Julius held onto Joyce’s hand tightly, as he burst forward hearing the metal footsteps and shouts of grown men behind them. Joyce struggled to keep up with Julius’s tall body, and his long yet swift strides.
One of the knights caught up behind Joyce. He swung forward, scraping her back. Joyce let out a painful scream. A long red line gushed out blood that dripped away with the flowing wind, as Julius ran even faster. “Goddamnit!” shouted Julius. Shit. I’m so sorry Joyce… He thought to himself.
The smoke was thicker in this area, where the fires were fresh as buildings continued to burn. Julius could hardly see two meters in front of him. Yet he continued to dash forward, looking for any kind of shelter to seek refuge at the least. But he hoped for a person. The two soldiers drew closer despite Julius’s attempts to speed up. Joyce looked behind her, nearly tripping on a piece of flaming wood. “Julius! They’re getting closer!” shouted Joyce.
“Alright then! We’re going to have to execute Operation Blowback!” replied Julius. “No. NO! We’re not-” pleaded Joyce, before she was tossed behind Julius. Immediately, the two of them dashed between the knights. The knights were in shock that their targets decided to double back on them. They turned around, only to find a nova lightning and ice magic circle aimed at their faces.
“Nova Spark!”
“Ice Cannon!”
Julius flew back after unleashing his spell. Purple electricity burst out of his body. The knights readied their blades, and cut down the blast attacks with ease. “Dang it!” shouted Julius, getting up from the ground.
“We gotta run! Our attacks won’t do shit!” He ran over to Joyce, grabbing her and fleeing the scene.
“Our attacks won’t work if we’re that predictable! Shooting them in a straight line? Are you dumb?” insulted Joyce.
“Well, the whole point of the operation was for them not to react in time to us dashing past them.” Julius said, looking back at her. Joyce gave him a soft slap to the face.
“If only these guys weren’t trained soldiers huh.” said Joyce. Julius growled back at her, before turning around to face the path. He ran two steps, before his face crashed into another boy around his height.
The boy had long brown hair that extended to his neck. His bangs were pulled back and tied. His face was slim and refined, highlighting a pointed jaw and nose. It looked oddly familiar to Julius. Joyce called out the boy’s name: “Asura!”
Asura looked up, with his regular dull eyes and never changing frown. “Oh, it’s you two.” He said, sounding disappointed. “Asura! Are you alright man? I’m glad we found you.” said Julius.
“I’m doing quite alright.” Asura rubbed his forehead, where he and Julius collided. His eyes suddenly widened and his eyebrows narrowed. He extended both of his arms forward. Joyce and Julius turned around to see a large blood magic circle, forming beneath the two knights that had chased them earlier.
“Woven Blood Cage: Offense!”
Crimson threads burst up into the air, forming a patterned cage of red liquid. They spun around rapidly, enclosing the two knights before crashing down onto them and bursting out blood in all directions. The knights were instantly defeated, and lay unconscious on the ground.
Julius and Joyce cheered, while Asura walked over to the bodies. “Woah Asura that was sick! You took them out in one spell!” shouted Joyce. “Thank you. It was nothing, really. We need to prioritize our own safety now. Nobody will come to save us after all…” said Asura, in his usual smooth and soft tone. His voice was like a finely tuned instrument, projecting a neatly flowing melody. He turned around and showed his palm to Julius.
“Umm, what do you need from me?” Julius asked.
“If you have a weapon of any sorts. We need to dispose of these two before they regain consciousness.” responded Asura. Joyce budded in between them. “Hold on wait, by dispose do you mean… kill them?”
“Joyce. It’s necessary. They could wake up and harm others that may still be alive, or come back and seek vengeance against us.” Asura reasoned out.
The two felt uneasy at the idea of killing people, even though they had fought for their lives with intent to kill themselves. It was a concept that never crossed their minds until this exact moment. “We need to act now. Julius, please if you have anything on you-” Asura was interrupted by a large explosion that blasted the three of them into the air.
They landed on the gravel, covered in ash and dust. As the dust cleared, a large bulky figure stood beside the unconscious soldiers. “Worthless grunts!” the figure yelled, before grabbing a rectangular blade from his back. It was a flat blade that got wider and curved out slightly from the base. It was coated in an illuminating orange light. The general slammed his greatsword down onto the unconscious soldiers, lobbing off their heads.
The explosion had cleared most of the smoke, and the trio were clear as day, standing idly on the gravel. Asura gulped down his fears and stood his ground, as the attention of the general turned towards the three wizards. “I don’t think this is an opponent that all of us combined could beat.” Asura stated. Julius turned to him confused and angry. “What the fuck did you just say? If that’s true, then why are we fighting him? Answer me!” Julius grabbed Asura’s shoulder and shook him viciously.
Asura maintained eye contact with the general, as he lifted his blade and hung it on his back. The general was a bit taller than Asura was, but possessed a muscular figure that was hidden under the bulkiness of his armor.
“We’re going to fight him, to buy time.” Asura finally answered.
“I sure hope your plan works Asura.” said Joyce worryingly, taking her stance and readying a magic circle. “We’re so fucking dead. I swear to the Gods.” said Julius, following up the two with a ready position of his own. The two already knew who they’d be buying time for. It was a gamble to see how long they could last.
The general acted first, conjuring five large magic circles in a straight line in front of him. The wizards were in the radius of two of them. They dashed to the sides as the circles lit up.
“Ignition Uplift!”
Five explosions burst out of the circles sequentially, releasing large amounts of orange energy, carrying dust and gravel into the air. As the debris of the attack settled, the general winded up another spell. Three magic circles appeared at his chest. The wizards each charged up their own attack to counteract the incoming explosion blast. “Booming Roar!” The general shouted.
A large sparking orange sphere headed their way, scorching the land as it passed through the air.
“Nova Spark!”
“Ice Cannon!”
“Blood Bomb!”
The three blasts of magic clashed with the explosive blast, pushing against it. However, the difference in power was far too great, and the explosive blast burst through projectiles. The wizards stared in shock as the explosive blast continued to hurl towards them. It was far too late to dodge. Is this seriously how we die? thought Julius, as the orange ball grew larger as it approached him.
Suddenly, a green transparent screen was put up in front of the three. It then hardened and retained an earth-like texture. The blast exploded as it collided with the barrier, shattering it in the process.
From the smoke, appeared Kaladin, Kaleigh and Scarlett. “Mud Veil!” Kaleigh shouted, shooting out a wide carpet of mud in front of them as he arrived on the scene. “Barrier Shot!” shouted Kaladin, shooting a large green wall forward, slamming the mud ahead of them straight towards the general. In a fit of rage, the general swung his blade forward, shattering the barrier and cutting down a portion of the wave in front of him to mere drops, before the rest of the area was coated in thick mud.
“Come on you guys we’re gettin the hell outta here!” screamed Julius, making wide motions with his arms signaling them to his position. All of them fled in a group, dashing through the smoke, sending it swirling throughout the area. “That combo should’ve slowed him down! Great job by the way Kaleigh!” shouted Kaladin.
“Hey on that note, how’d you find us anyways?” asked Julius as they ran. Scarlett heard his voice and ran faster to catch up to him. She appeared next to Julius. “The sound of the explosions and the orange blasts! They were way too loud, and the size of those attacks…” Scarlett paused and pondered at ways they would be able to defeat such a formidable foe.
“Is this seriously an opponent we could win against?” Julius looked over his shoulder with a hostile smile.
“Well I wasn’t the one who decided to fight him, RIGHT ASURA?” Asura suddenly appeared right behind Julius.
“This was what we were buying time for. It might not have been our ideal fighters, but with these numbers we can-” A blade swung down in front of the two.
“MOVE!” screamed Asura, as he shoved Julius to the right and dove to the left. Sounds of crunching gravel stopped as they were replaced by the rhythmic marching of metal.
At least eight soldiers surrounded all of them in place, appearing one by one from the smoke wielding a variety of weapons. Steel swords, axes and spears pointed at each of the wizards, silently ordering them to stand down.
“Barrier Magic: Encasement!”
A large green platform formed under the wizards. The knights instinctively stepped back, expecting an attack. However, walls began to form extended upwards from the platform, rising as high as seven feet in the air. A roof formed above, and a large cube had successfully formed, protecting all six wizards inside. Each of them got up and looked around. It was like standing in a normal sized home in their village. Small, but still spacious enough to live in. The smoke around them dispersed, revealing Kaladin at the center of the cube.
He was kneeling down, pressing both palms to the floor. The wizards looked down, and saw a gigantic magic circle as large as the platform they stood on lighting up. Kaladin focused all his attention and strength into maintaining a magic circle and barrier spell of this size. Slowly, the barriers around them began to harden, and its transparent walls looked as if green stone had taken its place.
“Kaladin! You okay there?” said Julius as he ran over to him. He looked at his face. Kaladin’s eyes were bloodshot, and he was gritting his teeth. His body subtly vibrated and his arms were veiny. Still, Kaladin looked over to respond to him. “Yeah… I’m doing fine. Just holding out here… But we won’t have a lot of time, so you guys better think of a plan soon.” said Kaladin, his voice heavily strained and coarse.
Julius stood up, scratching his head in frustration. “Tsk. What should we do here?” He asked out loud. The other wizards looked just as confused, scared or contemplative. Suddenly, a loud boom was heard from the other side of the barrier. By now it had gone completely opaque, the transparent green screen replaced with green stone-like walls. A portion of the wall began to crumble. Shouts and screams leaked in from the other side.
5 Minutes Earlier…
Vega and Jin stood face to face against three knights. The three of them circled around and began to corner the boys with their mace, spear and longsword. However, there was a lack of fear from both of them. They just smiled. It was almost frightening on its own, at how confident the children had seemed. “Keep up your guard. These kids took out one of us.” One knight whispered. “They’re just kids. We won’t break a sweat with the three of us.” Another knight replied.
Suddenly, Vega and Jin summoned magic circles. The knights charged at them with war cries, raising their weapons in the air. “Split!” Vega and Jin said simultaneously. They dashed away in opposite directions directly into the fog. The knights remained put, scanning the smoke and anticipating their attack.
“Let’s encircle them and strike together!” shouted Vega. “Got it!” replied Jin. Their voices caused confusion for the knights as they frantically looked around and swung at the fog, hearing that the voices were near. “Rising Wind!” shouted Jin.
A magic circle suddenly appeared beneath the knights, and a twister formed underneath them, lifting them several meters in the air. The twister had cleared away the nearby fog, revealing Vega down below. The vision was clear, and so was the shot. With a magic circle already prepared, Vega fired away. “Scorching Seal!” A beam of searing fire exploded onto the knights in the air. Their enemies came crashing down from the sky, completely passed out.
Vega and Jin surrounded the three knights on death’s door. “Well that seemed fairly easy,” said Jin. “Maybe they would’ve stood a chance if they didn’t stay still.” Vega crossed his arms and crouched down to one of the knights. “These ones seem less experienced even compared to the one all of us fought together.” Jin quickly acted to disarm the soldiers, while they were incapacitated. Two of them wielded typical longswords, however one held an interesting blade. It was long, and the blade was only one sided. It curved as it extended from the hilt to the tip. A circular guard separated the blade from the handle, which was wrapped with tightly woven cloth.
“Is this… a katana?” pondered Jin. He grabbed the scabbard and inserted the blade back into it. A perfect fit.
“Did you say a katana? Like the sword Gladiator Xerxes had?”
“Exactly like the one Xerxes had. The shape of the sword and the scabbard… it’s all the same."
Vega tilted his head over, admiring the blade himself. It complimented Jin perfectly. “Wow, that really suits you.” said Vega. “I’m taking it with me then.” said Jin. Vega flicked his head over to Jin. “What?”
“You heard what I said. I’m taking it with me.You did say it suited me.”
“Yes I did, but are you sure? This belonged to another person-” refuted Vega.
Jin drew the sword from its sheath, and with one fell swoop, he swung at the knight that he took the blade from. His head rolled cleanly off his body, and blood seeped out onto the grass.
“Good idea.” stated Vega grimly. He quickly summoned a magic circle below them. Jin backed off, as the spell was released. A field of fire surrounded Vega, bursting out immense amounts of heat. The remaining two knights had died from the spell itself, and were left to burn. Vega dusted off his shirt and pants before walking towards the direction of the noise they had heard earlier. He stopped momentarily, and turned towards Jin.
“Now you can take it.” said Vega, before walking off. Jin ran up to Vega and grabbed his shoulder and yanked Vega towards him. “Hey, listen. I did that so these guys wouldn’t come back later and kill us. Given the situation, we made the right choice.” Vega removed his hand and began to turn around. “Yeah, I know. Our lives are going to be quite different from now on. I guess killing is just… natural.” said Vega, before walking away. He picked up speed, and began to run forward. Jin ran alongside him.
The two held a conversation as they traveled. “That was good coordination back there Vega. If we keep up that level of fighting we should be able to ward off most enemies here.” said Jin, trying to lighten up the mood.
“I agree, we should really try mixing-” BOOM!
Vega and Jin were lifted off the ground. Smoke and dust spiraled through the air and blinded both of them. Vega squinted to see what had caused the mass destruction. A large green cube appeared in the distance surrounded by a horde of knights. The blast had blown away most of the smoke and it was easier to see. Vega grabbed Jin, who was ducking down to protect himself from the bombardment of gravel. “We have to hide! Over there!” Vega pointed towards a large boulder. He and Jin hid behind it, peeking from the side of the boulder to observe the situation.
The general summoned another magic circle right in front of one of the barrier’s walls. A highly condensed orange blast was fired forward, and exploded with such intensity. The air pressure created was a caliber that the wizards had never witnessed nor felt before. CRACK! The general scoffed at the barrier as the crevice grew larger. “Is that all you got kid?” insulted the general. His knights laughed at his comment, and one by one, they swung their blades at the barrier. Sharp edges were useless against the rock hard strength of Kaladin’s Encasement, and hardly made a dent.
“Shit. It’s not looking good. One more attack from that guy with the orange feather, and Kaladin’s barrier is going to shatter. It’s even enhanced too!” Vega whispered as he peeked his head over the boulder. “What should we do then? Taking on the knights would be enough for us, but just from the air pressure alone, that orange-feathered fuck means business.” said Jin. Vega held back from chuckling at Jin’s insult. Vega pondered for several seconds, knowing that time was running out. His eyes brightened up.
“Nobody ever said that we had to fight, right?” Vega said excitedly.
“What are you trying to get at?” Vega pulled Jin over the top of the boulder. He pointed towards the general, and then to each of the individual knights.
“Look at how they’re crowded around the barrier at one spot.” Jin squinted his eyes. The knights stood relatively close to the general, congregated around him like a jester attracting a crowd.
“I see what you’re saying. Let’s build on what you couldn’t finish saying earlier. Mixing our attacks.”
Vega looked onto Jin with satisfaction, knowing that he’d heard him earlier. A gust of wind blew by. Jin’s long hair flowed with the ash-filled wind. Vega felt the breeze crease against his own hair too. He put his back against the boulder and entered a stance, and channeled magic energy throughout his body. An aura of fire engulfed him as the whirring and glistening sound of magic charging. Jin smiled and proceeded to do the same.
Another ball of explosion magic charged up. The stone frame of the walls began to crumble, and the blades of the knights began to have an effect. Inside, the wizards readied for total doom.
“Damn it Kaladin! Please hold on for a bit longer!” pleaded Joyce. “What the fuck do you think he’s been doing Joyce! Do we have a plan yet?” shouted Julius. Suddenly, Scarlett punched his stomach lightly. “The plan is to get ready for this thing to blow open! Ready a magic circle!” she demanded. “I’ll use mud veil as soon as it breaks! Then we make a run for it!” said Kaleigh. “Good plan.” said Asura.
All of them watched the crevice grow larger and larger, until a piece of the barrier had finally shattered. The general and his knights were visible through a segment of the barrier. “Get ready guys!” screamed Kaladin. They all waited in anticipation, either for Kaladin to make a move, or for the growing orange ball to act first. Vega and Jin hopped over the top of the boulder, charging magic circles. All eyes were still fixated onto the cracking barrier. “Now-!”
Suddenly, a flash of light blinded the entire battlefield. Jin and Vega covered their eyes and fell off their position. Kaladin let down the barrier, and used up his remaining magic energy to fire the broken remains of the barrier that they camped in. A stream of mud burst out and drenched the knight and the general, as the wizards made their escape. “What the name of Zeus just happened? There was a flash of light, then shit just went down!” shouted Julius. “No clue, but it helped a lot! Good thing we were hardly blinded! Now run!” Scarlett shouted back.
Vega and Jin hopped back onto their previous position after their vision had returned. Just a few seconds had passed, but the situation had changed. The barrier had been lowered, and their friends were running ahead of them. Their enemies were covered and surrounded by mud, and had their arms or hands covering their eyes as they tumbled down onto the mixture of earth and water.
*That flash of light… Was it Apollo? We haven’t seen him at all, and I didn’t spot him running with the others. Could he have been plotting his assistance before me and Jin did?” Vega thought. He quickly cast his thoughts aside. The situation had no time for analysis. It was do or die. “Vega we have our chance!” said Jin. He leapt into the air and extended out two hands, forming a wind magic circle. “RAVAGING WINDS!” He screamed, unleashing a massive tornado that ran rampant, devastating each knight forcing them to dodge left and right.
Vega followed up right behind him with the same pose. He formed a massive fire magic circle the size of his body. “FIRESTORM!”
Dozens of fireballs rained out towards the tornado. The two spells collided, forming a fiery tornado that ravaged the fields alongside the continuous rain of fireballs.
Several knights were caught in the attack, dispersing them and burning the area. Vega and Jin jumped off from the boulder and traveled across the battlefield. They both summoned magic circles at their feet in unison.
“Hot Dash!”
“Cold Mountain Breeze!”
They boosted forward with wind and fire trailing behind them. Their fellow wizards were just in the distance. With sheer determination, they pushed forward to catch up with the rest of them. Julius was the first to notice. “Holy shit! Vega and Jin!” The wizards looked back in happiness and relief, briefly cheering for their return. A shadow loomed above them, before crashing down smack middle in the group. “Apollo!” All of them shouted together. “Looks like we got the whole gang here now,” said Kaladin. “Alright. Where are we heading then?” asked Asura. “This is away from the docks right? Straight to the town center!” announced Vega.
All of them escaped together, finally reunited.