Meanwhile, on the battlefield…
Amid the chaos, Skitz and Lumberling carved a bloody path through the enemy ranks, their advance like a tide no shield wall could hold.
Then, without warning, a fireball shrieked through the air, its heat biting even before it reached him. Lumberling caught the flare in his peripheral vision and twisted aside, the blazing sphere exploding against the ground behind him in a blast of searing heat and dust.
His gaze shot toward the source.
There, at the far edge of the fray, stood a mage clad in a crimson robe, a smug grin stretching across his face.
Another fireball flared to life in the mage's hands and roared toward him, only for Skitz to step into its path. Chaos mana flared from his palm, swirling into an obsidian vortex that devoured the spell whole, snuffing it from existence. It was like watching a black hole swallow light.
The mage's smirk shattered. His eyes bulged in disbelief.
