Adela knew she was a good mage. It was not only her own ego talking, though she had a lot of that; it was also her training under one of the most powerful mages of their time, and a necromancer to boot, what gave her the confidence to affirm even full-fledged mages would have a hard time against her.

After all, not just anyone could gather enough spiritual energy to become a necromancer, Magi descent or not.

So maybe she overestimated herself a little when going alone against the viscount. Big deal. She had Mathias putting onions all over the castle anyway, so it was only a question of time before the annoying archmage in front of her dried up and she could slice his pretty neck without fear for her life.

It was just… why was he taking so long? Ok, the castle was big and all but…

“Woah!” Adela yelped as she barely dodged a few dozen wind arrows going for her soft and very vulnerable body. He couldn’t touch the fire thanks to her claiming her dominion over it before him with the help of the spirits, but he sure as hell could use all the other elements around him and some more.

Troublesome.

Adela closed her eyes, gathering the energy around her and creating a wind shield to withstand the barrage of assaults the man was throwing at her. He ran towards her, hitting the barrier with the tip of his wand and completely disintegrating the shield. Then, he was at her again, the ground under her sinking and trapping her as he brandished his wand, now elongated and sharpened with magic to resemble a sword, towards her.

Adela blocked with her staff, water taken directly from the flowers around them accumulating at her feet and dissolving the mud trap. She jumped away again, but midair, the viscount caught up with her, sending her spiraling to the ground with a wind hammer. Adela’s head impacted against the stone ground, and she remained unmoving. The viscount landed beside her, observing her body with disgust.

“Can’t cure fast enough” he snorted, raising the wand-sword and stabbing her in the heart. However, the magic weapon found resistance before it could pierce the vulnerable organ. He frowned.

Adela opened her eyes. With a grunt of concentration, she expanded the shield covering her heart until it pushed the viscount away. She immediately stood up, staggering a little as she did so while feeling the magic of the spirits slowly healing her cracked skull and chest. She felt dizzy and her sight was blurry, but she could still go on. She had to. Taking another big breath, she chanted a spell.

Keep working! Keep working!

Fire engulfed the two of them. It danced and moved and soon later, it completely trapped the viscount inside a circle of bright orange flames. Then, Adela raised the temperature. It became hotter and hotter until the flames turned blue. She closed the circle more and more and before long, there was only a cocoon of fire enveloping the viscount. However, it didn’t last for long. The viscount opened a path from inside, stepping out of the cocoon with a solid magic armor that protected him from the heat. Adela gritted her teeth.

It’s alright. I distracted him enough for the spirits to finish mending me.

As she used her magic to attack, the spirits lent a hand by protecting her body from any lasting injuries. It was team work. While they defended, she fought. If she got injured, they would heal her. That way, she would be able to concentrate only on how to defeat her opponent. It was the reason people hated fighting against spirit users, more so necromancers. Instead of one opponent, you got two.

But the viscount here was good enough to account for that. When he got out of the fire trap, he tapped his wand against one of the fire walls, and in a flash, the entirety of the flames took on the same blue color. Adela cursed out loud. He took control of the fire!

Because she had been so focused on gaining time, she didn’t realize she gave the viscount enough time to figure out and dispel her dominion over the fire. Quickly, she jumped away, just before the sea of blue flames devoured her. Horrified, she saw as the fire took on the form of a dragon, going directly at her, intending to eat her whole. Wind would not protect her, and there was not enough water be it on the flowers or the dry air to shield her from it. Doing the only thing she could think of that could save her, she raised a wall of earth, allowing the ground to swallow her just before the dragon managed to touch her.

The earth cracked just a second later.

The viscount was on the other side, forcefully pulling her hair and slamming her against the ground. Adela managed a magic shield at the moment of impact, and another when he attacked her with the wand turned sword. The fire was still roaring around them, stronger than before, and the dragon lunged at her once more. She covered herself with earth again.

I can’t keep going like this for much longer. Mathias, finish already with the onions!

She held her staff at the ready, this time prepared for when the viscount took her out roughly, however, nothing came. Adela blinked. She tried moving her hand to sense the situation outside, but, to her horror, found she couldn’t do it. Then, she wanted to move her staff again, but it was in the same situation as her hand. Little by little, she discovered not a single part of her body could move. And worse of all, the small though ample enough space she had created for herself before seemed to be shrinking. Solidifying until the mud turned as hard as rock.

The viscount was doing this. He had trapped her in her own cocoon of mud. Adela forced herself to calm down, not wasting any precious oxygen by panicking.

I can’t move my hands. I can’t break through this either. The wall it’s fortified with magic much more powerful than mine. I was careless, giving the enemy an opportunity like this. What should I do? I can’t wait until Mathias finishes placing all the onions, I don’t know how much longer he will take for that. At the same time, I don’t know what to do. What can I use?

Water? There’s none of that here. Wind? I can’t risk wasting what little air I have. Fire? The same as wind. I can’t burn oxygen to produce it, neither I think it would be very effective against earth. Then what? Pure untainted magic won’t do because the viscount’s it’s so much stronger. Lightning would be a good option, however I can’t move my hands to point it at the surface. It would just as likely destroy the earth and kill me if I just let it go on its own.

The spirits aren’t here either. They’re outside, and can’t enter because of the magic shield surrounding this prison. I… I need to do something though. I can’t die here. I don’t want to die here.

Just as the lack of oxygen was starting to be felt, with her head feeling light and her breathing going out of her mouth in big puffs of air, she heard something hitting the surface of her earth jail. For a moment she felt hope, thinking perhaps someone came to help her. Her master, or maybe Mathias. But then, she remembered her master was asleep, and Mathias couldn’t be here because he was still placing the onions on the mana spaces, since if he was finished, she would have felt the viscount’s magic dispersing and been able to go out on her own. She closed her eyes.

It’s probably the viscount doing something else. Well, might as well use this opportunity. When he breaks through, I’ll attack.

It took a few more minutes, and then, there was light, and precious, fresh air entered the reduced space. She breathed in big mouthfuls at the same time that she heard a familiar voice.

“Mathias! Is that you?!”

Lucas.

What… was he doing here?

“Mathias! Mathi-! Huh, it’s just you.”

If she had any energy, Adela would have snorted and rolled her eyes, before giving a caustic retort, but she was too tired and her brain still muddled from the lack of oxygen to do so. Instead, she let herself be taken out, and as she lay on the younger boy’s side, being comforted by him, she coughed and coughed, desperately taking in her surroundings.

Four people she didn’t know were engaging the viscount in combat. They were also doing a more decent job at it than her, if the troubled look on the viscount’s face meant anything. She closed her eyes again.

“Lucas… what happened? Who are these people? Why… are you here…?”

“Long story short, Elaine and I found some mercenaries on our way out and got them to come help us… sort of. Then I saw the earth monticule and thought it was Mathias, but it was you. Took me fifteen whole minutes taking you out! But that's not important anymore. Where is Mathias? Why isn’t he here?”

Adela blinked, seeing the preoccupied look on the young boy. Without knowing why, she chuckled at him.

“Doing something else… but, good thing you’re here… just… kill that guy already…”

“Where? Where is Mathias and why isn’t he here? Hey! Adela! Answer me! Don’t go to sleep yet! Adela!”

She did no longer hear anything else. Not Lucas’ voice, nor the sounds of battle going on around them. Her body felt too tired. Was it the lack of oxygen or something else? She didn’t know. The only thing she knew was… that she was tired… and she wanted to sleep…

She felt something strange, like a fuse going off somewhere else. Like a vacuum absorbing all air around them. She understood just as the last of her consciousness left her.

It was damn time you finished with those onions, you big idiot…