The very moment that I leapt upwards to escape the rather slow movements of the burning soul fire, it was as if they were given new life.
Hands pausing their movements briefly, the moment that I landed on the next floor sending bits of wood dust cascading downwards, the fire suddenly surged upwards with a roar.
Blue flaming hands grasping at the air, they clung to the stone walls of the lighthouse and began to carve a way upwards, a soundless roar leaving their flaming mouths as a not so soundless roar of wood being devoured by the blue fire reached my ears.
Feeling the adrenaline flow into my veins as blood rushed noisily in my ears, I felt my veins pulse with energy as I hurriedly began my ascent to escape the azure hungry flames.
Calliope wasn't joking when she said she would be interfering with my climb.
Ascending a few more flights to escape the blue fire rapidly ascending with my movements, devouring the many bookshelves between me and it, the floors beneath me broke apart and fell into the blue sea of fire below.
Then the Servant appeared.
Appearing out of nowhere, I barely had a moments notice before I was forced to reconsider my path as a giant wrecking ball came whizzing through the air arcing towards my face.
And I sincerely doubted that I would be escaping with just a broken nose with the speed it was going
Especially when it destroyed the floor right behind me, turning it into nothing more than kindle for the flames
Eyes sharpening, the vine runes on my body glowed green before the wooden boards making up the floors of the Lighthouse were instantly revitalized, sprouting green leaves and vines that instantaneously stabbed at the chain holding the wrecking ball.
Entangling the chains, a flash of surprise appeared in the eyes behind that faceless golden mask of theirs before she tried to break the vines holding it.
Despite being vines, due to the infusion of mana in them and the sudden use of the vine rune revitalizing the dead wood and giving them new life, the vines were as hard as steel.
It was only when she pulled hard enough that the vines gave way, the portion of wood connected to the revitalized wood not being as strong as their mana infused counterparts.
In the meantime, I was leaping upwards higher and higher using the vine rune to produce platforms beneath my feet which I would use to reposition and fly higher and higher.
Kicking off of the walls, tendrils of blue flame snaked upwards, clinging to the wooden supports all around the lighthouse as the visages of people roared loudly.
Flaming hands screaming and clawing upwards, a chill crawled up my spine followed up by a giant wrecking ball nearly breaking it.
Watching with barely suppressed terror as Calliope swung both giant wrecking balls upwards, they crashed into the hard stone walls.
Digging deep into the large stone bricks larger than the average man, Calliope grunted before heaving her body upwards, the chains connected to her wrists rattling noisily as she soon reached my level.
Swinging her hands, the chains connected to her arms snapped my way like a whip as they had the effects of both nearly lopping off my head and ripping out the wrecking balls from their place on the wall.
Briefly activating the ram rune to drag me downwards with a sudden burst of enhanced gravity on the base of my legs, the chains destroyed the bookshelf with the bare minimum of books on it behind me.
Taking advantage the brief window of time while she was still trying to bring the wrecking balls back to our level, the vine rune enhanced the durability of the floor beneath me, causing it to sprout green leaves as I kicked against it.
Sending the enhanced chunk of wood downwards where it would be feasted upon by the blue soul fire, my hands clung to the stone walls as I then kicked off of it climbing rapidly higher and higher.
Wooden floors flashing by my very eyes, Calliope the Queen's servant was always close behind with the Blue soul fire in a close second.
Spinning through the air, the spiked wrecking balls lived up to their reputation in their ability to wreck things.
Tearing a path through the many floors separating me and the faceless woman, teeth and fangs made of metal crunched through the wood as snakes made of steel links shredded the chunks of wood into smaller fragments.
Then the second servant came.
Announcing their presence through the flight and whistle of an arrow akin to that of a bird, Euterpe silently appeared atop a bookshelf like a hawk atop a branch.
Eyes piercing through the numerous floors separating me and her which continued to decrease in number as I escaped the duel chase of Calliope and the soul burning azure fire, she pulled back the string of her bow.
Silver bow glistening on the slowly brightening light emitted by the blue fire, arrows made of gold manifested atop the string and were nocked onto the bow.
Eyes narrowing as her breath stilled, like a mother bird wanting to teach its children to fly, she let the baby birds fall.
Instantly dropping downwards, the string let them dart through the complicated maze of half finished floors as if assisted by wings.
Flapping them once and letting out a whistle of a bird, three arrows instantly darted through the air like predators on the hunt instantly limiting my movements as they all aimed for potentially debilitating areas.
Awkwardly spreading my legs slightly and lowering my outstretched arm, the arrows aimed for my knees thudded into the floorboards beneath whilst the one aimed for my elbow crashed into the stone wall behind me.
Hurriedly attempting to restabilize my lost posture by landing atop an outstretched vine.
Calliope being a servant of the Queen wasn't one to miss an opportunity like this instantaneously grabbed the wrecking ball by one of its many spikes and hefted onto her shoulder before throwing it like a shot put.
But unlike Earthen Shot puts the size of a baseball but with a lot more weight behind it, the Wrecking balls the half the size of a man with a higher density of steel crashed through the floors.
Announcing its presence like a rhino, wooden fragments flew through the air as the vine stabilizing my posture instantly disappeared allowing for the appearance of another rhino and three more birds.
Mind flashing with several ways to escape this predicament, the blaze rune instantly reacted and coated the portions of my limbs which would be soon attacked by the birds.
Crashing against the orange blaze of armor formed around my body, tangible armor covered my body in the same instant
Wrecking rhino appearing in the very next instant, the steel carapace caved in from the harsh weight of the wrecking ball, the spikes placed atop its surface instantly piercing the shell as it dug into the flesh beneath drawing blood.
A few drops falling into the blue blaze below as it seeped out of the armor, it seemed as if the blue blaze was subdued slightly before it surged forwards with an even greater momentum
This sight going unnoticed by both the Servants and I, the adrenaline dulled the pain as my palms pressed against the wrecking ball and swiftly activated the Inferno rune.
Crimson Amber colored flames traveling up the wrecking ball, tendrils of fire clambered upon the chain only to be repulsed by a wave of blue mana that rejected the flames trying to bite at their master.
Pushing off of it now that the deed was done, with some regret I abandoned the now ruined armor to the blue blaze consuming everything below and had by now appeared unsettlingly close by.
It was why I didn't usually wear armor, it was much to fragile for my liking
Abandoning the shell of iron, the combined efforts of the two servants didn't end there.
Raining down arrows from afar, Euterpe constantly made sure that I was unable to get anywhere near her without taking a few risks of my own.
And when I finally remembered that I could fight back instead of receiving all of these blows one-sidedly, Euterpe always made sure that I would never be able to reach her sister anytime soon.
THe same could be said for her as everytime I tried to retaliate with a few arrow shots of my own, Calliope made sure to perfectly time her swings to remove the ground which I stood.
The price of such an endeavor only cost her a small scar on her unarmored skin as blood dripped downwards into the blue flames causing it to blaze higher and higher.
Then the final sister joined the fight.
Eyes darting left and right, Kleio appeared from the shadows as if she was always there the entire time despite wearing eye catching white clothing that by all logic shouldn't have hidden the woman as well as it did.
Flashing through the air, her legs tensed as they came in contact with the stone walls, utilizing them as a jump pad which then launched her in a straight path towards my neck.
You would think that such a telegraphed path would be easy to react and respond to right?
Well you would be wrong
With the speed she was coming at me at, the time rune only provided me a few seconds more of reaction time before the blades placed directly in front of my face would carve a gash in my neck.
Armor coating my neck in that very same instant, blazing flames coated my extremities as the Bladed tonfa glanced against the armor sparking golden sparks that cascaded downwards like a light show.
Dashing backwards in that same instant that the attack failed, my sword was left whiffing through space before she bounced against the wall again, following my path with her eyes as I climbed the lighthouse constantly pressured by the flames swiftly and constantly rising up from the ground with a vengeance.
Bladed tonfa's flashing through the air, I briefly caught sight of Euterpe leaping upwards and pointing directly downwards with her bow as a visible collection of blue mana formed an intangible path through the many floors.
But as much as I would like to dodge the giant pillar of light announcing to the world that something big was going to be coming soon, Calliope retreated to the side as Kleio stalled me in place.
Every attempt made to escape was immediately thwarted by grappling techniques from the Servant that would've been a lot more effective had there not been a pair of blades in her hands.
Eventually however, she backed off as Euterpe finally loosed the arrow.
It was bright.
+++
Tree