First off, I am sorry about how long it has taken me to update this story. Between family concerns and the busy season at work, writing unfortunately had to take a back seat. Work has slowed down and I have dealt with the family concerns to the best of my ability, so I can now find more time to dedicate to my writing. I thank everyone still following my stories for their patience. This chapter took is a bit shorter than my normal chapters, but I wanted to try and focus a bit on another team as well as set up future chapters.
The leaves rustled quietly in the breeze while two elementalists followed the directions of a third as they constructed what looked like an elaborate shrine, especially considering the setting. The maiden giving the directions was holding an intricately carved staff and was standing atop a raised platform. "We must hurry, we need to complete the shrine before our location is discovered."
"Yes, princess. Soon all will feel the wrath of the forest." One of the girls declared.
Moving silently through the forest undergrowth, a member of Team Shadow Stalkers moved into position. Peering over the sights of her waffe, Arianna smiled to herself. "Thank you for making yourself so accessible." She whispered to herself.
Haruka moved silently through the shadows of the undergrowth looking for her target. Her assigned target was the carapace user. Knowing she was an ambush specialist, Haruka looked for areas of disturbed ground. Seeing a promising site, Haruka waited for a signal to attack.
Jacqueline, or Jack as she preferred, was not as stealthy as some of her other teammates, so she elected for a more direct method. She was cautiously working her way down a path with Inari in a partially summoned form. Floating around her were nine balls of foxfire ready for her disposal. Suddenly a bolt of blue lightning shot from the bushes that was intercepted by one of the fireballs. Casting her hand in the direction of the bushes, two fireballs spiraled towards the hidden attacker forcing her to jump from her hiding place. Jack grinned as she saw that the other elementalist had a similar spirit as hers in the form of a few lightning bolts awaiting her command.
The opposing elementalist thrust her hand forward launching a bolt of lightning at Jack, but it was once again intercepted by the foxfire. Seeing her attack blocked so easily, the other girl started to back away slowly, looking for a distraction so she could escape. A loud explosion from some distance away seemed to provide that distraction, so she bolted for the safety of her team's stronghold.
While the explosion was unexpected, Jack was knowingly allowing the other girl to escape into a trap of their own.
Arianna used the explosion to start her attack. With the three elementalists distracted, she steadied her aim and fired. The druid princess never saw the shot coming as she was launched of the shrine platform.
"Princess!" The other two screamed as their team leader hit the ground. Suddenly the shadows started to move and take form. Both girls tried to summon their spirits, but were unable to before they were overwhelmed by the shadows. Drained of their divine power and stripped of their magic stones, it was only a matter of time before they would be teleported back to the safe area.
The lightning user knew that she was being followed by that girl with the fire, but felt confident she could make it to her team in time to get backup. Seeing a disturbed section of ground, she smirked and lead Jack to where she knew her teammate lay in wait.
Haruka saw movement from up the trail and soon spotted the lightning user running as fast as she could. Knowing Jack was probably not far behind, she readied herself. As soon as Jack neared the clearing, she dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a pair of pincers that shot from the ground.
"Ha! I almost had you!" The carapace elementalist jeered, emerging from her hiding place in the ground. She didn't see her teammate, the lightning elementalist, vanish into the foliage behind her. Jack directed several balls of foxfire to strike the carapace user, but they had little effect.
"Give it up, my spirit has a high resistance to fire attacks."
Haruka waited till both elementalists had their attention on Jack to make her move. The lightning girl was the closer of the two, so she whipped out with the ball end of her kusari-gama, wrapping her with the chain and yanked her into the foliage and knocked her out quickly. After retrieving the magic stone, Haruka stalked up behind the carapace elementalist slashed through her armor. The girl opened her mouth in a silent scream as her body slumped forward from the shock of the hit. Luckily for her, waffes that are only partially summoned cause no physical damage. Jack happily walked over and retrieved the magic stone from the fallen elementalist and started whistling a shanty as she walked away.
Team Shadow Stalkers met back up at their stronghold where Kristina was currently using her earth magic to reinforce their makeshift base. "Good work team!" Misty congratulated as everyone gathered together. "That's one less team in the finals and one step closer to getting our wish!"
"Hey Haruka, where are you going?" Misty asked when she saw her teammate heading back into the forest.
"I'm going to scout out and see if I can locate any of the other teams." Haruka stated in a monotone.
"...Okay, be careful." Misty consented. She could tell something was wrong, but decided to wait until they had some privacy to discuss it properly. Walking back into their camp, Misty spotted one of her new teammates relaxing against a tree stroking the red-gold fur of a multi-tailed fox.
"Hey boss, what's up?" Jack asked without opening her eyes.
"It's nothing. Just thinking." Misty responded as she headed for her tent.
"Jack, I've been meaning to ask you something." Kristina said with a heavy accent after Misty had left.
"Shoot." Jack acknowledged.
"I was curious why you answer to a boy's name. It is strange to me." Kristina commented.
"Oh, that." Jack laughed. "It was a nickname my father gave me when I was born just to irritate my mother. The name just kind of stuck and is so much easier to say than Jacqueline." Jack revealed.
"Your father wanted you to be a boy?" Kristina asked.
"No, he was happy to have a girl. He just loved to do things that would get under my mother's skin. My family has always been like that. They love to have fun and joke with each other." Jack smiled as she thought about her crazy family.
"You must have an interesting family." Kristina commented.
"They are definitely that." Jack laughed. "So what about your family?"
Kristina sighed and looked away. "My family is gone. I am all that is left after a coup removed my father from power from our territory shortly after the incident with the Calamity Queen four years ago. My father supported the Elstein family and that angered many in our country. He did not believe that the Elstein family should be held accountable for the actions of the eldest daughter. I was able to survive because a family servant was able to hide me from the mobs."
"I'm sorry that I brought up such a painful subject." Jack said sincerely.
"No, it is not your fault. I miss my family dearly, but I know that I will see them again one day."
"Is that what you are going to wish for?" Jack asked.
"Yes, I want to wish to bring my family back. I don't know if that is even possible, but I have to try." Kristina confirmed. "By the way, what is your wish?"
"Don't know yet." Jack shrugged. "I just thought this would be fun." Kristina had a hard time grasping that someone would compete in something as important as the blade dance just because they thought it would be fun. She excused herself went to check on her barriers.
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Haruka moved silently through the shadows. She knew that Misty could sense something was bothering her, and knew she would eventually have to talk to her team about it. That one elementalist from the Alphas, the one dressed as a black knight, disturbed her greatly for some reason. There was something unnatural about her, something darker than any shadow she had ever encountered. She was just about to turn around and head back to camp when she heard a disturbance not too far from her location. Curious, she went to investigate. If it were a battle, she could see who was victorious and also gain information about their powers and abilities. Creeping out onto a branch, Haruka was shocked by what she was witnessing.
In a clearing, the team from Rossvale was in a desperate fight for their place in the blade dance. Pursuing them was the Black Knight from Team Inferno of the Alphas Theocracy.
"We must use it!" One of the rupture girls insisted.
"No, we need a trump card against the strongest blade dancer!" Another argued.
"If we don't use it, we will not get the chance to even see her!" The first continued.
Realizing the truth behind the claim, the second elementalist gave in. "Very well. Milla, it's time!"
"I understand." A young girl said stepping forward to confront the black knight. "Noble minded knights of the Sacred King, your sword exists to vanquish the strong and protect the weak. Gather upon my battlefield, to swing that sword without reservation: Crusaders!"
A bright golden light emitted from the girl's left eye as numerous golden magic circles appeared on the ground. Golden knights emerged from the magic circles wielding a multitude of shining weaponry. The three remaining members of the rupture division began to chant in the spirit language in an attempt to direct and control the summoned spirit.
"He hehe hehehehe…." An unearthly laugh came from the dark spectre that was pursuing them stunning the elementalists. Suddenly a pool of inky blackness spread from the black knight until it had engulfed all the magic circles that the knights of light were emanating from. "Black Hole!" Milla and the other girls suddenly felt an intense pull from the darkness. All the shining knights were swallowed instantly as well os one elementalist that was too close to react in time. Milla covered her eye and halted the summoning to prevent more of the knights from becoming swallowed. The pull the girls felt was becoming stronger and they felt themselves being drawn into the void as well.
"Milla, you must escape!" The girls that had initially argued against using her power insisted, pushing her towards the brush as she slipped on the grass and was sucked into the growing darkness. Milla scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could in an attempt to get away from that monstrosity.
"Liberation!" A shower of debris was released from the pool of darkness as well as the bodies of the three unconscious members of the Rupture Division. With the removal of their magic stones, they were shortly teleported back to the safety of the arena they had started in. The black knight looked in the direction of the fleeing Milla Bassett, then turned its visage to a shadowy bunch of branches.
Haruka knew that she was in trouble the instant she saw the Black knight on the battlefield. She watched silently from the cover of the leaves as the one sided battle took place. She felt her heart stop when the knight focused its gaze upon her hiding place. She slid into a shadow in an attempt to escape, but found herself face to face with a male she didn't recognize shrouded in what appeared to be an armor of shadowy flames.
Jio smirked at the trembling girl in front of him. Here in the world of shadows, Jio might as well have been king. "I see you." Forcefully grabbing her shoulders so she could not flee or even turn away, Jio brought her close and looked her in the eyes. "I have a mission for you…." Jio opened his mouth and a dark mist poured forth and snaked into Haruka's mouth and nose. Her struggles suddenly ceased and her eyes took on a glazed look.
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Floating above the trees a young girl floated upon wings of black feathers. Restia watched in interest as the Nepenthes Lore decimated the team from Rossvale. 'Hmm….Jio is becoming more powerful than I had anticipated. I'll have to keep an eye on his progress.' With a smirk. "Kamito, soon you shall awaken and take your proper place in this world."
Seeing the Nepenthes Lore stop his pursuit of the final member from the Rossvale team, she detected a presence trying to hide in the shadows. Restia could feel the transfer of some of the otherworldly darkness into the maiden. 'What are you up to Jio?' Restia pondered. She watched as the black knight turned and stalked back into the forest, presumably on the hunt for another team to wipe out.
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Haruka awoke a short time later with a start and leapt to her feet taking a defensive stance. Looking around and not seeing anyone around, she tried to remember what had happened. She remembered watching the Rupture Division being obliterated, and the black knight staring at her, but everything else was a blur. Checking herself over, Haruka found no injuries or signs of being violated, she decided to head back to camp and share her observations with her team.
After gaining her bearings, she hurried back to her team's sanctuary. She stopped at the edge of the boundary that had been set up so she could utter a short chant in the spirit language that would allow her safe entry into the camp. She found Misty and the rest of the team waiting for her around the central campfire.
"So, did you find….What happened? You look like you have seen a demon spirit or something." Misty commented with concern.
"The Rupture Division from Rossvale was all but defeated by that black knight from the Alphas." Haruka started before relaying all that she had witnessed. She left out the part about the black knight spotting her and the blank in her memory for now. She would find Misty later and tell her about that in private.
"It's hard to believe that a single elementalist has the power to wipe out an entire team like that. We need to avoid running into anyone from that team if possible. Not only do they have that black knight, but they also have Ren Ashbell with them. It might be a good idea to find someone to ally with to take them on. Our best bet is to team up with Kamito's team." Misty dictated.
"Are you sure that's why you want to team up with them?" Jack teased.
"Hey! The guy is wicked strong and has a powerful team. The fact that he is good looking is beside the point." Misty defended unconvincingly.
"Who should we send to set up the meeting?" Kristina asked.
"Me of course. I'm the team leader, so it is my responsibility to meet with him." Misty announced.
"You just want to try and get him alone. I think we should send someone who doesn't have any ulterior motives." Arianna stated.
"That's not fair!..." Misty pouted.
"I'll go." Haruka offered quietly.
"I agree. Haruka is the best at stealth, so she would have the easiest time getting to their stronghold without being discovered." Arianna concurred.
"Umm….Does anyone know where his stronghold is?" Jack asked. The girls looked at each other and realized that none of them knew where Team Dark Tides, or any other team for that matter, were currently located.
"What about having a spirit deliver the request?" Kristina offered. A spirit would have an easier time locating another team than they would. Misty agreed and quickly wrote out the request. She summoned a shadow spirit and instructed it to find Kamito and sent it off with the message.
After dinner, the girls retired to their tents to get as much rest as they could. In the dark of the night, a solitary figure slipped out of her tent and paid a visit to each of her slumbering teammates. A dark mist could be seen escaping from each of the visited tents that night.
That concludes Chapter 15. I know it was a bit short, but I needed a setup for the upcoming chapters. Thank you for your continued interest in my story and stay tuned for what comes next.