Firebrand face cycled from gritted teeth to grin and back again as he watched the snake creature cut down his magic like it was noting, collapse along with the entire roof, then emerge relatively unscathed. Then he watched as the creature waved its arms and he gripped his chest as he felt ice water flow into the core of his being.

The red arremer flew over to him, exhausted from having to avoid the tendrils that had suddenly vanished. He opened his mouth, maybe to offer some praise, but Firebrand cut him off. "It's done something to me." He breathed, options playing out in his head. They could have flown away before, but that option was off the table now. There was no way to tell what this curse would do or whether it had any specific range. Killing the caster might not even stop it, but that was the best option now. He had to respect the creature, enforcing the confrontation like that.

He could go under again, but he had no idea how many drops it would take to kill it. Could he even survive long enough to try that? Even if he tried, would the creature let him? It hadn't bothered repositioning even though it was clearly capable of doing so, and that meant it was confident it could stop him if he tried again. The first time had only worked because it had been a surprise. Besides which, the supports would become stronger as they went down. It would take much too long.

He definitely couldn't fight from up here either. With those weapons it could just block his fire until whatever dark magic he'd been injected with had done its work. This needed to be finished quickly, in a manner that it wouldn't be able to cut down with its weapons. That meant going head to head. He couldn't help smiling at that. He could feel the old fire burning in his veins.

It only took him an instant to come up with a new plan of attack. "Split up and circle." He said, reaching into the neckline of his armor and pulling out a claw shaped talisman that he let clink against his chest. He could feel the effect instantly, a fire building in his chest that was almost enough to shrug ff that dreadful chill. "Do as I do until I move in Keep away from those corpses." His subordinate demon nodded and the pair split off, circling the building like vultures after a fresh carcass. Then Firebrand began spitting Busters again, raining fire at the snake creature and onto its zombie slaves. The Busters were noticeable bigger, glowing with an as yet unseen intensity, and the force of their impact had seemingly doubled. They made the fireballs the red arremer was spitting down on the group seem piddly in comparison.

Then Firebrand swooped down, letting gravity build his speed as he fired a constant barrage of Busters at the snake. He had to keep it using those swords. He desperately needed it to think with swords. His wings beat at the air as he leveled off, pushing him forward faster and faster toward it. He raised up his arm, claws gleaming in the sun, as he continued his reckless, desperate charge. 

Then at the last possible moment, just when it seemed the two were about to clash, he gave his wings one last beat that threw him up and backwards out of the creatures sword range. He started down at it for what seemed to him like an eternity, then made a choking noise as something formed in his stomach and made its way up his throat. His neck bulged, his cheeks glowed white hot, then he opened his mouth and upchucked a huge glob of molten lava at the creature.