Light of Ten Suns

Quietly, I cursed under my breath. From what I had gathered from pieces of information and my own observations, Greater Elementals typically were of similar strength and did not vary greater from one element to another, which meant that the Dark Elementals were at a massive disadvantage in this situation. 

They were outnumbered one to three, not to mention that from what I had seen of them so far, they seemed to be more like ranged spellcasters than assassins of the night, which meant they had a bad matchup against the lightning fast Light Elementals. Coupled with their numerical disadvantage…

It wouldn't be too surprising if they only managed to take down a couple Light Elementals before they were annihilated.

However, my companions seemed to disagree. They were fervently discussing if the Dark Elementals would manage to win or not, which I found to be extremely confusing. 

"Aren't the Greater Dark Elementals heavily outnumbered?" I asked curiously.

"It's nighttime, which means the Light Fiends will be weakened while the Dark Elementals will be stronger. Moreover, this is a place inundated with darkness, which weakens light spells and augments dark spells. If the Greater Dark Elementals manage to cast Solar Eclipse once the Greater Light Fiends cast Solar Flare, they should be able to hold their own or even win the battle." he elaborated while watching the standoff closely.

I listened eagerly to the explanation, nodding with realization as I heard his analysis… then something struck me.

"Why are we watching? We need to cast shields, quick! Let's not die from an accidental spell!" I shouted quietly, and we burst into action.

Our movement seemed like the catalyst for the battle to begin, and spellfire filled the air as both sides burst into action.

While casting protective shields as strong as I could manage in multi-layered complexes around us, I couldn't help but admire the sheer beauty of the spells flying toward each other, jagged spears of darkness meeting swords of light in a beautiful symphony of death and destruction. 

A large group of Light Fiends was working together a bit in the distance, glowing and pulsating in unison as the faint outline of the sun flickered weakly behind them, as if it was being rejected by the very environment. On the other hand, a much smaller group of specters had raised a bold silhouette of the moon, which seemed to immediately weaken the Light Elementals and their spells. 

I was transfixed by the sight of the Dark Elementals pouring weapons, waves and sometimes blocks made of darkness to the intruders, who weakly retaliated with a cleansing light, which was quickly mitigated by an all-consuming black fog. I could barely perceive flashes of light, which were quickly consumed by darkness, in vague pockets of the cloud.

All too suddenly, the battle was over and the Light Elementals had all been slain, with no more than a few survivors fleeing into the distance. The rest lay broken on the ground, the liquid light of their corpses sizzling as it made contact with the impossibly dark soil. 

Slowly, we undid the protective shields around us as I tried to comprehend the scale of battle that had just happened. More than half of the wraiths had fallen in the dogfighting, although their losses seemed exceptionally few compared to their foes. Nevertheless, even the survivors seemed much paler than before, and the darkness they emitted was clearly weakened. The skirmish had cost them. 

Suddenly, a light as blinding as ten Suns enveloped the battlefield for a second, causing us to nearly go blind while eerie screeches from our allies assaulted our ears. 

By the time the light faded, we found that the Dark Elementals looked even less dark than before, being little more than transparent floating figures by now, though fortunately it seemed that none of them had fallen to the sudden assault. 

Rather than being unhappy about the surprise attack, they seemed happy to see the pulse of light, as were my friends. When asked about what it signified, they told me that it was the dying light of a Light King, which had likely been killed by a Dark Lord somewhere else, a major victory for the Dark Elementals.

However, before we could start celebrating, a cold pressure enveloped the battlefield.