A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

As soon as the barrier flickered, Meilin's furious gaze flickered along with it. Still chasing after Erik, she halted. A cunning light flickered in her eyes, a grin spread on her lips, and all previous anger melted. She glanced at Erik, who frowned at her, then winked with something that could be interpreted either as playfulness or a threat.

Erik's mouth twitched when she took out another of those spatial sigil stones. He knew she wasn't stupid enough to think the mere flickering would allow her to teleport out, but she clearly suspected something else… and she was right. It also told Erik something important.

His body tensed. He narrowed his eyes, focused his mind, and began charging his lightning flash.

Then, Meilin broke the sigil stone and disappeared. Erik snarled, exposing his fangs, and closed his eyes. His senses could easily spread across the dome due it being part of his dimension as he started rushing towards the centre of it.

Ping

In a flash, Meilin reappeared. Though still inside the dome, she was now on the edge furthest away from Erik. As he suspected, she'd figured out she could still teleport within the dome, which coincidentally told Erik she was able to specify a destination herself.

Though that was irrelevant for now.

As soon as she stepped out of her teleportation, Meilin raised her sword, grinning widely. Crimson Frostvein gathered on her hookswords.

Erik's gaze snapped over to where she was, and he immediately disappeared in a flash of lightning. A lightning bolt shot across the ground at immense speed, straight for Meilin.

His target ignored him, however. With a maniacal laugh, confident in her victory, she twirled on her axis and cast her spell.

Time seemed to slow down once more. Erik crept closer. Meilin charged her spell. Both were desperate to finish first.

But… Erik realised something almost immediately. "I'm not going to make it," he cursed to himself.

Zing

Time sped up once more, just as Meilin launched her attack. At the same time, Erik appeared behind her. Howling, he tried to reach forward to either smash Meilin's attack apart with his hammer or block it with a thundersnow shield.

But Meilin grinned cruelly. Whipping around to face him, she'd already readied a second attack. Countless Frostvein shards exploded from her body, surging towards Erik.

Erik's face twisted into unwillingness. He could see both attacks, one heading for him, the other for the barrier. He knew the barrier was more important, as Meilin's attack wouldn't kill him, but he also quickly realised there was no chance for him to reach it in time.

'Fuck,' he cursed to himself. Unwilling but with no other choice, he backed off and prepared to defend against Meilin's attack. Yet, his focus remained on the barrier. He could see it flickering under the attacks of Meilin's subordinates, strained by the fact that one of its four power sources had disappeared, and another was already wavering.

There was no chance it could resist Meilin's attack. In this state, the barrier would be smashed to bits. Erik narrowed his eyes. His body defended itself on autopilot, but the only things that existed in this world right now were that attack and the barrier it headed for.

His mind hovered over the figurative big red button that would disconnect him from the barrier, preventing the backlash if it broke. Yet, he still believed it wasn't over. It depended on how fast they were. He'd break the connection, but only at the very last moment.

Milliseconds ticked forward, until…

Fwoom

The barrier suddenly stabilised.

Boom

Meilin's attack smashed against it. A powerful explosion echoed through the dome. The barrier wavered under the attack, but… it held.

Erik breathed a sigh of relief and focused back on Meilin after smashing apart her attack. The smug grin made its return to his lips as soon as he saw Meilin's face. She was frozen in place, her expression twisted in frustration and anger. "What the fuck?!"

"I guess I wasn't bluffing," Erik grinned while quickly circling around Meilin to stand between her and the barrier. There, he hoisted his hammer back on his shoulder.

Meilin's eyes shot over to the battlefield that'd just ended, and her nose immediately wrinkled in anger. All the Enkarian warriors were sitting on the ground, legs crossed in meditation as the obvious signs of a formation connected them together. Along the ground, the power line to the barrier had only ever gotten brighter.

As she glared at the sight of it, Erik, having calmed down, explained with a shrug. "The name kinetic sigil is actually a little misleading," he smirked. "They're actually just sigils that take their energy from other sources, rather than absorbing it from the surrounding aetherium."

His gaze started following Astrid's figure as it rushed away from that battlefield to begin aiding the weakest of them, Enkai, on his battlefield. Naturally, only the first- and second-rankers would be maintaining this barrier.

Almost absentmindedly, he continued. "The kinetic part simply stuck because most of these sigils were used in that way… but there are a small number of other outside energy sources it can take… Including formation power."

He focused back on the frozen Meilin and grinned. "I was a little worried if they'd set up the formation in time, but it seems like they managed it. It does help to have competent people…"

He'd clearly hit a sore spot, as Meilin immediately unfroze and swivelled to glare at him. "All you're saying is that this thing's energy supply is still limited!" she snarled. "Those people will run out of energy eventually!"

"You're assuming powering the barrier takes more energy than they can absorb from their surroundings," Erik answered with a smirk.

Uncertainty flashed in Meilin's eyes as she narrowed them a little. She glanced over at her subordinates, who continued to attack the barrier while throwing anxious glances at her every so often.

'She's right, unfortunately, but no reason to tell her that,' he chuckled wryly to himself. 'But I think we have enough time to subdue her.'

"You're trapped," Erik told her tauntingly instead. "You could always surrender if you'd like to make life easier for all of us."

"Forget it!" she immediately snapped and readied her weapons again. It looked like she'd come to some decision and was not yet ready to give up.

But Erik wasn't worried. At this point, he'd just need to wait for the battle raging outside the dome to end.