic mana into two techniques. Her left hand formed a second barrier of Moonshard around them. Her right hand pressed against the wet stone of the temple, cycling the Moonshard into a Ritual technique.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Her conscious mind could barely comprehend this, but her Master instincts knew what to do. Her mana infused the temple itself, making the stone an extension of her body. Relia filled it with all her power and will. The desire to preserve and protect, just like all her ancestors who’d wielded this power before her.

  ~~~

  “Hey, you two!” Glim appeared in the temple’s control room, directly in front of Arturo. “Quit sightseeing. Stormy’s winding up for another hit.”

  “.” Arturo glanced at Lena, then nodded back toward the exit. “We’d better run.”

  “Too late.” Glim glanced toward the east despite the room’s lack of windows. “Here it comes now.”

  Arturo grabbed a nearby pillar and braced for impact. The ground shook. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling, and chunks of stone rained down around them. The lights flickered twice before shrouding them in darkness.

  Lena activated the flashlight on her Missile rod, and Arturo did the same with his rifle. Glim was already gone—probably helping Relia.

  "This way!" Lena seized Arturo’s wrist and pulled him back across the control room.

  "Hold up." He yanked Lena to a stop when they reached the doorway. Mana spawn filled the corridor ahead, crawling over the walls and ceiling like pale blue insects

  Arturo grabbed a frag grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and rolled it down the hall. Then he slammed his palm against the wall panel to drop the blast doors.

  The explosion shook the floor, but the metal doors held.

  “Come on.” Arturo gestured across the room with his head. “I saw another way out.”’

  They doubled back toward another door on the room’s eastern side. The floor groaned beneath their boots, slanting several degrees. Arturo stumbled against the wall, and Lena grabbed his arm to steady herself.

  "The foundation," she gasped. "It must have hit the cliff."

  Arturo pushed off the wall and half-ran, half-slid down the slanted corridor. Dust rained from the ceiling with every step. He could practically taste the mana and ozone in the air.

  The corridor ended in another stairwell. Arturo grabbed the railing and took the steps three at a time, fighting to keep his balance. They took a sharp right at the bottom and burst through a doorway onto a wide stone terrace. Rain lashed Arturo's face as he emerged, and the wind threatened to rip away his weapon.

  The balcony overlooked the Inner Sea, where Storm's Eye dominated the horizon. Lightning crackled along its serpentine body, illuminating the swirling clouds. The creature's jaws gaped wide, gathering another ball of blinding white mana between its teeth

  Relia knelt on the temple’s lower tier, facing the spirit head on. Her legs looked broken, and her channels were dark in his Silver Sight. Arturo wanted to help her, but there was no time. He’d seen these attacks back in Koreldon City. One Missile could level a row of city blocks.

  Two more seconds, and this was all over. Arturo, Relia, and Lena would all turn to dust. So would the temple and the airship beyond.

  He wished he could have built something with the Etherite. Other than that, Arturo had no regrets. He’d chosen this mission, and he’d known the risks from the start. So had his parents.

  Storm's Eye released its attack. The beam split the sky, vaporizing the tides in its path.

  Relia sat motionless until the last possible second. Then the mana swirled into her soul like a whirlpool.

  A wall of Moonshard sprang up around her a second later, spanning the entire width of the ziggurat. It felt like the storm itself—too big to take in with a single glance.

  The impact knocked Arturo back against the terrace wall. His ears rang, and the light burned through his eyelids. He lay there for several seconds, utterly helpless as two forces of nature collided.

  When he got to his feet again, the northern courtyard had turned to ash, along with half a mile of the surrounding jungle. Even the top tier of the ziggurat was gone, seared off by a giant blade. The remaining stone burned with destruction mana as it melted away.

  But somehow, they were still alive.

  Arturo let out a shaky breath—more awe than fear. After what seemed like an eternity, Storm's Eye stopped its barrage. The creature slithered back and forth through the clouds, its pale eyes fixed on the temple.

  Arturo glanced to his left and spotted a dozen more cultists watching the battle on this level of the ziggurat, armed with guns and Missile rods. Blue gore covered their faces as if they’d been fighting spawn just a few minutes before.

  “Hey!” Arturo waved to get their attention.

  Half the group rounded on him, weapons raised. The other half just looked stunned or confused.

  “Get outta here!” Arturo gestured a thumb over his shoulder.” There’s an airship in the west courtyard.”

  One guy narrowed his eyes. He seemed to be the oldest of the group, but still no older than an Artegium student. His hands shook where they gripped his rifle. “Who the hell are you, primo?”

  Arturo pointed to the level below where Relia fought Storm's Eye. Her barrier still held, but the crystal wall had begun to flicker at the edges. "I'm with her."

  The cultists exchanged a look—some mixture of hope and resignation passing between them. Then they jogged back around the temple without another word.

  “Go with them,” Arturo said to Lena.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “I’m gonna wait for Relia.”

  Lena nodded once before following the others back to the temple’s western courtyard.

  Storm's Eye released another attack. Once again, Relia absorbed the creature's power and formed a shield between them. Her mana spread into the temple itself. Arturo saw it happen in his Silver Sight—pale blue threads weaving through the stone like roots through soil. Even the cliff didn't crumble.

  “Arturo?” His mother’s voice echoed in his ear. “Where are you?”

  “One second!” he shouted back.

  “We’re ready for take off. Just waiting on you.”

  “Do it now,” he said. “Keep the cargo ramp open.”

  Relia held back the barrage, a dark silhouette against the wall of crystal light. But even Masters had their limits. Her Aeon soul flickered like a candle fighting against the wind, clinging to life through sheer force of will.

  Finally, the spirit stopped its attack, and Relia fell forward.

  Arturo vaulted over the balcony's stone railing and dropped to the tier below. Relia lay facedown in a shallow crater, drenched and bleeding from dozens of small cuts.

  Arturo knelt beside her and rolled her onto her back. Her eyes were closed, and her skin looked pale beneath the blood and grime. "Come on, spira." He hooked one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her shoulders. "Time to go."

  Storm's Eye roared in the distance.

  Arturo's head snapped toward the horizon. The creature gathered another Missile in its jaws, brighter than any of the others. The clouds around it swirled faster, pulled toward that single point of blinding light.

  Arturo cycled mana to his jetpack. The gravity sigils reduced their combined weight, and the thrusters warmed against his spine. He angled his body toward the western sky.

  Then the spirit released its attack.

  Fire erupted from his jetpack. Wind and rain battered his face as he flew into the storm. Relia's limp body pressed against his chest. The world passed in a blur of clouds and lightning, while the blinding beam streaked beneath their feet.

  The world was a furnace of destruction below. The temple exploded, chunks of stone raining upward like a reverse meteor shower. Arturo dodged through the flying debris, trusting his aspect to guide him toward the airship. His mother’s voice echoed in his ear, but he couldn’t make out the words.

  “Bring the ramp up!” Arturo shouted into his comm device. “Full thrust in two seconds!”

  He poured more mana into the jetpack as the cargo ramp closed. The ship grew larger with every heartbeat.

  The rescued cultist shattered through the cargo hold as he approached

  He cut the jetpack’s power at the last second, soaring through the cargo hold and crashing into the far wall.

  The ramp sealed shut an instant later, and his father hit the thrusters.

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