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Ember and Mira were surrounded by six hooded figures evenly distributed around them. Both sides stood in silence, waiting for the other to move first.
Then a figure to Ember's left cleared his throat and pointed across the clearing to the opposite hooded figure.
"Split 'em up!" one of them said.
A line snapped through the air and caught Ember by the collar, wrenching her off balance and hauling her away from Mira.
"Fish on!" the reeler shouted, grinning. "That was easier than I thought."
"Ember!" Mira's voice cracked as she reached for her, but a shadow swallowed her before she could take a step.
A massive, round man loomed over her. His chubby cheeks flared as he grinned and sucked in a breath so big, his stomach and chest swelled like a balloon until he'd doubled in size — then launched himself forward, a wrecking ball of flesh bouncing high off the earth toward her.
"He transformed!" Mira said. "Well, I can transform too." She pulled two additional spheres from her coat and shouted, "Sprites! Defense Protocol!"
"Defense Protocol," they echoed back in tiny robotic voices. They clasped hands and arms, gears spinning and joints locking as they folded into one another, merging until only four larger sprites remained. Broad metallic wings unfolded from their backs while their chests glowed with Mira's essence energy. A moment later, jet packs roared to life, lifting the four guardians into the air. They hovered above Mira in a perfect square formation, ready to intercept any threat.
"Hurry!" Mira screamed as the wrecking ball plummeted toward her.
A heartbeat before impact, a solid wall of energy materialized between the four sprites, and the charging man slammed into it, ricocheted backward, and was hurled into the trees.
Mira let out a shaky breath. "Goodness... that was way too close. I really need to speed up their transformation."
Across the clearing, Ember was still being dragged through the dirt. She twisted and struggled against the line as the trapper ran, reeling her in with every stride.
"I can't grab it!" Ember shouted. She desperately reached for the taut line, but every time she got close, it jerked or whipped against her hands, preventing her from getting a firm grip.
The brutal drag might have continued even farther if one of the hooded figures hadn't stepped directly into the trapper's path.
"Are you trying to kill her?"
"I don't care about your little cult," the trapper snapped. "I'm only here for the bounty."
The brief pause was all the opening Ember needed. She grabbed the fishing line, melted the thick plastic cord, and pushed herself to her feet. "You're going to pay for that," she said, flames hovering in her palms as she glared at them, breathing hard. Her dress was torn, her body bruised, and her eyes blazed with fury.
Activating her second ability, the orange flame swelled into a blazing sphere. She launched it between the two hooded figures, then immediately followed with a red flame. The instant the flames collided, the orange sphere erupted in a fiery explosion, blasting both off their feet.
With those two down, Ember spun back toward Mira, ready to help, but froze. A hooded figure was holding Mira from behind, a hand covering her mouth.
Fury flared inside her. These people were clearly after her. If Mira got hurt because of her, she'd never forgive herself.
"Let her go!" She raised her flames, aiming.
The figure said nothing. He simply drew a knife, pressed it to Mira's neck, and wagged a finger at Ember — a warning. Then he pointed at the ground: stand down.
Behind her, the two figures she'd blown off their feet were already back up, injured but closing in.
Then a voice called out from behind her. "Ember! Watch out!"
She turned to see Mira — the real one — sprinting to the side as the wrecking ball man came rolling back into the fight. Mira hurled one of her spherical grenades at him mid-charge, knocking him off course and sending him careening straight toward Ember and the others.
Ember spun back to the figures closing in, and in the same motion clapped her two flames together. The explosion tore through a ten-meter radius, throwing everyone off their feet. The "Mira" being held hostage and the knife-wielding figure both burst into smoke — clones, nothing more.
Then the wrecking ball crashed into the remaining hooded figures a second later, all four collapsing into groaning pain.
"Ember — are you okay?" Mira said, pulling Ember upright. She saw her torn dress, the cuts, the bruises.
Ember didn't answer right away. She was watching the pile of bodies stir, already climbing back to their feet. "We need to get out of here," she said, pushing for Mira to run.
But the hooded figures moved first. Once again, they surrounded the pair and launched one final coordinated assault.
"Attack!"
The wrecking ball charged forward. Clones rushed in from every direction while the net dropped from above. There was nowhere to run.
Ember wanted to fight back, but all of her abilities were still on cooldown. Mira's sprites had already committed themselves, pinning down the wrecking ball and keeping it from reaching them.
The fisherman struck first. His second hook caught Ember's leg, the barbed tip digging into her ankle before jerking her off balance.
"Aah!" Ember cried from the pain and fell to one knee.
The clones ran closer, cutting off every escape route. Then the geyser erupted beneath them, launching Ember and Mira into the falling net. Before either could react, a second hook snagged the net and violently slammed them into the ground.
Ember's head struck the dirt with a sickening crack. The world went dark.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Bruised. Bloodied. Outnumbered. The hooded figures closed the circle. It looked like it was over, until—
The ground began to rumble, quietly at first, then louder. Something was coming—or more accurately, a herd.
Eight shapes crashed through the treeline — tusks lowered, hides bristling with quills. Uncommon Bristlebacks.
The nearest one plowed straight through two of the hooded figures without slowing down. The clearing dissolved into chaos. The Trapper abandoned his line and bolted. The water user wasn't so lucky — a bristleback caught him across the back with a swing of its quilled tail and sent him flying into a tree trunk, where he stayed down. The wrecking ball man tried to inflate again, but a bristleback rammed him mid-breath. He deflated with an undignified wheeze and rolled off into the brush.
"Ember." A voice, calling from somewhere far off. "Ember."
"Mother?" she murmured.
"No. It's me. It's Mira. Wake up."
Ember's eyes snapped open to a world of destruction. "What — what's going on?"
"Stay down," Mira whispered, pulling a small essence regeneration bottle from her coat and pressing it into Ember's hand. "A herd of bristlebacks are saving us. We're being ignored for now, but that won't last."
Ember drank it in one go.
"Move!" Mira jerked her hard just as a beast crashed down where they'd been lying.
They crawled through the brush, staying low, while the battle raged around them — the hooded figures fighting for their lives, the clearing in a mess of destruction, quills and screaming.
Two bristlebacks, shrieking, staggering from wounds they'd already taken, broke off from the chaos and came charging straight at them.
Ember's flames ignited behind her, and threw everything she had left into the nearest one, dropping it before her fist even landed. Mira's sprites finished the second without slowing down.
A third bristleback lunged at Ember, its jaws dripping with foam. She leaned back just enough to let it overshoot, then drove her fist into the exposed underside of its armored neck and unleashed a point-blank concentrated blast straight into its throat. The bristleback shrieked, thrashed violently, then collapsed.
The three kills sent a surge of power through their bodies as the experience they gained pushed them to the next level. Mira advanced to Level 3, and Ember finally broke through to Level 4.
Mira grinned. "Maybe we just keep going around stealing last hits," she said, crouching by the nearest carcass, already digging for its beast crystal.
"No time. We need to move," Ember said, barely standing.
They began their escape, but the ground shook again—harder this time, settling into a slow, rhythmic thud like a giant's calm heartbeat. The air grew heavy, smothering the panic around them until everything fell dead silent.
Then something rounded the treeline ahead, blocking their exit. It was big. Slow. Walking upright instead of on four legs like the others. A low growl rolled out of it, and every bristleback began to quiver in fear. Where the uncommon bristlebacks were about the size of a male lion, this one was as large as an elephant. And its hide wasn't just bristled — it was armored, with quills as long as spears.
"...That's a Rare Bristleback," Ember whispered.
It roared, and the sound hit them in the chest like a physical blow. Its eyes locked onto Ember and Mira.
Ember glanced toward the only remaining exit and saw the uncommon bristlebacks already sprinting for it, the hooded figures right behind them. They knew exactly what was about to happen—and they had no intention of staying to witness it.
"Come on!" Ember shouted, grabbing Mira's arm and bolting for the opening, but a massive shadow swept over them.
The Rare Bristleback crashed down in their path, blocking the escape. Without even looking away from them, it snatched a fleeing bristleback in one hand and bit it clean in half.
It chewed slowly, eyes still locked on them. Then it swallowed, stepped forward, and flared the quills along its back, each one gleaming like a drawn spear.
A low, rumbling huff came from its nose, then rose onto its hind legs, and—
An energy arrow hit it hard, buried itself deep in its shoulder.
It roared, whipping toward the treeline. Another arrow followed, then a third, drilling into the same spot with mechanical precision.
"Girls! We're here to help!" Veya's voice carried across the clearing.
A blur of steel dropped from above, daggers flashing blade-down. Elle landed on the bristleback's back, buried both daggers into the base of its neck, and vaulted off before it could so much as buck. A mark of two daggers bloomed where the daggers hit.
She glanced back at her handiwork, finger on her chin. "Hmm. That's quite high. Maybe I should've gone for the legs first."
Jareth came in low, gauntlet crackling, and drove an uppercut straight into the beast's exposed jaw. The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the clearing — Knockback, full charge. The Rare Bristleback lifted clean off its front legs and slammed down several feet back, quills scattering across the dirt.
"Ember." Jareth didn't look back, gauntlet still raised, eyes locked on the beast as it scrambled upright. "You good?"
"I've been better." She leaned on Mira for support. "Where's Landen?"
"He'll be here later." Elle landed beside them, breathing hard but grinning like this was the most fun she'd had all week. "He's got his own beast to deal with." She nodded toward the hooded figures fleeing into the distance. "Who were those guys? We saw them fighting from a ways off."
"They attacked us," Mira said before Ember could answer, sprites circling protectively around them both.
"Attacked you?" Veya's eyes narrowed.
"Yes." Ember met her gaze. "We'll explain everything once we deal with this thing."
"Speaking of." Jareth backed slowly toward the group, eyes never leaving the beast. "Can we focus on the beast? It's not staying down long."
Right on cue, the Rare Bristleback shook itself, quills bristling back to full height. The growl rolling out of its chest now was pure fury. It swung its head toward Jareth — the one who'd hit it hardest — and pawed at the dirt.
"Oh, it's mad now." Elle twirled a dagger, grinning. "Good. Mad things make mistakes."
"Mad things also charge," Veya said.
"Charge?" Jareth's stance faltered. "I don't think I can hold the front line by myself."
"Don't worry." Mira's sprites fanned out ahead of her. "I can help with that."
With the others beside her, Ember felt her composure return — her confidence with it. She stepped forward to join them. "Then let's take this thing down together."
Behind Ember's shoulders, a third flame ignited in mid-air. Bright, blazing yellow—hotter than anything she had summoned before, ready to take down its first target.
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