The altar clearing trembled with battle.
Lila pressed deeper into the roots of a massive tree, braiding vines and wet soil with her water Muti until their hideout looked like a forest, not people. Aria lay beside her, unconscious but breathing steadily, faint sparks still skimming her arms. Minerva slumped against the trunk, dead weight.
Lila gripped her water-forged staff. "Please... don't wake up now. Not yet."
Through the leaves, the fight played out. One squad was already breaking. Their axe-wielding leader ricocheted into a trunk, ribs cracking loudly enough to echo. His teammates followed—one pinned under stone, one sprawled and groaning.
The victors stood tall. Four of them, bloodied and grinning. At their head, a girl with obsidian braids and iron gauntlets cracked her knuckles, aura pulsing like heatwaves.
"That's it," she spat, stalking toward the altar. "No more weaklings in our way."
Her squad whooped—until she reached the pedestal.
She froze.
The scroll was gone.
"What...?" Steel scraped stone as her gauntlets tore at the cracked altar. "Where is it?"
Her team swarmed the dais—ripping rubble, digging at moss, clawing dirt. Nothing.
"Someone already took it," one snarled, rage spilling into the clearing.
Heat rolled off the leader again; her eyes snapped to the treeline. "They're close. Whoever has it... is still here."
Lila's chest tightened. She sank lower into the roots. Her aura thinned and spread, washing over every spark of life she was hiding—Aria's shallow rise, Minerva's faint pulse—cooling it under a veil of water.
The victors fanned out, blades drawn.
"Don't look here," Lila whispered. "Please don't look here."
A boot scuffed to a stop. One boy eyed the very tree sheltering them.
Lila's heart pounded loud enough to feel in her teeth. She pressed her palm to damp soil, drawing heat and life into silence.
The boy's sword hovered inches from the bark. "...I thought I felt something."
"Then stop thinking and keep searching!" the iron-gauntlet girl barked.
He grunted, lowered the blade, and moved on.
Only when his steps faded did Lila breathe.
"We're still ghosts," she whispered. "Just a little longer."
Bushes rattled—and Lila Butters stepped out. Leaves in her hair, dirt on her cheek, that lopsided grin like she'd tripped into the moment by accident.
"Uh... hi." A small wave. "You found me. Guess hide-and-seek isn't my best game."
Snickers rolled through the squad. Their leader—a tall woman in jade-inlaid armor—folded her arms, disdain flat in her voice.
"This is what they left? A stray? Don't waste my time."
More laughter. "She's their backup? Seriously?"
The leader didn't bother looking again. She snapped her fingers. "Rooke. End this."
Rooke "Mad Dog" Raker swaggered forward, grinning widely. Shoulders rolled. Neck cracked. His aura came off in jagged bursts. "They left a clown to hold the fort. Cute. I like breaking clowns."
Lila tilted her head, unbothered. "Clown? That's new. I usually get 'adorable' or 'harmless.'"
The squad laughed harder; even the leader smirked. Rooke stomped once, cracking the dirt, closing in.
"You got guts," he said. "Let's see if they stay inside."
He lunged—and Lila moved. A smooth pivot, almost casual. Her knee snapped up with explosive precision.
It landed clean.
Air whooshed out of him in a violent wheeze. Eyes wide. Grin erased. His body folded and hit the dirt face-first.
Silence.
The squad stared. The leader's smirk slipped.
Lila shook out her leg, wincing. "Oof. Solid core. That stung." A cheeky head scratch. "Guess Mom's training wasn't for nothing..."
Mom wouldn't have broken a sweat. Elric's students never do. Me? Still catching up.
Out loud, her grin returned. "So. Who's next? Or do you all wanna nap too?"
No one stepped.
Their laughter was gone. All eyes fell to their leader. Mei Lei's expression didn't crack. She walked forward, slow and deliberate, the ground hardening under her heel. Vines rippled at her ankles; her aura pressed heavily.
"You're not as helpless as you look," Mei Lei said, voice all Chun discipline. "Don't mistake one lucky knee for strength. You're in my forest."
The twins slid in at her flanks—Jabibi and Sabibi, moving like mirror images, the same crooked smirk. Fingers snapped; the air vibrated, a low hum that made the trees shiver.
Lila's grin thinned. "...Great. Copy-paste villains. My favorite."
Sabibi tilted his head. "We're not copy-paste. We're harmony."
Jabibi finished, "And harmony breaks anything out of tune."
A pulse ripped out from them. Leaves rattled from branches. The noise didn't just echo—it stung.
Lila winced. "Ow. Okay, rude."
Mei Lei's aura climbed; roots slid from the ground. "Enough games. You're outnumbered, outclassed, already cornered." She crouched, stance wide, stone cracking underfoot. "Last chance. Tell me where your squad is—"
"—or I bury you here."
Lila swallowed. Her body remembered every drill, every kata, every sobbing spar as a kid.
Mom stood taller. Mom never flinched.
She kept the smile anyway. "Bury me? Lady, I'm hanging on with tape and friendship. Might be doing me a favor."
The twins' laugh bounced off itself, warping space between them. Stone crept up Mei Lei's arms like barked gauntlets.
The fight was a breath from breaking.
Pressure cinched the clearing. The ground cracked under Mei Lei. Vines writhed. The twins' hum harmonized until Lila's bones began to buzz.
Lila stepped back, laughing nervously. "Okay, okay. Three-on-one. Totally fair. Just a goofy girl with no plan—"
The smile dropped. Fists closed.
"...But you picked the wrong idiot."
Aura rippled from her sternum. Baby-blue light ran through her veins like rivers. Her eyes lit sapphire, bright enough to cut the mist. The air smelled like ocean spray.
Mei Lei froze mid-step. Vines hesitated.
"What—" She broke off as the ground shifted. Water bled from roots, leaves, air—drawn into orbit around Lila, spiraling faster, shaping into streams and whips.
The twins lost their smirks together. "No way—"
"—she's transforming?!"
Lila's hair lifted on unseen currents. The clearing creaked under the weight of her surge.
"This... is me not holding back."
Her hands moved like muscle memory had been waiting years. A wave burst from nothing, drowning the twins' hum in a rushing roar. She spun, her heel slamming into the dirt; a geyser erupted, forcing Mei Lei back.
"Water martial style..." Mei Lei whispered, eyes widening.
Lila blurred, a water whip coiling her arm. She drove it like a spear; Mei Lei threw up a stone. The impact spider-cracked the wall.
The twins shouted and sent razor sound at her.
Lila's aura flared; water armored her forearms. She crossed them and took the hit. The sound shattered into harmless spray.
She grinned through the glow. "Three-on-one? Perfect. Time to teach you not to laugh."
Mei Lei's vines ripped free, thorns lashing like spears.
Baby-blue aura brightened. Water spiraled around Lila's frame; the grin came back sharp.
"Alright, you wanna dance? Let's make waves."
She thrust her palms. "Blue Dragon Smash!"
A dragon-shaped torrent roared out, smashing Mei Lei's thorn wall and flooding the field.
Mei Lei snarled, stamping hard.
「大地裂破」Daichi Reppa – Earth Split Fang.
The ground split. Stone claws erupted. Vines lanced for Lila.
She laughed and spun. "Tidal Breaker!"
The dragon coiled and slammed down, pulverizing stone claws to rubble. Vines snapped and washed away in a foaming surge.
The twins raised their hands, Sound Muti shrieking invisible blades that stripped bark.
"Soundproof Splash!" Lila swept her arms wide.
A wall of water snapped into place, scales rippling like a living serpent. The sound-blades hit and blew apart in mist.
Mei Lei's jaw set. Both palms hit the ground.
「蔦牙縛鎖」Tsutaba Bakusa – Binding Vines Fang Chain.
Venomous roots burst up, corkscrewing around Lila's legs.
Lila rolled her eyes. "Ropes? Really?"
She stomped. "Hydro Drill!"
Water corkscrewed into a drilling lance, chewing through the vines and spitting mist.
The twins warped the air again, bending sight and sound until space felt brittle.
Lila crouched, veins burning blue, grin widening.
"Dragon Fang Drive!"
Her fist fired; water condensed into a dragon's jaw that tore their distortion and pile-drove Jabibi into a tree.
Sabibi staggered; Mei Lei leapt to cover, both hands slamming earth.
「大地咆哮」Daichi Hōkō – Roar of the Earth.
A jagged stone wave, clothed in thorns, reared and rushed like a natural disaster.
Lila took one step, aura roaring brighter, eyes pure sapphire.
"Dragon's Wrath!"
A full-bodied water dragon coiled from her aura, wrapped her shoulders, and met the stone head-on—shattering it in an explosion of blue light and rubble.
Shockwaves flipped the twins and shoved Mei Lei back, boots gouging trenches.
Lila stood in the storm's eye, dragons circling like guardians.
"Three-on-one and you're still drowning," she said, smirking. "Guess I'm just built different."
The field was wrecked—trees snapped, soil trenched, puddles steaming.
Jabibi groaned against bark. Sabibi clutched his ribs. Mei Lei stood alone, chest heaving, sweat tracking her temple—but her eyes stayed flinty.
Palms together, her aura braided green and brown. Her voice rang like a drum:
「森羅大地・花葬の鎧」Shinra Daichi: Kasō no Yoroi – Verdant Earth: Armor of the Bloomed Grave!
Roots towered and wrapped her, weaving bark into living armor. Thorned vines flared from her forearms as claws; blossoms bled pollen like smoke along stone pillars erupting behind her.
The forest bowed.
Lila tilted her head, a smirk tugging. "Okay... that's badass."
Her aura flared again—veins burning baby-blue. Mist sparks spiraled tight, moisture in the air answering her call.
"Guess I'll get serious too."
Her eyes blazed; aura snapped outward like a shockwave.
Spirit Bloom — First Stage: Aqua Nova!"
Water spiraled around her like a river-dragon. Hair whipped back, streaked in blue light—every droplet thrummed, locked by ruthless control.
Mei Lei hissed and charged. Armored fist crashed; earth fractured; thorns exploded.
Lila didn't back up. "Bring it!"
She shot forward, surfing a coiled stream. "Tsunami Crash!"
A towering wall of water roared. Mei Lei's claws ripped a dragon apart in spray—but the water reformed and snared her torso.
Mei Lei roared and planted.
「大樹昇天破」Daiju Shōtenha – Sky-Sundering Tree!"
A colossal trunk burst from underfoot, rocketing her skyward. Vines lashed, tearing at the binds.
Lila looked up, palms meeting. "Dragon Fang Barrage!"
Dozens of smaller dragons erupted, snapping at every vine. Impacts ripped bark and blossom; petals and splinters fountained.
Tree roots versus river jaws.
Blue and green light strobed the clearing; shockwaves rattled the wood. Birds screamed out of the canopy.
Mei Lei's aura cracked under the weight. Teeth clenched; vines shattered one by one. "Impossible..."
Lila's grin went feral. Her voice rode the roar. "Nothing's impossible when you're built like a tidal wave!"
The last dragon hammered her chestplate. Bark split. Roots failed. The sky-tree shuddered and broke, collapsing with an echoing boom.
Mei Lei blasted backward, armor splintering to leaf and dust.
Mist thinned. Lila stood center, aura still bright, water dragons orbiting like sentinels. Her smile was cocky; her breathing wasn't.
"Three-on-one... and I'm still here. You really should've brought more."
Smoke drifted. Trees lay like matchsticks, puddles steamed under the faint moon. Lila's aura finally dimmed; her dragons bled back to mist. Sweat glued her bangs to her forehead.
Across the clearing, Mei Lei's squad retreated in a battered scramble—Jabibi hauling Sabibi, both half-dragging Rooke. Mei Lei limped last, vines in tatters. She glared once at Lila, then vanished into the trees.
Lila exhaled, shoulders dropping. "Yeah, you better run..."
Her knees buckled—almost. She planted her water staff to steady herself.
Branches rustled.
"Lila!"
Kai stepped in, Sun slung across his back. His black gi was torn at the sleeve. Rin leaned on him, pale but burning-eyed.
"Rin pushed too far," Kai said. "But we got the scroll."
He lifted his hand; relic-light shimmered between his fingers.
Rin's smirk was thin. "We didn't get lost for nothing."
"Don't remind me," Kai muttered, easing Rin down by a tree.
Aria stirred, groaning, static flickering over her knuckles. Her eyes cracked open—tired, sharp.
Kai crouched. Relief softened him. "You're awake."
Aria's grin was weak. "Miss me?"
Kai looked past her. The altar clearing was a ruin—trenches, uprooted trunks, steaming soil.
"This wasn't like this," he said, turning to Lila. "What happened?"
Lila blinked at the devastation and gave a big, goofy shrug. "Honestly? No idea. Bad feng shui?"
Kai squinted. Rin arched a brow.
Lila waved her hands, laughing. "Hey, I just held the line, okay? Someone had to keep the fort while you boys played hide-and-seek."
Kai held her stare a beat, then chuckled. "You're a terrible liar."
She puffed her cheeks. "And you're terrible at compliments. 'Thanks' is right there."
Rin let his head rest back, a faint smirk sneaking through exhaustion. "She's right, Kai."
Kai sighed, smiling anyway. "Fine. Thanks, Lila."
She sketched a wobbly bow. "Anytime."
Kai looked down at the scroll. Its weight wasn't wood and aura anymore; it was everything they'd bled to keep. His voice dropped. "We found the way out. We move before the forest tests us again."
Behind him, Aria sat up, sparks lighting her fingertips as strength clawed back. "Good. I'm not prey in this cursed forest."
They gathered—wounded, weary, together.
For the first time since entering the Black Forest, forward felt real.