Chapter 100: Fight Of The Divine Plane 9: Jack And Janice
As the frozen battlefield crackled beneath their feet, Jack and Janice stood side by side, their energies rippling through the air in contrasting waves—Jack's crackling with vibrant, electric intensity, while Janice's was calm, cold, and ominous like the heart of a glacier.
The wave of grotesque, flying beasts barely paused from the initial assault, more pouring through the rift, their terrifying screeches shaking the sky.
"Now this is getting interesting," Jack muttered, his voice thick with adrenaline. He spun his staff with a flick of his wrist, the hum of metal slicing through the air as he loosened up. His movements were relaxed, but his golden eyes, flickering with both mischief and focus, told another story. He had the look of a predator savoring the hunt.
Janice, her icy blue eyes calm yet intense, barely acknowledged Jack's banter. Her focus remained on the creatures swarming toward them, their distorted figures blotting out the sky. The frost beneath her feet spread slowly but relentlessly, encasing everything in its path in a thin layer of ice. Her breath was steady, measured, and visible in the cold air.
With each exhale, more frost accumulated on the cracked earth beneath her.
"I'll handle the ones in the air. Keep them off me," she said softly, her voice like a whisper carried by the wind.
Jack grinned, his fingers flexing around the staff. "You got it."
Without waiting for another beat, Jack's form flickered, vanishing with a crackle of static. He reappeared mid-air, Flash Step taking him across the battlefield in the blink of an eye.
The closest monster barely had time to register his presence before Jack's staff slammed into its head with a deafening crack, the force so immense that it sent the creature plummeting to the ground, shattering on impact.
"Flash Step: Lightning Stroke!" Jack called out, his staff humming with electric energy as he unleashed a barrage of strikes, each blow accompanied by arcs of lightning that seared through the monstrous bodies of their attackers. His movements were fluid, precise—each swing of the staff a masterful stroke of chaos and control.
His feet never touched the ground for more than a moment as he danced between enemies, striking down one creature after another with blinding speed.
Down below, Janice remained eerily still, her eyes flickering with a faint blue glow as she gathered her magic. A shimmering wall of water manifested in front of her with a simple wave of her hand, rising and twisting like a living entity. "Divine Water Manipulation," she murmured, the magic responding to her command with grace and ferocity.
The first wave of monsters dove toward her, their massive claws outstretched. Janice raised her hand and clenched her fist. The wall of water surged forward with a thunderous roar, morphing into massive tendrils of liquid that struck out at the creatures, lashing through their bodies and dragging them to the ground.
As they fell, the water froze instantly, encasing them in tombs of divine ice, their venomous fangs locked in grotesque snarls.
"Futile," she whispered under her breath, her gaze cool and calculating.
More monsters advanced, and Janice met them with her icy fury. "Ice Beams," she intoned, her voice like a sharp winter wind. Bolts of razor-sharp ice shot from her fingertips, slicing through the air with lethal precision. Each beam struck true, freezing the creatures solid before they could even get close.
With a flick of her wrist, they shattered into countless fragments, like glass breaking under pressure.
Yet, for every beast they destroyed, more emerged from the rift, larger, faster, and deadlier. The air crackled with tension as the ground beneath them trembled under the sheer number of creatures swarming forth. They were adapting, evolving, their coordination growing more sinister and intelligent with every passing second.
"They're getting smarter," Jack observed as he landed beside Janice in a blur of movement, his staff spinning effortlessly in his hand. "It's like they're figuring us out."
Janice nodded, her eyes narrowing. "They're not just mindless monsters—they're testing our limits."
The air shifted suddenly, a darker presence emerging from the rift. A new wave of creatures poured out, but this time, they were unlike the ones before. These monsters were larger, their bodies rippling with unnatural strength, their eyes glowing with a deeper, more malevolent light. They spread their wings, sending gusts of wind that shook the landscape as they advanced with terrifying speed.
Jack's playful demeanor faltered for a moment, his eyes hardening. "Looks like we're going to have to step things up," he muttered. His staff glowed with a bright, electric blue light as he summoned his energy. "Alright, Janice, how about we give them a little something special?"
Janice didn't respond verbally, but the way her gaze shifted told Jack she was thinking the same thing. She raised her hands, the air around her growing even colder, the frost beneath her feet now spreading far beyond where she stood.
"Let's show them what happens when we combine wind and water," Jack grinned, his excitement palpable. "Ready?"
Janice nodded once, her icy magic swirling around her in a vortex of frost and water.
"Stormbreak!" Jack shouted, slamming his staff into the ground, sending a pulse of wind and lightning into the air.
"Frost Tsunami," Janice intoned at the same time, her voice calm but brimming with power.
The ground trembled as the combined forces of wind, lightning, and water erupted from their positions. Jack's wind magic surged forward in a violent gust, tearing through the ranks of the monsters like a hurricane, while bolts of lightning arced through the sky, striking down anything caught in the storm.
Janice's water magic followed, a massive wave of freezing water crashing through the remaining forces, encasing them in ice as it moved.
The combined power of their attack created a vortex of elemental chaos—wind and lightning raged through the battlefield, while icy waves crashed and froze everything in their path. The creatures stood no chance as they were caught in the eye of the storm, their massive bodies shattered and torn apart by the onslaught.
For a moment, it seemed like they had won—the battlefield was littered with the frozen remains of their enemies, and the air was thick with the smell of ozone and the chill of ice. Jack grinned, looking at the devastation with pride. "Now that is what I call teamwork!"
But the victory was short-lived.
The rift pulsed once more, and from its depths emerged another wave of monsters—larger, stronger, and radiating an even darker energy. Their eyes burned with hatred, and their bodies crackled with malevolent energy. These creatures were far beyond the ones they had faced before, their power evident in the way they moved with deadly precision.
"They're evolving faster than I thought," Janice said, her voice betraying a hint of concern.
"Good," Jack replied, his grin returning. "I was getting bored."
The new wave of creatures charged forward with terrifying speed, their claws cutting through the air with deadly intent. Jack and Janice moved in sync, their bodies flickering in and out of sight as they dodged the attacks with fluid grace.
Jack leaped into the air, spinning his staff above his head. "Wind Blades!" he called, sending a flurry of razor-sharp wind currents toward the approaching beasts. The wind blades sliced through the first few monsters, but the larger ones shrugged off the attacks, their bodies hardened against his magic.
"Damn, these guys are tough," Jack muttered, his staff crackling with energy. "Guess we'll have to hit them harder."
Janice was already preparing her next move. Her hands glowed with a soft blue light as she summoned a massive wave of ice. "Ice Prison," she murmured, and the wave surged forward, enveloping several of the creatures and freezing them in place. But even as they were encased in ice, the monsters fought back, their sheer strength allowing them to shatter the frozen prison with brute force.
"We can't keep this up forever," Janice said, her voice tight with focus. "There are too many of them."
Jack's eyes gleamed with determination. "Then we just need to make it count. One big attack, together."
Janice hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Let's finish this."
The two of them stood side by side, their energies intertwining. Jack's wind and lightning crackled around him, while Janice's ice and water swirled with deadly intent.
"Lightning Tempest!" Jack shouted, his voice echoing through the battlefield as he raised his staff to the sky.
"Frozen Maelstrom," Janice intoned, her voice like the calm before a storm.
Their combined magic surged forward in a cataclysmic wave—lightning and ice fused together, creating a storm of pure destruction. The air crackled with electric energy as the freezing winds tore through the monsters, obliterating everything in their path.
The creatures didn't even have time to react as the storm swallowed them whole, their bodies disintegrating in the face of such overwhelming power.
When the storm finally subsided, the battlefield was silent. The rift had closed, and the monsters were no more.
Jack let out a long breath, his body relaxing as he leaned on his staff. "Well, that was fun," he said with a tired grin.
Janice's expression remained calm, but there was a hint of satisfaction in her eyes. "It's over—for now."
But they both knew that this was only the beginning.