UL1 - Book 11 - Chapter 077 -

Sabon moved forward, his shield held ready as the copy of Miranna–Shiny– came at them, its two red swords growing as it activated Ultimate Form, doubling its size to forty feet.

Elemental spells came from Shiny as it unleashed a barrage of ice storms upon the team. 

Miranna didn’t hesitate, activating her own abilities and watching as Shale Spark endured the downpour of magic that struck her red scales. 

Dad’s going to love to hear how he was right about this.

Allowing herself to smile, Miranna sent her own spells at Shiny, knowing that the next part was going to suck. Fowl had been a painful lesson of the gift she and her clone both possessed.

[ Ultimate Form ]

A wave of ice radiated from Shiny as it activated Ice Nova, and Miranna copied it, both spells having no impact on each other, but it did slow down Sabon just slightly.

Two red swords came at the warrior, who held up his shield, his body flashing a bright green before they struck.

Each was deflected, and Miranna summoned an air wall, leaping onto it and off it, her blades coming for the neck that had an awful-looking brown spike next to it.

Mom was right… that thing is hideous.

Her clone was fast, just like her, but the lack of stats from the equipment it hadn’t copied didn’t make up for the hundred levels it had upon her.  500 stat points seemed like a lot until you considered all the bonuses she was given by every piece of equipment she wore.  Her two swords covered that advantage.

Shiny flashed with a green color. It moved in a way that told everyone it had activated Evasion. Her blades missed their target, slipping under her attack, bringing a weapon toward her.

Without hesitating, Miranna summoned another Air Wall and jumped off it, storing one of her swords and flinging herself at the boss. Her sword, Loyalty, shifted to a short spear and when Shiny tried to adjust, dodging her attack, its head snapped to attention at Sabon for the briefest moment.

Got to love taunt.

No one said a word. There was no need for that unless something unforeseen had occurred.  Tens of thousands of fights had trained them how to work together. What seemed like such a waste of time to some had been the real reason they had taken so long to defeat the tower.

Miranna and Shale Spark were willing to grind out more than needed because they wouldn’t lose anyone else again. Kurrar, Agluur, and Sabon were their family and would be for eternity. Each of them knew the risks, but Miranna knew the actual costs.  Every time someone stepped into the tower, death was a possibility.  

The creature that had killed the members of her first party never showed up again and she had vowed to end its life if they ever crossed paths.  

Focusing on this fight, Miranna grabbed onto the massive brown spike, smiling to herself as her dad’s plan worked like he had written down.

With her left hand grabbing the massive leather spike, she drove the tip into Shiny’s neck.

She felt the pain of the attack, her own Thorn Aura reflecting damage.  In a single strike, she lost almost a sixth of her health. As soon as the pain had come, Kurrur’s heal went off, bringing her back up to full health.

Miranna unleashed a fire nova and stabbed again. As her attack struck, she leapt off the back of her image, sensing the hand that was coming for her.

A loud shout of anger came from the being that had guided them through the tower and now faced them.

Lightning raced through Miranna’s body as the clone sent out a shock wave.

Ignoring the pain that lit up her nerves, she summoned an air wall, adjusting her own path and attempted to attack from behind.

Shiny vanished and reappeared before Shale Spark, charging their healer, mage, and dragon.

Prepared for this, Shale Spark unleashed a torrent of flames from her mouth, the attack washing over the clone.  Staggering through the hot flames, two red swords came at the dragon who charged forward, slamming her own body, which was two-thirds the size of Shiny.

Sabon and Miranna both came up from behind, attacking the copy’s ankles, and watched as an ice spear that Agluur had been forming, hiding it behind Shale Spark, slammed into the being’s shoulder.

Black blood fell to the ground, blending in with the stone as the team continued its assault.  Shale Spark bit into Shiny’s neck, her own health suffering from the attack that wasn’t meant to create a fatal injury.

A green rain fell upon the team as Kurrur cast his area-wide healing spell.

Miranna used her natural speed and strength, combined with stone and air walls, to get airborne, slashing at the ligaments and tendons on the clone's shoulders.  Each strike cut deeper, slowly bleeding and disabling their opponent.

“You’ll not win!” Shiny shouted, dropping both swords and grabbing Shale Spark’s neck with its hands.

No cry came from their dragon as it endured the tug of war. Instead, she sent out a wave of fire upon the area of the clone’s neck, burning it.

A guttural cry came from Shiny as it yanked itself free from Shale Spark’s bite, tearing out a chunk of its own throat.

Miranna saw a third of her dragon’s health vanish when that happened, a few seconds passing before Kurrur managed to heal some of it.

Shiny tried to step backward, tripping as its achilles gave way from the weight and damage that Sabon had been doing during that moment.

Falling backward, it pulled Shale Spark with it, the pair landing with a loud thud against the stone. Claws dug into the clone's arms, roots and ice appearing around its limbs as both Miranna and Agluur cast spells to help immobilize it.

“NO!” Shiny shouted. “I… was… promised!”

Miranna wanted to say something, to ask what had been promised, as she felt the wave of flames wash over her. A moment later, another wave came, and she cursed, watching everyone but Shale Spark’s health drop by almost a third or more.

More spells were unleashed upon them, Shiny using whatever it had available, sending ice, fire and electricity at them.

Pausing her attack and advance, Miranna summoned a wall above Sabon and another above herself. Her weapons were stored, and a shield appeared that she used to deflect any parts of the spells that she could.

Her other hand summoned a healing potion, watching their warrior do the same.

Seconds turned into almost half a minute before the magical assault ended.  Three potions had been drained and each one had barely kept her above half health during the storm.

“I… was… promised…” Shiny said, struggling to speak as Shale Spark kept her claws dug in, her weight keeping the injured being from being able to break loose of the magical bindings they had been casting.

“Finish it!” Shale Spark called out.

Miranna moved from her defensive position and came at the being that had seemed so sure of itself just a moment ago.

Two small leaps had her airborne, coming downward at the forehead of her clone. Miranna stared hard into the golden eye that gazed up at her.

“But–”

“You’re just another obstacle to overcome to defeat the tower,” Miranna said, cutting it off.  “Don’t take it personally.”

As she spoke those last words, Miranna activated all of her defensive abilities.  Truth was in her hands, a large two-handed spear plunging downward into the iris that was widening as it came.

Her attack struck true and Shiny jerked once, causing Miranna to fall off as her own body failed to hold onto the weapon she had just lodged into the clone’s eye socket.

Miranna felt her lifeforce almost vanish, the attack having done far more damage than she had expected.

Healing washed over her, and she knew from the amount that Kurrur had used his special one.

I guess it doesn’t matter… we’re not supposed to be fighting anytime soon.

Finding herself lying on her back, Miranna looked up at the sky above, not realizing how blue it really was.

“You okay?” Sabon called out as he rushed over. “You were at like 5% remaining!”

Grunting, Miranna nodded, slowly rising to her feet. “Yeah… that one hurt way more than I had expected. I’m glad we tested how this feels against Fowl.”

Their warrior chuckled, holding out a hand.

“What’s that for?” Miranna asked.

“Doing what you promised,” Sabon replied, grinning like a fool. “You said we’d defeat the tower and you just kept your word.”

“Please, you never doubted her,” Shale Spark stated as she crawled over the top of the corpse of Shiny, her large dragon snout looking down at them. “And besides, I’m pretty sure we all had a part in this victory.”

“What did I miss?” Agluur asked, arriving a moment later with their healer. 

“Just Sabon being his usual self,” Miranna said. “Now then, I think we’re supposed to let our dragon here enjoy herself before we move on to the next part of all this.

A thrum came from Shale Spark as she nodded her head a few times, drool starting to drip from her mouth. 

“Oh gods… I’m going to have not to watch this,” Kurrur said. “It’s bad enough that she chews with her mouth open, but being this close.”

“Hey!” their dragon exclaimed, bringing her snout closer to their healer. “I don’t chew with my–”

“You do,” Miranna said, cutting her off. “But we still love you even though you do.”

A grunt came from Shale Spark, who snorted and blew a black puff of smoke out of her nostrils.

“Yeah, I’m moving a bit closer to the portal,” Kurrur stated, pointing at the white portal. 

***

“You okay?” Agluur asked, nudging Miranna with her elbow. “You seem… displeased.”

“It wasn’t that much of a fight,” she replied, shrugging. “Honestly… I’m a bit disappointed.”

“We just defeated the tower and Miranna’s upset it wasn’t harder,” Kurrar said. “Someone please tell her that it wasn’t as easy as she thinks it was.”

Sabon nodded, massaging his left arm at the elbow. “Yeah… I mean, I just had half my arm regrown. It wasn’t that easy.”

A satisfied burp came from Shale Spark as she finished eating half the remains of Shiny. “Okay, I’m good to go.”

The five of them looked at the white portal, each of them aware of what lay beyond.

“Are we ready for this?” Miranna asked. “I mean… we’ve got the notes Jazzjak and my parents left us. Three hundred years… It’s going to be a hard and fast race.”

“Beats dying of old age or in a dungeon,” Sabon said. “Some of you forget I’m getting old… twenty more years and I’d have to think about hanging up my shield.”

Their healer chuckled and started moving towards the portal. “For once, I’m going first. Screw the whole ‘warriors first’ thing.”

Miranna hesitated as their mage and warrior moved to follow the dwarf.

You okay?

Smiling, Miranna nodded.

I spent a lifetime preparing for this. Part of me is scared to see what lies beyond… 

Well, don’t be. Whatever happens, you and I are going to see this through no matter what. We’re connected by more than just our bond.

She turned and saw that Shale Spark had transformed into her humanoid form. A gold robe that offered nothing but covering rested upon the tall dragon’s shoulders.

“Thank you,” Miranna said. “For being my friend… my family.”

Laughing, Shale Spark put a hand on her back and pushed Miranna forward. 

“Thank me later, for now let’s go see what lies beyond that portal.”