Chapter 78: The Regicide’s Endeavor
Seconds before Cortist’s wall of ice shattered beneath the intense flames of the phoenix barreling down from above, Cortist felt someone grab him and swiftly turn the mage away from the flames.
As the young panther looked into his father’s eyes, the older knight pulled his son close to him, shielding as much of the mage as possible with his own body when the fire reigned down around them.
Talan was more battle experienced than his brother, so he knew dodging was the only real option to dealing with such a force, and had dived just out of range of the worst of it milliseconds before the attack landed.
He hadn’t realized his brother would try to actually attempt to defend against it, as if he didn’t just watch the human’s so-called "Legendary shield," fall before these very opponents.
His father realized it, though, and acted accordingly. Talan could only watch on helplessly by that point.
Jagón’s screams were drowned out to most left in the stadium by the roar of the heavy flames, but Cortist heard the full extent of his father’s agony as the scarlet red cape of the proud black panther knight combusted immediately under the heat behind the breath, and his armor quickly heated thereafter.
The metal was searing against his entire backside as the black hair beneath curled and smoldered within the fiery prison, leaving only his bared flesh to sear against the steel next.
The back end of everything from his shoulders, to his calves, to his spine, and even his head and neck took the brunt of the incendiary attack, mercilessly cooking half of the panther alive.
He slouched forward unconsciously into his younger son’s trembling arms.