Karin grimaced as she probed at her side once more. She was not a young woman by any stretch, but between her disciplined training regimen, her own natural vitality, and liberal use of some of the rarer medicinal reagents found in the deep forests of the Valliere estates, her physicians had told her that she was still in astonishing physical condition for a woman of her years. Even so, she was feeling every one of those years now as she climbed up onto Sir Hindrik's Griffin.
The Faerie potion had worked wonders, she doubted she'd have been able to so much as stand for this long without it, but there were limits to what it could do and she could tell that the price of its miraculous effects had badly taxed her body and more importantly, her willpower reserves.
She pawed at bottles that she had retrieved from d'Artagnon's saddle. Would she use it . . . ? Yes she would. She would need every advantage, and she remembered what the Faerie Mage Shirishi had told her when giving her the potions. The mana restore would also provide a 'buff', a slight increase to her spell casting power and efficiency, for roughly ten seconds after taking effect in her system.
Ten seconds was a long time in a battle, time enough for a full powered Heavy Wind to wreak its devastation, it was also time enough for her to be stricken from the skies by any number of enemy magics or even mundane cannon fire. Just ten seconds.
She settled in, clipping her harness to the Griffin's saddle before Sir Hindrick took to the skies.
The Griffins came over the walls of the fort quickly, followed closely by the Faeries. A few shouts of surprise were carried up on the wind from the startled soldiers keeping watch on the fort, and then Karin and her Knight escort were diving down over the edge of the the White Isle, skimming just below the lip of the cliffs for cover while the Faeries paralleled them above.
Dragon's, roosting among the buildings and streets as they waited for La Ramee's escorting cavalry, gave chase almost at once, rising into the sky on heavy wing beats. Between Karin, the Griffin Knights, and the Fae, more than twelve dragons and their riders had been slain in the first minutes of the surprise attack, but the remainder, coupled with the ship's swivels, were still more than enough of a threat. Especially now, after it had been observed that a Square Class Wind Mage road with the Griffin Knights. Karin predicted that she would be their target, and she was not disappointed.
The Dragons dove over the cliffs in pursuit and were caught immediately by a Murder of Spriggans. With the exception of their specialized mages, the ash skinned Faeries lacked raw power with their magic, but this hardly seemed to matter as they exploited their skills to incredible effect. The illusion masters lived up to their names, scattering through the Dragon Knight formation, sewing confusion, dodging spell fire and trading it right back.
One mage would strike a Spriggan only to learn his target had been a decoy, his distraction leaving him vulnerable from behind. Clouds of crows burst into the paths of the pursuing Knights and the entire rear of their formation was suddenly lost in an encompassing cloud of dark smoke. Half of the Spriggans turned back to keep the Dragons at bay, now the Griffins were on their approach, escorted by a dozen Spriggans and the Salamanders overhead.
The Fire Faeries showed their talents next, illustrated by their superb coordination. The swarm of Fae broke in to five groups of seven, General Eugene at the lead. Four of these groups spread out so that they could sweep beneath the entire length of each anchored ship, slicing cables with swords and well aimed spell fire.
Cables fell free or whipped about with stored tension, forcing nimble wingwork from the Salamander troops lest they be swatted from the sky by something as mundane as a ship's line.
Now in broad daylight, and having recovered enough from the original attack to respond, the Rebels fought back, musket and spell fire spat from the docks only to bounce off of barriers cast by the mage group holding back at the rear of the Salamander line. What few shots did manage to get through largely missed or bounced ineffectually from the heavy Faerie armor.
And then they were through, the Faeries scattering in all directions to evade reprisal while the Griffins began to climb with labored beating of wings, rising to altitude for Karin to take aim. Karin looked over and came face to face with the bow chasers of a Second Rate ship of the line, two thousand tons, and a tenth weight in cannons.
"Brace yourself!" Karin shouted to Sir Hindrik before her sword-wand sliced through the air, the Griffin's wings caught on the her burst of wind, clearing the path of the Second Rater just as the forward cannons fired. Someone had thought to be prepared and had ordered the forward cannons loaded with shot to deter air cavalry.
Karin grabbed for the vial, was just about to pull it free when the thunder came again, higher pitched and diminished compared to the sounds of the heavy guns of the 2nd Rater below them, but a much more sinister sound for all that. The air around her grew suddenly solid as the escorting Griffin Knights cast their barriers. Clouds of shot were stopped in midair.
Hidden between two of the ships of the line, a pair of small patrol vessels, post ships covered in a veritable forest of swivel guns and light cannons, and decks crowded with massed ranks of armsmen with muskets and mages with heavy battle staffs began to fire, and with them came the very last line of Dragon Knights, at their lead, a wind dragon bearing the crest of a Squadron Captain.
The Griffin Knights held at bay by the cannon blasts, the Faeries raced out to come to grips with the Dragons, slicing through the formation in a display of aerial acrobatics that not even the Griffin Knights could match. But their opponents were similarly impressive, no doubt the Flagship's honor guard.
The Spriggan Archer that Karin had seen earlier spun about, loosing arrows until she exhausted her supply and then switching to rapid fire magic chants. Morgiana' and one of her soldiers flew close dueling with the Knight Captain only to be beaten back when two of his subordinates came to his aid.
A squad of Salamanders arrived, lead by General Eugene, cutting a path for the Griffins, they were almost there, all that Karin needed was ten seconds, a mere ten seconds.
"Hold us steady on this course!" Karin ordered. This would be the time of greatest risk, when all of the danger would be incurred on herself and Sir Hindrik as she lined up her shot.
Karin had been called a prodigy and less kindly a freak of nature for her prowess with magic, honestly she didn't know why, she had not started out this strong, it was a power attained as much through ceaseless training as talent. Whatever the origin, the rumors and legends that surrounded her identity as the Heavy Wind had not been an exaggeration, no, they'd been an understatement.
She raised the small blue bottle to her lips, about to drink. Five seconds to take effect during which she would take aim, and then five seconds to channel an overpowered Heavy Wind, not just her ultimate spell, but its ultimate evolution, the channeling of the sum of her willpower.
The Griffin bucked violently beneath her, she almost lost her grip on the bottle. Sir Hindrik shouted out a spell, pointing his sword-wand to their left. The wind barrier buckled and gave way. The Dragon Knights had seen them, and their Captain must have fathomed that the others were guarding them for a reason. At once, all three dragons had burst through the Faerie lines, the remainder of their force challenging General Eugene and his squad and leaving only the lone Spriggan Lord to meet them.
Morgiana raced up, spear in one hand, a fistful of Arcane Faerie magic in the other. But even a Faerie Lord couldn't match three dragons at once. Her spear strike nearly drove through the Captain's spell on its own, but then it was reinforced, and reinforced again by his subordinates. The air shield burst, delivering a concussive wave that sent Morgiana spinning one way, and her spear and helmet another.
Karin raised her wand, intent on slaughtering the lot of them when a third spell struck and broke through Sir Hindrik's defense. The Knight urged his mount into a spin that threw off Karin's aim. A moment later she was swept free as something struck her with bone braking force.
She was falling, torn loose from the saddle but somehow still clutching her sword and the potion bottle. The Dragon Knight Captain, not satisfied with just magic, had chosen to simply ram the Griffin from the air. Now, the jaws of his wind drake were opening wide as is chased Karin down through sky, past the ships and towards the white mists.
She didn't give her circumstances a second thought, she'd been in worse before. A chant, Karin felt her whole body turning as to air as she accelerated herself, the calm sense of synchronicity as her body was finally able to keep up with the speed of her thoughts. The dragon snapped down on nothingness, Karin spinning aside and flinging her arms wide to catch the air.
The Knight Captain overshot, pulling his dragon out of its dive. He had only made himself a larger target. Her vacuum blade bisected both dragon and rider with nary a thought for the Captain's attempt to parry.
The whole motion from the Dragon attempting to take a bite out of her to the fatal blow had taken less than a second. That was the power that Karin could draw on. But like with the Faerie potion, it had a price, compounded by her present condition.
Karin's whole body convulsed as flash healed muscles began to give out. She'd probably just torn open some of the wounds that the Fae potion had just sealed shut. And unfortunately, one of those wounds had been to her shoulder. Buffeted by the wind, she struggled to aim for the remaining dragons.
They saw that she was vulnerable, and had every intention to take advantage. Reaching forward in their saddles, both stopped and looked up as a shadow overtook them. It was . . .
Karin's first impression was of smoke, but not like the Spriggan smoke screens from before that could swallow half the sky, this smoke was smaller, denser, and it moved, it writhed as if alive.
Stretching out into thin, solid black bone and corded black muscle. Taut black tendons and glittering black talons. Wickedly hooked black beak and glistening black feathers. Gray black eyes, each the size of a dinner plate glittered with clear intelligence and open malice for the two men in its paths.
It was no longer smoke, it was a hawk, a Black Hawk of Draconic dimensions.
"SCREEEEEE!"
Both Knights turned to this new assailant, fear taking hold over sense. The hawk dove, wings folded tightly against itself, body streamlined and perfectly adapted to its element. It was an apex predator built to a size that humans could be its pray. Talons raked forward, tearing asunder a wind barrier with brute force and sinking into the back and spine of the first drake. Muscle was rent and torn, hooked beak slicing through the anchoring tendons of the keel bone before letting loose and grabbing hold of the mage rider.
The Knight screamed as he was flung at his companion and bounced away by a wind barrier, tumbling off into the mists. The moment of added distraction gave the Hawk an opening to rake at the surviving drake and slash at its wings.
The dragon began to roll, losing all control over its flight and veering off. The Hawk didn't pursue, instead turning to Karin.
Every instinct told her to attack, but something stayed her hand. Almost certainly it was the calm gray eyes that should by all sense be as hungry for her death as the other Knights.
Carefully, the hawk closed the distance and Karin slowed her descent. The Hawk offered its neck to her and the Heavy Wind did the only reasonable thing and accepted.
Pulling out of its dive and sweeping back up into the sky, her ears were met by hoots and cheers as, climbing from the mists, Spriggans gathered around them.
A pair of dragons tumbled from the skies above, the unfortunate victims of two on one combat with the honorable General Eugene. The Salamander's eyes widened as he fell in beside the hawk. "So you used that, Morgiana?" Eugene rumbled.
Morgiana?
Karin had no right to be surprised, after the incident with Young Kirito, she had insisted on being furnished with a list of Fae Spells. Beastial Form, an illusion conjured body that took the shape of a 'Mob' that represented it's caster's attributes converted entirely to raw physical power.
That Morgiana, as the Lord of the Spriggans, would know such a spell did not come as a surprise. But its potency was beyond anything Karin had expected. Perhaps the reports of Kirito's 'Demonic Transformation' had, like her own legend, not been overstated.
"Rute's going to be pissed about that armor." Morgiana's second in command called over.
The Hawk simply cocked its head, preening with very unhawkish amusement.
But there was no time for that. Now was their chance. A hole had been opened in the Dragon Knight's and the shock of losing their Captain gave a golden opportunity.
The Griffin Knights could make no more sense of what they were seeings than their Rebel opposition, but they had faith enough to follow Karin's lead. "Morgiana," Karin said, not knowing if the Spriggan Lord was really able to fully understand in this state. "Just hold us steady for one pass."
The shriek that she received in reply was all the confirmation Karin needed.
Shots and spells were thrown aside as the Griffin Knights lead the charge, mounts and riders glowing, not just figuratively but literally. The Spriggan Mage Shirishi was casting a wide area buff to further strengthen everyone's magic. Even Karin felt the heady rush. And now it was her turn, she was flying straight and level for the damaged 2nd rater that had tried to shoot her down earlier.
She took the potion bottle, now clutched in a death grip and swallowed the contents, an intense, tart, sweetness spilling down her throat and then . . .
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