Chapter 27 - Red flames and Metal Thorns

Red flames continued to dance sporadically around Rosal as he motioned forward his power in an endless, surging wave to drown his opponent in a sea of red. At heats like these, the boy knew that even metal would begin to melt and as such, he had kept himself at a reasonable space away from the flames he conjured. Since, as you might have guessed from the scars that riddled his body, Rosal was not immune to the effects of his own fire. But despite his precautions, the heat in itself caused the young man great discomfort.

But no matter, this would all be over soon. There was no way in which that man could escape from the ocean of flames that he now found himself within. Or at least, that's what Rosal supposed before he saw an iron thorn piercing through the earth to strike at the boy from below.

The spiky, vine aimed for his neck and it would have gotten him, had it not been for Antos who pulled Rosal back as the vines then surfaced and curled up like a snake to then reform itself into the huge man.

"That was quite the attack." The man said calmly as a vine emerged from his hand and reached out towards the group of Gifted.

This time, it was Elliot who countered the attack with a barrage of golden daggers. But that merely knocked the vine back towards the man whose hands then transformed into even more metal thorns to chase after the group.

"Let go of me!" Rosal shouted as he pulled his arm away from Antos and then conjured a wall of flame to block the garden of thorns from approaching.

"A thank you would have been nice." Antos said pettily as he walked beside Rosal. "You have to be more careful, little noble. That man can burrow himself into the ground so he'll be able to dodge your flames and come at you from anywhere."

"Then in that case…" Rosal lowered his red flames that rammed into the ground to melt the land into steaming mud accompanied by burning lava that came from underneath the dirt road. But even so, a silver vine still came from underneath to pierce through Rosal's head.

And yet again, Rosal was saved by Antos who pulled the young man to the side.

"You should be the one who stays out of this one." Antos said as he clenched his fists. "This guy can stand up to your heat and pull punches of his own. A noble like you who was born with all that power isn't used to actual fights. You usually just demolish your enemy in a single hit so you never even have the need to dodge or defend."

"Shut up! I'm in charge here. You two should stand back. If you get caught in my flames and end up a burnt corpse, don't blame me." Rosal countered as he summoned giant orbs of fire that danced around in the skies and rained down like meteors into the ground below that was now steaming with volcanic activity.

"Where the hell is he?" Rosal asked himself as he looked around.

Antos gawked as he looked around as well. "If you hadn't went and turned the land into lava, I could have broken the ground to find him but now he's just swimming through the flames like it's an indoor pool."

It was then that Elliot sent a cluster of daggers into the raging lava. The golden eyed boy continued to motion his knives into the molten Earth in hopes of finding the thorny man.

But as it would seem, the knives didn't meet their mark and only flew pointlessly into the fiery earth.

"He's either tough enough to withstand that barrage of daggers or too far in the Earth for them to reach him." Antos said as he began to walk along the edge of the newly formed lava pool. "Or maybe we got lucky and little Elliot here managed to kill 'im." Antos joked as he wrapped his hand Elliot's shoulder and gave his hair a nice ruffle.

"Now isn't the time for this." Elliot retorted as he pushed the towering Antos away.

"Oh, common, have some optimism." Antos said as he walked towards where it had solid land and then knelt to the ground. There, he then tapped ever so lightly at the dirt road.

And what came in reply was a thorn that aimed for the man's chest. But Antos grabbed the vine and then pulled with the strength of a Stronghold to fling the thing away towards a house. But to his dismay, nothing was attached to its end. "I tell ya, these transformative types are a real pain." Antos complained as he folded his hands.

"But one thing's for certain." Before Antos could finish, another set of thorns came from the ground and the group could only move about to dodge them.

Rosal, as per usual, readied a burning flame to melt the ground below but Antos interrupted. "Hey, hold on now! You've already done that. It's no use, his iron can withstand the lava."

And at that, Rosal ceased his next attack as he struggled to move about with his sickly body. As such, while he did manage to dodge the thorns, a lot of them did graze the sides of his face and arms, consequently tearing the robe that the young man wore.

Having been fed up with the now tattered piece of cloth, the boy simply flung it aside to reveal a bald headed man with many scars wearing a white shirt covered by a red jacket that was laced with gold linings.

"Oi, don't you look nice." Antos taunted as he grabbed a thorn and once more flung it away. Yet again, it detached itself from the man that commanded it.

"But as I was saying before." Antos continued. "This old man's blind, aint he?" he asked.

"Oh, what a remarkable observation." Elliot mocked from beside him.

Antos gritted his teeth but withheld his annoyance. "My point is that he's dependent on sound to know where we are. When it comes to Transformative types, their bodies can shift into whatever element they possess. Which means that these thorns are essentially parts of his body that feel around for vibrations and what not."

"Okay, so what are you getting at?" Elliot asked as he continued to fend off the thorns with his blades of light.

"Be quiet." Rosal commanded, having now understood what Antos was getting at. "For now, we'll back away slowly."

And at that, the three continued to walk away from the thorns as they made their way silently into one of the nearby houses.

"Okay, so now what?" Elliot asked.

"Now, we wait." Antos replied as he looked through a window. "The range of those thorns are reduced while he's underground and as long as we stay quiet, he won't be able to find any of us without moving away from the lava. And whether he chooses to search underground or on the surface, as long as he's away from that burning pit of fire, I'll be able to land a few punches." Antos then slammed his right fist into his left as he gritted his teeth and sharpened his brows.

And with that said and done, the group continued to wait. But they did not see any thorns come on to the surface which lead to them to believe that the man was searching by extending his vines underground to feel for vibrations.

"Oi, bait him Elliot." Antos said quietly as he patted the golden haired boy on his back.

"Why me…" Elliot complained.

"Do as he says." Rosal then ordered and Elliot downed his head as he prepared himself to hop out of the window.

"Oi, what are you doing? Just shoot a dagger or two." Antos whispered.

And at that, Elliot's face was riddled with embarrassment as he realized what the two meant. Then he did as he was told and sent several golden daggers to hit the ground, trying his best to keep it in a pattern that resembled walking.

But still, there was no reply.

"We should move." Rosal then said and the group scurried away into another house. And just as they left, thorns emerged in the house to search for the group.

"As expected, he's used to fighting like this. We won't be able to fool him that easily." Rosal said quietly.

"He's probably still hiding under the lava." Antos complained. "If you had just listened to me…"

"Yes, I apologize for that. I was being hasty." Rosal whispered as the group then ran to the second story of another house. There, they looked out of a window in search for any thorns that appeared above ground.

"How long do you reckon those things can stretch?" Antos asked as he looked to the pool of lava.

"With as big as he is, probably about twenty meters in a circular radius." Rosal answered.

"So from up here, we should be safe if we assumed that he's hiding in the lava." Said Antos as he leaned forward into the window sill. "Dammit, I guess we'll just have to wait until the lava solidifies and then get him."

"That is one option." Rosal now stood behind of the slouching Antos as he peered down below. "Alternatively, we can whittle him down over time. Whether it's noticeable or not, those thorns are a part of his body and hurting them consequently does damage to him. And while he can detach some of himself, if he does it too much, he'll end up losing a limb when he returns to human form."

"Gahhhhhhh." Antos sighed. "These kinds of strategy bore me. I'd rather finish the fight in one blow."

"Battles are simply not won with a single blow." Elliot reprimanded as he walked forward to the window.

"Then what's your idea?" Rosal asked to Antos.

"Eh…" Antos let himself fall onto the wooden floor. "I mean, we're gonna win anyways. Might as well choose the option with less work." And then the man yawned as he closed his eyes. "Imma catch some shut eye, wake me up when that bastard decides to show himself."