"Hold on!" Erik tugged on Oscar's jacket. "I want to help them too, but how will we get down in time?"

Erik's worry rang true for Oscar, who started tapping on the grass growing atop the branch. The fight below looked to be even, but only because the reds were buying time for their reinforcements to come, and that time would be soon. Oscar knew if they did not move soon, their allies would be slaughtered.

However, the distance down was very large and daunting. Any attempt to scale down it in seconds seemed impossible unless one used drastic measures. Frowning upon this fact, Oscar pondered about the way down as fast he could while Austin sharpened his dagger and Erik sat nervously.

"I got it," Oscar opened his eyes, gazing down at the battle below before turning to his friends. The sun shone brightly and illuminated his obsidian hair, but his eyes gleamed with a hint of apology but also determination. His friends realized the meaning of his expression and frowned. "Follow my lead."

His Ein flowed freely and focused next to him, forming his deer anima. Its blue metal antlers sparkled from the bright morning sun. Oscar got on his anima and waved the others to join him. "Austin, use your dark tendrils to lower us as much as possible; we need to drop from the lowest point possible."

Just then, Austin's eyes went wider than ever before; even his indifferent expression cracked as his cheeks twitched from the realization of Oscar's plan. His voice trembled as he pointed at Oscar. "Are you serious?"

Oscar smiled with a crazed look. "It'll work. We have already climbed up with our own crazy means; let's head down the same way and save our fellow students. Or do you have a different opinion as a soldier?"

Austin shook his head and a flat smile formed on his face. "It will be disgraceful to abandon them."

"I don't know what you're thinking, but if we can get down and save them, I'm in." Erik declared with his hands clenched and his eyes flaming with resolve.

"Then we're off," Oscar ordered his deer anima to fall off the edge, but they did not crash down and moved at a slower pace with Austin's dark tendrils wrapped around them and a tough leaf stem. Once they reached a certain distance below the branch, Austin informed them this was his limit.

"Let go of your spell and quickly wrap it around us." Oscar tightened his grip on his deer anima.

Austin nodded and snapped the dark tendrils off the leaf steam.

Oscar felt a rush of air try to explode its eye up his nose and flap his eyelids. His face was distorted from the harsh winds that built up from their speed down. If not for Austin's dark tendrils wrapping everyone and binding them to his deer anima, they might have lost control and fallen off.

"This is the moment!" A third of the way down, Oscar's deer anima floated closer to the large trunk of the elder tree and placed its metal hooves on its bark. A loud screech, which typically occurs when two smooth metal objects scrape against each other, came out from this contact. Sparks flew out like a raging waterfall, and smoke hissed from the deer anima's hooves as the deer anima continued to fall.

"Erik! Use your flames to try to counteract the fall."

Now it was Erik's turn. Erik commanded his gauntlet animas to hold up from below as flames burst from the opposite side. With the combination of Oscar's deer anima scrapping against the large trunk to lose momentum and Erik's counterforce from his flames, they finally slowed up about a third of the way down.

"We're right above." Oscar wiped some blood from his lips because of his deer anima's injuries from scraping the hooves. He looked down to see the battle more clearly since they were closer; it was still ongoing. "This is it. I will order the deer anima to leap off this point, and we all crash onto one of the enemies."

"Thought so." Austin shook his head but with an icy gaze.

"Shit." Erik cursed.

"Hang on down below; we'll be there in a moment," Oscar said while looking at his fellow students fighting below.

…….

"Guh!" Kelvin was blown back by a fierce blow, causing him to stagger back. Fortunately, the blow did not get past his guard, leaving him unharmed, but he cursed out loud at his failure. No matter what he tried, the enemies from the Undying Flame Sect did not allow him to leave, keeping him contained with his group.

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"Are you alright, Kelvin!" Susan sent out a stream of water that cleansed Kelvin, recovering his stamina and healing the small scrapes and cuts across his body. She bit her lips, about to cry, thinking about how much they suffered from trying to get out but to no avail.

"Uren, Esther!" Kelvin shouted as more spells came forth from their enemy. The other two that faced the other side moved and put up defensive spells to deter as many attacks as possible while Kelvin slashed with his sword to force his way through.

However, a flurry of spells came out from the side. Kelvin could not allow this spell to hit, swinging his sword to cut through the attacks, but he exposed his back. Blood splurted out his back as he fell to the floor.

"Kelvin!" The three others yelled as they saw their friend fall to the floor.

"Oi! We are not supposed to kill them. We need to take them back for information." One of the people in the red uniform of the Undying Flame Sect scolded another.

"I didn't make it so powerful. That guy is still breathing." The other responded.

Susan, Uren, and Esther trembled but kept their weapons ready. They cursed the situation they were in. Susan, in particular, looked aggrieved at Kelvin, who was breathing weakly on the floor with blood spilling from his back.

They entered the ruins early morning to explore and find anything, but they did not expect to run into five Undying Flame Sect students. They tried to run, but the students encircled them, with the fifth acting as the rear guard to deter and support anyone having trouble. Susan and the others fought hard but were run ragged by their constant barrage.

"Don't worry, my fellows of the Blue Ocean Pavilion. We will take you alive, and if you give us adequate information, we may allow you to leave."

"Shut up!" Esther shouted as she drew an arrow on her bow, her fox anima staying close by with a snarl. "We won't give up."

"T-that's right!" Susan stuck her staff anima, one that resembled a magician's staff with a large round tip with a blue gem inside, into the floor. The water swelled up from the bottom, creating a pool that reached her friends, including Kelvin. The waters glowed as their wounds began to heal, but Kelvin was still unable to stand up.

Uren coughed out blood and picked up his mace armament as his eagle anima flew around. "It's too bad. I wish I could have confessed before I died."

"Confess?" Esther blushed and shouted, "Are you serious at a time like this?"

"No better time than now. I loved you from the moment we met." Uren said with a weak smile with chuckles of blood. The healing worked, but the excess blood was still caught in his throat.

"Hahaha!" Susan laughed and stared at the five Undying Flame Sect members surrounding them. "Sounds like none of us are willing to go with you."

"It doesn't matter. You will come with us. How ignorant." One spoke with confidence. "We have our means to make you comply."

The five surged their Eins and stepped forward with their animas from every angle.

"Come then!" Susan, Esther, and Uren shouted.

Their raging Eins collided against the others, and they were all about to fight when they suddenly heard something from above. Everyone from both sides looked up, but suddenly three blurs landed right atop three of the Undying Flame Sect members.

One was burnt and crushed into burnt remains.

Another was sliced through the neck, and their body was crushed onto the floor.

The third became a splattered mass of blood and crushed flesh with cracks forming from where they stood.

"Oscar! That was one crazy plan!" Erik shouted and stood up from the ashes and burnt flesh. He spat out repeatedly. "I think I got some of him in my mouth."

"It worked, so I guess it's ok." Austin sliced off his target's head, whose chest was caved in from Austin's fall.

Over at the pool of blood and guts, Oscar got off his bulwark after using it to cushion his fall and kill his target. None of the blood got on him from the crash, but now his feet stepped onto the red pool, dying his brown shoes red. "We're alive and saved them; what else can I ask for?"

Susan, Esther, and Uren stared with wide eyes, and jaws dropped at the sudden event. They could not believe this was real, but seeing the blue uniforms of the Pavilion adorning these strangers, they couldn't help but feel tears welling up in their eyes, spilling to the ground. "Reinforcements!"

"What the hell!!!" The remaining two Undying Flame Sect members realized how bad the situation was and retreated as fast as they could.

Oscar and the others wanted to give chase, but the shock of the fall had made their legs weak for a moment. It would take a short time to recover, allowing the two to retreat despite their attempts to use ranged spells. The quick defensive response of the retreaters deterred their attempts.

After they left, Esther plopped to her knees, crying and laughing in joy. "Thank you for coming! We would have been dead or worse."

"No problem." Oscar sighed and turned to the fallen Kelvin. "He's still alive. We need to retreat as fast as possible."

"Why?" Susan asked while Uren helped Esther up.

"We came from above and saw another group of Undying Flame Sect students," Oscar explained. "Staying here is bad. We need to run or be ready to fight."

"There are more?!" Susan shouted.

"There they are!" Voices came from behind the ruins, and Oscar rallied their makeshift group to be ready for battle. They quickly formed a formation to protect Esther, Kelvin, and Susan in the back. Oscar realized Susan was a healer and Esther was a ranged fighter, making them perfect to be behind while Kelvin could not get up.

"Hmmm? How interesting, some people just dropped from above, you say?" A clear, soothing voice like a song resounded as the enemies appeared.

Oscar counted eight of them, including the two that ran away earlier. But his concern came from the woman who stood in the center, a dangerous feeling that elevated his alert as he slowly dropped his body into a lower stance.

The woman had white hair like the sun's rays, red eyes resembling rubies, and a small smile that enticed everyone's hearts. Her smile deepened upon seeing Oscar's group, and her laughter flowed like a melody, pleasing and soothing to the ear. She wore the uniform of the Undying Flame Sect, but her red skirt had cuts on the side to reveal more of her enticing figure, and her low-cut red top resembled Emily's but with an enchanting slit on the chest.

"Nice to meet you. Now come with me!" The woman cheerfully clapped her hands.