Without missing a beat, Cryst swerved in the air as many times as the blood tendrils flew and snapped at where the two were just a moment ago.
She held on tightly to Anaphol and his ride containing Bulwark. So did Naph.
The two were still in the sky above the island of Monite. Not much in altitude was gained by the two.
Climbing higher, she felt Naph's face striking against her bosom. 'What?!'
"Atleast tell me your names!" He shouted at her from the tight grip she held on him.
She swung under another blood tendril. "Didn't you hear Ennet calling out our names?" She barreled out of the way of three blood tendrils.
"Hearing and connecting them to correct people are two different things!" Naph felt as if he had said this before just a moment ago. 'Why do I feel so?'
The sun was still setting in the west. Moments away from darkness reigning the aftermath.
Cryst saw behind her. And she felt relief.
Unhugging Naph, Cryst straightened her shoulders while her hand also let go of his ride.
Naph and his ride face to face were falling down to their deaths. Naph however was unfazed.
'Well, I tried Extea. I really did try.'
Yet, his mind reminded of the past he had promised to come back to. An emotion he had felt rarely since that day bloomed again.
"Cut the crap. Cata!" He screamed at his loudest. 'Damn Bulwark could become another blood stain in Monite. I. Don't. Care.'
But he did not teleport. He still fell.
Panic died within him. He was more serious than he ever showed during any of his bounty hunts.
'Hmm, so I have used many combinations. And I can't for some reason use the teleporting one.' He grabbed on his chin. He was still falling disregard of how long he had been falling.
"What are you thinking?" said a gruff voice. Naph looked to his right. And there he was.
Dykur.
The one with the spear.
"Huh? So that's why she dropped me." He looked up to find Cryst wrestling with several blood tendrils with something unseen that seemed to distort blood tendrils into balloons before they converged on themselves and became a solid.
Each solid was a different shape and it fell right after.
Dykur without ever placing a hand on Naph or his ride made the two float in place. "Stay quiet for a few moments." His gruff voice had become a tiny bit sweeter.
Readying his spear, he reverse gripped its shaft. Pulled its blade behind his shoulder and thrust it upward. The spear never left his hand, however it went from the near top of the spear to the butt of the pole in his hand. All that in a single moment.
The shockwave that rolled over from the sudden stop crashed all around them and the blood tendrils that had figured out where Anaphol was.
Each one shattered as Cryst coupled her unseen attack merge with the shockwave. All the tendrils in close proximity let alone for kilometers were cleared away.
Plenty still were coming after.
Dykur opened his lips and said, "Hey, Naph. I am Dykur." He nodded and locked eyes with him.
Dykur's intent was blocked but he wasn't surprised. "So, you have more than what you have shown." Smirking, he nodded.
Anaphol did not understand even a bit what just happened let alone what has happened since he stepped onto the island of Monite.
'What the heck's going on?! What if something far worse is happening there…' He shook his head pushing back the memories from a distant past.
Without Naph ever noticing he, Bulwark and Dykur with Naph's ride had risen upwards to Cryst's altitude.
Cryst upon noticing the two. "So, how much longer do we need to wait for the others?"
"You sure you have the situation to worry about them," Dykur pointed down at thousands of blood tendrils below that seemed to contain a life of its own.
All of them were attacking something within them. Naph thought, 'or are they attacking something below them?'
His answer was provided to him in a flash of green and dark. Light sapped away from the cloud of blood tendrils below them as green seeped out.
Tendrils drove down faster than they were attacking Cryst with Naph. So fast that several of them tore each other apart creating a red mist.
That mist also descended down at the green tendrils. Nothing was spared. The clash of red against dark and green reflected in Naph's, Cryst's and Dykur's pupils.
"Magnificent," that was the word spoken by Anaphol.
Shaking his head, he slowly glanced at Dykur and Cryst. Both kept their stare down.
The dark seemed to stay as a background of the battle between green and blood tendrils. Suddenly however the supposed rule changed and the black began enveloping the blood tendrils in its embrace and with that thousands that were below Naph were swallowed by a pure black sheet of background. 'A very large sheet,' Naph thought.
Sun had reached its last strands of light it gives before the evening truly begins. Piercing through the mosaic of black, green and red, came a girl in velvet and leafy green with hair black as her surroundings with gold colour hidden in it.
Before long she was also face to face with Anaphol, she only stole a glance at his ride and its occupants once. "I heard Cryst sending the message over that you wanted to know us in some form."
Cryst dead serious, "No-"
The girl in velvet and leafy green smiled lusciously, "Maybe we could try to get to know each other better." She put her right forearm on his shoulder, in a most sensuous syllables she said. "Hi, I am Svnyo."
She did not had to wink for leaving an impression. Only if it wasn't Naph it would have been true.
"Nice trick, Svnyo. Give others a chance for intro." Naph smiled politely. He did not touch her forearm but felt within himself that it was itching to touch him more than what was permitted.
"Huff," Svnyo shook her head. "Let's begin our flight into the sky and out of this continent."