Falling was never a sensation that Elma enjoyed. There were too many variables that one could hardly control when falling. That’s why she preferred both feet on the ground always. She had reasonable control. So, while she and Chayse plummeted toward the Soteria river down below, keeping her composure was the least of her worries.

Contact with the water was imminent. Elma had nothing that could save herself. Well, besides her Praus. She had enough to reduce the damage from the impact. She'd survive. Maybe.

Just when she prepared to activate it, a hand placed itself on her shoulder. It was Chayse. The man's hand moved down and clutched his partner's hand tightly. 

The Hunter's gazed shifted upward. He outstretched his Neoframe hand and activated one of its unique functions. His hand launched and grabbed hold of the edge of the bridge, leaving the Hunters dangling for awhile.

"Thank Goddess!" Chayse exclaimed. "Good thing Caz whipped this up for me, huh?"

"Just get us back up there!" Elma demanded. While grateful for Caz's technological prowess, she'd be damned if she gave that man praise.

"Got it," Chayse nodded and reeled themselves back up to the bridge. What waited for them at the top was their primary target, Maur.

"This one is quite surprised. Yes, truly surprised…" Maur angrily commented at the sight of the Hunters returning onto the surface of the bridge. "No matter how close you come to death—somehow you manage to find a way to avoid it. An annoying trait indeed."

"What you did earlier. Making the ground disappear like that. Was that your power?" Elma questioned him.

"Of course," He bluntly answered, “this one has been granted the power to disintegrate anything this one pleases. Truly ironic. Your Goddess of creation has given this one the power of complete destruction."

"So, you are the one that destroyed Salus Town!” Chayse exclaimed.

"Correct. And soon enough, this entire country will suffer the same fate."

"Like hell, we’re going to let that happen!" Elma readied her bow and arrow, aiming right for the bastard’s head.

"What could you possibly do in your condition? You are struggling even to hold your bow steady."

"Don’t you worry about us. We’ve beaten tougher opponents than you," Chayse boasted.

"This one doubts that." Maur slammed his hand onto the ground once more. Surges of electricity coursed through the ground. Once it reached the Hunters' feet, the ground beneath them disintegrated.

But, they learned from the last time. 

Chayse and Elma jumped out of the way. Afterward, Chayse drew his dagger from its sheath and charged the Acolyte while Elma provided cover fire.

Maur caught each arrow shot his way and disintegrated them. Then, he engaged Chayse in close quarters combat. The Acolyte gracefully evaded each attack thrown his way and smacked the Hunter away with a kick. Next thing he knew, he found an arrow through his shoulder, courtesy of Elma.

Maur howled in pain and dropped to his knees. Chayse and Elma drew their daggers and carefully approached him. Like before, the peculiar black blood that seeped from Maur's body caught their attention. They had many questions for him.

"You'll pay for that!" Maur grabbed the arrow and turned it to dust within seconds. Afterward, he attacked the Hunters with his daggers.

His attacks were swift and well precise. However, so were Chayse and Elma's. They each took turns crossing blades with him while the other tried to get the drop on him. The first one to land that lucky shot was Chayse. He punched the Acolyte square across his face with his Neoframe hand.

Maur recovered quickly and followed up with a counterattack by sweeping Chayse’s feet out from under him. Once Chayse hit the ground, Maur looked to impale him through the chest.

His blade crossed with Elma's who stepped in just in time.

She refused to lose another partner. Not on her watch. Elma and Maur crossed blades a few more times until he broke through her defenses with a kick to the woman's abdomen. That kick reopened the wound he gave her back at Eirene Town. 

Elma dropped to her knees, gasping for air.

Elma's blood bleached through her clothes. The source of her wound burned with high intensity. It became more difficult to block and evade his oncoming attacks for her.

"Feeling a bit sore from our last fight?" Maur taunted Elma before slicing at her again. A familiar prosthetic hand shot up and grabbed his wrist at the last second. Elma took advantage of the opportunity and clobbered Maur’s face. The Acolyte quickly recovered and jumped back to gain some distance on them.

"Thanks for saving my ass," said Chayse as he quickly stood up. "You okay?"

"I’ve been better," Elma admitted.

"If you ever need to take a rest, you let me know. I wouldn’t mind taking over things from here."

"After seeing how you nearly got killed a few seconds ago? No deal. You’d be dead without me."

"Don’t I know it."

"Satisfied with your little side chat?" Maur asked after he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth off. "The longer the two of you prolong this fight, the more Varvara we gain from this city."

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"You’re right," Chayse admitted.

"Guess we’ve had about enough talk." Elma sheathed her dagger and grabbed my bow. In a few swift movements, she fired an arrow at the Acolyte and immediately reached for another one.

Unfortunately, Maur sidestepped the projectile and charged them, his blades at the ready. The next arrow that Elma managed to launch was easily deflected with a swipe of his blade. He closed the distance between them and retaliated with another slash. 

Elma jumped back. 

However, Chayse stood strong and engaged the man.

He guarded against the initial slash with his Neoframe arm, following up with a swing from his other one. Maur evaded and went for Chayse's leg. The Hunter raised it and shifted his center of gravity to his other leg to keep him balanced. 

But, the attacks didn’t stop coming.

Chayse continued to maneuver around Maur’s attacks. Impatience and irritation clearly showed on his face. He grew sloppy and went for an exaggerated attack which left him wide open. 

That's what Chayse waited for. If there was one thing, he was good at; it was annoying his opponents. That often led to people losing their composure and leaving holes in their offensive and defense. 

The second he saw the opportunity, Chayse seized the moment and planted a kick across the man’s chest. He then quickly stepped aside and presented Elma the chance to take another shot.

Elma released her arrow and watched in high hopes for it to hit the mark. Ultimately, her hopes were dashed. Maur recovered from the attack just in time to disintegrate the projectile.

An arrogant laugh leaked from him as the dust blew off into the wind. He then tried a previous technique of crumbling the ground beneath their feet. The same trick wouldn’t work on them so easily. If he had failed to get them the second time, why on Salome had he tried to do it a third time was beyond their comprehension.

From what Elma deduced about his powers, depending on the object, Maur couldn’t disintegrate something without making physical contact. It was why he had to resort to using his abilities on the ground instead. There also appeared to be a delay in the power’s activation.

"When will you Hunters learn that your arrows will have no effect on this one like last time?" Maur taunted. "This one will not hold back like before."

"Neither will we," Elma announced. "We’ll use every tactic at our disposal to bring you down."

"Judging from your quivers, the both of you combined only have about six tactics left in your arsenal. Hope you make it count."

"We will!" Chayse leaped into action. The two crossed blades many times—both parties blocked every attack. The first one to land a hit was Chayse. He struck Maur with a snap kick to the head.

Although Maur recoiled from the hit, he used the momentum to spin around and secure a well-placed kick to Chayse’s midsection, knocking him to the ground. Before Chayse could get up, he suffered through another brutal kick to his stomach. It had much more force than before. Chayse flew a few meters across the bridge. He coughed up blood once he came to a stop.

Maur moved in close to the downed Hunter, but Elma stopped him midway by shooting an arrow at him. It was reduced to dust thanks to his powers, but the woman's real goal was to keep him away from Chayse as long as possible for the man to recover.

"Two arrows left for you!" counted Maur. "Try not to waste them. Your lives are on the line after all." He stepped over Chayse and slowly approached Elma.

He suddenly stopped when he felt something clasp onto his ankle. His gaze shifted down to Chayse.

"Don’t count me out yet!" He said.

"Stay down!" Maur's face contorted in frustration as he raised his arm to stab him. As he suggested, Elma didn’t use her next arrow carelessly. It punctured Maur's hand. He dropped the dagger and stumbled back away from Chayse.

Elma rushed in and attacked. She bashed Maur in the face a few times with her bow and followed up with a sharp kick to his stomach. Before he could recover, she whacked him in the chin with my bow hard enough for him to lean back.

Maur straightened his posture, only to receive another hard strike from Elma. He recoiled from the hit, but still attempted to retaliate. Elma dodged the attack and aimed for a kick. But, that was shirked. Maur grabbed her leg and tossed the Huntress a few meters across the bridge.

"The two of you have been thorns in this one’s side for far too long! This ends now!" Maur shouted before he slammed his hands onto the ground. Chayse and Elma exchanged glances from across the bridge, knowing what was coming. 

Maur planned to take down the entire bridge.

Chayse and Elma refused to let that happen. If the Acolyte planned to end everything with his next attack, then the Hunters wanted to do the same. The two of them drew their last arrows and aimed. The arrowheads glowed brightly as they poured their Praus into it.

On command, they released the arrows. Maur jumped out of the way as expected, but it was far too late for him to escape what came afterward. The moment the tips of the arrows collided, a unique phenomenon occurred—one that could only be used by experienced Praus users.

Praus Convergence.

A challenging and powerful technique which allowed Praus users to combine and amplify their power or attacks for an allotted amount of time. It couldn't be performed by just anyone. Specific requirements must be met before anyone could consider implementing such a technique. The participants must possess a deep bond and have a complete understanding of each other. Their Praus must also be on the same wavelength, matching each other perfectly.

When successfully done, a devastating attack is unleashed. 

And devastating it was. Chayse and Elma's Praus combined into an orb which slowly expanded as more power poured into it. Eventually, all the built-up pressure inside of it couldn’t be contained, which resulted in an explosion.

Chayse and Elma remained out of range from the blast. Maur, however, wasn’t so fortunate. He was enveloped by the light in a matter of seconds. 

Once the dust settled, the Hunters found him lying on the ground, motionless. They slowly approached the man with their daggers at the ready.

They had yet to meet an opponent that could withstand the power of a Praus Convergence. But, they weren’t going to take any chances. Once they reached him, they lowered their weapons. The man made no sudden movements.

He couldn’t.

Maur was unconscious. His robes were tattered, and he suffered many burns from the attack. Elma immediately placed a subjugation collar around his neck. He couldn’t take the risk of him regaining consciousness then trying to kill them again.

"Alright! We did it! We evened the score!" Chayse cheered. Elma would've joined him, but she was far too exhausted. Soon enough, she found herself collapsed on the ground. "Elma?!"

"I’m fine, Chayse. I’m…really exhausted…" Elma assured him.

After everything they had been through for the past couple of days, she was surprised they managed to survive the ordeal. Her body ached and burned from all over. It was like all the injuries she obtained from the past few days had all came back and hit her at once.

"You and me both," agreed Chayse as he sat down next to his partner. "I don’t think we have enough strength in us to go help Runa and the others. I’d like to. But, I’ve reached my limit. Talking is proving to be a challenge."

"Then how about you do us both a favor and shut up?" Elma suggested.

"Why do you have to be so harsh?"

The Hunters exchanged glances and shared a laugh. It was odd, laughing like that without a care in the world. Perhaps they were overloaded with stress, or delirious from the overuse of their Praus. But regardless, it felt good. The two of them had shared many close calls and brushes with death before. It was nothing new.

Each time they came out on top. Chayse was an excellent partner. One that Elma planned to keep around until the day she died or retired. He’d choose retirement, but the life of a Huntress wasn’t an easy one. No matter how powerful an individual, if one could bleed, then they could be killed. Elma never planned to die. But, she wasn’t arrogant enough not to acknowledge that it could someday happen.

While unfortunate, she had no other choice but to leave the fate of the other enemies to Runa and the others.