An Owl's Rise

Still, for the moment Diomed seemed more interested in observing them as if he had all the time in the world to make his move and was in no rush.

"Oh, I thought my newest pet had perished after being discovered. But it seems he is still alive after all." Diomed said when he caught sight of Verrader.

He then held out his hand and beckoned Verrader to his side.

"Verrader, what are you doing?" Evelyn asked when her brother suddenly seized her.

All of her companions had rushed over to support her after her admittedly stupid attack, but suddenly Verrader had gripped hold of her and was about to drag her over towards Diomed.

For a moment Evelyn felt fear grip her heart and she wondered if her brother had been tricking her all this time and that their heart to heart had been a fabrication.

"Don't think I am going to let you get away with that!" 

With a shout and wave of her hand Melisandre released a concentrated wave of magical energy and the sound of shattering glass followed.

A small line of magical energy that connected Verrader to Diomed became visible for a second before it broke apart.

The glazed over look in Evelyn's brother's eyes swiftly disappeared and he looked around in confusion at what was going on around him.

"I should have expected a sadistic bastard like you to have a nasty power like mental magic." Melisandre growled towards Diomed.

The man who had just tried to control Verrader's mind simply shrugged his shoulders. He honestly did not care what Melisandre thought.

"Still, you are quite the annoyance. You have been blocking all of my subtle movements. I really did not want to have to get into a messy brawl, but I don't think any of my subdnates can handle you."

Immediately after saying this, Diomed went from calm and collected, to racing towards Melisandre with a typhoon of magical energy surrounding him.

His attempts at trying to delicately use magic to win without coming to blows had been completely stopped by Melisandre. From the moment he had jumped through the rift in space, Diomed and Melisandre had been waging a silent war.

A bright flash of flames and explosion that seemed to shake the world followed int eh wake of their clash.

However, before the heat and shockwaves could destroy Evelyn and her companions, they all found themselves wrapped up in a protective bubble of water and rocketing away.

In one swift movement Melisandre had intercepted Diomed and sent Evelyn away from the ensuing battle.

"After them. I will take care of this one myself." Diomed shouted.

Following his order, his subordinates from the Deamhain Sect began rushing towards Evelyn and her companions but were stopped by a massive curtain of flames.

"I am not letting a single one of you pass. As her master, I have to show off sometimes." Melisandre said with a smirk to hide her anxiety.

She was outnumbered and Diomed had her outclassed being at the low tier of the archmagi rank which was equal to a calamity beast. Melisandre, unfortunately, sat one step below him and even with her best she was not certain she could beat him one on one. 

Still, she was a master of alchemy and had plenty of annoying concoctions she could use to buy time.

"This is pointless. You can't hold all of us here." Diomed said, ripping his hand through space and creating a portal for his subordinates to go through and continue pursuing Evelyn.

Yet before his magic could fulfill its purpose a small glass container shattered in his vicinity and the liquid within became a gaseous cloud the moment it met air.

In one fluid motion Melisandre had released one of her most poisonous creations and let the deadly gas fill up the area.

This forced Diomed on the defensive, and instead of allowing his subordinates through, he had to focus on dispersing the poison.

'Boiling Meteors.'

Following up Melisandre rained down one of her strongest and most widespread spells.

Some of the leaders of the Deamhain Sect were trying to fly over the flame curtain she had created, but now they found themselves having to contend with lake sized spheres of scalding water falling down on them.

With a moment of panic that gave her a chance to breath, Melisandre pulled out four different potion vials and quickly downed the contents of each one. She had created some chaos with her opening move, but once her enemies reformed, she would be in trouble without some major enhancements.

Each of the potions she had just drunk were among her greatest treasures and had taken her decades of hard work to gather the materials for. Nevertheless, now was not the time to be stingy with her resources, she was going all out.

Once the potions began to take effect, Melisandre expanded and dropped her human form to return to her gargantuan owl form. Right now, she did not need precise movements or to a smaller target, but overwhelming strength and power.

"Such a pest." Diomed said.

As he did, Melisandre saw a flash of movement and felt her instincts screaming at her about incoming danger.

She twisted her body around as swiftly as she could and deployed every manner of defense she had.

Thanks to her fast actions she managed to survive the attack but felt a searing pain on the tip of her left wing.

Blood was flowing out of a clean cut that had taken off the end of her wing.

'What did he do!?' Melisandre thought in a panic.

Her barriers had been sliced through without resistance and her reinforced body had done no better. 

In a bid to recover and slow things down, Melisandre sent out a barrage of attacks in every direction and spread out her senses to focus on the entire battlefield.

Not a moment later she had the same uneasy feeling and moved her massive frame to dodge the next attack.

This time she did better, but the edge of her right foot had been hit and she lost a couple layers of skin.

'I can't believe he has something like that!' 

Now with her eyes glued on Diomed she could see that he was no longer empty handed.

In his hands he was holding a gleaming golden glaive that was radiating intese amgical energy. 

Melisandre was no expert when it came to magic weapons, but she could tell that this glaive was of the highest class that could be made in this realm.

'To think that he ahs the power to sever space.' Melisandre thought as she dodged the next swing of Diomed's glaive.

A thin line of light flew off from Diomed's glaive and everything in its path was separated by the very fabric of space being cut through.

It was the kind of attack that was basically impossible to block unless one had a higher mastery of space magic than the attacker, or some other magic that could interfere with space. Something that Melisandre did not possess.

Her only recourse was to evade the attack.

Luckily Diomed had to swing the glaive and the motion was fairly telegraphed and easy enough to be wary of. Now that Melisandre knew its trick, she would not be hit by it again so easily.

'It is still infuriating though.' Melisandre though as she flew up and dodged another slash.

The worst of her problems were yet to come through.

The other leaders of the Deamhain Sect had managed to group up after the opening attacks and were now bombarding Melisandre as well while waiting for a chance to escape and go after Evelyn.

However, Melisandre was not easy to get past thanks to her magic and the numerous alchemical items she was tossing around.

The area was constantly being filled with poisons, acids, explosives, and even gels that would ensnare people and try to force its way down their throats an expand within their bodies. Melisandre was like a flying fortress with an inexhaustible supply of armaments.

Of course, she did not get out of each exchange unharmed, but thanks to the potions she drank her recovery was astounding.

She regenerated almost instantly from any damage and her magical energy was constantly replenishing itself no matter how much she expended.

Her willingness to use her most valuable items without restrain was keeping her alive and allowing her to pin down a group that outmatched her.

"Enough of this." Diomed snarled, his patience having reached its breaking point.

He had not anticipated such a fierce resistance and no longer kept his distance to attack from afar and charged directly at Melisandre.

'A poor move on his part.' Melisandre thought as her face curled up into a smile.