Rin's heart pounded hard, her pink eyes wide with fear and defiance as a white-masked cultist appeared before her in a blur of unnatural speed.
Following her instincts, she pushed her staff forward, directing mana into a luminous orb that loudly exploded from the tip.
Smoke curled from a charred hole in the cultist's robe as the orb struck his chest, sending him flying back a few feet and crashing into the dirt. Rin's breath caught when she saw the cultist standing with his white mask glowing eerily in the dim light, his chest unharmed beneath the torn fabric. The spell was deadly, enough to kill a man.
Beside her, Nimbus snarled in his enormous panther form, his purple eyes blazing as he repelled the cultists that circled around him. Even his fury was insufficient to stop the ten immortals' constant attacks, but his claws and shadow tendrils swung out and held them at bay.
