‘We definitely can’t face both Sylvia and Zora’s team here…’

If we’re caught in a pincer attack between these two, the only possible outcome is losing the flag, and that’s if we’re lucky. At worst, they’ll eliminate one or two of us before leaving. The choice should then be to leave immediately, but as Sophia pointed out, Zora won’t allow us to escape that easily.

‘Stuck between a rock and a hard place…’

Looking at the team bickering in front of us, I can’t imagine we have much more time before their attention is brought back to the task, and to be completely honest, I have a feeling they’re only putting on an act to see what we’ll do.

Camille speaks through the communicator.[I-I have an idea… But I need some time… If I-]

“Enough! We’ll continue this discussion later!!” The titanesque woman says before channeling her [melody] and having her body grow three times its previous size.

With no more than three steps, Jasmine bridges the few dozen meters separating us and bee lines straight for me. Before I can even say anything, a palm, which blocks the sun itself, descends toward me, aiming to turn me into a stain on the sand.

‘Why me?!’

Hastily, I prepare to defend myself using my aegis, but Sophia intervenes promptly. Cold mist propates from her mouth and a large icy bridge arcs over me, standing in the path of Jasmine’s palm.

With a grunt, Sophia commands Camille. “Whatever you were planning on doing, do it now! I trust you Camille!”

With much effort, the ice bridge rises into the air and repels Jasmine, sending her tumbling backward and prompting her to assume her normal size. As she grabs her warchord, seemingly ready to get serious, an arrow flies through the air, heading straight for Camille. In response, wings sprout from Ugo’s back and he begins his flight to intercept it, but the arrow crosses path with one of Ray’s specially made bullets. Normally, that would be enough to stop an arrow coming from a melo-string, but Adam’s arrow’s are special. When the two are on the cusp of coming into contact, a repelling force, with the arrow as a nexus, is exerted. Yet, Adam’s efforts are still thwarted.. At the slightest disturbance from the repelling force, Ray’s bullet explodes and vaporizes the arrow.

After the short scuffle, the calmness returns, but the tension does not disappear. A michevious grin appears on Sophia’s face, similar to the one she had shown in the selection event, and she shouts.

“If you want our flag, you’ll have to come and take it!!!” She says before fully drawing her sharpsong, and manifesting the full might of her ability.

“That was the plan before ya said it!!” Zora shouts in response.

And with those words, a full out brawl ensues where all engage in confrontation. Ugo is flying through the air, and though he wanted to face Alex, he ends up fighting Jasmine, who, it turns out, can selectively gigantify different parts of her body. It seems she’s understood that making herself bigger, only makes her a bigger target in front of Ugo. The battle field is filled with flying projectiles form both Adam and Ray who provide support, but also attack each other. They effectively destabilize the brawl and make the battle that much more difficult on both sides. Sophia and I are teaming up against Alex and Clayton, the latter being able to dent my shield with a mere graze of his energy blade. They seem to work well together.

I get hit a few times by the energy blade, but any wound I receive, I return in kind. Sohpia supports me with ice constructs, and I support her with my shield. I’ve explained to Sophia that nipping away at Alex is useless, he’ll just heal himself from scrapes indefinitely. Hence, while we do fend off Alex, we focus all truly deadly attacks on Clayton.

Alex, however, quickly catches onto us, and interferes if he must. If Clayton is on the verge of falling behind and receiving a dire injury, he steps in the way, putting his body on the line, because he knows he can heal. Judging from his boldness, he must be the vanguard. Zora, for her part, heads straight for Camille, who encloses herself in a cage of the toughest, pureflow reinforced wood she has at her disposal. It won’t last long, and Zora seems to have adapted a stance for a special attack. I want to help, but Clayton and Alex won’t let me.

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[How long still on that plan Camille?! I don’t know if you can tell, but the girl with purple hair is about to break through with that next attack and no one can help you!] Ray exclaims, agitated.

[I-it should take effect anytime soon!]

Her words reassure me, but as soon as relief sets in, an arrow flies toward my head, this one blood red. Tendrils sprout from it, threatening to trap me. Not wanting to be restrained, I am forced to divert my attention and deflect it with my sharpsong, allowing Clayton to split my aegis in two, putting a large dent in my flow reserves.

My gaze shifts to where the arrow was shot from and my expression turns somber.“They’re here….” I say.

Their arrival seems to have put the battle on pause indicating that I’m not the only one to have noticed. The desert dust we have kicked up around us settles and five figures emerge from it.

A man with flowy black hair and blood red eyes is the first to speak. “May we join the party?” He says, with his melo-string drawn.

A soft voice resounds not too far from him. “Long time no see see, Alden.”

Her beige skin matches the color of the sand while her piercing green eyes contrast it.

‘Ivana…’

Sophia turns toward the intruding team. “Well well well… if it isn’t Ms. Number two and her lackeys.”

The provocation falls on deaf ears, or at least it appears so. “I’m afraid we’ll have to take the flag from your team, Ms. Thunderblade.” Sylvia says, her golden hair tied in a ponytail behind her and her warchord resting on her shoulder.

She emerges from the swirling dust like a mirage meant to lead travelers astray or perhaps more like a goddess descending onto the battlefield. The harsh desert sun surrounds her in a radiant halo, giving her an ethereal glow and forcing the sand around her to turn golden, as if nature itself bends to get closer to her. Even the wind seems to stop, as if holding its breath.

“It’s the FullCastle…”

“Great… just what we needed.” Zora grumbles, eyes narrowing at Sylvia. “Damn…do ya always have ta look so good Goldie locs…”

“This just got a whole lot more complicated didn’t it…” Ray mutters.

For my part, I find her name escaping my lips, almost involuntarily. “Sylvia…!!”

Feyrin, who accompanies her, perhaps even standing too closely, strokes his chin. “We can be civilized about it! How about this, the team with the giant over there leaves while your team kindly gives us the flag without any resistance!”

Reluctantly, I suppress my desire to witness Sylvia’s mesmerizing figure any longer. I then ignore Feyrin’s inquiry, and speak through my communicator. [Camille! Any day now…!!]

She ignores me, and my question is left unanswered

A man with white hair and skin darker than mine steps through the dust. He stands close to Feyrin, friends perhaps. “They’re scheming something, I just intercepted a communication. I suggest we wrap this up quickly Lady FullCastle”

Finally, an [echoed], follows behind them. This one hovers slightly above the ground while possessing no wings. It resembles a rhinoceros, but with three horns, matte black skin, and two large fangs protruding from its upper mouth. “They couldn’t escape even if they wanted to. Not if we have this beast here…. Also, does anyone else smell this…?” Says a woman whom I notice is riding the [echoed].

‘The beast tamer, Talyndra Silverside. It seems this one is at the very least echotoned… maybe even echoluminous judging from its sheer size.’

Sophia grins, ignoring Talyndra’s question. “I’ll tell you all exactly what I told them… if you want the flag, come and get it!”

Feyrin sighs in response and pulls on the chord of his melo-string. “Ahhh, diplomacy is lost on you all, truly. Oh well, at least I tried!”

It seems another brawl will start, but before Feyrin can release his attack, the ground trembles, and Camille speaks through her communicator.

[They’re coming!! Get ready to run!]

The tremors startle Zora who hurls questions at Camille in Response. “What’s going on!? I knew that smell coming from ya was bad news, what did ya do?!” Zora shouts at Camille.

Confusion fills everyone’s face, but I know what has happened, and Zora’s comment about the smell confirms it.

A dune forms from the sand, growing bigger and bigger, towering over even Jasmine in her fully gigantified form. From it, a terryging entity emerges. With rows of teeth within its mouth, no eyes, ears, or sensory organs so to speak, its worm-like body protrudes from the sand, its head facing straight toward the humans traveling its territory.

Naturally, everyone’s attention is drawn to it, but Talyndra is the first to speak. She stutters in disbelief. “M-mythical creature, Sandworm…!! Where did they even find this thing…?!”

[Is this your doing Camille?] Ugo asks through his communicator.

[Y-yes, but I didn’t think something like that would show up…!!]

Its presence changes things entirely. As an [echoed], it will inevitably attack any [enlightened] it sees. We’re not at a level where we can ignore something like the sandworm, who at a glance, is an echoluminous creature, among the strongest of its kind. This means that we won’t be able to fight each other. The others will be forced to forget about us for the moment.

‘Haha… extreme but… good job Camille…!!’

The ground trembles again. Another dune forms and a second sandworm emerges, then a third, then a fourth. My smile gradually fades.

[Camille! Stop calling them here!] Ray yells.

[I can’t! I used a variation of the corpse flower to send out the strongest signal I could! At my level, I didn't think I’d call over four echoluminous [echo-blessed] beasts no matter how hard I tried!!]

Once more, tremors ripple through the sand and the fifth sandworm makes its presence known. They all stare down on us.

My gaze and Sylvia’s, who had gotten closer since her first appearance, meet, and she lets out a dry laugh before turning her attention back to the sandworms. “Haha… That’s slightly excessive, wouldn’t you say Alden?”

I shrug. “Go big or go home… right?”

‘Does that saying even work here…I want to go home….’