- Pronoun
- they/them
Everyone rushed across the cavern, some throwing out blows as they dashed past and then ducking out of sight just as fast, before the beast's counterattack could go off.
"Can you hear me? What is happening, you appear dazed."
Virga's words snapped Jade out of where she'd stood, eyes fixed on the beast ever since that Shadow-laced arrow had flown from her outstretched palm. What was...?
Jade shook her head. "It's... it's nothing." Shadows. She hadn't used them much. She hadn't needed to, not with the light at her fingertips and all its burning, driving energy. But this place, this cavern where the air was soaked with Radiance and Shadow... She could feel it getting to her...
The beast endured the strikes thrown its way, barely reacting to any of it, the firepower building and building until finally, an explosion of white-hot flame enveloped the grotto and everything that had the misfortune to still be standing inside.
Brisa, Jesse, and Anubis endured, standing strong when the flames cleared, thanks to a number of protective barriers raised (and a natural resistance to fire). But the beast wasn't done, and the first strike was quickly followed by more--
A whirlwind of fiery strikes, each one quicker than the last, until its movements abruptly froze in place. The beast clutched its face as whatever it had instead of muscles twitched. Their attacks hadn't gotten through already, had they...?
But then to Jade's horror, a wave of dark-light flames swept over its constructed body, mending whatever little damage they'd managed to do.
Jade jerked her gaze away from the beast and back to the task at hand. She reached for the light, feeling for the impulse to ignore everything else when only the mission existed. No thinking, only doing.
The first strike hadn't done much, but the second one, the one infused with light, completely shattered the cluster of shade crystals. Jade crossed her arms over her face as blackened shards radiated out from the impact, tinged with numbing darkness. At once, a screech of alarm and rage rang out from the larger cavern behind her.
Jade tapped a fist to her palm. "These are what's powering it! I think if we break enough of them, then it won't be able to..."
Her words trailed off. Still shaking its head in disorientation, the beast had dropped to all fours, claws digging into the cavern floor. The flame-belt around its waist suddenly flared up with a blinding flash of golden light and its back legs coiled, as if preparing for a breakneck, unstoppable charge.
Jade's stomach plummeted. "It's coming this way!"
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