Victoria's voice cut through the forest like a drawn blade.
"Alex, defensive spell up. Kaia, begin casting a Darkness Ceiling Array. Liora, prep a Tier Three Air-type. Stella--"
"I'm on it," Stella said, gist be for starting the hand signs and magic words of her spell.
Victoria didn't blink. "Kaia, Liora--hold your spells until I initiate. We move together, or we die apart."
Then--
A scream shattered the canopy above.
Not human. Not animal. It was something in between. A piercing, avian shriek born of talons and bloodlust. The kind of sound that triggered instincts older than language.
A tremor followed. Then another--heavier. Closer.
"Contact," Alex said flatly, her boots bracing into the soil. In the same breath, she cast.
Released her spell 'Tower Shield.'
A slab of elemental force burst into the air before her--obsidian black, rimmed in molten silver. It locked into place like the lid of a war-god's coffin.
A sonic boom cracked overhead as Sentar--hawk-shaped, hawk-sized-like-a-small-plane--dived with pinpoint speed.
Claws out. Mana trailing. Target: Stella.
He hit the shield mid-dive with a shriek and a crunch. Feathers and magical sparks exploded across the glade as the beast rebounded in midair, furious and stunned--but not grounded.
Alex wasn't finished.
Released 'Full Guard.'
A low hum pulsed from her chest, ballooning into a glowing azure sphere exactly two meters in radius. The magic mapped the world in threads of tension and movement--no blind spots, no guessing. If anything moved inside her field, she would feel it. And strike.
That was when the second threat hit.
From the north, a black blur barreled through the underbrush. It tore shrubs like wet paper and cracked trees like brittle kindling.
"Big one incoming!" Kaia shouted, sweat beading along her brow.
But Victoria had already moved.
Golden sigils burned across her skin like solar ink.
Released 'Shockwave' a tier four light mastey spell.
She raised one hand. A small flare ignited--then fractured into a dozen.
Beams of blinding light, thick as a man's arm, erupted from her palm--piercing the canopy, incinerating brush, and slamming into the charging mass with the force of falling stars.
Termyn, a Clingy-class magical boar, squealed as he was engulfed. His bark-like hide sizzled. Chunks of fur blackened. Flesh steamed.
He staggered. Stopped. Charred. Smoking.
Above them, Sentar wheeled again--wounded, but enraged.
He dropped into a tight dive, angling low and fast, his body a streak of steel and feathers.
This time, Liora stepped forward.
Her violet eyes flickered gold.
Her hands lit with sigils, not drawn but shaped--deliberate, geometric, ruthless.
Released tier four spell 'Shockwave'.
She clapped. The impact detonated outward--a concussive blast laced with cutting gales. Wind blades fanned out like invisible scythes, shredding leaves and shearing branches above their heads.
But she wasn't done.
Released tier four spell 'Chasing Lightning'.
Seven glowing rings spun into existence in front of her--one after another, forming mid-air like a glowing drumline.
She snapped her hands together.
Each ring fired a bolt of lightning, jagged and vicious, hunting Sentar like wolves.
The first struck his wing. The second slammed his underbelly. The rest curled midair, shifting direction in real-time--one bolt after another recalibrating, retargeting.
Sentar shrieked, wings spasming. He tried to rise higher--
Too slow.
The final bolt smashed into his chest just above the canopy.
The hawk-beast convulsed midair, charred feathers spiraling like ash. Then he dropped, tumbling through branches and crashing into the undergrowth with a sound that silenced everything.
Only falling leaves moved now--like confetti drifting after a battle no one had time to celebrate.
Kaia finally exhaled. "Next person who calls us low-ranked is getting set on fire. Head-first."
Victoria's eyes never left the treeline. "Save it. One more still in coming we just let the Forest up with so much sound I bet more coming behind this one as will."
Stella, still weaving with both hands, didn't look up.
"Darkness Ceiling Array--complete."
And now, the game had truly begun.