It was a good thing that Fray Passage was S-Grade now. That meant that effective distance for even one charge of the skill would carry her well over a hundred paces. She’d only ended one charge of the skill against the other two, so when the third member threw down his strange ability, Rieren still had enough of Fray Passage left to shoot forward.

This let her evade the worst of the subsequent blast. The jaws of enormous, fiery serpent head crashed together where Rieren had been less than a heartbeat ago. At their immediate contact, a roiling firestorm exploded outwards.

That blast was much harder to dodge. If Rieren kept going with Fray Passage, she would have ended up straight at her third enemy’s position, which she was loathe do.

Instead, she did her best to twist around and use Earthfall Blade deflect away the worst of the impact. But this was a continuous outpouring of heat and power. She was seared, skin and clothes both burning away in a matter of seconds, though she was fast enough to draw on her Domain to dampen the worst of the heat with a quick application of cooling water.

“You survived,” the third one said as the firestorm finally began to fade. “Fast, aren’t you? And not just physically. You’ve got a pretty high Mind. And you’re healing up pretty quickly too… intriguing.”

Rieren turned enough to see him properly for the first time. His long hair was a fiery red, matching the fires dancing around him, and his sharp blue eyes danced with a dangerous light. The golden robes he wore were different from both the armour Astosind wore and the woman’s plain fare. Unlike Rieren’s recruits, these three had no outward expression of solidarity.

Now that she could finally take the time to take note of her surroundings, she found that the exit from the last little grove had opened up to an even larger clearing. This one had a small stream running through it, with the canopy spread apart enough to see the sky.

“Out of my way,” Rieren said. “I have no quarrel with you or your companions. If it is your intention to steal the tokens of other teams, you are only reducing your chances through this foolish endeavour.”

“Is that right?”

“Of course. This battle is pointless. Even if you do somehow manage to claim one of my tokens, you will have taken up far too much time. For all we know, several teams might have already made their way to the designated areas.”

“We both know we would have been told if any major progress had been made. Since we’ve received no such warning, I think we’re all safe for now. Now, if you wanted to talk about handing over your token in return for your life, we may discuss. Otherwise…”

He raised his arms. A strange smell swept through the area. It wasn’t a terrible stench, but it did make Rieren wrinkle her nose a little bit. This was… gunpowder?

Little explosions went off in the air. Pops and sparks fired off in strange, luminous patterns all over the area. Moments later, they began forming shapes. Like…

“Fireworks,” the third one said. “That’s right, my Domain creates works of living fire.”

The first patterns formed gigantic birds. Old stories spoke of mythical firetail birds, who were supposedly large enough for people to ride on. Of course, it was only cultivators who could withstand their immense natural heat who could have gotten aboard such creatures.

These were clearly modeled after the same. Purple wings extended out in a wingspan at least three times Rieren’s height, while a green crest rose from the birds’ heads like horns, all of which were constructed from flames.

Rieren summoned her Domain at the same time. Water materialized next to her.

“Why’d you have to go on and tell her everything about your Domain, Falvain?” Ledorne said from behind Rieren.

“It’s not like it would have made a difference,” Falvain said. He smirked at Rieren. “Now would it?”

Instead of letting Rieren answer, he simply let his companions join in and emphasize the point. She sensed their movements, of course. Her electroreception was firing off.

The meteor hammer came flying in first. Rieren wasn’t surprised at the need to defend herself against it. She deflected away the hammering end with Earthfall Blade, though it fell quite close, as though Astosind was purposefully halting its charge. The hammer’s end crashed through the surf of her stormy Domain water, letting loose the black spots of Astosind’s Domain.

Ah, not good. It was no surprise to see Rieren’s water spinning out of her control under the influence of Astosind’s gravity. So that was it. He could extend his touch using his meteor hammer.

Rieren tried to move away and resummon her Domain. This time, she’d ensure she wasn’t caught by Astosind again.

But then the woman flashed in with incredible speed. It was all Rieren could to keep up with her speed. With her rocky sword bared like an oversized, rotten fang, she charged straight at Rieren’s position, moving unerringly over the ground while barely needing to put a single step anywhere. How was she even moving in that kind of sinuous motion like that?

Rieren got no time to wonder. In no time at all, Ledorne was before her, sinking the stony blade into the earth to release her storm of glowing, severing arcs.

Thankfully, Rieren’s Body and Mind were both high enough to be a match for the skill. Earthfall Blade alone wouldn’t have been enough. Her defensive ability could only deflect any attacks headed her way if she could position her blade in the attack’s path. The sheer number and frequency of the glowing arcs would have made Earthfall Blade useless.

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But Rieren was strong. She noted every arc coming her way, made sure she brought the Receptor sword to bear at the exact position she needed it to be. Then, it was up to Earthfall Blade to turn away the arcs harmlessly away from her.

“Incredible,” Ledorne hissed, before pulling out her sword and attacking Rieren directly.

If her arcs had been strong and fast, Ledorne’s direct one was another level more powerful. The only positive was that it was a singular blow.

Rieren was able to position her sword just right to block the swing. Earthfall Blade wouldn’t work. Even in that small timeframe, Ledorne had already determined how Rieren’s defensive skill worked, and had found the weakness. By positioning her attack at Rieren’s exact centre, Earthfall Blade couldn’t deflect the blow away in any single direction.

So, all Rieren was left with to defend herself was her own pure strength. She just hadn’t foreseen needing to use so much of it.

The power behind Ledorne’s hit was literally ground-breaking. For a second, they were both frozen in a single location, nearly evenly matched in terms of strength. Veins throbbed along both their arms. But the look in Ledorne’s eyes was far more feral, and the realization came to Rieren a second before the proof—her opponent was physically stronger.

Rieren lost her footing. Ledorne’s strength overpowered her own and she was sent staggering backwards almost twenty paces, her feet digging a shallow trail on the steam’s bank.

“How?” Falvain mused, more delightedly intrigued than confused. “Not only a high Mind, but a pretty high Body as well? Isn’t that right, Ledorne?”

Ledorne grunted, clearly unwilling to answer Falvain’s question. “You’re right. I don’t think I saw any skill being used at the last hit. She can’t have blocked it with anything but her own strength.”

“Unless there’s something special about her sword,” Astosind said. “That blade definitely isn’t normal.”

Falvain appeared to ignore the potential of her Receptor sword. “A high Body and Mind. And considering the Domain use we’ve seen so far, your Spirit is nothing to scoff at either. A high everything? Now I wonder what your actual level is…”

Rieren kept her expression carefully neutral. In truth, she wanted to curse a little. There was something about the opponents she was currently facing that made her want to know about their exact strength in turn as well. They were clearly strong, significantly more powerful than her recruits.

But were they holding back just as Rieren was doing? Was that what truly bothered them?

The evidence was all too clear. Astosind and Falvain had strong Domains. Ledorne had a powerful Body stat, likely higher than Rieren’s own. But those could just be the proficiencies they’d allowed Rieren to see. Like her, they might be waiting to reveal the truth of their power in the second round.

Rieren held back a curse. Her arms were shaking. That exchange with Ledorne had been rough. She’d have to be wary of that woman.

“Enough chitchat,” Ledorne said. “She might just be right, you know. The less time we waste, the better off we’ll all be.” She smiled at Rieren, the feral ferocity growing back in her eyes again. “I’m sure the Beyond can’t wait to embrace you.”

Rieren found no time to answer. Astosind attacked first. His meteor hammer glowed with, edged with his dark gravity as both heads came rushing at her. He was manipulating them so that each head could be used independently.

Fray Passage allowed an easy dodge of the first, only to take her to exactly where the second head awaited her. Her body’s immediate instinct was to deflect with her sword. Thankfully, her rational mind reminded her that he could manipulate the gravity of objects he touched with his meteor hammer, so Rieren did her best to simply twist out of the hammer’s path.

While she successfully dodged Astosind’s attacks, she still found herself far too close to Ledorne.

The ferocious light in the other woman’s eyes hadn’t dimmed even a bit. If anything, she looked even more confident about crushing Rieren with her overwhelming strength now. She was too fast and too strong. Someone with a supremely high Body.

Rieren returned her grin. Someone with such a high Body might just lack in other areas.

Namely, Rieren potentially had the far superior Mind. That was what she needed to take advantage of.

But just as their very first exchange began, where Rieren raised her blade to block the rocky sword swinging at her like a stone club, her plan fell apart before it could begin. She had only raised her sword halfway up before its weight grew tenfold in an instant. The sudden change pulled the sword down, leaving her completely open for Ledorne.

“Farewell,” the woman said.

Rieren had just enough time to bring up her hand at the exact spot where Ledorne’s blade would have struck. The blow didn’t land as viciously as it would have, thanks to Rieren’s quick action. She even got to see the frustrated snarl break free on Ledorne’s face.

For, just before the rocky sword had landed, Rieren had pulled out a token to block the sword in place of her own blade.

The runic formation pieces weren’t allowed to be carried in things like storage rings. As such, they would be very likely exposed directly in battles between cultivators. This obviously necessitated that they had to be robust enough to survive such encounters. It was a safe bet for Rieren that she could use one to block point impacts such as the strike from Ledorne’s blade.

Still, it wasn’t a perfect block. Just because the piece of a runic formation managed to block the rocky blade from crushing Rieren’s upper torso didn’t mean she was safe. The hand holding the token was duly crushed under the impact. Rieren herself was thrown right off her feet and sent flying like a cannonball.

Straight towards where her third enemy had created another firestorm. This time, it was a whirling inferno, like a cyclone made of pure fire.

Rieren didn’t get to enjoy the beauty of it. She was about to fly right into its centre and then turn into an incinerated mess. That wouldn’t do. With her good hand, she stabbed her overweight sword into the ground to slow her flight just enough.

Then she twisted around once more and activated Rippling Blade. It would normally be impossible to hit the fiery tornado’s epicentre from her position, but her sword had extended its length. Heavy or not, Rieren was still more than strong enough to rotate the sword in a vicious slice, imbuing lightning Aspect along its gleaming length.

Rippling Blade cut through the inferno. The fierce flames started eating away at the blade’s glowing length but she managed to hit her target anyway. With a scream, Falvain went down, clutching his shoulder where Rieren had hit him.

At the same time, his fiery tornado dissipated, leaving nothing but a burned taste in the air and the afterimage of severe heat. When Rieren flew into the area, it hurt a lot less than a direct brush with the fires would have.

Rieren pulled herself up back onto her feet as fast as she could. The other two would be upon her in a second.

She was right. Where Ledorne hadn’t rushed at her, Astosind hadn’t held back. His Domain was now charged all around him, the bits of blackness that signalled his gravity powers highlighting his profile as he leaped high into the air.

“Not now, Astosind,” Ledorne said, clearly annoyed for some reason. “We don’t need that.”

“This one’s strong,” Astosind said, floating in mid-air. “We should have brought out the full brunt of our powers from the get-go.”

“No!”

Astosind didn’t listen. But where he had aimed to most likely crash down, maybe directly upon Rieren, he didn’t get the chance.

A crow had caught him and was keeping him in the air.