2177 Strike at Dawn (Part 3)
Just like the Saefel set, that of Arthan was capable of changing size along with its wearer and was comprised of several tons of Davross.
Tyris had crafted it for Valeron, but knowing that one day it would have been passed on to their descendants, she had taken the possibility that they would have chosen their Griffon side in consideration.
The Guardian would have never thought that while her descendants had discarded it, one of their enemies would have found a way to exploit her kindness against them.
"Took you long enough." The Horseman had her helm disappear, revealing her visage.
Her long pitch-black hair whipped around due to the altitude winds while sunlight reflected on her snow-white skin, painting it with gold. Her golden eyes had no pupil, shining with power like stars.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of you waiting for me?" Thrud asked while covering her face with the helm instead, the Armor and Sword of Arthan humming with power.
"What's the point of conquering Belius just for you to recapture it immediately after?" Dawn's armor closed shut again as she sucker-punched Thrud with the tower tier spell, Endless Nova.
The whole sky around Thrud and the Horseman was now filled with meteors made of light, fire, earth, and darkness. Each one of them was as big as a house and together they formed a perfect sphere that encased the two women.
The humongous size of the spell covered Thrud's field of vision, making it impossible for her to either Blink or Warp to safety. On top of that, a single meteor was powerful enough to blow Belius' walls to bits.
"Fuck!" The Mad Queen infused both herself and her equipment with Life Maelstrom at the same time the Novas exploded.
The silver lightning boosted the effects of the water element she channeled in the Davross of her armor, creating a protective field capable of splitting the mana from the world energy and lessening the impact.
With no time to weave her spell, Thrud lit four of the seven gems on Arthan's Sword, unleashing an also boosted quadra-elemental spell that could fight on par with a tower spell.
Frozen Griffon conjured an ice wall several meters thick infused with darkness, air, and fire. The ice smothered Dawn's white flames while the darkness magic of their respective spells kept each other at bay.
On top of that, the air element of Frozen Griffon deflected the earth projectiles that the shockwaves caused by the exploding Novas threw in every direction at supersonic speed.
Yet all of that would have never been enough if Thrud hadn't mixed the air barrier with the fire element, generating timed explosions akin to small Raging Novas. The shockwaves they caused smothered the enemy's, allowing her to survive.
At the same time, the conflicting armies had been forced to stop fighting. The light generated by Endless Nova had blinded both mystical and regular senses while the shockwaves unleashed by the spell had forced the foot soldiers to kneel despite the distance.
Those who had been flying in the sky around Belius, instead, had been blown away and sent crashing against the ground.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." Dawn said while tracing runes in the air with Twilight.
"Oh, no you don't!" Thrud charged forward like a meteor to keep the Horseman from completing her spell.
Not even the Mad Queen was confident of surviving a tower tier Blade Spell. Only now that they were very close did she manage to look past the enchanted aura of Dawn's equipment and study her.
Life Vision could see Acala's deep violet core pulsing in perfect synch with the Horseman's power core, generating a power greater than the sum of its parts. Both cores were further boosted by the crystal horse.
Sunrise acted similarly to Baba Yaga's hut, absorbing the world energy from its surroundings even in the absence of a mana geyser. The steed used that energy to fuel its own abilities and those of its masters, working akin to a breathing technique with no side effects.
Thrud cursed her own arrogance as the Sword of Arthan met the Twilight Blade. Frozen Griffon had allowed her to survive, but not even the many layers of Davross covering her could save her from suffering major wounds.
The Mad Queen's body was already healing by itself, but until the process was complete, she would be weakened.
'Wait, I expected Dawn to dodge. I'm much heavier than-' Her train of thought derailed as the enemy's blade moved in a circular motion that pushed her own to the side and opened the path for a lunge with one fluid motion.
Thrud used her free hand, exploiting her body boosted by fusion magic and Life Maelstrom to safely grab the blade's fuller, stopping the attack.
"You are not very bright, are you?" The Horseman's voice sounded like she and Acala spoke in unison as Dawn's tier four spell, Sunshine, was unleashed from the tip of the blade and shot Thrud in the face from point-blank range.
From so up close, the Mad Queen didn't have the time to activate her sword's Domination ability. To make matters worse, the Twilight Blade amplified Sunshine's destructive power, bringing it on par with a tier five spell and Sunrise kicked it up another notch.
A barrage of laser-like rays, each one as big as a truck and as hot as the sun shot Thrud out of the sky and rained upon Belius. Iata managed to recall the elemental sealing arrays from the battlefield and stop the onslaught before the city was wiped out of the map.
Despite her timely intervention, Belius' walls were cracked at several points and many of the soldiers had been gravely injured or killed. Dawn has hidden pure light constructs in the mix, knowing that blocking the light element also meant to disrupt the healers' work.
Unluckily for her, after her previous assault, the Royals had added a light sealing array and Thrud had done the same.
'Are you sure this is what you want to do, my love?' Acala asked via their mind link. 'Even with your steed and your ultimate equipment, the gap in mass, mana, and power cores is enormous.
'What point has this battle for you? You are just endangering your life.'
'First, this isn't my steed and equipment, but ours. Second, I survived my fight with Sinmara even though she was already a bright white core and all I had was my Adamant gear.' She replied.
'Yeah, at the price of losing your equipment, sacrificing your host, and ending up a prisoner for hundreds of years!' Acala's voice was filled with worry about her, not himself which only made Dawn's choice harder to take.
'This time is different. I have you by my side and there's nothing we can't do together. If I had even a shadow of a doubt, I wouldn't have forged my Davross set for you.' She said while filling their body with the telepathic equivalent of an embrace.
'I have no idea why Mom is so worried about Vladion getting inside the Golden Griffon but I understand why she hasn't made a move herself. Not only has Mogar suggested leaving Thrud alone, but Mom also worries about the Undead Courts that are still fighting under Thrud's banner.'
