Kalen's pov
I sensed it before I saw it, we had just crossed the border I could feel Felix gathering mana to cast teleport without us having to stop running when I sensed a vortex of ki blades heading our way, I ordered us to scatter just in time for it to brush by us Felix warped out of sight while Desmond and Lucas went left while Jesse jumped right, I on the other hand jumped into the air partially to get a better veiw of who it was that attacked us and the other was for what happened next, just as I expected our assailant appeared behind me with a pair of short swords ready to slice my head clean off but this wasn't my first time fighting mid air, I simply turned grabbing his hand and flinging him into the mile wide trench his attack had dug in the ground, my opponent had landed on his back causing a crater to form but he had managed to right himself in move out of the way before I landed with a kick at hus original point which deepened the crater and spreading debree everywhere, a dust cloud obscured my form as such he didn't realise I was already in front of him until it was too late, he crossed his blades in front of his chest as my ki reinforced fist slammed into it, the man went flying through bush and trees alike but after a few seconds he managed to right himself landing on his feet at the end of a new trench he had dug in the last attack but I had expected as much as I wanted to keep him alive for questioning so I did not strike him with full force, I appeared in front of him again but he saw that coming so this time he had a proper stance ready and a decent amount of ki on his blades to block the attack that never came, rather than striking his blades I sent an upper cut completely bypassing his defences and sending him several metres into the air, I appeared right next to him and got it the kick I had missed earlier sending him another dozen metres in the ground and causing another trench to be dug, I reappeared on the ground standing a few feet away from my opponent while my companions appeared one by one all with weapons drawn and bewilderment on their faces all expect Felix who knew it was in my nature to handle things like this quickly and on my own
'who sent you and why'
I asked from a distance but the man gave no reply,
'I know your alive and at best severely bruised, our levels aren't so different for you to have died from that, tell me what I want to know or suffer the consequences of me finding out using memory magic'
at that the man sat up, he winced as he did he was obviously a skilled blade master no doubt better than even Lucas if he practiced magic as well he might manage even awakened his Arcanum by now, during the fight I noticed his clothes had a disorienting effect so this was the first time I had gotten a proper look at them and he himself, he was dressed in all black and not like in black clothing like I usually wore but in a litteral skin tight black body suit underneath an assortments of black armour, a chest piece arm and shoulder guards, knee guards, boots and even gauntlets, the only trace of colour he wore was still quite weird, a white mask whose face was completely blank excepts for it two holes that allowed sight, he took great pains to make sure he was as unidentifiable as possible but even then Jesse ended up beating me to the words I was about to utter
"assasins are supposed to attack from the shadows not rush their chargin and be crushed, like you were"
she said the last part smugly, the man who had been wincing in pain as he got used to the pain he was currently in suddenly turned towards Jesse and even through the mask I could sense his rage, Jesse instantly froze like she had a blade to her throat Desmond and Lucas tried to rush him but ended up in the same situation while I stood there transfixed, not due to fear but suprise, I had theorised that if this man had put effort into magic as well as his blademanship he would have awakened his Arcanum by now and I was right because what our opponent was using right now just happened to be emperor force an intimidation method only possessed by Arcanum users
'who are you'
I asked, the lower half of his mask had chipped away revealing a smile as be said the words
"Leviathan Arcanum activate"
none of us saw any visible changes but we all felt it, the feeling of being watched by something big and hungry, I could sense the form of a humongous beast it's body so large it covered the entire forest we were in with us in the middle but no matter how hard I concentrated I couldn't make out its form, it seemed inconsistent with mouths and claws I odd places and a tenticle here and there but nevertheless it was still dangerous,
"edict of corrosive mist"
with those words from his mouth our surroundings began to be filled with mist, the mist gathered surrounding us while sectioning us from our opponent, Felix fell to his knees coughing and I could tell why, like he had said the mist had a corrosive effect, the forest seemed to die around us and even being in its proximity was taxing on the lungs for skilled blademasters and torturous for others, as our environment became more and more unbearable I thought back to my earlier discovery, when I belived Langris was manipulating the situation in order to harm me and the second Don of Aegis, I had first thought maybe this guy was the second Don but I through that thought away after seeing his Arcanum but them who was he, was he someone who worked for Langris or the second Don or was he someone who worked with them both, a million and one thoughts entered my mind and were discarded in the same instant but all thus served to do was increase my anxiety until I remembered what my big brother had said a few days prior, if you're strong enough this will all work out, I decided to damm those thoughts both my men and best friend were on the verge of death and the only way to stop that would be to take care of the fucker and trust my strenght for the remaining battles and if my strength isn't enough then its obvious I should have never taken on this position,
I unsheated my sword my grip on it much tighter than usual and focused my mana into it, it wasn't long before an arduous about of ki began to form, I channeled more of my will into it and gave it shape into vortex similar to the one our opponent had used at the beginning of the fight except much much bigger, the vortex grew and began to spin its form more likened to a tornado caused the winds around us to stir their force gradually increasing until it could be said that we were standing in the centre of a tornado, just as I expected the mist followed the flow of the wind and gathered to its centre, in a matter of seconds the threatening substance was gone all concentrated at the centre of my blade, out attackers face cane into veiw and even behind the mask I could sense his shock but I paid it no mind instead I lightly tapped off the ground and using a technique called air steps I went flying higher than the tree line and released the ki while performing a slash and sent the venomous substance high into the air letting it disperse until its quantity became harmless, I was several metres in the air and our opponent was still sitting dumbfounded on the ground when I looked at him, I began to gather ki once more but this time doing something different, typically Ki is pale and colourless but tends it give off a white sort of light when enough is gathered together reaching its highest state possible, that is the state for blade masters but for Arcanum users there exists a state expecially present around those who have elemental Arcanums called the bestowlment stage, at said stage Arcanum users can infuse their elements into their ki and make it not only easier to control but much more powerful, none of us possessed the magical capabilities to break into an Arcanum users mind, not even I and since I couldn't get him to talk I'd have to kill him and hope the time taken to confirm his death would allow me to verify some things but since he was an Arcanum user I thought it best kill him in a special way and allow him some modicum of pride and we went to the underworld so I released my Arcanum and used bestowlement on my ki getting ready to perform a technique, dark coloured ki gathered together first surrounding my blade before fixing itself to its point, I took a stance in the air and aimed at the man before uttering
'Sorak style darkness infused piercing moon'
amd with that a massive blast of dark ki that covered his veiw, that dark presence that seemed to be part of his Arcanum folded in on itself multiple times in an attempt to my attack but each of its numerous layers were blown away like they weren't even there until it struck him, but it didn't, he had tried to use his hands to cover his body as best he could but the attack never reached him, instead it stopped right in front of him held back by a man with his hand out, the man squashed his fist and the attack dissipated into nothingness and looked up his startling blue eyes met mine before he said
"you should be adequate"