Spirit smirked at the reaction of the three rubies before her. She finds it amusing to catch them off guard. She couldn't believe how easy it was for her to capture the legendary ruby ranked adventurers who defeated the demon Azazel.
She looked down, eyes menacing as ever. As the four are struggling below her, the corner of her lips raises into a smirk.
"How pitiful do the famous ruby kids are now," her voice is thin and high which pierces the ears of those who could hear her.
The four opposing people groaned and growled as they struggled to break free from the enemy's strong grip.
It pisses her.
She doesn't like being unanswered. It is her biggest peeve. Even her master knew how much she loathes having no one to talk to. So even to enemies, she wants to hold a conversation with them while fighting.
"Ugh," she sighed, her shoulders dropped, "what the hell is this? This is no fun."
Spirit did a swift gesture and the pressure on the four's neck loosened, and had eventually gone.
"Ah," she smiled sweetly, but her eyes depicted otherwise. It was cold, "now we can talk freely."
Serene quickly summoned one of her vine's thorns and extended it as she threw it up towards Spirit while the others were coughing and panting, trying to breathe.
The faded blue haired girl frowned as she held her hand before her and smashed the thorn with an unknown force before it hit her.
"Ha," her face stiffened, "how rude."
Serene blinked as her veins pop on her temple, "rude?"
She couldn't believe she's being called rude when this unknown girl flying above them is the one who attacked first, and just because she broke them free from her power, Serene won't let it affect her judgment on this girl.
"You're the one who attacked and trespassed here! You have the guts to say I'm rude!"
Serene was about to summon her magic once again when Lance stepped forward and stopped her, "let's hear her out. It seems like she wants to talk first."
Spirit grinned secretly, "at least one of you is likable."
Lance put on a strong face, he has to be a leader at times like this. He should be the one to shield his teammates.
"Who are you? Why did you attack us?"
He tried to observe her movements but with such little time, he couldn't just analyze her attacks and movements. They have to fight more for him to be able to get a plan on how to defeat her.
She's at an advantage, and he had no idea if she's been observing them. If she happens to already have taken note of their skills beforehand, it'll be hard for them to counter. Especially since he had a feeling she's a wind user.
"Who are you?" he asked but all he got was a smirk followed by a smug smile. It is obvious, she's taunting them.
Pygmy on the other hand has grown both angry and anxious, she's trying to locate where she could have possibly breached the memory orb. She knew the security of the guardian's memory orb is unparalleled, there's nothing that could easily break in, and if one's persistent enough to do so, it could take them at least twice the power of all the ruby ranked adventurers combined.
But no matter how much she digs deep within her brain, she can't find an answer. She has to contact the others. There could be something they know that she still hasn't figured out. At times like this, only the Wind Guardian, Sylvestris, is the one who could answer all of her questions.
Everything they missed during their time will not go unnoticed by him.
So what is this creature before them? She's never heard of something like them before. Not in her hundreds of years of being an Earth Guardian.
"Are you seriously asking me who I am, right now?"
Spirit let out an ear piercing laugh that shook the ground.
"What the hell?" Serene had her vines wrapped on the team to keep them steady.
"Aren't you curious how I got in here?" Spirit raised her eyebrow, the smug on her face did not fade.
"I would have asked you that after you answered my first question," Lance gritted his teeth. He was raised in a noble household, and no matter what the situation is, he was told to always treat the ladies with respect, most especially the strangers. And even though Spirit is their enemy, she's no exception to Lance's nobility.
Spirit sighed, impatient. Sure, she likes it whenever she's talking and people would pay attention to her, but she doesn't like how there's no action involved.
"This is dragging!" she rolled her eyes and flew high up, suddenly dropping herself, flattened and sharpened them some wind as she went before releasing them towards who was nearest to her, Lance and Pygmy.
Serene squinted her eyes as she bent down, summoning a lot of her mana to create a sturdy vine shield to protect them from her attack. She also coated the shield with thick poisonous thorns that could kill a person within five seconds.
Although the shield was a surprise to Spirit, she caught herself before she could slam herself on the shield.
"Oh, that was near," she laughed at herself and flew over the shield. As she looked down on the four who were surprised to see her unscathed, she put on a fake pout as she playfully shrugged her shoulders.
"Can't you guys do better than this?"
Spirit spins to create small tornadoes but halted when she heard Pygmy's questions. It made her feel giddy for some reason.
"What are you? Who do you serve?"
"My, my," Spirit looked up as she closed her eyes, her giggling gave a traumatizing sound to them. Enough to give them nightmares for a month, "what a sensible question you have there, guardian!"
Spirit slumped and hugged herself, kneading her arms as she thought of the one who's behind all of this. Her eyes twinkled in excitement and she felt a weird thing inside her. And with a creature that was born without a heart, she could feel every emotion she harbors for the one she serves.
Lance's brows twitched at the sight of her, he wore a grimace watching her hugging herself with such facial expression.
"What the hell is she on?" he mumbled.
"Answer me, you lowly creature!" Pygmy demanded, she screamed at the top of her lungs. With how Spirit is behaving, she now has an assumption of what she could be.
Serene slowly made her shield move and caught both of Spirit's ankles.
"Ah," a glint of annoyance appeared in Spirit's eyes, anger was noticeable through her voice, "it is kind of amusing yet irritating when you force your superiority here, little one."
The three rubies formed a fist at his disrespectful tone and action towards a guardian. As one of the elemental beings tasked to look over and protect mankind, it is only natural to give respect to them. Sure, they were skeptical of Pygmy at first but once they knew that she was the real one, they did what she asked them to do. Even though it is absurd for their human capacity of understanding.
The three of them are eager to give her a beating with her attitude, as she's the one who trespassed the memory orb, it is only fitting. But before they could give each other the signal, Pygmy noticed their change of aura and the movement of their energies which made her stop them just in time.
"Whatever it is you three are trying to do, don't do it."
Thenea looked at her, eyes full of questions.
Pygmy sighed, "she's too strong for you guys. And since our powers and strength were cut in half the moment we enter the orb, she may be too much for us."
"You didn't say anything about cutting them in half?" Lance felt betrayed and even though the team remained silent, he knew they two were.
"I know," she admitted, "I hadn't considered someone to come attack us. No one's forced themselves inside the orb before. This is a first."
Pygmy observed the vines on Spirit's ankles that she's trying hard to cut, but since Serene's making her vines connect to each other, each time Spirit's successfully cut them, another vine would sneak in swiftly and wrap her ankles once again.
"Our bodies are perfectly safe where they are, and since only a part of our conscience is allowed to come inside, the skills we used to have will, of course, cut in half."
"So, what are we going to do now?" Serene asked, her hands busy making gestures for the vines to obey her.
"Combining our powers, are we not stronger than her?" Lance blurted out.
"We could be, but since she's not invited here, she could have her full power."
Thenea gripped her staff tightly and stomped it hard, "we should all leave for now."
"I can get us out of here but it will take at least thirty seconds for me to prepare our exit," Pygmy said.
"Is that it? Just half a minute?" Serene fussed, if it is only thirty seconds, they could just stall as they wait for Pygmy to create their exit.
"Oh?"
All of them, Pygmy, Serene, Thenea, and Lance, froze at Spirit's sudden appearance. She sneaked under them while they were busy figuring out how to overcome the situation they were in. Now, she's in the middle of them, their eyes widened as their irises looked like it sank.
Gasp.
"Trying to run away, are we?"
Her menacing smile froze the three on the spot, they were busy figuring out what to do and had completely forgotten about the one they're trying to run away from.
'When did–'
Lance's thoughts were disrupted when Spirit summoned a whirlwind as soon as she let out those words from her mouth and struck them all away.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Spirit laughed as hard as she could and when she stopped, she pitifully watched them struggle on the ground, their bodies filled with cuts and bruises she made, "this is the legendary ruby ranks?"
Groan.
"Pathetic!"
Spirit made a swift hand gesture and struck the four of them again.
Thenea was coughing hard as Spirit's wind hit her near the center of her neck, Lance used his bow to stop him from flying away by digging it on the ground and held him down, Pygmy was saved by him. While Serene struggled to summon a vine as fast as she could, it barely managed to cushion her from getting her back hit on a tree. She was fortunate enough to escape a fatal wound as the tree was cut from the whirlwind before. She would have gotten stabbed.
Thenea used a boulder nearby to support herself and gathered some strength to summon an inverted orb barrier to keep her, caging Pygmy inside to focus on creating their exit as the three of them try to stall the enemy and stop Spirit from going after her.
Spirit was trying to choose who to target when she saw a bubble caught the guardian, she knew who that power belonged to.
Her head whipped towards the direction of Thenea who had grown weak, 'she must have squeezed all of her mana to create that bubble.'
Spirit licked her lower lip and grinned eerily, "I'll play with you for a while."
She let out a piercing laugh once again and raised both of her hands, she did a crossing motion and a bunch of wind blades flew towards Thenea's direction.
Lance immediately grabbed his arrows and hit some blades one by one but with how many it was, he couldn't deflect all of them. Fortunately, Serene noticed and summoned her thorns to assist Lance.
"You bastard!!" Lance shouted when some blades slipped through and hit Thenea's shoulder. She tried using her staff to deflect but since she's never held a weapon before, it was useless, "that was a dirty trick!"
Spirit stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow, "dirty trick? Are you stupid?"
She tilted her head and she floated slowly towards her enemies, "There's no dirty trick if you are in front of your enemies, boy."
Lance's anger rose dangerously high with just her calling him 'boy.' And he doesn't know why.
"This is not an arena, this is a real battle."
Just after she spoke, she appeared before Lance. No one knew how it happened.
'Teleportation?'
Spirit smiled at him, in a split second, her strong punch landed on his stomach. Her physical strength alone isn't painful but since it was enhanced with her winds, it had become as strong as a bull.
She scoffed, "haaa~ these people are no fun at all."
Serene crept behind Spirit and attacked her with her solidified and shortened lasso, mimicking a sword. Spirit played with her and let her believe she was going to succeed and save her friends from her when the lasso almost hit her, but she swiftly countered by swiftly going behind her and slamming her back with both of herhands clasped together.
"Urgk!"
"SERENE!" Thenea screamed when she saw Serene spat out blood.
Lance took three arrows and combined them before releasing it to at least graze her. Lance's fastest arrow is when he combines three or more arrows, but with her wind, she had it turn towards Serene.
Thenea released another orb and kept Serene inside, this will be the last time she could create one. As it requires a lot of mana, the only thing she can summon now are her penetrating rays. She could use the sun's power to keep replenishing her mana but since she's inside a memory, it can't happen.
'She's toying with us,' Lance noticed, 'she's not being tactical, she just goes on as she pleases.'
Lance walked as he kept firing at Spirit and this troubled Thenea, she wanted him to stay by her side. If not, Spirit could target Serene as she pleases, like how she targets her.
"This could get dangerous," she said to herself.
"LANCE!" Thenea shouted.
"NO!"
"Huh?"
"If you are going to yell a plan, don't do it," his eyes never left Spirit's who's playfully flicking his arrows, "this bastard is such a nuisance."
Thenea bit her lower lip, thinking of a plan. Her eyes went to Serene and saw her still coughing, next it went to Pygmy, she's still concentrating on the exit. But she's well hidden, she knows there's nothing to worry about.
Or so she thought.
Spirit's eyes landed on Thenea and caught her looking at Pygmy's location, she grinned.
Thenea can't bother Lance, she gently yet slowly makes Serene's orb move towards her. She knew they must stay close together. This way, Spirit can't attack them one at a time, and there will be lots of weak spots.
"Come on, come on," she muttered, carefully trying not to get noticed by them.
As Thenea concentrated on the rose mage, a face suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Boo!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCKKKKK!"
Spirit's grin looked like it could tear through her cheeks and grabbed the stunned light mage's face, "oi, oi, oi, what do you think you are doing, little one?"
Before she could process her thoughts, Thenea gasped and her head was slammed on the boulder she used to support her weight.
Lance was surprised when Spirit suddenly disappeared, it is useless to think, he knew he couldn't figure out how she did it. And when he heard Thenea's screams, his feet moved on their own and ran towards her, out of all of them, Thenea has the weakest stamina, therefore, she rarely exercises. Her physical strength isn't enough to hold on a strong punch unlike Serene.
She could potentially die.
"Thenea!!!!" Lance took one of his arrows, ready to stab Spirit with it but he was just simply pushed by her. It was unbelievable, no one has done that to him. Was it because their skills and mana were cut in half, or was he really that weak?
Spirit grabbed Thenea's hair to look at her face, expecting blood covering it but to her surprise, there was not a single scratch on it.
"Pygmy," Thenea faintly said.
The wind mage whipped her head to where Pygmy was located and saw the guardian opened her eyes, she's not doing the exit. Thenea's scream made Pygmy lose her concentration and decided to help her friend who's doing everything she can to save them with just limited power.
"YOU!" Spirit growled and dropped Thenea.
"Shit!" Lance summoned a mana on his arrows and combined four into one. Before he could release it, he had the arrow make sure it would only follow Spirit and no one else.
"Leave them alone!" Lance yelled as the arrow was making its way towards Spirit at an immense speed.
Spirit vanished and tsked, she found Lance's persistence annoying. She would land anywhere but the arrows kept following her, no matter how slow or fast she was moving, it would follow her. What baffles her more was the arrow's strength and speed never dissipated.
Her brows furrowed, she's now becoming serious, 'if I get hit, it would surely be fatal since the bow is probably infused with his mana. He's controlling it.'
A vein popped on her temple, and as she gritted her teeth, her rage rose, "annoying brat!"
Thenea's physical strength is at a dangerous state. If she faints from the lack of mana to sustain her, the inverted orb would break. She is currently trying her best not to close her eyes, fighting to keep her breathing stable.
Crack.
Both Pygmy and Serene's orb is cracking bit by bit. When the Earth Guardian noticed this, she immediately went back to her role. She must do it before Spirit notices the orbs are cracking.
Crack.
Spirit's eyes softened as she hopped on a tree near Serene and when the arrow was nearing her, she jumped again and coated her fist with her winds, striking the orb which keeps Serene and jumps on her.
'WHAT?!'
Thenea couldn't clearly see, her mana is so little she's going to pass out anytime and she can't fight it. Only Lance was the one who's able to see what's happening, he ran towards them and tried to recall his arrows but it was too late.
Spirit vanished and the arrow penetrated deep in Serene's stomach.
Gasped.
A small tear escaped her eyes.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
Thenea couldn't hold it and fainted, Pygmy's orb broke and dropped her, causing her to roll on the ground.
Spirit laughed sinisterly at the sight of her enemies breaking right before her. She flew high up and smiled widely, feeling her body oozing with great pleasure with what she's done. She spread her arms and her hands open as her mouth hung open.
"Master, master," drools started to trickle down her chin to her neck as she called out to her master sensuously.
"Did you see it, master?" she hugged herself in an erotic manner, tears started flowing his cheeks, "did it turn you on as it did me? The sight of me destroying the ruby rank you highly spoke of," she laughed once more.
"Oh, master~" he flew higher and higher until she vanished.