“TS, Tiffany, do not argue run now!” Cal screamed to his companions as eight Gryalth appeared in front of them from thin air. Each of them was standing on a circle of force that kept them suspended above ground. These were the real monsters that started to show in force anytime they tried to fight back, and without magic, the other two had no chance against them. Cal was just glad he was able to get the words out before the spells began raining down on him.
Before anything could land, he charged the particles of the air around him, pushing as much mana from his core as quickly as he could without knocking himself unconscious. The various attacks from the Gryalth began to ricochet off his makeshift shield, bounding around the chamber, creating a chaos of energies. That bought Cal some time to think. Did this mean the grove had fallen, and they were focused on him? Or did it just mean the last week of stalking their forces through the tunnels before springing devastating attacks had finally caught up to them? Either way, it didn’t matter. He needed to survive this if he could help it. It was still too early to restart the loop.
“Bet you’re all really confused at the sight of a human on Pluto, huh?” Cal yelled to them as he tossed balls of lightning around the room to increase the chaos. “Didn’t expect any of us to be off planet, let alone here at your secret base?” He didn’t expect any answers, and none came. He had no intention of letting that shut him up.
First, though, he had to deal with the Gryalth that had just appeared beside him, holding a humming red energy blade in front of itself. “Fancy,” Cal said as he slammed his foot onto the ground, pushing a burst of mana through it and causing the ground below the Gryalth to shake violently. As it fought to regain its footing, Cal seized the moment to hit it in the chest with a lightning-enhanced punch. He followed up by ripping the blade free of its hands and stabbing it deep into its previous owner before the energy had a chance to fade.
As the Gryalth screamed in response, it also erupted in a fire that burnt from ears and eyes. Cal was glad he hadn’t given it a chance to use the weapon on himself. “One down,” he yelled. This time, his yell was answered by three blasts of fire from above. He threw himself to one side with the help of Sleek’s new mana, skating over the ground as he moved. Still, he barely escaped the fire and felt the searing heat as he dodged.
Forming the shape of a giant ball in his mind, he started to pour in both void and electric mana while holding it from fully manifesting until he was ready to launch it. He looked above his head and spotted more incoming fire. That was precisely what he was looking for. He ran out of the fire’s path and pulled his new mana bomb into existence from his core, shooting it off to where the fire had come from less than a second before.
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For a brief moment, all the air in the cave seemed to be pulled towards the roof as his void mana first imploded. Then, the core of his bomb, the lightning mana, exploded outward in a dazzling light show that was likely to kill anyone it touched. Around Cal, four bodies crashed to the ground, lifeless. The force of the implosion had caved in all of their chests. “Four more down!” he further taunted his attackers. He just needed to find the last three.
Moments after the taunt, he felt his whole body lock into place. Any attempt to move his limbs felt like a herculean effort, and he just wasn’t up to the task. He realized his mistake too late. Below his feet, there was a runic symbol etched into the ground, and he had blundered directly into it. For all he knew, this was always the intended trap, and the others were the direction. He tried to curse, but not even those words could escape his frozen lips.
Instead, he had a new idea. He tried to ignore the world around him as his death closed in and instead focused intensely on the mana is his core. Just a little earth mana was all he needed to break the symbol below him. He pushed until he thought his head was going to explode, but nothing came. Just as he resigned himself to his fate and the end of the loop he felt himself suddenly free of the trap. His limbs were working normally again. What had caused that?
Cal ignited all the remaining bits of electrical mana, humming across the cave, flaring it briefly into a blinding light. His eyes quickly found what had happened. His savior was resting on the bodies of three dead Gryalth. “I thought I told you to run,” Cal said at the sight.
“At what point during this journey did you think I started to consider you in charge? I may have realized you aren’t the issue I initially thought. I may even see you as a comrade, which certainly means I won’t run and leave you to your fate. I did initially back away and observe to see just how dangerous this new threat was, and the moment you no longer had it under control I joined the fray. You are welcome,” Third Smashed explained smugly.
“Alright, yeah, you’re right. Thank you, I won’t assume I’m in charge of you or underestimate what you are capable of in the future. Do you know where Tiffany is?” Cal had to remember that as far as they may have come, Third Smasher and he were not anything like his friends and family.
“I’m here,” Tiffany’s voice came from a small hole in one of the cavern walls. Unlike Third Smasher, I decided to heed your order.”
“Come on out. It’s safe for now. Well, at least as safe as it ever is. We don’t have time for any more Gryalth stalking. We’ve gotta cut straight through to the grove. I don’t know why they sent such a powerful group at us, but I’m more worried than ever,” Cal sighed as he looked around the cavern at the carnage.