Eight Intertwined

9 - Russell

Cyrus raised his staff as soon as the battle had started properly, and his initial action was to slash his staff in the direction of Russell. Ophilia followed up with a similar strike, though it was clear that neither one of them had been able to do significant damage with the attacks. It was going to take more than that for them to defeat their foe. 

One of the icy wisps that Russell had summoned hit Ophilia next, and she felt cold mount around her body. She managed to break free before she could sustain too much damage, and she concentrated on utilizing the cold that had been sent in her direction. After a few moments of contemplation, Ophilia allowed the energy to burst forth from her fingertips towards Russell and the wisps. 

Even though the magical wisps weren't all that impacted by having their own poison used against them, Russell certainly felt the sting of it, and he stumbled backwards thanks to the icy power. He pushed out a fire attack a moment later, but Cyrus managed to jump backwards before he could be hit. When he retaliated with a heated attack of his own, Cyrus watched as the wisps contorted under the effort that he had expelled. 

"The wisps of ice magic are vulnerable to fire magic. Russell is weak to ice magic and staves," Cyrus told Ophilia as soon as she was close enough to hear him. She nodded in response before unleashing another attack of fire magic. The wisps struggled thanks to her strike, and Ophilia allowed this momentum to carry her into an icy blast in Russell's direction. She could tell that they were all starting to feel the weight of the attacks from Ophilia and Cyrus. 

Both of the icy wisps attacked Ophilia, and she threw up her arms in a last ditch effort to defend herself. She ultimately took damage from the strike, and Cyrus was sent stumbling backwards when Russell reached for a book on the nearby table and threw it in his direction. Cyrus was careful to ensure that the tome was out of the line of fire before he whispered something under his breath and unveiled a strike of ice magic that hit Russell. Ophilia followed up with an attack of fire as soon as she was able to gather her bearings enough to fight back. 

This combination of attacks left both the wisps and Russell vulnerable and struggling to find their composure. Cyrus closed his eyes and concentrated his energy enough to cast a spell of his own, and after a few whispered words, he was able to release an attack of ice. This time around though, there was something more to it, and every part of the room seemed to bow to Cyrus for a few precious moments, almost as if the space accepted that he was its master 

A duo of icy attacks crept across the ground towards Russell, hitting the mage hard. Ophilia closed her eyes and pulled together the magic that she knew better than anything: light. Three columns of bright white illumination formed from nowhere before striking at the wisps and Russell, creating an explosion of sound. "O, sacred light!" Ophilia cried out above the chaos, and the Ember seemed to sing in response. 

By the time that Cyrus had managed to shove a plum in his mouth to replenish the magical energy that was lost in the process of attacking Russell with so much energy, both Russell and the wisps had managed to recover. Russell threw a book at Ophilia this time, and she nearly slipped onto the rocks below. She pulled a plum and a grape from her bag at the same time before forcing herself to eat both at once. The tastes combined into something strange, but Ophilia knew that she didn't have time to linger on it. 

"He's getting ready to charge up for a stronger attack!" Cyrus exclaimed as Ophilia gathered her bearings once again. Both Cyrus and Ophilia locked their eyes onto Russell, and Ophilia could feel the arcane energies slipping under Russell's influence. He was trying to get the power of the room under his control again after Cyrus' attack, but he wasn't anywhere near as Cyrus was where spell casting was concerned, and it was going to get all of them hurt if he wasn't careful. Russell was a specialist in fire magic as far as Ophilia could tell, and the last thing she wanted was for those flames to cause a catastrophe beneath Atlasdam.