"Monsters."
The rogue Shadow muttered as he watched the clash between the captains and instructors under the cover of the leaves on the tallest tree on the island that has not been blown away.
Confronting even one of them is suicide, especially the one with four wings. He must avoid that guy.
'This is mental. Absolutely mental.', he thought. His target is the younger brother of a Family Head, who is now under the same roof as a Cardinal.
Things will get hairy if he messed up. Of course, his employers knew about this and promised to take responsibility if things go wrong.
He seriously doubts that. He feels they will most likely silence him after the mission.
The Night branch family is known to get rid of any loose ends.
Although he is pretty sure the main family is more dangerous. He heard a metaphor once. 'If the Night branch family is a venomous viper, then the main family is a sleeping dragon.'
He doesn't want to tickle the dragon's tail.
He should lay low after this. The amount he is receiving is enough for him to live luxuriously for an entire year. He even received advanced payment due to the extremely high danger level of the mission.
'Receive the money and disappear.', he decided.
A Shadow becomes rogue when they abandon their duty to protect a member of an Arken Family.
The Shadow Sect forbids such an act; according to its laws, any rogue Shadow must be killed on sight. And the Sect is efficient at that.
Despite being in his late twenties, he is the oldest rogue Shadow. Feeling like his skills will be better suited for stuff other than protecting a kid, he left the Aurora Family.
In his relatively long career, the current mission is by far the highest-paying and most dangerous he has ever received. The branch family even made sure to provide him with enchanted items to completely mask his presence.
He doubts they would work on the Cardinal and two captains. He is hoping that the high amount of magia produced by this epic battle will hide him.
He hasn't been discovered. Yet.
So far so good.
Now his other worry is the Shadow of the young Night. He heard stories of the infamous Fire Dancer and is not keen on getting into an all-out battle with her.
"You are one unlucky kid. Arthur Night.", he stood up from his vantage point and dropped from the tree top. Just as he reached the ground, he disappeared into the shadow of the tree.
*******
Two words.
Seventeen can describe Jade's sword skills in two words.
Terrifyingly perfect.
'If this is the Sword Princess. Just how strong is the bloody Sword god?', he thought as he parried and dodged Jade's every strike.
Her every move is calculated and the power of each strike is consistent and strong enough to blow a normal warlock back. Her blade work is flawless and he is finding it difficult to get any openings.
Heck, she is not even allowing him to strike back.
And yet, he is feeling excited as the minutes pass by.
(Calm down Seventeen. Pure excitement won't get you anywhere.)
He understood what Prime said and dampened his excitement and observed his opponent's every move.
In a matter of seconds, his brain calculated the possible paths of Jade's sword. However, the paths constantly change as her moves are unpredictable.
But Seventeen got the edge he needed.
His parries became more efficient and he began to slowly counter Jade's attacks. Just then he found it. A path that remained constant.
He ignited Nyx and followed the path. It was a gamble. There is a low chance her sword will even be nearest to the path he took.
Apparently, he has some weird luck.
Her sword did follow the same path as his. What a surprise.
With a shockwave of heat and magia, he countered her sword and Jade was blown back. Her face morphed into shock but it was just for a moment before she launched one of the spinning blood orbs at him.
But he caught it like a ball with his free hand, the spinning circles were very sharp and sparked against his armor. He can feel them gouging the tough metal.
'So this what shredded those trees.'
Seventeen effortlessly crushed the orb, to Jade's surprise. Her blood gyro blades are very tough but her opponent effortlessly crushed one like an egg.
With a mighty flap of her sword wings, she flew back.
But Seventeen quickly closed the distance between them and attacked viciously, not giving her any respite.
Jade countered every single one of his attacks and even managed a few hits. Her blade left sharp cuts on the tough armor.
She used her attribute and blood converged along the blade of her sword. She suddenly stopped attacking and used a code.
{Blood Code: Scarlet Burst}
The converged blood exploded, turning into shrapnels of crystallized blood, and struck Seventeen by surprise. He defended himself with a magia pulse but suddenly a blood sword knocked Nyx out of his hand.
Jade appeared in front of him, her sword aimed at his neck, her face devoid of all emotion and her eyes unwavering.
She swung and Seventeen instinctively blocked it with his right arm. The force of the strike caused his arm to collide with the jaw portion of his helm, heavily cracking the metal. He was also pushed to the side and his feet created grooves on the ground.
And his arm?
Jade managed to cut through the armor and stopped just as the blade touched his exposed skin.
Seventeen felt a chill all over his body. She could've easily sliced off his arm.
His ears were ringing from the force of the strike and his whole body trembled from the force. But he struck back by landing a strong punch to her left cheek.
"Ack!", she was blown away by the magia-enhanced punch and crashed to the ground.
"Wow! That was painful.", she exclaimed, spitting blood.
Seventeen noticed that he was starting to bleed and immediately changed the color of the pure magia to red. Looks like the sword's force was enough to injure him.
His armored gauntlet has started to crumble.
He suddenly heard a yell and saw Alice grabbing Ruth by the neck and then launching into the sky.
"That seems like a good idea.", Jade remarked, standing up.
"Yes, it is.", Seventeen quickly flew to her, grabbed her face, and slammed her into the ground. But Jade twisted around, grabbed him in the neck, and dragged his face across the ground.
He took hold of her arm and mustering his strength, flung her high up in the sky. Seventeen summoned Nyx and with a mighty flap of his wings launched into the air after her.
He aimed and straight up threw Nyx like a projectile at Jade.
The Sword Princess quickly used her wings to stop her from spinning and that was when she saw the black blade coming at her. She instantaneously summoned a sword from her wings and deflected Nyx right back at Seventeen.
His eyes widened as his sword came at him at twice the speed and quickly dodged as he climbed higher in the sky. The sword just brushed past him and struck the ground like a powerful projectile, immediately decimating the center of the island.
(On the bright side. That ugly coffee table is in pieces now. I now wonder about Zephyrus's taste.)
'Keep wondering.', Seventeen replied and used Magia Vision. He could see the magia of the three women above him fluctuating. Among them, Ruth's was quaking like crazy.
'Makes sense. She just broke into CAT 1. Her body and Reserve might not have adjusted.'
He can see that Jade and Alice are losing magia at a tremendous rate.
'To maintain those magia devouring forms for this long. They truly deserve the title of Squad Captain.'
"Time to end this.", he declared and rocketed towards Jade, breaking the sound barrier more than once.
Jade saw Seventeen approaching her. She used a blood sword to give herself a small cut. She then held out her hand at him.
{Blood Code: Bleeding Shards}
Her blood floated around her and crystallized to form numerous blood shards. A shower of blood crystals rained on Seventeen.
He swiftly analyzed every single crystal and found a path through them. He tilted his wings, zigzagged through them, and appeared in front of Jade who was not surprised at all.
"Looks like I'm getting used to your tricks!", she exclaimed with a grin and used blood to create an exact replica of her sword which now lay on the ground far below them.
She can feel her Reserve emptying but she will make the most out of it. Her magia exploded and her immense presence parted the clouds above them and her sword glowed crimson.
Seventeen can feel her presence pushing him down. He can see magia converging in her sword.
'This is bad. I won't be able to avoid it.', he thought. He quickly ran many simulations in his mind. All of them led to him having his head stuck into the ground in a rather weird and embarrassing way.
He sighed, 'No choice, huh?'
(Better do it fast so that nobody will notice.)
He retracted his wings and helm. He just floated in the air before disappearing.
Jade felt his presence behind her and quickly turned around but the first thing she saw was his palm with the ring finger folded in.
Seventeen had the most charming smile on his face, "Let's ask the Headmaster for a barbeque party after sunset."
{Code Cancel}
Her Blood Maiden Original Code dissipated and she was suspended in the air for a few seconds. Just enough time to stare at Seventeen's bewitching smile.
"Oh, you damn-"
She smiled as she fell. A strong gust of wind stopped her fall and brought her gently down to the ground, where she collapsed.
Leonard Zephyrus came to her rescue.
"You are a tough guy, Seventeen.", Jade said as she lay on the ground, waiting for either Alice or Ruth to float down next to her. "Looks like this is our loss.", she sighed.
Even if Alice defeats Ruth, She will not stand a chance against Seventeen. She then realized that they lost when Seventeen joined the battle.
But their pincer attack was pretty good. Alice even gave her a huge buff before striking their opponents.
Seventeen's and Ruth's plan was to tire their opponents and use his Original Code to deal the final blow.
'Or maybe they just improvised on the go.', Jade thought and chuckled.
"Headmaster Zephyrus meets with the strangest people ever."
Far above her, Ruth was having a hard time.
She was breathing heavily. She used up almost all of the ice swords she could summon. The massive snowflake of ice swords is no more and her ice wings are slowly dissipating.
She can feel her magia core struggling with the sudden shift of her magia to CAT 1. She can look forward to a night of pain.
A warlock should not immediately use magia after becoming a stronger CAT. Their bodies have to adjust to the more potent magia running in their magia paths.
Otherwise, the paths will get damaged and recovery is really painful.
The icy blue markings on her body pulsed faintly and she can feel a throbbing headache coming.
Alice was looking pretty bad but not as much as her. Her Vestement of Luminosity is damaged and about to dissipate. The light enveloping her was gone and she too was breathing heavily.
Ice stuck to her armor and sword and she is sure some parts of her skin are frozen. Her wings still shined but not with their previous luminosity.
Only a minute left until her Original Code disappears. She directed magia to her wings and they blazed with light.
Suddenly Seventeen appeared beside Ruth, "Hey popsicle! How are you hanging?"
"That's worse than Ice Queen.", she said in an annoyed tone and then asked, "So. You took care of Jade?"
He nodded. She can see that he took damage, especially his arm. The armor was damaged and he was bleeding. Plus he is starting to freeze being near her.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, immediately freezing it. "You did wonderfully. Want me to wrap things up?"
She nodded with a tired smile, "All yours. I'll support you if needed."
Alice narrowed her eyes. She saw Seventeen defeat Jade with his Original Code and is sure that she too will be falling to the ground soon.
"Let's end with a bang shall we?"
Her white armor shattered into shards of light but her wings remained. She unleashed her full presence which almost knocked the instructors out of the sky.
She tapped into her remaining magia and her eyes glowed. Her sword shone brightly and she faced Seventeen.
Both of them vanished at the same time and the next second they appeared in front of each other. Alice thrust her sword at him with her full power.
Seventeen dodged it but she adjusted the trajectory at the right moment and her sword made contact with his armored shoulder.
The armor covering his left shoulder shattered by the power of the thrust. Seventeen released a magia pulse and knocked the sword out of her hand.
Alice's sword fell from the sky but Ruth quickly caught it.
But the Luminous Knight was not done. With a powerful push from her wings, she placed a hand on Seventeen's chest. He quickly grabbed her arm but it was too late.
{Light Code: Photoshock}
The powerful shockwave of light cracked the Dragon Knight armor and a pressure wave spread from the contact. But Seventeen didn't let go.
He folded his ring finger and put his palm in front of Alice's face.
{Code Cancel}
Her Light magia dissipated and she started to fall from the sky as her wings too disappeared.
'Wow. He is too strong.', Alice thought as the winds of the Air Cardinal enveloped her and carried her gently toward the ground.