Viktor and Elga emerged from their hideout but instead of the golden sky with its blazing sun, there were dark green clouds, a black liquid poured down like rain but it was anything but...
"Manteau Terrestre!" Viktor called, mobilizing his brown Earth energy around himself and the redhead. Explosions that blasted huge holes into the sand randomly. The dark-skinned boy's protection saved them from the worst part of the damage but it wouldn't hold on forever and it couldn't negate all the damage.
This was a Calamitous Storm in all its splendor, a phenomenon where sense basically stopped existing, where things that shouldn't happen in any other circumstances happened anyway. Viktor tried to pull up his map as they started running North but his ring refused to work, thanks to the storm.
Viktor gritted his teeth as he swung his arm in a circle, the sand around the duo moved and formed a roof as they ran but the droplets didn't seem to care as they phased through the sand, exploding upon touching the ground. The dark-skinned boy stopped, putting his hands into the sand to dig another cave but Elga tapped his head, "STOP WASTING YOUR STRENGTHS AND KEEP RUNNING! NOTHING YOU DO CAN HELP US!" She yelled in his ears.
Viktor's ears rung as he picked himself up and ran forward. Calamitous Storms were known for being impossible to hide from so long that one was into one, even being underground or airborne wouldn't help. These deadly black droplets would always find a way to reach their target. Their only saving grace would be to get out as soon as possible. Considering nothing hit them while they were underground meant that the storm only just started, so getting out alive was still possible, as storms usually expanded as time passed.
But they had to pray that it wouldn't get worse. There had been records and stories about how storms started as inconveniences and grew so much that gravity just flip people over like crêpes. Unfortunately, things wouldn't be so smooth for the duo. A blade of sand arose behind, aiming to slash them but Viktor reacted fast, he stopped and kicked the sand up while calling, "Muraille Désertique!" The sand shot up high, turning into a wall but the blade swam up the wall. "Vague De Sable!" The wall then collapsed like a wave and this time, the blade couldn't escape it, breaking into the descending wave.
Behind him, the sound of clashing blades resounded and as he turned the redhead slid toward him, using her blades to slow herself down. "... At a time like this... Really..." She sighed, straightening up.
"Sorry but ya two gotta die!" Another blade of sand swam at them but Viktor shattered it in one blow, his right arm covered in sand. He took his fighting stance, raising both fists around his head. In front of him appeared a tiny girl with long bunny ears, puffy brown tail, short brown hair and eyes. The rest of her body was hidden by a cloak, save for her small hands holding two jagged daggers.
Elga faced a girl with a shark tail holding a trident, she had piercing red eyes and medium short black hair. She didn't say a word but her intention was clear, Viktor and Elga exchanged a glance before nodding. "Don't dally." The redhead said, darkness covering her body as she stepped forward, twirling her blades as darkness leaked out of her form. Viktor chuckled at her remark.
"I should be the one saying that."
While they didn't know why they've been ambushed, Viktor and Elga would force their way through. One thing was clear however; neither party wanted to linger inside the storm. The bunny-eared girl prepped herself, elbows raised as sand swirled around her, "LAMES DU DÉSERT!" She slashed her daggers, releasing two blades of sands that swam across the sand and at Viktor. The previous ones were about five meters tall but this ones were twice the size.
The dark-skinned boy ran forward and jumping above the blades with a somersault, he then twisted his body midair and landed with a kick, sand blasting outward in a wave. The target was nowhere to be seen, however. To make matters worse, the explosions, which started relatively small, grew in size and intensity, going from a firecracker to a grenade.
"Holy shit, that fucking hurt!" Viktor commented in surprise, stumbling on his knees as the explosions threw his balance off. His Manteau was taking the brunt of the damage, leaving the dark-skinned boy relatively okay but at the rate things went, it wouldn't last long.
"Someone's distracted eh?" Viktor's senses flared as the girl emerged out of the sand, leaving a long cut on Viktor's left leg but it was superficial, thanks to his Manteau but before he could stabilize himself to retaliate, the bunny-eared girl sunk into the ground and slashed his back with a smaller blade of sand. He managed to recover his balance and ran off from where he was but there wasn't much he could do as the girl kept emerging and burrowing. He couldn't accurately tell where she would emerge either, thanks to the explosions going on and disturbing his senses.
That was a bad matchup for the dark-skinned boy, clearly the bunny-eared girl had and as her main element. Viktor could use sand only because of his earth, which was far from ideal. That difference in mastery was something known by every cultivator, one would always be less effective using a sub element compared to their main element. Of course, there are ways to change that but Viktor didn't have any at the moment, that didn't mean he was going to give up however.
His Manteau thinned as he concentrated energy into his feet, his veins bulged as he leapt into the air. With his protection reduced, the explosions hit a lot harder but it was still manageable. "If I want to win this, I have to prevent her from burrowing..." Viktor thought, redistributing his energy back to how it was. He had far less mastery of sand than the girl, so he couldn't just grab and throw her out but he could still mess with her and that would be how he would win. "... I don't have other options anyways." He sighed, falling down.
He had an idea in mind but he had to be quick on the execution, that tactic wouldn't work twice on someone with elemental advantage, so he had one shot at this. The dark-skinned boy sent his energy into his right fist as he descended, explosions struck his back from above as the black droplets poured down but he gritted his teeth. The bunny-eared girl retreated hastily, seeing the boy coming down like a meteor.
Sand blasted outward like a flower blossoming, in the center was Viktor, his fist buried into the sand. Explosions flared on and around him as he remained in place, the bunny-eared girl leaped out, her daggers extended into curved swords made out of sand. She slashed at the dark-skinned boy's bulky form but when he evaded, she burrowed into the sand and exiting at different place each time.
She wondered why he was staying still, taking all of her attacks with such a thin protection but she wouldn't let go of the occasion, so she kept attacking. Blood dripped on the sand but the boy still wasn't moving, "It's over!" The bunny-eared girl declared, her curved swords turned daggers coming down like a guillotine.
At that moment, Viktor finally moved. His fist blasted out of the sand and right into the bunny-eared girl's guts. Air violently left her lungs as she reeled in pain but he was far from done... He followed up with a jab to throat and a shot to the liver. The girl squealed in pain, her consciousness was hanging on by a thread after these two strikes but she held on, the moment her feet would land on the sand, she'd be out.
Hope shone bright in her eyes when that moment finally came, she grinned as sand swirled around her feet but it fell down the next second. "... What!?" She asked, confusion and dread creeping up in her voice.
"You're. Not. Going. Anywhere." Viktor declared, he twisted his body and unleashed a devastating hook from below, lifting the girl off her feet then a first kick to the jaw followed, robbing the bunny-eared girl of what little consciousness she held on. A second kick made her form spiral in place as Viktor ended things with a haymaker straight to her chest, sending her flying into a dune. "... Might have gone overboard there."
At the same time, the sound of metal striking metal reached his ears. Elga's head peeked above the crater's edge, "HURRY!" She shouted, running at full speed. Viktor didn't say a word as he grabbed the bunny-eared girl and ran with everything he had left.
***
"Haaah... haaah... haaah..." Viktor was huffing and puffing, lying on the sand. Thankfully they had escaped the storm intact—well, more or less. Both Elga and him, alongside their opponents had parts of their skin burned, cut open or stabbed by some random object flying inside the storm.
"Glass shards of all things..." Elga grumbled as she pulled glass shards out of her arms and back, at her feet was the black-haired girl with a shark tail, face buried in the sand.
"...Could've been worse honestly... I heard once that swords rained down." Viktor commented as he straightened up, sitting down.
"Ya think that's bad? Try a hailstorm of magma!" Elga added.
Viktor chuckled at the thought, he had barely took his first step as a cultivator yet he already went through some unbelievable events. He took a deep breath, putting these thoughts aside and focusing back to his and Elga's captive. "Why do you think they attacked us? I mean, I know cultivators have the habit to make enemies but I don't even know these two."
"I don't know either but we'll find out soon enough." The redhead said, drawing one of her blades and making a small cut on the two girls' wrists. Viktor raised an eyebrow, curiosity evident in his eyes. Seeing this, Elga rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna use the Qualite of my second Path." Viktor hummed in understanding.
A Qualite is the essential idea belonging to each Path. Generally, cultivators are free to use whatever method they see fit to gain power but there is one thing they cannot forget as they do so, it is the Qualite, the anchor to their Paths, what they must conserve in order to advance. If for some reason the cultivator betrays their Quality, they will lose everything they worked for, and their lives. It is not a rule established by the Dieux, it is a universal rule that none, not even them, who stand at highest level possible, can break. As for Elga, she was using her Qualite du Sombrage, which was to detect lies but only lies, she wouldn't be able to do anything against half truths. Though helpful in certain circumstances, a Qualite isn't absolute. If one was to try to use it on someone on a higher level, it wouldn't work. Thankfully, neither girls were.
The redhead wrapped a string of blood around her pinky, now they had to wait till they awoke. In the meanwhile, Viktor was going through his ring. "Alright, we're still good on supplies. Hopefully we won't get another storm to deal with."
"How long do you think we'll stay in this damn desert?" The redhead asked, sitting with her back against Viktor's, which made the dark-skinned boy flinch a little.
"I-I don't know." He said. "There's been reports of trials taking years to finish, dunno how true they are though..." The suspicion in Viktor's answer was due to the distance shown by his ring. At best, they'd spend a few months on the road, so how one could be there for more than a year, he frankly didn't know.
"Oh well, more time to get to know each other, wouldn't yo say so?"
"...I guess."
"Hey, what's that half assed answer!?"
"N-nothing!"
***
Minutes later, the captives woke up. Their hands and feet cuffed together. "Ugh... my chest..." The bunny-eared girl coughed.
"Chest?" Elga repeated with a raised and glanced at Viktor, who glanced back.
"I may have punched a bit harder than I wanted..." The dark-skinned boy replied honestly.
"Riiiight..." The redhead sighed while rolling her eyes. "Anyways. Care to explain the ambush?"
"No, we don't" The shark-tailed girl spat, blowing a bubble.
"Where did she get gum..." Viktor asked himself.
"Oh, so you don't care if I rip your tail off a second time then?" Elga smiled, a bloodlusted glint shining in her eyes as she drew her swords.
"OH HELL NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAKISH DOG!" The shark-tailed girl spat back, baring her razor sharp teeth and kicking sand at the redhead.
"OK YOU TWO, CALM DOWN!" Viktor chimed in. clapping his hand with so much strengths the sand around them shot out in a wave. "I'm not trying to find another one of these worms, so could you make it a bit easier for us, please? Heck, you don't even need to give the full answer."
The bunny-eared girl chuckled, "You're a naive one, aren't you?" She commented, "I couldn't give less of a shit about what you want, if you want answers, you'll have to rip them out of my skull!"
Viktor sighed, turning to the redhead, who was watching quietly. "You heard her," That was all the redhead wanted to hear. She walked toward the bound girls, sharpening her blades against the other.
"IT'S BECAUSE WE WANTED YOUR NUMBERS!" The shark-tailed girl shouted, which Elga didn't appreciate. She was looking forward to toying with the two. "THERE'S ONLY A FEW THAT CAN GET INTO THE TREE AND WE WANTED TO BE SURE WE WERE IN!"
"No need to shout..." Viktor said, covering his ears. He did remember the mention of the redhead cutting off her tail, it must have been bad if she answered the moment Elga walked toward her.
"What the hell, Joelle!?" The bunny-eared girl said in frustration, her ears drooped on her head.
Viktor frowned at the revelation, the numbers on their wrist was more than just registration, it was their key to succeed this test. "Well, things are gonna be more thorny than I thought..."