The fight that followed was short but brutal.
Nathan, Natasha, Lucas, and Patrick sat this one out, which meant Lenny, Alicia and Marcus alone had to deal with over twenty armed and trained combatants.
These new enemies were far stronger than the ones they had faced before, as their skills had been honed to high levels.
Yet...
A tornado storm swallowed four of them at once shredding them to bits and pieces. Alicia was dogging them like it was no big deal.
One of them, a beastman visible under his hood, attacked from behind her, lunging his spear at her.
She nimbly spun aside, the beastman's spear slicing through the air where her heart had been a moment ago.
The wind whipped around her as she landed lightly, one knee bent, her fan snapping open with a sharp clack.
Alicia smiled, a slow, cruel curve of her lips. "You should've stayed hidden, mutt."
The beastman snarled, muscles bulging as he lunged again, his movements quick and feral. His spear thrusts came in a blur, each one aimed to pierce, to kill.
Alicia deflected them lazily, her fan moving with elegant precision, redirecting each strike as gusts of slicing wind howled from her counter-swings.
Sparks of lightning danced along her fingers, leaping to the metal edges of her fan.
He roared and swung his spear in a wide arc. Alicia ducked under it, twisting her fan backward in a graceful flourish before flicking it upward.
Snap!
Sending a crescent of compressed wind that carved a deep gash across his chest. The beastman staggered, his breath hitching, but his fury didn't fade.
"Persistent," she mused, stepping closer. "Let's see how long that lasts."
She raised her hand, lightning gathering in swirling rings above her. The ground crackled, the air thick with ozone. The beastman charged at her one last time.
'Too slow.' Alicia's eyes gleamed. "Disappear."
A column of lightning and wind crashed down, enveloping him in a blinding vortex.
His screams were lost beneath the thunder as his body was torn apart, flesh shredded, bones disintegrating in the violent storm she commanded.
When the winds died, only ashes scattered in the air. Alicia snapped her fan shut, letting out a satisfied sigh.
"So much noise for so little fun," she said softly, her tone almost disappointed, though the faint smile on her lips betrayed her enjoyment.
She then turned to the other hooded figures who shrunk back from her, their legs trembling in fear.
"*Whistle*" Lenny who saw what she did, couldn't help but be impressed at her handiwork.
Clang!
He casually blocked a sword strike, he glanced at Alicia a brief moment before turning his head to his current opponent.
It was a human. He had short black hair and a tattoo on his neck.
"Dude. Don't be such a buzz kill." Lenny said, a disinterested look on his face then–
BOOM!
Lenny kicked the man in the stomach with so much force he spat out blood with tiny bone particles mixed in as he was launched backward.
Two figures lunged at him from behind, but in a smooth motion, he sliced them in half.
BOOM!!
A giant cleaver blade landed on Lenny. Or so the assailant thought. This one unlike the rest of them, was taller and had a much larger physique than the others.
A full power strike from such a man and yet, Lenny caught it with one hand. "Well, well." He muttered, a calm smile on his face.
"What do we have he–?"
Spurt!
His words were cut short by a spike of ice bursting out from the ground, impaling the man, killing him instantly.
Lenny, shock all over his face, turned to face a direction. Elizabeth. Her eyes showed clear apathy to Lenny's situation.
She then spoke in a quite loud voice, "Hurry up and get this over with."
Crackle!
Lightning blasts launched everywhere on the battlefield killing countless hooded figures.
"She's right Lenny." Marcus, the one who launched the lightning blasts every where said as he landed softly.
"Oh shut up." Lenny said, as he drew his other katana in his left hand and split three fantasians in half causing their blood to spray outward.
In a matter of minutes, the incredibly skilled fantasian group that killed even the instructors in the compound, had met their end.
And they did so with hardly any resistance. As for the griffins, Elizabeth had killed them all shortly after the fight had begun, and their corpses were now encased in ice.
*********
Watching from nearby, Hindel clicked his tongue as he blocked another weapon sending sparks in the air.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'Having fought them I knew they were strong, but to think they easily overpowered an elite group like the phantoms. Monsters, the lot of them.' He thought.
"You sure you should be lost in thoughts right now." Theodore called out, suddenly in front of Hindel.
He spun and landed a heavy kick which Hindel barely blocked by crossing both arms in front of him.
The force of the kick however, still sent him flying through trees.
BOOOM!!
Smoke filled the place from the crash, but Theodore just walked calmly through it, his smile ever present on his face.
"Now then, I guess that's about all you as a lesser has to off–"
His words were interrupted as a bright light came from the spot Hindel crashed.
"Radius Lucis."
Whooomm!!!
BOOOMMM!!!
A ray of light shot out followed by a massive explosion that destroyed everything in sight.
"Haa. Haa." Hindel breathed heavily. "That... should've... killed... him... at least." He spoke through heavy breathing.
"You fucking lesser."
A familiar voice spoke out, sending chills down Hindel's spine.
He raised his head to the direction of the voice and his eyes widened in shock.
Theodore floating in the sky, as his nano-fiber suit repaired itself.
There was blood dripping down the side of his head as well.
"That almost took my head off." He raised as he raised both hands in the sky and the ground began to shake.
Then, terrifyingly large cracks began forming in the ground and then the ground began lifting up high into the sky.
Soon a five mile wide boulder had been raised into the sky.
"Impossible." Hindel muttered.
"Impossible." Nathan, who had narrowly escaped Hindel's magic, with Natasha in tow, and were currently in the sky, muttered the same thing as well.
"This is the power of a first-year academy student?" Hindel asked, to no one in general though as he simply stared at the boulder in great shock.
"No. This is the power of the heir of the Hunt family. Bask in my glory, and die." Theodore declared as he hurled the boulder at high speeds toward Hindel.
And a resounding...
BBBOOOOMMMM!!!