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"Anyway, that thing looks angry so you guys might want to arm yourselves now."
Raven smiled and said to the 'frozen-by-fear' people around him. This was a needed wake up call since they don't have time to be shocked by this scenario. This is a live battlefield, the unexpected should be expected.
With this, Paul and the rest moved and summoned their weapons, they took on a battle stance and got ready to intercept the large ant before them. Raven walked beside the recruit and said:
"Let us handle this, please step a bit further back."
The recruit could only nod his head dumbly and follow his instructions. At this point there wasn't even a single doubt on his mind since this man just saved his life after all. He retreated a few steps back and planned to watch the entire scenario fold out.
"This isn't the first time that you guys fought something that's out of your level. Get it together."
Raven said some encouraging words to raise their spirits, his friends sighed and prepared to receive the enemy. Meanwhile, Raven was just standing on the back while his arms were crossed. His plans were simple, he wants to see just how his friends would handle a situations like this. While it was true that their cultivations are raising at an alarming speed, he highly doubted if they could truly take advantage of it in live battle. So he planned on watching first and only helping when the situation becomes dire.
The ant was provoked, it released an ear piercing shriek and charged towards them. It was quick and the people who see supposed to intercept it were once again frozen in shock. It seems that the things that they endured inside the Virtual Beast Arena were all for naught, they was an on going war inside their minds between their rationality and responsibility.
The rational side were telling them to fall back and get out this place since it is dangerous. On the other hand, their responsible side tells them to lift their weapons and kill this thing since god knows how many people would suffer if they didn't do so.
"You guys are truly going to die if you don't move right now."
Just before the ant reached them, Raven's grave warning reached their ears and the word: 'Die' rang in every corner of their body. Their instincts kicked in, the desire to stay alive broke their frozen bodies into movement. All of them drag their bodies away from the charging monstrosity. But the problem didn't end there.
Because nearly all of them moved out of the way, the forgot that someone was behind them. When they looked up, they saw Raven didn't move from where he was standing and not too far away from him, was the recruit who helped them find their way here. While the recruit was busy praying to every god and saints he knew for all his life in order to save him, Raven just stood there and didn't even pay attention to the beast.
Paul and Mark was distressed, their eyes constricted and cursed as they felt deep worry for their brother. This was specially felt by Paul, who's currently gnashing his teeth in anger.
'What's wrong with you Paul! You were supposed to defend for the team! You have shield! Why didn't you raised it! What's the use of all that training you endured! Look at the consequences of your action!'
Paul watched as the beast huge frame appeared in front of Raven, his heart felt like it was gripped by wrench when he saw how the beast raised on of it's sharp legs in attempts to hack Raven in two.
'God damn it! I won't reach him in time! Think Paul! Think! There must be a way!'
His heart raced in despair, he searched for a way to help his brother out but nothing comes to his mind. His eyes were glued to the leg and everything felt like it was starting to slow down. He saw the leg descending, and based on it's trajectory, it would really slice Raven in two. In his desperate attempt to save him, Paul did one thing in hopes that it will somehow work.
"AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!"
A deep and guttural roar escaped from his throat. Paul placed everything hope he had on that shout that it visible sonic waves moved and hit the body of the ant. The force behind his roar caused the whole field to be silent, Paul became the main focus of everything, even the grass around him was scattered away because of his roar.
Paul opened his eyes, and was overjoyed to see that his roar somehow worked since the ant was froze from it's action. He immediately picked up his weapons and stood up, he wasted no chance and sprinted on top speed to stand before Raven so that he could fulfill his roar.
As the distance between them shrank, Paul was once again distressed to see that the ant resumed it's movements, in fact he could tell that it is even angrier now and it's actions were even faster. Somehow Paul had this idea that tells him, shouting once more won't do anything, in fact would even worsen the situation.
When everything seems hopeless, a shadow passed by him. It seamlessly glided through the wind and arrived on top of the ant. Paul felt it's presence rather familiar and because everything is happening so quick right now, he had no leisure to think about it and instead ran as fast as he could.
The shadow formed a figure of a man holding two swords. He jumped down and spun in the air while borrowing the momentum to slice the leg of ant. As the figure landed on the ground, it showed a disguised version of Mark, who's currently releasing a frightening killing intent that it caused his eyes to transform into slits, similar to a snake's.
"My good brothers."
A whisper escaped through Raven's mouth as he proudly gazed on the heroic actions of his brothers. This isn't the time to feel emotional but Raven couldn't help it. Having people who are ready to sacrifice their lives for you when you're not even worth it, truly warms his heart. The bond that these brothers have runs deep.
What's weird is that these people found solace on each other's company when they needed it the most. Be it his past life or the current one, he's glad to announce to the entire world that he is part of the Disappointment Triplets, and he wouldn't have any other way.
Raven's attention was brought back to the battlefield as he heard the painful screeches of the ant. Just like before, he placed his trust towards his brothers and let them deal with the situation.
Paul was able to sigh in relief as he saw Mark appear to prevent the death of Raven, but he still wasn't able to relax as he knew that the battle isn't over yet. Now that the distance was a tad bit closer he could now do something to shorten it faster.
As he ran, Paul raised his shield and placed majority of his force on his arms. His muscles bulged and when felt that it was enough, he then planted his sprint slowed down and then he threw the spear on his hand. As the spear flew mid-air, Paul once again placed his forces and this time, he placed them on his feet. He crouched deep and with another guttural roar, he kicked and rose to the air.
As the spear he threw reached the peak of it's arc, Paul soon followed. Once he was at peak height, he then maneuvered his body mid-air to a diving position while holding the shield before him. He then uttered the words: "Skyfall." He then plummeted like a meteor,
Of course, Mark wasn't just standing around after that. The moment he saw that Paul threw his spear, he immediately knew what he was trying to do. He then flew into action and scanned through the exposed weak spots on the ant's body. A chilling smile appeared in his face as he saw the exposed joints of the ants and made a mental note on his head since those were his targets.
He sprinted just in time before another leg hit the place where he was standing before. He arrived on the first joint and sliced it. He arrived on the other one and sliced it once again. This process repeated until all of the leg joints were snapped and the ant lost it's balance.
Paul's spear landed on top of the ant's head, it didn't quite pierced all the way through but it does not matter since not long after that. Paul's meteoric fall also landed on top to the creatures head.
The ant's head caved in, brain juices splattered all over along with some purple blood. The brilliance in the ant's prismatic eyes disappeared, a clear representation that it truly died and Raven's brother's experienced their first kill.
The bloodied Paul and Mark stood side by side and stood before Raven while smiling. They then said one thing that made Raven laugh.
"Handsome right?"