The Runic Alchemist

With nowhere to go, Moondancer had to bear the result of his spell, however she did not know that it will cause her doom. The spell wasn't as powerful as the ones Vidalia had been casting, so she underestimated its effect, paying the price in full.

Damian successfully captured her within his invisible box, signaling for Vidalia to cease her attacks, which was no easy feat. But at last, she managed to restrain herself, glaring at the dark figure inside, who had just realized she was trapped. Moondancer frantically tried everything—using her spikes, punching, even slashing at the invisible walls with her dagger—but to no avail.

Damian wasn't sure if her strange face even required oxygen, but he will soon find out. Looking around, he saw the second-rankers battling her dark creatures, which were desperately trying to come to her aid. Despite her reduced efficiency, Moondancer hadn't lost control over her strange powers.

She continued summoning shadowy javelins and weapons from inside the box to attack them, but Vidalia was quick to hack them away before they could fully materialize.

Soon, Damian had his answer. He was breathing heavily, pain surging through his body. The wormhole spell he had used to block the waygate had faded, and the gate was now wide open once again. Threadripper, Damian sensed, was near one of the defense mechanism pillars. Had he destroyed it, or had the Transcendent Seed team managed to stall him?

They would only understand the full scope of today's disaster once this battle was over and they reached Threadripper.

"What... What is happening?" Vidalia asked from beside him, also panting heavily and bleeding from multiple cuts.

Damian glanced at her tiredly. She was watching Moondancer struggle for air inside the invisible box. Well, she does have a nose, he thought to himself. What a random discovery...

"It's my spell. She's suffocating... At least we'll be rid of one of them," Damian replied.

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"No, stop this! She can't die!" Vidalia suddenly exclaimed, frantically shaking Damian.

"What...?" Did he hear her correctly? Was she ordering him not to kill their greatest enemy?

"Stop this! We can't kill her!" Vidalia began slashing at the invisible box with her sword, weakening it with each strike.

What in the hell is she doing? Did she just not see how hard it was to trap her?

"What are you talking about? This is war! If we're not killing, what the hell are we doing here?"

Vidalia didn't answer him though. With one final overwhelming strike, she shattered the invisible box. Moondancer fell to the ground, gasping for air and coughing, even though she didn't have a mouth. Damian was utterly confused. What was going on? The scene around him—fire, destruction, and the screams of thousands—did not justify this unexplainable mercy from their cold commander.

Why would she not kill her?

After a few moments of labored breathing, Moondancer stood, but she was immediately ensnared by Vidalia's vines. Moondancer, however, didn't seem fazed; she merely glared at Damian with fury burning in her eyes.

"You came very close, Broken Branch," she hissed. "Who is this abomination you've allied with?"

"Shut the hell up," Vidalia snapped. "Do you think you or him will be praised for this cowardly attack by the realm? I understand him, but you? Have you really fallen this low?"

Why is Vidalia talking like she's going to survive this? Damian wondered, confused by Moondancer's arrogance.

"Who cares what anyone says? We achieved our goal here, and that's all that matters," Moondancer cackled, her laugh unnervingly deranged.

Suddenly, one of her dark creatures fighting the second-rankers nearby split in two. The smaller half sprouted wings and darted toward the shimmering waygate above their heads. Damian noticed it only when the second-rankers began shouting and hurling spells at it.

At the same time, one of the four barrier pillars flickered and powered down, creating a massive breach in the dome above, which slowly expanded toward the side nearest to the broken defense mechanism.

As if on cue, the waygate hummed with blue energy, and two aerial squads of second-rankers emerged, five in each team, casting spells and hurling aura blades wildly across the battlefield. The already chaotic scene descended into full-blown madness. Vidalia tightened her grip on Moondancer, her clenched fist tightening the vines, but Moondancer only laughed harder and harder.

Some of the flying second-rankers veered toward the broken pillar, while the rest made it nearly impossible for Damian and Vidalia to remain exposed in the open.

The Eldoris second- and first-rankers tried to fight back, casting spells at the airborne enemies from the land. But it was a losing battle—one side could move freely in the air like birds, while the other was dodging spells and jumping over the bodies of their fallen comrades.

The aerial assault left the second-rankers struggling to fend off the dark creatures, and Moondancer, now free from her cage, continued to empower and heal her minions as they took damage.

Finally, realizing they had no other choice, Vidalia began casting her spells rapidly, chanting under her breath as she aimed them at both the dark creatures and the airborne second-rankers. Some hit their targets, while others drained her mana to no avail. She couldn't do more without getting closer, but doing so would mean leaving Moondancer, which would be disastrous.

Then, what Damian had feared most happened. Moondancer, taking advantage of Vidalia's distraction as she defended them from the dangerous spells raining down, summoned a massive wyvern beneath her. It took flight, with Vidalia's vines still wrapped around her.

Vidalia was dragged into the air as well, bombarded by concentrated spellfire from the aerial units. The intense barrage caused her to scream in pain and release her grip on the vine spell, sending her plummeting to the ground.

She managed to activate her flying spell mid-fall, but even then, she was badly injured and forced to fight off dozens of second-rankers and Moondancer with a bloodied body and unbearable pain coursing through her stomach with Damian left behind.

Damian stood frozen, watching the chaos unfold, it did not make any sense at all. What the hell just happened..? His senses alerted him to even more bad news—Threadripper was escaping at an incredible speed, also likely through flight.