"Storm Bringer!" A voice from within the vortex spoke. As the vortex slammed the merged knights into the ground, a shockwave rippled outwards. Soil and stone were torn asunder, tossed aside like discarded remnants across the sanctuary. A cloud of dust arose and blocked the vision of Rai and Abigail.
"What was that?" Abigail asked coughing consistently after inhaling the dust by accident.
"I guess we are about to find out." Rai replied, raising his forearm to his nose to avoid inhaling the dust.
As the dust settled, a young man who looked to be in his teenage years stood ontop the merged knights, he donned a black shorts and sleeveless black shirt with a black cloak over it. He also wore a pair of tabi on his feet. Tabi are split-toe boots that allow for stealthy movement and agility.
He had bandages wrapped around his body from his ankle to his knees, his fingers to his elbows and on his forehead. He had black silky hair which flowed down to his forehead and black eyes, however this applied to only his right eye. His left eye had a long vertical scar which came from an injury in the past.
"O-oww!!!" He exclaimed as he held his right foot and leaped several times in pain. "Those things weren't as tough as the ones from before!" He exclaimed.
"Uh..." Rai and Abigail were left speechless.
"How lame." Abigail said plainly, whoever it was that came to their aid had no idea that one of the individuals he saved was the princess of the Ronowa Empire.
"Li!" Another voice exclaimed.
They all turned their heads towards the source of the voice. Through the ceiling the young man bursted through, a female head emerged from it.
"You're always so hyperactive!" She complained as she jumped down from the hole in the ceiling, landing in front of him she turned out to be a short female ranging from five feet to five feet three inches in height. She donned a short gown made of deep, rich velvet in a dark shade of indigo, adorned with intricate silver embroidery that glimmers in the faintest light. Over her clothes was a black cloak very similar to that of the young man's own.
"I'll be fine." He responded to her, attempting to hide the pain he felt in his feet.
"Who are you?" Abigail interrupted.
Before they could answer, the debris of stones that covered the merged knights fell off at the same time as it got to his feet. It's eyes shrinked in annoyance, the amount of humans that trespassed into the temple was simply becoming too much.
"I'll deal with you two later, right now...I have to take care of that thing." Abigail said as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. As she did so, an orange aura slowly engulfed her whole body.
"EssenField." She uttered softly as she forced her eye lids open.
In general, EssenField was a technique developed by Abigail. It honed all the five senses to the maximum and also acted as her radar. Once she uses this technique, the concentrated essence surrounding her body act as a sort of radar to her, notifying her nervous system of the incoming danger and allowing her to pinpoint it's exact location without the use of her senses.
She dashed forward at the merged Knight who in response swung its sword at her as she got into range. The strength behind the swing was powerful enough to create another wind pressure which blew everything away in close proximity, however due to the concentrated essence that surrounded the body of Abigail she was able to slice through the wind pressure of the knight easily.
"That won't work on me twice!" She exclaimed as she got into range.
"I'll end everything in this one attack! Light Essence: Holy Excalsis!" She proclaimed as the orange aura that surrounded her body flowed into her right palm and assumed the form of a concentrated ball of light.
She aimed the ball of light at its abdomen, she threw the ball of light along with the knight and seconds later the ball exploded with the knight within it. The explosion destroyed everything within a twenty meter radius, the walls of the sanctuary were taken out and the shockwave that came out of the blast sent tremors throughout the temple.
[Currently]
"W-what.." Micheal stammered getting to his feet. "What happened.." He uttered.
The last thing he remembered was the sword of the dark knight descending upon him as he gazed at the Celestial Prism.
"What!?" He exclaimed as his eyes were laid upon the shattered body armor of the black knight. The explosion from Abigail's Holy Excalsis took out both the merged knights and the black knight.
Two figures approached Micheal from the holes in the wall. Micheal stood firm and was ready to engage in combat if necessary as he didn't know who approached him.
"Rai? Abigail?" He lowered his guard on sighting his teammates.
"Seems you were having a tough time." Abigail said as she stood in front of him.
"No...not really I was just occupied, by that." He said pointing his finger at the Celestial Prism.
"No way, is that..." Rai spoke calmly.
"Yeah...the Celestial Prism." Michael replied.
"Wow, that was some technique!" A voice exclaimed from the cloud of dust that was yet to settle. The two individuals that had joined the fight emerged from the hole in the wall and approached the trio.
"Li!? Sylvia!? What are you two fools doing here!?" Michael exclaimed with familiarity.
"I could ask you the same thing." Sylvia said calmly.
"Can someone just tell me what the hell is going on! Who the hell are you!?" Rai roared out in confusion.
"Wait a second.." Abigail spoke softly as she examined the cloaks of the two individuals. Her eyes met with the insignia of a Phoenix head at the back of the cloaks.
"That's the Raging Phoenix... don't tell me.." She stammered.
Li smiled radiantly as he raised his thumb to his face with passion and exclaimed. "That's right! I am Tsuyoi Li of the Raging Phoenix!"
"Talk about enthusiasm." Rai commented.
"And I am Sylvia, also a member of the Raging Phoenix. You two don't seem...wait p-princess Abigail!?" Sylvia bowed instantly on realizing who it was that stood in front of her.
"W-wait what?" Li looked carefully at Abigail as he found it hard to remember who she was.
"Oh shit!" He bowed paying respects to the princess of the Ronowa Empire. "Forgive my incompetent behavior your majesty." He said hurriedly.
Abigail sighed.
"If we are going to be teammates, at least don't act this way around me. Yes I'm the princess but we are also comrades now." She requested.
"Wait teammates? You mean to say you're now a member of the Raging Phoenix!?" Sylvia proclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, enough about that. How did the two of you get here?" Abigail inquired.
"Well you see, we are on a quest right now to retrieve the Ethereal Orb. But it seems you've already found it." Li replied.
"Ethereal Orb? Don't you mean the Celestial Prism?" Rai asked, if the Celestial Prism was a myth according to Deskus why did Li referred to it as the Ethereal Orb?
"No the Ethereal Orb." Sylvia answered.
"What? Who sent you on this quest?" Abigail questioned as she felt something was terribly wrong.
"Some old geezer who goes by the name Kaun." Li replied.
Rai, Abigail and Michael all stared at each other in suspicion.
"Did this geezer by any chance wear a pitch black suit? With 3 pairs of diamond entrusted rings on his fingers? And a white ponytail?" Michael interrogated.
"Well yeah, now that I think about it. He did look kinda ridiculous." Li answered chuckling.
"Oh no...Rai.."Abigail said softly.
"Yeah... we've been tricked." As Rai spoke, the ground beneath their feet began trembling. Several metallic hands bursted out of the ground, different shades and colors of armored knight arose from the ground and circled the five individuals who entered a defensive position as the situation became higly dangerous.