Eight Intertwined

138 - Starseer

As soon as the battle began, Primrose felt something heavy weighing on her body. When she glanced around though, she didn't see anything holding her down. She flicked the Shadow Fan where it rested in the palm of her hand, expecting it to show even the slightest signs of life. She had been planning on summoning a charm that would strengthen the travelers and give them the power they needed to push through the rest of the fight. Unfortunately, the Shadow Fan didn't respond in the slightest, and Primrose realized that was the nature of the new spell. It kept her from being able to offer support spells to the rest of the travelers through her legendary weapon. Steorra wasn't going to let them use the same strategy they had employed to defeat Dreisang, in other words. They would have to get creative if they were to defeat her. 

Primrose jumped backwards after she glanced up to see Steorra coming after her first, clearly planning on taking advantage of the dancer being distracted with the lack of magic from her fan. Steorra slashed her whip at the ground, and a trail of shooing stars followed the weapon before trying to bombard Primrose. The dancer avoided two of the three comets before the third one struck her in the ankle, sending her sprawling to the ground. Tressa was there to cover for her though, creating a gust of wind that delivered Primrose from danger and pushed Steorra back just enough for the dancer to recover and come up with a new plan. 

It was clear that they would have to try something a bit different if they wanted to win this fight. Steorra was wise to their tactics, and considering the fact that their skills with reflective magic had already won them the battles against Aelfric and Dreisang, that made a lot of sense. Primrose was fine with being creative though, and she sent out a spell of dark magic toward the goddess to try and push her back slightly. Steorra was unbothered by the attack though, so Primrose changed tactics, creating a column of ice to force the goddess back. That was enough to distract her, and Primrose took advantage of the brief lapse in Steorra's attention to push herself to her feet and scramble away. She couldn't allow herself to be taken out of the fight so soon in the battle. She still had more to do, and she wouldn't let Steorra get the best of her right away.

Primrose checked Steorra's stance as the goddess pulled backward, but she couldn't see any weaknesses make themselves immediately apparent. In that case, she and the rest of the travelers would simply have to make the weaknesses appear. Primrose readied her knife after putting the Shadow Fan away, and beside her, H'aanit nocked an arrow on her bow before sending it flying. Unfortunately, Steorra seemed to know what was coming, and she avoided the arrow before swerving out of the way of a stab from Primrose a moment later. Steorra blurred through the air before she appeared right in front of H'aanit, and she offered a small smile before she planted her foot in the huntress' stomach. H'aanit was sent sprawling backwards immediately afterward, and she groaned as her back hit the wall. Linde immediately retreated to try and defend her partner, and H'aanit tried to push herself back to her feet. 

Primrose didn't understand how Steorra could have seen through them so easily. It didn't make any sense. She shouldn't have been able to avoid an attack from H'aanit that quickly, but she not only got away with it but made it look effortless. There had to be some other explanation for it. Unfortunately, Primrose couldn't investigate it before she found herself being sent back by yet another barrage of comets sent in her direction. She needed to consider her next steps more carefully without leaving obvious gaps in her defenses. She couldn't let Steorra get the best of her yet, but she wasn't sure about how she was meant to defend herself either. 

Alfyn hit his axe against the ground before Steorra could try to lash out at anyone else, and vines sprouted up from the ground to try and pin her down. She was ready for him though, and a quick crack of her whip shattered all of the vines. Alfyn charged at her a moment later to try and hit him with her axe, but she avoided the attack at the last second before sending a comet in his direction to force him to retreat. He wound up being struck in the shoulder by the shooting star before he had the chance to defend himself, and he found himself on the ground not far from H'aanit a few moments later.