Natasha and the others currently faced off against the approaching Fantasians.
There were nearly forty of them, each casting their own spell moving with a singular purpose: kill.
The others weren't backing off tho. Certainly not Natasha.
She was the first to fire, a searing blue bolt ripped through the chest of the nearest Fantasian.
He stumbled backward as he clutched, where his heart would have been but was now a gaping hole.
"Don't hesitate!" Natasha's voice rang out, steady and cold. "Because they surely won't!" She was mainly talking to the other cadets they'd picked up along the way.
Another bolt followed, piercing the skull of a second enemy mid-leap. His lifeless body crashed into a tree, the bark splintering from the impact.
River moved with zero hesitation as she swung her staff upward.
A wave of sharpened earthen spikes erupted, impaling three Fantasians before they could react.
Another one tried to take her by surprise from behind, but River spun her staff, the tip elongating into a deadly stone spike.
She then thrust it forward, piercing her throat. Blood splattered across the dirt as she yanked her weapon free.
Alicia laughed maniacally, as she unfolded her handfan, her go-to weapon with a flick. "Oh, lessers. You should've learnt your lesson by now."
A gust of wind howled through the battlefield.
The nearest Fantasians screamed as the gale twisted into a whirlwind of razor-sharp air.
Their cloaks were shredded first, followed by their skin. Within seconds, nothing remained but a fine red mist. Alicia giggled.
"Pathetic," she whispered, her black eyes gleaming with cruel delight.
Lucas hesitated. His grip on his sword was unsteady. These were his people. Could he really do this?
A scream tore through the battlefield.
He turned just in time to see Maria stagger back, surrounded after deflecting a mana-infused blade with her spear as the surrounding fantasians leaned in for a killing blow.
And like clockwork, something snapped inside Lucas.
His figure blurred as he moved, his sword whistling as it cut through the air, slicing clean through the enemy's torsos splitting them in half.
The blood sprayed across his suit as the fantasians collapsed to the ground, dead.
Lucas grit his teeth as he did that. Then he exhaled. 'Forgive me.' He thought as he turned around, swinging his sword upward, cleaving through the skull of another attacker.
Maria's hands trembled after having a near death like that. But seeing Lucas kill his own people for her, she grit her teeth as she strengthened her resolve.
Raising her hand, vines shot upward from the ground, coiling around two Fantasians. She then squeezed her fingers into a fist.
The vines constricted. Bones snapped. The enemies let out gurgled gasps before going still.
She swallowed hard, disgust curling in her stomach. Unlike Alicia or other nobles, she took no pleasure in taking the life of another.
'All life is precious.' The words her mother used to say to her before she died, echoed in her head once more.
'But some lives are ultimately more precious to some than others.' Maria completed it as she cleaved another fantasian in half.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Alicia send another Fantasian screaming into the sky with a whirlwind before slicing them apart mid-air.
She shook her head as she vowed not to be like her.
Marcus cracked his knuckles, electricity arcing across his gauntlets. He then clenched his fist as a spear of lightning formed in his hand.
With a flick of his wrist, it shot forward, impaling two Fantasians at once. Their bodies convulsed, smoking before they collapsed.
Marcus laughed, raising both hands. A storm of lightning bolts rained down, scorching the earth, reducing several enemies to nothing but charred husks.
Kevin smirked, as he finally brought out his daggers. They were currently engulfed in flames as he swung without restraint, his blade cutting and burning fantasians with ease.
A beastman lunged at him, her claws glowing with mana.
Kevin sidestepped, driving his blade through the attacker's chest. Flames erupted inside her as he crumbled to ash.
Kevin heaved, "Haa. Haa. Too easy." He said as he bent down trying to catch his breath.
Anabelle remained eerily calm. She was surrounded by frozen statues of the cloaked attackers.
Unlike the others, she wasn't proactively fighting the enemy. She mostly just reacted to them attacking her.
Rather, she just watched the battle going on. 'They're quite weak.' She thought looking at the cadets they'd saved as they came here.
Of the five two were dead already, and three were struggling. Even amongst the monstrously strong first year cadets, there were still weaklings after all.
'Or is it us that's too strong?' Anabelle questioned. 'Oh well. Hardly matters anymore.' She added as she decided to help the struggling cadets.
With a flick of her wrist, ice spread quickly from where she was, encasing the fantasians.
A moment later, the ice shattered, sending frozen limbs scattering across the battlefield.
The cadets had a look of gratitude on their faces as they knelt in exhaustion. Ordinarily, she would admonish them for that since they were on an active battlefield.
But the place had gotten a lot more quieter as more deaths occurred.
Patrick gripped his warhammer tight as a fantasian swung at him.
He ducked, then swung his warhammer with everything he had. The impact shattered the enemy's ribs, sending them flying.
Another came at him. He turned around, bringing his weapon down with both hands. The Fantasian's skull caved in instantly.
Patrick panted as he looked around. Most of the fantasians were dead now.
The last few attacking Natasha. She fired her rifle killing one as she moved backwards, dodging the attack of another.
With a tap on her leg, a small pistol materialized as she shot the last one in the head.
As he fell to the ground, she turned to ask, "Everyone still alive?"
"Not everyone." Maria responded as she looked at the corpses of the two cadets who died.
Natasha wasn't though. She was already heading in another direction.
"Where are you going?" River asked, grabbing her by the shoulder.
"After Nathan. He should've been back by now." Natasha replied as she shrugged her off.
"No need." Nathan said to the girls as he landed softly on the ground.