2103 Fairy Queen (Part 1)

Or better, The Demons of the Fallen were charging at Tista's wings.

They passed through the True Flames without getting burned, the white fire bursting out of her feathers shared instead of mindlessly unleashed.

Strong of their new power, the True Demons Blinked past the protection of Sunder, shielding Tista and the artifact with their own bodies.

Linnea's mouth opened in fear as the number of True Demons increased by the second. Soon there were so many of them that by combining their Cursed Flames they were not only repelling Meltdown, but they were also slowly advancing.

'What the heck is going on?' Tista could feel the burden from the True Flames decreasing as more and more Demons stepped through her wings.

'Yes, Tista. I'm alright. Thanks for asking.' Solus' voice was supposed to sound sarcastic but it was amazed instead.

'Good gods, Solus, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot that you were still at my finger and that by conjuring the True Flames that way I would put you into danger. Are you sure you are not hurt?' The Red Demon asked.

'I'm not hurt. Quite the contrary.' The stone ring was ablaze as well, but just like for the Demons, the Cursed Flames were tame.

'How the heck is this possible?'

'Off the top of my hat, I have no logical explanation. If you believe in superstition, I have one, though. Nana's last words.' Solus replied.

'What do you mean?' Tista felt her head spinning.

'She called Lith "King of the Spirits" and his power turned out to be about having authority over the souls of the dead who choose to follow him. Nana called you "Fairy Queen", instead, not "Queen of something". 

'If Nana was right, it means that your power isn't about controlling others but about bestowing your power upon others, like a Queen when she blesses her knights before sending them to battle.' Solus said.

'It would be amazing! This way conjuring and holding inside my body two kinds of Cursed Flames would no longer be dangerous for my life force. I can use the first to attack and the second to empower my allies.

'Yet this is odd. How could Nana predict any of this and why I can't use this power on myself? Also, do you think that Lith has it too since Mogar called him the Father of all Demon?' Tista asked.

'I'm sorry, I've forgotten my crystal ball in another ring.' Solus replied with a snort. 'Focus on the battle. Linnea's spell is almost spent but so are your bodyguards.'

Even with the boost from the True Flames, the Demons had no way to recover from the damage they had taken from Meltdown whereas Linnea only needed to keep her breathing rhythm steady to recover the mana spent.

Her body ached from the mana abuse and Invigoration could now restore barely 60% of her strength but the Demons had just 3 eyes left at most. They couldn't afford to use magic or Flames without becoming so weak that they would pose no threat to Linnea any longer.

They were already slow in her eyes, but at least the darkness that composed their body was still too dense for the Headmistress to just tank the blows. The shards of the barrier floating around her now moved clumsily, her mind and body exhausted from the unrelenting onslaught.

The Demons attacked her from every side, deforming their shadow bodies to bypass Linnea's defenses every time an opening appeared. Tista had immediately joined them, taking another deep breath in order to bestow new power onto the Demons.

Her vision became blurry and her knees buckled, feeling her heart and lungs throb.

'Stop it! Whatever your bloodline ability is, it took a huge toll on you. You didn't just share your Flames with the Demons, you also gave each of them a spark of your life force.

'It shielded them at the cost of a crapload of your stamina. Any more and you'll end up like Lith.' Solus said.

'Why didn't you tell me sooner?' Linnea had exploited Tista's staggering to attack her with a tier three Spirit Spell.

A Demon jumped in front of the Red Demon, taking the brunt of the damage and giving her the time to raise Sunder to block. The blast sent her crashing against a wall and squeezed the air out of her lungs.

'Because it's a new skill! I can't push the damn pause button during a fight and take my sweet time thinking.' Solus replied.

'What's a pause button?' Solus' word confused Tista and the mana exchange from the mind link was starting to give her a headache.

Linnea noticed the sluggish movements of the Red Demon and released another spell. With her mind clouded by fatigue, Tista reacted by instinct. She sidestepped the spell and slashed with Sunder.

The emerald shards reassembled themselves in front of Linnea, cracked under the air blade, and then shattered under the blast of the Spirit Spell in its wake.

"No fucking way!" It had been just a tier one, but the damage it dealt to the Headmistress' ego was on par with a Blade Spell.

'What was that?' Tista felt slightly stronger, taller, and heavier as violet tongues now mixed with her blue aura.

Solus wanted to congratulate her, but she could feel in her weakened state, it would have been enough to make Tista faint from mana poisoning.

Suddenly, the air in the hallway became so cold that Linnea could see her breath steaming. The Demons who had fought recklessly until a few seconds back became still as their bodies burst with new power.

Lith had given both the cloaking rings to his sister so there was nothing suppressing his aura as he went all-out two floors above.

The Headmistress ignored Tista and focused the other spells she had at the ready on the Demons whose aura was suddenly rising to match her own. Luckily for her, the creatures didn't seem to worry about defending themselves.

They just relentlessly attacked while releasing a black fog that blinded her Life Vision.

'Damn bastard! Verhen wants me to focus on his minions while the Red Demon completes her mission. I should have known that little runt would have never left his sister alone.' Linnea Blinked past the Demons and in front of Tista to stop Lith's plan before it was too late.

Or at least, what she believed was Lith's plan.

Linnea was about to unleash the tier five Spirit Spell Mana Storm to get rid of all the enemies at the same time when Lith Switched positions with one of the possessed clerks.

Finding the dimensional coordinates of a place was hard in the chaos of the battle so he had ordered the Demons to stand still. As for their aura, it was meant to cover his dimensional spell, not Tista.

"Hi, Linnea." Even though Lith was in his Tiamat form, even though seven years had passed, he was still exactly as the Headmistress remembered him.

Someone with cold eyes, no care for the authority, and the expression of someone who didn't consider her worthy of a second of his time.

"We finally meet again, you-" A sudden left punch to the gut sent her slamming against the ceiling, shattered her ribcage despite the Adamant armor protecting it, and cut her short.