A legion of spectral gryphons, drakes, and flying serpents dove down toward where the four horsemen were arranged in front of the rift. Kylie fell with them, sequestered in their midst.

  All of the horsemen charged upward, going after Kylie.

  All of them, that was, save for War. He and Ashtoreth both knew that he was the best match for her among his teammates; the spellcasters and spellsword were too vulnerable to her spell-eating fire. As the others charged into the sky, his horse wheeled and rushed toward her.

  Protect Kylie! Ashtoreth cried.

  It was only natural that their enemy’s hopes lay in killing Kylie.

  If the horsemen killed Kylie, her army disappeared. Given her role as a [Minion] centered spellcaster, she had the least defenses of all of them.

  If Ashtoreth and her people kept Kylie alive, though, they’d hopefully be able to reave through the horsemen in short order. The massive boost to their stats, along with the legion of minions, would see to that.

  The horsemen all had incredibly high stats for their level, and Ashtoreth expected they each had S-grade races and classes in addition to extremely well assembled builds. War likely didn’t have better stats than she did with all her buffs on, but all of the horsemen were definitely stronger than the humans.

  One of the things this had meant was that her hellfire, while strong, was more of a nuisance ability that helped to interfere with their spells and regenerate her resources than it was an effective attack. Their [Defense] was high enough that her flames wouldn’t continually burn them, and their [Vitality] was high enough that those burns could be quickly healed.

  But not anymore. Ashtoreth’s [Strength] was added to her [Magic] for the purpose of spell strength while she wielded her scythe, and both stats had increased considerably. The motive force which she could generate to fly was almost doubled, and her hellfire javelins were deadly weapons indeed.

  A hailfire of glowing blue bullets spewed forth from Frost’s minigun a moment later, cutting a line across where the horsemen charged in unison.

  His bullets had no effect on friendly targets. In fact, they would actually heal them, and so he had no cause to worry about friendly fire as he filled the skies with suppressing fire.

  Hunter, faster than he ever had been, lunged straight for Famine. He was the best choice of target, after all. Going by the theming, it was likely that he had a [Drain] aspect, and none of them wanted the horsemen stealing their massive life-harvest buffs.

  Ashtoreth moved to meet War, hoping to keep herself in range of Frost’s auras by engaging him close to the battle.

  As War approached, she could see the anger and frustration in his eyes. The callous, casual disregard he’d had for her was gone, now, replaced by the humiliation of being tricked.

  He spared a glance toward the tower at the center of the bastion, but she knew his thoughts as he turned back toward her. Dazel had opened the rift as far from his position as he could manage. If even one of the horsemen dispatched themselves, or even one of their horses, to go and get him, they’d leave themselves short-manned enough to potentially lose the upper hand.

  Instead he conjured his assault rifle and flew his horse in a circle around her, letting loose with the deadly bullets that she was already so acquainted with.

  This time, though, Ashtoreth didn’t bother conjuring her sword or cannon. She simply conjured a volley of supercharged hellfire javelins and then launched herself high into the air, moving her wings to spiral and tilt.

  His aim was still impeccable, but she was aflame with regenerating hellfire and far faster than she’d been, before. He couldn’t close the distance to her on her horse, either, and her [Defense] was high enough that his bullets delivered less damage.

  It didn’t matter that his aim was still extraordinary. He struck her once in the thigh in the time it took her to lance him with four hellfire javelins, and the wound closed quickly.

  The other eight javelins sped past him, and she had them turn in a wide arc to come back around as she conjured and threw more and more.

  They flew around one another more and more, Ashtoreth keeping a distance at long range so as to make herself harder to hit, relying on her ability to direct her javelins as she kited him with her scythe.

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  Very soon all of the javelins that had missed him in the first few volleys had returned, all of them along paths which she’d deliberately commanded they follow so as to ensure they would converge at once.

  War found himself in the midst of a swarm of javelins coming at him and his horse from all sides as he tried to charge toward her and she rose to continue avoiding him.

  The first few of them connected, and then he growled, dismissed his assault rifle, and pounded both his fists together in the air to create an explosion of red flames that dissipated all her javelins.

  Then War charged out of the fiery explosion, flying ahead of his own horse. His armor was gone, revealing a tight, full-body suit with glowing red patterns spread across it. His wings were spread: an assembly of chinks and shards of glass that glowed with an inner red light.

  Crucially, he was somehow fast enough to catch her despite her scythe and her high stats. She launched several more volleys of hellfire javelins his way.

  Then he finished conjuring his sword and launched it down toward the ground, his own counterforce granting him a sudden boost of speed that catapulted him up toward her.

  She held the haft of her scythe out between them to keep him at bay, but he twisted in midair just before he reached her, faster than she expected, moving past the scythe as he pushed it out of the way with one hand. He collided with her, reaching out to clutch at her shoulder and one of her horns with his hands.

  Then he wrapped his wings around her, and everywhere they touched was energized with sacred power.

  She screamed, and so did he. His wings were burning her, shocking her with so much agony that it made it difficult to think. At the same time, he was wreathed in hellfire, and without his armor she could see it blistering his skin.

  For a moment, they both struggled, shifting their weight and grips on one another as each of them tried to get the upper hand.

  Each of them finished conjuring their greatswords at the same time, and War released his grip to whirl away from her as he swung his blade.

  In the same moment, Dazel used the bastion’s controls to refresh her buff, which had half-burned away as she drank the hellfire and channeled it into her stored novaheart.

  The sudden increase in speed and power surprised both Ashtoreth and War. She raised her blade to deflect his blow, and at the same time spun to put the blade between herself and the horse that she knew was still charging them from below.

  Her timing was perfect. She positioned herself just as War’s horse had come upon her, then launched her sword straight down with a [Mighty Strike] to throw her up through the air and away from War.

  The blade was driven point-first into the horse’s head, caving in its skull a moment before the animal burst into a massive explosion of [Bloodfire] that enveloped its master.

  Ashtoreth dove, conjuring her scythe as she rushed through the air past the cloud of hellfire. She felt a sense of elation a moment later when War’s sword sailed through the air toward her back and she narrowly avoided it, conscious of the fact that he must have launched himself higher to take his shot.

  It meant that she had plenty of time to dive closer to her allies as she channeled more of the [Bloodfire] she created from burning her boon.

  Hunter, she said as she sped toward the roof of a metal barracks. Imma need you for a quick hide and seek.

  Hunter responded with the equivalent of a telepathic grunt. He, Frost, Kylie, and the army of dead were fighting the other three horsemen nearby: Ashtoreth could hear the crashing of blades and explosive magic just a few buildings over.

  She landed atop the metal top of the building, then conjured her sword as War dove in to meet her. Their blades met with a crash and a rush of air, each of them committed to a frenzy of sword fighting.

  Ashtoreth had to let out a short, soft laugh a few seconds after they began fighting across the roof. War was still phenomenal, and even with all her added stats and the ability to overpower his blade with her own, it was hard to break through his defenses.

  With his wings out and no armor on, he was much faster than he’d been before, but the tradeoff was that she could wound him with her claws. She tried to fight carefully, conscious of the fact that War was in exactly the position that required a drastic risk. He’d gone quiet, making no sounds of rage of amusement as his bleeding eyes darted across her weapon and body, searching for the opening, the opportunity he needed.

  Soon enough, though, she leapt back and away from him, launching her blade at him with another [Mighty Strike].

  Now, Hunter.

  Hunter warped into the space next to her, immediately launching a flaming dart at War, who fell into a defensive stance at the arrival of the second fighter.

  But Hunter simply put a hand on Ashtoreth’s shoulder and warped her into a dark room that must have been somewhere in the bastion’s inner scaffold.

  As soon as they arrived, she raised her glowing gauntlet and released the novaheart she’d been charging.

  A massive orb of fizzling violet power appeared in the air ahead of her, As soon as they arrived, she raised her glowing gauntlet and released the novaheart she’d been charging.

  A massive orb of fizzling violet power appeared in the air ahead of her, filling every corner of the room with light.

  Thirty seconds! Ashtoreth said through the telepathic bond.

  That was how long she had to wait to detonate it.

  They just had to keep their opponents from fleeing for that amount of time.