Grasidia’s unexpected hostility had definitely caught Leon off guard, but he understood her frustrations. Despite that, he couldn’t help himself from voicing his own concerns.
“
You’re one of our strongest mages, Ma’am. If we’re to stand a chance you need to be kept healthy too.” His words seemed to ring hollow, the plant mage ordering him to aid the others. At the very least she seemed a little less worse for wear than before. Leon turned to Lorelai, who was continuing to wrap Grasidia in her healing embrace just for a tiny bit of extra relief.
“
Alright Lor, that’s enough.” The fairy flew back to his side, resting on the young man’s shoulder. Tucking his codex away, Leon scanned around to try and find someone else in need of his assistance. Unfortunately the battle was much too chaotic for him to get a good grasp of his surroundings. Though the sight of a young Felix rushing in to face the beast immediately drew his attention.
What is he doing?! This was bad! Holly and Marduk had specifically told him to look after Felix and he’d already abandoned the young lad. Grasidia was right - he has wasted his efforts and now Felix was in peril. He began to move forward, thinking he could try and protect the boy at the last moment. He willed his legs to move another step, but a blood curdling screech locked his muscles in place. The dragon was enraged. Fear had Leon in its grasp, Lorelai’s words of encouragement falling on deaf ears. Then the dragon readied its breath attack.
If not for Grasidia’s brambles, Leon would surely have been roasted to a crisp. Falling backwards, he took a moment to catch his breath as the heat of the flame breath lashed all around him. Had Grasidia managed to protect Felix too? He would never forgive himself if he has failed to keep him same. Once the flames subsided, Leon peaked out from behind his cover just in time to see Zenith escorting Felix to safety. What a relief. Before he had time to get comfortable, the ground rattled and warped around him - the result of the dragon’s body slamming down to the earth with immense force. The foundation of the streets around him buckled, and Leon employed a bit of quick footwork to try and stop himself from being swallowed up by debris. Jumping from large pieces of unstable ground, he made his way to a patch of earth that was relatively untouched. The decimation of Era surrounded him, but at least his friends had managed to get some good hits in on the creature. Or so he thought.
Leon couldn’t believe his eyes, the dragon was healing itself! It was hopeless to try and fight this thing. Though it seemed he had resigned himself to despair a tad too early. His allies were not so complacent as to let the beast get away with dismissing their efforts to fell it. A good portion of its face, neck and wing bloomed into sanguine thorns - a sight that sent shivers down Leon’s spine. No doubt that was Lavinia’s doing. Did blood magic have to be so unsightly?
Meanwhile Holly’s assault, cleverly taking advantage of the Dragon’s own carnage of the surrounding area, pelted the monster with chunks of rubble and debris. Wait, was that Clover being flung towards it as well? Leon watched him torpedo into the dragon before attempting to further rend its wound apart. That was definitely one way to go about it. All the while, Grasidia continued to subdue the beast with her vines, but it would seem the effectiveness of her restraints was starting to fade. That was when he saw the tail swipe heading straight for Lilianna. Damnit, in all the chaos he had failed to keep an eye out for his other guild members. He winced at the sight of the dragonslayer’s body being sent reeling from the attack.
The dragon’s tail swipe didn’t end there, continuing along its arc and heading straight towards Leon. Lorelai braced for impact, but thankfully the young mage had been given enough warning of the impending attack to pull his codex in front of him.
“
Adloquium!” He shouted, the same magic circle from when he had healed Grasidia bursting forth from the flipping pages of his book. From the bottom of his feet, an array of tessellating hexagons began to solidify into a crystalline force that enveloped him in a sphere of protective magic. The shield had only just finished taking form right as the tail collided with it. The barrier shattered immediately, but had thankfully managed to absorb a good amount of force from reaching Leon. He was still flung backwards, tumbling along the streets in a messy heap. Lorelai flew to his side, beginning to heal him with her own regenerative magic.
Raising himself to a kneel, Leon pointed towards his injured teammate and issued a pressing order to his Pixie.
“
Go to Lilianna! Do whatever it takes to get her back in the fight!” Lorelai hesitated not wanting to leave her conjurer in an injured state, prompting a much more forceful shout.
“
Go! She’s more important than I am!” Leon was practically useless against this dragon, but he could at the very least try to keep his allies safe. He attempted to stand up, only to be met with a throbbing pain in his right leg. Crumpling to the ground, he winced whilst examining the gash along his thigh. Probably nipped it on some jagged rubble.
“
I’ll be fine.” Lorelai wasn’t reassured, but she reluctantly darted away towards where Lilianna was. When she had stopped in front of her, Leon closed his eyes and began to focus his magic. In front of his face, a magic circle depicting a pair of butterfly wings formed.
“
Whispering Dawn” On his command, Lorelai began to pulse with energy, twirling around Lilianna before an intense plume of pixie dust burst from all around her. In addition to her own healing magic, the additional restorative effects from her spell began to mend Lilianna’s wounds much faster than if he had relied purely on Lorelai’s embrace.
Leon watched as Felix began his assault again, only to be taken out by one of the dragon's attacks. Similarly, Zenith had a gout of intense fire breath aimed towards him. Leon grit his teeth and attempted to stand up again, but his body failed him.
“
Come on! Move!” Tears welled up in his eyes. He pounded his prosthetic fist into the side of his good leg. “
Move!” Unfortunately, he could not overpower his instincts right now. Everything in his body was screaming at him to run and hide, to give up and let be. No matter how hard he wanted to continue helping he just couldn’t force himself to move. How pathetic. He’d only received mild injuries and was already at the end of his rope? He started to think perhaps his guildmates should have questioned bringing him along rather than Felix. At least Felix had the guts to keep on fighting despite all odds. Through his tears, Leon looked over to Lilianna and prayed Lorelai’s efforts accumulated to something. He hated to leave Zenith and Felix without his aid, but he had to trust that the other more composed members of the group would be capable of helping them.