CHPT 237: The Full Moon Awakens in the Eye of the Storm....

More blood spilled, more stamina burned like the wooden remains of a scorched village...

The war in the canyon raged on, with Claude's team and Goren's support, the tide of battle changed.

Conroy felt himself falling behind compared to the rest of his group-- unlike the others, he hadn't trained as a swordsman for nearly as long. He simply wasn't as strong. And his impressive Mana reserves and powerful-- yet incomplete, Elemental Shroud were fading just as fast as his stamina.

"The difference between a Warrior and a man with a sword..." He thought cryptically as he watched Claude, Ursula, Isaac and Chase tussle with the Monstrous bug-man.

The thought aggravated him to irrational levels as he zipped and dashed around the creature, ripping open shallow cuts and stabbing the flesh between each patch of armor. To see them in action after sharing the same experience was humbling to say the least.

It wasn't just about swinging your bladed weapon to and fro with as much power and speed as the move required. They all wielded bladed weapons, yet there movements were night and day. He could see it now.

Chase moved like a Stag-- powerful movements lined with grace, speed and power only made more deadly with the use of his bladed bow. He knew his strengths, he used them.

Chase didn't move like everyone else, he moved how he needed to. Instead of ducking and evading like him, he leapt and bounded out of the way before exploding back into the fray-- because thats what he needed to do.

Just as Maris needed to move with the free-flowing deadly motion her limber joints allowed, making her unpredictable to follow and even harder to see coming.

Just as Ursula allowed herself to take damage in order to get in close to the creature and land heavy blows.

Just as Claude seemed to move with a controlled ferocity he'd never seen-- giving his obviously practiced straightforward movements a burst of feral power.

Conroy suddenly skidded to a halt on the blood-soaked ground. The lightning that cloaked his body bit and snapped at the puddles of green fluids around him, causing them to bubble and pop as his intelligent mind worked its way to an epiphany.

"Move just as you need to. Suit your own fight-style....don't copy, don't mimic. Express yourself through combat. I see..."

Maris slid backward over the dry ground with her blade raised in a defensive stance over her face, she'd been hit, and she didn't look happy while she stood beside him.

"Can you keep fighting?" Conroy asked her before letting his Elemental Shroud disappear in a flash.

"Of course I can." She replied confidently.

"Ok, great. I have to step out."

With a satisfied nod, she was gone again, moving low to the ground like a predator on the hunt for blood...

Now away from the battle, he closed his eyes and sheathed his sword. He didn't need it anymore. "If i'm striving to be a Magic Swordsman, then the two aspects have to be neck and neck. I'm a Sword user now-- but an Elemental Mage first. I need to express that through combat..."

***

"AAAARGH!!"

WOO!

CHOP!

Ursula landed another heavy blow to the Monster's thigh with her, (Mad Charge) Skill, but not before one of it's bladed arms could cut through the frozen blood armor covering her upper arm. It'd been that way for most of the fight, give a hit, take a hit.

Her once frozen green icy blood armor covering her shoulders, upper and lower arms was now streaked with the red stripes of her own blood that she froze to replace the lost defense. It was working, but she couldn't last forever.

[Berserker's Rage: 80%...]

They needed to make a play before she went mad and became a liability. But she also couldn't stop.

"I'll be damned before I sit out." She thought with an angry huff of cold steam shooting from her nose before getting ready to charge back in.

WO--

"Uhhh...Ursula?"

"You've gotta be kidding me.." She thought sourly before turning, "What, Warren?"

Warren kept his eyes on the occupied creature while he fired arrow after arrow, "Conroy has an idea and he needs your help?"

Conroy nodded at her from next to the Archer, a look of intensity sat deeply within his cold and calculating grey eyes.

"It's about time you used that over sized ass brain of yours, icepick!" Chase yelled over to them while he continued to prance around the Monster with Claude, Isaac and Maris.

Leaving the fight was the last thing she wanted to do, but she also couldn't keep taking serious damage only to return a minimal amount.

"Ok, I'm coming. This better be good...we're getting our behinds kicked out here." She said before jogging over to Conroy.

***

Claude hadn't allowed his focus to split from anything other than the Boss and Frosty. So when he soon realized two members of his brawling squad were gone, he was confused but continued to fight.

All his nose told him as he bobbed and weaved the creatures attacks was that blood hung thickly on the air like hot fog. Nothing new, nothing that soothed his nerves either.

Then, he heard Chase speak of someone finally using their brain.

Woo!

A heavy swing of the creatures mallet arm swept over the top of his head as he dropped to a slide underneath it with his blade held high to rip through one of its many arms.

SHLCK!

"ARCKCKCKAAA!!!!"

The arm fell to the floor in front of him after he ended his slide by pushing himself to his feet.

"Nice shot!" Isaac commented.

"Do you know what's happening? Why is everyone leaving?" Claude asked.

"Conroy has a plan!" Isaac yelled in reply.

"Don't worry, Wolfboy. He's smart-- reads all the time. I'm sure he's got something good to end this thing." Chase commented.

"Just keep fighting for a few more seconds!" Warren yelled before the Chitinous Nightmare moved to attack one of the still-standing students.

"Will do." Claude replied silently while Frosty stirred behind him.

"Ok, Wolfboy. Let's see who can remove the most arms.." Chase added deviously before everyone re-entered the fight.

***

As Conroy and Ursula suggested, they continued to fight. Chase removed another arm and Isaac charged a dent into the Bug-man's chest plate that caused blood to leak from beneath it where the armor must've puncture its flesh. As close to a critical hit as they've gotten. Ever since then, the Boss became more cautious, causing them to push onward like Wolves descending on a injured Moose.

They could feel the end approaching.

"Come on, hit me!" Isaac yelled as he charged with his shield up

"RRRAACKCKAA!" The Beetle roared angrily and sent a jab with its weaponized arm at his face.

Woo!

SCRRRCH!

The limb brushed across his shield as he guided it away from him and closed in with a swing that removed another one of its arms. Then he was gone, replaced by Chase.

"My turn!" He yelled before the leaping up to smash his spectrally cloven feet into its face. The Monster stumbled back with a roar only for him to send two powerful gusts of wind at it that cut open its face and chest.

Before it could recover from the onslaught, Claude closed in with eyes that burned like fire. The monster panicked and sent a kick aimed at his face.

Woo!

Claude sidestepped and kept running, causing the creature's beady yellow eyes to follow and not see the overgrown PitWolf flying at its face.

"RAGHSH!!" Frosty snarled in the air before falling on the Boss's face and tearing at everything he possibly could.

As a result, the Monster flailed and let out a shrill of pain so loud that Claude felt the hairs on his arms raise to erect points.

"Down." He spoke to the bloodthirsty PitWolf through their link, causing Frosty to leap off the Monster just as it reached up for him.

Frosty trotted away from the creature, spitting out one of it's eyeballs that he tore free and stepping on it carelessly.

To end the madness, Claude sent the strongest back kick he could to its leg, causing it to lose balance and loudly fall on its back.

THUD!

The ground shook violently and dust rose as rubble fell creating the sounds of a mini avalanche. He was on the move in an instant, sifting through the clouds of dust to find the grounded Monster and deliver the killing blow.

"Everybody move!" Conroy yelled from somewhere further from the crash site.

Claude looked out from where the voice came from, he could see nothing. Like he was in the heart of a sandstorm. He didn't like it.

"Guys, we can't see! Move where?!" Isaac asked.

"Towards our voice!" Ursula yelled.

Claude turned around, in search of Frosty as he followed the voice.

"[Stay vigilant. It's too silent.]" Arne advised.

"I know." Claude replied with a snarl as he held his arm up and traversed the cloud of dust.

The distant sounds of his team kept him hopeful, but the whereabouts of the Boss fought against that hope valiantly.

When the sound of steps behind him came, he spun around with a snarl.

"Oh thank god..." He said aloud after seeing Frosty trot towards him while he blinked profusely to try and remove the dust from his icy blue eyes.

"Come on buddy. Le--"

"AAARRCK!"

WOOO!

Before he could finish his sentence, the Boss roared and something heavy cut through the wind, smashing into his back like a lead weight and sending him through the dust like a piece of shrapnel.

***

Ursula was ready to head into the massive dust cloud herself when Chase and Isaac suddenly emerged, coughing and wiping at their eyes like crazy.

The sight of them only made her worry more, "Ok, where's Claude?"

"I....Urgh!...He was just with u--"

"AAAARCK!"

The roar of the Boss from within silenced them all, a silence made deeper when they heard a hit connect followed by Claude exploding from the cloud like a comet. Frosty emerged soon after and stood over Claude defensively, letting out a wild roar that didn't sound like anything wolf-like.

"Ok, everyone's out. We need to begin." Conroy instructed.

"But we can't see it." Warren added.

"It's fine. We have enough power." Conroy added before the trio's eyes took on the glow of their respective elements and the grounds shook.

Warren threw his bow to the side, a look of focus washed away the fear that lined his movements-- he'd been give an important job. As much as he pleaded against it, the only other wind user was gassed.

"I'm not running.....I'm not running.." He whispered through yellow eyes and glowing hands as the dust cloud surrounding the Boss started to rotate by the vortex of winds that suddenly took place within the clearing.

"Just like that....keep it up Warren." Conroy said.

From inside the cloud, the heavy stomps of the Beetle sounded. The spinning winds were frying its senses and sending it into a panic. They had to move fast.

"Ok, I guess its my turn." Conroy said before stepping forward and clearing his throat in preparation to activate his only Elemental Spell, (Arctic Storm).

Slowly, the temperature of the area dropped considerably-- followed by the hairs on everyone's arms raising.

The temperature continued to drop until shining diamonds of frozen moisture thickened into existence and an ominous thunder cloud darkened the sky above the clearing. The spinning winds sucked up the ice and snowflakes until a spinning collection of cold winds occupied the center of the clearing.

It continued to build in speed and volume as the creature roared and swung from the eye of the storm madly.

"Ok, I think it's time for that boost, Ursula..." Conroy announced.

The Berserker stepped forward and sent two focused streams of icy crystals into the storm, intensifying it to a degree that was unrecognizable compared to what it once was.

It continued to climb until the winds screamed like nothing they'd ever heard before. Then, the Lightning came.

KSHSHHSBOOM!

Fiery white lights crashed down from the storm cloud and struck into the snowy tornado, heating the ice crystals only for them to be refrozen while it cooked the creature inside. After a few strikes, the white vortex became dyed with red. Blood from being bombarded by Lightning and cut open by high speed ice shards.

"It's being ripped apart...." Stacy thought after limping over to them with a hand over her stomach.

She was happy for a moment-- but only a moment. The scents of fresh blood took that from her in an instant. When she turned to face the conductors of the Elemental madness, they were all bleeding from their noses and ears.

"Shit....Mana over-usage." She panicked.

"D-Don't worry about us...we're fine." Ursula lied.

For the next few seconds, the roars of the storm and the Monster overshadowed her labored breaths. She felt like she was ready to fall to her knees. She truly was until movement to her left drew her attention.

She found herself looking at Claude, he was slowly rising to his feet. She couldn't hear, but she knew his growl face. What she wasn't sure about were the thick tufts of steam rising from his cheeks and shoulders.

"C-Claude?!" She yelled out to him trying to let her voice rise over the storm, but he looked to be in a trance almost. Panic and rage covered his face like a mask. He knew it wasn't enough.

For a few moments, he looked from her, to the storm, to his....leg-- pocket? He was calculating. She assumed he came to a conclusion when he threw his sword and took off his chest piece and shirt-- revealing more steam rising from his scarred shoulders and arms. Everyone else must've been too focused on the storm to notice because she was the only one reacting.

"What are you doing!?" Ursula yelled to him over the storm.

He turned to look at her for the first time, "Keep the storm going! Whatever happens, don't stop!"

She didn't understand what he meant until he turned on his heels and ran straight into it. He was running into the Arctic Storm, charging the Boss in a sea of snowy white lightning.

"NO! STOP!" Ursula yelled so loud she felt her vocal chords shake and scratch with intensity.

By the time he jumped inside, everyone else was watching in disbelief.

Before disappearing from their sight completely, she could've sworn she saw an otherworldly blue light emanate from his left hand. For the fraction of a second that she saw it, terror flooded her limbs, her mouth went dry and her legs felt like jelly.

Then, he was gone.