Vasso! Ranvir burst into motion. Power flared through him, sand and space mana sweeping him forth. Three Lances descended on him like falling towers instantly. The weight of their combined attention destabilizing his burgeoning manipulation. Purple light sputtered and flickered.

A Mantle enveloped him then, finally crushing his manipulation. Icy blue light dashed through the air, steam rising in a glowing trail behind the fifth master. Ranvir struggled with the wills of the many as he breached an already established space.

Purple light, like a crack through the rim of a broken glass, dusted a fine layer of sand. It swirled around Ranvir’s form, taking on a muted yellow glow, matching the mana bleeding from his body.

Ice-Heart and Ranvir clashed, their fist connecting in a clattering shatter of ice. He didn’t yet have enough sand to fully fuel his Sandstorm Vortex, lowering its physical enhancements.

Forced a step back, Ranvir turned it into a dash upwards, storm mana racing him across the sky. Ice-Heart followed grimly silent. His Discipline of Body was so developed, it reacted to his Veil like regular ice.

Ranvir deflected him away with a swipe of his arm, shattering the sleeve frozen from their first contact. The impact split Ranvir’s cold damaged skin, frozen blood sparkling off their dual lights.

Vasso sat on the grass plains, still huddled underneath the blanket. It didn’t appear the tethered had noticed him. Ranvir turned his full attention to the Masters, closing in on him.

Red-hot obsidian screamed in the damp air, leaving vapor trails hot enough to scald flesh. Bright white lights aimed for his eyes. A dozen finger-length needles of ice were gathering speed from most of a kilometer away. A yellow, almost solid, smoke stuck to Ice-Heart like a tailwind, curling and blackening the edges of his clothes.

Power and sand burst from Ranvir’s form, momentarily sending Ice-Heart back. Light slashed across his face, leaving the world a purple-blue smear. Ranvir focused his tether-sense into a focused attack and dodged to the side.

Ice-Heart’s fist grazed his ribs, shattering the cloth. A sharp chill drove the breath from Ranvir’s chest. Smoke enveloped them, thick and burning on his skin, as Ranvir seized Ice-Heart by the collar. Striking out, his tether-sense momentarily snapped loose one of the burning ball of obsidian. A glowing rough sphere twice the size of Ranvir’s fist slapped into his hand.

Ice-Heart’s teeth crunched as Ranvir, fueled by all the strength he could squeeze from his stuttering vortex, slammed the molten stone into his face. The attack dazed the Master long enough for Ranvir to maneuver him. The sound of buzzing whips tore the air and Ice-Heart jerked four times.

Two needles missed them, moving at their speeds even a Master would struggle to control them. One blew through Ice-Heart’s shoulder and sliced into Ranvir’s, spraying blood into the yellow smoke.

A searing pain burned against his injuries, the acrid smoke burrowing into him like the bite of a venomous serpent. A burst of storm mana momentarily dispersed the thick smoke, allowing Ranvir to fall out of its immediate influence.

Gasping for breath, his head pounding, Ranvir refocused on his enemies. Ice-Heart was falling to the ground as well. He wasn’t dead, but those needles had done serious damage. The others were closing in, except for the Needle-lady. With her technique, Ranvir would’ve kept his distance as well.

Stones were still following him, like lit forges tracing their path across the sky. His hand ached from the one he’d grabbed, if only for a moment. The smoke was slower, but followed as well. It seemed the light-tethered was reevaluating his options, and wasn’t making any moves. He must’ve noticed the loss of his eyes hadn’t slowed Ranvir down much.

All the shutters in the school suddenly snapped shut and a momentous surge of space ripped through it. Esmund, who Ranvir now sensed in the basement, had sealed the school. Already it was difficult to enter the school through the windows, but now they’d been closed off entirely. Only the main entrance worked now.

Ayvir, light bleeding off his form, assessed the situation as he emerged from said portal. I need to buy him time to save Vasso, Ranvir realized. He couldn’t make it to his son without risking his life.

Ranvir once more focused on his sand-space, tearing at the glowing crack hovering behind him. A piece of space the width of two fingers and half the length fell off, depositing a far wider stream.

Sandstorm Vortex heaved against the stream, sending embers of purple erupting from the cracked space. Finally, it came fully alive, rippling the wind with its passing. His physical power and toughness roaring higher. Ranvir spread his wings, storm mana catching him less than ten feet from the ground as he switched from Vortex to Bastion. The sand grew tighter, denser, and slower, swirling less than a foot from his body.

The defensive Ability shuttered as molten obsidian slammed into it. Rocks ranging from the size of his fist to his torso hit him with enough power to demolish a stone-brick house. He sensed the smoke descending as well and grinned.

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Sweat trickled down his forehead as the air grew, stifling within his cocoon of sand. They sensed him, but couldn’t see him. Within, he reached for storm mana, shaping a bolt. Taking time and care, he infused it with all the speed and strength he could manage. Graywing’s reserve of mana dipped noticeably.

Sweat burning in his eyes, Ranvir tore through his Bastion, obsidian shattering into melting fragments as they crashed below him. The pressure they exerted too much for the Master to control when suddenly released.

Ranvir unleashed the storm bolt, water vapor momentarily appearing behind it, though the speed was unsustainable. Smoke-Master had less than a second to react. Yellow clouds dissipated as he tore limply through the air.

Distantly, Ranvir picked up the sound of a woman screaming as Loce tore at her eyes. Needles, once raging towards him, lost cohesion to their own speed and ripped apart. Ice-Heart was refocusing and ready to return, but he wasn’t there yet.

Ranvir restored slipped into his sand-space, restored it and returned to the fight in a moment. Dune Blow churned around him as he appeared behind Molten-Obsidian. The graying man summoned enough stone to avoid a killing blow, though he still whistled towards a fleeing second-stage.

Ranvir surveyed his enemies, blinking tears from his still useless eyes. Ice-Heart had gotten back up, bleeding and snarling. Yellow smoke was gathering in the distance. Ice-Needles were fleeing Loce. Light-Blinder was closing rapidly. Molten-Obsidian was still getting to his feet within the crater.

Reaching through space, Ranvir spoke to Ayvir. “Get Vasso inside.” Before the Masters could attempt to crush it, he dissolved the tiny bridge and prepared to continue fighting. His side ached, eyes burned, shoulder seeped, and his right hand had dozens of tiny cracks leaking blood.

Yellow-Smoke felt more corpse than man as he rose on a condensed cloud. Ice-Heart’s left arm hung limp. Molten-Obsidian was fleeing. Ice-Needles had lost an ear, and was bleeding heavily enough from her eye that Ranvir doubted she could see much. Light-Blinder was helping her disperse Loce, who returned to swirl around him.

The storm locust mingled with his reestablished Sandstorm Vortex until the two were indistinguishable.

The Masters sensed reinforcements gathering at the front of the school as well as he did. They moved first. Light-Blinder generated tremendous flashes of mana, the equivalent of a flash to Ranvir’s tether-sense. Far more effective than his previous attempt.

Ice-Needles, closer now, sent a fan of needles that stuck on his arm and wing. Smoke trapped Molten-Obsidian, driving him toward Ranvir, as Ice-Heart engaged physically once more.

Soon, all five of them coordinated around, fighting him again. Or rather, driving him away. They moved quickly, spending themselves to push Ranvir backwards. Grasslands gave way to a forest. As injuries accumulated.

Ranvir tore Ice-Heart’s injured arm fully off, nearly killing him before Blinder proved himself a healer and stopped the bleeding. Apparently, he wasn’t a very good one, because Ice-Heart slowed down significantly after that. Anyone he healed did. But injuries were accumulating on both sides.

Ice-Heart dove in with a reckless overhead blow. Ranvir would’ve seen the trap if he wasn’t so pressed. Blinder grabbed Heart’s ankles, pulling him out of the way of a huge shower of needles. Ranvir took the impact. Her attacks only grew faster. Another flash of mana from Blinder, growing weaker still. Only Ranvir’s ears alarmed him to the size of the boulder.

A rock bigger than he hurled him towards the ground. It was less of a strike and more push. Canopies snapped and burned as trees splintered and broke. With Vortex active, Ranvir pushed out from under it, letting the molten mountain slip by him. Yet they didn’t give him time to recover.

Heart appeared between the trees, already swinging into a kick with all the vigor of a fresh fighter. Somehow, Ranvir barely blocked the blow. The snap of ice tore strips of skin off him as he rolled through the undergrowth. Ranvir came to a tumbling halt, falling to rest for only a moment.

A needle twice the width and length of her usual attacks tore through his thigh. Arching his back and screaming. Ranvir grabbed at his leg. Heart landed next to him, one ankle already raised above his head.

Howling through the pain, Ranvir barely rolled out of the way, leaving a chunk of frozen feathers on the ground. Heart closed on him, but Ranvir took to the skies. Storm mana tearing him away from them.

They followed, racing across the heavens, clashing and fighting. Finally, Ranvir slipped past Heart and got close to Needles. He seized her with his left hand, readying his attack. As predicted, a blurry mess of light-mana tore her away.

Ranvir grinned as he dropped his Vortex Ability and simply seized Blinder’s body with raw manipulation. The Absolute form of control. Loce burst forth from the sand, harrowing Obsidian and Heart for a moment.

Blinder screamed and cried. Ranvir snarled. What remained of his clothes was dirt stained and bloody. Blinder grew quieter as pressure mounted, Ranvir’s outstretched arm mimicking the pressure put on the tethered. Blinder let out a final wet cough and his spirit faded.

Power swirled around Ranvir once more as what amounted to a wet rag fell to the forest floor. They surrounded him, yet they didn’t understand. They all screamed with the power of their Concept.

Ice-Heart turned his body in a facsimile of ice so close to the actual thing, he could actually control and amplify his attacks with his other Discipline. He was Living Ice.

Molten-Obsidian embodied the heat and fire that suffused his stone. He could burn his way through an ordinary man, never once pushing or shoving against them. He was the Fire which scorched his stone.

Ice-Needles focused so intently on her one path, a single point. Needles was all she was. Even a momentary scan showed as much. It had bled into the rest of her. Her cheekbones were sharp, her nose pointed, even her eyes, bloodstained and red, held an edge to their gaze. She was the Needles she used.

Yellow-Smoke had become selectively poisonous. His allies could creep through his fog banks without worry, but it now slogged through Ranvir, burning at his veins. A yellow transparent liquid seeping from his injuries. He was Yellow-Smoke.

Ranvir was like them. His spirit didn’t boil at their attacks. His body didn’t quail. He never faltered or slipped. Ranvir’s eyes throbbed, his ribs ached, his lungs burned, his leg was numb, his hand wouldn’t unfold properly, his shoulder cramped reflexively, his wings were seared, and yet they couldn’t slow him down. They couldn’t make him stop. His body, his spirit, his very being sang with it.

“I am ever flowing, unstoppable, unending!” Ranvir roared to the skies laughing, had he been talking this entire time? It didn’t matter. They didn’t matter. They yelled at each other in Kisi, but Ranvir didn’t care. He understood their souls, he knew what they were saying.

He crashed with Ice-Heart, frost crawling up his arm, splitting his skin. “I will Persist even through you!”