The grass behind them shifted and a new figure emerged.
His eyes glowed red like a blood moon, veins pulsing unnaturally. Cuts lined his arms, fresh blood feeding his strength.
"Shit," Mira muttered.
Sera stepped up beside her. "We can't let him touch us."
The Blood Mancer didn't speak. He raised a hand, and crimson tendrils shot out, twisting through the air like whips.
Mira shot lightning, but the tendrils curved mid-air, dodging unnaturally.
Sera fired a volley of arrows—three in quick succession.
One hit met its mark, but It didn't matter.
The Blood Mancer yanked the arrow out and used the blood to mend his wound instantly.
He stepped forward, whips flaring again.
Mira and Sera moved apart.
Sera dove left and loosed an arrow mid-roll. Mira shot right, electricity flaring from her palms.
The attacks hit simultaneously—shock and steel—but the Blood Mancer absorbed the energy, snarling.
He surged toward Sera.
She flipped backward, but a blood whip grazed her leg.
The pain burned through her thigh. Her leg trembled.
Mira screamed and launched a lightning bolt point-blank into his chest.
The impact blasted him backward into a tree. The bark exploded, and the trunk cracked as he caved in.
Mira rushed to Sera's side. "You good?"
Sera winced, nodding. "Yeah. It's a shallow wound."
She pressed the cloth to the wound, eyes flicking up.
The remaining attackers had regrouped. Four of them in total still stood watching while the Blood Mancer struggled to free himself from the tree.
Dorian Valcroft was still standing at the edge of the gorge, looking untouched and mildly amused.
He leaned casually against the stone outcrop, his golden eyes following every move. Behind him, Evelyne stood with arms folded, her gaze sharp and unreadable.
"Young Master," she said softly, "should we call the rest?"
Dorian chuckled. "No. They're performing well enough. Let's not make it too easy."
He looked toward Sera and Mira.
"They're persistent. I'll give them that."
Evelyne tilted her head. "You admire them?"
"Not admire," he said with a grin. "I enjoy seeing them struggle."
Back in the clearing, Mira helped Sera to her feet.
"We need to regroup with the royals," Mira said.
Sera shook her head. "We'll lead them away."
Mira's eyes widened. "What do you mean lead them away? You're bleeding."
Sera grunted, wrapping a strip of cloth around her thigh. "We can't bring them into this mess. We split—draw them away. Buy the royals time to escape."
Before Mira could argue, the ground shook.
A wall of earth rose behind them with a loud crack, cutting off the trail they'd taken earlier.
Another wall burst up to the right. Then to the left.
The escape paths were gone. Blocked out completely.
"Damn it," Sera muttered.
Mira turned slowly. The remaining four enemies stood in a loose formation, spreading out to flank them.
The Illusion Mage, Frost Mancer, Voidfire Mage, and Earth Mage.
The Blood Mancer was still writhed half-buried in the tree's splintered trunk, but his breathing was steady. He'd be back up soon.
Mira's fingers curled, sparks crackling between them. "We've got a huge problem now."
Sera nocked an arrow. "No kidding."
A chilling breeze rolled in as the Frost Mancer stepped forward. Her breath fogged in the air, and a layer of frost formed beneath her boots with each step.
She raised one hand and ice bloomed.
Spikes of jagged ice exploded from the ground, racing toward them.
Sera rolled sideways, drawing and firing in one motion. The arrow shattered one of the approaching spikes. Another caught her arm, grazing it with a cold cutting deeper than steel.
Mira shot a bolt of lightning to intercept the rest, crackling energy breaking the path of the ice.
But that's when the Illusion Mage struck.
The clearing shimmered.
Sera blinked—and suddenly, Mira was gone.
"Mira?!" she called, panic flaring.
No answer.
Instead, a copy of the Frost Mancer stepped out from the mist. Then another, then three more. All moving in unison.
Sera gritted her teeth. She turned and fired, striking one through the chest—only for it to vanish like smoke.
Illusions.
All of them were illusionary figures.
But which one was the real Frost Mancer?
A whisper echoed around her. "Can you find me before I bury you in frost?"
Sera spun, slashing behind her with a blade but it cut nothing. Just grass and air.
Meanwhile, Mira stood frozen in place—no, not literally, but mentally trapped. The Illusion Mage's spell twisted the world around her, drawing her into a partial domain of sorts.
The battlefield was entirely gone.
She stood in a field of ashes and dead trees. Kael's body was lying still in a pool of blood in front of her.
"No…" she whispered, stepping forward. "No, he's not…"
A figure emerged from the ash—Sera, her face was burned and her eyes hollow.
"You couldn't protect us," the illusion said softly with a disappointed expression. "You were too weak."
Lightning flared in Mira's fists, trembling. She knew it wasn't real—but it felt almost too real.
"I'm not too weak," she whispered. "I'm still fighting."
She clenched her teeth and slammed her palms together.
CRACK!
A surge of lightning burst outward, shattering the illusion.
The field of ash and death blinked away.
She was back in the real world.
Mira took a deep breath. The Illusion Mage stood across the field, blinking in surprise.
"Nice trick," she growled, raising her hands. "Now try mine."
She pointed out her hands and shot a beam of lightning straight across the field. The Illusion Mage screamed as the bolt slammed into his chest, burning through like paper. He collapsed in a twitching heap.
But there was no time to rest. The Voidfire Mage stepped forward.
His eyes were empty black pits with the veins within them glowing in a faint purple. In his hands burned a violet flame that looked starved and unstable.
He whispered something—and hurled the fireball.
Mira darted aside, but it wasn't aimed at her.
It landed between her and Sera—exploding into a wave of shrieking heat and darkness.