Eve, Vulcan, and Bard stood apart from each other at a considerable distance, each one ready for action. There was an awkward silence as they waited for someone to make the first move, the only sound breaking the silence was the soft breeze caused by Eve's Ornament.
Bard let out a sigh and shot swords at Eve and Vulcan, officially starting the free-for-all. As Bard's swords whistled through the air towards Eve, she effortlessly dodged one and deflected the other using a burst of wind, bringing herself into the branches of a nearby tree. Meanwhile, Vulcan calmly deflected the oncoming swords with his own, a light blue aura slowly surrounding him as he prepared for the battle.
Eve using her Ornament, lifted the patch of ground beneath Bard's feet, sending it into the air. Shifting her attention to Vulcan, she manipulated the air currents to build momentum, sending herself forward.
Vulcan poised himself, using his elite knight spirit technique at the second level. This allowed him to keep up with Eve's movements and hit harder. Once she got closer, he used his light slash spirit technique at level two, planning his next moves.
While airborne, Eve extended her leg, sweeping it down forcefully towards Vulcan boosting her strike with controlled gusts of wind to increase its impact. Vulcan quickly raised his sword to block, the clash echoed through the forest. Before he could retaliate, Eve recovered from the recoil of her attack, immediately continuing with a follow-up attack.
Spheres of wind engulfed Eve's hands as she threw a punch towards Vulcan. Vulcan parried her blow using his sword. Not missing a beat, Eve swiftly transitioned, pivoting on one foot to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to Vulcan's chest. The impact was solid, causing Vulcan to stagger backwards.
Bard looked down from the patch of grass from where he stood, realizing he was quite high up in the air. He scratched his head, thinking how to safely get down. After a moment, he came up with a plan. Using his swords, he opened up portals and chopped down several nearby trees. With each tree down, he put them away into his portals.
Using the trees he had shot from his portals, Bard mounted one as it shot out. The patch of grass beneath him broke into rubble upon impact. From the portals, four tree shot towards Eve and Vulcan.
As the trees flew towards them, Eve sensed the danger. She took action, delivering a low kick that caught Vulcan off guard, sending him falling to the ground. Eve shot both the spheres of wind from her hands. The spheres slammed into the trees, shattering them into splinters. Bard felt the subtle change in the air. Deciding quickly, he jumped from the tree, falling rapidly to the ground below.
Bard hit the ground with a hard thud, landing in a way that wasn't exactly graceful but got him on solid ground again. Just as he regained his footing, he saw Eve charging at him with a determined look in her eyes, closing the distance in a split second. Her fist now charged with electricity, aiming right for his chin, ready to knock him off balance.
Thinking fast, Bard opened one of his portals just in front of him. Out of it, a massive tree trunk shot forward with the force of a cannon, slamming directly into Eve's chest. She gasped as the impact drove her backward, her momentum completely halted as she was sent rolling across the ground, coughing as she tried to catch her breath.
Vulcan quickly stood up, gripping his sword tightly as he planted it deep into the ground. With a powerful upward slash, he carved through the earth, sending a shower of dirt and debris flying toward Bard. The particles scattered like a cloud of dust, catching Bard off guard as they struck his face and forced his eyes shut. He stumbled back, rubbing at his eyes as he struggled to see, momentarily blinded by Vulcan's sudden counterattack.
Just as Vulcan was about to deliver the final blow to Bard, Eve intervened with a sharp flick of her wrist, sending two crackling bolts of lightning racing through the air toward him. Vulcan reacted instantly, his reflexes allowing him to deflect the first bolt with his sword, the steel sparking on contact. But the second bolt slipped past his guard, striking him squarely. Although the jolt wasn't powerful enough to knock him down, it sent a tingling surge through his body, his muscles tightening involuntarily as the sensation of electric energy pulsed through him. He clenched his teeth, the charge slowing his movements as he fought to stay on his feet.
Just as Vulcan was about to end Bard's participation in the battle, Eve intervened with a sharp flick of her wrist, sending two bolts of lightning towards him. Vulcan reacted instantly, his reflexes allowing him to deflect the first bolt with his sword, the steel sparking on contact. But the second bolt slipped past his guard, striking him squarely. Although the jolt wasn't powerful enough to knock him down, it sent a tingling surge as the sensation of electric energy pulsed through him. He clenched his teeth, the charge slowing his movements as he fought to stay on his feet.
"I get to be the one to knock him out of this match—he hit me with a damn tree," Eve muttered, shooting Vulcan a look as she walked toward Bard, who was still rubbing his eyes from the dust attack. Her fists were clenched, sparking faintly with residual energy, and her expression made it clear she wasn't going easy on him.
Bard squinted, managing to spot Eve, and smirked despite the stinging in his eyes. "Talk about holding a grudge, Eve..."
Before Eve could raise her fist, Bard within the depths of his portals, he crushed the last two trees stored inside, shattering them into countless splinters. As he reopened the portals, Eve braced herself, expecting another trunk to come barreling toward her. In response, she made a wind barrier around herself, preparing for impact.
But instead of full tree trunks, jagged shards and splinters shot out like shrapnel, raining down on her from multiple angles. The wind barrier absorbed some of the smaller pieces, but several of the larger shards punched through, grazing her arms and shoulders. Eve gritted her teeth as the fragments tore through, forcing her to hold her ground against the storm of debris.
"How clever, Bard," Eve managed, as she held her barrier against the onslaught of splinters. "I have to admit, this isn't as easy as I thought it'd be..." She smirked despite herself, bracing harder as she deflected the bits of wood slicing through the air around her.
Bard gave a slight grin in response, watching as his improvised attack kept her on the defensive. "Well, I had to get creative," he replied. "You're aggressiveness isn't exactly making this easy for me either."
Before Bard could react, Eve's wind barrier flared up around the shards, trapping them within the gusts. A grin spread across her face as she said, "But I'm not some idiot either, right back at ya!" With a sharp motion of her hands, the wind barrier shifted and hurled the trapped splinters toward him.
The barrier exploded with force, sending the shards directly at Bard. His eyes widened for a moment, realizing he wasn't going to have much time to evade.
Reacting quickly, Bard summoned a ring of swords from his portals, each blade forming a protective shield around him that deflected the flying wooden shards. Just as he thought he'd covered himself, he felt a gust behind him and sensed Eve's presence. She'd used the distraction to her advantage, riding the wind to position herself right at his back.
Without hesitation, her hands were glowing brightly with energy, surging with electric currents that sparked. She released the charged bolts, the electricity streaking toward him. The force hit him like a surge, lifting him off the ground, the combined pressure of wind and lightning throwing him upward as he struggled to regain control.
Eve, with a downward motion sweep of her arms, directed the wind currents, slamming Bard into the ground. The sparks around him dissipated, leaving him weakened. He lay there, catching his breath, his body slightly smoking from the impact.
Without another glance, Eve walked past him, her focus now on Vulcan, who was just managing to push himself back to his feet. Her expression was cool and confident, almost daring, as she locked her gaze onto him.
"Should we end this, Vulcan?" Eve asked, her voice calm yet. She slowly got into a fighting stance, ready for whatever move he would make next.
Vulcan, tightened his grip on his sword, the muscles in his arms flexing with anticipation. His eyes narrowed slightly as he met her gaze. "You better not cry when I win, Eve," his tone playful, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Without a moment's hesitation, Vulcan ran forward as he closed the distance between them in an instant. His sword sliced through the air with powerful strikes, but Eve was quick to react, weaving and ducking each attack as if she were dancing through the blades. Her eyes locked on his movements, anticipating his every move.
But just as Eve prepared to retaliate, Vulcan's eyes flickered with a sudden determination. Using his spirit technique, he made a perfect replica of his sword out of pure spirit energy. Before Eve could react, he slammed the spirit blade into the ground burying it deeply into the earth. Then Vulcan wrenched it upward in a sweeping motion, sending a cloud of dirt and dust into the air, obscuring Eve's vision.
Eve cleared the thick cloud of dirt with a sudden gust of wind, her hands slicing through the air. The dust parted like a curtain, revealing Vulcan standing confidently, seemingly unaware of the danger. Without a second thought, Eve gathered the air around her hands, a surge of electricity crackling in the space between her fingers. She shot a powerful, wide lightning bolt directly at him.
The bolt struck Vulcan, but instead of a direct hit, his body vanished into a haze of pale blue energy, leaving only the faint outline of his form in its wake. Eve froze, her breath catching in her throat as the realization hit her. In an instant, the same ethereal energy wrapped around her, surging through her body. It wasn't just a physical attack—his spirit energy had taken hold of her, binding her in place.
Eve struggled against the binding energy, but it felt like trying to move through thick mud. The weight of Vulcan's spirit technique was suffocating, and a sharp sting of frustration flowed through her. But then, she heard his voice—a casual tone that only added to her irritation.
"I knew you'd fall for that," Vulcan said, his voice light and almost amused. "That's something I came up with myself, you know, but I'm still coming up with a name for it."
The sound of his voice came from behind a tree, and Eve's gaze shifted toward the source. Vulcan stood there, half-hidden, the faint blue glow of his spirit energy still lingering around him, a smug grin on his face. He seemed entirely at ease, confident in his victory.
Eve's mind raced, searching for a way to break free. The wind, still under her control, buzzed around her like a storm ready to break.
Vulcan's expression hardened as he lifted his sword, the pale blue glow of his spirit energy swirling around its blade. "Well, like you said, Eve," he said, "let's end this."
He slashed his sword through the air. Ethereal slashes of spirit energy erupted from the blade, slicing through the air. Eve, still trapped in Vulcan's spirit-bind, had only moments to react. She could feel the energy drawing closer, the sharpness of each ethereal slash approaching her.
The air around her pulsed, as though it could sense her will. She couldn't move freely, but she could still control it. She forced the wind to swirl in tight, focused currents around her, using it to push against the binding spirit energy. It was a small shift, but enough to buy her precious moments.
The first slash of energy connected with her wind barrier, Eve winced as the impact reverberated through her body, but the barrier held strong. Another slash came, followed by another, each one getting closer to breaking through her defenses.
The continuous barrage of ethereal slashes from Vulcan's sword sliced into Eve's wind barrier with relentless force. Each strike pushed harder than the last, breaking down her defenses bit by bit. The barrier broke down, splintering under the weight of the ethereal blades. Eve's eyes narrowed as the first slash cut through the wind, grazing her shoulder. The second slash followed quickly, grazing across her side and sending jolts of pain through her body.
She grit her teeth, feeling the pressure mounting. With each slash that made contact, her wind barrier weakened further, and Eve realized that if she didn't act fast, Vulcan's attacks would overwhelm her.
Suddenly, Eve's body began to hum with a raw, crackling energy. A surge of electricity coursed through her veins, discharging violently around her. Sparks flying across her skin, and the air around her crackled with charged tension. She unleashed the full force of her power.
Electricity exploded outward in all directions, instantly destroying the spirit bindings that held her in place. The ethereal slashes, one by one, were met with the electrifying force of her discharge. As her power surged, the lightning shredded the spirit energy, dissipating the slashes into nothingness.
Eve stood in the center, her body surrounded by arcs of electricity, a visible aura of power swirling around her. Her breathing was heavy, but her resolve was strong. She was free to fight back, free to end this. She stared at Vulcan, who was standing a few paces away, a look of surprise and admiration flashing across his face as he realized what had just happened.
"Not bad, Eve," he said, a grin on his face, "I didn't expect you to pull out that much power."
"This is proof I don't need my Forbidden Attribute," Eve said, a confident smirk on her face as electricity still crackled in the air around her. "I'm going to do things with my own power," she added, her voice filled with determination. "Now… should we end this?"
Vulcan took a deep breath, meeting her gaze. "If you think you can handle it, Eve," he replied, his grip tightening on his sword as his spirit energy flared up around him, forming a faint blue aura.
Within seconds, the air around Vulcan began to hum with a crackling intensity, as sparks flickered around him. The electric current surged, bursting in a sudden flash of energy that wrapped around him, like a barely contained storm. Vulcan steadied himself, feeling the static buzz through every muscle.
Eve, with a smirk playing on her lips, slowly approached him, each step deliberate, taunting. "You said that so confidently, Vulcan," she teased. "Did you really think I'd give you a fighting chance?"
Vulcan dropped to one knee, his strength weakening, and Eve stepped closer with a calm, almost sympathetic look. She leaned down, placing the palm of her hand gently on his cheek, her voice low as she whispered, "Discharge."
In an instant, the electrical particles coursing through his body erupted outward with a shockwave of force. The surge sent him flying backward, electricity crackling around him as he crashed into the ground. He lay there defeated as the last sparks faded.
Bard snuck behind Eve, moving as silently as he could, aiming to knock her out with one quick strike. But Eve, fully aware of his presence, reacted in an instant. She spun around, catching his wrist in a firm grip before he could even plan out his attack.
Without hesitation, she discharged every last bit of stored electrical energy that his body had absorbed. Sparks erupted as Bard's body tensed, his muscles locking up under the intense current. Eve's grip held firm, her eyes locked on his, as the electric storm flickered between them. When the last of the charge finally faded, she released his wrist, watching Bard collapse to the ground.
She glanced over at Vulcan, who was equally downed, breathing heavily and defeated. A smirk spread across Eve's face as she crossed her arms, observing the scene with satisfaction.
"Looks like I win..!"