Chapter Text
His boots scrape and dig into gravel as he lands, a hand shooting out onto the ground to steady himself. His breath comes out in short pants as he runs, visible in the cold air. Magolor pushes himself up, breaking into a sprint again. He glances around the clearing, he just needs some cover, night is good for that.
Glancing behind him just in time to see an ice spike hurdle towards him, he throws himself to the side, rolling onto his back as the spike stabs into the ground.
A crackling sound echoes as more are summoned, miniature snowflakes swarming in the air. He launches himself back onto his feet, swerving around to keep running. She must be really mad, huh?
He's got plenty of his own reasons to be mad.
(The Lor's lights sputter out, her avatar falling onto the deck with a clank. Ice continues to creep up her sides. Magolor's hands shake at his sides.)
He gasps as ice stabs into his back, he tumbles to the ground, landing roughly on his elbows. He starts to push himself up, but is slammed back down.
"You should have stood down, while you had the chance." her voice is impassive, but forceful.
Hailstorm, is what she called herself. Surrounded by pillars of ice, static zapping between them. Your usual egotistical maniac bent on making his life harder.
Her claws dig into his shoulder as she presses him down.
"You should've known that was never an option for me." he says, turning his head to give her a wry grin.
She stares at him, face unchanging. He wonders how well she sees past that visor, anyway.
A flash of light blue in his peripheral is all the warning he gets before an icicle stabs into his side. He chokes on an inhale, she gives him no time to prepare for the other three, either.
"You are very, foolish."
"R-really?" he laughs, the sound drawing out.
The ice seems to seep into his veins, burning him, but not warm.
Definitely not.
She twists the icicle cutting into his side, and he whines, mind swirling in on itself.
"Forfeit, now."
It takes him a, kind of embarrassing amount of time to collect himself enough to respond. "F-fuck off."
She sighs, like he's a disobedient child. Not like he's a fully grown, accomplished magician, like she's not pinning him to the ground, stabbing him.
What can he do? His arm is pinned, steadily growing number and more useless by the second. She's too heavy to shove off, too strong to fight.
Well, she's ice based right? He can work with that.
Magolor twists around just enough to get the space he needs. He can already see her rearing to slam him back into the dirt, but it's a bit late. He let's himself grin as sparks ignite under his fingers.
Hailstorm's scream reverberates through out the stony clearing, an inferno envelopes her.
Flames roar in his ears, warmth washing over him. He allows himself a shuddering sigh, standing up, he takes a few steps back. He clenches his fists, and spreads his open palms out. The flame intensifies as he stabilizes the spell. Her shriek pierces into him, almost causing him to stumble back.
He can still see her eyes, searing into him from within the pillar.
He grimaces, she's too strong. So, it's all or nothing, then.
He lets his magic pour out of him, and the inferno bursts, snarling and crackling, raising up into a pillar. Amber light is cast out across the night, a beacon of flame.
His breath is starting to come faster, the drain becoming more substantial by the second, digging into his Core and bleeding him dry, fracturing him. He can't keep this up.
He doesn't have a choice. He clenches his shaking hands into fists.
Five beams of light intersect the pillar, Amber turning blinding white for a moment. Strings of light break out, weaving into intricate star shapes, their glow deceptively harmless. The waves of heat intensify, he squints his eyes shut.
He feels something break, he cries out, falling to his knees. The inferno sputters out, light dissolving in the wind.
Embers swirl, he looks up, seeing Hailstorm's melted, ravaged, but still standing form. Arcs of electricity bounce off of her, face twisted into a wild snarl.
"You.. You wretched little..." her speech is distorted, eyes flaring.
Her feet jab into the ground as she stumbles.
"You will regret ever thinking, you could stand against me."
No, no. This wasn't- That should have killed her.
She raises a thinned out arm, and cuts it across the air in an arc. He barely has any time to put up a shield for the incoming projectiles. Not that it does him any good, breaking immediately upon impact.
She's right in front of him, he doesn't have any time to think, he can't. He rolls out the way of a swinging, deformed fist. He can't cast, every second he's getting weaker, he can't fight, he can't run. Every path is a dead end.
Hailstorm grabs him around the neck, lifting him up. A wave of panic crashes over him, all consuming, (a different time, a time he thought he'd long since left in the past resurfaced in his mind.)
Forming a spell on instinct he grabs her forearm. It bubbles, and collapses, exploding and forcing her to let go. He breathes in short gasps, that wasn't what he was going for, but it worked. He wastes no time in bolting away from her.
What the hell is he doing? "Impossible" and "shouldn't" never meant anything to him before, why is he starting now?
Consequences wont matter if he's dead. What good is holding back going to do him? Save him a little pain? Get him killed faster?
He's going to die fighting, or not at all.
Raising his numb hands into an arc, he breathes in harshly. He just needs to get out of here, Dimensional Vanish will do for that. He chokes on a gasp as the spell sputters, electric pain striking down his arms, constricting in his chest. He manages to stabilize it, and swerves to the left. He can barely make out a line of foliage, bushes and trees, they'll cover him.
He just needs to get out of here.
Diving for the bushes, he clumsily rolls back onto his feet, he keeps running.
He can barely the hear crackle of ice and electricity over the sound of leaves and his own heartbeat.