As Alexei and michael reached her, an angry Michael took a stance over phoebe, he planted his hands into the ground and the earth answered his rage. Splitting, rising, and twisting, the earth took different jagged forms that attacked the suit. The ground convulsed, scattering clouds of dust into the air. Alexei moved withing the chaos, using the earth's shifting terrain and dust as cover, striking the intellectual with precise, hidden blows.
The battlefield became a storm of stone and dust, blinding the intellectual.
Michael's eyes turned White, his jaw clenched so tight blood touched his lip where he bit down, struggling to contain a scream.
Peter's voice rang out, heavy with alarm, Michael was pushing beyond his limits. The mana coursing through him was tearing at his body, hurting him even as it fuelled his power.
Minutes into Michael and Alexei's coordinated attacks, Michael's strength faltered. Mana drained from his body, his magic crumbled into dust. The ground stilled, the cover faded leaving Alexei suddenly exposed.
But Alexei was no ordinary fighter. His magic wrapped his body like a living armor, it made it hard for any weapon to penetrate his skin, his skin hardened to near impenetrability, his strength and speed sharpened beyond human limits.
However, the suit adapted, shifting it's grip, it turned its sword to the blunt edge and dropped into a samurai stance. The pressure of his footing cracked the earth beneath him.
In a blur, the suit swung. A heavy swing aiming at an airborne Alexei. The strike met Alexei before he could evade. Desperation forced him to shield his side with his arms, but the impact was catastrophic. Bones shattered up to his shoulder, the shockwave splintering his ribs. Blood bursts from his mouth as the force hurled him across the battlefield.
He crashed against the barrier the intellectual set up earlier, the impact rattling the air like thunder. The whole exchange unfolded in a single, merciless heartbeat.
With everyone out of the way, Alexei broken, Adrian bleeding out and unable to walk, flourish unconscious, Phoebe bleeding out and Michael staggering, the battlefield fell silent except for the hum of the intellectual's suit. It's haze shifted, only it's pray remained. Michael, still standing guard over Phoebe, threw himself forward, refusing to surrender.
But his body was spent, he had no mana left, it had long since bled from him, leaving nothing but raw will to fuel his strikes. The suit met his assaults effortlessly. Defeating Michael was easy work, each blow Michael threw was countered, each fall met with another desperate rise. And yet, something strange stirred within him. His eyes gleamed an unnatural white, his hair paling shade by shade with every time he forced himself back to his feet.
"The mission is to bring you back alive" the suit's voice grated, raising it's blade
"Nobody said anything about bringing you back in one piece"
The slash was swift, heavy and precise, biting from his neck across his chest felling the shocked and bleeding elementor. Michael gasped, blood spilling as his body crumpled, the proud ELEMENTOR silenced in shock and pain.
Phoebe's heart clenched, she would not let Michael be taken.
The suit bent to drag Michael from the ground, but water surged violently in response to her fury. She flung her legs outward, threads of liquids snaking through the air. It was clumsy without the use of her hands, weaker than before, but it didn't matter, she would fight until nothing was left.
"Phoebe, stop!" Nas's voice broke from the sidelines, desperation laced with fear
"You're bleeding too much"
But she could not hear him. She wouldn't. The intellectual's laughter echoes as it evaded all her attacks with ease, delivery fatal blows that sent her crashing back into the dirt, beckoning on her to get up whenever she was knocked down, only for her to rise again. Each strike left her weaker, vision darkening but her hatred of defeat burner hotter than pain.
"Get up" the suit mocked beckoning her with it's blade after every fall. "Show me how much your love is worth"
And she rose, battered and broken, water trembling around her as if even the world itself raged at the thought of her giving in.
Nas and peter, unable to see their friends suffer any longer jumped into the frail, just as the the intellectual lifted phoebe by her throat, choking the life out of her.
"Let her go!" Nas roared, slamming his fist into the suit's side. The blow landed with everything he had, but it might as well have struck stone. the intellectual didn't flinch, yet it released Phoebe, letting her crumple to the ground, coughing and gasping for air, it's blank gaze turning to Nas.
It drew it's arm and swung, a stroke heavy enough to split air. At that moment, a vine snatched Nas by the waist, yanking him clear. The blow landed where he had stood, carving a crater into the earth. Dust rose in a choking cloud, and when it cleared, the intellectual was still standing calmly, silently analyzing them, as if they were test subjects — new players who had just joined their game.
Phoebe staggered up, bloodied and defiant. "Nas... what are you doing?!"
He didn't answer her. His eyes locked on Peter and flourish, who had just woken, clutching his skull in pain. "Take Phoebe, Michael, and Adrian. Get them away. I'm about to do something very stupid... And probably suicidal"
Peter's voice cracked with panic. "You can't fight him, Nas. You're no match!"
"I know" Nas said, forcing a thin smile. "But I have a plan" his gaze shifted to Flourish. "I'll buy us an opening. Call the ACE ASSEMBLY . Saving Michael is priority one. He's who the Intellectual wants, and he won't last much longer without help. But I'll need you, Flourish. Buff me. Make me a wall he can't break through."
Flourish hesitated, then shook his head. "There's more I can do. I can tether Phoebe, Adrian and Michael to me with my vines. As long as I'm alive, they'll draw mana through me and stay alive. But if I fall, they all fall too"
Nas's jaw tightened. "Then you can't die."
He turned to Alexei, who had limped back into the fight, body covered in blood, bones barely held together. "I'll need you too. Distract him. Use your speed. Just keep him long enough for me to reach his core. I touched him once, I know what's in there. I know what it'll take."
Alexei coughed, blood staining his teeth. "If my strength couldn't break past its exterior, how the hell do you plan to?"
Nas's eyes hardened. "I've got an ace up my sleeve."
Alexie drew in one last breath and hardened his broken body with mana, locking his bones in place. His steps shook, but he stood ready.
From across the field, the intellectual's voice rang out, calm and mocking. "Are you finished?" He tilted his head, blade glinting. "I've been patient, but you're not enemies, you're children. Toys. Nothing more."
The hesitation was broken when the suit moved first, it's speed, blinding. Nas and Alexie braced, Flourish's buff flowing through Nas like fire in his veins. Alexie shot forward despite his wounds, a blur of desperate speed. Together, they launched themselves at the intellectual.
The real fight had begun.