Tayaire stopped running as he watched three men charging at him from the front. As he put up his guard to fend off his incoming assailants, he could sense the auras of four more people coming from his rear. Without any hesitation, one by one, Tayaire took out his enemies with blinding speed. As if he were teleporting from place to place in a moment, each time Tayaire had stopped moving, he had delivered a devastating strike to one of his opponents.
As Tayaire fought off the men who had charged at him, three others had decided to plan a sneak attack. Seeing an opening in Tayaire's defenses, the men rushed in for a blind attack. Tayaire quickly noticed the first man as he approached. This man had carried a scythe-type weapon, that when swung, left behind a black trail similar to a claw mark. As the man swung his weapon in an attempt to attack Tayaire, Tayaire had seamlessly dodged every attack.
"You guys really can't be this bad!" Tayaire said as he slightly moved side to side, dodging each blow. "I know a ten-year-old who would put you 'boys' to shame."
Tayaire had noticed as the other two men with this one quickly approached him. As Tayaire dodged the first attack, another man swung a large mallet horizontally towards Tayaire's head. Swiftly, Tayaire had ducked under the mallet, performing a perfect dodge, then he kicked the man in his stomach, making him stumble several feet back. Suddenly, Tayaire had appeared behind the man, leaving the whole group in shock.
"How the hell is he able to move this fast?" The first man yelled in surprise.
Tayaire had put the man with the mallet down with one quick slash to his jugular before he could even turn around. In the same swift motion, as if it were the start of a chain reaction, Tayaire threw his karambit towards the other man. He threw it the same way that he had done thousands of times beforehand with trees and wooden targets. The karambit soared through the air and hit the first man directly in the center of his chest, causing the kerfs in the blade to lock into the bone. This had given Tayaire just enough resistance so that he could tighten his grip around the chain. Tayaire had pulled the chain after getting his grip, simultaneously pulling the man along with it, throwing the man into a large tree. Upon seeing that the force of the man's body made the tree collapse on impact, Tayaire began retracting his blade.
"Wait, weren't there three of you?" Tayaire questioned as he drew in the thin, metal-like chain.
Tayaire's eyes began to glow with a hue of purple. This was a clear sign of him using [Clairvoyance], an ability that, when under control, allowed him to see several seconds into the near future. He had received a short vision of a man dropping from the tree above him, striking him down by delivering a devastating blow. The strike had decapitated Tayaire on the spot. Tayaire soon snapped out of his vision and looked up.
"Knew it. There you are!" Tayaire spoke loudly as he blocked the man's sword with the thin chain, only a few inches from his neck.
At that moment, Tayaire released a pulse of radiating energy from his body. The force of the energy blasted the man and everyone within twenty feet of Tayaire away, causing them severe injuries.
"Damn, I think I overdid it!" Tayaire said while catching his breath and observing the small crater around him.
Tayaire's abilities and control over Spiritual Energy were two of the three reasons that he was placed in such a high position among the other tribes. Not to say that he wasn't a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, but Tayaire was a master in spiritual energy manipulation. This had made him stand out above the rest of his peers.
At this point in the battle, Tayaire has already taken out thirteen opposing enemies without the need to show his full potential. He truly expected someone stronger to show up, but all he saw was more or less nothing but lackeys.
"Something isn't adding up. Where's Kuma?" Tayaire thought as he searched the auras of the remaining group of people for the man with silver hair.
"So that's what his plan was!" Tayaire spoke furiously, not noticing that Kuma had left the moment he got distracted fighting off the previous attackers.
Tayaire had lifted his hand in an open, stretched-out position towards the remaining group of enemies.
"This ploy was just to get me away from the settlement, and I clumsily fell for it!" Tayaire yelled angrily as an orb of energy formed at the base of his palm.
Seeing the ball of energy had caused the remaining enemies to freeze with shock on their faces. The orb of energy was a dense violet shade and slightly transparent. It was smaller than Tayaire's hand but still close to the size of a tennis ball.
"Everyone, take cover!" One of the men cried out, trying to warn the rest of his group.
"This is going to cause me some drawbacks, using up all this spirit energy at once!" Tayaire said as he concentrated on his remaining energy.
Tayaire focused his energy on making the orb grow twice in size. The orb burst from Tayaire's hand, creating a beam of light bigger than a small townhome. The beam had wiped out everything in its path at light speed. Leaving behind a crater rushing towards the group of enemies as they ran. The energy wave delivered by Tayaire's hands was a basic attack used by those able to manipulate spiritual energy. But due to the amount of energy that Tayaire had used, it had caused devastating damage, to say the least.
"Hopefully that would be enough to do it. I can't waste any more time. I must get back before anything else goes wrong." Tayaire spoke, tired and out of breath, grabbing the left side of his chest.
The output of his attack was over what he thought it would be, but he thought it was worth it if he could finish the battle before it dragged on any longer. The rapid depletion of energy caused Tayaire to lose balance and fall to one knee. It had taken a huge toll on his body, leaving him with almost nothing left in the tank.
As Tayaire looked at his surroundings, he noticed just how much damage was created by his blast. There was a huge canyon several miles deep, filled with debris. The surrounding sight would have been surprising to onlookers as they would see multiple human bodies and trees that were fully detached from the ground. The landscape was completely in tatters and barely holding together.
"Hmmm, that's unsettling." Tayaire said as he could see a dome glowing a bright shade of green in the center of the crater. "I guess you guys have more fight in you than I gave you credit for."
"Looks like my dreams of ending this battle in one move won't come true after all." Tayaire mumbled as he put away his chained karambit. "I can't afford to continue to hold back."
Tayaire had pulled the sword out from the sheath on his back, surprised that even one member of the group was still hanging on to their life. The sword was a Flamberge that was solid black in color. all except for the hilt and markings on the blade, which both glowed in a bright violet color once it touched his hands.
"Looks like they're ready." Tayaire said as he jumped into the crater and ran towards the dome.
The dome began to dissipate from the center of the top, falling down slowly like a veil to the surface. Three men and one woman could be seen standing in the middle of the dome as it fell. One of the men had flown out from the top of the dome, jacketed in a sky-blue coat of energy. Like a heat-seeking missile, the man was locked on Tayaire, moving faster than any normal human eye can see. Observing any slight movement that might give him a clear opening.
"Damn, these guys are persistent." Tayaire thought to himself as he ran.
Tayaire could see that the man was coming within a close striking distance. The man had flown very fast and had covered a great distance very quickly. As both men moved closer towards each other, Tayaire and the other man both swung their swords back. Tayaire had planned to knock any attack that the man attempted off target. Within the blink of an eye, the man's sword had altered directions, sending a quick slash towards Tayaire's abdomen.
Noticing his sword slashing nothing but air, Tayaire switched his position to block the deadly blow. As the two swords collided, a loud "clang" sound could be heard, sending ripples throughout the air and causing the ground beneath their feet to tremble.
"Looks like you're not just fast, but you have some power to back it up I see!" Tayaire spoke with a clear smile on his face, thinking to himself that if this were an average one-on-one battle, he could actually take some time out to see this opponent's full capabilities.
Tayaire quickly conjured a small orb of energy within his free hand. Unlike his last blast, Tayaire didn't charge or focus more energy into the orb. Tayaire had simply shoved the orb of energy into the man's side. This caused the orb to send the man flying several yards in the same direction that he had come from.
"Return to sender!" Tayaire yelled as the man could be seen being caught by two of his allies.
The third man had been assumed to be the leader of this small unit. This was mainly due to him being the only person yet to move. That, and the fact that he had seemed to be the one directing everyone's movements.
"Slick remarks will only be able to get you so far, Tayaire!" The leader said as he walked in a slow stride towards Tayaire, wielding a great sword in one hand.
"Everyone, stand back! He's my prey." The man taunted, waving in a gesture for Tayaire to move towards him.
As Mada and Lucus traveled through the forest, making their way towards the sound of the explosions. Lucus expressed his concern about what he thought the situation ahead could be.
"General, what if we're just walking into a trap?" Lucus asked Mada as they jumped through the tree branches.
"In truth, I'm not sure. Whether for the right or wrong reasons, Noir has always been the paranoid type, and after hearing that horn-" Mada paused mid-sentence, staring with a deadly gaze directly in front of them.
Mada's face became full of worry. He instinctively came to a direct stop on a thick branch, putting one finger up to his mouth, which was covered with a cloth-like mask.
"Prepare yourself, Lucus. We have company." Mada spoke in a low but firm tone.
Lucus had taken a quick look around to check his surroundings. But he couldn't see or hear any signs of anyone.
"What do you mean? I can't see or sense anyone." Lucus stated.
While he was of a high rank, Lucus was only a beginner when it came to using spiritual energy to sense auras. Lucus was seventeen years old and in his second year at the Spirit Academy. In other words, he was very single-minded. Sensing spirit energy or 'auras' requires one to have full focus and awareness of everything around them at all times, and Lucus couldn't fully do that.
"I've been sensing a small aura following us ever since we split with the others. That's likely that little brat!" Mada said as he noticed Lucus closing his eyes, trying to concentrate.
"I see now. So, the young heir has been concealing his power! But I don't see how that means we have company." Lucus stated as he began to grab the large spear from his back.
"Keep focusing and look ahead of us. There are three extremely powerful auras zoning in on our location." Mada said, pulling a small white marble from the pouch around his waist. "It doesn't seem like they're your run-of-the-mill fighters, so Lucus, get ready!"