Schlick-
A soldier dropped to the ground, dead. Another soldier near the dead one began to shout, "Intru-!"
A blue flash shone and the soldier also stopped living. Flowing Sea flicked his sword and sheathed it. He dragged the bodies aside and hid them in a bush.
He managed to make it to the reinforcement camp way earlier than intended. This was due to a skill that increased his movement speed the longer he ran. There was a limit to it, one that he reached while traveling, so it wasn't too strong.
He had killed two soldiers guarding a path into the large camp. He planned to eliminate all the soldiers lingering on the outside.
Suddenly, he heard movement to his side. A soldier stumbled through the shrubbery, drunk. He hiccupped and looked at Flowing Sea. His drunkenness seemed to disappear for a second, "Intruder!" He yelled.
A moment later the soldier died by Flowing Sea's sword. He cursed, "Bad luck. Guess I gotta fight them all at once."
The running steps of soldiers was heard. From the sound of it Flowing Sea assumed it was around twenty. They all broke through the surrounding brush, weapons drawn. All their eyes locked on Flowing Sea.
They all charged with a war cry. Flowing Sea drew his sword, it was a thin form of a katana without a guard. The blade was blue, nearly transparent.
The blade flashed as it deflected incoming attacks. The soldiers stood no chance, for in a short moment not one remained standing. Flowing Sea flicked the blood off his sword and walked into the camp. There he saw many drunken soldiers struggling to put on their equipment. There was even more sober soldiers running towards Flowing Sea in the distance.
Flowing Sea narrowed his eyes and charged forward. The drunken soldiers who could barely equip themselves stood less of a chance than the previous guards. The camp's dirt was stained red with blood.
The soldiers let out a cry of anger as they charged towards Flowing Sea. Yet every soldier than approached was silently executed. Eventually the soldier group's anger turned to fear. Some began to flee, weakening the confidence of others and making them flee as well.
A soldier stumbled and fell, immediately they turned and began dragging themselves back in fear. Flowing Sea walked up to them, while it was a normal walk it was menacing in the eyes of the terrified soldier. He immediately began to plead, "You don't have to do this. I have a wife, a daughter! Please don't kill me!"
Flowing Sea was unsympathetic as he raised his sword, "Everyone has their calling. Today happens to be yours."
He swung down and the soldier froze in terror.
Clang~!
Flowing Sea's sword was stopped short by a crimson sword. There a silver haired player stood over the terrified soldier. The player sighed, "Looks like I'm late."
Flowing Sea's eyes widened, "It's you!"
Indeed it was! Akiol was baffled at the idea that he couldn't catch up to Flowing Sea. He even used his [Roll] skill in his ball form. Yet try as he might he couldn't catch up.
Until he came across a slew of dead bodies. From there he quickly followed the trail of blood until he saw his target aiming to take a life of another soldier! With a quick [Dimension Skip] he appeared between them and blocked Flowing Sea's sword!
Akiol pushed Flowing Sea's sword away while commanding the soldier, "Get out of here!"
The soldier recovered from the shock and shakily nodded their head before stumbling to retreat.
Flowing Sea took a few steps back and watched his opponent. Akiol took his stance and watched his opponent as well.
Flowing Sea noticed the severe lack of flaws in his opponents stance. He immediately turned serious, his opponent was no casual.
The two took action at the same time. Swords clashed and sparks flew. Akiol's strike won the first clash and he immediately went to strike. Flowing Sea dodged the blow and went to aim a counterattack, but Akiol changed the direction of his swing to aim towards Flowing Sea again.
Forced to change action Flowing Sea moved his sword and blocked the incoming attack.
The swords began to dance, each swing aimed to damage and take lives. Yet was thwarted by the opponents own blade. Akiol found interest in the sword style, it clearly was based on momentum. If it wasn't for Akiol constantly parrying the blows he was positive that the momentum based sword style would be far more difficult to deal with.
Cr-twang~!
Sucking in a cold breath of air Flowing Sea couldn't quite believe what he was up against! This was clearly his first encounter with this opponent, yet his sword style was already being countered! As if it only took a few moments before he found his blade constantly being countered!
Akiol shoved Flowing Sea's blade away to create an opening, however Flowing Sea leapt backwards with the shove to create distance. Twirling his blade in a strange pattern the sweat and fatigue that was growing was no longer apparent.
Raising an eyebrow Akiol figured this must be some sort of fatigue resetting ability. Something he didn't know existed. Taking up a stance against a faint smile appeared on his face.
Flowing Sea also began to understand Akiol's style. It was quick and efficient, lacking complexity and pattern. Instead it aimed to defeat the opponent with little time and effort. In short, it was a technique built with an individual with years of experience.
It clearly was a direct counter to his own ability, which depended on him slowly ramping things up overtime. So instead he took a different stance, the air about him changing. To this Akiol's interest was peaked. This was the first time he saw a player switch stances to a different style, to think people like this existed on this planet!
~ ~ ~
Ding~
The magic circle flashed and made a sound. The detection receiving magic circle Kan'na had prepared earlier went off. She immediately knew it was from a place not too far from her current location.
She immediately moved, as she moved towards the location she began preparing several magic circles. She didn't create too many in case the signal was a false positive.
She entered the road and saw a sorcerer tampering with her detection magic circles. Kan'na erased the circles and coughed to make her presence known, "Ahem, might I ask what your doing here?"
The sorcerer turned, "Oh. . . I saw some magic circles and wanted to see what they did."
"It could have been a trap."
The sorcerer shook their head, "I know it wasn't dangerous, it didn't hold any of the damaging runes. But I didn't understand what it did."
"What are you even doing here though?"
The sorcerer pinched their chin in thought, "Hmm. . . Oh yes, I was supposed to make traps for a caravan."
Kan'na sprung into action. A white spherical hall shot into the ground under the enemy sorcerer's feet.
The sorcerer frowned, "What are you doing?"
Kan'na replied matter-of-factly, "Stopping you."
The sorcerer looked between Kan'na and where the magic circles were, "It's you! You wrote them!"
They tapped their staff and several lightning bolts shot towards Kan'na. All stopping short when coming into contact with her barrier. This was a special creation Kan'na made for magic battles. It didn't 'block' attacks, it instead 'unassembled' attacks. By taking apart as many of the spell as possible before reaching Kan'na. Any leftover bits of the spell came into contact with her other barrier.
Kan'na released a barrage of the previous white spheres. Several electric bolts surrounded the enemy sorcerer, shredding any spheres that came into contact with it.
The sorcerer stared at Kan'na with wonder, "Who are you?"
Kan'na replied, "You should give yours first, it's common courtesy."
The sorcerer curled a lip with a wry smile, "Kirin."
Kan'na laughed, "I didn't expect you to actually say your name! It's Kan'na."
Bzzt!
A thunderbolt traveled towards Kan'na at high speeds. A magic circle appeared and the bolt turned ninety degrees and flew into a tree.
Kirin tapped her staff on the ground. Lion faced lightning spheres began to circle her. Before she could cast another spell Kan'na fired more white spheres.
A small lightning bolt shot out from the lion and it moved into attacks, making all incoming attacks ineffective. The ones that did miss were ignored.
Kan'na joked, "Nice pet. It's still magic but not one of a summoner!"
Kirin pointer her staff at Kan'na. A purple ball formed at the end of it. However instead of anything shooting out from the purple ball, storm clouds formed above Kan'na.
Tens, if not hundreds, of lightning bolts crashed into Kan'na. Her shield flashed every time a lightning bolt hit it. After a few seconds a magic circle formed and shot a compressed air ball into the sky. It released and blasted all the clouds away.
Wooong~
A large white barrier appeared around Kirin. Kan'na smiled with a knowing look and snapped her fingers, inside the barrier tens of magic circles appeared. Kirin immediately raised her barrier.
The magic circles activated, several different elemental explosions took place inside the barrier.
The white spheres from her previous attacks were not just attacks. Among the attacking spheres several were placed in specific spots, hidden amongst the attacking ones. Once all were placed Kan'na could activate a barrier. One she created to contain the next step, several explosions!
The energy faded and the barrier disintegrated into nothingness. Yet Kirin remained standing!