"Let's go!"
Pulsing light came out as his golden bow formed, the damp sand became liquid bronze. Soke's fingers raced across the string. Every crack made a line of blazing energy whistle toward the beach, burning ruts into the tide.
The distant cultists began falling out, while some began pushing forward hastily, a line up of several different coloured sparks and charms rushing over our way.
My own crimson energy responded, intensely carving as the air warped around my fists.
I can't use pain packer yet, but even with just this, I'm far stronger than before.
Then-
Soke's blaster.
Hana's dagger.
Zefir's wind control.
Even Arielle, sparks erupted from her body in pink bursts, forming into sharp, transparent fragments that clinked into place to form a suit of shard-like armour around her wrists and shins, shimmering madly beneath the crazed light.
The cultists grew closer as we began engaging them in combat at the beach.
SLAM.
My fists met the shadow's jaw, a mist of red splashing through the air. His head jerked backward, tumbling over, nothing but a black flash racing across the cresting waves until it disappeared into the foam.
And then, chaos.
"Divine Resurgence!"
A large streak of light flew past me, knocking out a cultist.
"Atomic destruction!!"
Never heard of that one before.
The sand shifted past me; rather, it exploded. A wave of green burst through the beachfront, its sound overpowering that of the waves as it consumed them in a green cloud of chaos. One second they were attacking, the next they were shadows flung like rags against the green light.
Soke's blaster would be an immense help in this fight considering its destructive capability. In fact, he might be the most valuable asset for this situation.
"Sorren! You just keep pumping those out!!"
"Gotcha!"
I dashed across the sand as a spherical form of blood-red static formed within my palm.
BOOM.
The orb crushed the cultist's ribs with a sickening crack before the core detonated, a red flash hurling the body into the surf.
"Agh!"
A body flew into mine, my balance breaking as I tumbled into the sand.
"Rgh. Hana, could you maybe get off me?"
"S-sorry..."
She propped herself up off me as two cultists grew closer, white sparks emanating from their bodies as they lunged forward.
"Black frontier."
She swung her daggers with fierce slashes, leaving a ragged trail of black behind them. Each slash drove into their skin as the cultists fell to the ground, Hana breathing raggedly as her lungs burned.
"Nice one."
"Thanks."
STRRK.
Sparks flashed past me as a group of cultists began speeding past the beach.
Shit, they were heading for Kai and Diana's direction.
"Hana! Tell Soke I'm going to stop them from reaching Kai and the princess!"
"Alright!"
I made chase after the cultists, sparks fading on the ground as I leapt into the air.
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"W-wait! Kai! Go back! We need to support them!"
I dashed across the beach, fading into the row of villas with Diana curled up between my arms, eyes desperately drifting across for any potential hideout.
"I'm sorry, Diana. But my mission here is to protect you, those guys'll be fine."
After all, they've got him.
"I'm a cadet as well! I can fight, I passed the rookie exam and became a full-fledged fighter for a reason!"
Right, she was there with us.
"I know, and it's not like I'm just gonna force you to sit down and do nothing-"
"That is most certainly what you are currently doing."
"Eugh. I mean if we really get into a fight, but for now, we're both just gonna have to back off and let the others handle it."
A look of frustration came over her face, but soon, a fragile understanding.
She was relatively easy to deal with, and kind-hearted. It's completely opposite to her grandfather, or even just what I would've expected a princess to be like.
A cavern loomed before me, opening like the gullet of the mountain. I propelled myself toward the cave with a burst of white sparks that engulfed my boots.
"Ahh-!"
"Oh, sorry."
I slowed my pace down as we land in front of the cave.
I made my way inside, glowbugs radiating light as I headed deeper into the cave.
"I'd expect the place to be dark, but, woah."
I leapt off the edge, my boots colliding with the ground on the cave's surface. Revolving around me were groups of crystals emitting a gentle, steady glow into the darkness. Ahead of me, shapes formed; dozens of figures dressed in dark robes stood still in front of the glowing stone.
Upon my landing, their gaze shifted across at me and the girl scooped up in my arms.
Ah, shit.
"There! He has the key!"
Gently placing Diana down on the floor, my white sparks transformed into a sharp-edged blade. With an explosive exhalation, I lunged at the nearest figure.
SLICE!
That's one. Eleven more.
"Get the girl! Hold him off!"
Three figures blurred past me as they attempted to reach for Diana.
My feet pivoted as I sprang after them, stabbing forward, slicing my katana horizontally across the black material and skin of the row.
SPLURGE.
Blood spat across as I rotated my body, feet grounded in front of Diana.
Three. Eight more.
"You... what point is there in protecting that thing?"
"Well, clearly she's the key to your grand primordial resurrection plan or whatever. And what do you mean thing?"
"She's just a key, she holds no exterior value than to be put to use for the seal!"
Just a key?
"You understand that, right? You're protecting a tool, a vessel. It's worthless!"
Diana's face grew grim as she clenched her fists.
It's stupid.
She's just a tool? Shove that thought up somewhere else.
There's no such thing as a worthless human.
None at all.
"I'm protecting the princess of Aurelia, Diana Roy."
I lifted my blade and point to the cultist.
"What are you protecting? Some stupid belief that a demon revolutionary would benefit the world?"
He scoffed.
"This girl is more than just some stupid key to an ancient seal. She's a kind-hearted person that wants to do something."
"Just give us the god damn-"
"Much more so than you."
Diana's gaze locked on to me, her previously grim eyes transforming into a glow.
Now. I need to wrap this up.
With a leap from the ground, the rock began to crumble beneath my feet. My movements were a streak of white as I moved in a sharp spiral inside the ring of cloaks. I slashed through several figures with deadly precision in a sequence of sharp motions before any of them fell to the ground.
Four. Four more.
A disk-shaped blast launched from the edge of my blade, catching three in its radius.
One more.
I swerved behind the last one,
"If it's this hard to grab a key, then I suggest you might have to try and lockpick soon."
"YOU PIECE OF-!"
SPLAT.
"I guess we could lay low here for a while now."
"Kai."
I turned around, eyes locked on to a soft face.
"Thank you."
A sharp smile ran across my face.
"You're good."
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My momentum carried me through the jungle as I drove the cultist to the ground with my body weight. The sound of cracking roots could be heard below me as I held him down.
SMASH.
I leapt once more, scaling the trees as the figures in front of me kept giving chase.
I clenched my fists, my pointer finger held aloft like a trigger. Scarlet lightning shot out from my finger and struck one hooded individual after another as each fell to the ground in silence.
Good, now there's no more heading their direction-
FWEESH.
Heavy breezes pressed against my face as an increasing number of cultists sprung past me, heading for Kai.
Darn, they just keep coming.
I lifted my hand, taking the shape of a gun once more, sparks gathering amidst my fingers,
CRACK!
"GAGH!"
The black steel bat wing crunched into my left arm, the sharp crack of bone resonated in the air amidst the forest. The world was reduced to green and brown streaks before me as my weight was blown through one tree after another.
My body slammed against the floor, bark scraping my spine.
"Rghhh."
"Well, well. You're a tough one, aren't you?"
A figure with curled up black hair approached me, a bat hanged over his shoulder as he stared down at me.
"Ngh..Are you the leader of those cultists then?"
"What? Cultists? The hell are you talkin' about?"
Is he playing dumb?
"The group of people you just helped run! Who else!?"
"Ahh. I'm not the leader, I'm just the captain of the raid faction."
Faction? These guys have whole different roles for cultists?
"And we ain't no cultists, dumbass. We're Rell."
Rell? Is that what they call themselves?
"Pleasure to meet ya, uhh."
"You give yourselves a god damn name? You're just cultists-!"
SLAM.
The bat crushed into the splintered bone, grinding shards against raw nerves. My vision flared white as the metal buried itself deeper into the wound.
"GAGHH!"
"It's common courtesy to give someone your name first, kid."
His posture readjusted; flapping his jacket as the bat came up. Light reflected off the steel; its massive, dark shape hung above my shattered limb.
"The name's Lain Cairy."