Chapter 412: Killing
After watching Luxxa and the other knights hold back the demons, I held no worries for their safety. They were as skilled as the demons, which was impressive for mortals in Enusia, and an entire level stronger than the best among their enemies. They would be fine.
Korra, on the other hand, worried me, so I shifted my perspective to her once more. Her fight with Gayron dragged her into the midst of the demons, though none of them dared interfere. The Apostle of Fire’s aura rose and fell with every one of his enraged grunts and cries, devouring everything within a hundred yards.
Korra alone stood among the licking flames and hissing ice, wreathed in a soft aura of watery blue light. It was a fifth-level art that incorporated aspects of fire shield with the Crawler’s defensive ability, potent enough to withstand even the seventh-level apostle’s aura.
The two exchanged blows in a blurred flurry of fist and claw. Every stray attack carved canyons in the tundra, decimating any demons unlucky enough to be in the way. Gayron was faster and stronger, yet Korra remained just out of his reach, dancing beneath his vicious claw and tail swipes, using his own size to hamper his ability to reach him. She never stopped moving, lashing out with seemingly harmless punches and kicks on his legs and torso.
She seemed calm and in control, but my heart raced every time the demon’s claws narrowly scraped by her head. Gayron was just like the other heroes, relying purely on his apostolic strength and blessings to overwhelm his opponents. But against Korra, who had trained for hours every day, he seemed no more than a child swinging a stick for the first time. The only reason it was tense at all was the difference in the level of their souls. A single mistake and he would catch her, then it would all be over.
The moment I feared came quickly. Korra leaped backward, flipping gracefully mid-air, but stumbled upon landing, caught on a small divot. Gayron’s clawed foot melted in the ice just seconds before. The apostle was on in her in an instant, his spined tail sweeping toward her with the strength of a mountain. Her eyes widened as the air crackled and hissed as he injected mana into the flaming spikes at its tip, a battering ram capable of breaking any gate.
"No!" I cried, gripping the Gate Core tightly in my hands.
As before, a pulse of mana surged through the ice spirit, channeled directly into the gate. The tundra reacted violently, shooting several frozen monolithic spikes at the apostle’s tail. He grunted in surprise, and his soul flared with mana, infusing even more power into the attack and pushing it into the lower realms of the seventh level.
The sheer force of the technique broke the air, releasing multiple sonic booms that rocked the gate, culminating in a tremendous explosion of steam as it collided with the ice pillars. It lost much of its momentum, but continued on to strike the off-balance Korra. Her shield flared upon impact, cracked, and then shattered. Her body flew out of the spreading cloud of ice shards and steam, slamming into the face of a nearby ice formation. Her eyes flew open, blood breaking between her lips, and a small cry escaped her.