They rushed over to assist Ned before the monster swatted him out of the air. He flew around the Stormscale’s wings like a fly bent on purposefully annoying its target.

Unfortunately, since Ned was too fast to be hit with claws and too close to be struck down with flames, the Stormscale screamed and rose into the air. Rory grunted. Not good. Their plan needed the monster to remain in range of most of their attacks, preferably not moving around as silkily as it did in the air.

“How do we bring it down?” Miles asked.

They had all started running towards the monster, but now that it had taken off, they had come to a sudden halt. Strange how their entire plan had come was on the verge off falling off the deep end thanks to a simple move from the Stormscale. Rory sighed. The problem with improvised plans was that it was difficult to account for every single potential variable.

“We attack it from every direction we can,” Viv said, resuming her rush towards the Stormscale but in the opposite direction now, thanks to the trajectory of its flight. “Let’s go!”

They all followed her lead. Rory struggled to keep up, but it was a good thing that no one waited for him, nor was his part to play as urgent as that of the others.

They were spreading themselves just a bit to cover the multiple angles Viv had mentioned, though their real plan required them to stick somewhat close. But for the moment, other necessities took priority.

As the Wyvern twisted in the air to dodge Trish’s thrown javelin, its mouth brimming with blue fire it intended to chuck down at them, Viv and the others attacked. Miles threw a spray of fireballs while Viv slashed out arcs of burning crimson energy. Even Rory added to the assault, if belatedly so, swirling and stabbing his staff to launch icy bolts at their flying adversary.

Their attack pattern was simple but effective. They had all aimed high, even higher than where the Stormscale was flying around in the air, forcing it to naturally dive closer to the ground. Just what they needed.

The final straw that made the monster land back down again was Ned hurtling in after all the attacks had sailed past it. He threw down more water at the monster, a savage rain seeking to douse any flames it attempted to throw. The Stormscale countered as best as it could. Thumping down heavily, it flapped its enormous wings to summon another gale. While Rory and the others hunkered down to protect themselves, Ned was easily thrown back.

“Ned!” Viv shouted.

He was fine. Those Burnwing appendages were useful in making sure he didn’t crash to the ground and smash every bone in his body.

With all of them momentarily thrown back, the Stormscale was finally free to launch its blistering flames at them, which it proceeded to do so. Rory’s heartrate shot up like someone had injected him with pure adrenaline. It was time to put their plan into action.

“Here we go,” Rory shouted. “Trish, you’re up.”

As the stream of flames shot at them over the ground, hueing everything in the vicinity blue, Trish lunged past them with habitual fearlessness. Her steel shield revolved into a greater width, so big that she had to rest its bottom edge on the ground to keep it propped up. She had added reinforcements to it too, trapping a layer of concrete between two outer plates of steel.

The fire struck the shield like a battering ram. Rory was deafened momentarily by the impact and thrown off his feet by the shaking ground. Trish’s shield stopped the worst of the fire from burning them to ash, but sparks flew everywhere and rained around them, the heat cooking Rory alive.

“Viv.” His voice was hoarse, but they needed to go on with the plan. Rory cleared his throat. “Viv! Your turn.”

“I got this,” she said.

Viv raised herself from where she had been thrown down as well. As her crimson sabre appeared in her hand, the monster shifted slightly. Somehow, it had noticed Viv preparing to attack.

The stream of fire started to move too, but Rory had accounted for this.

“Miles!” Rory shouted. “We need the opening.”

Miles was happy to comply. “On it!”

He rushed forward until he was just behind where Trish was staving off the Stormscale’s stream of blue fire. Rory wondered if the heat didn’t bother him as much since he could handle his flames without suffering burns or the like.

But Miles wasn’t shooting fire this time. Instead, he activated his Sigil of Earth. There was a heavy grinding noise from farther off, barely audible over the roar of the Stormscale’s stream of blue fire. A wall of earth rose out of the ground as Miles raised his hand high, making the monster stumble and loose its aim.

Of course, that meant the stream of fire it was belching at them also shifted course.

“Get closer,” Trish shouted.

Rory pulled Evelyn nearer to Trish as the roil of blue fire washed right over her. With surprising strength, she had managed to pull up the steel-and-concrete shield to protect herself. Rory, Evelyn, and Miles got under the shield just in time, the fiery stream burning and shattering the ground behind them.

Viv hadn’t joined them, though. Rory looked around, eyes wide and heart pounding up a storm in his chest. She wasn’t anywhere near them.

“There,” Miles said, noticing Rory around looking worriedly.

Rory stared to where he was pointing. Viv was standing several dozen feet ahead of them. She must have teleported there when the monster’s fire had crashed down.

As the Stormscale tried to regain its balance, she pulled her sabre back. It blinked once, pulsing with vibrant power. Then she stabbed it forward. The crimson sabre extended in a beam of carmine energy, rocketing over the ground and shading everything in a brilliant red light. It struck the Stormscale on its side, and the monster screamed.

Unfortunately, the blow wasn’t good enough. Just as Viv’s extended red sabre had struck it, the Stormscale had thrown itself off the ground to streak into the air once more. Black blood rained down from its wound, but it was nowhere near fatal.

“Trish,” Rory said. “We’re moving onto phase two.”

“I really wish we didn’t have a phase two,” she grumbled, but bent to her new task anyway.

Soon enough, she had summoned a steel spear. Rory used his staff to cast a Frozen Lightning on it, covering the head with ice that glimmered with faint electric sparks. Their next order of business was hitting the Stormscale with it, though they’d be lucky if they managed to do so.

“I can’t throw it that far up,” Trish said.

“We’re going to have find some other way.” Rory looked up, frowning at the sight of the Stormscale coming to its peak. Its mouth was once again full of flames. Not good. He had been banking on Trish being able to hit the creature even at a distance. Then an idea popped in Rory’s head. “Trish, how long does your steel last after you lose contact with it?”

“Two minutes.” She frowned. “Why?”

Rory turned to Ned, who was staring up the monster with a worried expression. “Ned, you think two minutes is enough for you?”

He didn’t need more than a few seconds to grasp what Rory meant.

“I’m not sure,” Ned said. “That thing sure knows how to fly.”

“We’ll distract it. If you can surprise it, sneak up on it for at least most of the way, it shouldn’t be able to dodge.”

“So long as I do it in two minutes.” Ned shook his head and gave vent to a quick sigh. “Give it to me. It’s not like we’ve got a better choice.”

Trish didn’t hand it over just yet. “Hold it…”

Smart. They needed to maximize the time Ned had with the spear. The monster had launched its attack, throwing down an avalanche of dark blue fire at them, which Viv had countered by extending her red sabre into a beam again. Another detonation went off high in the air, the shockwave hitting Rory hard enough to make him stumble.

“He’s still going to be spotted,” Evelyn said.

She was right. There was too much distance between them and the Stormscale. Even if Ned used the cover of the explosion far above, he’d be too easily visible once he was past it.

Rory raised his staff. He activated his Harmonic Blizzard, throwing out his wintry storm in every direction. There was little time to think, so he picked the ground as both the target of preservation and destruction. Snow and icy sleet struck him, but he gritted his teeth and shouted, “Use the storm’s cover. Keep moving. Viv, we’re going to need you to distract it higher up.”

“On it,” she said.

She slashed her sword to send a burning red arc flying in the opposite direction Ned was about to go. Rory worried about her wellbeing, but he decided to have faith. Viv had always been strong and was now even stronger thanks to days of using her Sigil. Through the veil of his blizzard, Rory was able to spot the shadow of the Stormscale’s fire and Viv’s crimson glows high up. She had engaged the Stormscale.

Now was Ned’s chance.

Trish slammed the spear into Ned’s grip. “Go, go!”

Ned fired off, his rocket-ended wings blasting the air around him as he started fading into the storm’s gloom. “Wish me luck.”

He disappeared before they could even think to do so. Rory was ever so thankful the ice of Frozen Lightning had a far higher melting point than regular ice.

For several frightening seconds, Rory realized just how much of a passenger he could have been during their fight against the Stormscale. But he had set the stage, and he had decided what plan they’d use. It was going to work. He was sure of it.

As Viv blasted the Stormscale with her own storm of crimson arcs, the monster got distracted from Ned swerving in from its rear. More collisions of blue fire and red arcs sent up more ravaging explosions in the air, the noise of which covered the roar of Ned’s Burnwing appendages. By the time the monster finally turned around to check the sound, it was too late.

The Stormscale tried to dodge, flapping its great wings to get out of the way. Ned wasn’t able to land a full blow as the creature moved with incredible grace.

But he still got in a hit.

The ice-encrusted spearhead slashed across the Stormscale’s side. That was all the contact they needed. The Stormscale screamed as Rory’s Frozen Lightning activated, ice jumping from the point of contact to cover the creature’s entire body in seconds. Lightning flashed, soon coalescing over the monster’s whole body in giant, virulent arcs.

As its screaming cut off under the electricity’s paralyzing effects, the Stormscale plummeted.

“Incoming!” Trish said. Her shout was filled with excitement, no trace of fear at what was essentially a giant meteor about to crash upon them anywhere to be found.

They all hurried away from the spot. Rory wished he could have moved faster at that point, though he forced himself not to regret replacing his Sigil of Locomotion with his Sigil of Warding. He made good time without it. When the Stormscale crashed down, Rory was able to keep his footing despite stumbling as the ground shook at the impact.

“Is it dead?” Miles asked, turning around.

The rest of them halted and turned too. There was too much dust. Rory tried to peer through the veil, but it was impossible to tell at their distance.

Then lightning flashed.

Rory took in a deep breath. “It’s not dead yet.”

“But it is down,” Viv said. She had teleported back to their side at some point, though Rory had missed the exact timing of that. “We need to take advantage.”

“That’s right.” Trish brandished her axe high. “Lead the charge, professor.”

Viv spared them the need to run back the way they had arrived. She stabbed her red sabre into the ground to spread her pool of red energy around them, then fired a crimson arc in the monster’s direction. Just as she had done in the bank, she took them all with her as she teleported.

When they reappeared, it was right against the swirling cloud of dust. They were close enough for Rory to smell the lightning crisping both the Stormscale and the air around it.

“Attack!” Viv said. “It’s time to kill that thing.”

“And kill all of your kind with me,” the Stormscale roared.

Another flash of lightning went off as the dust swirled hard, flitting past them to reveal what it truly hid. Rory swallowed when he was able to see past the dust trying to get into his eyes.

The Wyvern had summoned its Neophytes. Most of the half-people, half-monsters had transformed further into Stormscales, the vestiges of their humanity now too difficult to spot among the scales, claws, and curved teeth, apart from the tattered remains of their clothes.

“Snap out of it,” Viv said. “We’re not here to hurt you. Once we take that thing down, we can help you all.”

“What help?” Lightning flashed across the Stormscale’s body, but it went on speaking as though being shocked by several hundred volts was nothing. “Take a step farther, and you shall forfeit your lives.”

Rory bit down on a curse. Here they were, on the verge of victory, and foiled. The Stormscale had pulled up yet another trick they hadn’t foreseen.