Coalescence

Chapter 20: The Duel of White Flash

As Malcolm and Bren crested the peak, they found Juten locked into intense combat with Ricard. The only shocking thing was Juten's body glowing an intense purple, his eyes sharing the same bright lavender glow as Malcolm's once did. His flames clashed with Ricards, swirls of blue and purple taking over the mountaintop. They were interlocked with one another, the intense heat of their colliding flames pervading the entire area. Malcolm felt his eyes begin to burn, an intense feeling of passion overtaking him. As Juten fought, he felt his heart beat; every strike had a significant impact on Malcolm's body. The energy emanating from their duel powered him, sending his power soaring higher.

Suddenly, the duel was broken when Juten came flying towards them, rearing his blade to strike. Malcolm quickly summoned Dawnbreaker and stopped him, holding him in the air as Juten bore down on top of them.

"Captain, snap the hell out of it, it's your men!" Malcolm yelled, the weight of Juten's strike still bearing down on him. "We're here to help you, so stop trying to kill us you idiot!" As Malcolm held him, Bren sprinted around and hit him in the back of his neck with the butt of her sword. Juten's glow faded out and he fell to the ground unconscious, Malcolm catching him before he hit his head and laying him down in the snow.

"There, that fixes things. I'll take on Ricard, try and purge his void energy with your Sunlight Art." Bren turned to face Ricard as Malcolm nodded, holding his hands over Juten.

"Sunlight Art, Dawns Warmth." Waves of a calming warmth spread from his hands, seeping into Juten's mana pathways and body. As Malcolm healed him, Bren stepped away and faced Ricard.

"After all these years of effort, he still let his Consuming Flame overtake him, how sad." Ricard flared up his sword, Bren drawing her own. Malcolm's ears perked up and he yelled out to Bren.

"Bren, manifest your Dryad Art behind your right eye and focus!" Bren turned to look at him with confusion.

"What, why?"

"Trust me, it's your one chance." As Ricard slowly approached Bren, she did as Malcolm said. She didn't know what was special about her right eye, but she moved her core behind her eye and felt a connection form between them. As naturally as magic had come to her years ago, she felt a fire burning deep within her that forced words to form.

"Fractal Release, Living Flame." Her eye flared up, a fluorescent beam firing out and attaching to Ricard. He tried to cut it off, but couldn't get the thin string to snap. The string glowed brighter as a flame moved from Bren's eye down the line, quickly encroaching on Ricard before he could react. The flames spread in a thin layer across his body, causing him to panic and flail to remove them. The line from Bren's eye snapped, the surge of power receding and the flames stopping soon after. She held her eye as the burning feeling remained, her core slowly relocating to her chest. Her and Ricard screamed as pain shot through their entire bodies, Malcolm looking on from the sidelines as the two struggled.

He looked down to Juten's face, noticing the change in eye color and the stability returning to his breathing. He looked back up to Bren and Ricard's struggle, quickly looking back down to Juten and driving his fist against his chest plate as hard as he could. Juten snapped awake in a panicked fit, grabbing onto Malcolm's shoulders and reaching for a knife on his belt. Once he recognized his face, he backed down.

"Hey, what the hell's happening up here?" Juten asked through staggered breaths.

"Bren manifested her Fractal Eye and Living Flame, now Ricard is stunned. If I can see anything, it's that she'll pass out from the pain. If you take care of her, then I'll take Ricard on." Juten looked at Malcolm with a puzzled expression, his genuine smile throwing Juten off.