He seems smart enough to not give her a clear shot, protecting his belly even with his arrogance about his golden coat, turning so his thick spine is to her as he takes off, apparently determined to fly over her head.

Turning the spell into a homing missile will take more time, but is still within her abilities. And then she'll need a moment of seeing the target to pin it in. But as long as he's looking at her and not up at the sky, she's still winning.

He loops, away from the mountain, apparently intending to circle around and rush her -

And Brisingr collides with him with a thunderous crack.

It's apparently not enough to outright kill him - he keeps twisting even as she bears down - and she's forced to disengage a split second before he slams into the earth, beating her wings hard.

Ellisaria swaps her target to Smaug's eye and lets the spell fly, so as to not completely waste the mana.

He roars, evidently pained, rearing back. He seems to be having some trouble dragging himself out of the crater Brisingr drove him into - he's not dead, but he certainly has broken bones.

She follows up with flurry of spells, primarily a mix of fire and lighting, with a little frost thrown in for variety. She's going for quantity over quality.

He hunkers down, shielding himself as a deep hum builds in his chest - the fire he seems to be able to ignore entirely, the lightning barely injures him, and the frost limes his scales but doesn't seem to be much of a bother. Still, it's enough he's hesitant to expose his eyes or belly to the onslaught.

She does not relish working the earth here, but she gestures, and tears a crevice beneath Smaug, trapping him further.

The earth resists her - but not quite enough. Smaug roars, causing the earth to quake.

Now that he's more stuck, she lets up on the elemental barrage. Where's Brisingr?

Circling overhead, keeping an eye on Smaug and humming - she swoops over to land near Ellisaria once the barrage calms down.

"Got a plan?" she asks, tilting her head. "I can kill him close up, but that'd be risky."

"Now that his movement is thoroughly restricted, I can weave a spell to kill him from the inside out. Do you think there would be any value in leaving bones or a head as proof of death?"

"Nah, and his body'd be a carrier for curses."

She nods, and begins work.

For this, the elemental schools will be insufficient. She will have to call upon the primary schools, which is why she needs the space and time to think. Fel would be ideal for this application, but as she is not a dribbling moron, she will not be using it. Light would serve, but the working thereof is... unpleasant. Shadow then, to devour, in the framework of Arcane, to define.

A ghostly Smaug takes shape before her, in silvery wireframe at scale. Within this grow points of utter blackness, wounds in reality that the eye prefers to skitter over than see directly. As they expand, Ellisaria tweaks the spell to keep them confined by the frame and not eating into it. When she is satisfied with the shape, she makes a compacting gesture, and it shrinks down to a small ball, glittering energy and spots of sheer nothing. This she lobs at the trapped dragon.

It sinks through his hide without resistance. When it reaches his center, the spell begins to expand, and the Void begins to feast.

He roars.

The earth shakes. The sun dims. The air grows oppressively hot. It's hard to breathe.

And then he dies, and everything clears.

The land still feels infected, almost, but the source of it's gone.

"Impressive," Brisingr says into the silence, voice breathless.

"Yes," says Ellisaria. "It was."

She laughs. "You're quite wonderfully terrifying."

"I am counted as one of the Black Dragonflight's most skilled spellcasters."

"It shows - your spell against Smaug didn't look easy."

"It was not. Now, do you care to investigate the erstwhile lair?"

"Yeah." She sniffs. "From how this land is, I bet he cursed the gold, too."

"It would not surprise me."

She shifts back to her dragon form.