"Damn it, Mordo! Who are these guys? They're completely insane!" shouted Kaecilius as he ran.
"How should I know? We're in the same mess, in case you hadn't noticed," he replied.
There were five of them in total, in this somewhat complicated situation, as they reached a small clearing.
After the X phenomenon and the appearance of the continent with the same name, the Ancient One had convened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. As guardians of the Earth against dimensional and extradimensional threats, they had miserably failed to defend it.
To rub salt in the wound, the Ancient One's vision of the future (even with the stone) regarding this continent and what it would produce as a variable was simply disastrous. There was no other word for it.
It was as if someone was directly intervening to force this anomaly upon the universe. Therefore, the temple, through the Ancient One, had sent a team of ten members, divided into cells of five people, to investigate the level of the threat. Because yes, there was no doubt about the danger of this place.
There was an unknown energy that was almost omnipresent in the living beings that resided there, from the thinnest blade of grass to humans, and those monstrosities whose power emanated like heat waves. It was everywhere.
And the military didn't even realize they had just stepped into a hornet's nest, Mordo thought bitterly.
This was the umpteenth time he had tried to open a portal. And it was the umpteenth time that a volley of what looked like shurikens landed an inch from his foot, preventing him from entering. It seemed the attacker was deliberately avoiding injuring him, which suddenly gave him an idea. Let's hope the others see the merit in it.
"Listen to me, everyone," Mordo spoke. "From what I've observed, it seems they don't really want to eliminate us but rather test us and capture us unharmed," Mordo continued.
"And what do you propose?" asked Kaecilius.
"Very simple. Since the other team, Wong's team, has already decamped, we're going to fight and let ourselves be captured," Mordo replied.
"I don't like this idea. Our mission was to observe and gather information incognito. Retreating is the best solution," another master replied.
"Yeah, but the moment we opened that damn portal in this forest, they had already spotted us. So the mission had failed. Now we have to improvise. Enough chatter, get ready for combat," ordered Mordo.
"Retreating isn't really easy either. These guys' reflexes are something else," added Kaecilius.
During the brief time they discussed their course of action, their pursuers had stopped attacking. They remained there, planted in the trees, watching them. There were three of them.
Drawing all their weapons for the battle, namely a polearm for Mordo and two daggers for Kaecilius, the Masters of the Mystic Arts charged towards their adversaries at full speed.
The latter did the same, engaging the sorcerers. As Mordo had already noticed, the three masked individuals were much faster than them. As one of them headed towards him, Mordo quickly drew a shield while swinging his weapon.
As the latter seemed to connect with the neck of the masked individual, Mordo suddenly felt someone behind his back. It was downright frightening how silent the guy was. And how the hell did he get behind him?
As quickly as he could, Mordo tried to put some distance between himself and his attacker by activating his magical boots, making a superb leap into the air while swinging his weapon towards his enemy.
The transformation of Mordo's weapon into a whip didn't seem to faze the assailant, who simply dodged quickly while sending a kunai at Mordo, who hurried to raise a shield to block it. The abilities of this guy were really incredible. He must have some physical enhancement to throw a knife at such speed.
No sooner had the kunai been intercepted than another one was already coming at him.
"Damn," he groaned. When did he throw it? Unless he threw both of them at once.
Thank God he had kept the shield up just in case.
A split second before the impact, as he thought he had warded off the threat, Mordo's eyes widened in surprise. A cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere before his eyes. And his attacker emerged from it at full speed.
As he attempted to block again, the guy in front of him launched a devastating combo. His eyes could barely follow the blows being dealt to him. And bad luck, he was still in the air.
As he was about to raise his staff in a vain attempt to counterattack, his adversary struck his wrist, numbing it.
In the end, it wasn't a fight, Mordo thought as he landed hard on the ground. They had been thoroughly outmaneuvered, despite their objective of getting captured.
As he fell backwards, Mordo noticed that his other companions were already unconscious.
"Let's hope this was a good idea," he thought as he fainted.
Since the fight was over, the three ninjas removed their masks, having first ensured that no one else was around.
"They weren't so tough after all," boasted Kiba, a big smile on his face.
"Sure, but they have some rather dangerous abilities," warned Shino.
"They use a form of energy that I can't determine. It doesn't come from their bodies," added Hinata.
"This ability they have to open portals seemingly anywhere and quickly is something extremely dangerous for us," replied Shino.
"Well, in that case, let's get back to the village as quickly as possible," responded Kiba, a bit alarmed by Shino's analysis.
Without wasting any time, they gathered the bodies of the three sorcerers. Then they all performed mudras quickly.
At the very end of the sequence, Shino threw a three-pronged kunai. And they vanished from the scene.
"Teenagers, fascinating abilities, and teleportation. More and more interesting," thought the Ancient One as her astral form faded into the air, incognito.
She was the guardian of Earth's safety. She wasn't going to stay cloistered in the Himalayas without observing things firsthand.