A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"Guess we won't be doing this publicly," Erik chuckled as they entered the private arena.

Astrid giggled next to him, but the trio wilfully ignored him. Erik understood, of course. He wouldn't have done the same in their shoes.

After all, not only would it obviously look terrible if they lost with their numbers advantage, but even if they won, it wouldn't be much better. Then they'd just be the assholes needing numbers to beat up a woman.

As soon as they stood in the middle of the open arena, with the harsh desert sun bearing down on them, the trio looked strangely at Astrid… because she appeared completely fine, even as her pale skin glistened under the sun.

Astrid noticed their gazes and smirked. "Don't tell me you expected to weaken me by fighting in the open?"

Nasir frowned, his eyes burning with intensity. "No, but… We did expect you to do 'something' to fight the sun's rays. Yet, you seem fine. Why is that?"

It was obvious he was desperate for an answer, and that was understandable. Desert dwelling vampires, what few there were, had to cover 99% of their body in clothes, and that hadn't changed after the awakening.

Although exposure wouldn't kill them anymore, it would weaken them. To counteract this, they could expend energy to block the sun's rays, but that was energy they could also spend on killing their opponent. Thus, even now that Runebound grew far beyond mortal limits, the sun was still a vampire's biggest enemy…

Astrid looked at Nasir and frowned, a little more sympathetic than before. Although her affinity protected her against the sun, it hadn't always been like that. Before the awakening, she was as vulnerable to the sun as any vampire, so she still knew what it was like.

So, she shook her head with a wry smirk. "I'm afraid it's my sun affinity that's negating our natural weakness. If you were hoping I could share my method with you, I can't."

Nasir immediately became dejected and nodded gruffly, quickly dimming the fires of hope that had begun to burn.

"Buuuuut…" Astrid then continued with a teasing edge as she slowly sank into a combat stance. "You should know that my husband has a vampire servant, and she is not affected by the sun either. Her method is replicable, however."

Nasir's eyes immediately widened behind his golden mask. Taking a step forward, he was obviously about to ask about it, but Astrid grinned. "I might tell you if you manage to impress me…"

Her eyes flashed with the orange light of her sun affinity. "Fight me with all you have and be fearless in the face of my light."

The desert vampire's eyes twitched when confronted with her affinity again, but he stood his ground this time. Rather, he cautiously glanced over at Erik—perhaps looking for confirmation, perhaps for another method of getting the information.

"Don't ruin my fun, Erik!" she immediately warned, eyes narrowed.

Erik chuckled. "I wouldn't dare, my love."

Then he looked over at Nasir and nodded. "She's right, though. We do have a method of negating the sun's effects on vampires. We haven't had the time to do a public roll-out among my subjects yet, but the method exists."

It was Elora who, with quite a bit of effort, had created a completely original sigil for this exact purpose. Seraphina was the first recipient of this sigil after she joined them back in England, but the possibility to make more was there.

With this revelation, Nasir became even more serious than before, frowning, he lowered his stance and displayed his spear—his expression stern, cold, and ready.

Zahra and Zohran had watched this interaction curiously, but now that Nasir was getting ready, Zohran did the same. Flourishing his double sabres, he grinned ferociously. Finally, he could let loose.

Seeing the moment had arrived, Erik and Zahra walked over the side. Erik appeared calm and confident, but he'd already started subtly charging his lightning flash, just in case he needed to intervene.

"Have fun!" Erik meanwhile cried out at Astrid, grinning with a thumbs up.

Instantly, the battle field changed.

Zohran's werejackal body became cloaked in shadows. His fur darkened, and his ferocious grin gained an edge of nightmare. Darkness hissed and dripped from his sabres at the same time, and Erik immediately confirmed what he suspected before: those sabres were artifacts from the time when Earth was still controlled by Ymir and Audumla.

At the same time, Nasir's spear did much the same, as it began to heat up. Crimson lines started zigzagging across its surface, like magma rivers through a bed of obsidian. Bright red light glowed from under his heavy clothes, signifying the powerful sigils burning on his covered skin. The sand-stone floor smoked and sizzled under his feet.

This was one side of the battlefield, where shadows collided with magma.

The other side lit up with the brilliance of the sun itself in defiance of the dual assault against it. Bright orange sun light burned like a veil around Astrid's body, scaring away shadow and subjugating magma. Her eyes radiated confidence, as well as that same orange light.

Each combatant held their ground for a moment, as if breathing in the calm before the storm.

But… in reality, Astrid had already begun.

Her eyes didn't glow as a result of gathering energy in her body, but rather, as the build up to her second-rank skill: solar ray.

Just as Nasir and Zohran were about to attack, Astrid unleashed her attack. Two beams of orange light burst from her eyes and surged towards Nasir.

"Ranged attack?!" both he and Zohran cried out, knowing most Runebound abilities were much shorter range. At least, they'd never faced a Runebound with ranged abilities before.

Yet, they had no time to think about it.

Nasir felt a primal fear bubbling up at Astrid's sun affinity, but he stood his ground. Knowing he'd have to face the sun more often in this battle, he decided to start strong. Silently, he flourished his spear, magma dripping from its tip.

Rapidly, magma started gathering at the tip in increasing amounts. Then, just as Astrid's attack was about to reach him, he stabbed forward, piercing the light with all his might.

Although Nasir stayed quiet and cold during battle, Zohran was very different. After taking a moment to assess if he thought Nasir would be fine, he roared and charged at Astrid, shadows streaking behind him.

The battle had begun, but the results were far from easy to predict.