EA Chapter 38 - A Chance at Heroism

With the ogre distracted, it gave the soldiers enough of an opening to drag their wounded to safety. The guards had done their best, but their lance light had struggled to do anything worse than scarring the exterior of the ogre. And, already, that ridged shell was starting to repair itself.

Luna strode forward, flanked on one side by Syri, while Rema hopped onto a crooked lantern post to act as a makeshift vantage point.

Inwardly, she was debating the best way to proceed. As satisfying as disintegration was, she could not afford to use it too liberally at present. It was naturally a costly spell, instilling a strain on the body. And the more durable a target was, the more force she had to put in to destroy it.

Null was another option to end things quickly, but that was also markedly more destructive in an enclosed urban environment. And while Luna cared little for collateral damage ordinarily, she had to at least make an effort to minimize it if she were to build a good image among the peasantry.

“Syri, do you think you can hold it’s attention?” Luna asked. The beast was already plodding their way, each step making the ground shudder with renewed intensity.

“I don’t imagine I have much choice,” Syri replied, raising her blade. A golden hue shimmered along the edge, her qi rendering the blade sharp enough to effortlessly cleave solid steel in twain. She had dropped her own weights as they went along, her aura radiating around her in golden halo.

She rushed forth to meet the oncoming ogre while Rema loosed a few shots from her bow. The tips of her arrow glowed red hot with her qi, exploding against the beast’s hull and shattering chunks off in plumes of ash. Only enough to irritate the beast.

By now Kiharu was hard at work lifting great chunks of debris onto her back, grunting from the strain of it all. She had to be mindful of her own strength, doing everything with care to keep the structure from collapsing further. Romula stood to her side with her staff held aloft, the tip glowing white, guiding the injured out one by one.

While the ogre was not particularly fast at moving, its attacks came with a shocking swiftness that immediately had Syri dodging and weaving around great crushing claws. Each impact fractured the ground, uprooting cobbles and threatening to throw the Paladin off-balance entirely.

Yet Syri was no novice. Even before attending the Citadel, she had undergone rigorous sword training with her town’s guard captain. Her footwork was quick, undaunted, dodging the incoming srikes and countering with hard slashes that cut away chunks of the ogre’s arm.

But the beast regenerated quickly, rocky hide mending itself in the span of seconds.

Luna had to wonder if the Ashborn could simply regenerate indefinitely, or if their dark cores could run out of power in the same way a normal quartz crystal could. She supposed she’d need to covertly take a sample for herself if she were to understand the problem.

She raised a hand aloft as her allies continued landing attacks, chipping chunks from the ogre’s hide. A great sphere of flame, like a miniature star, blossomed to life at her side, casting the plaza in a vibrant orange hue. A continuous beam of heat and force erupted from the sphere, striking the ogre in the chest and gouging a chunk from its side.

The giant roared, unhinging its massive sloping jaws. It slammed to one knee, sending a miniature quake across the street. Syri seized on the opening and plunged forward, aiming to drive the point of her blade into the ogre’s chest. Yet the creature reacted quickly, backhanding Syri off her feet. A pair of thunderous bangs echoed through the area as Syri smashed through two brick walls, obliterating them to dust in passing.

“S-Syri!” Rema cried.

“She’s fine!” Luna barked, directing the motions of her solar sphere to carve more chunks from the reeling ogre.

The beast snarled and swept a clawed hand through the ground, uprooting great chunks of the road and catapulting them toward the two girls. Rema jumped high with a qi-infused leap, flipping through the air and landing on an awning. Luna followed suit, her solar sphere fizzling away, avoiding the majority of the shrapnel. But a particularly large piece, bigger than her whole body,

Luna caught it with a kick, shattering the brickwork in a single movement. The ogre lunged toward her through the dust, the sudden burst of speed made Luna’s eyes widen in shock, and she only barely raised her arms to block as the great palm struck her. She was launched through the air like a cannon ball, striking a row of squat stone houses. Three of them were obliterated by the force of the impact, kicking up great clouds of dust into the air.

Pain racked Luna’s body, a sharp gasp punching past her lips. The rune throbbed in her skin, burning intensely. The explosive impact had nearly drained it entirely.

She forced herself slowly to one knee as the ogre came stomping her way. Luna was set to jump again, only to halt as one of Rema’s arrows caught it in the back. A brilliant white glow shone from the arrow, casting an aura around the ogre that dramatically slowed it. Even from where she knelt, Luna could see Rema gasping from the exertion, her slowing spell rapidly draining her qi when applied to such a massive beast.

Another burning sphere formed at Luna’s side, this one larger and brighter than the first. It was decently destructive as a spell, flashy but not too strenuous. A great beam of force shot from it, striking the ogre in the left knee with such force that the rocky limb exploded apart in a violent flash. The ogre fell forth but was still clawing toward her, until Syri rushed to close the gap.

A trail of blood oozed down the cut above her right bow, but aside from that she seemed largely undamaged from her flight. She jumped high, delivering a mighty slash that cleaved a great chunk from the ogre’s arm- enough to halt it in its tracks. The beast howled and reeled back, Luna’s beam now able to carve it’s chest open enough to expose the glinting obsidian of its core.

She hurled herself forward, her body wreathed in an aura of blazing purple energy, and slammed into the ogre’s cracked chest. The explosive impact shattered the ogre’s body, blasting clouds of ash onto the plaza, while Luna burst through the other side with a great chunk of the crystalline core clutched firmly in her hands.

She floated down slowly, landing atop the ogre’s rapidly crumbling body, the glow of her body turning steadily from purple to an angelic gold. Luna’s gaze swept across the stunned citizens, saw the awe their eyes, and fought the urge to smirk at the stupid peasants.

One couldn’t claim a throne without them.

“People,” she called, raising the crystal heart of her foe aloft with one hand. She magnified the glow around it deliberately, seeking to draw their attention. A nice, brazen display of power. “I, Luna Alcett, will keep you safe!”