Whether he sensed Valhalla’s power, or reacted purely on instinct, the enemy turned around. He widened his eyes in shock seeing a golden blade fly right towards him. But there was nothing he could do now. Before he managed to let out a scream, the ethereal arc separated his torso from his legs.

The body fell down in two parts. The legs kept kicking a bit, even after death, making Edward shiver slightly.

He dropped down from the branch, and heard Layla land a moment later. They approached the man carefully, despite being sure he couldn’t have lived through that.

‘Shit. That’s gruesome…’ Edward thought seeing the blood and guts spilling onto the snow.

After making sure everything was fine, the duo relaxed their shoulders a bit.

“Huh, this was easier than…”

“Shut up! Don’t you dare say anything else…” Layla interrupted.

Suddenly a cold gale rustled their hair. The feeling made a shiver run all the way down their spine. Ed once again looked at the dead body, noticing a small earpiece in the man’s ear.

‘Of course… fuck!’

“See? This is what I meant… Run! Quickly!” Layla was the first one to react, dashing onto the open plain. “Let’s just hope our allies won’t shoot on sight…”

Edward followed her, a fraction of a second later. The winds became even stronger, tugging on their already tattered clothes.

‘Damn… Not this guy again…’

The duo was already quite a distance away from the forest, when Edward turned his head back for a moment. The tall trees were bending and swinging in different directions. Nature itself seemed to mold around whatever was hidden in the treeline.

“Finally! You’re not going to get away this time! Hahaha” At once, a familiar figure revealed itself.

Edward and Layla didn’t even need to check to know the man’s identity. They were sure they would see a moustached man, wearing a grey jacket, chasing them surrounded by a wild hurricane. They just hoped to reach the fortress, before he reached them.

The fortress was drawing closer, but not as fast as Ed hoped for. He realised he misjudged the distance earlier. The structure was simply so large it appeared to be closer than it was in reality. He started losing hope of reaching it in time, when he noticed a small swarm of vehicles approaching their position. As their outline became clearer, he also noted some kind of attachment mounted on their roof.

“Got you suckers!” The Legend shouted, clearly much closer than earlier.

A shockwave pummeled the two Marked to the ground. Just as they were about to push themselves up, five armored humvees surrounded their position. The things on the top turned out to be some kind of high grade weaponry. Edward was unsure whether they could hurt a Legend, but fortunately they weren’t the only reinforcements.

A door of one of the humvees opened. A brown haired youth, clad in leather shoes, carrying a sword at his waist stepped out. A fresh scar running down his cheek curved as he smiled at the lying warriors.

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“Hey guys! Did you miss me?”

Before they could answer, the enemy arrived.

“How nice… the four of us meet once again.” Atlas started summoning stronger and stronger winds.

The five heavy weapons aimed straight at him, and Marcus stepped forward, backed by Edward and Layla.

“Let it go Atlas. Tarquin is going to arrive any moment now. You sure you can kill us all, before he gets here? Didn’t go well for you last time…”

“You’re bluffing…” said the Legend, although a hint of fear appeared in his eyes.

Ed wasn’t aware of Tarquin’s past as a warrior, but this man clearly was.

After a moment of tense silence. The Furious Hurricane twisted his body, dashing back towards the trees with the help of the winds. “Not the last time we meet younglings. Remember that..”

When the Legend finally disappeared from view, the group relaxed.

“Uff… It really was a bluff. I’m pretty good aren’t I?” Marcus turned to his friends with a beaming smile on his face.

“And he believed it that easily? Wait, first of all… What the hell Marcus?! Where’ve you been? You’re not going to say anything about that?!” Layla shouted.

“Well, I just said hey…”

“Oh shut up,” she said with a quivering voice, hugging her friend.

It took a couple seconds before she let go.

“Fuck you. And good to see you.” She punched him in the shoulder and went towards one of the humvees.

Marcus rubbed the bruised spot, locking eyes with Ed.

“Good to see you too, Marcus.”

“You too Ed. You traveled with this woman all this time? I pity you…”

They hugged each other, although this one admittedly lasted much shorter than the one with Layla…

“All right. Let’s go. I’ll explain everything along the way,” the youth said, leading Edward towards the waiting vehicles.

The two men joined Layla in the back. Once everyone positioned themselves comfortably, the driver turned his head and asked Marcus. “Back to the base sir?”

“Correct. Let’s bring our friends home…”

The soldier nodded, grabbing a microphone hanging on the side. He pressed the button on the device and passed over the message to the other vehicles.

The engines started humming louder, as they led the convoy back towards the fortress.

“So, when did you get here?” Edward asked.

“Not long before you, actually. I just took a more direct route than you guys. It was… a bit more risky, as you can see for yourselves.” The young man pointed toward the scar on the side of his head.

“Hey, looking good man! Scars on the body of the warrior are simply an additional decoration.”

“When did I say I didn’t? Of course I look good! Right Layla?” Marcus flashed a smile towards the woman.

“Looks fine.”

“Haha, I’m glad you like it.”

“But why did Atlas believe you? When you talked about Tarquin? It didn’t look like you pulled this bluff out of your ass…” Layla inquired.

“Well, Master Tarquin is indeed stationed at this base technically speaking… He’s just not ‘there’ there at the moment. I just bet on the enemy not knowing that.”

After that, Marcus inquired about their own journey. He seemed to be very entertained by their story, even raising his brow more than once during some parts. By now they were approaching the large metal gate on the fortress wall. Up close, Ed could see the barricade stretching tens of meters above him, shrouding him in its lengthy shadow.

The driver grabbed the comms device again, informing the base about their return. A moment later, the huge gate started creepin open. It left a gap just small enough to let the vehicles pass. After everyone went through, the two wings closed back up with an echoing thud.