The First War Mage: City in the Sky

“Kirin!” My head snapped to my side, it was the collapsed doorway Tyrosa had left behind her when the skirmish started. And against it I could see two figures, a taller person in brilliant silver armor, and Tulip standing next to them.

I was about to open my mouth to speak but my eyes snapped back towards Tyrosa as she launched forwards with her spear in hand alongside a bellowing warcry. The wind whistled around the room as I twisted my body, using every bit of mana I could expunge to avoid the strike as another golden shield formed to block her strike.

“Get back here Kirin!” The man in armor- James, I could recognize his voice almost instantly.

I glanced towards them, but Tyrosa had landed directly between me and the rest of the group. Her face was contorting into a sort of rage as her gaze turned away from me and towards James.

“You.” She spat out as her spear raised to point at James. “You’re the one who killed him aren’t you?”

“I’m afraid so. It was him or the life of Her Majesty’s chosen guests, and as her head guard I knew the choice I had to make.” James replied, his blade was drawn from its sheath slowly as he pointed it towards Tyrosa. “Just you and me, leave the kids out of it.”

“I’m afraid those ‘kids’ happen to be my targets.” Tyrosa replied with a cold, slow hiss to her words, she turned on a dime as she finished speaking with wind trailing her spear becoming visible under the pressure as a slash launched through the air towards me with a horrifying whistle following just behind it.

I raised my arms to block while a burst of mana from my legs moved me just barely out of the way in time, just in time for my eyes to move up and see the tip of her spear mere inches away from impaling straight through my chest to just barely be blocked by another golden shield from presumably James.

Blood was still leaking from the wound I had inflicted on the top of Tyrosa’s head, covering her right eye slowly while wind occasionally rushed up at an angle to clear it out every few seconds.

I wasn’t even able to hope at keeping up with the speed Tyrosa was moving at, another strike came down, and then another one nearly an instant after it. So quickly that I knew I would have been little more than a pulp on the ground if it weren’t for Jame’s continually creating shields to block the strikes.

But I couldn’t move, every step I tried to take was intercepted in an instant by Tyrosa.

Another strike with her spear came across, whistling through the air with the tip turning from black to a deep green as mana washed across the blade to reinforce it. The raw power exuding from it left my head spinning as I could feel the strike getting closer and closer.

Another shield formed just as I dove out of the way with no time to spare. Yet I could hear the shattering sound of the shield breaking and the whistling of the spear only reinforced further as Tyrosa twisted it through the air coming down for another heavy piercing strike.

“Flash.” I heard it like a whisper in my ear, coming from James, like a subtle word that held power that I couldn’t quite imagine. It was similar to the presence, the utter domination I could feel in my bones when Tyrosa proclaimed her title towards me.

A blinding flash of light that threatened to burn my eyes blind if I continued to look at it shot across my vision, colliding with the spear in Tyrosa’s hand in the instant before I looked away.

James launched forwards, his sword swinging with light trailing behind it in such a brilliant fashion that it looked almost like art trailing through the air behind his whistling blade.

Tyrosa however twisted her spear, catching the strike in a fluid motion as she pulled away from the strike that was fractions of a second away from running me through.

In an instant the two were feet apart from each other, their weapons drawn and ready, simply waiting for their opponent to make an opening to move in.

I could feel waves of pressure exuding from both of them as any semblance of limitations or control of their mana were let go to let it run wild like ravenous storm rushing through everything around them.

The pressure was building so quickly that I couldn’t even bring enough strength to my legs to stand. The overwhelming force of mana surrounding me. The shrapnel around the room pressed deeper into the ground and the walls while I was shoved to the ground even further.

I could hear a grunt of pain from Tulip and a smack against the ground with a sound of metal clanking against hard stone as Tulip was pressed against the ground in a similar fashion.

It took an excessive amount of strain and force from my body to pull my head up to try and even watch as the two overwhelming forces of sheer power collided.

The mana in the air was growing so thick that it became visible, with a brilliant golden aura exuding from James while a brilliant bright green aura was shining around the frame of Tyrosa.

The exuding powers from both of them collided in the air, pushing back and forth with each other while the walls threatened to cave to the pressure as it only increased between the two, cracks were forming in the walls from just the rising presence of the mages standing against each other.

Jame’s launched forwards with a twisting strike from his blade, light trailing along its edges while a hissing roar of his shield coming to life could be heard.

Tyrosa reacted with a twist of her spear flicking it down and across to parry the strike while the shaft of her weapon flicked into a blunt impact colliding with James’ shield with tremendous force, leaving a sound like two bells colliding to ring across the room.

James twisted his sword around with a counter strike so rapidly that I couldn’t even begin to follow his strike. The trading blows between the both of them only kept accelerating with only trails of light and the sounds of the impacts left to give away that they were even moving.

Streaks of light and blasts of wind whistled around the room impacting the walls leaving fissures to grow and groan while the two figures danced around the room with incredible speed and a cacophony of noises so brilliant it left my ears ringing.

A strike of wind blasted across the room, scraping across the floor and leaving a ravine in its wake as dust flew across the room behind it, slamming into the wall to my close side.

The wall blasted out in a few parts, giving in to the overwhelming pressure quickly while the flashes of power that collided between the two brawling mages left after images only hinting at where their previous clash had been.

The pressure however only kept building between the two mages while the cracks in the walls grew further. Pressing with stones groaning as they ground against each other with the fluctuating motions until finally something gave in.

A strike from James flashed out, sending Tyrosa flying back where she impacted the wall and was sent clean through it. The walls went with her, collapsing with hurricane forces of winds spinning and spiraling dragging the shrapnel and sucking everything out of the room into the sand storm.

I dug my hands into the uneven tiles, my nails scraping against the stone while I heard Tulip let out a yelp of worry and surprise. But James lept from the room and out of the collapsing wall with a split second series of words.

“Find the one controlling our guards!” He shouted before his figure was completely lost on the hurricane of dust and stone. Long shadows of boulders could be seen flying through the air while entire building were being crushed by them as they went rolling through.

“Kirin help!” My eyes snapped over as I heard Tulip shouting, the pressure of the fighting mages receding let me finally crawl to my feet with my own magic trying to flood out and form any sort of stability to my legs as the winds threatened to pull me away.

“I’m coming!- Just hold on!” I shouted at Tulip, the howling winds threatened to drag away my words while I pulled myself over slowly. Each step had to come completely forced just to stop myself from being dragged away by the winds.

Tulip was trying desperately to hold onto the edge of the remains of a pillar that had supported the outer section of the wall, the winds trying to drag her away as the winds rushing through the room pulled against the both of us.

“My hands are slipping!-” Tulip screamed out, the terror in her voice drove me forwards faster as I disregarded trying to keep myself to the ground.

“Just hold on a bit longer!” I shouted as I leapt across the last of the distance, my shield barely giving me a chance to land back on the ground grabbing her arm an instant before she slipped into the furious winds.

With heavy breathing I let out a shout trying to pull Tulip back towards me, to find anywhere to get our footing, to hide from the storm wishing to consume us whole.

And then a deafening crunch rang out, like an entire mountain had just moved.

And the building gave out from underneath my feet, I could barely even shout before I felt the wind drag me away with Tulip barely holding onto my arms.

“Hold on!”