The Sorceress: Blossoming Power

"It's coming from the other room! Sir Nianshi must be dead! And now those statues wanted to come here." Balin's face paled, recalling how strong those things were and how quickly they moved around. They barely made it out of that room if it wasn't for Nianshi. 

Xinyi did not believe the mythical lion-dragon would be beaten that easily. But thinking of the wound on his shoulder and how strong those gigantic rock statues were,  doubt began to sink in her heart. She was about to cry when the wall beside the door began to crack. 

All of their heads went to its direction. Ming squinted, observing the crackings, judging where it might go. Watchful if the ceiling or the walls beside them would fall down on them. The rest darted their enlarged eyes at that area where the crackings ran while listening at the creaking sound. 

The banging went over and over until it stopped. Their hearts thumped hard in fear for the whole place to cave in. They were also worried about their companion left on the other side, if he was still alive or already dead. Balin even imagined that Nianshi's flesh was crushed into mincemeat in the process. 

It was quiet for a minute, then the walls beside the door suddenly collapsed. Ming hugged Xinyi, protecting her while blasting a strong wind to protect them, keeping the falling rocks and dust from penetrating the barrier he made. Balin surrounded his whole body with his fire, burning everything falling on him to ashes. 

Mafan was pushed to the wall with a loud thud. His body slid on the ground as he groaned. Then went into a coughing spell while dust and small rocks fell on his head. They continued falling until it covered him white from head to toes. Dust flew everywhere but not on Ming, Xinyi, and Balin.

At first, they were all afraid and made a fighting stance to face those statues for they might have gotten through but then a silhouette of a man walked in. It was Nianshi. He seemed to be fine unlike before they left him. 

The wound was no longer present, astounding Balin. "Wow, he self-healed fast. What an ability."

Unknown to them, it was already very hard for him to transform into a human, for Balin's sake. He even planned on hiding in dragon form to rest for a while but didn't do it for he might scare Sir Balin for his absence.

"Nianshi! You're well!" Xinyi exclaimed in happiness. But before she could run to hug Nianshi, the earth shook again, more violent this time, causing the whole ceiling to totally fall on them. The Hutyuns hurriedly carried Xinyi and Ming. Nianshi stepped on the other side.

Balin let fire blast from his feet, sending him to fly away, as if he had a small rocket on his feet. They evaded the debris one by one, but the tumbling walls caught Balin who was nearer. He dodged the whole wall from dropping on him but slowed his running. 

Suddenly, a huge part of the ceiling came down on him. He blasted a fire at it but it was too thick for him to blow it to pieces. His instinct made his fire turned blue to propel him away, but unfortunately, another wall instantly fall on him.

The rest had reached where the statues were and saw Balin got buried. "Sir Balin," Xinyi screamed. She let the Hutyuns carry the rock away from the man when the middle part of the rock turned bright red and exploded, stopping the Hutyuns from approaching. 

Balin was alive but missed to protect his foot after the explosive fire and the rest of the rock fell on his extended foot. He couldn't move it. He assumed a bone cracked inside. He tried to move it but screamed in pain.

Xinyi and Ming looked back at him and to Mafan. Ming grunted to see the man too lucky to escape the falling rocks and was running toward the steel door, all the way to the blue pool. They had to choose between him or Balin. 

Ming closed his eyes and ran back to where Balin was. Xinyi understood why he ran back and sent the Hutyuns to catch Mafan but dumbfounded with the outcome. When the Hutyuns reached Mafan, they fell on the ground shouting, "Whaa," letting Mafan escaped to the narrow path.

"What's wrong?" Xinyi asked the Hutyuns. 

"We can't go near him. He has an object affecting our flight." The Hutyuns flew back to her. Xinyi sighed and joined the rest with Balin.

Nianshi helped Ming lift the rock from his leg as Ming created umbrella like wind to keep the rocks from falling on top of the two. Nianshi huffed as hard as he could to carry the rock out from Balin's leg, but he was too exhausted and his human form was not that strong this time. Transforming into his original form could have solved this problem. But unsure if he would do so in front of Balin.

"Leave me behind! Catch Mafan!" Balin yelled, but he didn't want to drag everyone else down just because of him. He understood why Mafan had been this way, but he didn't agree with his mindset. 

"Please, leave me, I'd rather die than let him get what he wants" He held onto Nianshi's hard hands and pleaded. Nianshi closed his eyes and opened it saying, "Not on my watch." He was about to show his talons to cut the rock covering Balin's foot when Xinyi spoke to his mind. 

"I'll do it." Suddenly the invisible Hutyuns moved and knock Balin out to sleep. The Hutyuns circled around the rock and their bodies glowed. The large debris exploded to small particles. Nianshi carried the unconscious Balin and ran out. 

Although exhausted, he still had strength left to carry the man like a sack but he had to run slow. However, Ming and Xinyi had to keep up for them, making Nianshi uneasy. 

"Catch the man. I'm right behind you," said Nianshi to the two. If possible, he would fly out with this man if there was a hole over him like the one in Xionmao's cave. Or transform to any beast so he could run faster. But transformation needed more magic. And using more magic wouldn't be possible at the moment because of exhaustion.

He exhaled, realizing the best way to do earlier was to incinerate the rock statue with his fire. He could not be this tired to where he couldn't transform but only to a human because he did not control himself during the fight, exhausting him instead. Nianshi was ashamed to himself and decided to self-reflect when this was over.

"Next time, if there is one." 

----- o -----

Mafan was glad to escape Ming's group, but then he heard someone spoke, "Hurry, Tyriece. The whole place is about to fall apart."

"I know, but these walls are so hard to move. There are a lot of special stones mixed in the earth that is disrupting my power. I need time to concentrate." said Tyriece, getting crimson-faced and sweating bullets.

Mafan knew that voice, and the man referred to. "Damn, not now."