Lytharos grunted in approval, stepping forward like a juggernaut. His sheer presence was overwhelming, and his blows left corrupted fighters crumpled on the ground. A massive right hook sent one careening into two others, the impact leaving a dull echo in the arena.
Elliot kept pace with the veteran, his more fluid and agile style complementing Lytharos’s brute strength. While Lytharos cleared space with powerful, deliberate strikes, Elliot weaved in and out, striking with precision and speed.
One corrupted fighter lunged at Elliot from the side, but he sidestepped gracefully, catching the attacker’s wrist mid-swing. With a twist and a swift kick to the legs, he sent the fighter tumbling to the ground.
“You fight well,” Lytharos remarked, landing a crushing downward punch that left the ground beneath his target cracked.
“So do you,” Elliot replied with a small grin, narrowly blocking an incoming strike with his forearm before spinning into a counter-kick. Despite the chaos, a strange sense of camaraderie formed between the two as they fought side by side, holding their ground against the corrupted swarm.
Rhys and Kade rushed to aid the young woman, who stood amidst a cluster of corrupted fighters. Despite being outnumbered, her stance was firm, and her movements precise. A staff spun in her hands, striking with calculated precision to keep her attackers at bay.
“I don’t need help,” she snapped, her voice carrying over the chaos as she twirled her staff to deflect a blade aimed at her side. She retaliated with a quick upward thrust, sending the corrupted warrior reeling.
“Too bad,” Rhys replied, dodging a wild swing and countering with a sharp uppercut that left his opponent crumpling to the ground. “We’re short on backup, so you’re stuck with us.”
The girl didn’t respond immediately, focusing instead on sweeping her staff low and knocking two attackers off their feet. She stepped forward, delivering a brutal overhead strike that landed with a resounding crack, incapacitating one of them.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Kade joined the fray, seamlessly covering her blind spot as another corrupted fighter tried to flank her. With a fluid motion, he stepped in and delivered a side kick that sent the attacker flying back into the crowd.
“You’re efficient,” Kade noted, catching a punch aimed at him and countering with a devastating knee strike to the attacker’s stomach.
“Not bad yourself,” the girl admitted grudgingly, as she and Rhys moved in tandem to handle a larger foe. Rhys ducked under a wide swing and landed a punch to the enemy’s side, while she followed up with a spinning kick that connected with the corrupted fighter’s jaw. The combined force of their attack sent him crashing to the ground.
“You’ve got a name?” Rhys asked, stepping in to block an incoming attack meant for her. He parried the strike, spun around, and delivered a powerful elbow to his opponent’s temple.
“It’s Seris,” she said curtly, her staff a blur as it cracked against another corrupted fighter’s knees, dropping them instantly.
“Seris, huh? I’m Rhys,” he replied, sidestepping an attacker and landing a clean hook to their ribs.
“Kade,” the other boy chimed in, calmly deflecting a sword strike with his arm guard before countering with a precise palm strike to the chest that sent his opponent stumbling backward.
“Nice to meet you, I guess,” Seris muttered, her tone more focused on the fight than the introductions. She spun her staff again, the air hissing as it cut through the space in a flawless arc, taking down another corrupted warrior.
Despite her earlier dismissal, it was clear that the combined efforts of Rhys and Kade were helping her manage the onslaught. The three moved in sync now, a seamless blend of her staff’s sweeping strikes, Rhys’s explosive punches, and Kade’s calculated kicks and counters.
As the corrupted fighters began to thin out, Seris finally glanced at them, a flicker of grudging respect in her eyes. “Fine. Maybe I didn’t need help, but it wasn’t the worst thing to have.”
“We’ll take that as a thank-you,” Rhys said with a smirk, already preparing for the next wave.
The corrupted essence thickened into a swirling purple fog, clouding their vision and making it hard to discern friend from foe. The heavy air seemed to pulse with a sinister energy.
For a brief moment, there was an eerie stillness.
Towan broke the silence, his voice tense, "Looks like we’ve cleared them out... right?"
Axel gave a grim nod, but Elliot’s eyes remained scanning the fog, concern clear in his voice. "What happened? Why were all of these fighters corrupted?"