"EZRAA!" Rion ran toward the Wyrm, hurling a water sphere as he went.
The Wyrm turned away from Ezra to face the screaming Rion and opened its jaws, clamping down on the sphere and bursting it.
Rion gasped. "It can... do that?"
The Wyrm seemed to cackle as it dashed forward, raising a fist before bringing it crashing down. Quickly, Rion formed a water sphere in front of him, catching the blow. He grunted with effort as the Wyrm's fist drove deeper and deeper into the sphere, he couldn't hold this much longer.
"GRAHHHH!"
Rion's arms screamed in pain, but just as he was about to give out, he saw a glint in the air from behind the Wyrm. Then a Nail came down like thunder, piercing straight through the Wyrm's shoulder and leaving a deep gash.
"Open your eyes... I'M NOT DEAD YET!" Ezra shouted as he fell, his chest soaked in red.
The Wyrm screeched in pain, but nevertheless refused to submit. It was entirely fixated on crushing Rion beneath its fist, the two continued to struggle. Ezra managed to land on the Wyrm's back, clutching at his Nail and trying to hammer it deeper in like he had with the Riamo, but he was too weak, and the Wyrm was thrashing too wildly for him to get a solid hit in.
All the while, Maria desperately strummed at her harp, but it wasn't enough. The creature was too feral, too consumed by rage to hear. She had to get closer... closer.
Maria closed her eyes, exhaled, there was no time no waver, she thought of her sister in a flash then opened her eyes. She would never waver again… and with that, she ran forward. She'd seen them do it multiple times. She didn't have to do anything crazy. All she needed to do was take a leap...
For the first time in her life, Maria applied Force, sending herself hurtling through the air. Ezra watched, eyes wide and mouth agape, as she landed on the Wyrm's back, clutched Ezra's Nail with one hand, lifted her harp with the other, and, with her teeth, gave the harp one final, powerful strum.
Time seemed to slow and for the briefest moment, the Wyrm froze.
That was all the time Lost Keep needed.
With a roar, Rion wrenched the Wyrm's fist encased in his water sphere to the side and, applied Force to his legs and leaped upward.
"EZRA!" he called.
Ezra grinned, pulled himself up onto his Nail, and expended the last of his Force in to his legs, launching himself off from it. In the air, the two met each other's eyes and nodded in understanding as Ezra threw a Nail toward Rion. It expanded, and Rion remembered Specter's words from their training the night before.
----
"Don't fear the battle tomorrow," Specter said, trying their utmost to mimic the voice of a wise old man, to total failure. "Just remember... THE BEST WAY TO END A BATTLE IS BY CALLING OUT AN ATTACK!"
----
Rion couldn't help but grin.
Heh... what kind of advice is that?
Then he drew his arm back and, mixing flames with Force, slammed his fist down onto the Nail's head.
"FLAME FIST!!!"
With a deafening explosion, the burning Nail shot downward like a falling star before driving straight through the Wyrm's skull and into the ground below with a crack that echoed throughout the entire cave.
As the dust cleared, all that remained was the Wyrm's head, pinned to the ground.
Maria, still on its back, gave a weak chuckle through a grimace.
"Would you look at that... looks just like the skewers we had earlier... heh..."
With that, she collapsed onto the Wyrm's back.
(And thus, Lost Keep's adventure continues…)