31 NIGHT HUN (2/2)
”How can he do this? This is impossible...” he muttered out loud.
”Sir...” Lieutenant Marko stuttered pointing upwards. ”W-what is that?”
The General's eyes widened at the Owl circling them up above as if they are his prey.
”Direct your attacks at that owl!” he ordered once again pointing at the small owl almost a hundred feet directly above their heads. ”That owl is revealing our position! It must be slain as soon as possible!”
-------ooO0Ooo-------
”Hey, Yosh,” Iyom said bothering him once more after his third barrage. ”Are you not afraid of him being attacked there? They do have their arrows.”
”Don't worry. My Stella is special. We've been practicing everyday and I do my best to shoot at the maximum speed possible. Even Sibara's can't take her down.”
”Are you really that confident? What if...”
”Don't worry,” he interrupted. ”She'll do fine. And besides, her light armor is made by Dal'Gur himself. She's practically invulnerable to projectile attacks. It may jolt her a little, but she knows what to do...”
-------ooO0Ooo-------
The volley of arrows is now aimed at the skies above the fortress. Sibaras and Nagozulian's Eastern Sentry Archers are now focusing all their effort in hitting the fast flying owl who has been dodging them by further climbing higher and higher. The General noticed this kind of tactic but, before he could shout to stop them, it's too late. Their Elven enemy began his fourth arrow barrage. It's a trap! The elf used the owl to lure the archers to give their locations for him to snipe which in turn led to a domino of writhing archers being hit by the sniper. Forty archers fell unconscious with twenty soldiers falling incapacitated being at the receiving end of the exploding poisoned shrapnel. It has been a steep decrease of the elf's efficiency since the lights were killed but still a very dangerous drop of odds for them. Up to now, it is estimated that the casualties of soldiers suffering from the curse of the Sleep of Death are at two hundred forty-one with almost a hundred incapacitated soldiers suffering from the blast of those hundreds of black Elven arrows aimed at them. Almost a third of the soldiers at the fortress are all that remains which comprises mostly of Sibaras who are itching for a battle. There's no other choice but one.
”Retreat to the first bailey!” the General commanded which rang to every officer at the parapet walk. They all complied fast carrying the injured without hesitation as though they are anticipating such an order for quite a while.
”Sir, with your blessings, we could attack the Yiv outside,” A Sibara Master whispered now appearing behind him as if like a shadow that just grew in a bat of an eye.
”No, Master Sibara. Stay with your apprentices at the first Bailey and help us there.”
”But...”
”This order is non-negotiable, Master Sibara. Our enemy is not any ordinary villain out for vengeance or blood. If they are serious in killing us, we should've already been killed. They want something. I don't know what, but they will want to go inside and breach us. They are sniping our soldiers from a distance to even the odds for when they breach our fortress. The Elf is sniping because that thing cannot join the breach since it will never be able to compare its strength to us in close quarter combat, being frail as they are. No. What you need to do is to make yourself available when that time comes! Do I need to explain everything to you, Master Sibara? Do you need a lecture on tactics now?”
”If I may, you haven't even...”
”I am the General of the Army of Prodigy. Do you dare question my orders?”
”No, sir. My apologies, sir.” And he disappeared together with the running soldiers retreating downstairs to the first bailey.
The General looked down on Yiv and Magnus with intense eyes. This is rather an unconventional tactic to seize a fortress. While it is ordinary for an enemy to hit an empty fort filled with newly recruited Nagozulian Elementals, even with a few low-ranking officers in place, it is odd for them to strike it with a four-man-team. Yiv and Magnus connected with the look that he's giving. They crossed their arms as if in wait, as if mocking him. This made him smile a little, feeling a bit ecstatic. He hasn't been in a battle for years and this has warmed his blood in excitement as though the event mimicked the effects of coffee giving him the jolt he needed.
”Sir,” Lieutenant Marko knelt behind him reporting. ”All injured Elementals and Sibara are now safe inside the main bailey. All soldiers that are able are charging their Amplifyers at the first bailey just after the gates. We're waiting for you there, sir.”
”Just wait for the breach and post soldiers on all corners of the fortress. They will never breach if we maintain that kind of charge. No Daomagar can withstand the full force of Nature. If they enter our doors, we will incinerate and bury them here.”
”What about that elemental charge just up the hills sir. It's disrupting our senses.”
”They are holed up on that hill for a reason, Lieutenant. If he's strong enough, that traitor would've joined Yiv at the front gates. Let the Sibara Assassins take care of them. You have sent them there, correct?”
”Yes sir. They should be there right about now.”
-------ooO0Ooo-------
”They retreated?” Yosh pouted whistling for Stella to come back.
”Why are you sad? That's a good thing, right?”
”No,” Reus entered. ”If they retreat now, still with a formidable army inside, Magnus and Yiv will be in danger.”
”Whoa! Magnus and Yiv?!” Yosh reacted surprised. ”So, we're going to have our mission code names now?! Then I should inform you of mine. From this day hence you should refer to me as Aether.”
”Aether? As in Light? But I thought you like the darkness?”
”Wait a minute? Your brother is the Yiv?” protested Iyom angry remembering the Eye of Dim'ion, an eye technique used to have complete perfect vision in battle.
”No. Of course, not you dummy,” Yosh laughed. ”Yiv's been killing fifteen years ago or something. They're just fourteen. Go figure. And no, Rex, I don't like the darkness. The dark scares me. I merely adapted to the darkness like Master told me to.”
”Hey, how'd you find out my code name?”
”You're so predictable. Using Rex as codename. Phsh.”
”Hey that means King!”
”Duh!”
”Hey, I don't want to bother but you said that my involvement here is practically a secret right?” Iyom said interrupting.
”Yes. No one should know what you look like under any circumstance so you're not going to reveal yourself,” Yosh answered irritated for repeating what he and his brothers said to him earlier.
”Well then I'll just hide myself here just a moment. I hope you won't mind.”
Before Yosh could've asked why, Iyom disappeared being sucked inside his life tree. His tree then shivered and crumbled into dust leaving a blooming Violet on the base to sprout again.
Luna shrieked from behind slowly backing up to her master.
”Uh-oh,” Yosh smiled. ”I guess we're going to find out how you fare on combat without using your skills, eh Rex?”
”Hah! Good one not using the prefix thing. We don't want to them to know our relationship.”
”Exactly, Rex,” he said smiling. He's not used to addressing his brothers without the proper words of respect saying Kuya and that created an unusual feeling jerking him to give a smile in response.
Five shadows instantly emerged from the bushes all with long daggers on both hands. The one in front, who appears to be the Master Sibara of that strike team, smiled as he licked his blade.
”Well, well, well. One Daomagar from the Bandhana Clan like Magnus and One...” the Sibara inspected Reus looking scrawny with spectacles on and a tight bandana wrapped all around his head in a mess. ”What are you exactly boy? You look Daomagar and yet you're building-up a great Elemental charge. Where's your Amplifyer anyway?”
”What do you care?”
”No matter,” he continued. ”Where's the elf?”
”What elf?” Yosh said smugly.
”Don't be insolent kid. The elf that fired those strange arrows. Where is it?”
”The IT is me, you rude stinky...”
The Sibara walked a step that looked like five. His fast gentle movements are too misleading to calculate. He's using the Reaper's Walk. It is the most common skill of the Sibara in assassinating a target using a quick dash too fast for the eye that would make the illusion of walking. The two jumped back keeping their distance of at least twenty feet from the Master Sibara.
”It can't possibly be you? You're so tiny and puny to create such devastating attacks. Stop lying or I'll punish you most extensively you'll never use your mouth again.”
”I'm the one holding the bow you twerp! Are your eyes that blind that…”
”Shut up, Aether,” Reus said with eyes peeled to the four Sibaran Apprentices standing perfectly still as though they are awaiting their master's orders.
”Oh, so it's Aether, huh? What a pathetic name...”
”This is dangerous,” Reus whispered to Yosh. Yosh is now getting angry with the outline of his eyes turning black activating his Eagle Eyes. ”You need to be careful.”
”Hah! It's really going to be dangerous for you kids to have come out and play with us Sibaras! Your parents are daft not to teach you to be...”
”Oh, no. You misheard,” Reus interrupted. ”What I meant was, it's going to be dangerous if you insult this kid further. He needs to be careful to control himself so that we'll prevent your funeral.”
The five Sibara's was stumped with Reus's confident eyes almost laughing at them and looked directly at the troubled kid with the face scrunched up all angry. In a blink, they all felt death clutching their lives for a brief moment before relinquishing it finally to feel the strange sudden pain all over their bodies. The world began to shift, and their vision was torn for about two seconds until finally creating a raucous hiss on their ears. They cannot move, they cannot speak, they can't even breathe. The Master Sibara is now dumbfounded with this new skill that he is now demonstrating. This is not a Daomagarian skill, which could only mean one thing. He is indeed the elf, a funny looking elf that does not look like the myths that describe them at all.
”Hey, Aether,” Reus smiled almost pleading. ”Mind dialing it just a bit?”
”No!” he pulled five of those unusual black Elven arrows and pointed his bow straight at them as he pulled them with ease showing off his skill. ”He told me I'm just a puny tiny kid not worthy of his respect! He called me a kid! 'Lemme just give him something to think about two days from now. Or whenever they wake up.”
-------ooO0Ooo-------
”Four minutes... That took a while...”
”Yep, Magnus. We need to keep the pace up. We only got fifteen minutes left.”
”Oh...” Karus chuckled all of a sudden appearing as though he's being tickled. ”Their elemental charge... it tingles... so this is what an army's elemental charge feels like.”
”The front door is scrubbed then?”
”Not necessarily. Don't forget that there's no other way than to go there.”
”We could jump?”
”That high?! Are you insane?”
Kayzar sneered at his reply. He knows he could jump that high with his training that spanned for almost a year, but he didn't pursue the idea. ”Climb then? Scaling that tall wall is not that impossible you know.”
”No. We need to go straight there.”
”Okay...” he mumbled with a sigh walking behind him in a slouch.
Karus stood fifty feet from the door and inhaled a lungful of air and then puffed it out slowly. He looked at Kayzar with excited eyes. ”Hey, you know about the Deep Root, right?”
”The defensive stance that absorbs great physical impact from the enemy and transfers the destructive force to Mother Earth?”
”Yep.”
”What about it?”
”Let's just say, it could be an offensive skill too. Just watch.”
With a tap of a foot he dashed on forward with the most impressive speed he ever witnessed. A fifty-foot dash from his point to the gate is no simple feat. Not even ordinary Daomagarians can do that. And with a pause for about a quarter of a second, he slashed the metal doors that are at least ten inches thick. The resulting destructive explosion is extraordinary. The shockwave from the blast gave slight tremors in the earth only comparable to the strongest Daomagar's destructive punch. That's when he figured out what he did. By allowing his body to exert the maximum speed, up to beyond its limits, he used the excessive force that should've ripped his body apart and transferred it to the door. It was a rather reckless and dangerous calculation that, if done improperly, would've surely resulted to his instant demise. A margin of error to even at least a percent would be perilous. If he stops, or is hindered, or his attack did not connect in time, his body will be ripped apart by the tidal forces he accumulated in his body in that blink of an eye.
”So, how was it?” he yelled right after hiding in the corner upon seeing the Nagozulian Army on the other side.
Kayzar just slapped his face in disappointment seeing that every Nagozulian fired their elemental charge directly right at him.
-------ooO0Ooo-------
”FIRE!” the General bellowed releasing his own thirty-foot-wide fireball to the now broken metal gates that once was.
All of the other soldiers followed releasing their different elemental skills. Jets of water as sharp as swords came circling burning magma rock boulders behind a whirling twister of daggers the Sibara threw. It was a breathtaking feat of destructive force aimed at Yiv. It lit the fortress bright yellow as if it is day creating a massive bonfire just outside the gates. The explosion roared a disturbing alarm that can be heard for at least ten miles. It continued to burn an intense heat that could've melt even the sturdiest of metals alloys.
This massive display of elemental powers created rich smog that engulfed the fortress. Wind Blowers from the Army cleared the uninvited thick black choking air that is persistently squeezing their way inside and over the walls of the fortress. They are still newly trained Nagozulian Army Soldiers so they could not push the smoke all the way out. All of the Nagozulian Windblowers's attention is directed into stopping the suffocating black smoke that resulted from the explosion. It seemed that the General over-estimated their skills apparently. They are after all, newly recruited soldiers but that display of humiliating skill disappointed him. If they are that weak, then they are as good as cannon fodder. They are actually a liability than an advantage.
Wind Blowers need complete focus in order to maximize the powers of their channeling skills. It is important to maintain that kind of focus or else their elemental essence will be useless. It's comparable to a swordsman fighting an enemy with troubling thoughts bothering their mind. Even if they claim to be the best, the strongest, the more experienced, if they are occupied with fear, or confusion, or the thought of death taunting them, their skills will diminish and will be reduced to at least half their potential. This is what's happening and that thought made Kayzar smile a bit as he entered the fortress releasing four daggers in the air and dashed on forth to meet the routed Army.
In about ten seconds, he managed to poison all of the Army soldiers that are in his way with the exception of those Sibaras who are skilled enough to dodge his every move. Nothing could've stopped him on his path. And with his entrance came the smog that he befriended, concealing his dark silhouette even further.
”Retreat to the Main Bailey!” the General echoed as he remained standing with the Sibara soldiers encircling Yiv.
”So, we meet again, Yiv,” said the Sibaran Master fixing a metal gauntlet with sharp claws and thorns drenched in poison. ”I will not be so lenient this time. I will show you the pride of Sibara.”
”I don't know you,” he coldly replied. ”When did we meet again?”
The Sibara Master looked him sharply in the eyes, annoyed but somewhat cautious still. ”I am what they refer to as the Venom. I will...”
Before he could finish, Yiv disappeared and reappeared behind him. And in a gasp from his peers, he fell down unconscious, without any fight.
”Ah,” Yiv laughed. ”No wonder we're not acquainted.”
”You have no honor, Yiv,” another Master Sibara mumbled as they all stepped back.
”When did we ever have this honor you speak of?” he calmly said with his murderous eyes panning to see each and every one of them. ”Now who wants to go to bed next?”
-------ooO0Ooo-------
”Stand back!” the General bellowed unleashing a snake-like whip hissing and snapping like it has a mind of its own.
He lashed it on to Yiv which he dodged pretty easily but before he could get lucky for another shot, Magnus dashed to join in and blew his whip into pieces, throwing them back to the General.
”I suppose you're not the only one who'll enjoy this fight, eh?” Karus laughed flicking his Katana.
”Well, if you could scooch him out of the way while I take these other Sibaras in peace, then that'll be mighty super.” Kayzar whispered.
With a flick from the two of his fingers as if in salute he quickly disappeared giving a sword barrage to the General that made him run back to gain some ground. Karus didn't even give him time to recover till they are at least fifty feet from Kayzar and the Sibara Goons.
”Why are you doing this?” the General started. ”You do not have anything to steal here, no person to liberate. There's even no money to profit! Why are you here?!”
Karus just smiled behind his mask which insulted the General even further. He knows the General couldn't see him gave his widest grin, but he could tell that he noticed it from his eyes. His was a mocking eye.
”You leave me no choice but to defend myself and my troops!”
General Jowl pushed his arms on the ground giving off the most surprising display of Elemental Charge that he has never seen before. From zero to full amplification in just under a second is truly the basis to consider when gauging the difference in battle experience. This General is no push-over, he thought as he jumped back a few feet away further from him. He truly is fit to be the General of the Prodigies.
His metal whips began fixing itself finding raw metal from everywhere lying on the ground, as if Nature is helping him build one. And with a smile, the ground started to tremble beginning again the creation of his fire whip, his ultimate technique, only this time, he's not giving any leeway, any mercy whatsoever, as he completed the skill to its maximum.
The Fiery Magma Snakes, as he coined it, is a rare skill he invented. He used his Earth Element to pull the earth to combine it to his metal whip. With this in hand, he heats it up to at least six hundred degrees with his Fire Element and then attaches it into his arms coiling it up his entire body. The remaining ends of his whips extends to his arms and legs giving him another set of limbs that move about on his command. It is a perfect offensive and defensive skill that would scorch the person going too near and would rip apart anyone on his mid reach.
Karus smiled as he stepped forward but to his surprise he's not yet finished. With a loud stomp of his feet he made a circular web structure on the ground made of fire stretching for about at least sixty feet in diameter with the General at the center. This web like structure incinerated the ground hissing forth hot gasses and random blazing fire walls making the air as hot as the steam from boiling water. Karus is literally standing inside his fiery snare.
”The Trap of the Spider Snake,” he said. ”I think you ought to be honored I revealed my ultimate skill to you. It is something for your trip to Impierno.”
Karus moved dashing around him, dodging fire walls but got stung by his scorching whip behind. He did not notice it. It's so fast his dashes were overthrown. He was tossed back rolling on the hot ground for a few feet squirming in pain.
”Too slow, Daomagar. This trap acts like a spider's web. I know exactly where you are and where you're going.” And with a devious grin, nodding as if saying his goodbye, his Fiery Magma Snakes began rushing to him like an angry serpent out for his prey.
Karus saw this and immediately parried the attack. He gave continuous rapid slashes from his katana that dismembered the snakes from his path, but it just magically repaired itself.
He ran off slashing every time they strike to defend himself but to no avail since it grows its head back. To his surprise, it seems that the Fiery Magma Snakes extends to as long as his web trap is. He tried getting out, just to formulate a strategic plan to defeat him from his suffocating web trap but the edges of the web suddenly jettisoned a fifty-foot yellow magma wall a thousand degrees hotter than the web trap.
”You can't escape here,” he laughed trying his best to hit him while he ran off in circles. ”The only way you could get out is if you defeat me or I defeat you. Either way, you're trapped!”
With no other available option, he smiled and dashed forward to the enemy. A thirty-foot dash in a second surprised even the General and before he could react the blade of the Katana bashed his perfect defense and threw him away almost fifty feet outside of his territory.
Karus used his sword bash that he formulated and was thoroughly delighted he managed to make a surprise attack. The success of his hit made him so glad that it led for laxity to occupy his mind for a while, leaving for him to forget one simple fact: The Fiery Magma Serpents of the General that is attached to him. When his sword connected with the General's armor, the fiery serpents rushed to his side and slammed on Karus's back scratching their way into his body following their master being thrown away like a saw cutting away through wood.
”Got you...” the General mumbled as he rose, throwing away the huge debris of burning wreckage from his impact.
-------ooO0Ooo-------
Jowl got up groggily almost smiling after the fact that he got away with just a broken rib from a fight with the one rumored to be stronger than Yiv. Because of his Steel Armor together with his Fiery Serpentine Magma Defense coiled up around him, the lethal blow of that slash was dampened into a minimal injury, an injury he was still surprised Magnus managed to give him considering that he believed his defenses were almost as impervious as a Master Molder's Defense Enchantments.
As he stood there almost content with his skill, he noticed Magnus kneeling on the ground from where he is before. The thick black smoke that resulted from his smoke-belching trap hindered his vision. He fought the pain from his back and his ribs as he pulled every muscle in his feet to continue getting near to the corpse of the Great Magnus. Every step he made brought cold sweat to trickle down his shivering body while mouthing vulgarities of discontent. He knows something is wrong.
”It can't be!” he finally cried seeing the Daomagar Magnus with his armor stripped from his body getting down on all fours, with his lungs racing to seize as much air to invigorate him once again. His body is without a scratch which troubled him further.
The cracks on the ground proved that he managed to perform the Deep Root as his serpentine whips sawed through him, but what's really troubling is that even with Deep Root in place, the elemental damage of fire cannot be quenched by Deep Root alone. Deep Root only absorbs physical damage made by any element except Fire. Fire is the most destructive of all elements. It has no physical form and no other function but to destroy. His body should be mutilated by his scorching hot magma fires that would've, without a doubt, burned half his body into a crisp but yet he's still there, and there's only one possibility. Only one thing can stop a Fire Starter's destructive flames, and that is to beat his elemental essence. A battle of fire can only be won by a person with the highest essence.
”Y-you're a Nagozulian... but that's not possible...”
Magnus tried to stand up but failed as he stumbles on the ground dropping his half-cooked face mask. He tried his best to conceal his face, but the blood-drenched bandana was all Jowl needed to see to know who he is, the only possible Nagozulian with the greatest fire essence to beat her highness Prodea's fire essence. Even possessing much greater essence to beat the Great Seer Juni, the Legendary Fire Sentinel. It has to be no other than his godchild Karus.
”Y-you can't be the...” he mumbled as he fumbled down confused.
Yiv then entered from the fog with bloody murderous eyes that sapped his strength further. His sharp eyes disabled him to talk anymore as it gave out clear warning not to move, as if ordering him to stand down.
The silence of the Fortress gave clear indication that the Sibaras have now been neutralized. With a mighty explosion of Yiv's smoke grenades, Magnus, who he fears is Karus, magically disappeared into the fog together with Yiv. General Jowl sighed with a heavy heart as he resigned his body to the warm ground. He tried his best not to move, not to disturb the ground that gently sooths his broken body. He heard five explosions he feared are the northern and southern walls of the fort. His eyes opened up, concerned about the fortress but quickly closed it again. He tried his best not to bother. To concentrate on thinking that that night was just a nightmare. To just forget.
The idea of Karus being Magnus sprung up again persisting in his mind, taunting him to question how and why, but the thought of Civil War echoed far loudly than ever. He has to forget it. He has to! For the sake of Artemus, for the sake of Anagea and Narra, for the sake of Nagozul, and most specially for the sake of the preservation of life on the Holy Lands. He must try remembering how to lock his memory in the depths of his mind as his best friend Artemus taught him to. He must do it. He must. Even if it is impossible, he must succeed. He must now summon every power left within him to try. In order to protect everyone, Prodea must never know.