Chapter 76 - Evelin's Power
"Who are you?" asked Sombra gloomily.
However, he did not stop to listen to the answer, but immediately blinked towards Nerun to kill him quickly, and do what he must. After all, if there was more delay, the army currently interrogating Carlos would surely storm in and find the "evidence" of their misdeeds. Then even if he wanted to run away, it would be too late, after all, there were Qi Emperors waiting outside.
Nerun stood his ground and entered a defensive stance. When Sombra appeared next to him he quickly attacked his private parts, but Nerun quickly lifted his foot and defended himself. Then he counterattacked with a round kick, and started kicking at Sombra ferociously. Sombra however was quite nimble as well, and raising his hands started fighting Nerun with powerful kicks and punches. Nerun was forced to defend himself, so he once again started using his 'Unbreakable' stance, diverting most of the enemy attacks into the surrounding area and stepping back over and over to redistribute the force, which caused rifts and cracks to appear on the ground and the building.
Nerun was quite surprised that Sombra was that powerful. As Qi Praetorians went, Nerun was quite sure that he could best most of them, but this man named Sombra was almost as strong as his Big Brother Elijah when he was a Qi Praetorian, after all Elijah was a true martial genius.
However, the one that was truly surprised was Sombra, since he had attacked with all his might and even used some incisive attacks, but had failed to get the upper hand. He also felt that Nerun's energy distribution was quite strange, and felt quite weak, barely at the level of a Qi Grandmaster, and yet, he could go toe to toe with him. Sombra found it incredulous, but the truth was right in front of him.
As Nerun was fighting Sombra, Alistar was feeling quite flustered. He had no idea where Nerun had come from, but he was sure that the girl in front of him was one of the kidnapped children, but the power she was manifesting was impressive for such a small girl. Nevertheless, it was not the girl that worried him the most, but the wolf pup glaring at him nearby. He could feel it was a Rank 3 Magical Beast. In normal circumstances, he would not be that scared, since he was a powerful Qi Praetorian in his own right, but there was also a bothersome small emerald bird flying around with the power of a Rank 2 beast.
Very few seconds had passed since Nerun and company striked, and Sombra and Alistar had not used any powerful moves, so the fight so far had gone undiscovered. Sombra himself was an expert in subterfuge, so his techniques tended to be silent. However they knew that if they could not get rid of these nuisances quick enough, in a short time, Serena and company would storm in and all would be lost.
So Sombra once again attacked Nerun with his poison needles, and blinked into the shadows once more. However he did not go towards Nerun blindspot this time, but towards Evelin. He wanted to restrain him and force Nerun into surrendering. However Nerun, who had activated his ocular meridians from the start, noticed the small surge of energy close to Evelin, and realized Sombra's plan. While Nerun could not completely grasp Sombra's movements with his eyes, he could still more or less notice the flow of energy, that's how he was keeping track of Sombra's blinking, albeit with some delay.
Nerun wasted no time and
Sombra was more agile than Nerun, and his Qi was more exuberant, but still, his
'This kid is clearly very young still, he could not be older than fourteen. Yet he is already close to my level in power. Still, he is weaker than me, but to get rid of him would take some time. I'll need to use a bigger attack' thought Sombra, who was feeling a bit despondent. He was also considered a genius back in his Territory, but he was still older than Nerun. What would be his thoughts if he knew that Nerun had only turned twelve recently.
"Hey, that freak with the mask is yours, and he almost attacked me. Can't you keep him in check?" said Evelin almost fuming. However, she seemed to be unconcerned, as if she was confident she could go unscathed.
"I'm sorry my lady, I'll try to be more careful." answered Nerun jokingly, with his full attention on Sombra's movement.
As Nerun and Sombra were exchanging blows, Alistar readied his Qi and started attacking towards Evelin with his sword, however Whitey was in his way and started attacking him with his superior speed. Whitey was also a master in trailing and sudden attacks, more than direct fighting, which was part of his wolf ancestry, therefore he was a tad weaker than Alistar in this aspect. The small emerald bird stayed next to Evelin to protect her from any harm.
Whitey enlarged himself to be one and a half meters tall. He did not resume his normal size, since they were fighting inside a dungeon hall and it would be a bit cumbersome to fight with his full size in such a space. Him being smaller meant that he could not use his full power, however he still remained quite nimble. So far, Evelin had not used any spell. She was observing the situation on both ends and calculating in her mind. Whitey started attacking Alistar and keeping him busy, sending an icy breath from time to time.
Alistar, however was not an easy bone to chew, and with his intricate sword moves he managed to defend and counterattack swiftly, even sending several Qi Waves towards Whitey who had to dodge them in quick succesion, causing small afterimages. As Alistar fought with Whitey and made him retreat for some meters, he raised his sword with both hands and using his full Qi, he sent a 3 meters long Qi Wave towards Evelin.
Whitey appeared in front of Evelin and used all of his Breath to counter the attack, barely off-setting it.
Taking advantage of this, Alistar moved quickly towards Whitey and started making fast and furious slashes towards Whitey which caused the wind to stir in the surroundings.There were multiple afterimages appearing during his attacks due to the speed of the slashes, which made it much more difficult to see the true attacks among them.
Hurricane Sword 2nd Form:
Whitey could barely defend and dodge most of the attacks, but several of them landed on his legs and chest, making gashes appear on his fur, and blood fall out. When Nerun saw this, he got a bit distracted, and red-eyed, and wanted to go to Whitey's rescue, but Sombra started attacking Nerun frantically. If he managed to delay Nerun, the wolf would soon be dead, and if Nerun made a major mistake, he would die as well.
Alistar was feeling quite proud, and was about to end Whitey since the wolf was currently deeply wounded.
Evelin however stayed calm and said Nerun: "Focus on your task. Don't worry. Whitey will be ok. With me here, that man can even forget about hurting him again. I was just trying to understand his power, after all, it's not like I fight all the time like a brute."
Then Evelin raised her hand runes started appearing next to her fingers, and pointing towards Whitey she simply said:
"Λιγότερη θεραπεία - /Ligóteri therapeía/*"
The Energy of Heaven and Earth then surrounded Whitey and his wounds started healing at a rapid pace, and in a matter of seconds, they were all gone. Evelin then talked to the Emerald Bird, "Little Green, go!".
The Bird then started flapping its wings and a several wind blades went directly towards Alistar, who had to defend himself and could not keep attacking Whitey.
As Alistar was defending himself, Evelin kept muttering unintelligible words and many runic patterns started surrounding her. Then she quickly casted two spells:
"Αδύναμος - /Adýnamos/"
"Δύναμη - /Dýnami/"
A foreboding feeling quickly came to Alistar. The Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth surrounded him in a whitish halo which started to rob him of his energy and strength, and he felt his power diminish little by little, and he felt like he had lost up to 20% of his normal power, which made him feel feverish and afraid.
On the other hand, Whitey who had recovered from his wounds, was surrounded by a red halo of energy, which increased his power up to 30% more. Whitey, who was quite adept at taking advantage of the situation, used his newfound strength to go right for Alistar's jugular.
Evelin's power came from the Heavenly Gate of "ζωή" (Life). It was one of the more esoteric and rare of the Heavenly gates and she could weaken, fortify, and bless her targets in a thousand ways. With her natural endowement to talk to Magical Beasts, she and her Beast companions could fight with her staying in the back while the beast fought while being enhanced by her. She was quite a fearsome one when there were companions next to her.
"Not good!" said Sombra, and immediately blinked at a Shadow close to Alistar's position to try and help him, but when he appeared he saw himself under the attack of Little Green wind blades, which at some point changed targets. Sombra barely managed to defend himself, and had to stop for a second. But a second was more than enough for Whitey to appear next to the flustered Alistar and lashing out at him, tore his arm off by the roots.
"AAAAAAAAH!" yelled Alistar after losing one arm. However his troubles had barely begun, since the freed Nerun appeared behind him afterwards and attacked his joints and meridians with utmost precision, and completely immobilized him from head to toe, with several of his joints dislocated, afterwards putting his hand on Alistar's head and pushing it against the ground.
- CRASH -
Alistar had been defeated swiftly after this attack combo, with rolled eyes and foam in his mouth.
Sombra's eyes darkened, while cursing Alistar in his mind. 'Useless. Still, where the heck did these couple of children and beasts come from? When Sombra saw Whitey, he then noticed that it was the same pup he had seen around Carlos' Manor back in Syracuse. Then, it hit him. He had been tailed from the moment he had killed the kidnapper back in the abandoned lot. He just had not noticed. He felt a deep chill running in his back. He was mocking Serena and the army for failing to capture him, but now he realized this was all a setup. Serena and her family had taken the displeasure and pressure from the nobles, just to make sure they could catch the kidnappers and rescue the children. He knew that he barely had a choice now. This would be the only chance he got to stay alive.
All of a sudden he joined both hands in a sign as he stood with both feet together. Shadows enveloped him, and he then divided into 4 different shadows that went in different ways. Not even Nerun with his ocular meridians could tell where the real Sombra was.
Nerun, Whitey and Little Green went each towards one of the shadows, while Evelin kept her eyes vigilant and was preparing to cast another Magick Spell in a moment's notice. All of a sudden, one of the shadows came close to the cells where the children were being held and materialized into the real Sombra. Actually the real Sombra was not in any of the four clones, he stayed hidden in the same spot, and he could later decide what shadow to blink to. This was a mighty escape art, and could also be used to attack the enemy suddenly.
"Damn!" cursed Nerun when he noticed Sombra's approach. Sombra wanted to attack the children and threaten them with the hostages. Sombra decided to attack with full power, an attack that would surely be noticed by the enemies outside, but currently he could care less about it. He was going to attack the walls of the cell and send the debris flying towards the children. Their small bodies would not be able to withstand them and many of them would be hurt badly and die.
- BOOOM! -
Pieces of the wall went quickly flying into the cell where the children were located.
Nerun and the two beasts quickly went towards the children, and fortunately they were not too far away. Evelin who was closest to the cell was the first to react and sent a spell
"Τείχος αμπέλου - /Teíchos ampélou/"
Multiple vines appeared from the ground and surrounded the children, stopping the debris from hurting them. Nerun and the rest also arrived in front of the children and resisted the attack.
Sombra then took advantage, and blinked towards the door and quickly went into the next room, where the ritual would be held. Nerun and company were quick to follow. Nerun suddenly had a bad feeling. The full moon had just appeared in the starry night.
__
* Λιγότερη θεραπεία - /Ligóteri therapeía/: Lesser Healing
Αδύναμος - /Adýnamos/: Weak
Δύναμη - /Dýnami/: Strength, Power
Τείχος αμπέλου - /Teíchos ampélou/: Vine Wall