Ri found himself suddenly surrounded by the Twelve Moons. Twelve sorcerers at twelve points of time.
"Holy shit, it's Cassius Crescent." Taylor surprised
"My own family recognizes me?"
"It's a secret to the other families and public, but we know a fairytale when we see it." Willow said
"I'm no fairytale, young woman. What's your name?"
"Willow Crescent, leader of the Twelve Moons."
"Alright, then. COME! ALL OF YOU AT ONCE!!"
The twelve drew their blade and held it far behind them. "Descending Moon Tide" from twelve different directions with a different time of release about half a second. Cassius uses casts two sickles then stick their butt-ends and combine them together and turned them into a doubled-bladed staff. He spins the staff and negates all twelve attacks.
"Such powerful attacks, I will find this exciting."
He then dispelled his weapon and launched himself forward to the sorcerer at one o'clock. She raised her sword to defend but Cassius catches her blade and snaps it off its handle. Cassius opened his mouth wide, razor-sharp teeth pierced her neck, he bites her head off and chews it a few times, then he swallows her head.
His body glowed temporarily and his eyes glowed brighter. His wavelength turned up.
"Is he getting more powerful by eating sorcerers?"
"Makes sense, since he's a no longer human."
Two sorcerers dashed in, they cast "Moonlight's Grace" and channeled it to their swords. They aimed for his arms. Their sword ricochet off his skin that turned as hard as steel. Ri then grew long, sharp spikes on his arms. The guy on the left didn't see it coming, his lungs, liver, heart was pierced easily. The guy on the right dodged it after one spike pierced his stomach, however nothing vital was hit. Cassius turns to him, casts a "Light Sickle" and swings it like a baseball bat.
The guy lifted his sword and defended, he gets plummeted far away, instead. Taylor threw his sword, vertically. Then he casts a "Light Blade" and swap places with his sword. He swings, Cassius blocks with his sickle, he gets thrown aside.
Willow dashed behind Cassius, she sweeps his legs and trips him. Taylor jumped forward with his blade held up high, ready to pierce his chest. His blade passes through Ri's body. Ri was not human, he was a beast that was conscious of his own body shape, which means he can manipulate his body shape into anything he wants as long as he has mana.
Taylor's blade passed through a hole that Ri suddenly made, Ri then suddenly split his body into fifty pieces. Willow and Taylor were caught off guard and disoriented. The pieces grew wings and flied around the place in perfect coordination, slashing Willow, Taylor, and every other remaining Twelve Moon members. They were stunned by constant flashing light that came from the pieces, like a flash grenade every few seconds.
The pieces then reunited and turned back into Ri. Both and Willow were heavily wounded all over, the only person that wasn't hurt was Laura.
"Why?" Her eyes widen as she froze in place.
Ri walked over to Willow and turned his left hand into tentacles. Then he wrapped her up with them and squeezed her as tight as he can, her body reddens, almost blue. Her eyeballs looked like they were about to pop out, she couldn't breathe. Then Ri brings her head close to his mouth. He opens wide then chomps her head off.
His mana wavelength increased greatly. Taylor saw what he did and regretted himself greatly. He tries to get back but he barely had any strength. He grips his blade as hard as he can and gets up on one knee. Ri did not give him a chance. He swung his big scythe at him. Taylor blocks it with his blade backed with amplification, but right after, he got flung far. Landing almost a hundred feet behind Laura.
"H-how?" In the face of greater power, Laura trembled in fear.
ONE DAY AGO
Laura and Dan were sitting on a bench at Yui's private garden. They were within the rose section. Red, white, blue roses. Each differed in size and age, Yui took care of most of them herself, sometimes Heath help. Theo started helping with her flowers recently,
"Laura?"
"Yeah?"
"I talked with my mom after you were trained with her, and she said it's best if I say it to you."
"What's that?"
"I just wanna let you know, if you're in trouble, if you need my help, I'll always try to come running to you."
"That's sweet, I'll try and do the same."
"Thanks. Anyways, I was trying to say that you need to be more independent. Self-reliant. You're too easy going as you know someone will come and save you. And believe me I will always try to be there to try and save you. But, you know I can't always do that. I'm on my own and so are you. We're together until we die. If we get killed no one else dies, just us. And if you died... I don't think I'll ever be able to accept it. I'll think it's my fault."
**Laura's Perspective**
Now, it's just me against Cassius. The whole team was wiped out in seconds. My brother is incapacitated right now. I'm on my own. Knowing what I can do, I stand no chance. It's better for me to run than die, right? No. That's exactly what I did last time and nearly got my brother killed. I drew my blade and kept my head low. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath to calm myself down. I opened my eyes and Cassius was charging at me.
Speed and visual perception or anticipation, that's what I needed to beat a speedster. Ava's a lot faster than you, so I can see and predict your moves perfectly fine. He slashes from above and immediately follows up with a hit from the pole of his scythe. Then he pivots around and slam the pole onto my stomach. I manage to block his attack but his sheer strength overpowers me, and I slide on the ground. I released my knees and shoulders and drop to the ground. I manage to land a shallow cut on Cassius' stomach.
I quickly stood up behind him, trying to follow up to my next move but he destroys that chance by sending a backhand to the back of my head. I fell over, I feel the back of my head bleeding. My vision's hazy. I gripped my blade and start crawling away from Cassius. I released my scabbard and used it to stand up, then dropped it. I stood ten feet away from him. I started gasping for air and tried to focus my vision. I held my blade in front of me to guard.
Cassius' shaped changed into something else. I couldn't make it out. My head's spinning like a top. He dashed forward and headbutted me. I lost grip of my blade, he grabbed its blade and pulled it out of my hands. I fell back on my butt. On the ground, getting dizzier.
I quickly shrugged off the hazy vision and saw, clearly, that Cassius broke my sword to pieces. My weapon... Now I don't have anything to fight with. I'm not good at close-quarter-combat like Dan or Heath are. I'm going to die? I need to run. I have to run. I can't die. Not like this. Not this soon. I- I-
No. Just calm yourself down. This is what Dan meant. I can't run. Not anymore. I stood up and surged the spell I kept up my sleeve, "Moonlight's Grace". I surged it to every part of my body, imbuing every cell in my body with highly condensed mana. This might be suicide, who knows? If I can't live through this, I'll just make sure to take you down with me, Cassius.
I put my hand up to my face and wipe my tears away. Cassius shook. I can tell, his mana wavelength matches mine. So I took my wavelength to another gear. It should be a little higher than his, for now. I waited for him to make the first move.
He removed his scythe and conjured two sickles of light.
"You're the strongest one here, aren't you?"
"Who knows really? I meant, who cares, really?" The time I spent with Dan really made me realize what's important. Sure, I might not make it out of this but I really want to spend more time with you. I guess it's mutual, Dan. I hope we can see each other again.
"HAJIMEMASHOU!" He yelled 'Start'. Then he ran at me with his sickles. Swinging them both from outside, I raised both my arms up while focusing "...Grace" onto both of them. I blocked the blades with my arms. Then I pulled both arms back and launched yama zuki, a two-handed punch to the head and chest. Chest and stomach in Cassius' case. I raised my right knee up, channeled everything to my entire leg, and landed a straight kick to his stomach. He slides a few steps back. Then he charges at me and grabs me. He jumps up and flew into a building. We crashed through it and ended up in a cramped hallway. He threw me all the way to the end of the hall and he stood at the other end. I stood there, feeling hurt and drained already. This has to end as fast as possible. I'll wait for him to go first.
"Ore to tatakae!"
"KITE!" I yelled, beckoning him
The two of us started charging at each other, bare hands. He looks fresh, I look beaten to hell. Fuck it. This is what Dan would do. I weirdly grinned as I charged at him. I draw my right fist back, and have my entire body surging with "...Grace". We both battle cried as we got closer and collided our fists. A huge shockwave erupted that shook the building. I think I might've twisted my wrist from the sheer force. I switched to my legs and held his body with both my arms and jumped out of the building. Cassius somehow was able to turn his body like a cat and have me at the bottom to receive the full impact of the fall. I plummet to the ground and started blacking out.
The last thing I heard was, "I'll wait for a rematch."
Taylor tries to recover, but his lungs were punctured by his own ribs. His mouth watered with blood. He stands up, limping onto his feet. He held his blade and directed at Cassius.
"Anata to anata no imouto saikyoudesu. Watashi to tatakae, jikai."
"C- come back...!" Taylor wheezes. He walked a few steps forward then dropped to the ground and passed out again.