“Ready yourselves, but don’t make it obvious or look in that direction directly,” Escora said as she threw a glance over her shoulder in the direction Verus had indicated. There wasn’t much to see but trees yet.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Warin asked.

Verus quickly explained what was going on and then they all pretended to still be hiking and unaware of their unwelcome company. Escora wanted to lure the enemy into attacking and then to surprise them with a hard and fast counterattack. Verus wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, but he didn’t have a better one. Warin looked pale and nervous as he continued trudging forward through the brush, but he went along with the plan.

All of them were subtly keeping an eye on the forest behind them though, so they had time react when the bushes rustled and several humanoid shapes burst out. Immediately, light flared from the figure in the middle and a blast of bright energy shot toward Verus and his companions. However, the lightning blast missed because they were already dodging and ducking out of its way.

Verus scrambled to the side and then turned to run toward his attackers. They were human and more disciples from the Great Wind Sect. He recognized two of them. Unfortunately, the lightning hadn’t been the only attack they’d launched, simply the fastest. As Escora, Verus, and Warin charged the enemy, they were met by a wave of black birds that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The creatures shimmered an odd purple as they descended on the disciples with outstretched talons.

“What under the heavens are these?” Warin yelled as he tried to swat one aside.

Verus couldn’t answer because he was too busy defending himself from two birds that had swooped at his head. Even Escora had slowed and was having trouble protecting herself.

One of the birds slashed at the hand Verus had raised to protect his eyes, leaving a long gash that left his hand feeling numb. Verus then stumbled as a wave of fatigue washed over him. Were the birds venomous? Why did he feel so tired all of a sudden?

Wait. Hadn’t he read about something like this. This didn’t seem like poison ki, it was more like… sleep ki! Verus stared at his hand and activated the Faithful Soul Ward. The gash there promptly faded away. His hand was still numb but physically undamaged. It had been an illusion.

“The birds are illusion-crafted using sleep ki! Ward yourselves!” he yelled at his allies.

Illusions made from emotional ki became more powerful the more you believed they were real and the stronger the emotion they were made of was in their target. Such emotions could fuddle people’s minds, making it difficult for them to tell what was real. This created a dangerous feedback loop. If Verus hadn’t realized what was going on, every attack by the birds would have drained them of more energy until they’d all passed out.

“Of course! Damned illusionists!” Escora growled as she suddenly let out a pulse of ki that drove the birds away, allowing her to continue her charge toward their caster.

Escora then conjured a water whip that slashed toward where the four enemy disciples were standing. They’d obviously been hoping that the sleep ki attack would finish Verus’s group off, because they were caught off guard by the whip. It slammed into the man in front, knocking him down and spraying the others with water ki that made them stumble back.

Verus dashed forward to try and finish one of them off before they could recover, but a fifth enemy charged out of the trees to intercept him.

Tellus roared as he ran toward Verus. “You’re mine! I’m going to put you down for good this time.”

“What are you doing here?” Verus asked as he dodged a series of punches and tried to throw a few of his own.

“You should have laid low like I told you and not tried to undermine your betters,” Tellus growled in reply. “Katar told us what you and your friends did. When we’re done with you, there will be no future at the sect for you.”

Escora leapt to attack the fallen enemy. A skinny young man jumped forward to intercept her, however Escora used her sliding movement technique to slip past him and throw a punch at the lightning thrower instead. Meanwhile, a tall aristocratic looking young man drew a sword and jumped toward Warin. The wind blew around him as he moved. Only the girl who had unleashed the birds stepped back. It looked like she was injured. She was cradling one of her arms, but her illusions were still fluttering around.

Tellus unleashed a flurry of punches and followed them up with a low kick, but Verus managed to dodge around them. An illusionary bird swooped down at him, so he ducked under it as he threw a side kick at Tellus’s chest that pushed him back a few inches.

Off to the side, Warin was desperately dodging the air cultivator’s sword slashes. Thankfully, the rough terrain and bushes gave him some cover. He was also far nimbler than he looked. Pieces of ferns and leaves flew through the air as the swordsman hacked his way to his target.

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The chaotic melee terrified and thrilled Verus at the same time. He’d never been in a fight like this before. There was no plan and no rules, only power and skill. Anything could happen. The lack of safety scared him, but the freedom was invigorating. All his life he’d been worried and obsessed with what others thought and if he was doing the right thing. Those feelings had crushed him sometimes.

Now, Verus’s battle focus came upon him stronger than ever before. Fighting like this felt like been let free for the first time, like he’d come home. His duty was clear, protect and destroy. He’d defeat everyone in his way or die. Nothing else mattered. He could simply be.

Verus slipped to the side of one of Tellus’s punches and slammed his fist into the bigger disciple’s kidney. The other disciple grimaced in pain and tried to step back, but Verus kept at him, striking again and again. Tellus’s skin took on a grey shade as he tried to use earth ki to absorb the blows, but it was obvious he wasn’t completely successful. His body was tough and hard to hurt, but he was still human and had weak points. Verus punched his kidney again and then kicked at his groin, forcing him to jump out of the way. Their ki levels were much closer now, since Verus had taken the opportunity to absorb a lot of ki from the Reaches.

Keeping up his momentum, Verus stepped forward to continue his attack, but Tellus changed strategies. Relying on his superior toughness, he switched from trying to defend himself to trading blows. This strategy was familiar to Verus, but still hard to deal with. He tried to hit Tellus’s chin, but the bigger disciple simply raised his shoulder and stepped into the attack to throw a punch of his own. Tellus’s fist grazed Verus’s cheek, so Verus jumped back out of his reach. He shouldn’t be trying to brawl with Tellus. That was the other disciple’s specialty.

As Verus landed, Tellus used a ki-infused stomp to shake the earth, but the dirt that made up the forest floor was a lot less solid than the stone floor of the arena and didn’t shake nearly as much. So, Verus was able to recover his footing and jump away again long before Tellus could charge him. That gave Verus an idea.

He glanced down at the ground and then charged toward Tellus. The larger disciple met his attack with a powerful punch aimed straight at his face, but Verus used Vanishing Step to dodge it and appear to his enemy’s left. Tellus was ready for that move and used another stomp to try and disrupt his opponent’s landing. However, Verus had landed on an exposed root from a nearby tree and used it as a springboard to launch a flying knee straight at Tellus’s face. Not being made of earth or stone, the root was far less affected by the earth ki of the stomp.

Verus’s ki-empowered knee slammed right into the center of Tellus’s face, snapping his neck back despite his reinforcement technique. As Verus landed, his enemy was falling backward, stunned. Thus, as Tellus’s back hit the ground, Verus stepped forward and stomped down hard on the center of his opponent’s chest. As he struck, he pushed as much ki as possible right into Tellus’s core, which was right beneath his foot. That would scatter his ki and render him unable to fight for a while, without doing any permanent damage.

As Tellus gasped in pain and curled up into a ball, Verus swiped an illusionary bird out of the air and stepped away to study the other fighters. Both his allies were in serious trouble.

Warin was still dodging the swordsman’s attacks and seemed unconcerned by the illusionary birds, but he now had a deep cut on his arm that was bleeding freely. It seemed like the swordsman had landed at least one attack.

Escora was fighting the lightning thrower and the other disciple at the same time now. She tried to dash in and strike the lightning cultivator, but he pushed her back by emitting a crackling aura of electricity. She didn’t seem to want to get in too close to that technique. Meanwhile, her other opponent charged in and threw a kick at her back, forcing her turn and face him. She tried to counterattack, but a small blast of lightning lashed toward her, and she had to use her sliding technique to get away from both her foes. It was obvious she was getting tired and using far too much ki. Soon, they’d tire her out and finish her off.

The wounded sleep ki user was still hanging back, occasionally creating a new bird and sending it out to attack someone.

In response to what he was seeing, Verus’s battle focus grew stronger and more intense. It hummed through his body and mind, full of intent and power. His comrades were in danger of falling in battle. It was his job to protect them. It was his duty. Something seemed to grab Verus’s spirit, reaching through his core. As he stepped toward the fight, his ki began to rage, cycling through his body with incredible speed that would normally be far beyond his ability to maintain.

Verus dashed toward the sleep ki user. She saw him coming and sent three birds to intercept him, but a Vanishing Step allowed him to slip past them unscathed. That was when the disciple fighting Escora turned and fired a lightning bolt at Verus. Unconcerned, he used two more Vanishing Steps in quick succession to appear next to his target and deliver a powerful side kick to her core. She was sent flying backwards into the bushes and all her birds exploded.

Escora used her opponent’s distraction to slide in and deliver a low kick to the lightning thrower’s thigh. He cursed and stumbled. Escora then uppercutted him right on the chin.

The fight had quickly turned in Verus and his companions’ favor, but Warin was still in danger. Tired from all his dodging, he tripped over a root and fell over backwards. The enemy swordsman rode a gust of wind over to finish him off, but then Verus was there at his side, appearing out of nowhere. Spinning around, the swordsman tried to slash at Verus, but he deftly sidestepped the blow by the thinnest of margins. Verus then reached over and touched two fingers to the disciple’s shoulder. As the swordsman flinched in surprise, ki burst out of Verus’s fingers, empowered by the incredible speed by which it had been spinning through his channels. The force of the deceptively simple attack slammed into the swordsman’s body, blasting him backwards with such power that he dropped his sword before slamming into a nearby tree and sliding to the ground.

It didn’t seem like he would be getting up soon, so Verus turned back to Escora. He was just in time to see her finish off the second disciple she’d been fighting with a powerful scythe kick to his head. He was far weaker than the lightning cultivator and no threat to her alone.

Blinking, Verus realized the fight was over, and the battle focus quickly dissipated, leaving him confused but happy to have won. What had just happened?