Thea lets out a groan, her body flaring with pain, mostly her stomach as it feels like she wants to puke.
She could hear the incoming sound of the powerful bat, wings flapping ready to destroy its surrounding and feed on its prey, Thea. A delicious meal for the Usurper Calamity.
Groaning, she push her body up, propping herself on her hands and knee, hand clutching on the sword as she looks up and see the approaching missile.
This truly was out of her league.
'Why is this reminding me of dad… wait, wasn't what he did would be considered abuse?'
Thea mused to herself, grinning as she stands on her feet, entering a stance as she inhale deeply and exhale, steadying her irregular breathing rhythm.
Raising up her sword, she watch with intense focus, taking into consideration of her two other friends that is close to their fight.
Well, not exactly a fight, maybe a one-sided beat down with Thea having a slight chance to counter but is fast enough to defend against the Usurper.
Luckily, her speed manage to keep up with the bat who seem to be powerful in the regard of speed and sensitivity.
With that, she keeps the stream of mana coursing through her body inside the mana veins she had forged.
The bat crashes through the building, wings spread wide as its feet tries to grab onto Thea, but Thea quickly dodge the sharp powerful feet that leaves scars on the floor.
Thea quickly counter-attacks, moving instantly with a blur of lightning as she slash at the feet.
Her sword meets it target, but unfortunately…
A loud dull ring echoes, her arm gets thrown back, yanked away as the sword in her hand turns slightly red from the heat.
Thea's eyes widen, she could see the part where she had slashed glowing bright, a defensive measure from the [Lightbringer] as it quickly follows up with a fist.
Unable to react properly, Thea could only watch as the fist blur towards her face. She could only bring her arms up in front of her face slower than the fist could come down.
But, the trajectory of the fist suddenly change slightly, just past her head. Sadly it doesn't stop there, the wing on its arm still falls down onto her.
Luckily, the arm that Thea had desperately put up in front of her face blocks the blow.
The gauntlet of her armor takes the force of the blow, and a loud boom echoes as she is struck down to the ground by the blow.
Thea coughs out blood, head ringing in pain as the light creeps in her vision. Her head feels a bit lightheaded.
Meanwhile, as the trajectory of the fist struck the ground instead, the bat is alarmed by the slight presence it feels, the presence that is aiming for its life.
It could feel a slight pull towards the side, before a glint of silver flashes from the corner of its eye.
Steel meets flesh and nerves.
Luna moves quick, stabbing her rapier towards the elbow of the [Lightbringer], blood spurting out slightly.
She had strengthened herself with mana and [Relativity] to attract herself to the humongous bat, which led to her going fast, faster than her limits if she doesn't have her Rune.
The bat lets out a screech, feeling the slight pain on its elbow, blood spurting as it lets out a screech, before blasting a small wave of heat that slams Thea even deeper to the ground.
Thea cough, growling in pain, sure she was trained to be resistant to heat due to her second Rune involving fire, but the heat wave was powerful.
It feels as if she is standing near an active volcano that just erupted and the ashes is throwing her around like a ragdoll.
Luna's instincts flared as she repels herself from the bat, dragging herself through gravity.
Anna had informed of her of the weak spots of the [Lightbringer], which are their elbows.
Once incapacitated, it would make the Usurper harder to fly, crippling it of the ability to move fast.
"Ladyboss! Target its elbows!"
Anna shouts, with Thea groaning.
"Okay..! A little help here!"
Thea groans as she clad herself in lightning, narrowly dodging a foot that almost crushed onto her as she rolls and throws her body away.
A drool of blood escapes her lips, Thea wipes the blood away with her thumb, her legs coiling, her muscles tensing as she circles around the bat.
The bat shoots out shoots out short beams of light that leaves a hole of fire in their wake, Thea narrowly dodges to the side each time the beam came close.
Each time she dodge, she closes in to damage the feet, each slashes faster than before.
Her mind reels as she takes in the environment, making sure to not slip against something or crash against something.
Her blade and form blurs, striking and annoying the bat as it lets out a shriek and spread its wings, flapping it with power.
Thea skids back, rolling on the floor uncontrollably before slamming against a wall.
Thea groans, before her eyes flare wide open, feeling the enormous mana pressing down on her, the dense mana coiling around the bat as if ready to explode… akin to Sirius' explosion.
"Sh-"
Thea looks at Luna and Anna, the wings on the bat glowing light as the heat around the bat heighten.
"RUN!"
Her words are cut short as beams of light explode, beams all around its wings as it slightly curl them. The range of the attack covers the whole area, a 360 degree attack.
Thea's body blur, her muscles screaming as she pours every mana she has in her Soul towards the mana veins.
Lightning scour through her body, empowering her muscles, nerves, and reflexes as she blitz towards Luna and Anna. She grabs the both of them and yanks them away from the building, narrowly missing the burning light.
Thea could feel her body groaning in pain, screaming at her for her reckless usage of her body.
Her eyes couldn't even keep up with her speed as she blitz through the bat and reached Luna and Anna before dragging them away.
All she felt was the breeze of cutting through the wind and blasting through another building while cushioning the force for Luna and Anna.
A loud boom echoes, a crash ensues as Thea coughs up blood. Luna and Anna in her cradle as she protects them.
"Thea!"
The both of them shout, only now registering what happened.
***
Loud piercing beams echo throughout the street, alarming Sirius as he looks at Yuki and nods, he knows about Yuki's Rune, and that he would be more advantageous if he is left alone.
So, with that thought in his mind, Sirius dashes towards Thea's direction, where the loud noise came from.
'Please be okay..!'
A thought flash to himself, as he fasten his pace.
Yuki, now alone with Chad behind him and an encased Sol and Adam, lets out a breath as he close his eyes.
The coldness starts to slowly picks up, the ground underneath him freezing slightly.
The bats, though have thinned from the amount it was at the beginning still pose as a threat as a swarm of murderous small fast creatures with beams that can easily leave a burn on one even if they are of the Evoker class.
So, with that in mind, Yuki opens his eyes. The atmosphere seemingly froze, Yuki's breath visible on the air as he moves.
His katana gleam under the sunlight as it cleaves one life after another. The blood freezing on each of the bats' body.
The bats could only watch as the blade sever their neck, ending their lives before they could counter.
Their limbs feel impossibly heavy, as if stuck between two boulders. Their eyes remain stuck, not able to even look around.
Yuki stabs at the Soul right after beheading them, instantly absorbing the Soul as Thea had taught him how.
It was truly a game changer that allows one to slowly grow stronger with each kill.
Though, it wasn't the perfect method.
The amount of quantity and the quality it absorbed when one struck their weapon to the Soul and absorb through their weapon is reduced than when one normally takes a Soul out of a Calamity and absorb it in their hands.
Not only that, long range weapons doesn't work, as Anna had tried it with the guidance of Thea.
But still, it's better than nothing.
Yuki could feel the mana in his Soul draining considerably. While this is a powerful Rune ability, it not only takes a huge portion of his mana, it takes control too.
The only reason he is not freezing, his body stopping as if time stopped, is because he is controlling the ability to not freeze him and his movements.
He has yet to learn to control it to be able to differentiate between allies and enemies, thus, he never used it when he is with the others.
It didn't take long for Yuki to kill the bats, after all, that ability was basically his ultimate if he's a game character.
Deactivating his Rune, Yuki lets out a sigh. He looks at the direction of where Sirius had moved.
Yuki walks up to Chad, standing still with the shield raised up.
"Chad. Let's move, keep guard of Adam and Sol."
Yuki barks, Chad meanwhile looks at the massacre Yuki had left behind and nods, unsummoning the igloo of rock that shielded Adam and Sol away from harm.
Yuki looks at Adam.
"We're safe right? No Calamity sneaking at us?"
Adam shakes his head, looking at his mind's map as he walks up to Yuki.
"No, but we need to move, I think the gorilla and the minotaur is slowly moving over this way."
Yuki frowns upon hearing the news.
"That's bad. Let's go then, quick!"
Yuki shouts with impatience and concern, quickly sprinting, taking the lead while Chad runs behind Sol and Adam.
But then… just a few steps in as they get closer to the direction of Thea and the others, a shadow blinds the sunlight from their path and Adam's alarm bells ring as he looks up with horror.
"You've got to be kidding me..!"