Lending A Hand

Unknown to the Mages, Arianna had been actively suppressing the flow of her own Mana, forcing it to remain in a seemingly dormant state so as not to alert her foes to her true capabilities.

But in this crucial moment, with the threat of violence looming ever nearer, Arianna erupted in a blinding torrent of mystical might!

Waves of searing flames instantly swirled into existence at the tip of her staff, coalescing into whirling vortices of elemental fury. But that was only the start – almost simultaneously, shimmering streams of liquid Water Mana began flowing amidst the inferno, the two opposing forces of magic seamlessly intertwining in Arianna's grasp.

Fire and water danced in a violent, discordant waltz as Arianna smoothly manipulated the flows, causing a brilliant aura of power to illuminate the entire area with its radiance. 

Then, with a subtle twitch of her wrist, a deafening concussive force ripped through the atmosphere, a gray screening of obscuring smoke billowing outwards as a tangible shockwave disturbed the mages' Mana senses.

"Damn it!" The four hostile practitioners cursed in shock and surprise, blinking rapidly as they were assailed by the sudden discordant sensations. 

It felt as if their minds had been slammed against an intangible wall, a faint dizziness and lingering disorientation muddling their mystical perceptions in the wake of that thunderous disturbance.

When they finally managed to shake off the worst of the vertigo, their eyes snapping open in preparation for retaliation, they found their visions utterly obscured by a thick bank of swirling gray smoke. 

With their Mana senses still recovering from Arianna's cunning disruption technique, the mages could only rely on their physical sight to track their foe's movements.

In this brief moment of confusion and sensory disruption, Arianna's magical staff glistened with the searing heat of unleashed flame. 

Two streaks of condensed fire shot forth from the implement's tip, the potent arrows of mystical flame hurtling through the obscuring smoke at blinding speeds.

Arianna's aim was true - the fiery projectiles pierced unerringly towards the unprotected eyes of the two weakest mages in the hostile group. These lesser adepts could only feel the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end, a frisson of primal danger slithering down their spines, as their dulled senses finally registered the mortal threat rapidly closing in.

But it was too late for them to react in any meaningful way. Their Mana reserves were too limited, their mystical talents too stunted to muster any form of defense against such a lightning-fast assault while still reeling from Arianna's opening salvo.

'Chi! Chi!'

Blood sprayed outwards in a thick, viscous mist, joining the swirling clouds of gray smoke as the two unlucky mages were struck with brutal precision. 

The flaming arrows had punctured straight through their eye sockets, the searing mystical fires scorching away optic nerves and sizzling brain matter in an instant of agonizing oblivion.

Their bodies stood stupidly still for a frozen heartbeat, limbs twitching in small involuntary spasms as their higher brain functions ceased. Then, like marionettes with their strings brutally severed, they crumpled bonelessly to the ground in unceremonious heaps, the dazed confusion still etched across their lifeless features a testament to the sheer swiftness of their demise.

The leader of the hostile group violently trembled, his Mana senses finally recovering enough to detect the rapidly fading traces of Arianna's Mana as well as the abrupt termination of his two allies' life forces. 

At that moment, any semblance of rational thought or planning fled his panicked mind.

Thinking, strategizing - such esoteric concepts were no longer viable options in the face of such undeniable lethality. They had to act, had to lash out with everything they had in the hopes of overwhelming this terrifying adversary before she could add their names to her growing tally of casualties.

"Die, you wretched wench!"

The leader of the mage group bellowed, his face contorted with unbridled rage. Veins bulged on his forehead as he clutched the ornate magical staff, knuckles whitening. 

With a violent quiver, the staff unleashed a torrent of raw mana – a colorless, yet sinister stream of pure force that whipped through the air, closing in on Arianna with harrowing intensity.

Disoriented by the lingering gray smoke, the other mage's mana senses were still scrambling to recover. Yet he didn't hesitate for a moment, driven by a primal need for survival. Following his leader's example, he channeled every ounce of his power, expelling a similarly violent maelstrom of mana aimed squarely at Arianna.

The twin forces detonated forth with blinding speed, unleashed mere moments after Arianna had dispatched the first two ill-fated mages. 

She had no time to properly defend herself. Reacting on pure instinct, she conjured a shimmering aegis of light water mana – a glistening veil imbued with the mystical capacity to absorb the brunt force of opposing mana strikes.

Bang!

The deafening collision shook the forest to its core. The sheer, unrestrained power behind the mages' attacks proved too overwhelming. Arianna's glistening shield burst apart like a shattered mirror, the resultant shockwave sending her lithe form screaming through the air until it slammed against an unyielding oak tree with bone-jarring force.

Crimson spittle flew from her lips as a mouthful of blood sprayed outward. Searing agony lanced through her body, the fiery torment of cracked bones and violently shifted organs leaving her doubling over in breathless anguish.

As Arianna crumpled to the ground in a heap, she found herself denied even a moment's respite to formulate her next move. 

The surrounding earth began to glow with an eerie, glistening brown aura, its very surface thrumming with barely restrained power. Then, without warning, the ground itself erupted in violent upheaval as countless streams of condensed earth mana burst forth, rapidly coalescing into unyielding chains that constricted around Arianna's battered form with punishing force.

An immense, suffocating pressure bore down upon her, the mystical restraints threatening to crush her slight body into a mangled ruin. Breaking free would require expending a considerable portion of her already strained mana reserves – a luxury she would not be afforded.

A thunderous gale tore through the clearing, the powerful gusts scattering the lingering smoke to reveal the two fallen mages' corpses. Their surviving comrades' eyes burned with feral bloodlust, feral predators eyeing their helpless prey.

"Fucking bitch!" the leader spat, flecks of spittle flying from his contorted lips as his body trembled with scarcely contained fury. 

Despite her precarious situation, Arianna's beautiful features remained an infuriatingly calm mask of detached curiosity – a fact that only stoked his rage to greater heights. "Even now, you act as if you can still reverse this! Tch. How your composed face taunts me..."

A harsh, grating cackle erupted from the second mage, the nails-on-chalkboard sound setting Arianna's teeth on edge. 

"Well now, we can't exactly have our fun, can we?" he sneered, his words dripping with dark implications. "Sir Starforge will have our heads if we defile his precious slaves. But I reckon a bit of... discipline is warranted after she killed our brothers."

His lips twisted into a cruel, sadistic grin. "We'll rough her up proper, heal her just enough, and then deliver the goods. Least we can do to return the favor, aye?"

The leader's eyes glinted with feral glee, his mouth curling into a predatory smile that sent a shiver of revulsion down Arianna's spine. "Hmph. I suppose that would be appropriate eno–"

In that instant, a razor-sharp presence saturated the entire area – a feeling akin to a blade's keen edge pressing against their necks, their mana senses screaming bloody warnings. 

For the mages, horror rapidly congealed in the pits of their guts as the unmistakable specter of death crept ever nearer with each stuttering heartbeat.

The weaker of the two could have sworn icy fingers already caressed the nape of his neck, the cloying embrace of the grave mere inches away. Panic gripped him as his instincts screamed of the imminent demise looming over him, though he knew not from whence this threat emerged. All he understood was the primal need to live, to escape the sneering jaws of oblivion by any means necessary.

His magical staff blazed with manic activity, overloaded by the torrential flood of mana he poured into it. Wild gouts of brown earth erupted forth, rapidly coalescing into a gargantuan, densely-packed earthen shield – a veritable mountain of compacted soil and stone surrounding him in a nigh-impenetrable bastion. 

The mystical fortification exuded an aura of stifling, smothering weight, its very density potent enough to negate the effects of opposing mana sources.

Yet this formidable defense proved utterly useless against the soaring arc of Gladius's spirit sword.

The ethereal blade gleamed like a shooting star, a radiant streak of silvery light hurtling through the air with blinding speed. Its keen edge shimmered with the profound power of the Sturdy Body Art – an aura of sheer, inexorable weight and mass that allowed it to demolish any obstacle in its path like a celestial battering ram.

Chi!

The earthen shield disintegrated into a thousand shards, pulverized by the spirit sword's unstoppable passage. 

The mage's eyes flew wide with abject terror as he could only helplessly track the blade's terrifying brilliance hurtling towards him, its blinding luminance already searing into his mind like the swift kiss of a killing stroke.