The night wind whistled, carrying the scent of old iron from drying blood as Thirteen stepped forward, his twin swords gleaming pale under the moonlight. Twenty-Five shifted his weight to his back foot, his right hand reaching for the war axe tucked behind his back while his left hand unbuttoned his battle cloak. Thirty-Seven? He simply rubbed his thumb and forefinger together until a purple spark appeared, their silent language honed over hundreds of battles.
"We'll take care of them," Thirteen growled, his voice hoarse like the scraping of a knife on a whetstone. His two blades hissed out of their sheaths, slicing the air with two arcs of silver light. There was no hesitation in his narrowed eyes, only the cold focus of a hunter who had already locked onto his prey.
Blaze looked at them one by one, his jaw tightening. "Don't die," he muttered briefly, his fingers unconsciously clenching tightly until his nails dug into his palm. There was a split second where Forty-One held his breath, a microscopic pause before the storm.
Thirteen grinned widely, his short, bitter laugh filling the silence before his feet slammed into the ground. His body shot out like a released arrow, a trail of swirling dust behind him as his swords spun in a deadly spiral towards Lucian. On the left flank, Twenty-Five threw back his cloak, the heavy fabric billowing like a death flag, before his bulky body charged towards Magnus with a spinning axe that slashed and slashed. Meanwhile, from the opposite direction, Thirty-Seven had already vanished in a puff of black smoke, leaving only a claw-shaped shadow trail snaking across the ground towards Selene.
Velgrin narrowed his eyes, watching his trio of subordinates move. Around them, the cracked earth began to tremble, small fragments of stone floated up to ankle height as if pulled by an invisible magnet. Blaze shifted his position, his dented shield reflecting the blue lightning from Lucian's sword in the distance. Forty-One stood with his back to them both, his hawk eyes constantly monitoring every movement on the perimeter.
Not far away, the first clash echoed. Thirteen's two swords collided with Lucian's lightning in a blinding blue-white explosion of light. On the other side, Twenty-Five's roar echoed as his axe met Magnus' iron fist in a shock wave that caused the dead trees around them to crumble. Meanwhile, Selene's purple mist suddenly swirled wildly, a sign that Thirty-Seven had begun his shadow attack.
Velgrin twisted his wrist, and instantly, the space around him began to vibrate again.
"It's been long enough that I've held back," Velgrin whispered in a voice as hoarse as dry ice ground on marble, his golden eyes suddenly emitting cracks of purple light in the pupils. The air around him began to crystallize into strange geometric patterns, each breath he took exhaled a freezing mist that gnawed at the ground. "Now..." His hand rose slowly like a conductor leading a doomsday orchestra, "...it's time to end this joke."
Blaze remained silent, but his blazing purple eyeballs emitted a rapidly spinning fractal pattern, as if two mini-galaxies were colliding in his eye sockets. Fresh blood dripped from his nose, a side effect of constantly pushing Violet Flash beyond human limits.
"Time Requiem."
A pale blue light colder than the Antarctic heart swept across the battlefield, transforming every particle of air into slow-spinning multidimensional shards of glass. Sound wasn't just gone, the very concept of air vibration was obliterated. A half-winged raven froze in a blurry shape, a splash of blood in the air turned into a microscopic crystal sculpture. Velgrin stepped among the frozen fragments of time, his boots leaving cracks in reality like glass being stepped on.
With a movement that was almost impossible to see with the naked eye, Blaze shot out like a meteor striking towards Velgrin, the sword in his hand instantly creating spatial distortions wherever the sword moved, his movement was truly very fast.
"Void Slash!"
His sword sliced not only the air, but space itself began to crack. As the Void Slash cut fully bloomed, a deep black line appeared in the trail of the slash, it was a void gap, the attack instantly tore apart anything around it, the existing molecules were instantly destroyed, then sucked everything around it into the void gap, like an open wound in the fabric of the universe, even the magic around it was also sucked in. The Time Requiem effect wrinkled, like burnt paper, drawn into that abyss of nothingness. Sound reappeared in a deafening explosion, the roar of the wind, the clang of metal, like the cry of a wounded earth.
Velgrin flinched back a step, a small crack in his face emitting black smoke. But Forty-One was already there, his body glowing with electric blue light. His right hand rose high, his open palm pointing to the sky, an ancient circle of runes lit up in the air, drawing energy from the stars visible in broad daylight.
"Celestial Pierce!"
A blue light arrow shot from his hand, piercing Velgrin's shoulder hard.
Velgrin staggered back a few steps, his body swaying like a tower starting to crack. Fresh blood flowed freely from the hole in his shoulder, dripping to the ground, forming a red puddle that sparkled under the moonlight. His breath was heavy and gasping, like a trapped animal trying to survive. His eyes, usually cold and full of confidence, now blazed with wild anger, darting back and forth between Blaze, who was still standing firmly, and Forty-One, who was ready to attack.
"I must admit..." His hoarse voice came from a throat that was starting to bleed, his trembling hand pressed against the wound on his shoulder. "...you are more troublesome than I expected." The words were accompanied by a harsh cough that made his body stoop, but his gaze remained sharp like a knife wanting to stab his enemy.
Blaze raised his sword slowly. The black flames on his blade roared suddenly, scorching the air around him until a thin plume of smoke rose. The scars on his face pulsed red, but his gaze remained calm. "And you..." He stepped forward, each step leaving a trail of small flames on the ground. "...are weaker than I expected, not up to my expectations."
Velgrin grinned, but this time without arrogance. For the first time, the Time Sorcerer was at a disadvantage.