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Failed

Jarek slashed through a pair of small Unknown, chasing after Violet and Ras as they fought. They were in a race against time. They had to win. They had to defeat Lilibet and her army, but more than anything, they had to defeat them before Straze arrived. That was the only explanation for why Lilibet's forces had remained in place for so long and why they hadn't pursued Jarek and the others. Straze was coming, and if he arrived while they were still fighting, they were dead.

"Faster!" Violet roared, carving through several of the larger, crystal-like Unknown.

"Speak for yourself!" Luluca retorted, her magic sending massive, powerful water pillars exploding up from below Unknown with enough force to crush them.

Jarek smirked at their behavior, flipping over an Unknown and slashing it as he spun his body, then slashed the other way as he landed, his Light whip strike lashing outward and blasting another pair. A volley of Light arrows fell from above, slaughtering a group of Unknown rushing Jarek, and Coli shot past him, staying just behind the falling arrows, then tore into the Unknown where the arrows stopped, Jarek just behind her. As they fought, a pair of Unknown circled around behind them, only for a pair of spheres of Darkness magic to blast them each.

Jarek slashed his way through several more Unknown before stopping as a trio of the huge, armored Unknown stepped out ahead of them. Jarek swore, then charged, ducking under a swipe before slashing up its torso, a blast of Light magic hurling it backward. As he did, Otillie and Celeste focused their attention on another, and Coli moved to attack the third. As Jarek's began to stand, Coli darted past hers at it, and Jarek moved to distract hers. However, before he could reach it, the third one's fist exploded into his back, hurling him away. He bounced four times before the one Jarek had wounded earlier slammed Coli downward into him, stopping his flight, leaving him dazed and Coli unconscious and her head bleeding. Celest sent an arrow into its back, but it ignored her, lifting its fists. Otillie moved to stop it, only for the last of the trio of Unknown to catch her hand, the sphere of Dark magic exploding and shattering the bones in her hand and forearm before the Unknown hurled her away by the arm.

"Otillie!" Jarek shouted, staggering to his feet, only for the Unknown's fist to crash down on his back.

All three roared, lunging, but just as they did, bolts of violet, Darkness magic flashed down from the side, slamming into the three Unknown and exploding. All three were blasted apart, and a moment later, a mage with teal hair, a pair of long braids, and a very revealing outfit that left almost her entire breasts uncovered and her short skirt on the verge of failing at its job landed beside Jarek.

"Holy shit," Jarek sighed. "Could you have cut it any closer?"

"I just flew across the entire ocean, and that's how you greet me?" she asked, helping him stand.

Jarek stepped forward, kissing her, and she smiled as she returned it for a moment, then turned and flew over to Otillie, helping her up and healing her arm.

"Thank you," Otillie smiled.

"Here," the newcomer mage said, resting a hand on Otillie's spell book.

It shone violet for a moment before the light cleared, leaving an exact replica of the new mage's own spell book, including the eye on the front cover, which looked around for a moment before falling still.

"The eye of Kal!" Otillie gasped, the book now hovering at her side, unlike the last.

"I figured it would be more useful than a watered-down version of one of my spells," the mage smiled, then turned her head to glare in the direction the others had all gone, where Jarek could sense a monstrous power. "I can't fight Straze. I know you all are going to, so please be careful."

"We will," Otillie nodded. "Thank you."

The mage nodded and gave Otillie a quick kiss also before streaking into air and vanishing into the clouds. Jarek sighed, lifting his sword, then hardened his features before running for the next battlefield, the others all running at his side, except for Otillie, who was granted the power of flight by her new spell book. Except, before they were more than halfway, terror gripped Jarek as a massive pillar of violet and red light suddenly roared into the air from the battle.

"Shit!" Jarek swore, grabbing the other three and diving toward a crater off to the side.

A split-second later, a massive explosion engulfed the entirety of the battlefield, blinding Jarek and the others, even with their eyes closed. For several, long moments, they remained motionless before pushing themselves up. Despite escaping the blast, their bodies were battered and sore, and as the debris and dirt that had landed on them fell away, they looked around at the scorched battlefield. The entire force of Aakhen's army and the Exile Colony volunteers had been wiped out, save for Cerise, who was racing toward Straze to check on her father, Ras, and Violet. Jarek and the others raced after them, but as they did, Straze lifted Ras by the shoulder, then stabbed him through the chest. Blood sprayed from his back, coating the ground, then shone and faded. However, as Straze allowed Ras to fall, Jarek reached him, slashing.

Straze effortlessly deflected the strike, then slammed the blunt of the blade into Jarek's side, launching him backward into Coli and Otillie, then turned, flying into the air, as the mage from earlier, Celestial Mercedes, had done. Jarek groaned as he stood, his left arm hanging limply. Pavel was just lifting Violet off of the ground, Ray was treating Furious, and Ras was missing, as was Arky. However, after a moment, he found him. He was lying in Mercedes' arms as she sobbed, Arky standing at her side, transformed into a large, wolf-like form with a long, bushy tail. It was over. They had all failed, and now they had no soldiers. Even worse, one of their biggest guns, Ras, was gone.

"He's alive!" Ray gasped suddenly. "I need to work fast to save him!"

"Celeste!" Jarek said urgently.

Celeste, who'd been in the process of healing his arm, sprinted forward to join Ray at Ras's side, their combined healing magic washing over him, yet the wound resisted. Slowly, he was stabilized by the pair, and they quickly bandaged the wound before moving him away from the battlefield to cover so he could rest.


"How does it feel?" Celeste asked as Jarek bent and straightened his arm.

"Hurts less than my pride," Jarek said. "After all that work, after almost winning that battle, one man stomped us into the dirt. One man crushed us like insects."

"One man with the power of a god," Cerise said. "We had no hope of winning once he showed up. That's why we were trying to finish the battle before he arrived."

"And since we failed, we now have to do something about that, right?" He raised his eyes to the horizon where there was a truly massive tear in the very fabric of reality, a massive, spot of light hovering in the sky, like a crack, all of the clouds around it being pushed away from the light."

"Yeah," Cerise nodded. "There's also the fact that the shaman girl you were traveling with was taken by Straze."

"Right," Jarek nodded. "Pulled into his cape, right? This guy's...unreal."

"Ray and Elena are leaving soon," Coli reported, walking over to them and kneeling down.

"We should get going, then," Jarek said, then grunted, hauling himself to his feet and picking up his sword, slipping its scabbard's sheath over his head to hang across his back. "Where's Otillie?"

"She's keeping watch," Coli said.

Jarek nodded, and they all left the makeshift infirmary, finding Violet and Pavel getting red to leave.

"Where are you going to go?" Pavel asked.

"To harass the Unknown," Jarek said. "Thin their numbers if we can. I doubt we'll be able to do much, but if nothing else, we'll be able to annoy them."

Pavel nodded. "We're heading back to Perland to keep tabs on Lilias."

Jarek nodded and pulled Pavel into a hug, careful not to aggravate his wounds. "Be careful, brother."

"And you," Pavel said. "Maybe we can have a normal family reunion after this is all dealt with."

"Our family's never been normal," Jarek snorted, then sighed. "Alright, we're heading out."

The others all nodded, and Jarek and his girlfriends turned, hurrying away from the camp and following the Unknown's trail.


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