Blood sprayed across the foliage as my blades sliced across the mages belly, releasing my light blue Death Echo as a massive surge of mana rushed into my resource pool.
"Down!" Cassi hollered, bending my knee and dropping low in response. Cassi's larger frame flashed in my periphery before rolling over my back, landing a brutal kick to the flanking warrior's head creating a heavy hollow thunk. Ripple Striding into a separate group fight, my brain buzzed with focus sliding under the wild swinging axe of one fighter and slicing through the second fighter's planting foot at the ankle using Flow Sever. The axe-wielder's body swayed forward, earning a twisting elbow to the skull. An uncharged Lightning Strike with the same arm jolted my blade straight through the prone fighter's back while he shakily attempted rolling away gripping at where his foot once was.
Stretching my chains taut, the axe wielder's swiping blade just barely missed nesting its handle within the chain. Yanking up and slamming another elbow into his jaw, I let go of one blade entirely landing a Lightning Strike punch. The impact whipped the man's head violently before Cassi glided by on her wavy movement skill, spinning and slamming the end of her bo staff into his skull. The wet crunch was plenty of an indication to change targets, turning and quickly scanning the battle-tattered forest. Yet, after quite honestly an unknown but certainly extended time crashing group fights and slaughtering every side that wasn't named Cassi or Korbin, it was off-putting to find next to nobody in sight.
*BOOM*
"Hahahah, come ON, how does it never get old?!" Korbin gleefully exclaimed over his own carnage, tossing explosive fireballs while stabbing a stone pike through the neck of a fleeing archer. I started jogging over to join in the fight, until Cassi glided right past me along that unending wave of a skill that is. Seeing as there were no more than a dozen fighters in sight over there, I couldn't imagine my efforts were all that necessary. Instead, I decided to slow my approach to a brisk walk while finally checking in with the event live feed.
[ KILL & BE KILLED ] - Final Event (LIVE)
Remaining Participants: 3
Titan's Path: East (16,173.5 m)
Eliminations: 2,089
Time Until Catastrophic Tectonic Shift: 0:49:51
Woah…wait…
"-but seriously, can't we afford one break at the last stretch? At least to bask in all this glory-filled carnage together?!" Korbin whined at Cassi, who buried her head into her hand letting out a long sigh. I glanced over at her, then back at Korbin as the corpse dangling from his hand disappeared.
That was the last one…so then…
"Korbin, the sooner we get this over wit-" Cassi froze, her eyes popping up over her hand at Korbin, then over to me.
"Meh, meh meh meh meh! That's you, That's what you sound like. As if we haven't earned a moment to-" Korbin continued passionately rambling on, leaning in closer to Cassi. She glanced over at me just one more time with wide eyes, swiping her eyes back at him hopefully in mutual agreement.
"-best means you get the best rest, it's really a simple concept here people." Korbin finished, as Lightning crackled around my lunging arm aiming for my distracted friend's back. As if with eyes of their own, his arms spun his axe around his spine perfectly parrying my blade off center. His open hand raised in front of my bare cheek as I stumbled past, orange heat immediately consuming my vision. Luckily Cassi snatched and wrenched Korbin's wrist before his fireball could burn a hole through my skull, launching the burning orb wildly into the sky. Korbin managed to rip his hand free, parrying my spinning heel kick in the same motion and smashing a summoned stone polearm into Cassi's calf and sweeping her off her feet.
"Mutiny? I'm almost proud of your hubris." Korbin snickered at Cassi, ducking under my swiping blade and pushing off my shoulder mid-speech. Cassi kipped up to her feet at my side as I staggered to keep my balance, meanwhile Korbin continued backpedaling with a fireball growing at his palm.
"Keep him moving!" Cassi hollered as she glided by on her wave, taking a wide approach toward Korbin. Slapping my blades together, a jagged Lightning Bolt screeched past Korbin's twisting body as he tossed his fireball in Cassi's path. Cassi's wave cut hard, weaving around the explosion as I sprinted in to close the gap with Korbin myself. Another fireball built up in one hand as he swung his battle ax around parrying Cassi's leaping strike with the other. Before my blades could slap together to hit him while he was busy, the fireball arched over his shoulder hurtling down into my path. Ripple Stride barely pulled me out of its blast radius as I dashed horizontally, obscuring my view of Cassi and Korbin in flames.
Turning the corner, my eyes lit up, finding yet another ball of flames descending down from above, forcing me to Ripple Stride straight ahead to beat out its fall. A rush of blistering heat wafted against my back as I shuffled under the fireball, popping out still over 20 meters away from Korbin and Cassi's battle constantly moving further away. Feeling frustration knocking, my eyes locked just above them both scanning for any signs of more ranged attacks while sprinting ahead. Korbin's burning battle axe clashed with the water orbs dancing around Cassi's staff in my lower periphery, as both shuffled and twisted their angles trading blows and parries. Seeing Korbin now fully preoccupied with keeping Cassi's relentless strikes and ducking grapple attempts at bay, I decided not to let a Lightning Bolt give away my approach this time.
My eyes lit up seeing Cassi snatch Korbin's elbow, twisting his back to me while he firmly blocked her follow up kick attempt with his knee. Water mana sprayed from my boots as Ripple Stride propelled me forward, closing the distance to near striking distance. My arm lifted back, preparing to pierce through Korbin's neck as he landed a brutal pommel strike to Cassi's face. Then a terribly sharp pain screamed from my knee as I felt a tight pressure wrapped around my ankle, halting all my momentum. Peering back down at my foot, a burning hand reaching out of a glowing orange symbol clutched on my leg with an insanely tight grip.
Fucking REALLY?!
Swiping and slashing at the burning hand, my blades harmless passed through doing more damage to my own leg. Glancing back to check on Cassi and Korbin, my blade barely flicked up in time to smack away the stone spear flying toward my face. The stone shattered in impact, spraying the jagged shrapnel across my face. My face ran flush with anger at being blitzed with such bullshit abilities, channeling that frustration into my blade hilts sending a surge of lightning mana through my body.
*pop*
My body suddenly jolted forward as my foot ripped free, glancing back through my stumble to find the glowing hand was nowhere in sight. Leaning into a sprint, my balance returned sprinting after Cassi and Korbin once more. By the looks of things Korbin managed to make some space between them, though Cassi was smacking away hurtling stone weapons while weaving around a fiery torrent flying from Korbin's open palm. Digging her staff into the soil, Cassi vaulted over Korbin as he slammed a fireball down at relatively close range, narrowly missing as Korbin leaned away from her twisting kick. I couldn't help but recognize Korbin's posture as she landed, almost instinctively leaping up and slapping a Lightning Bolt his way. Korbin' revealed a long, sharp stone spear my bolt shattered before it could pierce Cassi's ribcage.
Cassi's hands planted into the ground, her legs locking around Korbin's knees knocking him over. Korbin continued rolling back before they both kipped up to their feet and began trading blows. Excitement welled as I finally closed the distance back within less than 10 meters, when Korbin managed to land a stiff front kick knocking Cassi back. Pointing his axe up to the sky, a stream of orange energy poured and spread out creating his creepy-ass trapping dome.
Unwilling to risk touching anything he casted, I slid under Korbin's descending dome. Even if it's meant to keep people from escaping, it's not like Korbin's nev-
*TSSS*
My head jerked up at the sound, watching as Korbin's orange wall burned through the foliage like a laser. I turned back to face Korbin, who stood beside his axe glancing between Cassi and myself.
"That's a terrifying new trick." I admitted, kipping up to my feet.
"New to you, maybe." Korbin snidely corrected. Cassi bent her head from side to side, cracking her neck as loudly as crunching into a freshly-opened candy cane.
"New enough to lack your usual debuffs too. This was a real risk to you, wasn't it?" Cassi shot back through a devious smirk only Korbin's could rival.
"I'd say teaching either of you how to fight was the first risk, wasn't it? One might argue it was a sacrifice of my own well-being."
"Quite the convenient time to be pulling the 'sensei' card." Cassi replied as I strolled up a few steps beside her. Korbin grinned with a narrowed gaze in response, locking eyes with me and holding out his axe sideways. The steady stream of mana pouring from the top flickered out, as did the dome that colored the outside world an orange hue.
"Ain't it? Especially since there's only one other that counters it-" Korbin snickered, staring me unblinkingly in the eye as he dropped his axe onto the soil.
"-'honor'." Korbin finished, his words unleashing a rush of frustration, confusion, and oddly amusement all spiraling through my gut. Of course it wasn't any more a question than it's ever been, as I tossed my twin blades to the side. Cassi's shoulders drooped down loosely, looking over at me disappointedly.
"Seriously? You two are fuckin' ridiculous." Cassi said with an exasperated sigh, before turning and launching her Bo staff into the woods like a javelin. Korbin began clapping in support, like a fan watching a highlight occur.
"YEAH, now we're talking. Why not prove you two aren't just using more sharp things than me." Korbin sarcastically cheered on with a chuckle.
"I use a big stick." Cassi replied in a deadpan.
"Haven't we all?" Korbin wittily replied. Without another word, Cassi shot me a nod and summoned a long wave under her boots, gliding straight toward Korbin. Ripple Striding behind her in an 'X' formation, Korbin's boot pressed inside Cassi's knee while she attempted to throw her own kick, pushing her hip down nearly causing her to crumble forward. My feet shuffled passed Korbin letting loose a quick jab that he slapped away. Leaning with the momentum of his parry, my rear hand rose in position for another punch. Korbin's forearm angled to block it again, nearly swiping my fist away before my own second hand activating Flow Inverse. My upper body tiled hard with the reversed Flow, helping my jab-fist snake around Korbin's guard and blasting into his jaw.
*POP*
Korbin spun with the punch's momentum on one foot, swinging around and smashing his heel against my ear. It took every ounce of focus to see through my blurred vision and ignore the incessant ringing, weaving my head around his straight punch and shuffling out of his following head-kicks range. Korbin began to give chase before abruptly stopping on a dime and twisting around Cassi's leaping front kick attempt. His arms lit up with orange flames as he threw a hooking punch. Cassi's watery orb washed across her forearm as she parried his attack, leaving a small, fleeting cloud of steam. Korbin smoothly rolled his hand over Cassi's, piercing her guard and landing a sharp elbow across her cheek. Cassi's head whipped to the side in response as Korbin readied a snapping kick toward her jaw.
Sliding around Cassi, my hand planted into the dirt swinging my boot up and smacking against Korbin's while activating Flow Inverse. The momentum jolted his hips backward awkwardly, though Korbin managed to keep his base strong enough to throw a three punch combination. My head buzzed with a laser focus slipping around the first two burning punches before raising a guard arm to cut off the third. Korbin's fist froze at his side however, as he quickly twisted and slammed his opposite fist flush against my ribcage. Gritting my teeth and shuffling diagonally from his next punch, leaning and smacking a quick kick across Korbin's cheek. His head twisted, yet his hands remained in perfect position keeping me from capitalizing on the hit. Immediately, his fiery fist flew forward as if predicting I'd press ahead as lightning mana crackled around my shoulder for a counter Lightning Strike.
*SMACK*
Cassi ripped a powerful, watery punch to Korbin's gut, doubling him over as my Lightning Strike shrieked just over his head, yanking my momentum past them both. Sliding on my knees, I twisted around and popped up to my feet, aiming a body kick at Korbin with his back turned to me. As if with a second set of eyes, Korbin spun back and slapped away my foot while throwing an elbow at Cassi in one fluid motion. I showed a follow up punch which got Korbin's hand in position as I landed a heel kick to his calf. Korbin let out a pained grunt, yet still managed to bounce the same leg up kicking Cassi in the chest. His foot bounced off her armored plate, launching his heel back toward my weaving chin. Flow Striking the side of his knee as I shuffled up to his outside shoulder, my hands whistling landing two hooking punches to his belly and temple. Cassi snatched Korbin by the neck as I pressed forward, readying a Lightning Strike when I felt firm, burning pressure around my ankle.
*THUNK*
With a violent jerking motion, Korbin's body rocked back pressing against Cassi then hunched down hard toward the floor, slinging her over his shoulder headfirst into the ground. The thud shook the ground, enough for me to question if she could survive that impact. Sufficiently annoyed by Korbin's damn traps, lightning mana surged throughout my body freeing my foot from his glowing hand ejecting from the ground. Korbin shuffled back from both Cassi and I, holding his burning hands up at the ready, staring wide-eyed and beaming a bloody, toothy grin.
"Has anyone…told you two that you're-..a terrible fuckin' team?" Korbin jeered through heavy breaths, sweat glistening on his face. Looking over, Cassi remained laying motionless where Korbin slammed her skull. Yet her back continually rose and fell indicating she was indeed still breathing.
"Easy there old-timer, don't want to see you spit up a lung." I countered with my own devious grin. Korbin's smile dropped abruptly, his eyes narrowing into focus.
"I'm younger than you." Korbin pointed out.
"Act like it." I shot back. Korbin's head tilted, his eyes igniting with a passion I'd only pulled out of him a select few occasions. The most notable and recent having been at the Placement Tournament.
"It's always so terribly disappointing seeing another student succumb to their arrogance-" Korbin said with a sneer, as the orange flames consuming his arms slowly spread across his entire body. The subtle orange rippling flames that had constantly surrounded Korbin expanded and intensified, wafting a blazing heat from the ground. He'd used this exact boosting skill a number of times, which is probably what made the cracked, curving rock horns erected from his forehead spewing out orange flames that made Korbin's fire-sunken eyes genuinely unnerving.
"Come, and earn some of that pride."