Stormy’s guardian barriers weren’t the largest shield. They were three feet across and circular, meaning there were gaps in them if one was trying to use them like cover. And this meant that Stormy had to throw them up in patterns, several stacked closely together to make quick walls which people could stand behind. Doing this wasn’t hard for him, in fact it was
child’s play in a very literal sense. This was the same sort of thing he worked around on battlefields ten years ago; A rhythm, of sorts.
When people strayed too far, Stormy would flock his arm in their direction and hurl one of the circular shields outwards. Timing it the way he did, it intercepted the occasional bullet that someone was trying to plant in someone’s chest. And when someone was ducking behind cover to heal or reload a weapon, his walls would spread out slightly, until the shields were almost edge to edge so they could catch their breath. This was muscle memory to him, something he didn’t even have to consciously think about sometimes.
The trick, though, was keeping up with others. Protection was a burden, one that magically locked Stormy down. So, every few minutes when the Aggro group pressed on just outside his range, every single barrier would fall and he’d haul ass back into the center of the action. By then, the position he’d take would be exhausted, so he’d start all over again without breaking a sweat.
And all was going perfectly fine, rote and dangerous when that gigantic
thing tore out through the trees.
”Damn… I can’t cast Phantombane like this,” He muttered. Too much magic being used, it wouldn’t even be felt.
Unless…
”STORMY,” Aryin shouted as they walked calmly through the falling ghosts as explosions erupted around them. The shockwaves began to quickly charge her energy reserves. While she did not know how to stop the falling bombs, or if they even could at this moment, the enemy finally unleashed their first strikes which meant it was time for Aryin to go on the offensive.
”Hallow Blast.” ”You read my mind!” More barriers went up, scattered at random with no rhyme or reason, to act as shade for the falling ectoplasm.
”I can’t move, just stay near me!”He held out a fist, and reached down
deep into his very soul, the place where all his magic truly came from. Vibrant, malachite green energy raced up his arm. He held it out to them.
Aryin continued to walk through the explosions, their durability pushed to their maximum. Each one added more and more of a charge to their stored power, and each one threatened to slow them down in this critical moment. As they walked through the chaos Jasper watched with a grin on his face. He knew all too well what the two were about to bring to the battle, and he knew that he might have a part to play in it. Even as his body was still recovering he needed to ensure that the two got that bomb off. He pulled up a canvas and his paintbrush and began to paint.
As they came with each of Stormy they swapped forms and reached out their one fist to Stormy and held his other hand up in the air, palm up.
The green swirled into their hands like water, tightening and spinning faster and and faster. It began to glow bright, an emerald sun upon the battlefield. Brighter, brighter and brighter still. Aaron’s energy mixed with it, a Spirit Bomb that dared anything inhuman to so much as exist in the aftermath.
As the energy mixed and combined the spirit bomb grew larger, and larger, and larger still. First it was nothing more than a baseball in size, but it quickly grew to a basketball, followed by an exercise ball and still more it grew. Aryin was putting as much of their stored energy into this attack as he could. As it approached his limit the weight of the bomb began to grow heavily on him but with Stormy helping it was bearable. Aaron looked up and saw a bomb falling right towards them. Aaron knew he couldn’t swap back in time and simply closed his eyes in acceptance.
The explosion rang out from above but it had a heavy metal ring to it. Aaron was spattered with paint spalling as Jaspers Paladin, complete with the durable shield Stormy taught him to make, had his shield raised as high as he could to intercept the ghostly bomb. It held its arm up for a second before it fell to the side and dissolved into paint once more.
A second later Aaron felt his own life force begin to deplete. He had used up all of his saved energy.
” Let’s do this.” ”EVERYBODY MOVE, NOW!!!”
They both hurled it high into the air, and it served over the trees and down onto the head of the magma titan. It was like a small nuke went off, green smoke and raw power rippling down. It was Phantombane, but a dozen times stronger, backed by one of the heaviest hitting Adepts in the coven.