"So. What's the plan?", Ruth asked.
Before Seventeen could speak a wind spirit appeared in front of them. She was small and had elven features with tiny greyish sparrow-like wings on her back.
The little wind spirit winked and held up three fingers. She counted down three and clapped her hands with excitement, releasing a strong wind at the pair.
"That's the signal. We'll come up with something as we travel. Let's reach the enchanted items first.", Seventeen suggested. Ruth nodded and the two dashed into the forest at such a speed that a sonic boom rocked the trees when they started.
They zoomed across the woods, jumping on and dodging rocks, creating sonic booms on flat ground, and zigzagging between trees, making them sway.
Seventeen's eyes glowed as he used Magia Vision to look for the items and also to look out for their opponents. He scanned every inch of the areas they were passing at high speed. So far so good. But he didn't relax.
"So how do they move?", he asked as they jumped over a fallen tree and continued without breaking a step.
Ruth immediately understood what he meant.
"Alice specializes in support and attack. The Light attribute was not known for its offensive capabilities, but she could 'weaponize' it. She can buff herself and her allies, provide healing and even create defensive Codes.", she said.
"Alice can do close, mid, and long-range attacks. Her swordsmanship is formidable and she is a cunning foe who can even predict her opponent's moves to an extent. Her magia control is excellent as we saw in her duel against Arthur."
"To put it simply, she is a monster."
Seventeen was already coming up with ways to counter Alice, "And Jade?"
Ruth replied, "She is purely an attack dealer and has complete mastery over the sword. As her title suggests, she is the strongest swordmaster in the Cardinal Knights and the second strongest in Arken."
"There is someone stronger than her?", Seventeen was convinced that Jade Aria was at the top when he saw a glimpse of her presence back when he first met her in the Corvinian Mountains.
Ruth nodded, "Max Spyro from the demon race. He's a mercenary and is called the Sword God. Jade fought him once and it was an utter defeat for her. He's on a whole other level."
"Anyway. Along with her mastery of the sword, Jade's Blood attribute is powerful and enables her to execute all ranges of attack. For close range, she uses her sword skills, for mid-range, she uses a combination of her attribute and sword skills, and for long-range she purely uses her attribute."
"A versatile warlock.", Seventeen remarked and stopped. He spotted something with his Magia Vision. "Could it be?", he wondered aloud.
Ruth looked in the same direction he was looking, "The enchanted items? Or the opposite team?"
He didn't reply but dashed in that direction. She followed him.
"Anything else?", he asked.
She remembers the times she was part of the same party as Alice, Jade, and Jack Raven. "There are three possible ways Alice and Jade operate when they work together.", she said, holding up three fingers.
"The first way, Alice will provide support using buffs and long-range attacks while Jade directly engages the enemy. In the second, it is the opposite with Jade providing long-range attacks and Alice engaging the enemy after buffing herself."
"In the third. Both attack together by continuously shifting positions in a sort of cyclic movement. First Alice buffs Jade before she attacks. After making her move, the latter steps back, and the former attacks with her buffs and too falls back and let Jade attack again. It is an intricate dance."
Seventeen was impressed, "That requires a lot of coordination and focus."
Ruth nodded in agreement, "It even has a name, The Dance of Light and Blood."
"Fancy.", he said and they stopped at a clearing roughly in the middle of the woods. There, on an utterly out-of-place coffee table were two rings that radiated magia.
Even without using his Magia Vision, Seventeen can see that they are powerful enchanted items, probably mid-level CAT 2.
He scanned the whole area for their opponents but saw nothing odd. But that was the opposite of what he felt.
"Strange.", Ruth also felt it. She looked around, "We should be sensing their presence by now, no matter how much they suppress it, there will always be a faint hint."
"You said there are three ways they can attack. What about a fourth way? An ambush?", Seventeen asked.
She frowned, "It is possible but that would be impractical. They are mid-level CAT 1 and have overwhelming presences. Any warlock can detect them even if their presence is suppressed."
"Hmm.", Seventeen looked around again. They didn't dare get close to the coffee table. His eyes glowed brighter as he streamed more magia to his Magia Vision. Unfortunately, the only thing he can see is the natural magia of the forest surrounding them.
Wait. The natural magia of the forest surrounding them?
He was immediately on high alert, "Weapons out!", he yelled, bringing out Nyx. Ruth was confused but pulled her daggers out and coated them with ice.
Just in time.
In just the blink of an eye, Jade, and Alice streaked from both sides of them and struck. Seventeen blocked Jade's attacks, and the two blades slid against each other in a flurry of sparks. He quickly moved to the side and the Sword Princess went past him.
Ruth crossed her daggers and completely blocked Alice's powerful jab, the force of which threatened to throw her back. So she locked her daggers around Alice's sword, shifted to the side, and released, using her opponent's momentum to make her go past.
The instructors stood back to back as they faced their opponents on both sides of them.
'A pincer attack!', Ruth was shocked. But what shocked her more was the appearance of their opponents.
Alice and Jade were covered in...
"Blood?", Ruth asked in shock. Even the ones watching this battle were shocked. But Vanessa had a vampiric smile on her face. She recognized what just happened.
The two captains are covered head to toe in blood as if they were in a massacre. There are no visible wounds on their bodies but the unnatural amount of blood makes Ruth uneasy.
Seventeen, on the other hand, started to laugh, "I should've seen this coming."
He looked at Jade, "Your blood?"
She nodded with a smile, "You figured it out."
He smiled at Ruth, "Vampiric blood. What are its properties?"
She frowned, "Really? Now?"
"I insist."
"Fine.", she sighed, "It is unique and only found in Blood Feasters, Higher vampires, and vampire half-bloods. It is much more potent than normal humanoid blood, has faster clotting, higher substance delivery, enables advanced immunity, and...", she stopped when a realization hit her.
Ruth looked at Jade, "Is also a good insulator for magia."
"Full marks, ice queen.", Seventeen nodded, "Covering oneself with vampiric blood helps one to hide their magia signature and presence while also blending with the natural magia of their surroundings."
"But obtaining that much vampiric blood is really bad for the donor. Like, really really bad. That's where Miss Jade's attribute comes to play. A warlock with the Blood attribute has the ability to increase the volume of their blood outside the body using magia."
"To put it simply, they can turn a few drops of their blood into a raging flood. It also gives the added benefit of not dying of blood loss whenever the attribute is used.", he explained.
Ruth now understood, "So Jade used her attribute to cover herself and Alice with her blood to mask their presence and magia signatures. That's why you couldn't detect them with your Magia Vision."
"And then we used a pincer attack to ambush you. Unfortunately, instructor Seventeen figured it out just in time.", Alice said, wiping the smeared blood from her forehead, "But it was a good plan.", she grinned.
Ruth grinned back, "Oh it was good. ", she raised her daggers, "I'll take Jade."
Seventeen shrugged, "I'll take Alice then."
"Not much of a plan. Huh?"
"Well. We can switch at intervals.", he quipped.
*******
Back in the beach house, Vanessa and Zephyrus were using the same magia screen. "So the Arias knows that ancient method of deception.", she remarked.
The Cardinal was a bit uneasy, "It is an effective method but I wonder who came up with that sick method?", he wondered aloud.
The Vampire Queen gave him a blank look, "I did."
"Oh."
*******
In the clearing, each warlock gazed at their opponent, and in the blink of an eye, they attacked.
Seventeen appeared in front of Alice and swung Nyx in an upward arc.
She quickly stepped back and enhanced her body with magia. But he immediately slashed downwards. Her eyes widened and she used her sword to deflect the attack to the ground.
But Seventeen wasn't done. He ignited Nyx and the golden-red flames were so intense that Alice jumped back. She realized that the blood on her had dried up instantly.
He didn't let up and attacked with ferocity. But instead of faltering, Alice stood her ground. She enveloped her sword with light and fought back more fiercely.
(Seventeen. Please make sure you hold back.)
'I don't think she'll allow me.', he replied internally. Alice Night had no openings.
The trees around them were reduced to splinters, rocks were pulverized and the ground cracked and broke under the force of their attacks.
Seventeen's flames burned Alice. But as soon as she gets burned, she heals. He can't seem to make a dent. Plus, her attacks are starting to affect him.
'Is it because I possess the darkness attribute?', he wondered as he attempted to push her back by increasing the ferocity of his attacks. But she remained steadfast.
Suddenly Alice stopped attacking and pulled back her sword. Seventeen was caught off guard for a moment but it was enough for Alice.
Before he could say "What the?", she grabbed his sword arm and her eyes glowed.
"Oh shit."
{Light Code: Flashbang}
Seventeen got blinded by an explosion of bright white light. He can feel the circuits in his eyes frying. But it was much worse. Since he was using Magia Vision, the overwhelming magia burst accompanying the light explosion further damaged his fried eyeballs.
Seventeen's blinding white vision changed as the monitoring system of his body enabled him to see temperature using cleverly designed infrared sensors embedded in his face. Alice appeared as a reddish-orange human-shaped heat signature to him and the surroundings were a soft yellow from the heat of the sun.
Even his other senses are amplified, especially his magia sense. He detected a significant concentration of magia around him in multiple isolated spots. He knew what it was.
{Light Code: Radiant Needles}
Hundreds of light needles came at him.
Seventeen estimated each one's position using the information from all his senses apart from vision. He extinguished the flames covering Nyx and leaned back. Just as the needles were about to hit him, he made his move.
{Air Code: Wind Burst}
Strong swirling winds propelled him backward, away from the path of most of the needles. He twisted around and deflected the needles in his way but a few found their mark.
He avoided most of them but a few were embedded in his arms and back due to his weakened defense. But he was fine. He doesn't feel pain after all.
Alice was surprised to see that he didn't even flinch. She gripped her sword tightly. This is going to be tough.
Seventeen smiled with closed eyes.
"Phew, That was close."