4 PAYBACK (2/2)

”This will be very troublesome if that really happens…” replied Gab drawing his lengthy katana. ”This exercise will turn down into a fatal encounter if they engage us.”

The thump in the earth grew louder and louder. It is as if an army of warrior's marches to their location. The ground was shaking, and the pebbles began to dance to the rhythm of the soldier's march.

”Hahaha! I knew this technique!” exclaimed Camyl trying to beat the loud thumping on the ground. ”…it is a tertiary level Earth Element skill called Quake in its very weak state!”

”They are trying to use elemental techniques on us Major,” said Gab giving a weak grin. ”…so, they've come to this, eh?”

A high-pitched roar emerged in their south-west that immediately grabbed their attention.

”Major, it's a secondary level Wind Element skill: Howl!” said Gab.

”Bend down! NOW!” said Camyl shouting trying to outmatch the deafening roar.

A large force began to blow in the south-west that made them brace the ground. A storm-like gust violently engulfed the whole training ground uprooting bushes, lifting branches and throwing rocks away mimicking a big explosion. Suddenly two men appeared running to their direction as the wind started to slowly pass.

”Prince Karus and Prince Kayzar?” mumbled Major Camyl who is bewildered at what she is witnessing. The two guards are also baffled as to how the two managed to summon a great storm in such a young age. With their spotty elemental rating at the Nagozulian Academy, it is quite impossible they can summon this great bewildering skill.

Karus, who's in front of Kayzar, intercepted the first guard nearest to them, which is Captain Gab with great haste giving him no time to retaliate. Gab waved his sword to him as he blocked every attack with his katana. He backed away to gain a position to defend himself. Gab then noticed that he was using a unique golden sword. That unique marker led him to immediately observe his blade, finding out that it has garnered an impressive chipping state from their brief exchange of blows.

”INFERNAL Tey'Arn! HOW DID YOU GET THAT GOLDEN SHORT SWORD!?” the Captain shouted now knowing what Karus is wielding. ”That is the Golden Short Sword of Excellence! The one that's been missing!”

”Now now Captain, cursing is bad for a Commander your rank,” replied Karus snidely.

He then charged continuing a barrage of slashes to the Captain, making him defend with great effort thinking that his katana can't hope to last and might cut in half anytime soon.

Seeing the situation, the Major pulled her long sword that is half buried in the ground and sprinted towards Gab to help him.

Camyl shouted as she jumped to strike Karus in midair. Kayzar anticipated this and immediately supported his brother by throwing his daggers to the major which she saw coming and that led her to dodge right away.

They fought with great speed and maneuverability. Anyone who is watching them will be at awe and would not believe how their eyes can remarkably coordinate with their hands, feet and body with excellent timing and grace. The support of Karus and Kayzar is surprisingly unbelievable. The melee attacks by Karus, that was backed in support by Kayzar's semi-projectile twin daggers, made them a perfect attack-defense duo. This also strengthened the Captain's idea of Kayzar having a link to the Yiv they are searching because he is performing an attack no one can do. A technique called ”the Floating Daggers”, flying in every direction with him only maneuvering it with the metal chains connected to the end of the hilt. The three guards, especially Tarni, became stunned in amazement seeing this for the first time – though the floating daggers require at least four blades flying. They thought Kayzar, with his perfect stance and movements, can be considered halfway there.

As the four went on slashing and striking, Tarni backed away to protect the sack while watching her every surrounding. She knew that anytime, the other two – together with the patrolling Nagozulians they commissioned to help, will come running to get the sack from her by elemental and physical force. She stood up holding her halberd looking to the North-east where an elemental force is still amassing.

”Are they going to blow up this area?” she thought curiously looking due north-east. ”…the Major must capture the two there before they start coming. I think I cannot hold a party of Nagozulians in here without incurring any fatalities.”

An arrow swiftly flew to her direction again that she partially escaped. It scratched her right arm and caused it to bleed.

”Yit'ard, that's fast! Is that a long bow?” she then looked at her west where the arrow originated. Another arrow appeared rushing to her direction. She dodged it with her halberd but didn't notice a second one coming down low.

”Takte…”

She jumped in futility to escape the lightning fast arrow. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and this hit her. She dropped in the ground in pain.

”Two bowmen?!” Yit'Vit!” she shouted in anguish as she looked at the arrow that is stuck in her left thigh. ”An Elven Arrow?” she then looked upwards at a flying owl encircling her. ”Stella? But how…”

She stared in front of her to see a kid slowly revealing himself from the darkness, walking at her direction with a contemptuous arrow aimed directly at her.

”Yes?” he said smiling. ”I thought the Sibara Masters can see the arrows and dodge it easily…”

”ugh… Trying your desperate moves to use Elven arrows now, eh?” she said trying to stand up without pulling the arrow with a single vine encircling it.

Elven arrows are very effective in combat. It is durable and unbreakable. If you're hit with one, the tip, that is a very sharp seed, would instantly grow roots. It would fuse into your body and it would look like a large lumpy mump on the outside. It will restrain the person's muscle movements and that would paralyze the part where it is. The only thing that can take it off is an Elemental Medic or a keyword in Elven tongue. The vine that encircles the arrow acts like a barbed wire that would sever and rupture the body part of the person it is connected if forcefully pulled. It is an efficient tool in hunting for it wouldn't kill anyone that is struck with it. It only paralyzes the affected area and disables the enemy with a numbing pain, except Of course, if it hits the heart or the head directly for this would lead to instant death. When removed properly, the seed will release a healing mist that will repair any injury it might have caused upon perforating as if it never happened.

”Where is the other one?”

”What other one? I'm the only one here…” he replied as he grabbed his short bow to an aim. ”Stay there…” he pulled the arrow further its threshold while giving a joyful grin. ”This next one's not 'gonna miss…”

Meanwhile, Camyl and Gab were having a hard time fighting the twins. The two guards cannot land a single blow to the two because of their perfect defense which they thought to be very impossible. The two soldiers are two of the most decorated fighters in Daomagar and yet they seem to have magically eluded their strikes as if they've been turned to have Daomagarian bodies – the only perfectly reasonable explanation for their nimble and agile reflexes and reactions. The only possibility of them hitting the two is to incur a fatal blow but that would be out of the question. They did not anticipate this kind of skill that they have to use everything in their power to control themselves not to hurt them while giving all their efforts to dodge their attacks that are crudely aimed to maim them.

Camyl have been trying to strike the silver chain that connects Kayzar's blades in order to disable Karus's defense support. She has managed to have hit it a couple of times without the success of cutting it in two. She knows she has been giving her usual powerful slashes, so she was dumbfounded as to why it's still remaining intact. A wide grin from Kayzar made her conclude that it is a special chain, a chain that is probably created by the immortal blacksmith Dal'Gur – who's the only one who can smith an enchanted weapon.

”Kayzar, your left!” Karus shouted while now defending himself to the Captain's barrage and the Major's hard blows.

”I KNOW!” Kayzar replied as he twisted the chains and pulled it causing the daggers to move to their, left attacking Camyl who dodged it. This stopped her in taking advantage of an opening as Karus moved his sword to deflect the attempted strike by the Captain.

The energy build-up from the north-east began to settle and the two guards began to jump back a few feet away from the two princes to look at the north-east.

”That's our cue Kayzar! Are you in position?”

”Yes, let's finish this Karus!”

Kayzar pushed Karus as he charged for the Captain. The two guards noticed this moment as the two began to separate. They thought that this was the moment they were waiting for: the moment to strike. They readied themselves to attack Karus and dashed. Camyl noticed that he took a turn and went for her instead of Gab. This surprised the Major as she thought that they have him cornered. Karus and the Major came to a clash of swords. She made a sword lock to him so that he can't be able to move. She saw the Captain standing still in his position and immediately noticed something is wrong.

”Captain!” she yelled for Gab to signal him to come to her aid and disable Karus but there was no reply and he was still standing there worthy to be described as a statue.

”Umph… Too late… Major!” Karus said struggling in the sword lock that they are into.

The Major looked at Kayzar as he sat on the ground holding a string with his both hands. She immediately looked at the ground and found out pins with threads scattered. 'They must've put it there when they activated the wind elemental technique Howl' she thought, as she processes what to do in her situation, that the kids that they underestimated outsmarted them. Kayzar looked at her direction smiling as if insinuating she's next then picked a thread that made the pins move on the ground near her. She knew automatically what's going to happen, so he pushed Karus and maneuvered herself to steal his sword.

”Ach… YIT!” cursed Karus surprised in her fast reflexes pilfering his sword in a matter of a split second. Seeing his situation without any weapon, he immediately gave the Major a torrent of punches to stop her from using the swords. She avoided his attacks by deflecting it with her fast arms then retaliated by pushing him in the chest, throwing him almost ten feet away.

”uh-oh!” mumbled Kayzar as he saw Karus fast flying at least five feet above the ground soaring away from Camyl. He grabbed the pins and pulled it to prick the Major who is a very easy target for him than the other guard – considering that she isn't wearing any hard plates unlike the Captain.

Camyl dodged the pins by throwing her big broadsword and continued on to Kayzar's direction with great and unbelievable speed using the Great Dash. She's now holding the Golden Short Sword of Excellence which she took from Karus. That proves to be deadly considering the fact that the short sword weighs less than her broadsword: more maneuverability equals more dodging effort!

”Sheesh, Lady! Can't you just slow down a bit!” shouted Kayzar now running away from her around to Karus's direction. She then came to him and gave a bombardment of unbelievable slashes and strikes that Kayzar thought to be very impossible to evade but still managed to luckily parry thanks to his limber reflexes.

”What is this?” Karus murmured while lying on the ground he landed hard on. He reached out to his right arm and saw a pin penetrating his skin. He gave a sharp sigh as he pulled the needle with excruciating pain. ”… it feels as if burning inside my arm! Damn his poisons…” He immediately pulled a bottle from his pocket racing as he felt the stabbing pain, radiating, trying hard to beat the toxin's delivery into his system. His eyes became blurry with his hands shaking as he drank the whole green mix and lie on the ground trying to wait for the effects of the poison to wear off.

”Putting pins on the ground and backfiring on us… heh…” he coughed a laugh with his paralyzed body. ”Didn't see that one coming…”

He blurrily saw Camyl going after Kayzar without much progress. He smiled for a couple of times at his brother's impressive dodges and risky unconventional maneuvers, managing to parry the Major's impressive strikes. After an amazing few second later his vision cleared and instantly cured his dizziness and shakiness.

”Tey'Arn…” he cursed as he stood up still unsteady. ”…his antidote is still imperfect. My right arm is still numb, and a mild headache is still persistent.”

He looked around and saw Kayzar still avoiding his sword that Camyl stole. He saw the Major's broadsword near him lying half buried on the ground. His face scrunched into a frustrated sour look as he jumped and grabbed the humongous blade to pull it out of its slumber and wake its potential. He isn't really a fan of long two handed blades, in fact he despises them, but he doesn't really have a wide variety of weapons to choose from so he thought 'beggars cannot be choosers', an idiom his grandfather taught them – and a very true thing too coming from their improvisation experiences in battle. He tied his arm with his belt and fashioned it on the hilt of the sword to drag it forcefully, running towards Kayzar using his left hand.

”Wow! For a kid, you sure look like a greased rat!” shouted Camyl trying her best to land a single blow to Kayzar. ”Stand still now would you!”

She felt Karus running behind her, so she braced her sword to defend herself against him. Karus appeared before her attacking with her broadsword using his two feet kicking the sword to maneuver his attacks. She jumped away as she blocked all of his slashes. ”Hahaha! I'm impressed!!!” she yelled running a couple of steps back admiring the feat, ”I've never seen anyone giving me such a hard time as you two did. How old are you two now?”

Karus charged without replying. He dragged the broadsword that is bigger than he is and kicked it again and again to move it to his desired direction to strike the enemy. This made the Major to become more impressed. She noticed that Karus cannot use his right hand, but he compensates it by using his other limbs to move the sword that no kid can carry. He used his momentum and partitioned the weight in his body to create a force that moved the sword, making it look like it's a part of his body that only a master swordsman can do.

While she was looking out for his attacks, she noticed Kayzar prepping his next batch of needles. She can't afford him attacking for she feared he might be able to paralyze her like her Captain, so she punched Karus below his right shoulder to end his futile but remarkable attempt to disable her. With her tremendous strength, Karus was rendered pacified forcing him to curl on the ground twisting in agony, sighing sharply, trying his best to breathe amidst the crippling pain from her punch that robbed him the ability to inhale properly. This made her smile for a while considering most soldiers would faint on the pain alone. She then turned to Kayzar unhindered; rushing fast beating his poisoned pin preparations which he isn't ready at the moment.

A dark wave of cloud slowly engulfed the whole training field as she was running towards Kayzar. She was halted, baffled to what is happening so she created her defensive stance looking around for any signs of surprise. She had never seen any technique that involves anything like this in her lifetime.

For a Daomagarian Major, this is much unexpected for she should know all of the techniques by both Nagozulian and Daomagarian warriors. To be an officer of the Nagozulian army, one must know every technique there is whether elemental or physical and know how to counter it, yet today, they made her feel they are taking her back into the academy once more with their surprisingly crude and juvenile but unique and effective combat strategy.

She looked at the center of the training field at the target to check their status. She saw the big sack together with Tarni who seems to be hurt holding her halberd standing with an arrow struck in her left thigh. A veil of darkness ate away the light around her until the dark cloudy mist settled. Then all she saw was her body standing in the pure dark room of nothingness.

”Ouch…” she mumbled as a sharp stabbing pain in her neck became evidently painful as if burning the affected area away. She reached out to check and saw a pin. ”Hehehe… amazing…” she hummed pulling out the pin and then she slowly stumbled to the ground.

-------ooO0Ooo-------

”…ain't stretching that bow for minutes makes your arms all twitchy?” taunted Tarni to Yosh as the darkness slowly descends and eats away the remaining light at the training field. ”If you're going to shoot me then shoot me…”

Because she's at the most elevated area on that training field, she can see the dark cloud slowly flowing; filling the whole area like a black gaseous liquid, reducing everything in sight to an abyss of nothingness as it settled. She couldn't see the Major and the Captain anymore. She can't see the ground below her anymore. Even Yosh, who is standing about thirty feet away from her, can be seen hazy. All she can see was the sack that she's supposed to defend, which is slowly then being eaten away too by the darkness. 'I am the Shadow Veil, a Master Assassin of the Sibara. I can see in the dark.' she thought as she gripped her halberd to a ready.

The Sibara Clan are said to be masters of the shadow, the night watchers. They are the protectors of the kingdom at night. Though she thought explicitly that she can see in the darkness, she doesn't mean that she literally has the ability to 'see'. The Sibara Clan members are given, even as children, harsh and impossible tasks that sometimes are rumored to be inhuman. They were honed to use their senses to the maximum level that's why they can still move through the dark as effectively as at day. This is why they dubbed all Masters of the Clan 'All seeing Masters', and this is why they are known to see in the dark.

The dark mist finally caught up to where she's standing. She then felt the black void suffocating her as if a weak force is pulling from all direction. ”This is Dark Magicks!” she shouted as she grabbed the end of the sack with her left hand. She tried hard to remember if there is a technique that can do such a thing but thought of none. As it settled, it turned everything to pitch black. A few seconds of silence was all there is for her comfort and yet this doesn't feel anything remotely comforting to her situation. The ultimate darkness looked like some sort of a black void that engulfed her. She can still see her body, her hands and her weapon but the weird part is that she can't see anything beyond that. The ground, the sky, the whole area was pure black. This gave her some chills as she strenuously clutched what she thought of as the sack beside her that she couldn't see.

Moments later, a bright flash appeared on her north-east. She saw a great white light that has a silhouette of a person running towards her. The white figure obviously stands out on the grounds because of the black void all around her. 'That's where the elemental build-up is earlier…' she thought as she limply moved herself closer to face the figure. Scared of what will happen, she lifts her halberd and readied herself to attack. The white individual kept on running still until after a few feet away from her, as she lifted her big weapon to a thrust, it disappeared. She then began to notice light emanating at her back. As she turns to see, she noticed that the figure looked like a man and is now holding the end of the sack trying to piggy-back it away. The figure gave a radiance of light around him like a spotlight – though the radiance only covers a small area.

”Impossible! You transmitted your body?” she asked the illuminating figure who is now carrying the sack. ”Mortals cannot transmit!” she yelled perplexed to what to believe in, her eyes or reality.

What they don't know must die, immediately. This is one of the teachings of their Master. As protectors of the night, any shadow that lurks and threatens their way of life must perish before it could cause misery come morning. Any creature must not have another chance to be a threat to them in the near future. Kill before they got the chance to kill you. This is their clan's reasoning. They embed this reasoning to every Sibaran trainee until it becomes instinct that's why every other Daomagarian clan looks down upon their measures.

With her instinct for a kill kicking in, she readied herself for a lunge. As the bright form of a person turned his attention to the Lieutenant, he immediately saw the direction of the blade and deflected it with his gauntlet with ease. Tarni gasped as the glowing person squeezed the blade of her weapon, destroying it with his hands. A sturdy Daomagarian Halberd made by the finest Daomagarian Blacksmiths available, squashed by a single hand, like pudding. He then pushed the weapon together with the Lieutenant throwing her almost ten feet away. He grabbed something from what appears to be a sling bag and threw a metal projectile to her direction. The metal blade traveled to her spot almost instantaneously and destroyed the metal shaft of her halberd in two. 'That's not an ordinary gauntlet', she thought making her figure out obliviously what to do.

The person then turned around to look for the sack that he just dropped while he's defending. Thinking that he disabled the lieutenant, sitting there still with eyes unbelieving, he grabbed the sack right away to carry it at his back without paying attention. Seeing this opportunity, Tarni braced her weapon, aiming to throw it to the figure when suddenly a swift arrow flew straight hitting her right arm, but unfortunately it didn't stop her from throwing the weapon away. The spike at the top of the halberd pierced the left thigh of the illuminating man which led him roar in agony. He dropped kneeling on the ground but managed to teleport due south. With his injury, he didn't make quite an escape for he only reached about sixteen to seventeen feet away. He just laid there in excruciating pain as he gently removes the swinging halberd that was skewered in his thighs.

The smiling waning gibbous moon subsequently pierced through the slowly dissipating dark void. Tarni figured that it's the Shining Man's illusion and that he needed his full concentration to maintain the spell, which was broken due to his painful injury. Noticing this, the Lieutenant grabbed the other part of the broken metal shaft of the remainder of her weapon and dragged her body close to the shining man.

”SO, YOU'RE THE ONE THAT CREATED THIS BLINDING SPELL – CLOUD LIKE – VOID OR WHATEVER IT IS!” she shouted with a hint of pain and shakiness in her tone considering she is heavily numbed by the Elven Arrows sticking out of her extremities. The pain that the two arrows radiate would be enough to make a man stand down and lie on the ground but not her. She is a Master Assassin of the Sibara after all and that makes her contain all the pain inside her little box in her mind that she hides away completely. She looked tilting her head at the shining man that now lost its radiance. ”Reus?” she mumbled in confusion as she recognizes the man she just pierced with her weapon.

”HOW DARE YOU!” shouted Karus running towards them from her far right as she was standing befuddled on what just happened.

Karus together with Kayzar arrived to rescue their brother and grab the target away from Tarni who was still stunned at what was happening. Kayzar gave a long and loud whistle as they disappeared into the dark forest on that cold night leaving Tarni still standing at the Training Ground and still numbed with two arrows sticking out of her body.

She knelt down and stumbled later on after seeing the three disappear in the dim blurry night. The lieutenant smirked as she tried to lie back gazing at the dancing stars and the hazy moon. ”…they really are great…” she softly said snickering before swiftly falling asleep after she pulled a pin stuck from her injured right arm.