Kaiser and Adriel sprinted through the dense forest, their footsteps light against the damp earth. "Break off," Kaiser commanded, his voice cutting through the rustling leaves. "You go left, I'll go right." They diverged, each a blur of motion, their senses acutely tuned to any sign of their opponents.
However, their adversaries were not confined to the ground. Clara, Ken, and Frey, masters of this verdant domain, moved with an almost ethereal grace, leaping from branch to branch, maintaining a bird's-eye view. This was their home field, and they navigated its intricate canopy with an instinctive understanding that Kaiser and his team lacked.
From high above, Clara signaled Ken, who subtly veered off, disappearing into the foliage. Clara and Frey, meanwhile, ascended to the very tops of the tallest trees, their eyes sweeping the forest floor. A slight tremor in the distant undergrowth, a disturbed patch of leaves, caught Clara's attention. They moved silently towards the disturbance, their keen eyes pinpointing Hella, running alone below.
Clara launched a sneak attack, a silent dive from the canopy, her sword aimed true. But Hella, honed by years of brutal survival, reacted with astonishing speed, her blade deflecting Clara's strike. Clara, however, had anticipated this. With a swift, unexpected maneuver, she pushed Hella's sword to the side, leaving her exposed. From the opposite direction, Frey, a blur of motion, attacked Hella's back. Hella twisted, dodging Frey's strike, but Clara, capitalizing on the momentary distraction, lunged, her blade finding its mark, leaving a painful cut on Hella's arm as she spun around.
Frey immediately pressed his attack, his sword singing through the air. Hella defended, her eyes blazing with defiance. Clara, seeing an opening, attacked from behind again. But this time, Hella was ready. She dodged, her movements fluid, almost impossibly swift. It was a two-on-one, a scenario Hella was intimately familiar with. Memories of her past, of countless child slaves ganging up on her, flashed through her mind, sharpening her focus. She knew how to handle this.
As Frey and Clara launched a barrage of alternating attacks, Hella weaved and ducked, a ghost in the melee. Then, in a sudden, decisive move, she attacked Clara. As soon as Clara dodged, Hella, with a lightning-fast change of stance, redirected her momentum, striking out at Frey. Caught off guard by the sudden shift, Frey didn't have enough time to fully dodge, suffering a painful cut.
"She's strong," Frey gasped, his voice tight with surprise.
"I said so," Clara replied, her voice grim.
Clara and Frey resumed their assault, both now employing their specialized sword techniques. Frey's technique allowed him to unleash attacks with immense force, each block from Hella producing a loud, stinging clang that grated on her ears. Clara would seize these moments of Hella's discomfort to unleash her own fluid, unpredictable strikes. Hella, despite the growing number of cuts on her body, her vision blurring slightly from pain, her eyes remained defiant.
On the other side of the forest, Kaiser, running with relentless speed, suddenly heard the unmistakable sounds of clashing steel. Similarly, Adriel, on his separate path, also detected the distant sounds of combat.
Hella, battered and bleeding, her body covered in too many cuts, roared in defiance and attacked Frey. But Frey, utilizing his powerful sword technique, sent Hella's sword flying from her grasp. "This is your end!" Frey declared, raising his blade for a final, decisive strike. Hella's mind raced, a single, bitter thought echoing: "At the end, I was the one who fell."
However, before Frey's sword could descend, a shimmering wind slice cut through the air, carving a deep gash across Frey's chest. From the thick bushes, Kaiser and Adriel burst forth, their swords drawn, their presence a sudden, startling salvation. Hella looked at them, a flicker of surprise in her defiant eyes. "They came?" she thought, a fleeting moment of disbelief. "But why? Oh right, just to defeat the opponent team."
Kaiser, without a word, reached Hella, gently guiding her to a secluded spot. "Wait here," he instructed, his voice calm amidst the chaos. "We will come back for you."
Adriel, meanwhile, had already engaged Clara. He launched a relentless barrage of attacks, his strikes imbued with a furious intensity that made Clara flinch. Even her renowned fluid attacks seemed useless against Adriel's unyielding assault. As Clara backed away, she attempted to distract him. "You've been training a lot," she remarked, hoping to create an opening for Frey.
But Adriel, his eyes gleaming with a mad gleam, was not so easily fooled. "Who are you distracting, Clara?" he scoffed, his voice filled with contempt. Frey, realizing their plan had been seen through, decided to attack anyway, lunging at Adriel from behind. But before he could land a blow, a blur of motion, and a swift kick from a running Kaiser, sent Frey sprawling.
Clara clicked her tongue in frustration. "Retreat!" she commanded, her voice sharp. She and Frey, injured but still agile, began to run, leaping from branch to branch, attempting to escape into the dense canopy. Kaiser and Adriel gave chase, their pursuit relentless.
"We're not going to catch them at this rate," Kaiser grunted, his eyes fixed on their rapidly retreating figures. Suddenly, a sword, thrown with incredible precision, flew past Kaiser and Adriel, striking Frey squarely in the leg, impaling him to a tree branch. Kaiser and Adriel turned, astonished, to see Hella, her eyes blazing with newfound resolve, chasing after them, her weapon gone.
"Hella gave us a chance!" Kaiser shouted, a surge of renewed determination coursing through him. "We can't waste it!" He channeled his sorcery, unleashing his Verse 1: Wind Slices the Sword, firing a powerful wind slice that cleanly severed the branch Clara was running on. Clara cried out as she plummeted to the forest floor.
"Adriel!" Kaiser roared, his voice echoing through the trees. Adriel, with a primal roar, descended upon Clara, engaging her in a fierce sword lock. Frey, despite his injured leg, attempted to intervene, but Hella, fueled by a newfound rage, intercepted him.
"Hella, go full out!" Kaiser commanded, his voice filled with unwavering trust. "I will take complete responsibility!" A terrifying, almost feral smile spread across Hella's face. She attacked Frey with an unleashed fury, her attacks so powerful that Frey's sword rattled in his hand, then was ripped from his grasp. Hella, with a powerful kick, struck Frey squarely in the chest, echoing the injury Kaiser had inflicted moments earlier. Frey screamed, collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
Adriel's fight with Clara continued, his attacks growing increasingly ferocious. Clara, already exhausted from her earlier skirmish with Hella, was struggling to defend. Her sword, already chipped from the relentless onslaught, was showing signs of splintering. She looked at Adriel, who met her gaze with a chillingly mad smile. It was then that Clara realized, behind that insane grin, Adriel knew exactly what he was doing. He was aiming for her sword's weakness.
With a desperate, piercing strike, Clara lunged at Adriel. Adriel, with an unnerving indifference to pain, did not dodge. He took the attack, Clara's blade piercing his stomach, and at the same moment, he grasped her sword firmly. Then, with a brutal thrust of his own blade, he shattered Clara's sword. He then pulled the blade from his stomach with a grunt of pain and, with a final, decisive slash, struck Clara across the chest. She crumpled to the ground, clutching her bleeding wound.
"Okay, Clara," Kaiser said, his voice calm, "now tell us like a good little girl where your crystal is."
Clara, defiant even in defeat, spat, "Go to hell!"
"Fine," Kaiser sighed. "We'll have to search for it on our own. But first, let's bind them." After securing Clara and Frey, Hella, Kaiser, and Adriel, their injuries a testament to their hard-won victory, began their search for the enemy crystal.
On the other side of the forest, at the crystal's location, Ken had finally arrived. He saw Sentry, standing guard. Sentry, seeing Ken approach, raised his hands slightly. "Umm... can we talk?" he offered, a nervous tremor in his voice.
Ken sneered, drawing his sword. "You're their weakest link, right? Time for you to learn your place."