Chapter 100: Clash of Incantations [Part 1]

Four towering fire pillars rose from the soil up to the sky. The intense heat instantly scorched the surrounding trees and grass to black dust, warping the air into a shimmering haze that made everything in sight quiver.

At the center of it all stood Rowena, her arms raised to the sky.

Her red robe billowed wildly in the scorching air, drawn inward by the draft of the four roaring blazes, as she continued chanting her spells.

"O Eclipse of the Fading Sun, Darkness that has gathered since before the First Light, Blind Mother of Ash and Ruin... Incarnate the soul of the crimson column, shape the embers, weave the roar."

With a roar from the earth, the soil split open, and a fifth fire pillar rose from the ground at that instant, joining the other four.

Where the five pillars met the sky, they slammed against the invisible barrier. It looked ready to break at any moment as shattering sounds slipped through the roaring flames.

But Rowena wasn’t done yet. After casting a sixth fire pillar, she began moving her hands out to both sides.

With every movement of her hands, the fire pillars came to life, turning into giant burning tornadoes that swept across the ground.

Everywhere they passed was burned, destroyed, erased within seconds, leaving nothing behind but blackened earth.

Not far from her, the two Shadows had taken the upper hand against the giant tree, using the rising heat inside the dimension to their advantage.

"Titus, if you’re struggling, you can fall back." Corvo called out from behind his magma mask, which covered his whole face.

His daggers cut and burned through the branches rushing at him from every direction.

Titus stood a little behind him. His giant ice shield had already turned into a greatsword of ice, and as he cut through the incoming branches, he replied, "I’m not some ice cube that melts the moment it feels a little heat."

He wasn’t just boasting. His frost armor and greatsword were holding up well, even against the heat that was scorching and drying the air all around them.

The same couldn’t be said for their enemy, the Treant bloodline Shadow.

Every second, its branches caught fire. The vibrant green leaves forming its crown withered and fell, burning to ash before they even reached the ground.

In an instant, the once one-sided fight seemed to flip completely. The massive tree was now slowly retreating, slowly becoming engulfed in flames.

But neither of them let the feeling of victory take hold, since the real enemy was still nowhere to be found.

"I’ll go for its trunk." Corvo threw the words over his shoulder as he shot forward, dodging through the tree’s branches.

Since the 12th Trial Witch still had no intention of showing herself, he decided to force her hand by cornering her Shadow.

Titus nodded, gripping his greatsword with both hands. In an instant, the blade shattered and split into twin swords.

Swinging both swords at every branch in his path, he followed close behind Corvo.

As Corvo rushed nonstop toward the tree’s wide trunk, the ground suddenly tore open, and more branches surged out, weaving a thick wall that blocked his path.

He slowed to a stop, ready to cut the wall of branches down, but before he could, an object cut through the air past him. A sword made of ice.

It stabbed straight into the center of the wooden wall, freezing it instantly, until the wall shattered apart on its own.

"Go. I’ll handle the obstacles." Titus kept cutting through the branches around him with one sword, while a fresh blade of ice began forming in his other hand.

Without a word, Corvo started running again, this time without slowing down at all.

Every time another wooden wall appeared in front of him, an ice sword flew past him fast and struck it, shattering it instantly.

Until he finally reached the trunk.

"Think I can guess where your heart is?" he asked, jumping high and crossing his two daggers in front of his chest.

His crimson daggers suddenly caught fire in his hands as he slashed them toward the trunk in an X shape.

The attack, made entirely of flame, rushed forward with nothing in its way, straight toward the center of the tree where its huge mouth sat.

But before the attack could touch the tree, a chant like a whisper filled his ears.

"O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea. Let life flow forward, yield the soulless their rightful place."

Right in front of Corvo’s eyes, a single leaf that had been slowly drifting to the ground suddenly began to expand and grow.

It grew so large that the fire attack slammed directly into it and scattered into sparks, never reaching the tree.

"She finally decided to join." Corvo muttered, his eyes darting quickly around, searching for where the Witch was.

But before he could find her, another rapid chant filled his ears.

"...Let life flow forward, yield the soulless their rightful place."

In that very moment the ground under Corvo’s feet began to shake, and his body suddenly started rising into the air as a massive slab of stone surged up from beneath him.

At the last moment he tried to jump free, but it was no use. When he looked down at his feet, he saw they were trapped inside the stone, holding him in place.

He didn’t hesitate for a second. He positioned both daggers in his hands at once and swung them straight toward his own ankles.

He was an experienced Shadow, and he knew what to do in a situation like this. Losing his feet was the smallest price someone could pay while fighting a powerful Witch.

Luckily, it never came to that. Right before the daggers could cut into his ankles, he heard another chant, this time in a voice he recognized.

"O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea.Turn all matter into fragile ice."

The giant stone trapping Corvo’s feet suddenly turned into a clear piece of ice.

His daggers changed direction in a single rapid motion, driving into the ice, shattering it instantly, and he broke free.

"Lady Celeste." Corvo landed on the ground and looked toward the small figure standing behind Titus’s towering frame. He nodded in gratitude.

Celeste’s cold expression didn’t change. She was already chanting another spell, her hand aimed directly at the giant tree as the final words left her lips.

"By the footprint of frozen time, let the blood of the world turn to frost... Unravel, Glacial Calamity."