After surveying the battlefield, Edge knew exactly where he needed to appear.

He closed the last few feet of misty terrain while raising his claw-sword over his head in a two-handed grip. Then he deactivated shadow step, still running at full speed.

The world around him snapped back into focus, the colors crisp and bright compared to the muted tones he’d seen during his approach. The reaver was standing right in front of him, poised to end Sasha’s life in between the drawing of one breath and the next.

He knew that he would come crashing to the ground a bare second later. His body wasn’t strong enough or fast enough to decelerate cleanly at this speed. Before he fell or the monster could finish its lunge, Edge took one big step and brought his blade down hard. He put everything that he had into the attack, combining the extra power provided by slash with the strength of his arms and his considerable momentum.

In that moment, he didn’t know whose strike would land first. If he was about to save a life, or watch it be extinguished.

To his relief, his weapon struck a fraction of a second faster, cutting the reaver down in a spray of putrid black blood. His high-speed slash hadn’t cost extra mana. It was two skills used back-to-back, instead of a combo. It was a good thing, since shadow step had already claimed a huge chunk of his reserves.

The impact twisted his torso, just as his foot came down. Edge stumbled and then toppled forward. He lost his grip on his blade as he went rolling across the battlefield, doing his best not to snap his neck along the way.

“What the fuck just happened?” Sasha asked with wide eyes, surprised to discover that she hadn’t been killed.

“Doesn’t matter,” Trapper replied while evading the monsters’ attacks. “Focus on the fight and worry about everything else after we win. If we lose, it’s not going to matter anyway.”

Edge wasn’t able to watch what happened over the next few seconds. All his attention was focused on breaking his roll without breaking his arms in the process.

The earth and sky changed positions with every beat of his heart, until he spread his legs wide and went skidding in the grass, eating a mouthful of dirt along the way. The instant that he regained control over his momentum, he looked up, trying to find his weapon while checking in on the fight.

He realized that his fingers hurt like hell. Without a makeshift grip, that one slash had cut his hands all the way down to the bone. But regeneration was already sealing the wounds, costing him more mana in the process. It had to be done. Start planning out your next move while you have the chance.

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By now, Sasha had moved to help Trapper, stopping one of the monsters from circling around to attack her from behind. Sasha seemed to have learned from her mistake. She was prioritizing her shield work over offense, keeping one reaver busy while Trapper dealt with the other.

Ten feet over, the men had managed to cut the monster they were fighting, but Jumo had taken a nasty slice along his forearm in exchange. He was still able to wield his spear, but his power and precision had taken a hit from the injury. Riller was looking for an opening to use his bow, but he couldn’t disengage from the reaver’s relentless assault.

On a brighter note, the beasts were kicking ass. Blue kept charging to keep the shadowreaver off balance, following up with a thrust of her horns. Meanwhile, the furry ursine circled around to the sides, chomping at the monster’s legs to hamper its mobility. Those two might win their fight without me. I should deal with the other three monsters first.

Edge only had enough mana for another dozen slashes. Maybe ten seconds of elemental blade if he timed it just right. He couldn’t afford to heal himself any more right now, so he deactivated regeneration. He would just have to deal with the pain until the fight was over.

He needed to put himself where he would do the most good, without getting his guts carved out for his trouble. Right now, the best thing he could do was distract the reaver fighting the men, so that Riller could unlimber his bow and switch to his weapon of choice.

Edge rose to his feet and picked up his blade, then started heading over to help tip the scales in their favor. Before he could close the distance, the monster went in for the kill. It drew its head back and took aim, murderous intent gleaming in its beady black eyes.

Its cruel yellow beak went surging forward half a heartbeat later, as the monster activated its lunge. Edge thought that the attack would break through the spear-wielder’s guard. Instead, he had a chance to witness a skill counter, his first time seeing one with his own eyes.

Before the reaver’s beak crossed the halfway point between them, Jumo activated a skill of his own, which was also a lunge by Edge’s best guess.

Mana swirled around Jumo’s arms and the monster’s head, as natural and manufactured weapons sped toward one another with incredible force. With a hearty thwack they collided and then came apart, their momentum carrying both combatants a few feet past each other before they regained control.

Spotting an opening, Edge rushed in from behind and swung his blade, scoring a shallow slash along one of the reaver’s muscular arms. It spun to claw him with disheartening speed. But the moment that it looked away, Jumo’s spear darted back in, forcing the monster to turn aside.

By now, the other man had reached for his bow, taking aim while putting an arrow to the string. Riller took a step back while activating an ability that made the tip of his arrow glow green, likely some manner of poison or disabling skill. He drew back his bowstring and fired, catching the reaver in the meat of its shoulder.

The monster hissed, but it didn’t go down. Hopefully, that skill will take effect quickly. The reaver is still in the fight for now, but that’s a promising development.

Since it seemed like the men could finish their opponent without him, Edge turned to help Trapper. Only to discover that the crew’s leader didn’t require his assistance after all.