William uttered a quiet incantation, his sword struck on the ground as he summoned the power of earth. Instantly, the battlefield trembled beneath his touch, cracks forming in the soil as the ground shook violently. The imp staggered, losing its footing as the tremors grew stronger.

Without missing a beat, Celeste unsheathed her blade in a blur of motion, her eyes locked onto the faltering creature. In one fluid movement, she propelled herself forward with a flash step, her form flickering out of sight. A faint shimmer of yellow light trailed in her wake, glowing for just a moment before disappearing, marking her sudden movement.

The imp blinked, disoriented, just as Celeste reappeared behind it in a burst of speed. Her sword flashed in the sunlight, slicing through the air with deadly precision.

The imp barely had time to react. In the blink of an eye, a clean, swift cut appeared across its form. Celeste landed gracefully, the faint glow of yellow light fading from her as the sound of her sword returning to its scabbard echoed softly, while the imp crumbled to the ground, defeated.

William stood back, his spell dissipating as he admired the seamlessness of their teamwork. The earth settled beneath his feet, leaving behind the scars of their battle.

The imp's body crumpled as its head rolled across the forest floor. Celeste blinks back as where she had started, sword already sheathed, her flash step completed in an instant a faint glow of yellow light still flickering from her form. The boys hadn't even seen her move.

William’s jaw dropped for a split second before quickly regaining his composure. "Nice cut, Celeste." He gave her a nod of appreciation, trying to mask his surprise at her speed and precision.

"Stay alert," Celeste said, her voice calm but firm. Her eyes scanned the tree line. Something felt off. She closed her eyes and focused, calling upon her Sanctum Sight. The world around her faded into a blur as her perception expanded beyond the visible spectrum. She felt the pulse of life forms movement, footsteps pounding toward them in frantic waves.

Her heart sank.

More than forty imps were rushing their position from the depths of the forest. They were small, but in these numbers... it could get deadly fast.

Celeste's eyes snapped open. “We’ve got company. Forty—maybe more. They’re coming from the east.” Her words came out fast but controlled, sharp with urgency.

Bryan, already tense, paled. “Forty? We’re not equipped for that!”

William gritted his teeth and slammed his sword into the ground, casting an earth tremor spell. “We need to take out as many as we can before they reach us. I’ll slow them down!” His hands moved in an intricate pattern, and the earth beneath their feet rumbled. The ground under the charging imps rippled and cracked, creating uneven footing and small fissures.

The imps closest to them stumbled, their shrieks growing frantic as they realized the danger. The quake had thrown off their momentum, but it wasn’t enough to stop them. They were still coming.

“Hold on, boys,” Celeste said, gripping the hilt of her sword. “We have no choice. We need to fight.”

William nodded. “I’ll focus on defense create barriers and enhance our strength. Franklin, Andrew, let’s try to keep them at bay. Bryan, we need your magic to cover us.”

Bryan swallowed hard and nodded, stepping back into the center of the group, his hands already glowing with the telltale orange light of a fire spell.

The trees around them rustled violently, and then the imps burst into view. Their eyes gleamed with malevolence, their crooked teeth gnashing as they rushed toward the party with reckless abandon. The air filled with their shrill, bone-chilling cries.

Celeste steeled herself, taking a deep breath. Her heartbeat slowed as she entered a state of perfect calm, her mind becoming a razor-sharp blade. The chaos around her seemed to quiet, the frantic movements of the imps slowed as her perception sharpened. Time itself felt like it bent to her will, and in the space between heartbeats, she acted.

With a flash step, she blinked forward, vanishing from sight for a mere fraction of a second. The glow of yellow light marked her swift movement as she appeared directly in front of the first imp. In an instant, her sword cut through the air, so fast it was almost invisible. The imp's head separated from its body before it could even scream. Celeste’s form flickered again, and she was back in position beside her party, her blade already sheathed.

Another imp lunged toward William, but Franklin intercepted it with a gust of wind, slicing it down with his blade. "Keep it together!" Franklin shouted, spinning his sword as air currents whipped around him. "We need to cover each other!"

Andrew, fighting on the opposite side, unleashed a flurry of wind-enhanced strikes, keeping several imps at bay. "We’ve got this! Just don’t let them close in!"

Bryan, his staff trembling, launched a series of fireballs into the approaching horde. His magic struck true, and several imps were engulfed in flames, their shrieks of agony echoing through the forest. But for every imp they killed, it seemed like two more took its place.

"There’s too many!" Bryan yelled, panic creeping into his voice.

Celeste kept her breathing steady, her movements precise as she continued cutting through the imps with her flash step and instant cut. She had already taken down ten. "We won’t hold if they keep coming like this..." she thought, frustration gnawing at her.

A sudden cry to her left made her snap her head around. Andrew had been struck an imp had broken through his defense and raked its claws across his arm, drawing blood. He staggered back, clutching his wound.

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"Andrew!" Franklin shouted, trying to cover for him, but an imp leaped at Franklin, knocking him to the ground. Before it could deliver a killing blow, Celeste flickered in front of it, her blade slicing cleanly through its chest. Blood sprayed across the ground as the creature fell.

"Get up! We need to hold the line!" Celeste barked, pulling Franklin to his feet.

William grunted as he blocked another imp’s attack with his shield, his earth magic coursing through him, fortifying his body and armor. “I can’t hold them off forever, Celeste! We need a plan!”

"We’re getting overwhelmed," she realized, her eyes darting across the battlefield. The imps were relentless, pressing them on all sides. They were skilled fighters, but the sheer numbers were threatening to crush them.

Another fireball from Bryan blasted a hole in the horde, but it wasn’t enough. They couldn’t just hold their position like this, they’d be worn down. One of the imps managed to slip through William’s defenses and raked its claws across his leg, leaving a bloody gash. William cursed but didn’t falter, keeping his shield raised.

“Damn it!” Celeste muttered under her breath. She couldn’t leave her position or they’d lose the defense they had set up, but if she didn’t do something soon, they were going to get overwhelmed. The imps would break through, and it would all be over.

Panic welled up inside her. Her breathing quickened. “What do we do? If we retreat, they’ll chase us down. But if we stay"

Her eyes flicked to her party William, gritting his teeth as he held the line, Franklin and Andrew fighting back-to-back with their wind-enhanced blades, Bryan desperately casting fireballs from the center.

"They’re all depending on me..."

Celeste’s mind raced. She had the power to end this to unleash her full strength and wipe out the entire horde in an instant. But she couldn’t. Not here. Not now. She had already drawn too much attention at the guild. She couldn’t afford to reveal what she was truly capable of.

But if she didn’t do something soon, her party members would die.

"Focus," she told herself, forcing the panic down. She needed to think clearly. There had to be another way.

Her eyes narrowed as she assessed the battlefield. "We need to thin them out before they overwhelm us."

Celeste's grip tightened around her sword. "William, I need you to create a stronger barrier something that can funnel them toward me. Franklin, Andrew use your wind magic to keep them contained. We need to control their numbers!"

William, though injured, nodded and slammed his sword into the ground again. “Got it! I’ll create a stone wall force them into a bottleneck!” The earth rumbled again, and jagged rocks rose from the ground, forming a semi-circle around the party. The imps were now funneled into a narrower path.

Franklin and Andrew raised their swords, wind swirling around them as they used their magic to further herd the imps toward the opening in the barrier.

"Bryan, conserve your magic for when they’re in range. I’ll handle the rest."

Bryan nodded, though fear still flickered in his eyes. "Just tell me when."

Celeste drew her sword again, her eyes hardening with determination. She would use her flash step and instant cut, but this time, she had to be even faster. "Time to end this."

The imps charged, funneled into the narrow gap by the barrier and wind magic. Celeste breathed in deeply, her body stilling as she focused all her energy. And then she moved.

With blinding speed, she flickered forward, a streak of yellow light cutting through the horde. In one fluid motion, her blade sliced through six imps, their bodies collapsing before they even knew what hit them. She blinked back to her original position, her sword once again in its sheath. The imps screamed in panic, their numbers rapidly dwindling.

"Now, Bryan!" she shouted.

Bryan raised his staff, casting a massive fireball that exploded in the midst of the imps. The remaining creatures shrieked as they were consumed by the flames, their bodies turning to ash.

The forest fell silent, save for the crackle of dying embers. Celeste exhaled slowly, her heartbeat finally returning to normal. The fight was over.

The forest fell into an eerie silence as the final imp fell, its body dissolving into ash at Celeste's feet. Her sword, still gleaming from the fight, was once again sheathed at her side. She stood tall, her breath steady despite the chaos that had just transpired, but her mind raced. The others were less composed, their faces pale, hands shaking slightly as the adrenaline coursing through their bodies slowly faded.

Then

Clap. Clap. Clap.

A slow, deliberate clapping echoed through the trees, cutting through the silence like a knife.

The party of five snapped their heads toward the source. High up in the canopy, perched on a thick branch, sat a man, casually watching them with a faint smirk on his lips. His eyes glowed with electric blue light, and a crackling aura of lightning hummed around him.

“I was planning on finishing this area’s corrupted creatures, but it looks like some of them slipped by and ran here. My apologies.” His tone was light, almost amused.

Celeste’s eyes widened. That voice... that aura...

It was the Thunder Knight, Raynor.

The group stood frozen, the weight of exhaustion pressing heavily on their bodies, but the shock of Raynor’s sudden appearance had jolted them into a wary awareness. William’s grip tightened on his sword, though his body trembled slightly, his wounds from the battle still fresh. Bryan swallowed hard, staring up at the man in disbelief.

“T-That’s Raynor... the Thunder Knight,” Franklin stammered, barely able to keep his voice steady.

Before anyone could react further, a guttural growl sounded from behind Celeste. Her heart skipped a beat. One of the imps, half of its body severely burned, was charging directly toward her, its bloodshot eyes filled with murderous rage. Time seemed to slow again as Celeste instinctively reached for her sword, preparing to unsheathe it for another instant cut. But before she could even grip the hilt.

Crackle!

A sharp, electric hiss filled the air. A thin line of lightning shot across her vision, going to the imp position.

Raynor, who had been seated lazily on the tree, vanished in an instant. A faint crackle of electricity remained where he had been, like a fading afterimage. Celeste whipped around, only to find him standing behind them, his right hand casually gripping the imp’s severed head.

The party gasped, stepping back instinctively.

In Raynor’s left hand was a grotesque, jagged dagger, its edges crackling with faint bolts of electricity. He tossed the imp’s head into the air with a careless flick of his wrist, catching it in one hand while spinning the dagger in the other. The casual display of power, combined with his calm, almost bored demeanor, sent chills down Celeste’s spine.

“He... He moved faster than I could see...” she thought, her mind racing. “What in the actual fuck is this guy?!”

Raynor let the imp’s head drop to the ground with a soft thud, then turned to face them, his eyes glowing faintly. The dagger in his left hand dissolved into thin air, sparks of electricity dancing in its place before vanishing completely.

Celeste’s breath caught in her throat. “Did he... Did he just make his weapon disappear?!” She had never seen magic like that before, and it both fascinated and terrified her.

The boys William, Franklin, Andrew, and Bryan stood frozen, still gasping for air from the fight, their bodies trembling. They knew they were safe, but Raynor’s presence was... oppressive. His aura wasn’t just powerful; it was suffocating, like a storm that threatened to consume everything in its path.

Raynor took a slow, deliberate step toward them, his eyes sweeping over the battlefield. His expression was unreadable, but there was something dangerous behind his gaze.

“An F-rank party handling and even finishing a D-rank situation.” His voice was smooth, but there was an edge to it, a commanding authority that made it impossible not to listen. “I’m very impressed.” He paused, glancing at the aftermath of the battle the scattered bodies of the imps, the scorched earth from Bryan’s fireballs, the blood staining William’s armor.

Raynor’s lips curled into a slight smile. “The Obsidian Order would be happy to have competent warriors like you. And the Emperor would appreciate your service.”

The four boys stiffened, exchanging shocked glances with each other. The Obsidian Order? One of the most elite, feared organizations in eripia? Their eyes widened in disbelief, struggling to comprehend what was happening.

They quickly bowed, pressing their right hands to their chests in a gesture of respect. “Thank you, Sergeant Major Raynor! We accept your invitation to join the Order!” William's voice was filled with excitement, his earlier exhaustion momentarily forgotten.

Celeste stared at them in shock. “What... Are they serious?” Her mind was reeling, still trying to process what had just happened. “The Obsidian Order? I guess that is really want they want” She felt a pang of disbelief, unsure if she should feel proud or worried for her companions.

Before she could voice her thoughts, Raynor’s sharp gaze turned to her.

“And what about you, little missy?” His voice was softer now, almost teasing, but there was no mistaking the weight behind his words. “None of this would have been possible without your skills and your commanding presence. So, what’s your decision?”

The intensity of his stare was suffocating. Celeste felt her heart race, her mind scrambling to find the right words. She didn’t want to join the Obsidian Order. That much was clear to her. But what could she say to refuse a man like Raynor without drawing more attention to herself? She couldn’t risk revealing too much, especially not now.

She opened her mouth, trying to form an excuse. “Well, the truth is...” Her words faltered as her mind raced. What do I even say?! Celeste though.

Just as she was about to speak, a sudden gust of wind blew through the clearing, rustling their clothes and hair. The tension in the air shifted, drawing everyone’s attention.

A figure emerged from the trees, running toward them with surprising speed. The man had two swords strapped to his waist, and his eyes were sharp with urgency.

“Sergeant Major Raynor! Am I late? What the hell happened here?” the man shouted, his voice filled with concern as he approached the group.

Raynor didn’t turn to face him immediately. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on Celeste, his lips curling into an almost amused smile.