The Last Stand, part 1

"As if the twelve Disciples with mana weren't enough on their own," I complained.

"Well... we knew that this was going to be one hell of a fight," she retorted with a sarcastic smile then instructed, "Seluna, focus on the lesser spirits and take down as many as you can. If you are about to be killed or run low on energy, release yourself before you are destroyed."

"As you command, Mistress," she said before lopping off so that she would be able to use nimbleness to last as long as possible.

"You got the big guy?" I asked, half-jokingly.

"Sure," she mocked, transforming out of her Dusa. "You just keep the army of lesser spirits and four wraiths from bothering me, and him while you are at it."

Katye was pale and a streak of blood ran from her eye. Her mana was nearly half spent and the look of exhaustion in her eyes told me that she had used most of her Soul Power. With a sigh, I also released my Dusa form and revealed that I was not in any better condition. The transformation did make my magic stronger but using so much Soul Power was taking a toll on our bodies, and we could not keep it up for much longer.

"I hope that you have a real plan," I said with seriousness.

"Focus on destroying the spirits and keep them away from us while I try to block the wasp thing until we both can handle it. I can't move my feet while casting so you'll need to protect me, but I should be able to manage for a while," Katye replied.

I did not bother replying because the spirits were closing in. I conjured a golden flame above both of my hands which was a dual-element of Yang and Fire. I had been developing it for the past two years in preparation for my next Naru Darc trial, but it would be the perfect counter for me to use against these spirits.

With the wave of a hand, I launched a streak of golden fire towards one side of the ghostly army then repeated the action with my other on the other side. The flames clung to the bodies of those hit and knocked them back half a step. It took a moment for the fire to consume a spirit and did not spread to the others that pushed past them. I kept pushing them back as much as I could, but I knew that they would reach us in moments if I did not change my approach.

The giant wasp had taken to the air and was circling us. It would fire needle-like projectiles at the two of us, while Katye managed to block them with her barrier spell that she threw out, away from her body, but as they shattered on impact the barrier eroded quite fast due to the Yin-corruption spreading. In the time that it would take me to write an English letter, she could trace out a dozen of the symbols that she used for her arcane magic with the energy that she was investing in her speed so that she could keep up with the wasp's attacks.

While I kept the spirits back with blasts of the golden fire, I split my focus and the fire so that I could create a ring around us. I could not make a dome like the Disciples would do when defending because Katye needed to intercept the projectiles from the giant blood wasp, but this was not entirely a disadvantage. Once it was formed, I could whip out jets of the golden flames using some Wind mana which could knock the front line further and used less of my overall mana since Yang energy consumed a lot more.

For a few minutes, I managed an equilibrium with the horde of spirits. I could keep them about ten feet away from the ring while slowly eroding away their numbers. Unfortunately, that was at the price of depleting my mana at a quick pace, and the lesser spirits were not the only ghostly dangers.

A stream of blackish water struck against a jet of my golden fire. The two attacks canceled each other out, but from the other side, blueish-black flames were launched at us. Raising my hand, a snake of golden fire shot out of the ring and swallowed the Yin-flames then impacted on the lesser spirits. There were less destroyed than a normal attack, but that was still better than the one against the water attack.

"Katye, need some help here," I said, launching another attack towards the side with the Water-user's wraith.

"Already on it," she replied as she finished tracing out another two spells, one with each hand.

She finished her spells and created a total of six violet diamonds. With a twisting motion, she spun the diamonds around us for a moment before they fired into the crowd of spirits. Three of the wraiths tried to attack the diamonds, but they moved fast enough that they still exploded within the horde of spirits while the last three detonated in the middle of their lines. Blinding violet light erupted from the explosions, and when they died out, voids were left in field of spirits. I had destroyed around a hundred so far, but that single move had likely matched my number, if not passed it.

It came at a price, though, as a second streak of blood dripped from her eye, yet she did not stop. Before the diamonds had even exploded, she was forming another barrier spell which she used to block another attack from the giant wasp that was flying overhead. She must have been exhausted and suffering a lot under the strain, but she was not stopping, so I just needed to hurry up and wipe out the small fries. Seven hundred or so against Katye and I, with a little help from Seluna, were not the worst odds that we faced throughout this journey.

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