A DANCE OF FIVE AND ONE(OR THREE?).

***In the Continent 'Eclipse of the Oceans'..

***In the territory of one of the arms of the court(Silver Wing Clan)..

***Saccurrus(Home of the wild)..

***In a building at a corner of the streets of Quashonãßing..

..

The dark robed man actively circulates his mana and the five other people present for this exchange does the same.

The enemy they are about to face is on the same rank as their boss so although they feel caution, fear is out of the window for the squad. They have faced many monsters of this same rank and have come out victorious nine out of ten times.

In the squad's opinion, the only thing that makes the individual in front of them dangerous are factors involving his battle intellect. Unlike the information circulated about beasts, the squad does not know their attackers techniques, strengths, weakness and attack pattern.

This lack of knowledge can prove detrimental in battle though it is very likely that their opponent also knows nothing about them.

"Focus on individual defense, we end him quick.", The female boss orders with a low voice and her squad silently acknowledges her orders.

"Arrogant.", The dark robed man coldly comments to the female boss words and then.. all hell breaks loose.

Everybody involved in this battle are of the same rank with the only difference being in levels yet, only one person from the squad could follow the dark robed man's movement as he seems to zoom into the squad's faces.

The female boss eyes narrows as their opponent activates a movement art right at the beginning of the battle.

Immediately straining her optic technique to the max, the boss-lady can only slightly follow as the dark robed man attacks though not at her but rather at Hatu!.

"No!.", The lady-boss shouts in panic as a powerful torrent of mana roll through her right hand's veins. A gust of raw mana pours out of the woman's hands and with a speedy swipe of her sword, the gathered mana travels outwards like a burst from a cannon with its target being at the dark-robed man.

Sensing danger, the dark-robed individual is forced to deviate his speedy charge at Hatu as he defends himself from the lady-boss's burst of mana with a powerful swing of his flair.

The metal flair that's filled with mana collides with the lady-boss gust of mana with a vibrating tremor. At the instant of collision, mana collides against mana and mana neutralizes mana while sending out a mind-numbing energy pulse.

Due to the cold collision of forces, the dark-robed individual is forced three steps backwards as he pauses on his fatal attack.

The entire exchange that has happened all takes place in a second. Apart from the lady-boss and the dark-robed individual, the only thing the rest had seen is a dark blur that has suddenly zoomed towards Hatu before being knocked to the side by a powerful gust of mana.

Hearts are beating fast in fear and even Hatu is frozen in terror as it dawn's on him that he had almost died without being able to react.

"By my side!.", The lady-boss yells powerfully while snapping Hatu out of his frozen daze as he moves closer to his boss and savior.

Lazily holding his flair by his side, the dark-robed individual looks at the lady-boss with unhidden surprise in his eyes.

"You're not a warrior.", the man coldy declares while letting his flair swing at a gentle pace though the only response he gets to his words is the new level of vigilance in his opponent's gaze.

"Pardon my underestimation, it would be my first time killing a battle-mage(Mage + warrior).", The dark-robed man says with unhidden intrigue in his tone as the flair in his hands undergoes a slow transformation.

The chain of the flair gets sucked inwards and into the flair's short rod until the rod touches and attaches to the spiked bob with a low metaliic click. In an instant, the flair becomes spiked mace in the man's right hand and looking at his eyes, it is obvious that he is looking forward to this fight.

"You can't use your movement technique more than once can you?.", The lady-boss asks with an inhumane glow in her vertical pupils. She has seen the tense build up of mana in the robed man's limbs so making such a guess isn't hard.

"Don't worry much darling. I still have more than enough in me to kill you.", The man responds calmly. He isn't afraid to reveal the flaw in his technique as he takes a small yet confident step forward while filling his mace with mana.

The female boss also moves forward through this time she is on the attack with her squad following right after her as hell breaks loose once more.

Air splits apart as the lady-boss charges with her sword's blades raining forward. Unafraid, the dark-robed man takes a step back as he swipes her blades to the side with his mace. The collision between the dark-robed man's mana-filled mace and the lady-boss's blades sends sparks of charged mana flying everywhere.

₹CLANG!₹..

₹CLANG!₹..

₹CLANG!₹..

In two seconds, three powerful bursts of orange sparks blows out from mana-filled collisions. Despite being skilled with her dual-swords, the lady-boss finds her blades easily deflected by the man's mace swings though that doesn't matter much as her team-mates joins the bloody dance.

Hatu charges forward from the right side while holding his right gauntlet up for a punch and Akion comes in from the left while hoping to trap the dark-robed man in a circle of attacks though once they come into attacking range, the dark-robed man painfully shows them why he is so confident despite the fight being a five-vs-one.

Everything seems to slow down for a second yet still, it all happens faster than they can react to. The dark robed figure pumps his mana through his body while activating a complex series of techniques that caused his entire body's system to vibrate intensely.

Straining a groan, the dark-robed man's body seems to become illusionary from an overload of mana and then.. his figure visibly seperates into three distinct figures!.

In an instant, the dark-robed man's body phases into three lighter figures with each one attacking at a different angle.

*BANG!*..

..*TANG!*..

..*CLANG!*..

Three powerful collisions rings out uniformly. The three different phrases of the man's body only appears for an instant though the damage is done as each of the phrased figures delivers specific attacks that cacthes everyone off-guard.

One of the phrase-figures delivers a powerful kick to the kite-shield of the approaching Akion, the second of the man's phrased figures deliver an heavy bash of his mace against Hatu's approaching fist and the most realistic-looking of the three phrased-figures deflects a powerful sword attack from the lady-boss.

After the instance of appearance, two of the man's three phrased figures dissappear and re-combines with the most realistic one as the battle rages on without any pause.

Hatu and Akion are pushed back by the attacks launched at them so for the next second, the lady-boss is in an isolated fight against the powerful dark-robed warrior cultivator who now goes on the offensive.

#CLANG!₹..

₹CLANG!#..

Slapping a blade away with his mace, the dark-robed warrior steps forward for an attack with his mace. The dark-robed man's wild mace swing at the lady-boss is deflected by a skilled blade though this doesn't paused his next moves as he suddenly phrases into three figures once more.

In a second, three different figures of the dark-robed man launches three different mace swings at the lady-boss whose vertical eyes squints in panic.

A mace comes swinging at her head, another is going for her torso and the last mace is going for her knees!.

Reacting in a second, the female boss circulates her mana to strengthen her bloodline. Her pale grey skin becomes paler and tougher and she is now able to move fast enough to block two out of the three phrased attacks.

Moving the sword in her right hand, the lady-boss blocks the mace coming at he face. Moving the sword in her left hand, the lady-boss desperately stabs into the floor as her blade blocks the swing coming at her knees.

¥GLANG!*..

*BÂSH!*..

#CLANG!*..

Three collisions rings out in an instant. Two of the collisions are mettaliic but one of the collisions is a brutal collision of metal against tough flesh as the mana-filled head of the spiked mace impacts into the lady-boss's torso.

Coughing out a groan, the lady-boss is pushed four wide steps back due to the brutal impact!. On impact against her torso, the dark-robed warrior's mana flows from his mace the into the lady-boss's body while numbing her nerves and dizzying her mind.

'Ice affinity.', The lady-boss silently notes internally despite the pain rushing through her nerves.

The dark-robed warrior the squad is currently fighting has a chill in his mana that tells of the terrifying ice affinity. Adding this fact to the man's high level techniques and martial display then it is obvious that he is not close to an average Peak-level Rank Two Cultivator.

The lady-boss had been confident in a clash though now it becomes very clear that although they are at the same level and rank, in an even fight with the man she would likely lose eight out of ten times!.

Thank goodness it is not an even fight as the lady-boss's squad desends on the man with bold attacks right after he has hit her.. her squad's attacks gives the dark-robed warrior no time to follow-up on attacking the lady-boss.

..

..