Nymira had never been paranoid before through all of her encounters, she'd only had one rough night's rest and it had come after her first kill. So why was she so on edge now? Her fight with the slavers had proven tricky but it hadn't been the worst thing ever, she wasn't bothered by any of what she'd done or seen. Yet the hairs on the back of her neck stood on edge and every time she casually glanced to the side of the road nothing popped out at her, flat lands to one side and sparse vegetation to the other. No one was lying in wait, nothing was poised to strike, they were alone out here on their travels. So why was she so uneasy? It had to just be fatigue, she'd slept poorly and their meal hadn't exactly been large, perhaps after some more travel they could rest a bit, replenish their stocks and try and pick themselves up. Tightening her grip on the reins of the horse her face darkened as she stared down at the ground, unsure if she was more annoyed that she felt so uptight or that she was trying to lie to herself over it. 

The sensations were not unfounded as it happened and the first attack came utterly without warning. Nymira was unsure how Cecil had managed to react as quickly as he had or how someone had gotten so close without detection, but there they were. The horses whinnied in protest as she and Ethan fought to keep them from bolting and Nymira had barely climbed down when another bolt of magic was shot at them. Retaliating to the next attack with a blast of flame she the foul liquid into a noxious mist that stung her nose when it reached her. The smell of rotting corpses, a smell she was perfectly familiar with, but where in the world had it come from? Burying her nose in the crook of her arm she scanned the area until she spotted him, a familiar Varuna stood some several meters away. Him, she knew they should have tried to kill him when they had a chance. It seemed like that Muran had failed in doing so, how bothersome. Now here they were without any haven in sight, injured and tired from the previous day's events facing off against a powerful Magi. Perhaps their lone saving grace was the lack of a large body of water, though the Varuna clearly didn't need any to be effective.

"Cecil! Hang on!" Ethan, with Amuné on his arm, brought the Ydran girl behind the cart and smiled reassuringly, gesturing for her to remain where she was. "Just stay safe, we've got this." Vaulting over lead he hurried over to the Machina's side and was relieved to see he wasn't seriously injured, helping Cecil back to his feet. Flames roared a ways off as Nymira faced off against the Varuna on her own, the sound of liquid turning to steam roaring across the otherwise silent land. "I guess it was too much to ask for a peaceful trip..." Ethan chuckled weakly, hurrying over to join Nymira in her fight. They were going straight into magic dueling weren't they? If that was the case then he was almost useless, good for a few small bursts before he was spent. Nymira could keep up enough but even she would probably falter against this man. Why was he so persistent in attacking them? 

"Sssooo annoying... Prey that will not jussst die..." the Varuna sneered as he raised his staff overhead, the gem in the forward end glowing a dark green color. Waving the wand across four orbs shot out from it and burrowed into the ground before splitting the earth, creating four slime creatures from the ground, each seemingly constructed with no rhyme or reason or form. "No more meddling Remusss.... You children will die today!" He would not fail again, he [i]could not[/i] fail again. Hissing as he gestured forward with the staff all four slimes began to move towards the group, leaving a trail behind them that burned the soil beneath them and rotted away anything it touched. Just like the creatures before, something that should not exist. 

Touch them and you would burn, Nymira knew as much from their last encounter. Her daggers would be all but useless and without Geoffrey and his bow their only option was magic. Relying on that so heavily in their state was an awful choice but their only one here unless they wanted to risk being tainted. Stepping away from the horses to pull the fighting away from them she found the first slime and extended a hand outward, fire sparking to life in her palm before swirling and shooting forth, a vortex reaching it within seconds and engulfing the creature in its entirety. Once the feed of magic stopped the flames continued to burn, nearly the entirety of the slime alight and yet still moving towards her. Gritting her teeth Nymira swung a hand out and unleased another quick burst of flame, concentrating it and increasing the temperature, a blue flame escaping her hand this time. This flame immediately caused the creature to crackle like an egg upon a frying pan, globs of its flesh falling off and burning away in the process. High heat then, much more costly but it was effective. 

With no weapon in hand Ethan had no option except to use magic. Not that he'd probably want to use a sword anyways, not considering how everything around those things was dying. Unlike Nymira who had plenty of experience he could only muster up a burst of air, nothing that was going to probably kill these creatures. Throwing a quick gust at a pair of them he managed to divert their attention from the horses, backing off hastily as they came after him. There had to be some way he could hurt them with his magic, but what in the heck could he do? Looking around for anything of use he spotted a discarded log along the roadside, smiling as an idea occurred to him then. Standing on the far side of it he gave it a push with his foot, finding it to be loose enough to move. Carefully positioning himself then Ethan took a step back before putting out a fair bit of his energy in a large gust, concentrating it on the underside of the log and kicking it into the air. It splintered and fell apart but large pieces still managed to strike a slime and cut away large pieces as a result, bits falling to the ground and ceasing movement. There was little room for celebration however as it hadn't killed the creature, and with three left and the Varuna as well they'd be hard pressed to end this quickly. The Magi wasn't content to sit back idly this time either as Ethan quickly found, ducking and scrambling away as two blasts of its foul magic narrowly missed him. 

Suspicions were confirmed by how the Varuna approached this fight, and it gave Nymira an idea. They cast spells from afar and used these abominations to get close, always making sure it was nowhere near them in battle. If she was correct then the Varuna was vulnerable if you could get near enough, which meant somehow avoiding the slimes and closing the distance between them. Pulling her daggers from their sheaths she circled around the burning slime and began a run headlong at the Magi, well aware of one of the slimes quickly changing course and coming after her. Undeterred she lowered herself to the ground enough to avoid a blast thrown at her, cursing when two more slimes were hastily conjured up between her and the Varuna. He had to be protecting himself, there was no question about it. Still she kept running right up until she reached the new beasts, a smile creeping to her lips as her hands lit with flame and it moved down to the blades of her daggers, a trail of fire forming behind her. Kicking off with her back foot Nymira jumped up and over the slimes, spinning her body as she did so and causing the daggers to spit out flames. As soon as they hit the slimes the fire turned blue and their flesh began to burn away within seconds, effectively killing them off. Almost within striking distance now she threw one dagger at the Varuna and just barely missed, buring it in a stump behind him. Using the chance she got within striking distance and tried to swing at him only to be suddenly pushed back by an invisible force, rolling across the ground awkwardly and aggravating her wounds again.

Hissing in delight the Varuna watched as Nymira was thrown aside, sneering at her failed attempt. "Folissssssh girl, did you really think that would work?" At its feet nearly a dozen black tendrils appeared, creating an effective shield around the Magi, prepared to block any and all attacks thrown at it. Save for her dagger, whose heat was intense enough to pass through its defenses. Not that he expected the girl to know that, and so long as that went without knowing its defense was impenetrable. Laughing it raised its staff and fired off three quick blasts at the Dimuran, each one missing but managing to drive her further away. "Sssssubmit and die! DIE! DIE! DIE!"