They had practiced with it before, but no amount of practice was enough to prepare them for a real fight, and that too in such a dangerous location. Repeatedly, they had had to handle situations that had pushed them to the very brink of exhaustion and failure, but each time, with the steady leadership of their strategist and commander, they had been able to pull through.
But now… It seemed that it might all be for naught.
The members of the family below had started to eye them with the gaze of one preparing to go on a satisfying killing spree. It seemed that since the beginning, their plan had been to delay the confrontation while the elder worked, and now that he had come through, it was time for them to rise to the sky and escape.
Seeing Eloise in thought, the rest of them stayed silent.
She was going through plan after plan in her mind, but nothing stuck. All of them had some or the other drawback, and she wasn't prepared to present Daneel with a half victory, or to take undue risks when there was an option to end this all in a safe manner.
She had taken it upon herself to complete this task perfectly, and no matter what, she wanted to show to Daneel, and the world that she could be relied upon.
But how? How were they supposed to face so many Heroes, together?
Her eyes darting around, she studied the entire area around them, with the hope that any clue might surface.
Time passed, but only the conclusions that she had already made before kept appearing back at the forefront of her mind.
The family was only powerful because of the direction of the elders, so if they could somehow pierce through the layers of defense and cut off the head of the squid, then the fight was pretty much won. They would not be able to keep escaping the Great sharks whose very aura would be enough to intimidate and slow down Heroes if they were alone and without the protection of the formation, but no strategy presented itself with which they could accomplish this task.
The squid kept darting around at unbelievable speeds, often even looking like it disappeared, as the Heroes had gotten more and more adept at controlling the creature perfectly. Even its body was designed with agility in mind, so as the Great sharks began to gouge large chunks of flesh off of each other, the family continued to build strength to break through the barrier in one go.
This was the best strategy to win this fight decisively, but how? How were they supposed to do it?
As she continued to focus all her mind on finding a solution for this infuriating problem, she heard Elanev speak beside her.
"If only this damn lightning didn't insist on killing everything in the sky… We are diverting so much power to handling it that we might have been able to knock out all those Heroes in much less time if it weren't for its mindless rage! What the hell are you so angry about, anyway?"
Everyone knew that Elanev was used to speaking under his breath when he was tensed. This hadn't been the case before he went on that training journey where he found the old man, so Daneel and the others had supposed that he might have picked it up during the training, as disciples were wont to unconsciously adopt the mannerisms of those that they respected, and spent a lot of time with. The others ignored him as they were also trying to think of something that might help, but as soon as his words reached Eloise's ears, her eyes widened with inspiration, and she felt like kissing the man.
"That's it! That's the key! Oh, bless you Elanev, and that old man who gave you this habit! Everyone, gather around! This is what we're going to do! It might hurt us, a bit, but victory will be ours in one fell swoop! Come! We must act quickly!"
…
Elder Weimar sat languidly in his seat while looking around at the sea that stretched out, infinitely, in all directions.
Sifting through hundreds of thousands of elementary particles to figure out a way to copy the effect of the spell cast upon them was no simple task. There was a dull throb at the center of his forehead where his tired Mageroot was resting, and as he saw the situation of the battle that had been stabilized with great difficulty, he looked forward to tearing the limbs off the five imps above who had just gotten together to discuss something.
From the way that b*tch who had been commanding them had looked at them hopelessly, he knew that their defeat was at hand. He had also analyzed everything, even though it was not his job, sp he was now sitting without doing anything only because he trusted the steps being taken by his brethren.
They were all individuals well versed in strategy, as they had served on the front lines of the continent many, many years before finally retiring to a life of rest, before all the Energy leaked out of their bodies to give them an unwilling death despite their best efforts.
Even though the continent had not seen large-scale battles in all the time that they had served, all Peak Heroes in the Order were always required to excel in some or the other art of war. It was a decree passed down from the very first days of the Order, but even after learning everything possible, they hadn't had to use their knowledge much, so they had lived long and fruitful lives that they still looked back on with fondness.
Sadly, the same could not be said for most of those that surrounded him.
Looking at the younger scions of his family around him, he could not help but begin to wonder about their future. From the way they had blinked and then found themselves here, he knew that stronger forces were at work, but right now, all he wanted to do was focus on these five.