When Phoenix received the warning message from Gulnur in the guild chat, she immediately stopped going north. Violette almost bumped into her with how abruptly she stopped.
Phoenix turned her head toward the palace tree. She was far from it, but the entrance to it was on the other side, so she would have to reach the trunk and follow it to the entrance.
This would take some time. She hoped that she and Violette could make it in time, as they were the only two available to go defend there.
Snapping her head toward Violette, who had just seen the message in the guild chat, she smiled.
"Are you up for it? We'll be vastly outnumbered."
Violette giggled.
"I doubt we'll be as outnumbered as Astaroth or Khalor. I think we can handle just fifty players."
The two of them dashed in the tree palace's direction. Their minds were focused on making it there in time.
Violette started forming a path of ice in front of them, and Phoenix grasped her intentions. She grabbed the girl by the waist with one arm, and let out a jet of flame through her other hand behind them.
The sudden burst in acceleration almost sent the two of them on their faces, but Phoenix corrected the direction of her propulsion so they could stay stable.
They made their way to the palace in record time and noticed people running up the stairs as they arrived. Phoenix and Violette overtook the invaders, only stopping once they were in front of the massive doors.
Violette redirected her stream of ice over the doors, freezing them solidly in seconds. Phoenix stopped projecting fire and stood in the way of the infiltrators.
"Seems we have uninvited guests. I wonder what kind of sewer you climbed out of, little rats."
The players in the formation's front clenched their teeth at the insult.
"Carefully pick your next words, woman. They could be your last ones," one man said.
Phoenix snickered.
"What do you think we should do with them, Violette?"
The little girl looked at Phoenix blankly for a second. The answer was obvious here, and she wondered why the woman asked her.
Seeing her blank stare, Phoenix chuckled internally.
'Silent is rubbing off on me. I tried acting cool.'
"Nevermind, Violette. It was my fault for asking you."
Right after saying this, Phoenix shot out a torrent of fire at the men standing on the stairs. Their reflexes saved them from turning to ashes, but they still took some damage.
The man in the back looked disappointed and angry. His Demonoid race did nothing to ease his angry stare, as he shouted out an order.
"Korosu!"
The close to fifty men and women still huddled on the staircase all pulled out various weapons, ranging from katanas, to throwing stars, guns, and many more. Their races were varied, just as much as their weapons.
Attacks started raining on Phoenix and Violette, the latter immediately forming a water bubble to stop the ranged attacks. Phoenix elected to go all out right away, since there wouldn't be a chance to save this if they failed.
She opened up her skill list and tapped on one that was new and she still hadn't tested.
Royal Protection (Rare): Draw in the power of your Kingdom's Guardian or Spirit, and sublime your body for a limited time. Gain the grade associated with the skill for a set amount of time. Effect duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours. Gain exhaustion for 5 minutes once the skill ends.
Phoenix felt her back suddenly start burning up, making her shout out in pain, and her vision blurred. But instead of a womanly shout, a powerful roar exited her mouth.
Popping and cracking started resounding from her body, as bones rearranged themselves, changing her morphology a bit. Bright golden fur grew on her face and limbs as her hair grew longer.
Phoenix felt her entire body get extremely heavy before going light as a feather. As the pain faded, her vision became steady again.
The players that had been charging at her were suddenly staring at her in terror. Phoenix looked at the ground, which seemed a little further than usual.
As she wondered why, something flicked in the corner of her eye. When she focused on it, she noticed a golden tail was swishing behind her.
She almost panicked, but as she reached out to grab it, she noticed something else. Her hands were now also covered in the same colour of fur as the tail.
Phoenix gasped in surprise, and when she turned to ask Violette what was happening, she noticed the girl staring at her in awe. In the reflection of her eyes, Phoenix finally saw what she looked like.
Standing in front of Violette, at around six feet tall, her body had grown in size, muscles defining in places she didn't know she had muscles.
Her hair reached below her rear and glowed in a bright orange colour. Her eyes, which were previously sky blue, were now a golden yellow, with no sclera in sight.
Her mage robe seemed to have expanded to fit her form, but still seemed a lot tighter than before. The change astounded Phoenix, but a shout reminded her of the situation.
"Why are you all staring at her? I said kill her!"
Phoenix snapped back toward the invaders, a menacing grin forming on her feline face.
She could feel the power in her body, and she intended to put it to use. Dashing into combat, foregoing her magic temporarily, to get a good grasp on her body's capabilities, she started shredding her assailants to pieces.
She roared to the skies, savouring the feeling of absolute power.
Astaroth, who was quite far away, but currently melded to White, which enhanced his senses, heard the roar.
'Has Leon finally awakened? No. That sounded different from his roar. Do we have a new enemy?'
But he had little time to ponder this, since he was still in the middle of a small army of players. It would have to wait for later.
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