Sure enough, the paralyzed Enchantress began chanting through gritted teeth, her staff gaining an ominous glow. At the same time, her companion drew herself up, rage in her eyes as power coalesced in her hands. They were down but not out.
Clenching his fists, Ram prepared to tap into the deepest wellsprings of his toxic power. Whatever the Enchantresses were planning, he would meet it with the full venomous force of decay and pestilence at his command. This battle was far from decided. Both sides still had reserves left to call upon in this magical duel of life and death.
Just as it seemed the tide was turning in favor of the heroes, the sky suddenly darkened overhead. Ominous clouds gathered and swirling violet lighting arced through the air. Kai, Luck, Craig, Shaun and Ram all looked up apprehensively, sensing a new threat emerging.
With a deafening thunderclap, a portal tore open in the midst of the clouds. An imposing figure descended from it - a tall, shadowy Enchantress wielding a cruelly hooked staff. Her power radiated outward, forcing the other Enchantresses to their knees in supplication. This was clearly their leader.
Kai and his clones tensed, ready to defend against whatever this new foe intended. Luck drew more earthen energy into himself, feet planted firmly. The Williams twins hefted their weapons, poised to attack or defend. Ram clenched his fists, prepared to unleash every poison at his disposal.
The lead Enchantress gazed down imperiously, her voice booming. "You have harried my followers long enough. Now you face the full might of Lady Morgana!" Extending her arms, she shouted a word of power. Dark lightning erupted from her staff, colliding with a barrier erected hastily by Luck. The ground cracked beneath the impact, but Luck's earthen shield held for now.
Morgana only seemed amused. She raised her staff high, gathering power for a mighty spell. Complex runes and sigils manifested around her in intricate circles. Ram hastily summoned a toxic cloud, hoping to disrupt her focus, but the poison wisped away harmlessly before reaching her. Craig and Shaun unleashed a coordinated volley of arrows and thrown daggers, but these too were deflected by glowing barriers Morgana maintained without even looking.
Kai marshaled his clones, preparing to hit Morgana with everything they had the moment her spell completed. But they all knew whatever she was summoning would be formidable.
With a triumphant shout, Morgana brought her staff down. The magical runes flared with light and a rumbling came from the swirling portal above. All at once, a horde of winged beasts emerged from the clouds - at least a thousand wyverns by Kai's quick estimate. They filled the skies, their shrieking cries echoing through the streets. Each wyvern seemed infused with a different elemental magic - lightning, fire, ice and more.
Morgana pointed her staff commandingly towards the heroes. "Destroy them!" she thundered. The wyverns obeyed, diving down in a chaotic mass. Kai and his clones combined their powers to erect overlapping force fields. Luck raised stone barriers ten feet high. Craig and Shaun stood back to back, weapons swirling. Ram shrouded himself in a dense miasma of toxins.
It barely was enough. The street exploded into utter pandemonium as wyverns bombarded the heroes with every magic imaginable. Searing flames, howling wind, ice that froze the very air - each attack necessitated a new defense or counter maneuver. Luck reshaped the earth itself to redirect surging floods. Kai and his clones teleported rapidly, evading the deadliest strikes and coordinating return fire. Craig and Shaun battled furiously, blades singing as they felled wyvern after wyvern in a deadly dance. Ram returned their magical assaults with necromantic plagues, rotting the wyverns' flesh from their very bones.
But it was merely a delaying action. For every dozen wyverns defeated, a hundred more took their place. Morgana hovered above it all, raining dark bolts of power upon the heroes while chanting ceaselessly to maintain the portal and supply of foes. Already Kai and the others were tiring, pushed to their limits by the endless onslaught. Their strongest attacks destroyed scores of wyverns at a time, but barely dented the overall horde.
As the last earthen barrier collapsed around him, Luck knew they couldn't keep this up. The others clearly realized it too. Pressing through the pain, fatigue and frustration, Kai locked eyes with each of his companions in turn and gave a simple nod. They nodded back grimly, bracing themselves. If these were to be their last moments, they were determined to fight to the end.
