The swamp burned with noise and light as the battle dragged on.
The five Creed n had already revealed their hybridized strength, their bodies pulsing with veins of unstable energy, yet the fight wasn’t tilting their way. If anything, it was tilting against them.
Arden stood slightly back, watching with folded arms as Rael, Nyra, and Zephyra handled the fight. His lotus shield blood outward like translucent petals, protecting them from stray attacks so they could go all out without fear.
He could have ended it himself from the start, but he had no intention of robbing them of the experience.
"Don’t get sloppy," he said calmly, his voice carrying over the crackle of flas and shattering ice. "If you want to cut across realms, then learn to fight like it."
Rael barked a laugh as his gauntlets lit up again, lightning snapping down his arm. "Relax, Arden. This is more like playti." He swung, and his frost-bound arc of lightning ripped through the artificer’s contraption, sending sparks and shards of tal flying.
Nyra didn’t bother to reply, her face set in calm concentration as her storm field swirled around her.
The Crimson Lotus Veil spread wider, winds laced with razor ice cutting the assassin each ti he tried to slip in and out of the mist. She moved with poise, weaving spells with such flow that even Arden gave a small nod of approval.
Zephyra, on the other hand, was almost mocking in her approach. She let one of the battle mages charge her, ducking lazily to the side before swiping him with a casual paw strike. Her flas burst out just enough to scorch him, nothing more. She hissed in amusent as he cursed and attacked again, only to get tossed back into the mud with another playful swing. She was toying with him, like a predator drawing out the end.
The Creed mbers’ confidence cracked with every passing breath. Their hybridization had given them a surge of strength, but Arden’s party answered with an even sharper rise in intensity.
Skills blended together, ice riding wind, lightning threading through frost, fire blooming like a lotus and carried by the beast’s roar.
"They’re playing with us!" the artificer shouted, his arm trembling as his device sputtered.
"No," Arden answered flatly from across the field, "we’re training with you."
The words cut deeper than blades.
Rael slamd his gauntlet into the chest of the flaming axe-wielder, the impact exploding with a ripple of lightning that sent the man crumpling into the swamp water. Nyra’s cryogale shards tore into the assassin’s cloak until he staggered half-frozen, his dagger trembling in his grip.
Zephyra finally tired of her ga, lunging forward with a sudden bloom of cerulean-crimson fla. Her claws raked across her opponent’s barrier, breaking it apart in a single swipe before the lotus-shaped fire burst engulfed him.
Soon enough, the hybrid glow around their bodies began to flicker. Their unnatural boost was faltering under the strain. Their breaths ca ragged, their footing weaker.
Arden exhaled slowly. "Enough. They’ve shown all they can."
The three of them heard the ssage clearly without him saying more.
Rael’s grin widened. He stepped in close to the battle mage, his fists lighting up with ice and lightning together. "Your mistake was thinking raw power makes you untouchable." His strike landed with a crack! the man froze solid mid-scream before lightning shattered him into shards.
Nyra raised her hand, wind spiraling tighter with a snap. "Cryowind Shift." The assassin lunged once more, desperate, but the storm pulled him in and shredded his final cry into the mist.
Zephyra’s eyes burned bright as she pressed her claws together, flas spiraling into her strike. Crimson Bloom Strike! Her target was consud in a lotus-shaped blast of fire and wind, leaving nothing but ash scattered into the swamp water.
And just like that, the five Creed hybrids were gone. To ash and silence.
Arden stepped forward, the swamp quiet once more. He scanned the area with his life energy once more, but there was nothing worth taking. No traces of higher ranked beast or herb.
Even the mories left no whispers of real information. Just dogs fed scraps of power.
"They weren’t even on the level of the bandit leader," he muttered. "The Organization is throwing out strength to buy loyalty. Useless."
Rael wiped his gauntlet on the grass, scoffing. "Useless, yeah, but at least they gave us so exercise."
Nyra said nothing, though she nodded in agreent. Zephyra padded back to them, her flas dimming, her breathing steady as if she hadn’t even fought seriously.
Arden turned away. "We’re done here. Let’s move. There’s nothing left in this swamp for us."
The road back stretched long, but Greyhold was the only tie they had to human walls, the only place they could return to after these hunts. Arden walked at the front, quiet, though his thoughts stirred. He could still feel the strange pulse of the bandit leader’s life signature from before, active sowhere out there. Their paths would cross soon, he was sure of it.
Nyra, trying to keep her composure, asked, "We’re... heading back to Greyhold?"
Rael’s grin was instant. "What’s this, Nyra? Don’t tell you missed the town already."
Even Arden let a small smile slip. "Careful, Rael. She’ll deny it, but her face is giving her away."
Her cheeks betrayed her with the faintest flush, and she turned her face aside, tightening her robe collar. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."
Their laughter carried down the path.
The journey back wasn’t uneventful.
Arden deliberately led them through the supply routes, his senses sharp for signs of trouble. And It didn’t take long.
Not far from the bend of the forest road, smoke rose. Shouts carried over the trees. A rchant group was under attack.
Arden raised his hand to stop his party. "There. Bandits in disguise... no, Creed again." His voice dropped as his senses spread. "Two hybrids among them. The rest are weaker."
They rushed forward, breaking through the brush.
The scene was bloody. Traders crouched behind broken carts, their hired protectors at the Vein Surge realm, one at Vein Bloom low stage, all of them bleeding and gasping. They struggled to hold back the assault, shielding the goods even as death pressed down.
The hybrids stalked forward, confident, their strength overwhelming.
And then Arden appeared.
The weight of his aura rolled over the field like a crashing tide, snapping the bandits’ heads toward him. The hybrids froze mid-step, their sneers faltering as the swamp fell quiet.
He didn’t rush. He walked forward calmly, every step ringing in their ears.
His life energy blood around him in crimson and green, petals of light swirling in the air.
"You had a chance to live quietly as thieves," he said, voice low but carrying. "But the mont you put that mark on your skin, you chose this end."
The hybrids roared, trying to et his aura with their own. But Arden’s power crushed theirs flat. He raised his hand, and the lotusfla gathered, steady and precise. Lotusflare Conduction. Blades of life energy shot outward, weaving into chains that wrapped both hybrids before they could react.
Fire burst through the chains, engulfing them in a lotus bloom of fla. Their screams cut off in an instant, ash falling to the dirt.
Behind him, Rael, Nyra, and Zephyra were already tearing into the rest of the bandits, cutting them down with clean strikes.
The battlefield stilled, the traders staring in stunned silence as the masked man and his party stood amid the ruins.
A/N:
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