A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

As Erik continued to vent some of his anger on Victor and their confrontation reached an increasing level of power and ferocity, the battle around them raged on with equal intensity.

After Emily seized the initiative earlier, she had been constantly harassing the two humans with four orbs of darkness. At the same time, by keeping two orbs back for her own defense, and strategically using the enhancement sigil to increase her physical stats, she was able to skillfully avoid getting hit by the human Arcanists' counterattacks.

Despite her negative feelings towards Elora, Emily couldn't deny her magic had improved with leaps and bounds since Elora started tutoring her. Her dark orb spell already had an extra orb compared to when they entered Finnmark.

While Emily may have only a single offensive spell, as her second slot was occupied by her enslavement ability, it was an extremely powerful spell, whose only real weakness was a Runebound with strong defensive capabilities.

These humans, however, were wholly unprepared to deal with her particular brand of powerful offensive magic. Their council uniform had some minor sigils worked into it for protection, but even those couldn't stand against the black orbs.

They put up a good fight, but in the end, their own magic simply couldn't match up to hers, and their bodies were unable to endure the powerful corrosive nature of her orbs.

It didn't take long before their bodies lay on the ground, writhing and screaming in agony as the corrosive magic ate away at their meager defenses. Emily watched their suffering with a bloodthirsty and sadistic smile as she felt her corruption bubbling up.

It took her a moment to notice what she was doing before she lost her excited expression and shivered a little. She quickly put her opponents out of their misery and turned her attention to the other battles.

Earlier, Astrid had engaged her foes with the grace and lethal precision of a seasoned warrior in a whirlwind of steel and searing orange light.

A male werewolf, large and imposing with a coat as black as night, launched towards her with feral rage, jaws open wide. Meanwhile, a vampire woman circled around her with a sword in hand, looking for an opening to strike.

Astrid's eyes glowed with fierce determination as she tapped into her second skill: body enhancement. The orange runes of her sun affinity glowed brightly and her speed noticeably increased.

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Faster than the eye could follow, she parried the werewolf's attack with one sword and aimed a devastating blow towards the vampire with the other. Sword clashed against claw, forcing the werewolf to veer of course, while the vampire just barely managed to avoid getting an arm cut off.

Blue-colored runes appeared on the vampire's skin, while droplets of water began floating around her. Meanwhile, the werewolf conjured up fiery-red runes, contrasting menacingly with his dark fur.

But Astrid was unimpressed. She used the momentum she had built up, and the fact that both werewolf and vampire were still trying to regain their balance, and turned her gaze toward the vampire.

Her eyes dissolved into burning orange orbs, and no more than a moment later, two bright, deadly orange beams left her eyes and traveled nearly instantly to the vampire. The woman tried to avoid and deflect, but neither option proved fruitful, as all she could do was take the attack on her arm, rather than her chest.

Yet, she had underestimated the attack's power. Her arm was cut clean off, and she screamed in pain.

Astrid's beam attack was extremely powerful, and not to be underestimated.

Of course, it came with proportionate drawbacks, like high energy usage, and a cool-down time. Her eyes would be teary for a few minutes, which could potentially cost one dearly in a fight.

But Astrid had made herself intimately familiar with these drawbacks, and thus often sparred with a blindfold, in order to train while unable to see.

While the vampire was temporarily incapacitated, the werewolf returned with a furious roar, perhaps attempting to avenge the vampire woman.

Unfortunately for him, Astrid was prepared for him. Her eyes might be a little hazy at the moment, but the lumbering shapeshifter was easy to distinguish and even easier to hear.

She brandished her swords, avoided the werewolf's second attack, and struck a devastating blow, aiming for the man's head.

Back with Erik, Victor, now enraged, desperate, and with a slightly caved-in face, stared at Erik in disbelief. "You… You are no less of an anomaly than those girls!" he stammered, even as the azure-colored runes on his skin began glowing again.

"Figured that out, did you?" Erik responded with a victorious grin as he casually strolled closer to Victor with his hammer over his shoulder, intending to make Victor suffer a little longer.

'To be honest, I'm not even sure why I'm so angry at this guy,' he thought to himself. 'He's annoying, sure, and his treating of Elora and Emily like they're commodity goods is certainly infuriating, but there's something else… but what?'

While Erik thought about this, Victor launched a series of desperate counterattacks in the form of blades of air that sliced toward Erik with deadly intent in an effort to try and keep Erik away from him.

But Erik remained unfazed and dissipated every wind blade with a hammer blow, even as his face remained stuck in thought. His hammer became a blur, deflecting and smashing through Victor's assaults, each strike charged with the electric fury of his lightning affinity.

Meanwhile, the vampire who had been sent flying by Erik's ice-shard breath was not down for the count. He had staggered to his feet, body covered in cuts that were slowly healing, and his eyes burning with hatred.

With a roar, he intended to charge at Erik again in an attempt to save Victor, but this time, he was met by a volley of Emily's dark orbs, as she had just now finished off her own opponents.

Unprepared and surprised, the vampire was unable to defend himself properly, causing the orbs to attach themselves to his body and begin their destructive work of eating away at a Runebound's powerful skin.

Naturally, this came accompanied by enraged and painful screams from the vampire as he felt his skin rotting away, forcing him to back away and attempt to use his power to resist these orbs.

In the midst of all this chaos, Erik suddenly had a moment of clarity when he noticed Björn's broken form still kneeling on the ground about ten meters away.

'Right… that's the one,' Erik thought to himself. 'The thought that something like that might happen to me someday if I were to lose Elora, Emma, Astrid, or even Emily enrages me to no end.'

He turned to Victor. 'And this guy is responsible,' he continued inwardly. 'But that's the extent of my anger. After all, I will never allow myself to be in Björn's position.'

Finally having gained some clarity, Erik stopped stalling and, with a smirk, unleashed the full might of his abilities.

Lightning and ice enveloped him in a storm of elemental fury as he charged at Victor. Despite Victor's best efforts, he was unable to withstand Erik's renewed onslaught. A final, massive concussive lightning blast channeled through Erik's hammer and directly into Victor, sent him hurtling into the ground, defeated and unable to move.