The two warriors deactivated the various elemental techniques they were using to fly, dropping to the ground below. As the cannons fired once more, their projectiles flew over their heads.

  Reaching the ground a few seconds later, helped along by a few manifestations of elemental power, Jonathan and Eliza took cover behind a large boulder. If those on the wall were sharp-eyed enough to see their movement on the ground, Jonathan would be very surprised.

  The cannons paused, the wall growing dark. Just as Jonathan thought that he had escaped danger, the flag above the city suddenly stiffened. A massive eye formed over it, looking vaguely like that of a squid. A pulse of light shot out in a cone, facing in Jonathan’s general direction. He was faster than many things, but light was not one of them. The wave of radiance passed by in the blink of an eye, and before he could react, a flare of colorful red light exploded about half a mile above him. The cannons charged up once more.

  “Is it actually worth trying to reach this city?” Eliza asked. “It seems like they really don’t want us getting there.”

  “I’m beginning to think that it’s not worth it either,” Jonathan said grimly, watching as another wave of fire seared across the sky. He could see from its trajectory that it would overshoot them by a few dozen miles. As such, he didn’t bother moving.

  The thousands of lava spears hit home with the force of a nuclear blast, carving a vast crater into the ground. The air and earth shuddered, and cracks spread out from ground zero. The dust faded away to reveal a lake of boiling lava, almost five miles across.

  Jonathan raised an eyebrow, but it hadn’t been all that impressive, all things considered. He could have achieved the same level of destruction with a single technique, rather than having to use thousands. However, he had to admit that the lava was a nice touch.

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  “I think we should burrow through the ground,” Eliza suggested. “You can use your cloaking ability.”

  “Hadn’t thought of that. That’s a good idea, though.” Jonathan pointed his hand at the ground, and a beam of purple light sliced out, piercing the ground below. A hole extended down for almost five hundred feet. “Damn. I might need to use a little less force.”

  “You mentioned off-handedly that one of your first abilities involved creating a sphere of destruction in front of your fist. It even had ‘drill’ in the name. Why not use that?”

  Jonathan shook his head. “I sometimes feel like you know more about me than I know about myself.”

  “You talk a lot when the two of us are alone,” Eliza replied. “You’re doing it right now. How about we get out of here before those cannons find us again?”

  Jonathan nodded, and leaped down into the hole. Eliza followed him. He led the way, and formed a plate of the Void before it. It rotated like a drill. While it didn’t really do anything to increase the power that the shield could emit, it did help with wicking away the dust from the sides.

  He kept going, hearing blasts from above as the cannons fired once more. Over the next few minutes, he listened for more, but there were none. The city defenders had given up.

  Jonathan pointed his finger at the center of the tunnel he was digging, and a tiny ray of light sprang out. It tore through the tunnel ahead of him, and traveled for miles.

  He extended a small finger of aura down behind the hole, scouting ahead. Jonathan could only do so for about fifteen miles, but at the speed he was traveling, it allowed for him to gain some measure of warning of what was before him.

  The tunnel flashed by, with both warriors moving at incredible speed. It still took them almost twenty minutes to reach the city, heralded by Jonathan detecting a sudden spike in ambient elemental power. A shield wall of Earth elemental power extended down into the ground beneath the city walls, and Jonathan couldn’t find an end to it with his senses.

  He stopped, prompting Eliza to come to a halt behind him.

  “Are we there yet?” she asked.

  “Looks like it. There’s a large wall of elemental energy before us. I’m going to try to break through.”