The Oathsworn

by Liandra Jake

  Panzer ignited the wood on her back with a flash of flames, quickly bringing the hardened metal underneath it past its melting point. Alvori instinctively brought up his shield. "I'll make sure to hold him down this time." Corenden said as he prepared to charge with Panzer. He paused when Panzer's hand clamped down on his arm. "Wait, NO-!" Corenden was reeled back and pitched down the field by Panzer. Righting himself mid-air, he managed to collide with Alvori's shield with something resembling a purposeful attack with his own shield. Both grunted at the impact, Alvori's legs standing rigid to hold his ground.

  Dizzy, Corenden backed off in time to see Panzer blaze past them like she had before. Turning on a dime, Alvori prepared to stop her. With a sharp flap of his wings, Corenden snapped forward, carrying the wind behind him. Alvori's shield rose to stop Corenden's sword, but the Pog abandoned it to slip over it and headbutt Alvori, pushing his feet against the backside of Alvori's shield. Their helmets collided with a spark of neon and an echoing clang that left both with trails of blood dripping down their face from within.

  Panzer met Sylvania fully intact. Despite Sylvania's deft movements and quick reflexes, she barely prepared to attack when Panzer grasped Sylvania's arm tightly like she had Corenden's, and just like the Pog, Panzer whipped the women over her head and slammed her down on the ground with enough force to leave Sylvania stunned.

  Alvori's response was nothing but brutal. His mace met Corenden's jaw and sent the small Pog cart wheeling into the ground with enough force to knock him out, and knock him back when he hit the ground. His entire body flashed neon as his Shield tried to understand what just happened. The entire left side of Corenden's helmet was ripped off by Alvori's unleashed strength. Panzer was the next one on Alvori's list. He came swinging, blue eyes blazing with rage. His swing was so fast that Panzer was only misted by water as she flitted outside of his range.

  Alvori pursued her relentlessly, his mace and shield barely flying past Panzer's head more times than she'd ever be comfortable with. Now on a full retreat, she was forced to let her molten aura to disappear lest Alvori manage to pin her with water. "A LITTLE HELP CLOUD?!" She yelled out, stumbling over her own footsteps.

  The bruised Pog got unsteadily to his feet. Still out of it, he wobbled back and forth until he let his long feet twist out slightly. Alvori cursed to herself as she got to her feet and looked up to the havoc Alvori was up to. She only looked at the unguarded Pog for a moment before hurrying in his direction. "CLOUD!" Panzer shouted. His body tilted precariously as he turned to face Sylvania. With a confused look, he looked around the field and caught glimpses of Hunter and Nem fighting their own fights before returning to the women before him.

  He snapped to attention when the fingers of Sylvania's Crystal-coated hand pierced his armor and dug into the area around his small right shoulder. A normal-sized person would have been out then and there, but Sylvania failed to effectively strike a knee-high opponent. "GRRRAH!" Corenden practically roared as he broke away from Sylvania's encroaching Orenth. Despite the sting, Corenden found the Crystal coating inside his armor stopped the bleeding rather effectively.

  Sylvania looked at the blood on her hand curiously. "Crystal Vs. Plasma has a mutual resistance." Corenden explained, retrieving his weapon. "These Shields can protect against Crystal Orenth, but it's such a rarely used Type and I'd rather invest in Ice and other Types I'd be especially weak to." "Hmm." was Sylvania's only response.

  Corenden chuckled. "I don't expect you to chat much," He extended his blade by a foot with a solid piece of oaken wood. With his free hand, he pulled off his helmet, allowing a squared helmet of wood to replace it, with emphasis on protecting his jaw. Arend twitched noticeably when Corenden tossed the ruined helmet aside and raised his weapon. "But I'm sure a little noise from you will bring your buddy running." "Hmm."

  Corenden's blade met Sylvania's with a shower of sparks and woodchips. None of the extension of Corenden's blade remained attached to his sword as Corenden blocked every swing, snap, and thrust from Sylvania. He could tell she was still holding back, despite her berserk partner still trying to pin Panzer down. Corenden had to switch to a weaker one-handed style as his right shoulder's throbbing grew distracting.

  Twisting around with the grace of a dancer, Sylvania took advantage of Corenden's fatigue and swung her elbow around in a tight arc, her hand snapping out to grasp Corenden's sword edge with her gauntlet. Corenden abandoned his sword again and closed the gap between them fully, his wings tickling the back of her head as he dropped down behind her back, dragging his hand behind him and leaving a spongy coat of wood behind. It tightened painfully as the water inside it was pulled out by an unseen force. Her brief cry of pain was met with Alvori turning around immediately.

  Corenden didn't bother to act upon the briefly immobilized women, waiting instead for Alvori to come charging. Sword in hand, he waited at eye level. Alvori led with a downward smash which skittered across Corenden's blade. Anticipating Alvori's follow-up with a swinging shield, Corenden flipped over it, not before leaving a small deposit of wood at its center that quickly expanded as it fed on the water coursing through the shield.

  The handle of Alvori's mace was thrust upwards and into Corenden's ribcage. He huffed at the impact, but left Alvori's hand covered in wood. Now unable to drop his weapon for a time, Alvori couldn't snatch at Corenden as the Pog flitted around him and left small deposits of wood around his joints, slowly building up to tight clusters. Alvori struggled against them and was surprised to find the wood was far harder than any kind he had encountered before. Despite this, Corenden still took caution in further disabling Alvori.

  Sylvania took note of this with noticeable disdain as Panzer pushed her further away from Alvori. When Alvori was completely rooted to a single spot, Sylvania finally pushed back. With a sudden jerk of motion, she shifted her weight to float around Panzer's incoming strike, planting her right foot with her back to Panzer, she whipped her elbows back to drive the ends of her blades into Panzer's face. Blinded in a burst of neon, Panzer took a quick step back.

  Sylvania gave Panzer no time for a witty remark, closing the gap between them and striking out with Crystal claws. Panzer took the bait, easily blocking Sylvania's hand but opening herself to a strike at her stomach. With an "Oof!", Panzer stumbled back. Sylvania moved to close the gap a second time, this time turning her body sideways and uppercutting with her blade. With the unique advancing arc Sylvania attacked with, Panzer was forced to fall backwards to avoid her attack.

  Once her arms could touch down, Panzer slid towards Sylvania and locked her feet around the women's ankle, twisting for a surprise takedown. Now flat on her back, Sylvania was further surprised when Panzer's heel dropped into her chest. Panzer quickly pulled her feet back and rolled over her head and onto her feet. She was surprised to see Sylvania get to her feet, and even further surprised to see Alvori join her.

  Corenden, his right arm hanging loose but not dislocated, took the chance to join Panzer. Panzer could tell his previous matches and injuries were catching up to him. "What happened?" She asked. "He's tougher than he looks." Corenden replied with a huff. "I can't knock him out. Even if I was at 100%, I still doubt I'd be able to." "This is one hell of a time to need help." Panzer said with an empty laugh. "I don't see you doing any better." Corenden quipped. "It's Cobalt Soiden." Panzer said as if she was admitting something. "They aren't going to be easy, especially after riling them up so much." "Let's hope Nem and Hunter are having a better time." Corenden replied before he and Panzer returned to their fight.

  Corenden's hope was well placed. Without adequate teamwork, Gorm and Yagami were painted into separate corners with the two Dragon's Den's members whittling away at them. Hunter had gained some agility since his fight with Finch, easily keeping out of reach of Yagami's hammer and striking with Dark-coated limbs and an innate blade.

  Nem found the simple Gorm was easy to encircle with his powers despite not having much impact on him directly. Gorm's ab
ilities to shrug off most of Nem's physical attacks forced him to rely on Orenth based attacks. Already highly agile, Nem was able to easily cut through or step around the chunks of earth Gorm sent his way. It was around the time Alvori started his rampage did Nem realize one-on-one fights weren't going to get them anywhere.

  "Hunter!" Nem called out. "I know!" Hunter replied, ducking under a beam of light from Yagami's hammer. "I can't help them right now!" "Hunter!" Nem called again, slicing a line of Orenth between him and Gorm before sprinting towards Hunter and Yagami. Hunter flashed a confused look until Nem cut into a beam from Yagami's hammer, and the focused Light Orenth curled around and into his blade, emerging as the pale silver aura of Moon Orenth.

  With a gentle flick, Nem cut a curved line into the ground between him and Yagami. It glowed dully when compared to his others. Hunter frowned as Nem turned to look at Gorm, the tip of his blade resting at the edge of the gouge he made. The Changed Rilla had started a reckless charge, a charge Yagami simply walked out of the way for. Nem twisted his blade so that the small spike at its tip bridged the gouge in the ground.

  "This should end bloodily." Yagami said casually to Hunter at the other side of Gorm's path. They both snapped back to Nem when the line in the ground erupted in a silvery crescent of Moon. "Wave-Ring…" Nem began as he tensed his body. With one hand gripping his sword tight, Nem whipped his arm around, sweeping the tip of his blade over the line in the ground, bringing with it a mass of Moon Orenth nearly ten feet in diameter. "Gibbous!" Nem shouted as he sent it flying in an incomplete disk of Moon.

  Gorm came to a stop as the disk shattered against his body, into shards of Moon Orenth that left him with thin, painful slices across his face, arms, and chest that made it past both his body and his Shield. He prepared to bellow in rage, but Nem flew at him, sword gripped in two hands and delivering a powerful skyward slash, Moon's Sonata's long blade cutting a foot into the ground below to make the sharp angle possible.

  Gorm's entire chest lit up with blazing Plasma fighting off Nem's Moon. The large man retreated well out of reach of Nem. What was left of his armor was charred and useless. While no permanent scar was on his body, a silver discoloration was left on Gorm's skin. He ran his finger down it curiously.

  "Nem!" Hunter exclaimed.

  "What the hell was that!?" Yagami demanded, strutting towards Nem. "No weapon is supposed to be able to be able to overpower the-"

  Nem whipped his blade past Yagami's face, who immediately hopped back. Nem held his blade out, one eye on him and the other on Gorm. "This is a Legendary Weapon for a reason. The judges here might rule it weak due to a lack of definitive Matrix, but that only means it's limited by its user."

  "Why have you only begun to use those techniques now!?" Hunter demanded.

  "Like I said; it's only limited by its user." Nem said, a beat of sweat appearing on his forehead. Hunter nodded slowly, understanding.

  "Hey! Mook!" Yagami called out to Gorm. "Are you going to sit and stare at that or are you going to fight?" Gorm glanced up, frowning suddenly.

  "Hunter!" Nem called, looking to him. "I get ya now!" Hunter replied, running at Yagami. Gorm charged at Nem again, this time more aware of what was ahead of him. Nem narrowly darted out of Gorm's path, headed straight for Yagami instead of countering. Yagami was confused at finding himself facing two people at once, deflecting Nem with the shield on his back.

  "This is shameful! Two on one isn't a fair fight!" Yagami exclaimed, looking back at Nem.

  "No one ever said it was." Nem replied as he struck out with his palm at the center of Yagami's shield. As Yagami lurched forward, Hunter drove the point of his sword at Yagami, only grazing the Shield near his left side. With a sudden burst of Plasma, Hunter cut through the large chuck of rock Gorm had thrown at him and Nem. Nem fully sheathed his sword, attacking Yagami barehanded. Panic set in as a flash of shadow in the corner of his eye led to Hunter standing behind him.

  Nem caught the head of Yagami's hammer, grunting at the force behind it but was unaffected by the Light that splattered out between his fingers. Twisting, he tried to wretch the hammer from Yagami's grasp. While that failed, he still held it tight as Hunter prepared a Cavity Slash. Gorm's shadow suddenly loomed over Nem and Yagami. Nem retreated with a touch of panic as Gorm slammed down with his two hands clamped together. Yagami squeaked as Gorm made contact with his head, crumpling to the ground immediately in a flash of neon.

  With little hesitation, Hunter directed his Cavity Slash at Gorm. The neon energy quickly spread across his body and had a reasonable effect on his Endurance. He didn't seem all too concerned with taking out his teammate and more interested in crushing Nem. Hunter immediately hurried to join Corenden and Panzer, trusting Nem to continue to hold his own. The crowd was starting to get noisy, as chants of "Dragon's Den" and "Cobalt Soiden" began to fight each other.

  Hunter deflected the swing of Alvori's mace with a long thrust between Alvori and Corenden. The Pog was exhausted but still fighting. Hunter was amazed he could fly let alone fight in the condition he was in. His right arm hung useless, the entire shoulder coated in a thickening layer of Crystal that dug into the gashes in his muscle. His left held on to his sword only though a tightly clasped layer of wood around his hand.

  "Glad to see you're here." Corenden said, taking a moment to catch his breath. "Though you're giving them what they want." "I doubt taking us both on is something they want." Hunter replied, watching Alvori take a more defensive stance. "I know you're tired, but are you up for this?" "You'd do better to swap with Panzer briefly. Then I can have her chip off some of this Crystal." Corenden replied, raising his sword. Hunter glanced over Alvori's shoulder to the two women locked in exchanges of wicked blades and devastating punches. He glanced back at Corenden and shook his head. "NO."

  "But your Plasma-" "A weakened attack is still an attack. Don't forget I'm not a Pog and I've yet to go all out." "I'll follow your lead then." Corenden replied.

  Hunter started his Beat Drive, matching its tick against the beat of his own heart. Before Plasma even began to gather on his blade, Hunter rushed forward. His sword skittered across Alvori's shield, giving Alvori an opening to attack Hunter directly. Corenden shot by Hunter's head at full speed, driving his sword against Alvori's mace with all the effort he could muster.

  Hunter's free arm lashed out at Alvori, his fist colliding straight-on with his nose. Alvori was forced to take a step back, but didn't move to touch his nose or stop the bleeding. Hunter ducked under Alvori's mace as it swung at him, driving his hilt into Alvori's ribs. Hunter's blade skittered in a shock of neon across Alvori's shield, now heavy with Plasma.

  Corenden latched onto Alvori's face, clinging tightly. Alvori flailed wildly, trying to shake the Pog off. Hunter drove his blade forward, managing to hit Alvori in the area between his side and his back, pushing his Plasma out in a bursting shockwave. Corenden was flung a few feet away onto his face, not fully unconscious, but unable to fight any longer.

  Panzer managed to accidentally driven Sylvania to Alvori's side, and so she regrouped with Hunter. She was breathing hard, and sweating enough to make the air around her cloud with steam. "She's… fucking… tough." Panzer huffed. "I can… see why… she's Ranked SS." Hunter slowly looked over at her. She nodded, grinning. "I know." She pointed at Alvori with a limp arm. "And he's… S Extra…; the guy… more than qualifies… for SS, but lacks… a second Type."

  "That's good for me then." Corenden said weakly from below, managing to hobble out of immediate danger. "Maybe I'll at least get C." "Dude, you're in line for G at least." Hunter replied immediately. A loud cheer from Dragon's Den made the remaining fighters glance over to Nem and Gorm. Nem was stoic in a dancing flame of silver moonlight, Gorm on his back and unconscious as his Shield flashed in defiance of Nem's remaining energy. Corenden continued to hobble away, calling out over the crowd. "Take them down you two!"

  "Need a boost?" Hunter asked Panzer, increasing the tempo of his Drive. "It'll b
e useless if… you can't stop Alvori." Panzer replied, still breathing heavily. "I can stop him alright." Hunter replied, gently resting his blade on Panzer's shoulder. She felt an undulating pulse of energy fill her body as Hunter's Plasma fed her Nova. "My next attack may very well a double-edged sword however." Hunter warned.

  Panzer huffed, standing straight as she caught her breath with a final deep puff. She shrugged off Hunter's blade. "All or nothing? I like it." He sheathed the Beat Drive. "We're far past 'nothing' now." Hunter replied, starting forward with a slow jog. Panzer eyed him suspiciously, following his example. She quickly noticed he was picking up speed faster than she could keep up with.

  A cloak of darkness blended his features into a moving shadow; thickening to the point the faint shimmer of his Shield became visible against his black backdrop. Panzer was sprinting after him, but was a dozen feet away when Hunter made contact with Alvori. Alvori simply held up his shield to block the unarmed Hunter, a mistake on all counts.

  Hunter's body suddenly brightened as the pressing darkness surrounding him flashed into liquid silver. His left arm reeled back as he gathered the silver Orenth around him into his palm, his fingers drawn back with his palm ready to strike. "LUNAR AQUA-ISITION!" He shouted out as he struck Alvori's shield with his silver spear birthed from the dark. Hunter's Moon Orenth had an immediate effect on Alvori's shield. The Water Korvan inside it expunged all of their water out at once, blasting both Alvori and Hunter with shrapnel and extremely powerful Water Orenth.