Leaves fall slowly, as if the world itself is holding its breath. A tense silence hangs in the air… until it shatters like glass exploding into a thousand shards.
— Now! —shouts one of the masked figures.
Perched atop the crown of a tree, he thrusts both palms forward, summoning a whirlpool of dark energy that spins upon itself, forming a lethal spiral.
— Annihilation Spiral! —his cavernous voice roars.
From its core, a swirling mass of black and violet energy shoots toward Danes at blinding speed, tearing through trees, uprooting earth, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
— Tsk! —Danes pushes off the ground with energy bursting from his feet, leaping aside— but there's no respite.
The second masked assailant, the one wielding the massive greatsword, is already upon him. With a roar, he cleaves the air, and the mere motion unleashes a shockwave.
— Shattering Strike! —he bellows as his blade slams into the earth, sending a cutting wave of energy that splits the ground in two.
Danes spins in midair, evading the slash, and lands on a high branch. But the moment his balance returns, a chill races down his spine. It's the third attacker— the one he had already faced before… and this time, he's stronger.
— You're dead this time! —growls the hooded beast. His revived body thrums with distorted aura, his skin thicker, his movements faster. He launches a flurry of fists wrapped in pure energy.
CRACK! BOOM!
The trees around them explode with every blow that Danes dodges by mere inches. But one grazing hit sends him crashing into a boulder. Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth.
— No doubt… this isn't the same one as before —he spits, catching his breath.
From above, the spiral-wielding attacker prepares an even deadlier technique.
— Final Attack: Devastating Spiral!
The energy gathers, so intense that the sky shifts in hue, as if darkness is about to swallow it whole. The spiral swells like a storm, spinning with a hunger for destruction. Danes can feel it— if it hits him, he's finished.
— No choice… sixth core —he mutters.
His eyes blaze with a silver light. He raises his right hand to the sky and his left toward the ground. The air bends around him.
— Opening of the Sixth Core: Great Void!
A dark vortex tears open before him, as though he has ripped the fabric of space itself. The spiral is swallowed whole into the black hole. The world goes silent…
A heartbeat later—
The vortex reopens right in front of the masked figure.
From the heart of the void, the spiral is hurled back with an unimaginable roar, its speed and power multiplied tenfold.
The attacker barely has time to react.
— No… it can't be…! —he murmurs in horror.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion engulfs the forest. Trees are hurled skyward, the ground quakes and splits, and pillars of fire and smoke rise as if hell itself has erupted. The attacker's body is flung away like a charred rag, smashing into a distant mountainside.
Danes drops to one knee, exhausted.
— Not easy… —he mutters between ragged breaths— but that's one less…
Then, a shadow darts swiftly through the smoke, reaching the burned corpse of the fallen comrade. It's the healer— the one who had revived the first attacker. He lays a hand on him, and a pale blue light flows from his palm. The body regenerates— flesh, bone, skin— as if nothing had happened.
Still kneeling, Danes stares in shock and unease.
— He… healed him? No… he revived him again!
His eyes harden. Slowly, he rises to his feet.
— That's the weak point… him. As long as he's standing… I can't win.
The smoke clears. The three masked enemies stand once more— one still somewhat wounded, but recovering fast. They line up against Danes.
— Think —he whispers—. If I go head-on, the others will cover his flanks. But if I take down the healer first… the rest will fall under their own weight.
He raises his gaze.
— Alright… change of plan. This time, I'm going for the heart of the group.
A new battle begins.
And this time… Danes isn't fighting just to survive.
He's ready to execute.