Tristan stepped forward as Mizuchi began battering the wall with her fists, snarling as ice cracked away.
I reached back into my bag. “Retrieve: Healing Potion.”
A healing potion appeared.
Mizuchi burst through the ice.
Tristan jabbed at her again, but she evaded this time, and his sword hit the ice. She slammed him in the chest with a claw, and he flew backward, disarmed.
Mizuchi lunged at Tristan, but Sera raised another ice wall. Mizuchi crashed into it.
Tristan clutched at his ribs, stumbling back. I tossed him my sword.
He caught it just as Mizuchi burst through the wall, then swung it in mid-air and projected a shockwave.
The wave of ice slammed into Mizuchi with no effect.
Then she was right next to Tristan, swinging at him again.
Tristan barely managed to step backward and avoid the blow.
I stopped watching. I had work to do.
“Retrieve: Mage’s Folly.”
The herb appeared. I opened the healing potion and tossed it inside. The liquid changed from red to black.
“Retrieve: Queen’s Crown.”
Another herb appeared. I tossed it in. The liquid bubbled and sparkled.
I replaced the stopper and looked back at the fight.
Tristan was down on the ground. Mizuchi was right on top of him, holding his arms. She was laughing and squeezing, probably with enough force to break bones.
I ran just a few steps closer to make sure my aim was good, then threw the potion at her.
The glass bottle exploded across her back.
She let go of Tristan and screamed.
Mage’s Folly reversed the effect of a concoction.
Queen’s Crown greatly amplified the effect.
I’d hit her with a reversed, amplified healing potion.
Tristan struggled to get out from under her while she screamed, but she was still pinning him with her body. She swiped a clawed hand downward, and I saw blood splatter as it gouged across his face.
Sera hit Mizuchi with a blast of wind, and Mizuchi was sufficiently distracted that the air knocked her away.
Mizuchi was rising again in a moment, though. She took a breath, and flames burst from her body, evaporating the potion before it could do more damage.
That was bad, because I’d hoped the potion would continue to burn through her and deal more damage.
It was also enlightening, however. One of the layers of her shroud vanished when she inhaled, just like when she’d used her breath attack.
That gave me something to consider, but I had something more urgent to worry about.
Scales were beginning to appear across her skin.
She was changing forms.
It would take a few seconds, but that wasn’t enough time for much.
I reached into my bag again, trying to think.
Sera ran toward where Researcher was standing in the doorway. She said something, but I couldn’t hear her.
Tristan was still on the ground, clutching at his face. Selys-Lyann lay nearby.
Think, Corin. Think!
“Retrieve: Keras’ blood. Summon Keras Selyrian.”
Nothing happened.
I’d hoped that being inside the spire, maybe the additional mana and the short distance would be enough to let the box work. But that hope had been in vain.
That was fine. I had other options. “Store: Keras’ Blood. Retrieve: Silverbrand.”
A silver dagger appeared in my hand. I knew that, at least according to Keras, it was a powerful magical item that had once belonged to Wrynn Jaden.
I hurled it at Mizuchi.
It bounced off her scales and fell to the floor without effect.
Note to self: Foreign magical items are not always as useful as the Jaden Box.
After that, Mizuchi was done transforming.
Wings and a tail burst from her back. Horns emerged from her head. Her entire body was covered with scales now.
“Now,” she turned toward Sera, “You’re the weakest one, Summoner. I think you’ll be first.”
Sera whispered, “You’re wrong.”
“What was that, dear? Speak up.” Mizuchi floated a few feet off the ground, then reached up and formed a ball of flame in her right hand.
“I said, you’re wrong.”
“About which point?”
“All of it.” Sera reached out her right hand. She was wearing her bracer, the one I’d given her that enhanced Summoning spells. “I’m not weak. I’m not going to die. And,” she grinned, “I’m not a Summoner. Not anymore.”
Her bracer glowed for a moment, then she brought her hands together in front of her. “Vanniv, I invoke your power.”
Sera’s entire body began to glow as mana burned in the air around her.
Then wings of stone appeared behind her, merging with a suit of stone armor that formed around her body from the neck down.
“An ascended attunement.” Mizuchi tilted her head downward for a moment. “You’re an Invoker now. That’s very interesting. If ultimately meaningless.”
Mizuchi hurled her sphere of fire, but Sera just raised a hand and pointed at it. A gust of wind blasted the sphere, detonating it early.
The blast was large enough that it hurled me off my feet, and I landed several feet away. My silver phoenix sigil protected me from the heat, though.
Tristan wasn’t quite as lucky. The explosion hit him on the ground, and I could see that he’d been badly burned.
I pulled myself to my feet and reached into my bag.
Sera soared upward. Mizuchi followed.
I ran to Tristan. “Retrieve: Healing Potion.”
Tristan sat up, and I shoved the potion at him.
The right side of his face was a bloody mess, and a good portion of his chest and neck were covered with burns. His shroud had stopped the blast from being fatal, at least.
He awkwardly reached for the potion. I put it in his hand.
“Thanks,” he managed, drinking it and coughing. “You should go. Run for the door she came in, then teleport once you’re outside.”
I shook my head. “I’ve been working to see you again for five years. I am not letting you die here.”
Above us, Mizuchi hurled blasts of lightning at Sera, but she shaped them out of the way. They struck the walls and blasted apart chunks of stone.
I didn’t know how Sera was powerful enough to be countering Mizuchi’s attacks. She was clearly still fighting on the defensive, but she’d never been able to counter anything close to the level of Mizuchi’s attacks.
At the moment, I had more pressing concerns. “Retrieve: Healing Potion. Retrieve: Healing Potion.”
I laid out the two remaining potions. “Drink these. I’m going to see if I can help Sera somehow.”
I picked up Selys-Lyann.
Tristan grudgingly began to drink the potions, shaking his head. “You can’t beat her.”
“No.” I shook my head. “But I’m not alone.”
I pointed my sword upward.
It was a bad angle for trying to send a slash in Mizuchi’s direction, and I’d seen that it wasn’t powerful enough to do much to her in her current state, anyway.
Instead, I remembered what Keras had taught me.
I concentrated, forming a mana thread and connecting it to the sword’s runes, then reshaping the ice energy around the blade. I formed it into a single point around the tip, as if I was planning to thrust.
Mizuchi flew toward Sera, raising a claw that glimmered with mana.
Sera flew to the side to dodge, but the claw was a feint.
Mizuchi’s tail snapped upward, tearing off one of Sera’s stone wings.