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Viola ducks underneath Shadow as he sinks his fangs into Solarius again. The God of Summer is paralyzed by the venom a seps uses to liquify the insides of its prey.
Viola places her hands on Solarius' abdomen and squeezes her eyes shut, muttering under her breath.
I don't have to be near her to know she's swearing up a storm at having to be so near the God.
I can feel the moment his magic travels into her because it blows me down to my knees with its sheer power. Viola screams. The combination of Summer magic with her dominant Winter overwhelms her system momentarily, and she crumples on the ground.
"Morrow!" I yell, and he snaps his eyes to me. "Shield!" He follows my eyes and throws a shield over Viola, but not before Avidor hits her with Decay, blackening her left arm from elbow to finger.
As Morrow struggles to hold the shield, I pull all of the devotion for Viola from Ytopie, leaving it empty. I filter it to her in hopes of getting her back on her feet.
It doesn't work.
I gather devotion from Dalery, next, which proves to be enough. She gasps, sitting up and looking around. As soon as Viola realizes what is happening, she's on her feet and throwing Fire at Avidor. The flames strike true, a massive fireball hitting his chest.
Hissing loudly, Shadow grabs Solariusfrom where he collapsed on the ground in devastation when his magic is taken from him.
Two gulps and the God is gone, finding his final resting place in the belly of a beast.
Amaryn wails at the loss of her sibling. Vines explode from her, attempting to wrap around all of us and strangle us. I burn the ones around me easily.
She screams as if it was her own body.
Solarius was the warrior, and it becomes clear very quickly that Avidor and Amaryn are not in possession of a lot of offensive magic. Amaryn attempts to take control of Shadow. She screams commands at him.
But Shadow is not a normal beast. He is a manifestation of the lethality of Viola's magic.
She learns this quickly, and a flock of the flying beast stags that attacked Morrow and Tulip quickly descends from the sky under her command.
Shadow hisses loudly and darts off, attracting the attention of the beasts and fighting them on his own.
With the beasts gone and without Shadow to act as a shield and weapon, Viola is facing off with Amaryn and Avidor again. Both of whom are trying to use the only offensive magic they have.
Mace has managed to take control of most of the Lightning magic that Avidor throws. Viola has to dodge or try to control the few that go rogue.
She manages to control one and merge it with a vine,wrapping Amaryn in an electrical vice. The heat from the Lightning burns up the vine fast, but not without injury to the God of Spring.
Morrow holds a shield and throws Fire toward the plant life the Bloomtide controls. He keeps Viola from tripping over the vines as she dodges magic with a blade in one hand and slices at the skin of the Gods.
It's a delicate balance to damage them but not allow them to grab her, and the way she dances with that dagger is a beautiful story of rage.
Every time Viola casts a spell, I feel the pull, the draw of devotion, and I search through the realm for more and more to send her. It's getting low, but the tides seem to have turned. She's managing to hold off the offensive spells and avoid injury.
Amaryn grows a circle of hedges around her and her brother, attempting to shield them long enough to heal the minor injuries that they have sustained.
The ground beneath us begins to shake and split again, and at the same time, Viola burns the hedge. The ground wrenches Avidor and Amaryn apart. Viola takes the chance to strike, jumping on Avidor and physically pushing him to the ground.
He wraps his hands around her neck, Decay climbing up her jaw. By touching Viola, he opens up the chance for her to take his magic.
His mistake.
She pulls his Godly essence into herself.
Her body seizes, shaking as if shocked repeatedly. I rush todraw devotion from Pran to help her recover quicker than she did when she took on Solarius' magic.
"Come now, Shadowweaver," he gasps, his tone bordering on begging now. "Just let me go. You've got my magic. What more can I do? Time to showcase some of that benevolence and let me walk away."
She clearly is not fully recovered, but she still grabs a weakened Avidor by the jaw. Her hand shakes slightly, but her voice is firm. "I am a cruel God. Not a benevolent one." With a wide, feral smile, she pulls a blade from her thigh and buries it in Avidor's chest.
