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-oOo-

Sylvia stood on the Academy's spire, gazing out into the blue-green expanse. Her body felt odd and unnatural, a kind of subtle wrongness detected by the soul. Perhaps it was the golden-brown curls. Or maybe it was the texture of her fingers. She knew the broader source, of course.

Sylvia was wearing Belkis's visage.

Along with her shape, Sylvia had her senior sister's clothes. Leather robes, red and black like smoldering fire, hung heavy on her shoulders. The material drank ki and mana to maintain both concept and enchantment. After wearing nothing but dresses for two years, the shape and touch were alien.

It was also very bad apple.

Sylvia praised Belkis's fashion sense. A cool trench coat beats frills, lace, and ribbons every day of the week. Though her sister struggled with hats. Fascinators weren't hats. They were better than headdresses, yes. Sylvia didn't despise them. But they lacked a fundamental something.

The coat's attributes were also awesome.

Equipment: Belkis's War Robes Weight 51.3 droms Type Armor/Mystic Value 78,000 soli Characteristics Defense 30, 10% fire resistance Barrier 250 hp Mp Drain 60/hour Ki Burden Medium This coat was created from the hide of a Phlegethon Salamander. The leather carries both the concept of the salamander's toughness as well as its resistance to fire. When ki is drawn into these robes, the wearer will gain heightened defense. The excellent design of the barrier enchantment helps ensure this hardiness is shared with the overlaying magic.

However, as a consequence, blows received by the wearer will draw the mage's ki, eventually leading to physical exhaustion. Those of a low level or who lack a good vitality attribute may find this armor draining.

The foundation of this armor's defense is its magical barrier. The robes act as a guide to keep this barrier skin tight. The permeability to the wearer's ki helps to maintain grip and friction. If destroyed, the runic frame will regenerate the barrier after 15 minutes. If this is not sufficient, the barrier can be forcefully restored at the cost of 150 mp after a 15 second cooldown.

As an additional benefit, the wearer will experience a 15% increase to ether absorption rate for a fire or metal oriented palace.

Belkis's snazzy robes weren't the only piece of equipment the prisma had been forced to hand over. Her staff, Blazing Storm, was also in Sylvia's hands.

Most staves were made of wood, as wood was a natural conductor of ether. This one was instead smelted from brass and obsidian. The stone was warm, the static charge evoking a slight tingle. The crystal at the tip glowed with crimson fire, a churning whirl of searing flame and red ash that crackled with lightning.

Blazing Storm was much better than Sylvia's Ghost Lightning Staff. This was less a product of quality, and more the result of the craftsman being free to pile on the spiritual weight.

Equipment: Blazing Storm Weight 65.2 droms Type Weapon/Magical Value 382,000 soli Characteristics Attack 126% Penetration 30 Ether 300 / Lightning, Fire, Wind (75%) Charge 310% Potency 150% A staff forged from brass and obsidian. Blazing Storm is a weapon specialized for fire and lightning. The strong affinity between the two elements means that ether can be transformed from one to the other instantly. However, when used to cast fire magic, this staff truly shines. Fire based mana costs will be reduced by 10% while the staff's potency is increased to 160%.

The staff's wind nature is far weaker. Though Blazing Storm can transmute fire and lightning into wind, it does so at a 25% loss.

Blazing Storm is the property of Belkis von Vallenfelt. Lose it at your peril.

Sylvia stroked the staff gently. What a beautiful staff. Clearly it needed a new master.

"That's not yours."

The starlight witch gave Belkis a look.

Sylvia's senior sister was likewise disguised with a new face. Dark skin had been replaced by perfect peach. Her shoulder-length, golden-brown curls were transformed into a magnificent sea of emeralds. Eyes like molten iron…

… were still molten iron. The false visage wasn't that good. It didn't have to be. Unless something went horribly wrong, neither witch would be within half-a-kilometer of the enemy.

Belkis was also, very obviously, cradling Esmeralda Vallenfelt's craggy, brown staff.

Hypocrite.

"This is different," Belkis replied, reading the asteri's expression. "It's Master's staff, White Heaven. It's a sky elemental staff. Do you have any idea how much an advanced element staff costs?"

"Probably about ten times yours," Sylvia commented blandly.

"Closer to twenty."

Belkis lifted the weapon, eyes gleaming as she gazed into the crystal. Inside was rain, snow, clouds, and lightning. Sky was the primordial elemental most strongly associated with weather. It was a perfect blend of fire, wind, water, ice, and lightning. As such, it had all the features of each without possessing any of the contradictions found in the basic primordial elements.

Just as most advanced magic relied on the Great Codex, nearly all high magics used aspects or advanced elements as their foundation. A sky staff didn't just store sky elemental ether, it catalyzed it.

Which made many horrifying spells more practical.

Provided a mage could find time to chant a two to five hundred rune chain, anyway.

Sylvia's pastel pink eyes showed a flash of envy. She squashed the emotion. It wasn't as though she knew any sky element spells, so the staff would be wasted on her. Lamenting her deprivation, Sylvia checked her belt. Three glowing, blue potions were nestled in a pouch on her left. A trio of weak elemental sources hung off her belt to the right: space, void, and causality.

They'd help offset the mana cost of elemental ward and barrier frame.

"Nervous?" Belkis asked.

"A little," Sylvia admitted.

The fear and reluctance were not as great as she expected. Maybe it was growth in her spirit attribute that hardened her resolve, but Sylvia felt the biggest change was in her experience. Crawling through the Cloud Island Wilderness had forced her to face foes and danger. It pushed her to choose her own fate.

It had hardened her.

So Sylvia found her worry tempered by anticipation, the shock of adrenaline, and the thrill of the hunt.

No more was she Eric Swallow, the salary man drifting through life. She was Sylvia Swallows: gamer, demon, and witch. She'd fly out into the thick of the fight and make the world move as she willed it.

A smile grew on her lips.

If things kept on like this, one day Sylvia might really become a hero. She was kind of looking forward to it.

"It's not as scary as it sounds," Belkis comforted. "Fly fast and keep mobile. Stay high. One to two kilometers. That'll give you plenty of time to react and ensure they're only using lightning attacks. It's okay if you screw up. As long as you fly higher than me, you can be sure any tactical beacons they snuck close won't be able to pull you in."

"I know," Sylvia breathed. "First time in an air raid, that's all."

Lightning, in the physical world, was impossibly quick. A bolt could streak across the sky at 120 kilometers per second. Speed like that was effectively instantaneous. There was no way to dodge. Lightning magics, however, followed the bullet hell framework. The bolts were far slower than they ought. Slower didn't mean slow, however.

The jagged beam cast by a lightning cannon had a velocity of around 3 kilometers per second. Thundershot, the bolts fired by ballista, traveled a leisurely 750 meters per second by comparison. Depending on altitude and distance, Sylvia would have 0.5 to 4 seconds to react.

This was plenty of time. Especially for a demon whose reaction speed was twice that of a human.

"Remember speed, speed, speed," Belkis said. "Lightning cannons don't use mana, so they don't have strong intent. Their cone of correction is roughly half that of a lightning lance, presuming the spotter can even trace your movements at that distance. What's more, the cone tapers off near the end.

"Thundershot is more straight forward. It can't jitter. Instead, it curves like bareshot but with a shallower angle. Wiggle if you can't slip it, or block it with a shield. Just don't forget, you're me. Don't throw around too much water magic or somebody smart might realize we switched things up."

The elemental witch grinned.

"If it's the choice between death and my disguise, I'll toss my disguise," Sylvia said bluntly.

Belkis laughed. "May as well. If they see 'me' go down too easy, they'll be suspicious regardless. Just don't try something stupid, like tanking a cannon. The embarrassment might kill me on the spot."

Sylvia glowered. Did Belkis think she was an idiot? Lightning cannons hit harder than Slyde. In theory, Sylvia might be able to block a blast with a ward and stacked shields. Only a fool would try. Some of the energy would roll around those defenses. As such, there could only be one result if Sylvia took a beam to the face.

Delete.

"Rather than me embarrassing you, you should worry about embarrassing our teacher," Sylvia retorted.

Belkis looked a little sick. "Thanks for reminding me, little sis."

And now Sylvia felt bad about her needling. Sigh. Riley would've rolled with it.

"Since I have the good eyes, I'll stay high and do the spotting," Sylvia said, reaffirming earlier instruction. "And given you have the better broom, you'll fly low and double tap."

"That's the plan," Belkis affirmed.

As a rule, the eyes of demons were better than those of mortals. This improved visual acuity would then be boosted further by the awareness aspect of Sylvia's wit attribute. As an asteri, Sylvia didn't have normal demonic eyes. She had pure starlight eyes. This was a trait that made visible the ethers of life, chaos, and primordial, just as the photo pigments in the human eye could pick out the colors red, green, and blue.

The result was indescribable.

This wasn't one set of information painted over the other. Instead, Sylvia possessed an entirely new layer of vision. Twin flows of data poured into her brain. When Sylvia was born, her mind had endured the deluge by tossing the new hues into the trash. As her level rose and her soul adapted, this changed. She found herself more and more aware of the magical world surrounding.

Then she'd used a blank skill book to learn the art hawk eyes.

Hawk eyes was a manifestation level art. During inner flow and externalization, the technique boosted visual acuity at a distance. A skilled user could use this art to pick out objects three to four times further away. Its advantage over spells like farsight was that hawk eyes could be safely used even in the middle of a fight.

Also, farsight and hawkeyes multiplied on one another when used in conjunction.

The interesting bit was the concept gained during the manifestation stage, the ability to pick out prey. This effect synergized with Sylvia's starlight eyes, letting the witch use hues her mind could not yet fully accept. Further, the skill book itself had improved her ability to process the millions of new colors her eyes could see.

In other words, she had transformed into an advanced fighter aircraft equipped with modern optics and thermal sensors.

Sylvia's eyes were now worthy of Belkis's jealousy.

Though, a prisma's inner grimoire was still a cheat.

...

What was that? Sylvia was supposed to be investing in her foundation so that she'd be a well-rounded witch? Hmph. Lady Vallenfelt ordered her to do it, so Emily could stuff it!

Besides, she'd bought the skill book with the pile of merit points Esmeralda had fed her. Dozens of bloodline codes. On nom nom. More, please!

Far away, Glenda Fischer took off. The blonde witch flew through the sky, Sylvia's pale staff in hand. Professor Fischer's job was to play spotter and bait in the space between the Academy and the outlook. Once the troops reached their destination, Belkis and Sylvia would take over.

"A pity we can't get a full flight of witches into the air," Sylvia mused.

"I tried to train a few wing women, but they couldn't keep up," Belkis lamented, shaking her head.

"Were the mana costs too heavy?" Sylvia questioned, patting the pouch on her left.

There was a cold, hard math to aerial combat. Magical flight wasn't free. Brooms guzzled mana, especially when pushed to their limit. Throw in a lightning ward, a barrier frame, and the drain from Belkis's robes and Sylvia would be burning 700 mp per hour.

Her natural regeneration would offset 200 of that. Taking into account the size of Sylvia's pool and the asteri could stay aloft for three hours.

But she'd be a fool to burn her last mana point. So two hours was the real limit. And every second would count ten times over when Sylvia started to fight.

Thus, the mana potions Sylvia was carrying in the pouch on her left. Each potion was good for 500 mp. Drinking all three would double the asteri's pool, though not instantly. This wasn't a video game. Potions had to be digested to be turned into strength.

"That's part of it," Belkis said. "Since you need to keep a third in reserve, anyone below C-II/High is no good. There are a few graduates at the level, so I initially had hope. But they couldn't see far enough, so they had to fly low. Which puts a big burden on your reaction time and casting speed."

"In other words, splut." Sylvia mimed herself clutching a ballista shaft penetrating her heart. Eyes closed and tongue stuck out.

"Oh my, you're so cute," Belkis sounded. "No wonder Master loves you more than me."

Sylvia's playful eyes sharpened into a glare. With a growl and a stomp, the asteri made her displeasure known. What was wrong with her senior sister? Miming death wasn't cute.

…

That was a princess stomp, wasn't it?

"At least I'm not some sicko who voluntarily makes mana potions before every dive," Sylvia said snidely.

Belkis laughed. The easy-going manner looked odd on Esmeralda's face and body.

"You get used to it," Belkis replied. "And mana potions are handy in a pinch. Though, I usually only make one."

Sylvia looked at her senior sister as though she were nuts.

Just as healing potions demanded blood essence, mana potions required psychic essence. And psychic essence was what constituted a demon's brains. Which was to say, in order to make her mana potion, Esmeralda had sucked Sylvia's brains out.

The experience was roughly as pleasant as it sounded.

Unlike a human brain, psychic essence regenerated, so Sylvia had only been frazzled for a day and a half. From a strategic view, the sacrifice was worth it. But this was war. War was rarely pleasant. Belkis was an adventurer. She dove Tartarus' caves for fun.

What the fluffernutter was wrong with her sister that made Belkis eat her own brains for fun?

Clearly, the elemental witch was insane.

"There they go," Belkis said.

The first troops slipped from Vallen's walls. There was no grand procession, just swift columns disappearing at a rush. Slower, and protected by their own squads, were the cannons and ballistas, easily visible from where Sylvia was standing.

She hoped Baron Maxim couldn't see the same.

Or maybe, it was better if he did.

"Professor Fischer has been flying clear for the last few minutes," Sylvia commented.

The blonde witch drew loose ovals in the sky, sweeping a line five kilometers long and two kilometers wide. At the speed of a broom, these loops were five minutes each. An aerial witch was less a jet fighter and more a WWII prop plane in terms of speed and agility.

Though, an attack helicopter might be more apt.

"No counter fire on the troops yet, either," Belkis replied. The prisma gazed through a water lens, a flow of ki in her iron eyes.

"Maxim must've set his forces way back, or he's waiting for us to commit," Sylvia concluded.

"Better he fights than chickens out," Belkis replied. The witch's vicious smile didn't fit her master's face. "I'd hate to do all this setup and miss our chance."

Transformation magic was temporary. The complex chains Lady Vallenfelt used would ensure their disguise lingered for two hours. If Baron Maxim was cautious, the spell would fade, revealing their trick.

Professor Fischer's advancing oval passed over the outlook. Sylvia manifested her broom.

"Our turn is up," Sylvia stated. The asteri hopped on her broom, rising as she chanted. "■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■, ■■■■, ■■ ■■■■■."

A law-based catalyst circle was followed by a barrier frame, then an elemental ward attuned to lightning. Sylvia fueled the second spell with ether from two of her small sources. The third was powered by another pair of sources and her staff. She spread her barrier frame wide, so the sphere extended nearly four meters in diameter. This would provide plenty of room for other magics to hide within.

The witch took to the sky. Belkis shot past, gorgeous locks fluttering behind her. Esmeralda was so unreasonably beautiful.

As the Academy shrank beneath her, Vallen's corpse was revealed. Much of the old town had been abandoned, months of war leaving buildings smashed and ruined. Stone, wood, and rubble were like gravestones for the lively community that had been.

A couple structures stood in defiance to the destruction. The courthouse, made from white marble, remained mostly intact. The obelisks of Vallen's resurrection pool stood stalwart even though the core itself had been ruined.

Perhaps they'd survived by luck. Perhaps these buildings had gained such recognition that the plane itself had restored their structure.

While Old Vallen died, New Vallen thrived.

Forced from their homes, Vallen's residents built anew. Warehouses, cabins, and stores rose along the coast, filling the space between the Fortress of Dawn and the Academy. The two bastions had become a pair of towers guarding the fledgling village. Cutting the divide was a wall half built, a berm a few meters in height. Along its length, Sylvia could see demons at work, reinforcing the structure with stone and dirt. Watch towers were placed behind.

A decade from now, an entirely new town would emerge, replacing the old.

Somewhere in that growing community was a team of third year witches helping to build that future. Sylvia hoped Riley was proud.

A pity New Vallen would never belong to them.

But Sylvia would see a different city rise. One whose scale and majesty dwarfed these rural backwaters.

Eyes of fractal pink looked forward, their presence clashing with Belkis's visage. The plane's name fit its description. A sea of blue-green trees shrouded the land further than Sylvia could see. Whether it was hills, mountains, rivers, or lake, forest crowded everything. Branches and leaves formed a beryl blanket.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Betwixt the gaps, Sylvia glimpsed wisps of hidden life.

The asteri pushed aside her whimsy.

Sylvia's flight brought her near the outlook. Somewhere in the expanse beyond lay Clara Arbores' army. Baroness Vallenfelt and Baron Maxim had been playing a game of cat and mouse for months. Marius danced his forces along the edge of her reach, taking potshots with his weapons of war. Lady Vallenfelt snapped back, making sure his actions came with meaningful cost.

Then the hill was beneath them.

Witches were already gathered, chanting spells and conjuring fortifications. With earth bulwark, they erected a foundation. Mages with greater expertise followed, amending the magic. Spells wound through the dirt, melting essence into the figments, reinforcing their existence.

Three ballistas were brought onto the hill under heavy guard, set carefully into dug-in points. The other trio remained a hundred meters behind, positioned so they had coverage of the sky. The lightning cannons stood well back for now while the soldiers secured the area.

Captain Lebas loped beneath the canopy, body transformed into a giant, red-furred wolf.

"■■ ■■."

Sylvia conjured a glacial scale, pure starlight eyes sharp on the ground as she made her first loop. Belkis was well ahead, zipping seven hundred meters above the trees. So far, the elemental witch remained silent. If either of them spotted a target, their job was to strike with a meteor blast. The falling blaze would be captured by spotters, who would command land-bound witches to hit the foe again with all the fury they could muster.

Silence.

Wait.

Beneath the leaves and branches, Sylvia caught the flicker of phantasms. Her eyes narrowed, focus tight. There!

"■■■ ■."

Fifty-six runes sang on her tongue. Fire was drawn from her staff, mixed with a brush of wind and a hint of earth. A blazing ball shot out with harsh retort. The streak of flame descended, passing through blue sky. Meteor blast followed a ballistic trajectory, the path swayed slightly by Sylvia's intent. On the ground, the spell could be flung 1.5 kilometers.

In the air, the only limit was the projectile's life and velocity.

The descent lasted for seconds. Belkis made a hard turn, aiming for an assist.

All hell broke loose.

From the forest flashed ten streaks of light. Six flew up at a high angle. Four closed on Belkis, front and back. Sylvia swayed, Belkis's awesome coat billowing behind her. Her heart fluttered, then calmed. She had seconds to spare. Serene, Sylvia sucked in ether, blending her mana with the world to further accelerate her staff's recovery.

Blazing Storm filled to the brim with ether.

"■■■ ■."

Another blazing ball was sent toward the closest ballista. The thunder shot streaked closer. Cool and steady, Sylvia pulled hard right. The witch dove at a slight angle to augment her velocity.

Luminous bolts curved in chase, their course a hundred-meter streak through clear blue sky. Fooph. Fooph. The first two bolts flashed by. More glittered beneath, a promise of death.

Sylvia jinked.

A pulse from the waltz of flowers made her broom buck, sending her skittering ten meters to the left. Fooph. A spear hazed in a jagged cloud of electric light passed through her shadow. The witch steepened her dive, adding zig to her zag.

Z-crack! Fooph! Lightning flashed. Elemental energies threw sparks as they passed through her ward. One bolt went wide. The other crashed into a shield of ice that was as hard as a frost dragon's scale.

The metal head bit deep. The wood behind splintered. Her glacial scale held, frosty ice filled with fissures.

Sylvia tugged up.

Her dive turned into a gentle ascent. Sylvia's flight traced a wide curve as the witch oriented herself toward her second target. The first meteor blast had already vanished beneath the canopy, black smoke its only revelation. The second meteor blast was still falling.

The asteri's eyes found the crew beneath.

"■■■ ■."

Searing flame burst from her staff.

She needn't have bothered.

A wall of fire rose from the outlook, forty blazing balls ascending in a ballistic curve. The Academy's witches had struck. Prior to this moment, Sylvia had always felt the name 'meteor blast' was pretentious.

Now though?

Now, she witnessed a right and proper meteor swarm.

B-b-bo-boom-bb-boom. B-boom.

The distant explosions rolled like thunder as they washed the blue-green world in a sea of orange and crimson.

More lights glinted below.

Sylvia smirked. "Did I peach you off?"

Eight bolts shot from the beryl forest. One ballista was silent. An instant later, Belkis's blast smashed a second, turning the area into a roiling cloud of fire.

Sylvia judged the trajectory, then turned.

It was a bit like playing a video game. There was a limited degree to which thundershot could curve. All Sylvia had to do was slip within that radius and the attacks would fly around her. Of course, it wasn't that easy. Her enemies weren't brainless machines. The shots were scattered and the trajectories varied. It was almost impossible to dodge them all.

But that was what her glacial scale was for.

Confidence soared. A bright light flashed. Then another. Then another.

Donuts.

Her smile transformed into a grimace. Lightning cannons.

Sylvia dove.

As her broom pointed down, the witch's speed picked up. Air howled like a raging gale. Evasion wouldn't be enough. "■■ ■■!" Wind ether was drawn from her staff, merging with the water pulled from her elemental palace. A second glacial scale took form.

Thundershot curved toward her from below. Body pressed against her broom, Sylvia aimed straight for it.

BA-BANG!

Jagged lightning tore through the sky, the beam as thick as a truck. The world washed blue-white. Thunder sounded so loud that it was a physical force. The shock made her shudder. Sylvia blinked the spots from her eyes.

Then she all but froze in horror.

The final cannon had been aimed low. The twisting claw was coming right at her.

Sylvia jerked.

BANG! C-crack.

A shock of ki bounced Sylvia up, like a car racing over a speed bump. Lightning flashed beneath her, filling her entire vision. Blind and deaf she plunged through the stream's shadow, spears crashing into her frozen shield unheard.

Sylvia felt the first scale shatter.

But there were more bolts a fraction of a second behind.

The witch transformed her flight into a whirling skid. Broom in hand, Sylvia skated on a wave of petals. A plane of ice swept in front of her. To the bolts behind, the girl presented a narrow profile. C-crack. Fooph. A spear passed so close, she swore the feathers touched her nose.

Thud. Pain.

A spike of white-hot agony punched through her skin. A bolt had found its mark, smashing through wards then crashing through her armor's barrier. Flesh yielded. Bone broke. Sylvia screamed, magic force cascading through her blood essence.

Even with its power diminished, the spear tore straight through her. The bolt pierced her back near her left ribs then flew out through the front right.

The witch whipped through the air.

Shock held her for a quarter second, then training took over. Sylvia caught herself, the waltz of flowers transforming her tumble into a graceful flight. Her broom kicked, regaining lost velocity. A glance revealed two stray bolts tracing a path far from her position.

Belkis must've gotten the shooter, Sylvia thought with bitter amusement.

"■■■ ■■," the asteri muttered through gritted teeth. Flesh melted, closing the wound before Sylvia bled out the other half of her life.

Agony faded into dull ache.

Reaching for her belt, the witch popped a cork then downed a mana potion.

Sylvia spared a few seconds to grasp the situation.

B-boom-b-b-b-boom. Boom. Boom. B-b-boom.

Vallen's forces had unleashed a second wave of fury. Exploding shot and meteor blasts flew toward every ballista that had revealed itself. The forest shook with their thunder. Glimpsed between the trees was an iron carriage carrying the first of Vallen's cannons, the weapon secure behind spells and fortifications.

The rebels, by contrast, fell into a lull. The teams manning Marius' ballistas, if they survived, would be picking up their weapons and rushing them to new locations.

Then the game of cat and mouse would resume.

The asteri scanned the sky for Belkis. When Sylvia found the prisma, her expression turned sharp.

"Crazy woman."

Sylvia kicked her broom into gear. Belkis had an eye on the prize. Lightning magic was powerful, but every shot revealed the weapon's position. The prisma was rushing toward the closest of three cannons, which itself was a full three kilometers from the front line.

One minute of flight on Belkis's Raven Wing. Less on Esmeralda's Emerald Light.

Spears of lightning rose from the woods. A second round of ballistas fired. At the same moment, the trees shook. A hundred hawks rose from their branches. Caws and cries filled the air, their feathers crackling with electricity.

Clara Arbores would never allow 'Lady Vallenfelt' a free shot on their precious weapons.

Belkis swung between curving bolts, a score of javelins filling the sky with sparking streaks.

"Sorbet," Sylvia spat, skidding to a stop. "She's too far away."

The witch risked a few seconds of thought. Lightning hawks were Class II, low-rank phantasms. They were slow fliers. Too slow to catch Belkis. The primary threat was their ability to spit lightning. The effect was similar to the common lightning bolt spell, with the range cut in half.

She should ignore them, Sylvia realized. Instead….

The witch's eyes sharpened.

"■■■."

A lens of water warped her vision, choking out two thirds of her field of view. Fifteen ballistas fired as Belkis reached the core of the rebel's defenses. Light streaked across the sky. Sylvia focused. Her spell zoomed in. Hawk eyes multiplied with farsight. Suddenly, objects two to four kilometers distant could be seen as though they were in her backyard.

"■■■ ■■■!"

Sylvia pointed Blazing Storm. The witch dumped two hundred points of energy into a lightning lance. The spell screamed across the heavens. A bare second and the shock crashed into its target. The ballista's driver leapt forward hurriedly, smashing into the lance with his weapon.

The asteri didn't bother another glance. While her staff drank ether, rate augmented by ether breath, Sylvia searched for her next.

"■■■ ■■■." A pause. She waited four seconds until Blazing Storm was filled to the brim. "■■■ ■■■, ■■■ ■■■."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The air shook with the steady percussion.

While Sylvia sought to suppress, Belkis danced in a whirlwind of streaking light. The elemental witch completed a corkscrew, showing off her flickering flight. Bolts hued in electricity flashed by her, a few well aimed strikes cracking against circling shields of ice. Somehow, amid the chaos, Belkis found time to summon her own retort.

A strip of blue shot from Esmeralda's staff. Lightning punched through the closest hawk. The spell pierced then took a sudden, right-angled turn. Then another. Then another. Suddenly, the sky was lit by a jagged, blue chain. A gap was torn through the rising phantasms.

Chain lightning. Sylvia was so freaking jealous. Why didn't she have a sky element staff!

"■■ – "

Sylvia abandoned her spell, pushing off air in a sudden twist. Her glacial shield swished. Cra-chink! Thundershot smashed into it, shattering the damaged scale. Sylvia tore farsight apart, freeing her eyes. Ethers of water and wind swirled around her, transforming into ice.

"■■ ■■."

Crack!

A shield of frosted ice tall enough to cover Sylvia from head to toe materialized just in time. The second bolt broke on the scale, splinters of wood spinning through the air, electricity crackling. Another pair of bolts rose from below. One a second behind the other.

"Sugar Plums."

Sylvia released the waltz, letting her body fall freely. Her broom added to her acceleration. Sylvia understood her opponent's intent. They aimed to suppress her suppression. But even if she knew, she had to act. Stillness in aerial combat was akin to death. If the starlight witch stubbornly insisted, it was only a matter of time before she attracted far greater fury.

And no mage's mana was infinite.

Another pair of bolts rose from the woods. Fooph. Crack. Sylvia jiggled her broom, evading one and blocking the second.

"Don't blame me since you revealed yourself," Sylvia muttered as she reoriented.

Cra-chink.

"■■ ■■." A glacial scale broke, replaced by yet another. The witch dove, reaching her maximum speed in mere seconds. Blazing fire curled at the tip of her staff. "■■■ ■."

A meteor fell to the land below. Sylvia curved, her path leveling as her altitude reached a mere six hundred meters.

"■■■ ■."

A second blast followed the first. The two lines of fire tracked their target, correcting the point of impact by a dozen meters. The outlook's spotters caught her attack. Five witches found time to cast meteors in the ballista's direction.

Fooph. Fooph.

The asteri wiggled, two bolts going wide. She pulled up, trying to reclaim lost height. If she flew too low, she might encounter bareshot, which was much harder to spot.

A ray of light crossed the blue heavens. It wasn't lightning. Instead, it was a searing beam of plasma.

Belkis had found her cannon. And now the true Lady Vallenfelt had joined the fight.

Another ray followed the first, delayed by a little more than a second. Then a third as the baroness triple tapped. Skyrending beam was high magic of the calamity element. Calamity had the weight of earth, the fury of fire, and the swiftness of wind. The sky was hued white with every cast. The streaks of plasma, a line two meters wide and six kilometers long.

Bang!

Distant thunder sounded as a cannon barked. Lightning spat from the territory controlled by Clara Arbores, barely in range. The baroness dropped, accelerating downward to evade.

Bang!

Another jagged bolt flashed. This time, the shot came from their side, stretching over beryl treetops to strike the point Esmeralda had illuminated. The shock was followed by an explosion, erratic bolts of electricity thrown through the trees.

Sylvia grinned.

If Lady Vallenfelt hadn't killed Marius's lightning cannon, that final strike certainly had.

Sylvia flew through the sky, meteor blasts exploding from her staff. The witch spiraled higher, blazing balls of fire falling on whichever ballista dared to reveal its presence. Four tense minutes followed. Explosions littered the woods. Esmeralda was now visibly in the sky, running sweeps not far from the outlook. Thundershot flashed through the air, never more than two shots as the crews scrambled to scoot after every exchange.

Sylvia zigged and zagged. Three quarters of the thundershot going wide. The rest cracked against her glacial scales, chipping away at the ice along with her mana. Sylvia's pool drained, sucked away by the fight's fury.

Belkis reached the outlook, ragged but full of victory. Sylvia joined her. Glenda Fischer took to the air in replacement.

"That looks like it hurt," Belkis commented as she settled on the ground.

"I took a shot through the ribs," Sylvia said, wincing. The healing spell made it better, but with the rush of combat easing, she felt the wound all the more. "You?"

Even as she asked, Sylvia opened her status screen.

Name Sylvia Swallows Class Elite Witch Level 307+60 Exp 952 / 3080 HP 305 / 572 MP 216 / 1493 Str 20 Mag 103 Vit 15 Spr 107 Agl 50 Wit 102

"If not for Master's broom and armor, I would've been toast," Belkis replied. The prisma spun, showing off the demure white dress and royal blue cloak.

"I need an hour before I can go back up," Sylvia commented. She reached for a potion then reminded herself that the first was still digesting.

"You did great, little sis," Belkis returned.

Sylvia would be satisfied if she got a few kills. Baron Marius' troops knew what they were doing. Without a witch flying low to double tap, or a wave of supporting strikes, her targets were more likely to survive than not.

"I'm not the one who hit the cannon."

"That was all Master," Belkis said. "I just marked it for – "

"Belkis von Vallenfelt," an icy voice spoke. Esmeralda floated down on a cheap broom. Her visage had been restored, showing all its glory. "What is it that I said about excessive risks?"

...

Since Belkis was in trouble, did that mean Sylvia got to keep the prisma's robes, staff, and broom?

-oOo-

Tools and Equipment

Potion Bottles

Mass: 1.0 to 3.0 droms

Potion Life: 5x to 30x

Cost: 2,000 to 50,000 soli

Potions are both precious tools and an endless source of headaches for demons. All potions are perishable goods, generally lasting a day or two at most. Healing potions and mana potions are not only perishable, but custom-made goods that have to be brewed for a specific demon.

In order to make potions useful, they need to last longer. And the easiest way to increase a potion's life is to store it in a good bottle.

But high quality bottles are expensive. What's more, potions often have a high spiritual mass. This means potions are often stored externally.

As a result, the best potion bottles are soul bound equipment whose shadow is projected into the world. This way, even on death or accident, the expensive bottle won't be lost. This does mean bottles cost more, but in the long run savings can easily exceed that price.

Though, for the true luxury bottles, with low mass and good effect, the savings are often questionable.

Flying Staff

Mass: 15 to 45 droms

Top Speed: 150 to 400 km/h

Acceleration: 1 to 5 seconds (0 to 100 km/h)

Cost: 2,000 to 25,000,000 soli

A flying staff is any staff-like object that has been enchanted to fly. Millennia of evolution has coalesced into a fundamental design. The staff should be long enough to carry its pilot. The rear should have a box like structure to efficiently emit wind. Bristles should be added, so the transformation of ether is both efficient and easily vectored.

Thus, all modern flying staves look like brooms. In fact, they so obviously look like brooms most demons call them brooms instead of staves.

With rare exceptions, flying staves use the wind element as the primary mechanism of flight. The staff's body serves to gather the necessary ether while the box and bristles direct the wind jet behind. Flying on a broom consumes mana. The typical cost ranges from 200 to 1000 Mp/hour. This cost can increase by a factor of five, if wind ether thins. In areas without a concept of sky or air, such as the starry void, brooms often don't function at all.

On most planes, this means there is a flight ceiling. As a rider rises, wind ether will thin. If they rise high enough, world logic itself will fall away, replaced by empty void.

As magical tools, brooms have better performance when used by magical bloodlines. The size and weight of the rider also has a notable impact on a broom's function. This, paired with the Hecates lineage distorting the male/female ratio among mages, has led to the common belief that riding a broom is feminine.

Thus, many men refused brooms to protect their masculinity, producing a vicious cycle. This cultural selection has shaped the iconic image of the broom into modern times. Witches ride brooms. Wizards do not. To do otherwise would be like driving a pink car on Earth.

To resolve this cultural conundrum, other flying tools have been invented. Carpets. Hoverboards. There are even flying swords for the adventurous sorts. As for demons with a physical predisposition, wing based tools are preferred as they are enhanced with ki rather than mana.

Raven Wing

Weight: 21.8 droms

Type: Tool

Value: 68,000 soli

Characteristics:

Top Speed: 200 km/h

Acceleration: 2.4 seconds (0-100)

Mp Drain: 230 to 410/hour

A dark bodied flying staff with red bristles. This is a high performance broom that utilizes an affordable design, truly the pinnacle of engineering. Raven Wing is the perfect broom for any wealthy witch.

Firebolt Mk 7

Weight: 28.5 droms

Type: Tool

Value: 8,500 soli

Characteristics:

Top Speed: 160 km/h

Acceleration: 3.1 seconds (0-100)

Mp Drain: 220 to 360/hour

A flying staff joyfully created by the Starlight Nether Witch Academy's Artisan Club. The polished wood and full bristles at the back are said to come from a certain fandom. Regardless of the inspiration, this broom is the best the students of the Academy have ever produced. For many years, it was proudly displayed in the Recreation Hall. Later, it was gifted to Sylvia Swallows. To have the broom flown by the baroness's apprentice is a true honor.

Sylvia's Notes: It's a piece of junk made by nerds. One day, I'm going to sell this baby for serious cash to my fellow gamers.

Emerald Light

Weight: 27.1 droms

Type: Tool

Value: 2,300,000 soli

Characteristics:

Top Speed: 305 km/h

Acceleration: 1.3 seconds (0-100)

Mp Drain: 270 to 790/hour

A broom commissioned by Esmeralda Vallenfelt. Emerald Light sports intense acceleration and an excellent top speed. Though the broom somewhat lacks in mana efficiency, the power and maneuverability will leave everyone in the rider's dust. Furthermore, this staff is not only agile, but strong. Enough so that an aqua shell will only reduce the acceleration from 1.3 seconds to 1.6 seconds.

Emerald Light has an innate recall function, allowing the broom to be summoned to the wielder so long as it is no more than a kilometer away.

Sylvia's Notes: After intense interrogation, I have discovered that the recall is not, in fact, triggered with Accio Broom. Emily, you should be ashamed of yourself.

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