"Take it down." Came the gruff command of sorts, and odd form of approval of Peony's offer of assistance. Ceres, in of herself, had no issue with mages one way or another assuming they hid nothing that would harm the city more from those who needed to be in the know. One benefit that came with fighting beside the Mage previous to this was having a decent grasp of exactly what the other woman could do. With the councilor clearly on the offensive, Ceres shifted her stance back and began to cast so that she could layer shell of both Drake and Peony.
“You know,” Drake told the now clearly annoyed Brainpan conversationally, “I like having quiet days of reflection. You are not conducive to my quiet reflection.” He kicked the thing, sending it reeling back a step or two before it charged him again - at the very least, it was leaving Ceres and Peony alone. If it stayed focused on him, they could attack it at leisure.
He tried to spin out of the way, but his foot caught the pavement at the wrong angle and he fell, rolling just in time to narrowly miss his opponent’s attack. Drake took a deep breath and centered his mind, feeling the energy for Aura Bolt gathering in his hands despite being flat on his back. He exhaled, and the attack shot out, hitting the monster dead center.
Heartened by the response (the terse tone did not bother her -- she cared only that she was able to stay and help), Peony remained at a distance, content for the moment not to catch the creature’s attention. She watched, however, as it groaned and shuddered when Councilor Liu’s attack connected. It seemed that she was not as well-equipped for this battle as she might have liked to be.
Still, as she thought through her next steps and uttered the few words of a deceptively simple spell, it seemed the stone head could be Blinded, at least, for its next lunge was altogether in the wrong direction to hit either Fighter, and although Peony realized it would revert to casting area magicks shortly -- it was what she would have done -- it bought a few moments for her to chant again. She did not have access to any of the Holy elemental spells, but she could Freeze the creature, even if it was only for a brief moment before it broke free, it would not emerge undamaged by the ice.
Thankfully, the others were keeping its focus well enough, that would allow for Ceres to shift off once more, calling upon her magicks fingers shifted, one hand tightening around the hilt of her gunblade while the other dashed through the air flinging Protect at Drake, and then shifting, the same spell would be administered to Peony as soon as she was capable to as well.
Well, that was unexpected, Drake thought as he jumped to his feet. He didn’t have any magicks, but he knew that chi still had elemental affiliation. Some of them, anyway. “Peony,” he called out, using another Aura Bolt to keep the Brainpan at bay, “do you know any holy magicks?” It was worth a try - he didn’t know her skillset, and a few of the mages he’d dated in the past had crossed disciplines. It was possible.
The Brainpan growled and charged towards Drake, who kicked it. “You don’t know when to give up, do you?” he asked it.
“Unfortunately not,” Peony responded. But as the monk kicked the creature once again and it responded with a wave of Dark magic, her expression tightened ever so slightly. “Perhaps I have something else.”
She had not attempted it outside of a controlled environment yet, and it did not always obey, but the contents of the scroll she had found while assisting with library cleanup could prove very effective here. Perhaps…
She began the chant, feeling the massive drain on her stores of mana. She had enough for this -- once -- and if she could make it work…
Above the stone head, the sky opened up. A scathing beam of golden light, too bright to look at directly, pierced its stone skin.