The Test Of Teamwork (1)

As they stepped into the tunnel, the temperature dropped sharply. The air grew thick, and the faint glow of the ice faded until they were plunged into darkness. The only sound was their own footsteps echoing ominously against the cold stone walls.

And then, the voice came.

[Why do you run?]

It was feminine, yet vast, reverberating in the air around them like it came from the very bones of the tunnel itself. The voice was calm but carried a weight that made Vastarael stop in his tracks. Phaenora froze as well.

[Why do you leave this place without witnessing the Destras Cataclysm? You run from the story I am weaving, from the truth that I have laid bare.]

"Witness it?" Vastarael turned toward the source of the voice, though it was impossible to pinpoint where it came from. "You mean sit back and watch while this little girl is hunted down and destroyed by the Frozen God? No thanks. She's the key to the Isles and I'm not going to let her die for it. She doesn't belong in this past and you know it."

The voice chuckled softly, though there was no warmth in it.

[You speak boldly for one who treads against the fabric of fate. Do you think I do not know who you are, Veneri? You, the Vessel of Time, the thread that binds past and future. You can bring anyone from the past and future to any period of time without consequences. But even you cannot alter what is destined to come without cost.]

Vastarael stiffened. He hadn't expected EPOCH to know what he was, let alone call him out so openly.

"If you know what I am, then you know I don't care about the cost. I'm not letting her suffer under the Frozen God's hands. Not now, not ever. I'm taking her out of this timeline, whether you like it or not."

A long silence followed, the kind that felt like the world itself was holding its breath. And then, the voice sighed.

[Very well. But you will not leave without earning your escape. You defied the order I have set and for that, there is punishment. Pass the final test, the Test of Teamwork, and I will allow you to cross the Fallen Bridge.]

"What's the test?" Phaenora asked sharply.

[Three thousand Krepsunas of the Sunderer Rank stand before you. You will face them and survive. If you succeed, the bridge is yours. Fail, and you remain here... as part of the Isles forever. You will experience the Destras Cataclysm and stay three hundred years until the Epoch Cycle begins in Erna Isles.]

Vastarael's eyes narrowed, "Three thousand Ascender-level Krepsunas? Are you serious?"

[Do not question what you cannot change, Vessel. This is your punishment for running from what you were meant to see.]

"Why do you care so much about me seeing the Cataclysm?"

The voice hesitated, a pause that felt heavy with meaning.

[You will know soon enough.]

Before Vastarael could reply, the ground beneath their feet gave way and they were plunged into a blinding light.

When they landed, it was not on stone but on cracked, barren earth. A vast wasteland stretched out before them, littered with the skeletal remains of giant beasts and broken weapons. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood and ash. The sky was a swirling mass of gray clouds, flickering with crimson lightning.

And then they saw them.

Krepsunas emerged from the shadows, their monstrous forms illuminated by the red flashes above. They were massive, grotesque creatures, each one a twisted amalgamation of limbs, claws, and glowing eyes. Their bodies pulsed with energy.

"Three thousand of these things," Phaenora muttered, summoning a sapphire glaive. "EPOCH really hates us, huh?"

Vastarael unsheathed his Divine Weapon, the sapphire gleam of it cutting through the gloom. He glanced at the girl, who was trembling but trying to stand firm.

"Stay behind us," he said gently. "You've already done enough. Let us handle this."

"No," she said, her voice shaking but determined. "I'll fight too. I'm strong."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Okay."

The Krepsunas roared, the sound like a thousand storms breaking at once, and then they charged.

Vastarael and Phaenora surged forward. Vastarael's glaive flashed as he cut down the first wave, the sapphire energy from his strikes tearing through the Krepsunas like paper. Phaenora moved with deadly grace, each strike leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

To their surprise, they felt a very powerful shockwave reverberating through the battlefield. They looked back and saw the girl's red energy forming shockwaves that made the Krepsunas unstable in the battlefield.

Vastarael grinned as he began using the opportunity to slash them.

Thankfully, the Krepsunas did not have special Tethers but had advanced physical level. However, this didn't mean that they were easy to kill.

Vastarael's instincts spiked when he saw something glowing at a distance. He immediately swung his weapon upwards, his essence forming a massive sapphire wall.

A massive explosion hit the sapphire wall, shattering it into pieces. The shockwaves from the impact sent Vastarael and Phaenora back. The Krepsunas close to it were obliterated to pieces.

"What was that?!" Phaenora exclaimed as she saw the broken sapphire shards. "Isn't your sapphire stronger now? How did it shatter?"

Vastarael immediately grabbed the girl and began running to the opposite direction. Phaenora followed suit, unsure of what he sensed but knew that it wasn't good at all.

"Three thousand Sunderers. Perfect coordination. This is an army, Phae," he revealed as they ran on the opposite side of the battlefield. "There are leader Sunderers here as well. They have enough intelligence to command an army and they're more powerful than the others. We need a plan."

"So we're fighting a coordinated army, not a horde of unintelligent Krepsunas? This is bad."

The girl was listening to their conversation, turning her head to look at the Krepsunas running behind them. They were fast but it compared to Vastarael and Phaenora.

"We need to kill the commanders first but I need you to trust me on this. Okay?"

Phaenora nodded, "I already do."

"Good. Hey, can you summon a shockwave that will send us up in the air?"

The girl nodded as she summoned her red energy. In an instant, they were propelled up at high speeds, leaving a depression behind them.

As they soared high above the battlefield, the full scale of the Krepsuna army sprawled beneath them. Thousands of monstrous beings moved in perfect unison, their sheer numbers almost blotting out the landscape. Vastarael's eyes scanned the chaos below, quickly honing in on the two figures at the forefront.

Unlike the rest of the Krepsunas, these beings emanated an aura of dominance and intelligence, their massive forms radiating with an otherworldly glow that made them stand apart from their subordinates.

"There they are," Vastarael said, his grip tightening on the girl as they reached the apex of their flight.

Phaenora, hovering beside him, glanced down.

"Those two? They don't look like much—"

"They're everything," Vastarael interrupted. "If we don't take them out now, we're finished."

The girl's red energy crackled faintly around her as she held on to Vastarael.

"What do I do?"

"You've already done a lot. Keep that energy ready. Phae and I are going to handle the rest."

Without another word, Vastarael stretched out his hand, summoning a glowing, sapphire-hued Circle midair. The intricate patterns of the Second Star Plasma Circle shimmered brightly, crackling with volatile energy as it spun rapidly between his palms.

"Hold on tight!" He warned the girl.

He unleashed the blast.

A concentrated stream of blue plasma shot forth, roaring like a storm as it hurtled down toward the Krepsuna commanders. The beam struck the ground where they stood, erupting in a violent explosion that sent shockwaves rippling across the battlefield. Dirt, stone and the remains of lesser Krepsunas flew in all directions, creating a crater at the epicenter.

Phaenora grinned as she readied her weapon, but her amusement faded when the dust cleared. The commanders stood at the heart of the destruction, their forms battered but very much intact. One of them let out a roar that shook the ground, while the other gazed up at them with unsettling calm.

"They're alive?" Phaenora hissed, gripping her sapphire glaive tightly.

"Not for long."

The girl didn't wait for further instructions. She raised her hands, her crimson energy surging around her in chaotic waves. She unleashed another shockwave, this time directed downward. The force of the blast propelled them back toward the ground at breakneck speed, wind roaring in their ears as they descended.

"Brace yourselves!" Vastarael shouted, positioning himself to shield the girl as they made impact.

They crashed into the battlefield with an explosive force, creating another massive depression in the earth. The shockwave from their landing threw Krepsunas in every direction and the two leaders staggered back slightly, momentarily thrown off balance.

Vastarael wasted no time. The moment his feet touched the ground, he summoned another Plasma Circle, this one larger and more intricate than the first.

"Phae, keep the grunts off us!"

"On it!"

Phaenora darted toward the advancing Krepsunas, her blade gleaming as she slashed through the oncoming horde with lethal precision.

The girl, standing by Vastarael's side, looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What do I do now?"

"Stay close and keep that energy ready. You're our ace and we're going to need you."

The ground trembled as the commanders began their counterattack, their massive forms charging toward Vastarael and the girl with terrifying speed. Vastarael stepped forward, his sapphire blade gleaming as he prepared to face them head-on.

"Phae! Whatever you do, don't let them split us up!"

"I'm a little busy here!"

She shouted back, cutting down another Krepsuna with a flourish.

The commanders closed the distance in a heartbeat. A crystalline humanoid Krepsuna raised a massive claw, its edges glowing with a deadly light and brought it down in a devastating arc toward Vastarael.

He sidestepped at the last moment, the ground where he'd stood shattering under the impact and countered with a precise slash aimed at the creature's exposed flank. The blade bit into its armor, but the beast roared and lashed out with its other claw, forcing Vastarael to leap back.

The serpentine commander, meanwhile, slithered toward the girl, its glowing eyes locked onto her as it hissed something in a language neither Vastarael nor Phaenora understood.

The girl began summoning waves of energy around her that sent the creature back.

"Stay behind me!"

Vastarael intercepted the creature's path and slamming his blade into the ground. Sapphire shot from the ground, sending a surge of energy coursing toward the serpent and halting its advance.

Phaenora appeared beside him moments later, breathing hard but grinning.

"I think I'm starting to hate Krepsunas," she muttered, flicking blood from her blade by waving her hand once.

"Join the club."

The three of them stood their ground, facing down the two commanders as the battlefield erupted into chaos around them. Despite the overwhelming odds, none of them wavered. They had a mission and they weren't about to fail.

They could see the numbers on a hologram above them.

[Krepsunas killed: 163.]

[Krepsunas remaining: 2,837.]