The statues suddenly increased their absorption of the magic coming from the pyramid, and life suddenly filled their eyes. Cate noticed them too late. By the time she began thinking of doing something against these statues, one of them was already in the sky with its Heqa Scepter slamming down like a divine rod. It was sure to annihilate whatever was in its path. The sheer size of the scepter was enough to make grown men weep in despair.
The first person to respond to this situation was the Mage Born, who seemed to have been born with a natural inclination towards battle. He stomped the earth with his feet and shot into the sky like a bullet. His swords appeared in his hands, and he slashed towards the scepter in the same instant as when he was channeling his magic into the swords. He understood that he could not fail, and so he used everything he had in a single explosive burst. The swords in his hands vibrated with immense power.
The two swords clashed with the Heqa Scepter, and in that moment, the world became a little darker, with light from the sun being banished from the area. Space at the point of collision seemed to shiver as though it could break at any moment. The Mage Born and the statue stayed in place for about three seconds before there was any movement. The Mage Born was powerful, but he was up against a creature crafted in a time of legend.
He was blown back towards the ground. Bang! The earth trembled from the impact, and a crater was formed where he landed. He coughed up a mouthful of blood. The statue opened its mouth and cried at the world like some bird from myth. The sound was ear-piercing. The hand that had used to swing the scepter began cracking, and soon, it fell to pieces. The statue had no choice but to use its left hand. The Mage Born might have been blown away, but he was still a master mage who had used up all his power in a single explosive delivery. This was too much power even for the statue. The statue was pissed, and the second statue seemed to frown at all this.
"Albrecht, Jordan," Cate cried out. The vampire and Jordan were suddenly pulled out of their stupor. "Deal with the damaged statue. I will handle the second statue," she ordered. The two people in question thought about rebelling, but this was only for a second. Before they left the Immortal Realm, they had been warned against doing anything like that by the director himself. Crossing someone in his position would be a grave mistake; they would not live to regret it.
The vampire turned into shadows that began attacking the statue, and Jordan brought out her spear and threw it towards the statue's head. She wanted to win with a single move and regain some of the confidence she had lost during the examination. Cate saw this and understood that these two would not be enough to deal with the statue. They were powerful, but they were not like the Mage Born, who were born for war. They lacked experience and still allowed their emotions to drive their actions. It was surprising that even the vampire who had lived for over five hundred years still behaved like this. "Mary, you should stay in the back and guide them."
Mary was already moving before Cate even spoke. This put a smile on Cate's face before she had to dodge a swing from the second statue. She rolled over the ground and grabbed the Mage Born. She threw him away from the battle area in a not-so-delicate manner. She did not have time to consider comfort in this situation.
Her decision to save the Mage Born, who was exhausted from the powerful blow he had delivered, put her in trouble as the scepter came back, and this time, it was moving too fast for her to dodge. She sent her will into the magic of the world and cast a simple spell. The earth trembled as a large spear made from hardened earth shot out and stood between her and the scepter. Boom! The earth spear was blown to dust with this single blow. Cate had already expected this outcome, but she still did not get away without suffering some damage. The earth spear was not enough to fully stop the scepter, and with its remaining momentum, it slammed into her body. The scepter had a diameter larger than she was tall. She was sent flying through the air like an errant leaf. All who saw her believed that this had to be painful, and even Cate had expected it to hurt like a motherfucker, but she felt nothing. It was as though the tremendous force was nothing to her. It could not even get past her skin.
She felt nothing, and this was very concerning, yet useful in this moment. In the air, she cast a spell that created a gust of wind, allowing her to move towards the bird face belonging to the statue. In the background, she could hear Mary giving Jordan and the vampire instructions about where to move and how to attack. As a seer, seeing a few seconds into the future was not a problem at all.
Cate was about to reach the head when the bird opened its beak. Boom! It released a beam of white light that was meant to erase everything in its path. All this power was focused on Cate. She had not expected this, and it was too late to come up with an effective means to avoid being hit. She gritted her teeth and cast three consecutive spells. Three large fireballs appeared right next to her. She did not hesitate before detonating all of them. She was blown away from the path of the beam of light, but the explosions she had set off herself were no joke. Half her face was burned off, and her left hand was missing.
"This is better than death," she thought as she ran over the earth the moment she landed. She felt the pain, but it did not matter to her. She had lived through worse, and she was sure that much more terrible things awaited her in the future. She ran faster than the wind. She felt that her body was truly weightless. She had cast a spell to increase her speed, but she now felt that this was perhaps not necessary. Her physical strength alone was enough to get her where she wanted to be. In less than a few seconds, she was next to the left leg of the statue. She did not think as she brought out her black athame and cut at the leg. The athame was tiny compared to the leg it was meant to cut, but this was not an issue for a magical treasure such as this athame. The moment the athame touched the statue, it released a holy power that could only have come from a god.