Chapter 3

The Ninja swings his mighty sword but Steve cartwheels to dodge it, but barely. It swings his sword sideways after the miss but Steve strikes at the gigantic sword with his silver dagger. Both blows are ineffective but Steve stumbles backwards. The ninja is surprised by the defense and stares. Steve motions is body into a fighting stance to taunt the ninja, his dagger glistens with power. The ninja leaps into the air with incredible speed, Steve is ready. He backflips several times to a nearby tree and then jumps off it. Twisting his body like a corkscrew he flips in midair and positions his dagger to strike. The move was useless the ninja is mysteriously gone from sight.

Steve is puzzled; he slowly glides down to the ground. The ninja reappears by blurring behind him with its awesome speed. It grabs Steve by the hair and tightens its hold. Steve winces and screams, terrible shockwaves are incrementing into his head. The ninja's dark eyes glow purple. Steve's body is weakening; he slowly limps his body forward and closes his eyes.

Autumn leaves emerge from the woods, a blur of red, purple, white, and blue burst out from the forests. It streaks towards the ninja and flashes past its head. Squism lands on the ground and his bloody sword is in his hands. Purple blood is smeared all over it. The ninja turns its head, black and purple blood pours out from a large gash. It looses its grip on Steve.

Steve lands on the ground with a small thud and crawls to get to his feet. He daintily takes out his dagger and prepares to fight. "No, you go help your friend. I'll handle this guy." Squism commands Steve, he understands. Steve glares at the ninja and scrambles to the witch pyre as fast as he could.

Squism turns to the dark ninja and motions it to fight. The dark ninja dashes towards Squism, he uses his ninja speed to quickly sidestep and hook kicks the dark ninja. The dark ninja's head is swung backwards. The stumbling ninja tries to maintain its balance but Squism vaults above him and spirals his body down to a dive where he stomps him flat to the ground. Squism is standing on top of the dark ninja with his arms folded. The ninja pivots his arm and trips Squism's feet. Squism flips back to his feet and takes his sword and swings it forward, the swing sends a blast of dim lights towards the dark ninja. The ninja swings its sword at the blast and it dissipates.

Right when Steve is in front of the pyre, nimble black ninjas blur in front of him. Steve trips one and punches the other. More and more appear Steve throws ivory coins with resolve, he couldn't hold them for much longer and Birdie would be scorched. Then, when all hope seemed lost; gusts of wind knocks away a group of the ninjas. Steve looks above and sees a winged beast diving to the ground. Alca the snowy owl flies besides it. The beast looks like an enormous bird with metal plates of white and red. Steve notices a girl and a boy riding on top of it.

Steve has little energy in him; his back is bent from taking so much pain and is breathing hard from all those deadly battles. His dagger seems dull, Steve seems hopeless. Daena gets off Valefor and they go back to the sky. She tries to help him but he can barely move. "Hey, you ok?" she asks trying to help him up. Steve merely nod but he trembles as he is doing do. Daena does not know what to do, and she also panics in horror at the pretty blond girl who seems almost dead from the fiery pyre. But then, she notices a shiny golden bottle hanging from his belt. She takes it and examines it.

It seems almost tranquil and deep; she opens the bottle and takes a sniff of it. The aroma is pleasant and it soothes her nose. ". Ah! A potion." She mutters in delight and she tosses it to Steve. The golden lights secure around him and he opens his eyes and smiles in warmth. Daena is glad for the item has healed and rejuvenated him like it should. Steve remembers Birdie and immediately grasps a golden jeweled ring; it has an emerald ruby. Steve holds it in front of the pyre, the ring glows to show power against the witch pyre.

Daena watches closely at the white clothed boy but also notices Squism and his battle with a colossal sized ninja. Its sword was huge in size, similar to owner of it. She remembered White above and gazed into the forest treetops to catch them. She sees them flying overhead, watching the battle if their aid was needed. Daena opens her hands and callfire is fuming out of them. She suddenly closes her hands and the flames disappear, her summoning powers are not needed at this moment.

Squism glared at the monster, the battle was getting intense. Blow after blow, the monster proved to be stronger than any enemy the cyborg ninja has faced. He gripped his sword and sprint leaped towards the ninja; the ninja blocked the attack with his enormous sword. Squism came back down to the ground and sweeped its legs. The ninja jumped and came down with the sword aimed for Squism's head. He did a spin with his hands to the ground and cartwheeled out of the way. The ninja missed and slammed to the ground with his knees. Squism did a dwarf jump and double kicked the monster's head with his body tilted to the side.

Steve throws the ring into the pyre; the ring transforms into vivid lights and overwhelms the fires. The stake and the burning woods lose its magic because of the lights smearing of the incantations. The enchanting fire is merely a flame and Birdie opens her eyes. The lights have enigmatically healed her, the ring transforms back and rests on her ring finger. Birdie closes her eyes and icy mist overcomes the flame. She concentrates on her tied hands and they slip through.

Daena is surprised by the ring's magic, witch pyres were known to be almost impossible to stop. The witch before her has changed dramatically. She once looked helpless and squeamishly weak. Now she is vibrant, energetic, and her grinning face shows all. She sees the witch glaring at the gigantic ninja. The witch exclaims, "Let's go guys, this ninja is going to pay!" Daena and Steve nod in agreement.

White sees the miraculous recovery by the witch pyre and is amazed. He sees the group running to Squism and the beastly ninja below. He swoops low on his aeon to join them there. White is surprised to see the ninja barely fazed but Squism exhausted. White glides low above the group, Valefor lets out a chilling war cry with scattering winds shifting through the forests. Birdie takes out her rod and Steve his dagger. Daena takes out her mage masher and its glint glows airily.

The ninja tilts its head and its eyes glow callously. It raises its sword and the blade shows blood seeping from the inside. Daena glares her eyes because of the disgusting sight. Then the blade of the ninja beast shoots off tiny stars where now a ray of darkness emanates from the blade, intense rustling of the leaves is followed by countless dark blurs and swooshes. Dark ninjas flow from the treetops and flip lands behind the ninja fiend.

Birdie's eyes blazes with emotion. She had a power in her that is sparked by her anger and her passion. Birdie swings her rod into the air and Alca hoots and surge from the sky. The heroes were given an option by the ninjas, run or fight. The second option is clearly noted from the looks on their faces.