Beneath the Surface

"MY CONSCIENCE IS CLEAR. I DO ONLY WHAT I MUST." The beam approaches quickly, cutting through the air towards Divine. "AND IT WOULD HELP IF YOU STOOD STILL FOR A LITTLE LONGER."

"As you wish." She stood completely still, though when the bolt struck, it passed harmlessly through her chest and struck the ground instead.

[God I love redundancy]

"HM." Theria watches her curiously. "INTERESTING. A QUEER MOVE." She glares at her. "BUT WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT THIS?"

She turns to Ruby and unleashes another magic beam at her instead.

Ruby smiles and sidesteps, stepping next to Divine, the lightning apparently not affecting her.

Theria bares her teeth in a smile. "TELL ME, YOU REMEMBER THE SHIELD YOUR PRECIOUS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD PUT UP BEFORE THE INVASION LAST YEAR, DON'T YOU?"

The surrounding wall of flames increases in intensity.

"Of course I do. Why do you ask?" She replied, head cocked.

"BECAUSE I KNOW OF A WAY TO... REVERSE ITS POLARITY." Theria cackles. "YOU MIGHT WANT TO SIT BACK FOR THIS."

Her horn glows brightly, and a bubble of pink expands outwards with her as its core, becoming bigger and bigger and getting closer to Divine and Ruby.

Divine cocked her head again. "And what precisely do you plan to do with that?"

"HIS SHIELD KEPT CHANGELINGS OUT. THIS ONE... KEEPS PONIES OUT." The outer shell of the bubble hurtles towards them. "YOUR MOVE."

Divine nodded slowly, before kissing Ruby. "Sorry love... This is goodbye I think." She turned to the approaching portal, before throwing herself at the it, punching it with her prodigious strength.

The shield cracks under Divine's power, but it is ultimately not enough. It pushes her into the wall of fire... and then suddenly disappears.

Theria, her eyes still glowing but no longer levitating, leaps at Divine with an arcane blade of pink in the air. "FIGHT ME."

((Gotta go now, unfortunately. See you!))

Divine, bleeding and on fire, chuckles weakly, before pulling her sword out of the ground and meeting the blade of pink with a weak counter. "N- no..."

[Bye]

The shield also pushed Ruby into the fire, but she was summarily ignored by Theria as she slashes at Divine with frightening speed, again and again, from as many different angles as she can, but always at her limbs rather than her torso or head.

The shield disappears just before it reaches Ician, and a few metres away from Griff. Ician lies limply, waiting for Griff to answer his call.

The shield carries Quimia slightly forward, but she digs into the ground and manages to stop herself half a metre away from the fire as the shield dissipates. Storm is similarly carried right to the edge of the fire.

((Thinking we should probably wait for DragonXneoN before going too far with the battle.))

Divine struggled to maintain a semblance of defence as she was pushed back repeatedly, never actually attacking Theria.

Ruby stared, the flames crackling around her.

[Ok]

Griff slowly moved closer to Ician while Divine still had all the attention. He lied down next to him, listening what he has to say. "Yes, commander?"

"I... was a fool." He gasped. "I'm so stupid... I let love blind me..." He coughs. "... Listen, this is the one chance to make this right. I need you to fly out of here while they're distracted... and tell what's left of the army to get down here. But before that..." He swallows. "Tell the mortar crews to target those catacombs. If we can bring it down on their heads... that'll be a lot fewer changelings to worry about."

Griff nods. "Please don't die down here..." he runs towards the the room with the large hole, transforming into eagle mid-way and flying out, searching for other remaining forces.

"I'll... try..." Ician gasps.

However, as Griff flies away, a few changelings notice his departure. "Get him!" A dozen changelings take to the air, firing magic beams of energy at the eagle.

Griff notices that and continues flying higher and higher while dodging the beams.

The changelings cannot compete with Griff's speed, but that doesn't stop them from trying. The beams become steadily less powerful but more numerous as they try to hit Griff at least once, even if only with a glancing blow.

"Persistent bastards, aren't they..." Griff comments as he continues flying up higher, reaching the altitude of clouds.

The changelings stop firing as Griff disappears from view. They quickly withdraw back to the cavern.

---

With an enraged shout, Theria keeps driving her sword at Divine time and time again, keeping Divine under an unrelenting hail of blows. The moment she sees an opening, she launches a concussive blast of air at her.

"Good." Griff grins and starts diving back towards the ground, enjoying the feeling of slicing the air with his sharp beak and wings. He then finds the remaining troops and yells out their orders before continuing to find the others.

Divine tumbles back, slamming into the ground. She gasps as her back snaps hard against it.

The mortar crew raises their heads and spots the eagle yelling out orders.

"Uh..." The first one begins. "Did that eagle..."

"Must be Commander Ician's friend." The second mutters.

"A changeling?" The third suggests.

"Perhaps we should..." says the fourth.

"... await confirmation." The second soldier - a pegasus - flies up into the air after Griff.

In the meantime, Griff spots the rest of the army over on the other side of the forest, led by Eclipse, as they guard the trees with an unwavering gaze.

---

"NOW," Theria snarls, "YOU DIE!" She lifts her blade into the air and prepares to bring it down on Divine.

"Ruby!" Quimia shouts from her position. "Help her!"