Hopeless Fight

Eiran dodged mid-air as the ice blade whistled past, skidding across the frozen ground. Heavy footsteps thundered behind him. He flickered away just as the blade crashed into his previous location.

Behind the winter warrior now, Eiran moved to attack—but the ice beneath his feet suddenly shattered upward. A massive head clamped around his waist, dragging him into the icy water below.

His left foot's energy depleted instantly. The royal uniform pulsed with power, expelling outward and launching him skyward. But the winter warrior hurled his blade at him as came out.

Before it reached him, Eiran glimpsed something that made his blood freeze: a half-eaten corpse, encased in a glacier in the distance.

Below him, the white bear that had dragged him down emerged from the water and roared.

'Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!'

He saw nothing but felt every crushing blow. The Ruin Ground was more ominous and dangerous than he'd imagined.

Then surrounded by sand, two warriors flanked him. A blade struck him, sending him careening toward a spear that knocked him back. He used Instant Shift, dodging just in time—but the other warrior was already waiting where he reached.

'Bam!'

"Think!" Eiran had been sweating for what felt like hours.

He'd tried everything, could even predict when the shift would happen—anywhere from five seconds to two minutes, depending on the warriors' movements or their beast companions.

He had all the knowledge he needed, but he wasn't fast enough. No—he was fast enough, but the constant shift in locations completely disoriented him, breaking his rhythm and disrupting his skills even when he knew what to expect.

A Lava Hound leaped out, molten rock covering its form before splashing toward Eiran.

He dodged away, but a warrior sent him flying back into the lava. He escaped again, only for beast jaws to clamp around his head, pouring flames against his force shield.

'Boom!'

The royal uniform pushed everything away. Eiran stood, face flushed red, his energy stores in Forge Form completely depleted.

Now his own personal talent energy flowed into the Forge Form, then to the Royal Uniform. But it was less effective—the heat reached him, his skin burning. His throat is scorching as he breathes.

'I might die here.'

His mind went blank as another instant shift occurred. His cape began smoking from the heat.

A burning blade swung at his face. The heat alone made his face blister—if not for the royal uniform focusing protection on the head, it would have melted.

Breathing became difficult which increased stamina drain.

Hot shifted to cold. An ice blade was upon him, his blistered face beginning to freeze.

His mind processed on the instant shift, and he tilted his head. The blade passed within an inch, but his head almost froze solid, his thoughts turning sluggish.

'I'm going to die here!'

His Strength Glyph had been active all this time, and then he concentrated it on his face to counter the freezing.

Cold rose from beside him. A glance—the winter bear had jumped, maw wide open.

'I'm going to die!'

He reached his intention to the beast to halt its blood flow, but met a clear block. As if it wasn't truly alive with no blood.

'I'm going to die!'

The bear's sheer cold froze him as its mouth clamped down.

The Royal Uniform absorbed massive energy to create a shield around him as he was dragged by the bear down faster. His skin was practically ice now, his blood flowing furiously to prevent complete crystallization.

'I'm going to die here!'

He sank into the ice water before being expelled like before. His talent energy reduced considerably.

He was then in the ruin hall and an invisible blade came for him. His body shuddered with the blade's impact against the weak royal uniform force field.

Waning Gibbous: Phantom Pulse!

His form suddenly entered complete stillness, then his blade moved in a flurry of attacks around him, striking nothing but air.

That was his solution.

Waning Gibbous caused all his movements and thoughts to halt abruptly, creating stillness before exploding into action.

The stillness was all he needed to combat the sudden disorientation.

He sensed movement. Instant Shift. He flickered away but came to a halt as the sand location materialized.

Waning Gibbous: Phantom Pulse.

He went still. The chaos of the sudden environmental shift settled quickly. His body flickered, dodging a spear aimed at his head.

'Bam!'

His body was still thrown away by claymore attack, his talent energy dangerously low.

His mind accelerated, using Instant Shift to formulate a plan. He combined three techniques that would change his situation:

Blood Art: Heart—Impulse

Waning Gibbous Art: Phantom Pulse

Blood Art: Haste: Instant Shift (Mind and Body)

Impulse Skill would activate immediately after each environmental change, triggering Phantom Pulse causing stillness to the disorientation of the sudden change of location, and the flurry of attacks that follows would help distract the warriors.

Instant Shift remained essential for dodging critically close attacks.

He crashed onto the sand and Phantom Pulse held him firmly.

Instant Shift flickered his body away from a thrown spear, and he activated Silent Edge.

A blade came for him. He dodged in time, readying Lunar Fang as heat scratched his throat.

Impulse. Phantom Pulse. Silent Edge. Lunar Fang.

The scorching red blade aimed at his face met his Lunar Fang technique. His Strength Glyph was active, but his hand bounced back, rocketing his body backward.

Instant Shift.

He flickered beside the warrior before the enemy could pull back his sword and launched Silent Edge and Lunar Fang. A sharp cut appeared on the warrior's red-hot armor.

The warrior turned with a punch. Eiran flickered ten feet away, then immediately back to the warrior's rear.

His Judging Blade was coming down but got disrupted by a wind that made him shiver, his west dried and his throat frozen.

The bear was returning to attack.

Waning Gibbous: Phantom Pulse.

Waxing Gibbous: Rebound Redirection.

His blade deflected in a flurry, but he was pushed back as expected. The bear was too heavy to move.

Phantom Pulse.

He became still, then flickered away as a blade struck his location, appearing behind the warrior.

Judging Blade cut through the ice armor from behind, slicing downward. He flickered ten feet away to catch his breath, which made lung to extremely cool down but his blood warmed them up.

For the first time, Eiran wasn't under attack or being blasted away.

The bear was charging toward him. The warriors' armor was repairing rapidly—the cold and ice of the environment was aiding their recovery quickly.

"Hmm." Eiran's mind accelerated, thinking of ways to handle this.

With Phantom Pulse stilling his body and mind from chaos, he no longer had to fear. He only needed to coordinate his moves.

"Thank you, Waning Gibbous," he said genuinely, stepping forward to meet the bear and the attacking warrior.

A skill that seemed unassuming at first glance was actually his foundation for victory.

Eiran's talent energy was nearly depleted, but Brand Skills had one advantage: each was a node of talent energy, and when one ran low, it trickled back to him.

He had twelve Brand Skills—eight Sliding Moon Arts and four Blood Arts and he wasn't using all of the Sliding Moon Arts and one Blood Art: Bone.

Energy trickled back to him while the Brand Skills he was using drew from them. However, he couldn't afford powerful strikes on him like before, as the combined energy in all unused skills barely equaled the stored energy in one hand.

'Before we clash, the location will change,' He thought with calm wariness, pulling up the image of what had just happened.

Phantom Pulse. Instant Shift.

He escaped the blow. Phantom Pulse halted him, then another Instant Shift helped him dodge before he entered Moonlight Waltz.

He danced through the ruined hall, letting the art anticipate the coming attacks of the ruin warriors—always invisible, yet he struck no one and no one attacked him.

This had happened before. They never appeared when he attacked, as if afraid they'd be harmed.

The moment he finished his dance, they attacked—but he was back in the sand.

Phantom Pulse. Moonlight Waltz.

A powerful spear strike forced him out, but he flickered behind the warrior. It turned fast, the spear shaft sweeping toward his location.

He dodged and unleashed Severing Path. The warrior dodged as the claymore came at him.

Eiran flickered ten feet away where another spear came—he dodged and struck back, but another blade appeared. He flickered away again.

'They're difficult to deal with. Their coordination is their strength.'

Heat slammed into him. Phantom Pulse had become his default response after every change of location.

Instant Shift followed to dodge whatever attack was coming.

But he was losing. He still couldn't make decisive moves, and his energy continued dropping. The environmental shifts also affected his stamina recovery.

At least he was keeping up. If Nyara saw him now, she wouldn't recognize him. His facial skin had blistered and was peeling, but healing slowly.

His skin beneath the uniform was red, sweat evaporating in lava grounds and turning to ice in frozen areas. His hair was falling out—sometimes catching fire, sometimes hard as icicles.

'Now or never!' He roared in his mind.

Phantom Pulse in the ruin ground. He went still, Rebound Deflection ready.

He stood, but no attack came. 'What?' Confusion filled him. The next moment, he was back at the lava.

Phantom Pulse. Mind Instant Shift.

The burning warrior attacked, but struck empty space.

'I can chain four Body Instant Shifts!'

Blood Art: Heart—Impulse X4

Blood Art: Haste—Instant Shift

Eiran's body changed position four times. Exhausted but determined, he appeared before the hound. Its heat burning his flesh didn't stop him from attacking.

New Moon: Silent Edge.

Waxing Crescent: Lunar Fang.

The hound was cleaved in two instantly.

'Bam!

A blade struck him down. His force shield absorbed most of the impact, but it reached Eiran's pauldron, driving him to his knees. His left shoulder dislocated.

"Ah!"

The blade rose to strike again.

Eiran flickered behind the warrior. First Quarter: Judging Blade was coming down, as Eiran held back tears as the warrior pivoted with a horizontal slash.

Clang!

"AHH!"

He was sent back as their blades met. He stabbed his sword into the ground, to stop sliding back before standing to meet the incoming burning warrior.

Blood Art: Growth—Adaptation fixed his shoulder.

The white bear and winter warrior attacked side by side.

Waning Gibbous: Phantom Pulse.

The disorientation of environmental shift halted and he dashed at them, this time gripping his blade with both hands. He flickered left, away from the bear, but the ice warrior slashed sideways—only to meet a chained instant shift.

He appeared by the bear's right side. First Quarter: Judging Blade came down.

'Bang!'

The bear's fur was soft, but inside was hard as metal. The sword rebounded. The bear retaliated.

Waning Crescent: Last Veil was unleashed. His body leaped back as he struck, transitioning into New Moon: Silent Edge.

He took a deep breath, freezing his tongue and throat, but the winter warrior was attacking. He sidestepped.

Waxing Crescent: Lunar Fang.

Eiran's sword moved too fast for him to track. The ice armor was cut through, the blade diving inside and emerging with blue blood.

He didn't rest, shadows fell above—the bear was about to crush him, but the location changed.

Waning Gibbous: Phantom Pulse calm the chaos and he readied;

New Moon: Silent Edge.

Waxing Crescent: Lunar Fang.

Again, no attack came. He stood still, sword sheathed, hand on hilt. Ready, mind focused—but even the air hadn't moved.

Two minutes passed. Eiran rested as heat blew his way.

Phantom Pulse calmed the chaos. He chained Instant Shift behind the warrior—it turned fast, but Eiran was already back in front.

"Ha!"

First Quarter: Judging Blade came down with both hands. A rebound of failed attack staggered them both back.

No hound to worry about. Eiran entered Full Moon: Moonlight Waltz, dancing around the burning warrior, attacking and retreating, avoiding blade clashes that would force him out of Full Moon.

Icy wind made him stagger. Phantom Pulse calmed the chaos, but the bear crashed down, draining his talent energy due to Royal Uniform protection.

It stood to attack. He flickered away—the last drop of every talent energy he had in both body and Brand Skills was gone.

He panted, eyes on the bear, which was still standing before dropping to a gallop.

Eiran couldn't use Blood Arts properly without talent energy—they were designed to consume energy, unlike the Sliding Moon Arts.

New Moon: Silent Edge.

Waxing Crescent: Lunar Fang.

The seven-foot bear almost crashed into him, but he mimicked Waning Crescent: Last Veil within Lunar Fang—a powerful strike that let him move away faster than he could perceive.

A gash appeared on the bear's face, bloodless. He landed in its blind spot but didn't attack, glancing at the warrior who also hadn't moved, its body still healing from injury.

'I can't defeat them,' he feared.