They soon arrived at a secondary staging point where the groups got further directions. It seemed like their party would help secure the perimeter line where Phoenix’s aura might be most useful, and Saiya could provide healing while Dazien could help defend. Most of Uriel’s powerset caused too much colteral damage to be practical for the current environment. Rayna was warned about punching the surrounding masonry while assisting in intercepting any enemies chasing down a retreating ally.

  Their party, in particur, was guarding one of the corridors that led directly towards the battle. People were moving past to join the fight while others who were injured were retreating past them to receive emergency aid from Saiya and her before getting sent further back to the hastily erected camp in one of the massive storage warehouses that had been emptied in a rush to accommodate.

  Phoenix was becoming restless, unused to being sidelined while fighting waged nearby. She was surprised by the feeling welling up inside her, and it took a while for her to recognize that it was desire.

  A desire to fight.

  The desire to unleash her powers and prove her strength. To grow stronger and protect the people around her. She began to understand Rayna’s disposition a bit more with the bard’s constant requests for battle.

  Despite Uriel and Saiya’s attempts to distract and calm her, she grew frustrated by standing there as an aura beacon. With surprised annoyance, she realized one of the things frustrating her, which had been slowly simmering in the back of her mind: Dazien had barely looked at her and hadn’t spoken to her since they left the Waynd estate.

  This revetion caused her to stop the mild pacing she had been doing out of apprehension and turn to stare at Dazien, who was looking everywhere but at her. With a frown of confusion, she walked over to him. Her focused movement caught his attention, and he turned to meet her gaze.

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked bluntly. Her nerves stripped away any attempt at tact she might have usually tried.

  He looked confused for a moment before saying with a sigh and shake of his head, “No, Princess, I just have a lot on my mind right now. You should return to Lady Saiya’s side, where you’ll be safe.” She started to object when he held up a hand to forestall her, “We can talk ter if you want.”

  “Why can’t we talk now? It’s not like there’s anything to fight,” she argued, gesturing to the currently empty corridor.

  Dazien lifted a brow at her impatience. “We should still remain vigint. We have a job here, and we should do our best to perform it.”

  Phoenix crossed her arms in front of her. “Can you at least tell me why you seem to be avoiding me?”

  He got an awkward expression before quietly admitting, “I’m still trying to sort some things out. I’m not quite ready to talk. So, please, just return to your post.”

  Phoenix frowned and said, “Well, if you just told me what was bothering you, maybe I could help—”

  “I said ‘no,’ Phoenix,” he snapped, surprising both of them with his interruption. They stared at each other before he firmly said, “Please, just listen to my order and return to your post.”

  Her nose scrunched in annoyance. “An order? Because the king commands it?”

  Dazien gave a small scowl that she had never seen on his face before as he retorted, “No, because I’m your party leader, remember? Unless you want to change that fact, return to your position.”

  Her eyes went wide at the insinuation that he would kick her off the team, and she suddenly worried about how badly she had messed up this time. She lowered her eyes to the floor and nodded silently in acquiescence as she returned to Saiya’s side, who took her hand for comfort.

  Dazien had never pulled rank on her like that before, and it made her feel more concerned than angry. They had become friends over the st handful of months, and he had always stressed that he saw the title as just a bit of paper rather than power. For him to use that just to get space from her… she wondered what kind of boundary she had crossed.

  Phoenix’s anxiety went into overdrive as she mentally walked backward through everything that had transpired between them in the st few hours. Her mind went over every word and reaction, trying to identify the point that would have caused Dazien not to want to talk to her.

  Perhaps she had been wrong to confide in her friends? Maybe the increased attention from her joining House Waynd was agitating him? Was he jealous or annoyed? Perhaps the sheer weight of the secret she had buried and hidden from him had caused him to lose trust in her? How would he react when he discovered her other secrets?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a group of lower level Crystal Caste auras entering her senses and coming closer. She alerted her group about them, and a few moments ter, they saw a pair of allies with little [Starlight Companions] over their shoulders, trying to fight off four other enemy Casters.

  She and Rayna moved quickly to intercept, with Dazien following close behind as he triggered his [Lead the Charge], arriving roughly simultaneously to support the retreating allies. “Keep running, we’ll hold them off!” Dazien yelled over his shoulder at the pair, who were clearly injured.

  As soon as Rayna was close enough, she triggered [Blink Step] to appear behind the rightmost enemy and engage them with a surprise attack.

  Ability: Blink Step

  Type: Special Attack (movement, magical, dimension)

  Cost: Moderate mana.

  Cooldown: 1 minute.

  Current Caste: Crystal 9 (96%)

  Crystal Effect: Teleport behind an enemy target within sight, inflicting increased damage with your next attack.

  Dazien collided with the leather-cd swordswoman to the left of Rayna’s target as he incanted, “You have forsaken my rule and thus forfeit your freedom!” His [To the Dungeon] ability formed a metal cage around the enemy in the back of the group, which left the one on the far left for Phoenix to take on by herself.

  With an excited grin and a rush of battle energy, she triggered one of her new abilities: [Avatar of Bakunawa]. The shape-changing ability was an odd sensation as she felt her eyesight and teeth sharpen, her nails growing into sharp silver talons, her legs shifting slightly, causing her to become taller, and even her bones hardened. She slightly winced as she realized the cws on her feet threatened to destroy her boots, and she quickly dismissed them into her collection and ran barefoot instead.

  Odder than the physical shifts was the addition of a fifth yer to her aura, causing it to expand even further and enhance her Strength, Mind, and Magic attributes. The feeling reminded her to focus on using the added aura boost to push against her enemy’s own aura, creating a moment of surprised hesitation to cross over her opponent’s face.

  She attempted to capitalize on the moment and opened her mouth to spew swirling white and bck dragon fmes all over what appeared to be a cinderen spear-wielder. The range of her Light and Dark empowered [Eclipse Breath] kept her retively safe from the longer-reach weapon.

  Screams tore from the man who was engulfed in the fmes.

  While Phoenix was impressed by the damage it seemed to be doing, she hadn’t been prepared for the foul stench of burning flesh that made her want to gag. She wasn’t usually close enough to the enemies that burned from her [Meteor Shower] or Uriel’s [Rain of Fire], and she wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the stench.

  The Crystal Caste spear-wielder was a smoldering heap on the ground by the time her breath attack ended, and she quickly looked around to find a new target. Rayna was still fighting her target, who also seemed to be some kind of Agility-based pugilist, as they exchanged blows fairly evenly.

  The cage was still around the guy in the back, who wielded a sword and screamed insults at them as he ineffectively attacked the bars that shocked him for his troubles. Phoenix ignored that guy as a minimal threat at the moment and looked at Dazien’s sword-wielding enemy just as the runeforged woman managed to slide her weapon through a hole in his defenses and stabbed him in the side. She paid for the move by taking Dazien’s own bde in her off-arm before they both backed off slightly.

  Phoenix decided to help take advantage of the wounding distraction and rushed forward with her cwed hands and swiped at the swordswoman, who hadn’t been expecting the attack from an enemy that should have been occupied still.

  The [Cosmic Talons] dug into the arm holding the sword, dealing additional Dimension damage, and the woman screamed as she released the weapon. Phoenix refused to stop, though, as she tore her cws out and sent one hand below the leather chestguard and toward the woman’s less-protected abdomen. Tearing through fabric and flesh, her cws found organs that she ripped out.

  The shock on the woman’s face was enough for both of them to realize that Phoenix had won and her enemy was dead even while standing.

  Before the woman even colpsed to the ground, Phoenix was moving again. This time, to help turn the tables in Rayna’s favor, as they both engaged in the melee brawl with the enemy pugilist.

  Phoenix was knocked back by a powerful blow that started to make frost climb across her skin from the impact point. Ice was a common damage type on the tundra, and while annoying, it wasn’t surprising.

  That was when the cage finally disappeared, and the st swordsman joined the fight.

  “Bow before your king!” Dazien yelled at the oncoming enemy.

  Ability: Call of Fealty

  Type: Spell (taunt, magical, covenant)

  Cost: High mana.

  Cooldown: 2 minutes.

  Current Caste: Crystal 8 (30%)

  Crystal Effect: Inflict a target with [Hesitation] if they do not halt their momentum, and [Insolence] if they do not kneel before you, within 5 seconds.

  Hesitation (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Agility is decreased.Insolence (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Magical resistance is decreased.

  It was enough to get Phoenix’s attention as she turned to help her companion instead and felt her fmes ready to be used again. He was clutching his heavily bleeding side instead of his shield, which she assumed he returned to his [Armory], and was gearing up for another attack.

  As the enemy kneeled with a gre, Phoenix released her breath at him as Dazien’s own sword moved to impale him repeatedly. The combination of her [Eclipse Breath] with his [Accelerating Strikes] whittled the Caster’s health down to nothing in an absurdly short time.

  When he finally colpsed as well after a filing attempt to stab Dazien back, Phoenix turned just in time to see Rayna nd her [Shatter] Execute on the enemy, who almost crumpled around her fist.

  Phoenix was feeling ecstatic from the solid victory. Every enemy was down, their retreating allies were saved, and only a minor injury was dealt to any of her team.

  She noticed a slight bit of white ash appeared in patches on the sin Casters and realized her looting aura had already done its job. Like the bandits earlier, they wouldn’t completely turn to ash since their Caste was lower and they weren’t purely made of magic like a monster. It would take a lot more time to decompose the more mundane parts left behind.

  “Gods, Phoenix, overkill much?” Rayna asked as she took in the carnage around them. “I understand now why that has a longer cooldown than a lot of abilities.”

  “Well, eventually I’ll be able to eat the moon with this,” she said around unnaturally sharp fangs. “At least, according to the bit of fvor-text… which is weird this one has it but not the others, now that I think about it… I kinda wish they all had it. Maybe there’s some kind of system setting? I wonder—”

  “Phoenix,” Dazien said, grabbing her attention and gesturing towards the nasty stab wound in his side as he leaned against a wall. “Heal, please? She had a Bleeding Bane that nded.”

  “Oh, right! Better do that before this wears off, and I’m outta commission,” she admitted sheepishly, moving quickly to his side and pcing a hand over the one he had clutching the wound. Saiya was beside her a few moments ter to take over, having been told earlier to either wait at the end of the corridor for them to come to her for healing or until the enemy threat was neutralized.

  Once he was patched up, they shoved the bodies off to the side to be collected ter and returned to their post at the end of the corridor further from the frontlines. The retreating allies had been healed and cleansed earlier by Saiya but were still sent back to the staging point to regroup, report, and get a new pcement.

  Another minute ter, Phoenix felt the sudden drop in her Attributes as the boost wore off and the recoil effects of her power took its pce. She staggered, and Uriel caught her, keeping her from falling, as he quietly asked, “You okay?”

  Phoenix weakly nodded, “Yeah. It almost feels like I’m a Mundane again—a healthy Mundane, like when I first arrived—but still a lot weaker than after I got my Aspects. I hope this doesn’t st too long. It will be annoying if this happens mid-fight. I’ll be an easy target.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to learn to wait for the right time then,” Uriel reassured as he helped her sit against a wall. “Rest for now and just focus on keeping your aura senses spread. If anything arrives, we can hopefully bide our time so you can be amazing again,” he added with a slight grin, making her chuckle and actually feel good about herself. It was a nice change.

  Her stomach rumbled loudly then, causing Uriel to gnce down as she sheepishly asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have one of those awesome cookies on you, would you? I’m starving now and feel like I really could eat a whole moon.”

  Uriel ughed and reached into his dimensional belt pouch and held out a cookie as he said, “Please don’t ever try to.”