Chapter 11 (S875)

Azure's arm burned with the heat of exerting his aura against the pincers of his foe as he thrust the Kusanagi toward the eyes of his foe. But a rough plate of armor smashed into his side, bringing his feet off the ground.

A brief spell of panic overtook Azure as he returned to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. That one really hurt - He was lucky his ribs were still intact. An instant later, a blurry shadow loomed over him, and he instinctively rolled to the side in time for a spiny leg to stomp the ground.

Before a second foot came down, he blindly swung the Kusanagi around him, dismembering a couple legs, giving him the opportunity to crawl out and bound backward onto the back of his nearly-disabled opponent.

But a red-hot bolt forced him backward, and a small squad of Elementas rushed around their wounded comrade, spitting an assortment of dust-charged death at him. Every bolt splintered trees or shook the ground, making it horribly difficult for him to figure out his bearings.

As difficult as it was not to get smacked by the incoming fire, he just didn't feel comfortable enough turning his back around to run at full speed. Above anything else, he needed some distance, and to find Rin. Of course knowing his luck, something stupid would happen when they got one of the rare opportunities to train outside of the supervision of their leader.

Several scenarios flew through his head - They obviously couldn't win in conventional combat. If they managed to regroup, they'd just draw the full brunt of the enraged Elementas, which would easily overwhelm them with standard combat. What they needed was something that could decisively turn things back in their favor.

At the corner of his eye, a glint of metal tore through the open sky - One of Rin's daggers. He almost couldn't believe it - That was the call to bring to front a uniquely devastating move. But why?

Crowd control.

The thought echoed in his head for a few seconds as he jumped to catch the weapon. A hair before it reached his fingertips, a flak-like explosion of fire ruptured the air, throwing it into the forest. Inconvenient as it was, Azure turned around and quickly dove for its estimated landing point, disappearing into the dense shrubbery.

Rin was unamused, and rather unhappy at how the battle was going for her. These damned Elementas were causing her more trouble than they were worth, and to make matters worse, she could feel the faint presence of the team's 'leader' approaching with haste.

Chances to practice without Celeste's supervision were usually few and far between, so the idea of being interrupted by her held a slight disappeal. If they were to enjoy practicing alone, they'd need to think fast.

But the constant barrage of fire made concentrating on anything other than trying to not get blasted significantly more difficult than it had to be. It was exhausting and irritating having to spend as much effort trying to keep them at bay as she did running away. Azure was supposed to be the one keeping preventing them from encroaching on her, not herself.

Not only was she not making much progress, it was becoming prohibitively expensive to continue firing. Retreating wasn't a choice she wanted to consider. Capable as Azure was, there was no way he could cleave his way through that much armor and firepower.

Another blast derailed her train of thought, and shot an irritated scowl at her unyielding attackers. That was enough. She caught a glimpse of Azure getting flaked and threw one of her daggers in his direction, sheathing herself with her aura as she did.

Her aura flooded the remaining dagger, and a purple glyph-decorated circle surrounded her, illuminating her. The charging Elementas ceased, and whatever remaining shots washed over her aura, spraying the surrounding area with elemental fire.

The standoff continued for several seconds. Where the hell was Azure? Did he not see the dagger? No, he definitely must have. The bugs must've gotten in his way. A renewed barrage of attacks rippled the barrier, pushing her aura closer and closer to the red.

Celeste and Picton were thrown off their feet as the earth violently shook the forest, showering the floor with leaves. That had to be Azure and Rin - She could feel it. Rising above the treetops was a massive column of debris, with a pair of glowing lights rising with it.

That smelled like something Azure and Rin could do, but she'd never seen it before. What were they fighting that could've demanded the use of such an attack? She answered that question when she passed a ravaged Elementa corpse, barely recognizing its species.

"Celeste, stop!" yelled Picton a second too late.

She smashed into a barely noticeable clear shimmering wall at the edge of the column falling backward in her confusion.

Picton helped her up, brushing dirt off her as she stood up. "Don't even try, we can't punch through it with brute force."

It really did look that way as she panned over it with her semblance. There weren't any weak points, and even if they could get inside, she didn't like the idea of fighting in the apparently zero-gravity environment they were in.

The timing and the barrier erected by this attack felt… Too convenient, as if they were intended to lock them out. But why? They were teammates, and the whole point of them coming here was to practice as a unit.

Picton quickly turned around with his guard up. "Incoming…"

An Elementa the size of a truck crashed through the brush with a small entourage of smaller Elementas, and stopped as they caught sight of her. Definitely, bad news. Picton couldn't pound armor whatsoever, and her own abilities were somewhat limited.

She raised La Massicot in defiance, and shot the Elementas a hard look. "Stand your ground, Picton."