Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Aurelius had taken to the skies. Whether aiming to avoid the Bullcroc's attacks or to gain an aerial advantage (probably both), he was now being supported by the two footholds of light of his ~Freya's Footsteps~ spell.

He had a hand thrust out and he cast a brilliant spell circle of Golden light that conjured a gigantic pillar of light that burst into smaller lances that all rained down and uselessly glanced off the Beast's scales.

Almost at the same time, Delia was taken up by an updraft of wind that she had conjured, and, with her stormy grey eyes sparking with attacking intent, she cast a large spell circle right above the Bullcroc to rain down lightning. A petty person—her sister perhaps—may have pointed out that she was implementing ten traditional mage ways here and attacking from a distance rather than charging in and getting closer like a Mage Knight. Delia could just hear her sister in her head but she shut that out and focused.

Alas, her focus didn't quite mean anything because, just as it had been with Aurelius's spell, her attack was useless against the Bullcroc's scales.

Only this time, it did call the beast's attention as it raised its head toward Delia and Aurelius who were still suspended in the air. Delia was a bit more unstable than Aurelius.

The Bullcroc's limbs tensed and it went even lower on the ground.

"It's gonna jump!" Delia noted. As she controlled the wind moving her to change location and avoid the painful leap that was coming, Aylin raised her hands with her fingers forming a delicate and beautiful seal.

Aylin's seal cast an icy blue spell circle that hit the ground and froze it over, causing the Bullcroc to lose its balance as it slipped for a while trying to gain traction. That only lasted a few seconds though because the Beast's heavy steps as well as the claws that tipped its front and hind legs were more than enough to crack the ice and allow it to find the traction it so needed to make that leap.

The few seconds of slipping had been enough for Aurelius to step away from the spot he had been earlier but still he remained in the air, forming a different set of seals to cast a different spell.

Delia simply canceled her updraft of wind and got back on the ground. She didn't quite have the capacity for flight yet and felt more comfortable on her feet anyway.

The Bullcroc searched for her and found her quickly. It seemed her lightning attack had really, really pissed it off because it had clearly now picked her as its prime target.

Just as it made to waddle over to her, thorny vines shot out and wrapped around its limbs. Tens and tens of feet of the stuff wrapped around every part of the Bullcroc's large body to the point where hardly any part of it was still visible.

Kaya was, of course responsible. She had both her hands thrust forward and there were spell circles against the knuckles of both hands as she tried her best to keep her vines restraining the Beast.

At the same time, Doran Langston, who had managed to avoid getting knocked away/down (unlike Baler Khione) formed seals and slammed his palms together to cast a golden brown circle right above the Bullcrock.

The spell circle conjured a gigantic Earthen fist that came crashing down against the Bullcroc's head.

*BANG!!!*

"RAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

The Bullcroc let out a roar then. Just the opening of its snout had been enough to rip the vines that Kaya had tried to use to bind it and with one forceful move of the rest of its body, the rest of the vines were all ripped.

It raised its head toward the sky then to roar out in its freedom. As it did, Kaya eyed its soft underbelly and she got an idea. If their spells had failed against its hard scales… Maybe…

"Aim for its underside!" Kaya yelled to Doran then.

He didn't even think to argue. He just controlled his conjured giant Earthen Fist to strike at the Bullcroc's revealed underside.

"Everyone, aim for the underside!" Kaya yelled to the entire class in general.

Just like Doran, no one who was capable of spell casting and not groaning in pain at the moment, could resist her call to action. Light spells. Ice Magic. Storm magic. Thorny vines. Large Earthen fists… All of it.

"Rarrrrrrrrrrrr!!!"

The Bullcroc let out in an almost wimpy sounding tone and then it fell on its front and went still.

"Was that- was that it?" Aylin asked, turning her eyes to Kaya, "Your stupid plan worked?"

As she said that, she glanced over at Lea Gillian. The Professor had her arms crossed simply watching with a light smile. The Raven on her shoulder named Karen was just as attentive.

"It's not stupid. And don't sound so surprised," Kaya said.

"Oh, I'm very surprised. Shocked even…" Aylin said with a finger raised and it was so clear there was more she wished to say but just then.

*GROWL!*

The sound was sudden which is insane to even think about considering there was a gigantic Beast right in front of them. Somehow, despite its massive size, it seemed capable of subtlety.

It surprised them because, by the time they heard its growl, it had already leaped into the air. And it was just a single foot away from striking Kaya down with its snout pointed at her like a lance.

Kaya's nature motes were appearing. She was preparing a defensive spell but before she could complete it, Aylin had already waved her hand and detected an icy structure and at least three times thicker than an ice wall, and boasted three times its defense.

Such a spell should have required way more preparation but as far as Kaya had seen, Aylin had managed it with just a wave of her hand to summon the spell circle required. A spell circle that lasted half a second before it burst into the defensive structure it needed to be.

*BANG!*

The Bullcroc collided with the structure destroying it instantly. But even if it had only been slowed from making its impactful contact for only a second, that was more than enough time for Aylin to grab Kaya's arm and speed away with an icy movement spell that left a trail behind them.

In a few seconds, they were at least ten feet away from the Beast. There, Kaya just paused. Looking at Aylin with furrowed brows.

"What?" Aylin asked her.

"You saved me," Kaya said.

"Eh, I only did it because I thought that thing was coming for me," Aylin said with a scoff, "I should probably stay away from you so that confusion never happens again."

Kaya kept eyeing Aylin. Sure, the defensive structure might have been cast because of that but Aylin had taken it a step further by pulling her out of the way. She could not help but be grateful.

"Well, regardless of why you did it, thank you," she said and to throw in a bit of snide, she added,

"Also, trying to get you not to be close to me is literally all I've been doing for days now. You've just been very stubborn."

"Hmph," Aylin said and turned her face away which caused her eyes to fall on Caius and Eloise and she frowned.

"Hey, you two," she called out to them, "What are you doing?"

It dawned on her now that Caius hadn't been out of the fight since he got tail swiped. She had assumed he was just out for the count but there he was, standing, looking quite well and just… staying out of the fight?

Caius looked at her as she called and raised his hand in a wave. His other hand was clutching a corked vial. Eloise, however, had her face buried in her book. Whatever she was searching for must have taken precedence over cordiality because she didn't acknowledge Aylin's greeting.

And then, her face went bright as she announced ecstatically,

"I got it!"