(Spirit Warriors' HQ - Pallid Plane Branch)
(Tundris - 2 hours ago)
Nestled within a deep valley was a silent city that thrived in the harsh cold of the pallid plane; Tundris.
Every soul within this city was donned in thick black coats and went about their daily activities with varieties of emotions on their faces. Each building stood tall, bearing the full brunt of the winter winds with incredible resistance.
One building especially outshined the others as its magnificent architecture never ceased to leave onlookers gawking. On the face of the building was a large symbol that resembled a tumultuous wave.
This building was the Pallid Plane's Branch for the Spirit Warrior HQ and within the office on the top floor, an elderly man with grey hair examined the papers on his desk with frustration on his face. He looked to be around his late forties and exuded an air of wisdom.
His spirit warrior uniform had a large white fur collar. On his left sleeve was the symbol that was boldly represented on the face of the HQ and on his right was they symbol of two snakes intertwining.
"Captain Miria apparently tried to wear down the A-Class Spirit Beast as long as possible since she wasn't an attack-oriented warrior", he sighed. "She was killed before reinforcements could reach her location however."
He stood up from his seat, "The only survivors were Theo, Atlas and Adelpha. These are spirit warriors with strength on par with an A-Class Spirit Beast and they among our best soldiers."
The Commander closed his eyes and turned to face the frosty windows. His eyes narrowed.
"They failed to purge the beast", he muttered. "But the only thing that was left of it were its residue spirit particles once the collection team arrived at the scene, quite far from where we found the three."
Someone else had purged the creature and the Commander wasn't sure as to who was responsible for it. If it was a Spirit warrior from one of the other planes, he would've known by now.
Perhaps, could it have been one of the rogue spirit warriors he had been hearing about?
The Commander was interrupted by the sounds of someone knocking on the door and turned around. He sat down and arranged the papers on his desk, then took in a few breaths.
"Come in"
A young lady emerged from behind the door, donned in the standard pallid plane uniform. She adjusted her glasses and securely held on to her clipboard.
"Commander Soren, pardon my intrusion", she spoke in a slightly hasty pace.
"Don't worry about it", Commander Soren waved his hand. "What is it, Astrid?"
"Yes", she walked in. "We just received visitors from the crown plane."
"Oh?", his eyes let up a bit. "Let them in."
Astrid turned around and walked back a bit. She opened the door and from within the pale darkness of the other side came two souls.
One was clad entirely in a blue armour and most likely stood at about 7 feet in height. The aura around him exuded an inside strength.
The other was a young girl who wore a fox mask. She was donned in the standard uniform of spirit warriors that worked under the Blade of Earth. The mountain symbol on her sleeve was proof of that. She didn't particularly spark much interest in Soren, but something about the eyes that stared at him from behind the mask made him feel slightly uneasy.
Astrid hastily moved over to the Commander's side and handed out a document to him.
"They came with this", she placed the document gently on the table and stepped back.
Soren observed his visitors for a bit before taking a look at the paper. What he read left him confused.
'This is from the Soul King!?', he thought. 'Well, it may not be a direct document from him considering it passed through the Blade of Earth's hands but… what's this?'
He began to read the contents of the document in his mind,
'Greetings, Soren. I hope your work is continuing with little trouble. I have dispatched these two soldiers in order to investigate the mountains in the highly dense spirit energy region. I would like to inform you of this before they act and of the plea that you do not offer any kind of assistance or enquire about the details of their mission. This is to be done by them alone.'
"The dense energy regions…", Soren uttered. "That place is nothing but a wasteland that is constantly being eaten up by the relentless winter storms."
He looked up and examined the two spirit warriors that stood before him in his office.
'These two work under the Blade of Earth, but the pallid plane has been placed under the rule of the Blade of Water. I'd expect to see Spirit Warriors bearing the crashing wave emblem.'
A hidden ferocity sparked in Soren's eyes as he took a long pause. Astrid began to feel uneasy as the two parties exchanged silent gazes.
After a while, the Commander closed his eyes and waved his hands.
With that, the visitors turned around to leave.
There was brief silence. Astrid was curious as to what this was all about but chose not to speak.
"The King has his eyes everywhere", Soren suddenly spoke. "Even if something as dangerous as a shadow soul were present in those regions, we can't interfere."
Astrid's eyes widened and her heart began to race without her even realising it.
.
.
.
(Dense Energy Region - Ancient Hall)
(Current time)
Xoese and Edem stared down their visitors for what seemed to be an eternity. The only sounds that could be heard coming from the opening in the ceiling was that of the howling winter storms, yet to the souls locking each other down, nothing at all could be heard.
A drop of water slowly threatened to fall from the stalactites above them, reflecting the two parties.
And at the moment it let go…
Silent gusts of wind appeared right behind the fox mask warrior and materialising with it was the white-haired soldier. Violent winds formed around her left arm, rotating at incredible speeds.
Before the armoured soldier could move, a golden circle burst into existence around him, rendering him motionless.
Xoese swung her arm and connected with her opponent, shredding her in two. There was a faint shriek until her opponent suddenly fazed out of existence!
'An after-image!?', Xoese immediately leapt back to Edem's side.
She scanned her surroundings but couldn't see anyone but the armoured spirit warrior.
"Oh?", Edem looked to his right. "They don't seem to be concerned about the stage at the moment. Also, did that girl just evade Xoese's stealth manoeuvre?"
'Could she be-', Xoese turned around. 'Behind me!?'
There was no one. The white-haired warrior's eyes widened.
No!
That wasn't it!
She looked back and right there in front of her, the masked opponent sizzled into existence and closed the distance in the fraction of a second. A huge gust of wind descended between the two, greatly reducing the momentum of the attacker's advance.
An eerie blade failed to reach Xoese's face by an incredibly small margin. The blade seemed to form part of the masked warrior's arm.
Xoese staggered.
"Whoahoho there!", Edem snapped his fingers and at that instant, three golden circles appeared behind the masked opponent.
The circles glowed brightly and summoned an immense force that sent the masked warrior hurtling across the hall.
"You lost your composure there", Edem smirked and began to do a few light stretches. "Keep it together, Xoese."
Xoese clenched her fists, "Tch."
She never imagined there was someone who could detect her movement technique.
"We're ending this quickly", golden circles materialised in the entire hall as Edem's eyes glowed. "And we're doing it together. You're not going to decline, are you?"
The cold look in Xoese's eyes grew even more pallid as she stared down her opponents. Gusts of wind began to form around her. If it weren't for her protective spirit energy, she would've had a blade through her head.
Finishing the procedure for the Forced Spirit Evolution took top priority and hence, any threat had to be gotten rid of and fast. Combining their power was the only logical option if that was the case.
Xoese lunged at the two at breakneck speed, keeping her laser focus on the masked spirit warrior. Golden circles immediately hovered to the area around Xoese's target, reflecting golden rings in Xoese's eyes.
She began to detect progressive after-images of her opponent as she evaded several moments before Xoese could get close.
The wind warrior kept moving forward but her eyes were fixed on the enemy that tried to sneak up on her.
'No matter what technique you use, the energy in your core is going to give off vibrations', Edem gave a malicious smile. 'You're wide open in my space.'
The masked warrior appeared above Xoese and descended with a swing of her arm blade.
However, she had long been detected.
Xoese melted into the air in a sudden disappearance and appeared right above her enemy. Violently rotating winds surrounded her right arm as she prepared to release her attack.
*SCREECH!!*
An ear-pounding wave suddenly blasted in the space, knocking Xoese off balance and sending her crashing onto the ground.
"Hm?", Edem raised an eyebrow.
All his golden circles began to respond to the sound wave, violently vibrating until ultimately dying out.
He smiled sarcastically as sweat ran down the sides of his face, "W- Well, that was unexpected."
His gaze fell on the armoured warrior in the back.
"Huh, annoying", his voice turned dark.
Xoese shook her head as she lifted herself on one knee, "What was that?"
Turbulent winds sparked within Xoese's Spiritual awareness, forcing her to lift her head.
"Tsk", she gathered whatever strength she had and leapt out of the way of an impending attack.
A loud BOOM resounded in the hall as the masked enemy struck the ground with her fist.
"Xoese! We need to take out the armoured guy!", Edem began to materialise new circles. "Our spells won't fare well against his!"
Xoese's attention fell on the armoured warrior for a brief moment.
'That sound wave from earlier disrupted the energy flow in my core for a brief moment', her eyes narrowed. 'They seem to know about our spells. If that's the case, why didn't they go with that strategy in the beginning?'
"XOESE!"
The white-haired warrior's instincts flared as the masked soldier blurred right before her. This time, several blades tore out from beneath her skin as she charged her fist towards her opponent.
Xoese defensively raised her arms, summoning a great volume of wind that fell between the two. The incoming attack was brought to a staggering halt as Xoese was forced back.
"Tsk", Xoese's blurry vision locked onto the armoured soldier at the back, "A trap."
Each plate on his metallic uniform began to vibrate as he prepared to release another devastating shock wave.
*SCREECH!!*
An even more powerful shockwave swept across the area. Xoese shrieked as the protective winds weakened greatly and the force from the wave blasted her away at an impressive speed, knocking her high up into the air until she crashed into the walls at the far end of the hall.
Edem had tried to summon circles to protect Xoese from the blast but the previous attack had left his spells inefficient!
He turned back and sighed inwardly as the energy surrounding Leticia and the others protected them from the impact of the waves.
"Tch! Damn it!", Edem finally got his spell to materialise, however the masked warrior had burst forth in Xoese's direction just moments before its activation.
The cloaked man slowly turned to face the armoured soldier. His expression wasn't as cheerful as before.
Xoese struggled to pull herself out from within the wall. Blood oozed out from her ears and nostrils and she pushed parts of the wall away to free herself. Her head rang in pain and her body ached but she pushed the thoughts of pain to the back of the mind as she landed on the ground with a dull thud.
The masked spirit warrior arrived only a moment later.
The two stared each other down and the pressure intensified as their spirit energies began to spiral out of control.
'I can't use the air around me', Xoese concentrated her spirit energy in her core. 'So, I'll just make it from within.'
An explosive white light burst out from Xoese as she increased the potency of her spirit energy. The masked opponent stood before the turbulent stream of energy unfazed.
Her energy slowly leaked out and burst into a yellow spiral fury.
"Let's…", Xoese's eyes glowed with a white light. "Let's take this over from the start."