And sure enough, the mont the Lantaw was killed in the distance, the assault began.
[Glimrcuts]
From the tip of Kardel’s glowing staff, six hiltless flying blades erged—silent, deadly, and inscribed with ancient glowing runes. Each blade shimred unnaturally, pulsing with mana like living extensions of the caster’s will.
These weren’t ordinary projectiles. They were arcane predators.
Controlled remotely, the blades responded instantly as Kardel waved a single hand. They shot forward—sharp, coordinated, and blindingly fast—their movents erratic but intelligent, capable of tight turns, elevation shifts, and real-ti pursuit.
They whirred toward Auren and Jairah like a pack of spectral falcons unleashed.
Auren reacted on instinct. His eyes glowed, and his Divine Rapier shimred with his own golden mana aura.
[TIGER FOCUS]
His perception narrowed. His long-range awareness compressed into a hyper-focused cone, enhancing his reflexes and clarity to their maximum. Sounds sharpened. Mana signatures blazed like stars in his vision.
The world slowed down just enough for survival.
"Kyaaa!" Jairah shrieked as the six spinning death-blades closed in. Panic at the face of death has slowly taken over her.
Though she ca from a long line of hunters, her battles were usually calculated—scouting, setting traps, waiting. She wasn’t used to being prey. Especially not prey hunted by her own kin.
But before panic fully consud her—
Auren’s figure was already in motion.
He stepped in front of her, stance solid, weapons drawn: the Divine Rapier in one hand, gleaming like starlight, and the custom-built Magnum Krakaboom in the other.
PING!— PING!— BANG!—
Blades clashed midair with a storm of sparks. Auren’s movents were a blur, shooting and deflecting four blades in quick succession while dodging the fifth by inches.
His dark red hair danced gracefully at his swift but flawless movent. In that mont, he looked more like an ancient warrior than a young child.
His Divine Rapier t enchanted steel mid-flight, cutting the trajectory just enough to send it careening into a tree.
His breathing steadied, but his arms vibrated from the impacts.
"Crap... those things are sharp," he muttered, fingers tingling from the force.
Still glowing with golden energy, his eyes flickered between threats, ever alert of the follow up attacks. He wasn’t sure how many more attacks like that he could take.
From the ridge, Kardel sneered, his staff humming.
"Not bad... for trash humans," he said, his voice soaked with cruel amusent. "Let’s see you handle this."
The blades that had fallen clattered around them humd with magical energy... then slowly they began to float again. They rose with eerie grace and rotated in place, whirling faster and faster until they beca a deadly vortex encircling Auren and Jairah.
And slowly, the space around them shrunk.
They were trapped inside a tornado of deadly spinning blades.
"Jairah, snap out of it!" Auren barked. He placed a firm hand on her forehead, releasing a pulse of his own mana to clear her head. "If you want to live, focus!"
Jairah jolted. Her breath steadied thanks to the refreshing mana Auren channeled on her temple. The haze quickly lifted.
"S-sorry!" she gasped, pulling her bow and stepping back into formation. Her legs were shaking, but she managed to steel her mind.
Auren’s expression softened just a bit.
"I’m sorry I dragged you into this," he muttered, voice heavy with guilt.
Jairah hesitated.
She wanted to say sothing comforting, sothing heroic—but she couldn’t. The truth was, if not for Auren, she wouldn’t be in this much danger.
But at the sa ti... only she knew how difficult it had been for Auren and his family to survive until now.
She had seen him co back bloodied, limping, stitched and scarred. Not once. Not twice. But countless tis.
The other elves made sure he knew he didn’t belong here. They poisoned him in silence, but Auren kept walking. He kept coming back stronger and with a wide smile at that.
Jairah? She had chosen to walk with him.
And now... this was her trial too.
She narrowed her eyes, breathing slowly, and raised her bow. Across the clearing, she spotted Kardel now standing on a boulder atop his elegant, mana-infused deer.
She whispered under her breath and began channeling mana into her bowstring. Silver light coiled around her arrowhead like moonlight in a bottle.
[LUNE BREAK]
In a flash, her arrow tore through the spinning blades, swerving through gaps with impossible grace. It arced straight toward Kardel—a perfect shot.
But just before it landed, the Magical Deer’s horn glowed.
What was ant to be a deadly, precise strike transford midair—disard and defused—into a gentle cascade of shimring petals, falling like rain upon the rock where Kardel stood, untouched and amused.
"What?!" she gasped.
Seeing this, Kardel didn’t even flinch.
Jairah had never seen the deer’s ability in action—now, she realized how overpowered it truly was. It wasn’t just a mount. It was a living shield.
"How am I supposed to defeat that?!" she muttered, her hands shaking again.
Auren, anwhile, wasn’t watching Kardel anymore.
His eyes drifted upward. To the canopy above.
A shadow clung to the high branch. Silent. Unseen. But the killing intent dripping from it was unmistakable.
’Master... the hidden one is above you, Bigbird whispered in his mind.
’I know.’
Auren didn’t need the warning. He already felt it.
Rhiki.The ghost.The dagger in the dark.
Every instinct in Auren’s body scread, he’s going to strike.
And yet... they couldn’t move.
Jairah kept firing at Kardel—trying arrows with curves, dips, and mana twists—but each one was turned to flowers by the deer’s horn no matter the angle. It was like trying to attack a god while chained to the floor.
And Kardel?
He was enjoying himself.
The blades continued spinning. Faster. Tighter. His eyes glimred with joy at the mont.
"Say goodbye," Kardel whispered, raising his staff.
The ring of blades began closing in. Inch by inch, it constricted—shrinking their safe space to the size of a small campfire. One wrong step, and they’d be shredded.
Kardel’s smirk widened as he watched the fear slowly creep into their faces.
With the deer shielding him, Rhiki hunting from above, and the circle of death closing in, he felt like a chess master playing the final move against a helpless pawn.
Auren scanned the pattern of the blades.
He wasn’t just fighting two enemies. He was fighting two expert hunters who knew how to bait, bleed, and corner.
But Auren wasn’t planning to play their ga.
"Jairah," he said. "How high can you jump with your Wind Step?"
She blinked, surprised. "What? Why?"
"Just tell ."
"I dunno... maybe two branch lengths?" she ant ten ters in human standard asurent.
"Perfect."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a tiny red vial, swirling with volatile crimson mist. Its glass was warm to the touch, almost vibrating.
"What’s that?" she asked, eyeing the glow.
"Sothing I’ve been working on. Don’t tell Robert I made this."
He gave a dry grin. His hands were shaking as he slowly opened the cork.
"I call it... Red Bull."
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