An Owl's Rise

"I was beginning to worry that the two of you possessed some sort of item to nullify toxins, but it appears that you are simply hardy." Osvaldo said as he approached Bylur and Aralee.

The two of them glared up at the man, but no matter how hard they pushed their bodies to move, all that they could do was slightly twitch.

"This really is a surprise though. To stay conscious despite how much of my paralytic poison you have breathed in."

While he primarily had used his magic to conjure colorful and showy liquid venom, he was more than capable of releasing it in a nearly undetectable gaseous form as well.

Without any wariness, Osvaldo squatted down in between his two captives.

From out of a storge magic tool, he pulled out enchanted chains that were used to seal away magic energy. He had brought these with him just in case the seals on the owls held within the Miris Sect were inadequate.

"I can already imagine the rewards Lord Diomed will bestow upon me once I bring the two of you to him. Perhaps he will even name me his successor. In a couple of centuries, I could be leading the entire Deamhain Sect." Osvaldo mused, lost in a far-off fantasy.

Yet as he was just about to chain up Bylur, he felt a surge of magical energy coming from Aralee whom he had turned his back on.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Osvaldo believed that it should have been impossible for her to move or wield such a tremendous amount of power while sedated by his magic.

Caught off guard, he failed to avoid the glowing pink light that enveloped him. And as he began to jump away his movements were sluggish, and it felt like he was traveling through mud.

"I'm glad that Evelyn insisted that we prepare several powerful antidotes before coming here." Bylur said, shakily rising to his feet.

"Yes, we would have been in real trouble otherwise."

Neither of them had been expecting the gaseous poison and had been shocked by its potency.

Fortunately, they already knew about Osvaldo's magical specialty. Before leaving to ambush him, Evelyn had forced both Bylur and Aralee to preemptively take several antidote pills meant for neutralizing toxins.

Then she had also given them an even more powerful antidote that they had concealed inside their mouths. Evelyn had told them that the ingredients for these pills were rare and expensive, which was why the two of them had not taken them in advance. They had hoped to not need them.

"My sister's wariness certainly saved us this time. We didn't know he could pull a trick like that." Aralee said, glaring contemptuously at Osvaldo.

She then created an acceleration gate in front of her with her momentum magic and fired several wind blades through it.

Osvaldo had been hit by her slow spell, and his movements were now entirely different from before. It would be impossible for him to avoid the attacks coming his way.

Still, he was a part of the Deamhain Sect's upper echelon and had all manner of magic items to defend himself.

A charm Osvaldo kept on his person shattered in response to Aralee's wind blades, and a powerful barrier erupted around him.

At the same time, he started to cast a new spell, but his hands were moving sluggishly.

Bylur quickly joined in with Aralee and unleashed a stead barrage of ice magic attacks towards Osvaldo as well.

With the two of them putting immense pressure on the protective barrier around their target, his last line of defense was soon to shatter and leave him exposed.

Realizing that he was not going to be able to keep up if he focused solely on using his own magic, Osvaldo instead reached for several spell sealing talismans that he had prepared.

If at all possible, he did not want to use them since they took a great deal of time and resources to make, but the situation did not give him the leeway to be conservative.

The battle continued for several minutes as both sides attempted to take out the other.

Eventually, the spell that Aralee had cast on Osvaldo faded and he was able to move at full speed again.

Nevertheless, he realized now that he was in a disadvantageous position. His two adversaries were more powerful and dedicated than he expected. At this rate he was bound to lose.

"I need some reinforcement." Osvaldo muttered, an idea coming to mind.

While he could not say that the Miris Sect was his ally, if there was a big enough commotion people would come to investigate.

So far, the battle had stayed contained within the larger warehouse, but Osvaldo had decided that it was time to change this.

Using his magic, he conjured a giant mass of venom around himself in the shape of a jellyfish and swung a giant tendril like a whip towards the nearest wall.

Bylur and Aralee realized what Osvaldo was doing immediately and moved to stop him.

Ice and wind joined together in a freezing gale that blew towards the liquid venom. While at the same time several shimmering walls that slowed whatever passed through them appeared in front of the toxic tendril.

Thanks to their efforts, Bylur and Aralee prevented Osvaldo from breaking through the warehouse's wall.

However, in their haste the two of them had taken their attention off their foe, and he did not stand around idly for them to recover.

Venomous tendrils that had been turned the same color as the floor quickly flowed towards Bylur and Aralee and stuck as they were most preoccupied.

Thanks to her wind and momentum magic, Aralee was just barely able to get away in a burst of astounding speed. Unfortunately, Bylur was not quite as capable.

As a last-ditch effort, he incased himself in a sphere of ice, but the tendril of venom wrapped around him, shield and all.

It soon became a war of whether Bylur could freeze the liquid fast enough, or if Osvaldo could create enough force to break through the icy shell.