While Caspian continued trading strikes with the two close-range fighters, Erica had to contend herself with the long-range attacker.

The beautiful Sorceress had to admit, her foe was a clever one. From the very onset of this battle, her enemy had been sending multiple attacks her way one after another in quick succession, all in an effort to keep her from chanting an aria. When she'd proven herself apt at evading their explosions, her enemy had sent the two currently fighting the boy to keep her busy while they waited for an opportunity, an opening to unleash devastation upon her. Had things continued as they had, she may have actually lost.

Perish the thought.

However, this person's lucky streak was about to change. Now that she had someone who actually seemed capable of protecting her, Erica was ready to turn the tides of this battle in her favor. She would show this fool what happened to those who tried messing with a Sorceress.

With her body moving faster than it ever had before, avoiding the many explosions that nipped at her heels, Erica continued to chant verse after verse in order to summon a spirit of incredible magnitude.

"Yee whose fire burns for seven days and seven nights, grant unto me the power to burn thine enemies in a holy conflagration. Melt their flesh, their organs. Turn their bones to ashes and their bodies to dust. Consume my foes with your divine flames. Amaterasu! Yours is the divinity that knows no bounds! The flame of divine judgement! Harken unto me and grant me your power!"

Upon the conclusion of her ten verse aria, what looked like a golden flame transformed into a bolt of lightning descended from the sky. It struck Erica too swiftly for the eyes to follow, unleashing a thunderous roar of unmitigated power. It did not consume her, this flame, but rather, it entered her, empowered her, and granted unto her a power that no mortal was ever meant to wield.

Her eyes glowed with a holy light, a judgemental flame that burned those who didn't follow the righteous path. Arcs of golden mana skittered and coruscated across her body, like tendrils of electricity racing along a wire.

Her foe must have realized what was about to happen, for a geyser of flames erupted underneath her. The attack did nothing, however. The pillar of fire dispersed seconds later, scattering in a burst of heat and a flash of flame, leaving the Sorceress they were meant to cremate unharmed.

Erica raised her left hand and pointed it at her foe, palm facing her opponent, fingers splayed. She gave her enemy a grim smile.

"Burn."

***

What happened within the next few moments would be forever etched into Caspian's mind as one of the most amazing things he had ever witnessed. All of the energy that had been dancing across Erica's body gathered into the palm of her left hand, creating a compressed ball of golden flame, a bright sphere of holy fire, which was then unleashed in a blast so powerful it created a shockwave that buffeted his hair and stung his eyes.

Forced to cover his ears, Caspian could do nothing but stare as a massive cone of golden fire nearly four times larger than he was tall burst from the woman's palm. Like an unstoppable force it tore across the ground, heading toward the long-range fighter at unprecedented speed, vaporizing everything in its wake. The very air they breathed seemed to detonate, the oxygen combusting from the intense heat. The scent of burning ozone stung his nostrils.

Caspian wondered if the individual staring down the sight of that terrifying fire was seeing their life flash before their eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that, were their positions reversed, that's what he would have been seeing.

Which was why he became so surprised when the figure thrust their hands out toward the fire, as if to punch the massive cone of flames with their fist. What were they doing? Some kind of desperate last gambit to save themselves? Foolish. Maybe it was a knee-jerk reaction. Some last sense of self-preservation that caused them to make a strange attempt at blocking an attack that was clearly unblockable.

Perhaps it was his inability to believe anything could have been done in the face of such devastation that caused him to feel so surprised by what happened next. The large conical-shaped flame split into three separate pillars as something invisible cut it apart. Each pillar branched out and traveled further away from the other two. After reaching a certain distance, the three pillars exploded in a fiery conflagration so powerful it unleashed a massive shock wave that burned his eyes from just looking at it.

Hurricane-like winds of blistering heat rushed towards him, carrying with it enough dust and debris that it looked almost like a sandstorm traveling at supersonic speeds. In order to protect himself, he crouched down low and covered his face with his arms. Even then, when the force generated from the three massive explosions hit him, Caspian was almost blasted off his feet like a twig caught in a tsunami.

Cuts and tears appeared on his clothing and skin. Caspian felt the sting of what had to be several dozen rocks ripping into his back. It hurt. By the Spirits it hurt. Scorching hot sands washed over him, tearing into his body like a savage beast mauling a helpless rodent. It felt like someone had taken fireproofed sandpaper, dunked it in oil, lit it on fire, and then scraped it against his skin at the speed of light. His flesh was rubbed raw. He could feel it peeling off, could feel his back muscles being exposed to the elements. Pain like he'd never experienced overrode his senses, leaving him unable to think and barely able to breath. Even his scream was lost to the roar of an undying, unfeeling firestorm the likes of which he'd never seen before.

The amount of time Caspian spent hunkered down was interminable. There was simply no way of telling how much time had passed, and he was in far too much pain to care.

Still, with time, the force of impossibly devastating winds ceased, and Caspian was granted a merciful reprieve... of a sort.

His back and arms had been devastated. Large chunks of his skin had been ripped off. He could feel rivulets of blood streaming down his back, sticking to what was left of his tattered clothes. The pain made him want to scream, but he clamped down on this desire, forcing it back into his throat through sheer willpower.

"Nggg..." Caspian groaned as he raised his head and tried to blink his eyes back into focus. Everything looked blurry, distorted from hundreds of oscillating heat waves.

"You! Boy!" a feminine figure shouted at him. The sound of delicate feet walking towards him followed the shout, eventually stopping when a shadow was cast over his prone body. "Are you alright? You are not dead, are you?"

"Never... again..." Caspian grunted as he forced himself to his feet, which was far harder than it should have been. His arms shook and his legs felt like gelatin. Just moving hurt. "I am... never... doing that... again..."

Standing on his feet, albeit, for some reason everything looked off-kilter, Caspian was able to catch a glimpse of the world around him.

It looked like a storm of raging hellfire had passed through.

The earth had literally been scorched. No. Not just scorched. Glassed. Everywhere Caspian looked, for nearly one-hundred meters out, the ground had been turned into glass. Black glass that appeared to have more in common with obsidian than actual glass. A crystallized plane of the purest ebony, dark flatlands that glittered as light refracted off their surface. It was a sight that would remain with Caspian from this moment until the day he died.

That was not the only damage heaped upon Terraria's surface. Aside from how the ground had been turned into a sparkling mass of super-heated sand, there were also several large trenches, stretching out for hundreds of meters before disappearing into the distance.

The first and largest of these trenches was easily several times wider than he was tall. It expanded outwards, much like a cone. After reaching a certain point, the trench split three ways. The smaller trenches could only be considered small in comparison to the larger trench. Each one still looked more than large enough to fit at least two of him lying lengthwise across them.

"Excuse... young..."

So this was the power of a Sorceress? What a terrifying power.

"Hey! Young man! Are you listening to me? Pay attention!"

Caspian turned his head, the act creating a sudden sense of vertigo that almost made him stumble. His vision blurred out of focus, sharpened, and then blurred again. When his eyesight finally returned, it was filled with the sight of lovely raven hair and a gorgeous amethyst eye.

"I'm sorry..." Caspian slurred, "were you saying something?"

"Yes, I was saying something," Erica snapped, scowling. "Honestly, you'd think a young man such as yourself would be pleased to have a woman of my enchanting elegance paying attention to you! What is it with young men these days? Don't tell me you're one of those men."

The entity of beauty and carnal lust huffed, crossing her arms under her generous bust. Caspian blinked as his eyes suddenly focused on the way her bosoms jiggled from the action. Were they supposed to do that? How could they be so big yet still retain such a perfect shape? Why was he even thinking about this?

I think... there is something seriously wrong with me,Caspian thought to himself, his eyes rapidly fluttering as his pupils became dilated.

Heedless of the fact that Caspian, in his semi-lucid state, was paying more attention to the way her chest jiggled and bounced than her, Erica continued ranting. "And just when I thought I had finally found some decent help around here! I guess I should simply be grateful for your assistance, but really, the fact that you're willing to ignore me makes any aid you can render dispensable. Why oh why did my Derek choose now of all times to become bed-ridden?"

After nearly five minutes of complaining and bemoaning her fate as a Sorceress of incomparable beauty, the amethyst-eyed femme finally realized that Caspian still wasn't paying attention to her.

"Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

"I'm sorry..." Caspian slowly shook his head, darkness encroaching along the edge of his vision. "But I think I'm going to pass out now..."

"Don't tell me you're going to pass out like it's not a big deal! Hey!"

The last thing Caspian saw was a pair of lush ruby red lips screaming at him.

And then he saw nothing.