Nate, Sam, and Volta were walking slowly, circling around Terry who had his tentacles swirling around the air, bracing himself for a three-on-one.
An anomaly class... I've never seen one with my one eyes before, Nate was slightly impressed by Terry.
Nate sees some droplets run down the tentacle and fall to the ground, creating a loud sizzle that seemed to burn through the ground. Then from the hole, emitting thin smoke. The scent that it emitted, acrid and sharp.
Acid... Nate presumed, he got even more in dubious.
"Come on, Shujin told me you guys would be problems," Terry baits.
"Is that why you're not attacking?" Nate replied.
At the matter of fact, it was whoever moved to attack first that would suffer the worst consequence. Nate knew the best, not only that he knows the limits of his abilities, as a Cold Sorcerer, he was at a severe disadvantage.
No matter how thick or how big of an ice wall he makes to defend, it would only buy him a split second. He knows he wouldn't be able to act quick enough in that instance.
"You know, I was allowed to kill you kids."
"Is that supposed to scare us?" Sam replied, a little irritated. "You're barely older," Sam grips his Twin Blades tighter.
"True," Terry scoffed. "So, are you gonna make the first move?"
"Seems to me, you're just scared of us."
"Is that what this looks like?" Terry grins widely as the acid around his back start enveloping his entire body. On his face appeared two holes for his darkened eyes. "Well, I'm getting bored," his voice was altered, becoming more distorted. "So I'll make the first move."
Terry crosses his hands on his chest and then spreads them at his wingspan, followed by his tentacles reaching all the way to the ends of the cave. Becoming like a sea urchin. Sam clashed his blades together and repels the tentacles back, protecting himself. Volta shifts her body a few steps to dodge each tentacle perfectly. Nate tries to create a wall, and to his belief, the tentacles pierced it like it was nothing, he got caught. Burning the side of his arm and his right thigh.
"Kuso..." Nate murmured through clenched teeth. The acid burns the cloth on his turtleneck and pants, all the way to his skin.
Do I have a way to counter him? Nate wondered, reviewing the list of his spells.
Ice Rink, Ice Aurora, Ice Spikes, Frost Amplification, Ice Spikes, Ice Tentacles, Ice Weapons, none were of any use.
Would water help in this situation? Nate wondered, regretting not ever taking a single water spell during his lessons in his family. Granted he never wanted to learn a thing from them.
Volta dashes forward, coursing Bolt Amplification through every inch of her body, she slashes right through Terry's half, splitting him in two. She pivots around to see him fully turned to her and already reattaching his two halves. He drives his fist forward, his tentacles converging around his whole arm, enveloping it and giving him more mass and surface area to hit. Volta clenched her fist and drove it from her hip. Their fists collide and Terry's hand broke apart to a corrosive acid rain.
With her own amplification spell, she was protected from the acid rain. She walked forward with glowing lifeless eyes and the intention to kill. In a blurry memory, she recalled a woman in a black crop-top, similar to the one she's wearing. And she wore baggy cargo pants, just like the ones she's wearing currently.
The woman placed her palms together, like she was about to pray, then she parted her palms and a thin pane of glass-like material emerged from her palms and she twisted both her wrists at the same time and creating two see-through glass blades.
Volta didn't understand why, but she followed exactly what the random memory showed her. She placed her palms together and parted them quickly. Creating two bolts of lightning in her hands. Lightning Kalis.
Sam was emerging from behind Terry and would follow Volta's lead to jump him. Volta looks down to her two literal lightning kali "sticks", she didn't know why she had them, but she knew very well how to use them. Someone had taught her to. Though she couldn't even recall the person's name, let alone their face.
One's lightning fast, one's got those blades that repel everything... Terry simply observed. She's probably my worst matchup. While the other two are clearly vulnerable to my tentacles.
Terry unleashes a huge wave of acid at Volta, obscuring her view temporarily. Terry then drove two tentacles to the ground while sending a third one straight at Sam's face.
Sam thinks about dodging it and how easy it would actually be, yet he was dubious that that was the best option. He quickly clashed his blades together and repelled the single tentacle aimed at him.
The ground sizzling and erected two tentacles, one right in front of Sam and one behind him. Sam quickly steps to the side while swinging his blades to cut the tentacles down.
After Volta ran out of space to back away from the wave of acid, she just burst through the wave. She feels her body get heavy after colliding with a wave with such strong force.
"Tch..." Terry spouted, annoyed.
Terry turns to Nate and reached his hand out, sending a barrage of tentacles at him. Nate turns to the right, ready to run, yet he never moved. He lifted his hands to do absolutely nothing. His wall of ice was disintegrated easily, what difference would his flesh make? His skin had already been burned moments ago.
Sam and Volta rushes around to protect Nate from the barrage. Volta cuts off the tentacles halfway and Sam clashed his blades and repelled the rest of them away.
Sam turns around to Nate with a glare filled with annoyance, "ne, doushita!?" Sam yells at him. "Shinitai no ka?!"
"Eh..." Was all that Nate could manage.
Volta rushes to Terry and starts overwhelming him with what should be lethal strikes. Cutting him up to pieces only for him to reattach himself quicker than she could cut. Knowing she would be able to handle herself, Sam focuses on Nate.
Sam grabs Nate's shirt and pulls him close, he would want to lift him up but he was half an inch shorter than Nate was. "Are you gonna fight or what?" Sam asked.
"I- I c- can't help..."
"I don't give a shit," Sam shook his head.
"B- But..."
"You're a fucking Varr, aren't you supposed to trample everyone with that stupid supremacist mindset you have? Or are you just a bitch?"
Nate pushes Sam away from, "shut up!"
"No!"
"Nothing I do would affect him anyway!"
"Same shit with me and V, dumbass!" Sam yelled. "My blades can only repel his spells, Volta can tank hits from him and cut him but he regenerates in an instant!"
"What do you want from me?"
"Any ideas? Freeze him? I don't know! You're the sorcerer here!"
"So are you!"
Sam felt a little happiness that Nate accepted him as a sorcerer. But right now he couldn't take it in just yet. He looks over to Volta getting overwhelmed, or rather failing to overwhelm Terry. Terry's head flew off his neck, rolling on the floor. His head then dissolved to liquid as a creepy last grin with teeth stretched the entire cave.
"Imaginary Dimension: Acidic Malice," Terry's voice echoed through the cave. The floor then filled with acid, turning the entire scape to a bowl of acid.
Nate rose the ground with ice and made a platform for him and Sam. Volta was able to get on the platform before she was burned by the acid.
Imaginary Dimension is a technique that can be used for any purpose, depending on the caster. Terry's specific use was creating an entire plane of acid for him to control at will. Differing from Shujin's which is just a pocket dimension he uses to be undetected.
Terry rose from the ground and was bringing a hundred meter wave of acid behind him. Amplified to have pH levels seven times lower than fluoroantimonic acid. Acid levels that low may have an effect to the integrity of mana, it would disrupt spell casting.
No matter how strong the amplification spell is, no one would be able to take the hit and come out unscathed.
"What do we do?" Sam asked.
"The one thing I can do," Nate steps forward, lifted his right fist up in the air. He placed his left palm in front of him then he slammed down his fist. Like playing rock-paper-scissors. "Imaginary Dimension: Grace Frost!" Nate shouted.
In an instant, half of Terry's wave of acid froze over, resulting it to collapse in on itself. Nate's projection was strong enough to greatly decrease Terry's advantage but wasn't powerful enough to overtake him completely.
Terry drops down to the ice floor and walks forward slowly, looking right and left, feeling very irritated. Oh, so he could just counter my trump card like that!?
"What the hell is this?"
Nate couldn't even say a word to reply. His nerves were showing, sweat was pouring out of his pores. His eyes shed tears as he grit his teeth.
"Nate?" Sam started to worry.
"Not now!" Nate growled through clenched teeth.
"We need a way to kill him," Volta mentioned.
"I've got no clue right now."
"Nate, how long can you hold?"
"Five... Minutes!"
"That seems too short," Volta looks down and tries to think.
From the corner of Volta's mind, came a child's voice screaming, how about just fry them?
Volta had no idea where it a came from, but it was a good idea she could at least try. "Sam, stay here for now."
"What?" Sam stepped forth, gripping his blade tightly. "What are you doing?"
"I dunno yet, but I'm going to try it."
"Go then."
In a flash, Volta reaches to Terry and she sinks her hand into his chest. Terry looks down at her with a confused look.
"Electric Charge: Release," she uttered. Electric shock then surges through Terry and forced his dimension to break apart bringing them back to the cave.
That worked. So, electricity is the key.
Volta then looked around to find Terry's remnants, she saw a blob of acid traveling quickly and trying to escape. She dashed forward, about to deliver another shock, as her fist was about to make contact, it was stopped abruptly. Held by a man in black and white.
"Otsukare, nee..." Shujin sighs. "Shobu o owari da," Shujin stands and manages to push Volta back several steps.
Volta tried to pull her hand but couldn't break free from his grip. Shujin pulls Volta in close and he placed his free hand on his right temple. He sent a shockwave through her brain that disoriented her. Her vision became a blur, her world was spinning as she couldn't find the ground.
As her vision blackened, an image flashed inside her head. It was a kid with black and blue hair. He's saying something, but his voice was nothing but a muffled sound. His face was clear, and she recognizes him. She knows who it might be.
Shujin slams the heel of his palm to Volta's stomach and launched her back at Sam and Nate. Sam ran quickly catching Volta as she falls. He quickly leaves her to deal with Shujin.
Sam raised his blades to clash them, as he was an inch away from sending a repel force, Shujin intercepts it by striking his wrists, knocking both his blades out of his grip.
"Omae wa nanda?" Shujin tilted his head asking. "Mahoutsukai janee..." Shujin then pokes Sam's stomach and his mana surges through Sam's body and made him collapse and gasp for air.
From behind everyone, a big gateway then was opened and Shujin went back to Terry in a blink of an eye. "Makechatta," Shujin points out.
"Oh, shut it."
The two then disappeared and went back to the secured room they came from.
Nate ran up to Volta and helped her up, she was wobbly and perplexed. She could barely stand straight. Nate decided to just let her sit, creating a slab of ice behind her for her to rest on. He then went to Sam and tried to help him up.
"Can you stand?"
"N- not really."
"Fine, just sit."
Nate erected another slab of ice behind Sam for him to rest. Nate sat in between the two, having a clear view of majority of the room and the big passage way that had just opened up.
Echoed from afar were rushing footsteps. Nate walks a few steps forward then kneeled on one knee. He placed his right hand on the jagged floor, freezing it gradually. He was ready to send a wave of death spikes to whomever came to through the passage he deemed as a threat.
Using mana sense, Nate was able to relax a bit. "Thank goodness," he sighs in relief.
Heath, Dan, Laura, Vic, Jay, Kris, and Hiro came in.
Nate stands up and waves at them, "so all of us got snatched, huh?" He said.
"Yeah, seems so," replied Jay.
"Anyone know a way out?" Kris asked.
"Blow a hole in the wall?" Vic suggested, "assuming we're not underground."
"Anyone got a signal on their phone?" Nate asked.
"No, nothing," they said as they checked their phones.
"It's probably Shujin jamming it," Heath shrugs.
"I doubt we'd get a signal in a cave anyway," Dan stated.
"Vic, you're an imaginative sorcerer, right?" Laura calls.
"I guess... Why?"
"Can you make a laser drill?"
"A laser drill...?" Vic thinks about the logistics of conjuring one up, she thought not to fret on details and just create something that would shoot a stream of super hot laser. "I think I can make it. But, I'd waste a lot of mana, so if anything happens I need protection."
Heath turns around to the opened gate and began walking towards it, not a word he uttered. He merely walked with his hands in his pockets.
Nate catches up with him, "hey, where are you going?"
"Scoping out the place."
"Didn't you do that on your way here?"
"Landscape might change."
"You can't fight Shujin alone," Nate said, "you know this."
Heath then sensed something coming from up ahead, with no cue, he started sprinting as fast as he could.
"Oi, matte!" Nate started chasing behind them.
After the two went through the gate, the wall converged and sealed them off from the rest. Nate turns around, feeling a little panicked. "Oi, Heath, doko ni ikunda?" He yelled.
Heath reaches to the room before and it was a vacant room with one target in the middle. Shujin himself.
"Cosmic Resonance: Oblivion Incineration," Heath uttered loudly as purple flames raged from him. His eyes were sharp and filled with rage and focus. Heath snaps his fingers and thirteen cards from the heart suit lined up. Giving Heath a Full Flush.
Shujin then stretches his arms as electricity was emitting from his body. "Sever," he uttered. A small dagger appeared in his hand. Shujin covers the blade part of the dagger then swiped it along its blade, increasing its size to a full scimitar. "World Cleaver," he then continued.
Nate didn't have any powerful or cool spells that would match Heath's fighting style or be effective against Shujin. He merely cast an amp spell. Ice Amplification: Berserk. A mode of self-amplification he created that would increase his output by ten fold.
The three had a stand off, well it was mostly Heath and Shujin. Nate felt nervous, unknowing where he would fit in the fight. The best he would manage would be to get in cheap shots from openings.
Shujin slashed the air, severing the world in a line. Heath whipped his line of cards and collides with Shujin's reality severing spell. Heath cancels out Shujin's spell. Shujin dashed forward, thrusting his blade forward. Heath steps aside whilst sending his fist to Shujin's chest, pushing him back a few steps.
Nate closes the distance and slams his knee directly to Shujin's face. Then he wrapped his legs around Shujin's head, creating icicles from his fist and stabs down directly to Shujin's brain. Shujin lunges backward as he dropped his body low and throws Nate off of him.
With an icicle sticking out of Shujin's head, he started shaking all over the place. He quickly takes the icicle out of his head and he glitched back to perfect condition, as if he was never stabbed in the head.
Shujin then decides to make a move, he launches forward stabbing through the air. Heath and Nate dodges to opposite sides. Heath used his arm and deflects Shujin's, making him thrust through the ground. Heath wraps his cards around the blade and pulls as hard as he could, cutting the sword to pieces.
Nate lands a haymaker to Shujin's right temple, then Heath follows up with a knee to the left side of Shujin's body. Nate and Heat syncs up and showers Shujin with devastating blows. Shujin was overwhelmed, but was merely taking the hits because he could.
After Shujin got tired, he gave the two of them a hard shove in their chest that made them wheeze for air, "you two are dull. No creativity," Shujin said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Fuck... You..." Heath slurred as he takes in air.
"Heath, we need to leave," Nate whispered.
"I'm killing you, here and now, Shujin!" Heath said as he stood up quickly.
But Shujin was quicker, he raised his hand and a black and white orb of light appeared, "Inverted Light," Shujin uttered. A blast of blinding light caused the two to be shocked near to death by being fried from inside out.