Taikon Beasts came in all shapes and sizes and colors. Much like animals, they were incredibly diverse and each one was unique so it was easier to differentiate them with what they were seeing now.
These ones were called Spirit Beasts, beasts of unknown origin that aided the Black Spirit in battle.
"Twenty soldiers, half of them are armed. Vice Captain Raldin's handling seven of them and is doing well," Florian informed all of them.
"Hmm." After some contemplation, Ace snapped his fingers, thinking up the perfect plan. "Nalia, Raten. You two'll free our allies in the tower."
Nalia let out a 'What?!' very anxiously and almost fell off the Hover Disc that was still floating several feet in the air at a high velocity.
Raten turned to her, raising an eyebrow at her actions before facing the team leader and nodded. 'I'll use this chance to test them.'
Without a warning, rocks from below were being flung at them. Ace evaded as best as he could, steering the Disc left and right, wherever he needed to go to avoid getting hit. "Time to land!" He sounded, speeding up to the ground in the direction of the rocks while still eluding them.
"Ha!" Annie shot fire beams from both her palms, knocking down but not defeating the soldiers in their way. In a few seconds, they had cleared enough space for them to land.
"Let's go!"
They jumped off the Disc and headed their seperate ways. Ace and Florian in one direction, the duo of Annie and Katie in another and Raten and Nalia heading for the tower.
A larger soldier stood in their way, wielding a black greatsword with both hands, swinging it in the girl's direction. However, Raten interfered, using the gauntlets on his arm to block them.
"My turn!" Raten grinned, pulling out his White Sword from the Metal Container. He had learned from when he had taken his sword back that he could stash things in his container, things much larger than itself.
He turned around and held the sword in his hand which couldn't feel more natural to him as he gripped on the hilt like it was home.
"Let me help you!" Nalia suggested.
"How?!"
"Like this." She touched Raten's back. Unexpectedly, another figure identical to himself appeared beside him, confounding him.
"What the hell?!"
Nalia's power was Zen and was a rare one known as Carbon that, as far as she knew, granted her the ability to produce clones of herself and the people she touched while actively using it. They had the same strength as the original person but not their fortitude or endurance and would be eradicated if hit too hard.
The two Ratens grinned, a sight that would send chills down any opponents' spine, as they both charged at the man with the greatsword. One of them got close, on the verge of striking the man but the latter retaliated, swinging his sword and cutting him right through his torso. But that was just the fake that quickly disappeared.
Meanwhile, the real Raten was right behind him and acted before he could turn around, driving the metal sword through his skill with incredible force, killing his adversary in one strike.
Raten and Nalia continued on, moving forward but more opponents stood in their way. Instead of soldiers however, they were Spirit Beasts numbering six. The former fearlessly ran forward, striking one that resembled a lion, shaving off it's head and it was vanquished, becoming black mist. "Weird."
He went on, barraging through the Spirit Beasts with caution and akill, killing each one that came his way.
"That's the problem with these things!" Nalia vocalised, pointing at more of the same beasts he had killed earlier being formed in front of them. "They reform like nothing." She explained to him.
Seeing them revived, he remembered another thing, recovering another memory. He had placed a black crystal in a space and Spirit Beasts began forming from... something, but it was foggy. That was all he had gotten.
He shouted, "Nalia! These Spirit Beasts are being conjured from somewhere! Get to the tower and look for a black crystal!"
"What about the Beasts?!!"
Raten banged his sword against a metal blade he had forged, grabbing the attention of the beasts closest to the tower, creating a path for the girl to go through. "I'll hold them off!" All the beasts charged at him almost simultaneously in a wild and unsynchronized procession. "Guess it's time to test these out!" He deformed the metal blade and stashed away his sword. Instead, steel enveloped his hands from the same Container, bringing out a pair of sledgehammers.
Meanwhile, Annie and Katie busied themselves with assisting the members of Squad Passion.
Before them stood three armed soldiers held up shields with the symbol of the Black Spirit dauntingly.
Katie acted, shooting out thorn-ridden vines from the palm of her hands while Annie shot out a beam of fire at the same time.
The soldiers in response banged against their shields a number of times, creating amplified sound that blasted their attacks right back at them. Katie touched the floor with pressure, creating a cluster of briars that surrounded her and her teammate, blocking off the enemies' attacks. When the girl got rid of them however, beasts were already coming at their direction.
"I got you!!" A woman wielding a long axe interfered, slicing the heads off some of the Spirit Beasts. The two girls recognized her as a member of Squad Passion.
One of the enemy soldiers wielding the shield was distracted by a Squad member, giving Annie her opportunity. She pulled out her whip from her side, bounding the man's legs before sending him off into the sky with a thrust of her arm.
"Fire trap!" Annie set off a trap she had placed earlier right where the man had landed, undoubtedly killing him. Strangely, his shield dissipated into black particles. Another soldier crept up behind her, aiming for her back. "Nice try. But a magician always has an ace up her sleeve." The ground below the man glowed up, erupting into fire as well.
* * *
Raten let out a battle cry, taking down the soldiers and Spirit Beasts that dared to come at him in single swings. He ripped off a Beast's head with his metal arm but a man shot off an energy blast right at him. The Zen Wielder pulled out his sword, stonewalling the attack perfectly.
In retaliation, he slammed the ground with the hammers he had obtained from the Force User, sending a tremor towards his adversary. The soldier avoided the attack on time but was unable to escape the silver needle that had been sent through his head. Raten sliced another Spirit Beast through it's stomach, making it disappear.
That was when a soldier close enough had recognized the sword in Raten's hand, his jaw hanging wide open in shock. "The White Devil!! What is a Heart Soldier doing with it?!!" The man had turned up his voice way too high and the boy used the hammer to beat his head to a bloody pulp.
"The White Devil, ey? Not a bad name." He smirked.
Nalia arrived at the tower but a bunch of soldiers remained, acting as guards. Her face contorted to one of nervousness as they readied their attacks, getting ready to kill her like easy prey.
"Fire!" They shot off their attacks and killed her. Or, they thought they had. In reality, she had made a clone of herself to take the hit and moved out of the way on time.
She removed a hook-and-rope tied to her waist, aiming at the tower and landing on it. Climbing on the outer walls until she got in. There, she could see the six members of Squad Rose tied in chairs, looking incredibly sickly, as if their life force was being drained out of them.
Nalia looked around for the black crystal Raten had mentioned and found it, hidden at a corner. The gloves on her fingers manifested claws, using them to slash through the crystal. Like clockwork, the life in the member of Squad Rose's eyes returned to them.
They looked bewildered but were relieved when they spotted the medallion on Nalia who informed them of the situation and began untying them.
Soon enough, the fruits of her labour became clearly as multiple Spirit Beasts on the battleground began to dissipate one by one until they were all gone.
It looked like all the soldiers had been taken care of as well and Nalia was getting ready to scale down the tower with the rejuvenated Squad Rose. But a new problem showed itself. They could feel shaking coming from the ground.
Ace who uad just killed the last soldier felt a vibration as well and asked Florian what he could see. "It's... more soldiers!" They were coming from the largest building in the abandoned town of Explica. The building behind the tower.