HP: Spirit Talker

POV Fleur Delacour

The girl only realized that something had started when her friend pushed her back, but it was too late and she hit the dark blue magic wall with her shoulder. Without giving her time to collect her thoughts, Sora scooped her up and with a few jumps, they were away from the bright beams of magic that obviously could not keep up with him. He literally pushed her into an empty cubicle next to the plant and made another jump to get away.

Fleur heard the sounds of spells colliding with shields, heard small explosions, crackles, just bangs. She tried to apparate to call for help, but nothing worked, then she risked a cautious glance out of her not-so-secure but still shelter. Yes, Fleur knew her fiancé was a good fighter, but to be that good, she didn't even realize it, knowing and seeing with her own eyes were two different things. Her heart sank every time the guy dodged a spell by inches, or a volumetric attack, or a homing spell.

She'd seen his shields flare up literally instantly, without words or gestures — just a hand outstretched, and the shield flared into a silvery hemisphere, only to crumble immediately somewhere behind its creator. The girl understood why the boy stayed either on half-bent legs or low to the ground: they were being ambushed by very experienced mages, a team of two, and if Sora started performing high jumps, it would be easier to catch him — there was nothing in the air he could push away to change his position, so he stayed on the ground.

When the enemy with the staff — the main attacking force — stopped attacking, and the shield maker took over, the girl suspected something wrong, and so did Sora, it seems, because his attacks became much more frequent, it was a pity that with the same about zero success. The flash of a line of fire and the ensuing explosion reminded her of Kram, and the girl also realized that her fiancé was good at scaling spells, because in her hands, the fire spear was no bigger than a half-meter orange spoke.

Now, a full two-meter yellow spear was sent into the enemy, and a wave of heat from the splashing flames even reached her, causing her to cover her eyes. What kind of shields did they have that could easily withstand such power?

The tip of the staff no longer pulsed and flared like before, but glowed evenly with scarlet light, spreading a shuddering mist around her. Fleur thought of joining the attack herself — a surprise attack from behind might weaken the enemy's defenses — but she froze with her new staff in her hand, watching her fiancé's actions.

Sora threw her hand forward and several strips of paper flew out of it, literally sticking in the air in an even circle as if on a flat surface. Five dots of different colors and a bright spot of white light in the center formed a perfect five-pointed star in a circle. The boy folded his hands into some intricate shapes, intertwining his fingers in a way Fleur would never risk repeating. The star in the circle shone brighter, the colors taking on greater depth.

The strange shield had been erected in just a few seconds and now covered the boy's entire body. The enemy unleashed a few simple spells, then something more complex, but all of them crashed against the shield with a muffled "do-o-n", Sora knelt down and put both hands on the ground, his lips moving quickly, he even covered his eyes, obviously confident in the protection. Why didn't he use it before?

Something very bad flew into the Star Shield, a clump of dark purple color, black smoke billowing around it, leaving a long tail behind as it moved. When it collided with the shield, the spell literally splashed across it, and for the first time, there was a natural cracking sound, a distinct white crack running down the shield. But Sora didn't seem to care; he just kept doing what he was doing. Fleur saw a faint purple glow around his hands. The enemy, clearly emboldened by the key, created a second, exactly the same clot, which caused another crack and another crack, and was about to create a third when the ground beneath his feet shook slightly once, once again, and a third time.

The tremors were not too strong, but their amplitude was increasing. Just as the third clot was coming off the mage's wand, Sora pulled a hand from the ground and a bright blue bird flew out of it. Leaving behind a long white tail of light, the bird swooped towards the spell and exploded literally a meter away from the enemy, undermining the enemy's spell as well.

With a powerful crack, all of the mage's shields were ripped apart, and the purple pseudo-matter struck its own creator. It wasn't much, but it was enough to cause the purple flame to flare up all over the place, which the mage couldn't shoot down all at once, and then the ground shook even more, a deep rumbling sound was heard, a crack appeared in the ground right under the enemies, which filled with purple glow literally in a second, and then flames burst out of it.

The mages were not prepared for this, and hardly anyone would be prepared for such a surprise. The enemies didn't have time to react, simply because one of them couldn't stop the cast of his attack, and the other was struggling with the greedy magical flames. In the next second, the fissure widened sharply, its edges literally exploding with shrapnel and clumps of liquid fire, the very real lava lazily emerging from the bowels of the earth.

The first wave of stone and flame miraculously missed the enemy, but the liquid fire exploded with new splashes for no apparent reason, and this time they found their target. The mage with the scepter just managed to deflect the magical fire and even raised his shield, but it was not enough, and the next second he literally burst into flames like a match, the neighborhood torn apart by the wild scream of a man burning alive.

Apparently, the spells in his armor had been severely depleted by the magical fire, and the liquid hot stone had put an end to the last of his protective charms. The second mage had an easier time of it, suffering less: the fire bombs first caught his staff, causing irreparable damage, and then his spell went awry. The staff was covered in red cracks, there was a terrible cracking sound and the sound of breaking glass, the staff flashed brightly in an instant, and after the flash, all that remained at the mage's place was red dust that hovered in one place for a while and then fell heavily to the ground.

The girl had often heard that interrupting serious magic had no less serious consequences, but she couldn't even imagine that it could be like this — scary and deadly. She had no desire to create powerful and spectacular spells — what if something went wrong and she turned into a cloud of dust or something worse? No, she has her own gift, a safer one, and that's what she'll work with, while the spectacular spells are for those who aren't afraid to mess with them!