The Ascension Of The Celestial Priest

Fueled by adrenaline, Lukas swiftly rose himself from the ground before his hands flew into a familiar cadence, a discernible rune forming in front of him. After he sent it towards the ground, he quickly manifested a dome that immediately covered him.

"Everyone take cover!" He called out to them at the top of his lungs. Maybe it was his urgent voice or something but everyone was able to barely able to recollect themselves. But both Mira and Geoff f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y pulled themselves towards the shield with their whole strength. Moira only had a moment of confusion, she also followed suit lagging a little behind.

The moment she crossed through the translucent dome, Lukas immediately changed his hands signs. In a heartbeat, everyone near could hear him mutter.

"Sigil of Synergy; Fortify"

His freed hands finished the new sigil with a flourish and then sent it towards the dome which immediately caused a reaction. A visible current travelled through the dome and in its wake it transformed the once golden dome into a brilliant diamond, almost as if the dome itself was crystallized.

The Sigil of Synergy was the new sigil he had mastered next, mainly because the runes themselves were meant to be purely auxiliary in nature. It was for that reason that it held much more potential that Lukas couldn't wait to unearth once he grasped them. The Sigil of Synergy dealt directly with manipulation of energy hence by casting Fortify on his dome; he didn't only increase the energy density of his dome beyond what he could have done in the past; he had also made it so sturdy that it could directly withstand an immense force head on.

The rest of his team had a moment of wonder and curiosity before a sense of crisis rushed through their senses. Panicking they gazed at the beast and they only got glimpse of it heaving the last of its breath before its beak opened wide and a deluge of fire poured out, seemingly swallowing their very soul.

All around them there was a sea of fire, tongues of flames, swirling, flowing and parted by the very shield they were in. The flames crashed against the dome with a booming sound that shook their hearts as the conflagration sought to obliterate everything on their path. The burning blaze only needed to find a single weakness in their defenses before incinerating them to ashes.

Geoff, Mira and Moira paled in consternation. While they were dazed, stunned by the blast, the raven had pulled a distance between them with a flutter of its wings before readying powerful move against them. Even if they had somehow survived against the swathe of fire pouring from its mouth, they would have been seriously injured, battered and severely weakened. Then it was only a matter of time before the beast would have either finished them off or at escaped with its injuries leaving them faring any less better.

Lukas's robe fluttered as he withstood the barrage of fire threatening to swallow them whole. He gritted his teeth in anger, stifling a groan that was about to escape from him. It took all of his strength just to utter a few words.

"We need….a distraction." He hissed under his breath. And the rest of his team immediately understood. The Raven might be injured but its early Tier 2 strength was no joke seeing as only a short moment had passed but they already exchanged several blows with it. For Moira to land a decisive strike a distraction was vital and it had to be done fast before their strength depleted or else they will stand to lose their very lives.

"I will distract it." Geoff immediately declared. It was only thanks to his efforts that the beast hadn't had enough time and energy to deal with the mages and seeing as he needed to buy enough time, he immediately knew what to do.

Mira bit her lips in annoyance. "My spells might only be half effective against it but it wouldn't be that easy for it to pass through us both."

They gazed at each other before they exchanged a smile. Just like their previous missions, it would be up to the two of them to kite the beast until Moira had a prepared a powerful spell against it. On seeing such camaraderie, Moira could only nod in appreciation.

The moment the beast stopped breathing fire Lukas immediately dropped the dome. The amalgamation of two sigils was draining his mana and mental power so fast he could barely catch his breath. But that was cue needed for the explosive action that followed.

Geoff promptly rushed towards the beast, roaring at the top of his lung off as he shone with a silver brilliant glare. This time it was so bright that it nearly blinded the beast itself before it heaved in anger, its power clearly diminished from unleashing such a powerful move.

The Aftermath of such a move was frightening. Everywhere around them was seared, the forest floor darkened and smoking, with few tongues of flames still l.i.c.k.i.n.g the remaining twigs and leaves. But all three of them didn't even have time to check their surroundings as the moment Geoff had the beast attention, Moira followed up with a quickened spell of her own.

It was a familiar swathe of ice that immediately traveled towards the beast, and unlike before this time it successfully trapped both of the beast's legs in a vice like grip. The moment she witnessed her successful spell, she immediately switched her stance, not wasting even a second as she pulled her breath and her whole focus readying herself for the next upcoming spell.

Mira was positively radiant when she saw the beast was cornered because that made what followed so much easier. She flitted behind Geoff in a familiar tempo, using her whole strength summoning large fireballs with her amber staff. 2, 4, 6 even up to 8 fireballs all flew through the air towards it. The fire-streaked raven was constanly plastered with explosion of fire that it could barely breathe. They weren't enough to inflict severe damage but it was enough to singe off some of its striking feathers, wearing down its defenses one ball of fire at a time.

Meanwhile Lukas exhausted, used all of his focus to regain some of his lost mana. Recovering faster than he expected, he took a one look at the battlefield and immediately knew what he had to do. With his Starlight Staff, he took a short breather before he cast a variant of his previous runic sigil and this time the radiance that came of it was so soft it was barely noticeable.

Turning his staff, his pale hand flicked towards Moira sending the finished sigil her way before it burst into a wave of light half second later.

"Sigil of Synergy; Bless"

What followed was none too flashy. A muted radiance manifested on Moira that made her dazzling beauty even more ethereal. With her eyes closed and her silver robe dancing, she could feel a soft spell wash over; slowly recovering some of her energy lost and easing her mind with a clear clarity she never would have realized possible.

But she was smart enough to not let such changes disturb her; in fact the moment she realized that such energy considerably quickened her spell casting, she delved even more deeper, tuning out the surrounding tumult, causing everything around her to swirl with mana and elemental ice that quickly gathered momentum before she was ultimately surrounded in a whirlpool of white and blue, like an ice fairy carving a piece of her own world in the midst of chaos and fire.

Rooted, surrounded and bombarded by spells, the raven could barely wheeze through the pandemonium without feeling cornered and enc.u.mbered. Suddenly sensing a threat rising from seemingly nowhere; It used its powerful broad wings and managed to push George back, the resulting blast forcing Mira to quickly switch from assault to defense.

When it finally dawned on it that that it couldn't escape, the fire-streaked raven looked around and immediately zoned in on the faraway amalgamation of ice that thrummed with such power that made its heart palpate. Its hopeless beady eyes could only resentfully glance at Lukas, knowing full well that any move it made would be fully nullified. With a gaze that belied its instinctive mind and its raging d.e.s.i.r.e, the moment it finally got a breather, its beak opened up to let out its last resort, a huge flaming ball of fire that burst out of its mouth with full momentum, fully heading towards Moira in a flash of searing red light.

Sensing the incoming threat, Lukas was just about to cast some defenses when he felt something off. He was in the midst of battle, surrounded by carnage wrought by spells of fire and ice so his senses were heightened and it wasn't for him, fully trusting his sixth sense, he wouldn't have been able to tide his team through all the challenges they were facing.

Forced to pause and trying to understand where the feeling came from, it took only a moment for him to realize. For the coming fireball that was surely meant for Moira, suddenly swerved midair heading right for him and by then it was too late to materialize any of his defensive spells. He could only stare at the in-bounding ball of fire, that quickly grew in size in tandem with his fear and panic that paralyzed him on the very spot.

Mira paled at the sudden turn of events while Geoff could only stare dumbly at what was happening, the striking moment seemingly frozen, as if the fireball was surely taking its time towards its fatal destination.

At that moment, Lukas's thoughts flitted a thousand times faster than he would have ever thought possible. He instinctively knew his Ring of Protection would have no hope against it, and all of his superior defenses needed time to prepare. And so there was only one thing left on his disposal…

Mustering all of his determination, will and strength, he performed the only skill he could depend on to tide him through the disaster.

"Radiant FeatherSteps; Flowing Light"

In a blink of an eye, Lukas disappeared from where he stood, leaving only a trail of golden light in his wake. The fireball that would have been a sure hit, missed him by a breadth landing on the very spot he was in, exploding** in a haze of fire and dust.

Mira and Geoff who were sure Lukas would have been hit by it, froze on their steps, fear coloring their faces as their eyes stared, transfixed on that very spot. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, all they saw was a huge crater instead with not a shred of his body or his presence anywhere.

"Cough, Cough!"

A sound immediately attracted its attention and before they could collect their bearing their ears rang with a decisive shout.

"Now!"

As if that was the cue, Moira opened her eyes and the swirling ice finally coalesced into a huge sharp spike that floated above her like a scythe of a reaper. Deathly pale but deeply determined, Moira pulled her staff as if she was ready to throw a lance and the ice spike above her swirled in circles collecting the last vestiges of the surrounding power before it shot in a smooth silver line directly into the beast's mouth.

The deadly sharpness of the ice spike spoke for itself when it speared through the head of the raven, spreading the hot red blood all over the place. The bird screeched and gagged in protest before it slowly dropped down, causing small tremors to appear. At the last throes of its death, all it could do was glare hatefully at Lukas before its eyes glazed over, signaling its last breath to eternal slumber.

On witnessing its demise, they all slumped to their feet before they stared at the beast in wonder and consternation. They had finally done it. They had finally fell the beast and the last proof was the ice on its legs rapidly melting while the adjoining silence settled around them, as they all breathed in a huge relief.

The beast had been slain and it wasn't for their full efforts, they surely must have not been able to survive in one piece. It was thanks to all of them working together that they finally did it.