The Temptation of Power ||| Hermitcraft Watcher AU

Chapter Twenty

The dragon behind him roared as he jumped up into the air and shot T⍑∷ᒷᒷ straight away, not giving them chance to take in their new surroundings. He flew forwards and quickly destroyed the portal so there was no way of immediate escape, for T⍑∷ᒷᒷ or him.

You really think you can beat me, hybrid? They yelled in Galactic, dodging his shot and staying on the ground. Xelqua landed on the side of the cliff.

I think one of us isn't leaving this server alive. He replied. Then he glided down, picking up speed, and made the ground around T⍑∷ᒷᒷ come alight with fire. Oリᒷ was right; he was best in the air. T⍑∷ᒷᒷ flapped their wings and took off, shooting back at him three times. He dodged two and deflected one with magic, and it crashed into the wall behind the other Watcher.

The dragon ran forward and took off, shrieking and breathing purple fire at T⍑∷ᒷᒷ. Xelqua had never realised it could do that.

T⍑∷ᒷᒷ shielded themselves. Xelqua shot a continuous beam at them from behind, and they were forced to shield on all sides for a second, meaning they couldn't attack for a second. The dragon's breath ran out and they focussed on fighting Xelqua's beam with one of their own. They evened out again, the beams meeting in the middle.

"NOW!" Xelqua screamed at the top of his voice, and the hermits emerged from a small cave and flew into the sky, circling T⍑∷ᒷᒷ and shooting continuous, magic-coated arrows.

So you gathered the help of some pesky humans. T⍑∷ᒷᒷ yelled, making a sphere of a shield around themselves and stopping their ray of magic.

They're my friends. Xelqua replied, in English so they could hear, stopping his own ray.

Friends? Watchers don't have friends. T⍑∷ᒷᒷ said spitefully in english, letting their shield down and shooting around them five times.

Two of the hermits got hit.

They fell.

The dragon breathed fire on T⍑∷ᒷᒷ at the exact moment they shot.

They also fell.

Xelqua rocketed down to where he'd seen the two humans land, a couple of metres away from each other. Bdubs and Etho, Bdubs with a leg injury which looked severe but not irreparable, and Etho with, oh notch no, a head injury. He was unconscious, breathing shallowly. A few more hermits landed beside him, rushing to the aid of them.

And Xelqua got angry.

He gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists, the near-black fingernails digging into his palms. Last time he got angry he acted stupidly, used too much magic, and someone else died as a result. He needed to keep being strategic.

He turned, not wasting any more time and went back in the air, shooting mercilessly at the evil Watcher. They shielded themselves, standing up and returning to flight as well. There were still a few hermits in the sky, shooting at them, but they shielded every arrow. T⍑∷ᒷᒷ flew forwards at him, like a cat pouncing, and grabbed him, before lighting their hands on fire and burning him. He kicked them back, and as they separated they left some magic on him, which travelled down his body before he could stop it and wrapped around both of his ankles, increasing it's strength to become like a thick iron chain as he struggled with it and tried desperately to get it off.

Same trick, the other Watcher said as they attached a rope-like bit of magic to the ankle cuffs and began to swing him around. Your turn. They said, letting the rope dissolve into the air and lighting the cliff he was heading towards with magic.

Xelqua tried to get a shield up or at least wrap his wings around himself but he was too slow. He hit the slightly glowing wall of rock half way up and fell to the ground. Some rock fell around him, making a noise he'd heard before - similar to banging stones together - but it sounded abnormal.