*Crack!!!
A violent storm of sparks erupted high into the air as one of the monstrous beasts collided directly with a seasoned Battlemaster, the impact resonating like thunder cracking through the sky.
Their movements were so swift, so erratic, that to the untrained eye it appeared as though the very laws of motion were being defied.
Every step, every swing, and every dodge left behind blurred trails—afterimages smeared across the battlefield as if reality itself struggled to keep up with the sheer velocity of their clash.
*CRACK!
The very air tore open as the creature unleashed a devastating wave of razor-edged Eidra—
*Slash!
pure black, thick as ink, and brimming with lethal precision.
It surged forward like a tidal wall of darkness, cutting a violent path through the air toward Merilyn, its edge slicing through space itself.
But Merilyn did not flinch.
Her expression calm and battle-hardened, she spun her glaive in a wide, whirling arc.
*VWOOM!!!
The wind around her responded instantly—sharpening, screaming—and tore through the incoming black tide with the force of a hurricane.
The attack of the beast was fragmented, disintegrating into harmless wisps that dissolved before they could touch her armor.
She didn't waste a heartbeat.
In the next instant, her form blinked—disappearing and reappearing in a burst of velocity—
and finally, materializing right in front of the beast.
Her glaive, Zaepherax, was already mid-swing, aimed with surgical precision.
*CLANG!
The shriek of clashing steel exploded across the battlefield as the creature intercepted her strike.
Its jagged, bladed limbs crossed in defense, parrying the blow with monstrous strength.
The clash sent a rippling shockwave across the field, dust and broken debris scattering from the point of impact.
"Tch." Merilyn clicked her tongue, her frustration barely contained behind gritted teeth.
She twisted sharply, shifting her balance in one seamless motion.
With her momentum redirected, she pivoted and brought her leg up—her heel, wrapped in concentrated crimson Eidra,
*crack!
slammed into the creature's midsection like a battering ram.
The impact was thunderous.
The force behind the kick launched the creature like a missile, its body smashing through jagged boulders and shattered terrain.
*CRASH!!!
Dust and splinters of stone erupted in all directions as the monster's form was swallowed in a growing cloud of pulverized earth.
*SKREEEEE!
But not even a full second passed before that same dust exploded outward as the creature surged back to its feet, eyes flaring with fury.
It lunged—
*Bang!
not toward Merilyn,
but this time—
toward Mezra,
who was already engaged in her own vicious struggle against another beast.
"Mez!" Merilyn shouted, her voice laced with urgency and alarm, slicing through the cacophony of war like a whip.
The shout hit its mark—Mezra's attention snapped to the side just in time.
*BANG!
Without pause, Mezra rammed Flamethorn into the earth beneath her feet.
Flames burst outward in a towering eruption, consuming everything around her in a brilliant inferno.
The resulting shockwave sent both incoming beasts skidding backward, claws raking against the scorched soil as they tried to stay upright.
"Retreat! All soldiers, fall back to the defensive wall—now!" Mezra commanded, her voice raised not in panic, but in authority laced with urgency.
"Aye, Commander!" the officers shouted back in unison, their voices sharp and disciplined.
Immediately, unit leaders began shouting formation numbers, organizing their squads into controlled withdrawal lines.
The army moved quickly—no chaos, no fear.
Their discipline showed as they fell back with practiced speed, rifles still aimed, covering one another as they retreated.
But danger loomed.
One of the beasts broke formation, eyes fixed on the withdrawing soldiers.
It screamed.
Powerful.
*SHRIEEEEEEEK!!!
Sending a powerful shockwave towards the soldiers.
One by one, each soldier collapsed to the ground, knees first as they trembled.
They couldn't move.
As if their very bodies—no, their very eidra had been put to shock.
Move! Move! MOVE!!!
A commander screamed the thoughts in his mind.
But he couldn't act.
Couldn't speak.
All he could do was shift his trembling eyes to the side and see the monster already poised for an attack.
.
.
.
And attack it did.
*SHRIEK!!!
It leapt into the air, blades extending from its arms like wings of death, poised to shred through their ranks.
But it never reached them.
*WHIP!
In a flash of red light, Erenhold's crimson-glowing chains shot forward with explosive speed.
The links wrapped around the creature's torso and limbs, locking it mid-air like an anchor made of fury.
*CRACK!
Erenhold yanked the chains with brutal force, pulling the beast off balance—
*BANG!!!
and met it with a devastating uppercut.
His fist, glowing with raw Eidra, collided with the creature's jaw, the sound echoing like a hammer striking an anvil.
Bone cracked.
Blood sprayed.
*SHRIEK!!!
The monster howled in pain—
but it wasn't done.
*THUD!
In a split second, the creature lunged forward, its head snapping into Erenhold's with the force of a ramming beast.
The brutal headbutt sent both of their heads snapping backward, momentarily dazing the man who had landed the blow just seconds before.
===
The battle dragged on, stretching what felt like mere minutes—
into long exhausting hours.
Everywhere one looked, there was chaos—clashes of flame, wind, steel, and blood.
The Battlemasters fought with every ounce of power, their mastery over Eidra keeping them in the fight—but the beasts adapted with terrifying speed, each blow they received only making them more dangerous.
Then, in the midst of it all, something shifted.
*BEEP! *BEEP! *BEEP!!
A shrill series of alerts erupted from the devices attached to the Battlemasters' arms.
Even amidst the chaos, their heads turned, eyes narrowing.
*SWOOSH!
Merilyn ducked under a brutal swing, twisted her body, and struck her attacker away with a gale-force wave from her glaive.
Her free hand shot to her wrist-mounted datapad, tapping the blinking signal.
*BZZZT!
A garbled transmission played through the static.
"Battl...er Meril... we ar... curr... att...!"
The message was fragmented, barely intelligible through the distortion.
But to Merilyn, the meaning was immediate and clear.
Her heart dropped.
The other side of the army—
where her children and husband had been stationed—
was under attack.
Her expression froze, then hardened.
"They're under attack! The soldiers—my family—they're under attack!" she shouted, fear slicing through her voice like broken glass.
"Tsk." Mezra's grunt followed her realization,
*CLANG!
as she deflected a wild blow, twisting her body and sending a surge of fire into the monster's torso to knock it off balance.
"What a damn conundrum…" she muttered under her breath, flicking her eyes toward her siblings.
Then—without pause, without argument—she made a choice.
"Both of you—GO!" Mezra roared, her voice ripping through the battlefield like a command from the heavens.
Crimson Eidra exploded around her, engulfing her form in a living cloak of fire.
"I'll hold them off! You have a family to protect!"
Both Merilyn and Erenhold hesitated.
Their feet locked in place.
Their gazes met Mezra's, expressions torn between loyalty and dread.
"But—" Merilyn started, eyes wide.
Then the image of her children—of her husband—burned into her mind.
Her fists clenched.
Her jaw locked.
And her decision was made.
"We'll come back. As soon as they're safe." she said with steel in her voice.
Without another word, she turned and bolted towards the direction of flame wall, her weapon trailing sparks.
Erenhold followed, matching her pace.
But the beasts noticed.
They roared.
*SKREEEEE!
They lunged to intercept the fleeing warriors—but before they could close the gap, a wall of fire exploded upward in a blistering circle.
*ROAR!!!
The searing blaze trapped all three beasts inside, cutting off pursuit entirely.
Mezra stood at the center of the inferno.
Flamethorn was still buried in the scorched soil, glowing like a star.
She reached down and yanked it free, the embers scattering around her like falling petals of light.
Her expression was calm.
Unshaken.
"Bring it," she whispered with a defiant smirk, the flames wreathing her body intensifying.
The heat warped the very air.
Her blade roared with crimson blaze.
*SKREEEEE!!!
The three beasts screamed in fury, their voices shrill and corrupted as they lunged toward her from three different angles.
Their arm-blades gleamed with malicious black Eidra—unholy weapons forged for one purpose:
to kill.
Mezra moved.
Her grip tightened.
Her feet planted.
And then she swung.
*ROAAAAAR!!!
Her strike released a tidal wave of fire, a surging wall of flame that twisted and roared toward the beasts like a living dragon.
*BOOOOOOM!!!
But the beasts were not idle.
In response, they launched their own wave—pure black Eidra, so thick with hatred and death that it devoured light.
The waves met.
The collision was explosive.
*BANG!
The sky quaked.
The ground split.
Fire and darkness collided and canceled each other out in a violent eruption of force.
Ash rained and smoke filled the air.
And at the center of it—
Mezra stood tall.
"Hurry up… elder sister," she murmured, voice low, almost prayer-like.
Her eyes blazed with unwavering resolve as she held Flamethorn in both hands.
No fear.
No hesitation.
Just fire.
And war.