’What is that thing?’ Osho wondered grimly as he stared at the avian creature that faced off with their teacher.
Just staring at it made his head hurt, but he refused to look away. The convoy hadn’t stopped moving, but he wasn’t sure getting closer to the Citadel was a good idea considering that would mean bringing that thing closer to the Citadel.
’That’s if we even survive the battle.’ He thought, then his eyes widened as he saw a massive ball of flames smash into the creature and explode.
The blast generated a shockwave that blew away most of the black dust and the area which had darkened due to the clouds was briefly lit up in a flash of orange.
"She hit it!" One of the students shouted excitedly and many of them cheered. However, Osho had a feeling that it wouldn’t be so easy.
A powerful cry sounded out and the remnants of the blast were blown away by a powerful gust of wind, revealing the Harbinger that had no damage whatsoever.
Within the Observation Center, the handlers and Major Thompson watched as Mrs Jane engaged the Skyblight Harbinger. They watched with bated breaths as her opening attack landed, but there was some disappointment at the lack of damage. Granted, it was expected.
"Document everything we see during this fight. Even if Lady Jane can’t defeat it, we should be able to get a good idea of its capabilities if they fight. So document everything we see. Its strengths and possible weaknesses. We need an effective strategy against this thing! Everyone get to work!" Major Thompson barked orders and the Handlers immediately went to work.
Mrs Jane narrowed her eyes at the lack of damage. Sure, it was an attack she released herself, so its potency would naturally be lower than that of her beast. Still...
’Ah, I see. There’s an invisible wind barrier surrounding it. It automatically softens whatever damage I inflict, and its tough skin will resist the rest. I’m assuming its feathers are also resistant.’ She analyzed as the Skyblight Harbinger spread its wings wide.
It flapped them and thousands of sharp feathers shot out towards Mrs Jane and the Convoy.
The students screamed as the feathers looked like a blanket, about to shred them apart. However, Mrs Jane’s Salamander moved at that moment. Its scales glowed and the air between them and the feathers warped before a massive wave of fire spontaneously erupted between the convoy and the swarm of feathers.
The flames burned at the feathers until there was nothing left. However, they didn’t stop there.
Mrs Jane flicked her hand and the flames morphed into a giant serpent of orange flames. The students watched in absolute terror as the serpent chased the Skyblight Harbinger.
The creature screeched and flapped its wings, its body blurring as it maneuvered out of the way of the serpent, however, Mrs Jane simply had it chase the creature.
It moved around for some time before it seemed to get irritated. It screeched and flapped its wings once more. This time, a massive blade of wind that was dozens of meters in length appeared. However, it looked strange.
Whenever Gale condensed a wind blade, it was difficult to see with the naked eye but a close enough inspection would allow one to observe a light gray color.
This wind blade, though, was almost entirely black.
It hit the head of the fire serpent, and everyone watched in horror as the construct was sliced in half after a bit of resistance, and the wind blade continued towards the convoy.
"Nora." Mrs Jane spoke calmly and her metal Armadillo emerged from her beast space. It made a strange noise before a large wall of metal appeared at a slight angle.
The wind blade hit the wall but was deflected to the side. It sliced into the ground, the force behind it leaving a groove that was nearly twice its size.
The ground shook and the drivers nearly lost control of their vehicles but managed to get them under control.
All the students were panicking, but Osho had his eyes narrowed.
’They’re just probing each other.’ He realized. None of them had unleashed any truly destructive attacks at each other as they seemed content to find the limits of their opponent. A sentiment that didn’t last very long.
With a screech, the dense thunderclouds above rumbled, the purple flashes of lightning within them suddenly increased in intensity.
At that moment, everyone on the buses noticed the hair all over their bodies starting to stand strangely.
Most were confused, but a few immediately knew what it meant, Osho included.
"LIGHTNING STRIKE!!" A soldier shouted before they were engulfed in a flash of purple light.
"Fire resistance, high durability, considerable intelligence, speed, wind manipulation, madness inducement, some sort of wither manipulation in the form of that dust, and now lightning manipulation. What sort of creature is this?" Major Thompson muttered as the lightning strike landed.
Their visual of the convoy was momentarily restricted as the purple lightning landed and generated a flash of light that obscured everything in the vicinity.
The air in the room was tense, and when the light faded, everyone expected to see a scene of devastation, but they were pleasantly surprised by the result.
’She’s resourceful if anything.’ Major Thompson thought as the scene revealed the convoy that was mostly unharmed.
What had changed, though, was the several long rods of metal some distance away from each vehicle, purple lightning still crackling around each of them.
"She created and used them as lightning rods, incredible." Someone commented.
Back to the battle, Mrs Jane looked adequately pissed while the Skyblight Harbinger seemed a bit irritated that its attack had failed.
However, Mrs Jane didn’t allow it the chance to do anything else as the metal rods rose from the ground and shot towards the creature like spears, their speed far faster than the fire serpent of before.
The creature flapped its wings and blurred as it started dodging the rods, shooting out blasts of wind that knocked away whichever one that got too close.
This time, though, Mrs Jane didn’t intend to give it any chance to sort itself out. As it started dodging the rods, her Salamander acted.
Numerous beach ball sized fireballs formed above her and started shooting towards the creature. With so many projectiles coming at it from different angles, the Skyblight Harbinger finally couldn’t dodge.
Several of the rods impaled its wings, black blood spraying as a result.
It let out a pained and enraged cry, but before it could do anything, the fireballs arrived.
The explosion this time was far more devastating than the first one Mrs. Jane generated, the surrounding oxygen getting sucked in as the temperature of the surroundings spiked and everyone on the buses started to sweat. However, the scene made the students cheer once more. Because this time, they saw actual blood get spilled. Meaning the creature could bleed.
The scene in the Observation Center was similar, seeing Mrs Jane deal tangible damage lifted everyone’s spirits slightly.
Then there was Osho, and he wasn’t happy.
Because from beginning to end, he felt that the gaze on him hadn’t faded. In fact, it had only gotten worse since the fight began, Gale’s efforts being the only thing stopping him from having a full-blown panic attack.
’It’s fighting her, yet it isn’t even giving her its full attention.’ He thought, his eyes still narrowed. Then they widened.
It was so fast that he almost didn’t react, and the only reason he did was because he’d learned how to track fast objects as a result of Gale’s own absurd speed.
On the bus, Mrs Jane’s eyes went wide and Nora barely reacted as a wall of metal formed in front of her while Mrs Jane shifted her body.
At that moment, a blade of wind tore right through the barrier and blood sprayed as a deep gash appeared from her shoulder to her pelvis.
The Observation Center fell silent as Mrs Jane was dealt a serious injury. It was so quick that most hadn’t been able to react in time, and by the time they did, one of the strongest beast tamers in their Citadel had already almost been sliced in half.
’Ugh, if not for my equipment, I’d be dead right now.’ She thought as she immediately poured Mana into the injured part to stem the bleeding. But to her dismay, the black wind blade hade a strange effect that stifled normal mana, so her efforts were negligible as blood poured from the wound.
Her beasts let out startled and angry sounds as they faced the Skyblight Habinger which had emerged from the smoke. It had already removed the metal rods from its wings. As for its injuries, they were nowhere to be seen.
High speed regeneration.
’Dammit. I can’t go all out while protecting everybody. I need to draw its attention away somehow, but its not even focused on me.’ Her eyes narrowed as her thoughts spun, considering how to draw the creature away.
That’s when she saw something briefly flicker in the corner of her vision, and her heart sunk when she realized what it was.