Soul of the Warrior

Reivyn's grip on his sword tightened at his father's words. The giant man grinned fiercely at them as he stood ready to clash once more. He showed absolutely zero fear in being surrounded by four people.

Reivyn wasn't sure if the opponent had an ability to judge threats like he did, but he was assuming he did, considering he had sought his father out for personal combat. If that was the case, Reviyn knew that he was probably giving off some pretty weak vibes right about now. His Mana was a huge part of his prowess, and his reserves were nearly exhausted.

His Skills granted him finesse, technique, and made him dangerous to most people in Tier 4 and below, but his Mana is what gave his abilities "oomph." He wasn't confident he would be able to bypass the giant's armor without the added bonus of powerful Affinities empowering his strikes. He would need to conserve his Mana for strategic use.

Even with him feeling drained and literally being the absolutely lowest Leveled individual on the scene, he didn't sense any contempt from the big man. The giant kept his focus on all four of them in equal measure. This didn't cause Reivyn's ego to get a boost or make him feel flattered, though. It made him feel dread. This was a man who wasn't going to fall victim to complacency.

They were going to have to defeat him with real ability.

The giant man didn't wait for Reivyn and his allies to make the first move. The link between him and the blood he had summoned had mostly been severed, but mostly wasn't entirely. The initial orb from within himself was still floating behind him, and it was still connected with a large amount of blood swirling around it.

The giant slashed out with his weapon in a large, 180-degree arc. It started from Refix, traveled up and around in front of Xudrid and Vyria, and ended slashing across Reivyn. If he had just randomly been swinging the weapon in his hand, one might assume he was just showing off bravado, but a giant manifestation of his weapon created from the blood formed behind him and mimicked the trajectory of the swing.

Reivyn's Danger Sense warned him not to try and block the humongous blood-weapon bearing down on him, and he sacrificed some of his remaining Mana to empower himself with the Traveler Affinity. Instead of leaping backward completely out of range of the weapon, he dashed forward to get under the staff portion.

The deadliest affect of the Skill the giant man displayed was the perfect synchronization between the blood manifestation and the weapon held in his hand. It perfectly mimicked not only the trajectory, but the speed. There was a huge difference between a seven-foot pole making a 180-degree arc and a seventy-foot pole doing the same.

The blood-formed spiked ball continued swinging after the completion of the strike and collided with the building Reivyn had been standing near. The building disintegrated from the impact. A huge sound accompanied a large shockwave and plume of dust and debris from the collision.

Each of the four people confronting the giant man had mad the same judgement. Refix had dashed forward before the giant had even fully started his swing. Xudrid and Vyria had calmly walked through the air like there were steps and alighted on the ground, well under the strike range of the blood manifestation.

The blood manifestation dissolved after the strike, but the blood was still there. The giant man once more separated his weapons into two as Reivyn and the others descended on him, and the blood swirled around as a tornado surrounding the giant at the epicenter.

"AAAAaaahhhhh!" The giant man threw his head back and bellowed.

Half of the blood was absorbed into his body, and not only the skin underneath, but the armor he was wearing took on a deep maroon coloration. The metal encapsulating his body took on a gruesome luster. The other half of the blood split up and mimicked Refix's ability to summon an ethereal arsenal, though all of them were copies of the two staves with spiked balls and chains.

Reivyn continued to dash forward with his Traveler-enhanced steps, and he quickly arrived within the maelstrom of bloody weapons before the giant recovered his fighting stance. Reivyn sacrificed another portion of his Mana as he dismissed the Traveler Affinity and instead infused his weapon with Mass.

He didn't have enough Mana to use a complicated combination of Affinities to attempt to bypass the man's armor. If he was completely fresh, he was sure he could infuse a multitude of properties to nullify the defense of the man's armor. He had caught a glimpse of the fight between his father an the giant man, and he knew that attacks that impacted through the armor was the best method, and Mass was the most appropriate Affinity for him to use to achieve the desired result.

The giant man showed a bit of surprise in his eyes through the manic grin on his face at Reivyn practically teleporting to his side through the maelstrom, but it quickly slid off his face as he wasn't worried about the attack levied at him.

The look of surprise returned, however, as soon as the sword made contact with his side. Reivyn once more fully utilized his body weight and momentum from the Traveler steps behind his swing, and the giant man grunted in pain as his body contorted into a "C" shape from the blow. His feet left the ground, and he was shot through the air toward Refix.

The bloody weapons didn't follow along with the giant getting propelled away, though, and they immediately descended on Reivyn. Reivyn had plenty of experience fending off his father's ethereal arsenal, though, and he quickly dismissed the Mass Affinity to dance, dodge, and parry the incoming strikes from all around.

It wasn't a perfect defense, though. The blood-weapons were empowered by the Stats and Skills of a high-Tier 5 Classer. Without being able to fully use his Mana to empower himself in order to maintain a reserve for strategic use, there was no way Reivyn was able to avoid all the blows.

His own armor and Stats, coupled with his Skills to prevent any blows landing on vital points, protected himself enough that it was more painful and annoying than dangerous. If the battle lasted for an extended amount of time, the damage accumulated could eventually wear him down, but Reivyn suspected they wouldn't be here that long.

To confirm his suspicion, Refix took advantage of the giant flying through the air toward him, and he expertly thrust with his sword, connecting with the top of the giant's helmeted head. It sounded like a bell was rung when the sword made contact, and Reivyn knew his father had used his ability to change the nature of his weapon's attack to land a solid bludgeon blow to the giant's head. Reivyn could see the minute vibrations in the metal from where the force traveled through the metal to impact the man's skull beneath with his Divine Sense.

A golden light shot up to the heavens as another Qi-empowered sword slashed quickly followed behind the devastating blow. Reivyn was surprised to see that the Qi completely bypassed the armor of the man, and he could see a wound appear on the man's body from his left shoulder to his left hip in a vertical line.

The new wound wasn't deep, but it wasn't superficial, either. Blood seeped out of the wound, but instead of dripping down inside the man's armor, it traveled across his body to merge with the rest of the blood covering his body. The wound didn't heal, but the new layer of blood covering the man immediately re-sealed the large scar, and the bleeding stopped almost as soon as it had started.

The giant finally stopped flying through the air, and in a surprising display of agility, he turned the crash into a graceful tumble, coming to his feet as if nothing had happened to him. He bellowed with bloodlust as he once more launched into a whirlwind of strikes upon Refix.

The giant's speed was noticeably faster. The blows he landed contained much more power behind them, and even Reivyn could feel the increase in pressure from the blood-weapons assaulting him. Their power was directly tied to the giant man, and as he increased in power, so too did his weapon manifestations.

Vyria once more summoned a golden beam of sword Qi, but the giant man, now that he was on his feet, easily dodged the long-range strike. A scar from the Qi-strike formed on the street where is slashed into the ground, but the giant man was completely unfazed.

Vyria frowned at the missed attack, and she charged forward to engage the man in melee combat alongside Refix. She pulled up short, though, as more blood-weapons formed and descended upon her. She easily dodged and parried the attacks, but her momentum toward the giant man halted. Her lips drew into a line of annoyance.

Both Reivyn and Vyria were completely preoccupied with the fending off the barrage of strikes from the unpredictable weapons, though they were still able to slowly advance their position closer and closer to the giant man.

Reivyn didn't know what kind of movement Skills other than being able to walk through the air Vyria and Xudrid possessed, but he was biding his time for when he could once more empower himself with the Traveler Affinity. He had to get the timing just right. Moving too soon and he would lose the element of surprise by virtue of simply having too far to travel. Moving too late could cost him an opportunity for a well-placed strike.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The giant man laughed maniacally. He was enjoying the conflict.

"You seem to have forgotten about me," Xudrid's voice carried over the battlefield.

The giant man didn't make the rookie mistake of pausing his attacks on Refix to look at the source of the voice, but Reivyn could tell that the man's attention slightly shifted toward the other Cultivator.

Xudrid raised his hand and pointed at the giant man. Reivyn, like before, didn't feel the accumulation of Qi or Mana, but he definitely felt the effects of whatever maneuver the Cultivator performed.

He wasn't personally affected, but he could feel a great weight descend over the battlefield. The blood-weapons crashed to the ground causing hundreds of small cracks in the paved street where the landed. Reivyn and Vyria immediately took the opportunity to dash past the fallen weapons and converged on the giant man.

The effect on the giant was even more pronounced. His body sunk a solid three feet down as a large crater formed from the increased weight bearing down on the man. He couldn't maintain his feet, and he collapsed to a knee. His knee impacting the ground caused another small crater within the first, and a tremor ran through the ground from the two impacts in quick succession.

The giant's body tried to collapse further to the ground, but he mustered his strength and willpower to fight against it. He slowly lifted his head to look up at Refix, Reivyn, and Vyria as the three surrounded him, completely unaffected by the increased gravity.

His bloody grin was still on his face, and his eyes shown with excitement rather than fear.

"It was fun," he said.

Three swords moved at lightning speed and pierced through the miniscule space between the giant's helmet and armor. The three swords ran through the giant's neck, causing devastating damage. The man fiercely glared at the three for another two full seconds before his body went limp and collapsed to the ground.

All the blood that the man had controlled was released, and the color of his skin and armor returned to normal as the blood joined the rest covering the ground. Reivyn, Refix, and Vyria all slumped slightly in relief as the giant died and shared a look between each other.

Reivyn opened his mouth to say something, but movement at the edge of his Divine Sense caught his attention. Five people dressed exactly the same as the giant, though normal in stature, stepped into the range of his Skill. His eyes grew wide and he changed what he was going to say.

"Run!" He yelled.

Refix and Vyria didn't wait to clarify what he meant. They had seen the change in expression on his face, and they knew he had supernatural perception. Vyria quickly dashed toward Xudrid, and the two of them sprinted through the air to the top of the wall. Refix and Reivyn ran to where there were still ropes dangling from the top of the wall, and they practically ran vertically up the wall with their Stats and Skills.

The four glanced behind themselves as they reached the top of the wall. Refix quickly severed the reaming ropes as they looked to see what had spooked Reivyn.

Five people in gleaming plate mail armor adorned in spikes, horned helmets, and metallic tabards stepped into the open ground. They glanced at the giant man lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of a crater before shifting their attention to the top of the wall.

Reivyn and the others didn't stick around to find out how they would respond, and they hopped off the other side of the wall. Xudrid and Vyria gracefully walked through the air, but Reivyn and Refix dropped like rocks. They used their superior Stats to absorb the impact of the fall, though, and the four quickly sprinted away from the city toward the secondary defenses in the hills nearby.

---

"He got what he always wanted," Royrik said, looking down at their giant companion. "A glorious death from a glorious battle. Too bad it wasn't a one-on-one match."

"He never cared for such things," Lorily, the only woman among the six - now five - remarked. "He wouldn't have cared if it had been him verse a thousand. He might have even thought it was a better fight."

"True," Ulvid said. "All that matters is that he died in service to the lord. His soul has been collected, and paradise awaits."

"Is paradise really paradise for a battle maniac like Sverid?" Kulman snorted. "He might find it incredibly boring."

The fifth companion remained silent as he stared after the four who fled.

"Do we know which Sect those two Cultivators are from?" Royrik asked.

"Not yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to find out," Lorily answered.

"They appeared to be two youths on their Life Experience expedition," Ulvid said.

"A gravity sorceror and one with a Sword Soul," Kulman added.

"We'll have someone back home make some inquiries, and once they find out where they're from, we'll be sure to make contact," Royrik said. "Competition with the Cultivators is usually encouraged, but a diplomatic crises from killing such talented individuals isn't something we need on our hands right now."

"From the evidence, it looks like they're not intending on interfering with the war efforts overall," Lorily said. "They look like they're members of that mercenary company led by the anomalies. They probably just didn't want their own experience interfered with."

"Speaking of, I didn't see the Space/Time Mage with them," Ulvid said. "Do we have any word from the spies on her whereabouts?"

"The deep plants were all exposed in this city and killed," Kulman answered. "Only Ytorik survived, and he's in the infirmary. He lost more than half his Health against Captain Reivyn, and most of it was from one attack. You know what that does to a person's recovery ability."

The fifth companion turned around and began walking back the way they had come. The other four all shared a look before falling in behind him.

"We'll get the answer soon," Royrik said. "I'm sure Ytorik is already compiling a report for the commander."

"He better word his report carefully," Lorily chuckled. "He's in trouble for letting Reivyn and the Prince get away so easily."

"In his defense, who would have known he had the ability to get around the Supreme Ropes of Binding?" Ulvid asked. "Even we wouldn't be able to do much against them."

"He must have gotten lucky," Kulman snorted. "None of the intelligence suggested he had that ability, and we dug pretty deep."

"Not deep enough, obviously," Royrik retorted. "We still haven't gotten word back on his exploits from Wispan, only that he's from there."

"We should have that information, soon," Lorily said. "And when we do, we'll be able to counter him and bring him into the fold. I'm pretty interested in that Vice Captain, too. He hadn't stood out until now, but he showed some strong fighting abilities."

"Did anyone else notice the similarities between Reivyn and his Vice Captain?" Ulvid asked. "They could be brothers."

"Or father and son," Kulman said. "We might be able to make use of their relationship. Catch one, get one free, eh?" The other three chuckled.

The four continued to chat as they followed their silent fifth companion back through the ranks of soldiers coursing through the city. They hadn't achieved complete victory as they had hoped, but it was a decent start to the campaign. The locals only had so far they could go before they were cornered and rounded up.