Alith fought the masses. Although they were many, they were untrained. It was easy to put them down, and they didn't present a particularly dangerous threat, even to the other Sarin fighting alongside Alith.
They were winning. They nearly took out half of the enemies, and their forces still seemed to be in top form. While descending to the ground, Alith felt glorious. His people were strong. Maybe this was the proof the Bazirians needed. Maybe after such a victory they would be left alone. Alith let himself be hopeful.
Alith went behind the front lines to rest and help with the injured. They seemed to have rid the town of invaders, with barely any casualties on their side. They were winning. Against laughable odds, they were somehow winning. And they were probably only winning because of him, essentially stopping the main assault. Alith was a hero. The hero they all said he could be. Now he believed it too, if only for a moment.
Then the mages descended.
Towering cloaked figures, with symbols of death on their hoods. These three were the guards of the Prime himself, leader of the Ardentia. So they were desperate. This was a risky move on his side. It made it quite obvious that his merciful image was nothing but a lie. Still, nobody had ever defeated the mages in battle before. Nobody had defeated Alith either.
The three were vastly different. One of them had a frail body, seemingly malnourished, each arm longer than their own body, with twice the normal amount of joints. Their attacks should be hard to foresee, Alith thought, and decided to take a long-range approach.
Alith knew not to underestimate them. He decided to go for a fatal blow early and aimed at the frail-looking one. Alith used the sand next to himself to give his projectile enough distance to gather the force and speed needed for such an attack. The sand underneath someone's feet would do little to hurt them, unless it hit a man's jewels. Alith wasn't even sure gender applied to these creatures.
The downside to a long-range attack is that it gives the opponent a window of opportunity to react. The mage dodged the attack just barely. It moved so slowly—this didn't seem like an advantage to Alith.
A flurry of attacks came at Alith from his blind spot. It seemed the mages did need to change their stance when attacking. The sands alerted him in time, and he dodged. The attacker was the only one with proportions you'd find on a normal human. His cloak was red, in contrast to the others' black. Alith didn't know what to make of him.
A sharp pain struck his shoulder.
Alith used a full-body block—a bad move, since his exhale could only last so long, and he lost sight of his opponents. Using a quick breath, he propelled himself upward—a gamble.
In the sky, he saw the attacks of the red mage were following him. Dodging wouldn't work. The balls of fire were getting closer. Easy—he could just absorb the attacks with sand. Except he was currently fifty meters in the air and falling headfirst into an impending flurry of fire.
He had to think quickly. His normal methods of blocking wouldn't work. He couldn't call upon the sands; they would never arrive in time. He started feeling the warmth on his face.
Why did it hit his shoulder? It must mean the attacks weren't completely accurate. Since he got hit while moving, it might mean the fire was slow to change direction.
The heat seemed imminent.
What if…
Alith took off all the armor he could. The lightweight leather armor was left in the sky, and with it little bits of sand stuck in his clothing. He became lighter. The fire was closer. The red mage seemed to have sent more attacks too. He had to wait.
Just one more second. He needed more distance. The first flame hit his gut. And he finally exhaled, commanding all the particles of sand he released in the air to push him off the flurry of attacks. He sustained some damage, but dodged most of them. Since he got so close, all the fire clumped together, reducing its volume—becoming more deadly, yet dodgeable.
Alith landed masterfully and released a massive wave toward the fire, snuffing it out. Simultaneously, he used the distance to send an attack toward the last mage. He needed to see what it could do. The beast was the largest of the three. Layers of blubber covered its body. Short little stumps were its legs and arms. It had the silhouette of horse manure.
Its body absorbed one of Alith's most deadly attacks with ease.