Bolts of static current rushed at the wizards. They leaped in the air to avoid getting electrocuted and landed several meters back. Vincent smiled mockingly.

  “Why are you wasting Ki?” Camille asked, standing just behind him. “Keep using your speed attacks. I’m sure we can take ‘em out that way.”

  He straightened himself and spun his sword once. “It doesn’t use that much Ki.”

  Looking back at the Sokidu, the bounty hunter instructed, “Stay behind me. They’ll attack again and I’ll try to break their formation. The moment you find an opening, take a direct kill shot. Alright?”

  She looked at him with a narrowed gaze and, ditching Faris’s telepathic link, said, “You’re trying to protect me more than you’re trying to attack them!”

  He shook his head and looked back ahead. “Just shut up and fight.”

  As the wizards came rushing in, Vincent closed his eyes. It surprised them. But they attacked unfazed. He avoided with dismissive ease and countered with poised authority. One wizard attempted to avoid him and attack Camille directly. Somehow, he found his fist blocked by Vincent’s sword.

  The White Bolt was not merely moving fast. He was simultaneously engaging all six of them, noticing every movement, countering their strikes, and avoiding those he was unable to counter. It was frustrating. But the sextet could not get a clean shot, nor could they break through to Camille.

  His astute, battle-honed senses read every twitch of muscle before it even became a strike. And it was not only surprising his adversaries. Even Camille was in absolute awe, not only at how well he was countering the wizards but how well he had understood her strengths and limitations as well. Her chest was thumping with a strange exhilaration – terror and thrill woven together – as Vincent moved like he had known her rhythm for years. Following the battle from close behind, she held her glaive tightly waiting for her chance to strike.

  It came soon. With his speed increasing slowly, Vincent began to break the miscreants’ formation. One of them, when pushed back, tripped over a tree root. Camille rushed ahead and swung her glaive at him. He forged a forcefield using his magical bracelet. It broke. He was dragged back and slid for several meters along the wet land. But he was able to protect himself from being sliced in half.

  All the wizards had now realized – they were in trouble. Despite never having worked together before, Camille and Vincent were fighting in a fluid, instinctive rhythm. He struck like lightning, and her reach filled the gaps, their partnership flowing as if it had always been there.

  On a different front, amidst trees and rocks, a single pulsating wave of Ki shattered the demonic defensive barriers of three wizards. They stared wide eyed at the fast approaching Faris Naji. He was no Ella Clay. He was far stronger. And he was no longer playing around.

  Faris had sensed the trouble Zeta Squad was in and was trying to end his bout as quickly as possible. But the wizards were not about to give up easily. Commanding trees and vines, the rocks to their right, and the water from the stream to their left they countered the Mystic.

  Rocks broke off from the mountain and rushed at Faris. He simply phased through and engaged one of the wizard. They had merely exchanged a few hits before many vines came at him. The wizard jumped back, and the vines caught Faris’s legs. He concentrated Ki into his hands and cut them off but was surrounded by plenty more.

  He whispered, “UNZAMA-DOHAFEN-ZEEFA-JANSIN!”

  The wizards’ control over the forest broke immediately. They smiled. Faris looked up and chuckled. Their smiles slowly disappeared.

  The Mystic stood arms akimbo and shook his head smiling. “You guys really don’t know who I am, do you?”

  The trio had used the same demonic failsafe with their spell that had injured Ella. Plus here, all three had used it concurrently making it much stronger. But Faris easily blocked the demonic Ki from getting into his system.

  The Devil’s Hearth trio was sweating. They were unsure of their next move and stood in their place waiting.

  “Alright…” Faris dropped his arms. “It’s time I showed you what a Mystic’s control is all about…”

  In the blink of an eye, the grass beneath one of the wizards’ feet grew out and wrapped itself around his legs. A chunk of the mountain behind another broke off and landed atop him. While the last one, sitting crouched on a branch of a tree found himself impaled by wood protruding from the trunk.

  While the latter two died immediately, the former struggled for a bit. But the strands of grass kept growing out and soon covered his entire body. He tried his level best to command the grass but to no avail. Finally, even his face got covered. He began to suffocate.

  “One with nature,” Faris said. “That is a true Mystic!”

  Soon, the grass strands got retracted and the wizard’s lifeless body fell to ground.

  With all his adversaries killed. The Mystic took a deep breath. He had exhausted a considerable amount of Ki during the battle, but the job was not done yet. So, instead of taking too much time to rest and recuperate, he rushed to the aid of his juniors.

  Elsewhere, Derek, the Alchemist, had blended into the natural elements completely vanishing from sight. A swift invisible jab struck Hugo who tumbled aside. Regaining his composure, the Zaatsu stood up and closed his eyes.

  A voice echoed in his ears. “Give up, Zaatsu!”

  Hugo stood silent and still. His sensory abilities rivalled the best in the business. With his eyes closed, the Zaatsu was carefully observing his surroundings with all the other senses. He was looking for any sound out of the ordinary like irregular movement of leaves and flow of water, or any unusual sounds of animals, any smells other than those of the forest, and most of all, any Ki movement in the area surrounding him that resembled Alchemist.

  But Derek was confident. His abilities were not like those of a wizard. He was a Ki Manipulator and an Alchemist. He had the ability to blend in with his surroundings changing the very nature of his existence and the form of his body. He could have been a tree, a gust of wind, water flowing in the stream, a bird in the air, or an animal on the ground – his consciousness lingering, waiting to reappear in its original form and pounce on his foe.

  His foe, however, was no ordinary man. Hugo was not looking for the body. He was looking for the soul, the Ki. It may have blended into the surroundings, suppressed and mimicking it’s neighbour, but the Zaatsu’s heightened senses were not easy to fool.

  Very quickly, Hugo turned around and punched the air. A spiralling wave of fire rushed at a tree. It burned away but no ashes were produced confirming that it indeed was Derek.

  ‘How will he attack?’ Hugo wondered as he steadied himself once more. ‘It’ll have to be a combo. Hide in one place… attack from the other…’

  A sudden gust of wind rushed at him. Hugo rolled aside barely avoiding the attack. But he merely avoided it. He did not retaliate or return fire and then steadied himself once more.

  “What’s the matter, Baylis?” Derek’s voice echoed in his ear again. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up already?”

  Hugo smiled but did not reply.

  A few seconds later, many stone needles came flying towards him at great speed. Hugo jumped to his right to avoid getting impaled but was not fast enough. Two of the needles graced his left arm, one left a slight cut on his thigh, and one got lodged in his shoulder.

  ‘Gotcha…’

  Kneeled down on the ground, Hugo turned and unleashed a strong, concentrated Ki beam. It was fast and used up a sizable amount of Ki. But it was not aimed at the stones nor at the place where they were coming from. And before the needles could even stop coming, before Derek could even recalibrate his focus, the beam was already upon him.

  It struck him disguised as a boulder.

  A direct hit.

  Result – an explosion.

  The Alchemist returned to his original form and fell on the ground panting – his burned body fuming like a piece of charcoal on a grill.

  Hugo stood up slowly and looked at Derek lying nearly 20 meters away. He took a deep breath and then ripped out the stone needle from his shoulder with a suppressed grunt. Throwing it away, he placed a hand over the wound. A little patch up Ki work and the blood stopped flowing in seconds.

  “You’re good, Derek,” he said as he began walking towards the Alchemist. “But I think I can understand now what you’re all about. You’ve read the books, and you’ve practiced the moves and the spells and all the techniques. But you’ve never been in a real battle. You don’t have the experience to be a worthy combatant.”

  He stopped just six feet from him. “Get up,” he said. “Get up and show me what you’ve got left in the tank.” Crossing his arms, he added, “And also tell me... who’ve you been in contact with at the Palace?”

  Derek’s body suddenly turned to smoke and disappeared.

  Hugo shook his head as he whispered, “He really doesn’t know when to quit.”

  Down the stream, Gina leaped ahead to push Ben out of the way of an incoming attack. He was saved. But she was left stranded. Her Ki barrier failed, and some of the ice balls struck her on the side. She grunted as she sat down on the edge of the stream and clutched her left side in pain.

  “Gina!” Neil yelled. “Keep your guard up!”

  But she could barely keep herself up.

  As four wizards closed in, Ben came shouting, “BEREARUM-TERA-JO!”

  A Ki dome shielded them from the wizards.

  “Are you alright, master?” Ben asked.

  The wizards leaped back. Gina looked up. “I think I broke a couple of ribs.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Well, they’re ready for another attack and this shield won’t hold long. We have to do something.”

  Neil was locked in battle with five wizards and had been separated from his teammates again. But he was no longer holding back and was showing all his skill. With precise Ki charged strikes and superior strength, he was inflicting serious damage. Wielding dual swords, he was proving too hot to handle for the Devil’s Hearth.

  However, now Gina and Ben were in trouble. He wanted to help. But diverting his concentration from his current foes was also not a sound plan. So, he decided to end his battle quickly and fired his Ki up to a maximum charge.

  His strength was overwhelming. The wizards could no longer block his attacks effectively. Two put up their wrists to block his kicks and got their bones crushed and two had their swords shattered in an attempt to block his dual ones. The last one could not find any such luck. The Zaatsu’s blades came sweeping in, cut right through his arm, and got lodged in the side of his belly. As he pulled his sword back, blood gushed out.

  Neil leaped away and fired a Ki ball at the falling wizard shattering him to pieces.

  However, he rushed away too quickly. In an attempt to protect his comrades, Neil ran towards them not knowing where exactly the other wizards were.

  His feet got caught in a mudslide created by the miscreants. And before he could free himself, a large log came and struck him hard in the back of his head. He went down and slid for many paces before hitting a tree and stopping.

  The wizards laughed.

  Neil attempted to get up. But found it hard. He was shaken up, dizzied by the swift, strong blow to the head. His vision was shaky, but the shame of staying down screamed louder. He took the support of the tree and pushed himself up slowly until he was standing straight once again.

  All the while, the other side of the stream was on fire. Marcus was proving too hot to handle. Each of his strikes was filled with Ki – strong, quick, and nigh impossible to block. The wizards were running all over the place to avoid getting hit. And they were also keeping as much distance between themselves and the raging Sokidu to avoid getting burnt. His flame was not just Ki – it was rage at seeing his squad bleed.

  However, the wizards were still standing. Marcus was keeping all six of them away from Ella and was not letting them damage anyone either, but he had been unable to kill any more of them yet. And his Ki was getting exhausted fast.

  Faris Naji then arrived to assist the tall duo. He immediately began healing Ella’s Ki networks. In just a minute, he was able to pull out the demonic Ki from her body and throw it out. However, the arm that took the full force of the demonic effects had received more damage than he could have healed on the scene.

  Faris grabbed the young Mystic by her arms. “Try and get up,” he said. “I’ll help.”

  She was able to stand up, but try as she may, she was unable to force a proper Ki charge in her injured left arm. She looked away as a bitter knot of despair twisted in her gut – she hated being the one dragging them down.

  “It’s alright, Ella, leave it be,” the senior Mystic advised. “For now, just use the one arm. We have trimmed their numbers and taken out some of the seniors. All we need now is to combine the battles to finish them off.”

  Ella looked over at Marcus going berserk. “Master, what about the backup?” she asked.

  “Forget the backup, kid.” Faris shook his head as he smiled. “No one is coming to help us. We’re the only help we’ve got.”

  Elsewhere, the Alchemist was about to attempt another trick. But this time, it was not alchemy. Appearing on a rock some 30 meters behind Hugo, he raised his arms up over his head and released a large amount of Ki.

  “Come forth!” he exclaimed.

  Hugo looked up.

  The clouds parted.

  A roc appeared!

  With a narrowed gaze, the Zaatsu wondered why Derek had wasted so much Ki. The roc was a huge summon, an evocation that used a considerable amount of Ki. But against someone like Hugo, it was nothing short of a foolish move.

  Even before the gigantic bird could flap its wings once, Hugo raised a hand in the air and chanted, “TORAN-SOLOMON-SAVE!”

  Quicker than it appeared, the roc disappeared.

  Hugo turned around. Derek was standing bent forward and had a grin on his face. He brought both hands in front to show his wrists.

  “Shit…” Captain of the Zeta Squad finally understood why Derek had summoned the bird. While he was distracted in sending it away, the Alchemist had conjured up a new trick.

  “So, you know what these are, huh?” he asked raising one eyebrow higher than the other.

  Around his wrists were gold bracelets adorned with a series of circular talismans and around his neck was a glowing red pendant shaped like a bull.

  Hugo’s eyes narrowed. The pendant was not wizard craft nor was the bracelet. He had read of such relics in old records, dating back to the first Martial Artists and founders of the Sanctum of Prostasia.

  The Zaatsu shook his head once. “So, that’s your hand, Derek…”

  Derek chuckled. “Indeed.” His limbs glowing green and body glowing red, he was ready for the final round.

  “Where’d you find them?” Hugo asked.

  “Does it matter? You should only be glad you pushed me this far…”

  On the busier front, Faris Naji had begun calling the shots. He sent instructions over his telepathic link. “Marcus, create a fire barrier,” he said. “Vince, electrocute the area. We are retreating!”

  “But why?” Camille protested. “Master, we can take them out.”

  “I’m sure you can. But by the time you do, Ben, Gina, and Neil will be dead.” After a pause, he added, “We have to retreat and regroup. Then we’ll take ‘em down together!”

  As instructed, Marcus created a wall of flames several meters thick and wider than two football fields. Ella, Faris, and him then quickly rushed away.

  On the other hand, Vincent unleashed a flurry of thunderbolts jolting everything in a 200-meter radius. With a hand on Camille’s shoulder, he made sure she remained out of harm’s way. With the wizards stuck trying to free themselves from the shock, the duo found time to escape.

  All five Martial Artists quickly rushed towards the eight wizards surrounding Neil like a wake of vultures. Faris, Camille, and Marcus simultaneously unleashed flames to send them away.

  “Alright, listen up,” said Faris. “Tend to your injured and do whatever you can to be ready for their next strike. Do you guys have any healing charms or potions with you?”

  “Yes, I do,” Gina replied.

  “Good. Hand ‘em out to the group and provide whatever else is needed.” Looking at the White Bolt, he added, “Me, you, and Cami will give them time to get back on their feet. Think you can handle it?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Then let’s have at it, boys and girls…”

  Ben, Ella, Gina, Neil, and Marcus moved farther away while Camille, Faris, and Vincent braced themselves for the incoming attack.

  The flames had been doused, and the current grounded – all the wizards of the Devil’s Hearth had banded together and were on their way.

  Faris looked at Camille. “Draw up a sizable disturbance,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be strong. But just make sure they know we’re here…”

  She nodded.

  “Vince, you take the right. I’ll take the left. Cami, you stay front and centre.”

  Camille smiled as she dropped her head and moved ahead. In a hushed voice, she said, “Why am I always front and centre in forests?”

  The White Bolt, moving to the right, looked back with a smile. “Told you,” he said and she looked over. “Those who learn... are the ones burdened…”

  With commendable command over water, Camille sucked the moisture out of the plants and trees, and then used fire to heat it up and produce steam. Visibility dropped to zero around her. Faris and Vincent masked their Ki and dived in from the corners.

  The steam cloud kept growing. Very soon, the fast-approaching wizards were engulfed inside. They attempted to use wind gusts to send the steam away. But Camille kept producing more. They could not see far. They could not tell who was controlling the cloud nor could the see the prowling duo approaching from either side.

  A wizard attempted to rush to one side and escape the steam. He was kicked back in by Vincent. They realized the White Bolt was there and decided to stay close together.

  But all 20 wizards kept moving ahead cautiously. Faris unleashed a Ki shockwave rushing towards them. They all avoided it.

  “Vince, listen up,” the Mystic said, telepathically. “They’re sensory types. At least a few of them. We’ll have to get in and get our hands dirty.”

  “Yeah, that’s why they were able to avoid that shockwave,” the White Bolt replied. “Tell Camille to fall back.”

  Faris immediately told Camille to rush back and join the others. Then, the duo moved in.

  “Now, listen. Camille’s heading back. The gang won’t take long to heal. We just have to keep them busy till they get ready…”

  “Got it…”

  Vincent was now avoiding elemental conduction while Faris was avoiding any extravagant use of the Continuum of Sempiternity. They were conserving strength. And they still had one huge advantage over the Devil’s Hearth – they could sense and tell exactly where their enemies were.

  They dived in, landing right between the wizards, and smashed their Ki charged fists down on the ground. The resulting Ki shockwaves forced the miscreants to scatter.

  Keeping them occupied was the only thing Faris and Vincent were worried about. No matter how good their sensory abilities were, the wizards were never going to be able to pinpoint the duo. They were both experts of Ki Manipulation and could supress their Ki masterfully. Moving unnoticed, they began engaging.

  It took the wizards a while to realize that none of the strikes aimed at them were meant to injure or kill. They were merely stalling. Some of them broke away and moved back, unleashing a strong wind to blow the steam away. Camille was no longer there to create more of it, but it did not matter. They had bought enough time.

  When the mist thinned, the Mystic and the White Bolt were already retreating – or so it seemed. Blurred trails of Ki shimmered like afterimages, racing into the trees.

  “After them!” a wizard shouted.

  Fourteen surged forward, chasing the phantoms. The last six lingered a moment longer, finishing their spell to clear the steam, then hurried after their comrades.

  The forward party clashed with the Eye compatriots – patched up, recharged, and fighting with renewed strength.

  One wizard noticed and asked the others, “Hey! Where’s the Mystic and the fast one?”

  Little did they know, the chase was a lie. Faris and Vincent had never left and were locking horns with the six who had lagged behind.

  Faris alone was strong enough to take out six of them. But with the added assistance of the White Bolt, the matchup became ridiculously one-sided.

  In a Hail Mary attempt to slow the incoming giants of the arcane world, the wizards conjured up all their strength to create hundreds of ice needles and shot them forward.

  With his superior speed and reflexes, Vincent avoided the attack by leaping in the air. Faris, on the other hand, lifted up the ground in front of him to use as a shield. Needles got lodged in the mud and pebbles and he remained unscathed.

  While the sextet was wondering what to do about the leaping White Bolt, the Mystic used the Continuum to teleport behind them. The wizards found themselves stuck with nowhere to escape.

  Faris unleashed a powerful Ki blast from six feet behind them while Vincent unleashed one from ten feet above. They attempted to form a shield to protect themselves. But from that range, it would have been a miracle had they survived.

  Their shields barely had the time to form.

  The blasts went right through and struck cleanly.

  Their bodies erupted into a Ki-charged storm.

  They were shattered to pieces.

  Vincent landed on the ground and gave a thumbs up. “Yours killed two, mine killed four.”

  Faris smiled. “Don’t push too hard, kid,” he said. “Those damned braces are already biting – your wrist is bleeding.”

  Elsewhere, Marcus and Neil, assisted by Ben, unleashed a less powerful Ki attack to push the wizards back. While they steadied, Gina and Camille summoned evocations of their own – a dozen gleaming phoenixes each. With pure Celestial Ki pulsating in their veins, the mystical birds engaged the wizards while the group moved away.

  Faris and Vincent, en route, saw the birds attacking the Devil’s Hearth.

  “What are you guys doing?” Faris asked telepathically.

  Neil replied saying, “We've seen the effectiveness of the surprise attacks. All we need is one more to kill them all…”

  Intrigued, the duo rushed to join up with the rest for one final dance.