The crimson mist around Ragnar flared violently as he shot forward, his massive frame leaving behind streaks of silver ripples.
Vynor met him head-on, his fist glowing with blinding Essence. Ragnar didn’t flinch, he pulled his arm back, his laws gathering around his knuckles in a dense silver glow, and threw his punch.
BOOM!
The two forces collided, and a massive shockwave rippled through the void. Vynor was hurled backward, his body spinning before he managed to stabilize himself several hundred meters away.
His eyes widened in disbelief. The punch had not only matched his own, it had overpowered it.
Ragnar snorted, unimpressed. He turned his back on the Feran and shot straight back toward the swarm of grandmasters he had left behind, his club reforming in his hand. He didn’t even glance at Vynor again.
Vynor’s face twisted from shock to fury. The veins in his neck bulged, his claws extending as he roared and launched after Ragnar like a meteor.
"How is this possible?" Velaira muttered, genuine surprise flickering in her golden eyes. "Who are these people?"
"Most likely from the human world we were told about," Vaelix said calmly, his gaze never leaving me. "Princess, why don’t you see for yourself how strong the elf woman is?"
Velaira gave him a sharp look, then nodded. Essence coiled around her body as glowing blue claws extended from her hands. She shot forward, slicing through the void toward Lyrate.
Lyrate, meanwhile, was smashing her fist into a Feran grandmaster bound by her crimson mist when I sensed Velaira’s movement.
’Lyrate, incoming,’
She turned instantly, spotting the incoming princess.
A smile curved her lips. She stepped back, grabbed the tail of the half-conscious grandmaster she had restrained, and in a single motion shot forward with explosive speed, appearing right in front of Velaira.
Velaira’s eyes widened at the sudden move. Before she could react, Lyrate spun once and hurled the Feran like a hammer.
Velaira had no time to dodge. Instead of slashing, she punched the airborne tiger out of reflex. The collision sent the dazed Feran crashing away with a roar of pain.
Velaira’s eyes burned with rage. She vanished from sight and reappeared behind Lyrate, her claws slashing down in a blur. Lyrate turned midair, her sword flashing upward to parry the strike. The clash sent shockwaves through the air.
Then Lyrate’s body dissolved into crimson mist. She reappeared above Velaira, twisting in midair before driving a spinning kick straight into the princess’s head.
BOOM!
Crimson mist and Essence exploded outward as Velaira’s body was sent hurtling across the void.
Lyrate landed gracefully, her expression calm as she turned and rushed back into the fray.
But the battle wasn’t slowing down. More Feran grandmasters were joining the fight by the second. Even with my violet vortexes flaring across the field, deflecting attacks and absorbing energy, the tide was starting to turn against us.
Vynor, now roaring in fury, was locked in a brutal clash with Ragnar, who was somehow holding off both him and nearly ten other grandmasters at once.
The same chaos unfolded on Lyrate’s side, where the Feran princess was matching her strike for strike in a dazzling exchange of light and crimson mist.
Dante and Knight were surrounded as well, facing almost thirty grandmasters together. Knight’s shadows had expanded into a vast dome, enclosing the area like a living fortress, while Dante’s spatial blades tore through any Feran that tried to breach it.
’You’ll need to interfere soon,’ Knight’s voice echoed in my mind, edged with strain.
My gaze shifted toward Silver.
He was surrounded by the largest number of opponents, close to forty grandmasters had converged on him.
Two massive tornadoes of wind spun violently around his body, dragging several of them inside and keeping the rest at bay.
My perception shifted to where Primus and Anjee were fighting, and I instantly felt something wrong, too many Feran signatures were closing in on their position.
Primus ripped off the remnants of his robes. The faint flames around him surged, crawling across his body like living veins.
His skin gleamed red, and the tattoos etched into his arms began to pulse rhythmically, almost alive. His horns shimmered with heat, glowing brighter with every deep breath he took.
"Come on, then!" he roared, his voice crackling with power. He bent slightly forward, muscles tightening, and then, he vanished.
A burst of fire exploded outward as he disappeared. The next instant, he was everywhere at once. He tore through the void in streaks of flame.
He appeared behind one of the grandmasters and drove his flaming fist straight into the tiger’s ribs. The blow detonated with a dull boom , sending the Feran tumbling away, its fur burning.
Before the others could respond, Primus flickered again, appearing behind another and launching a fiery kick that split the air. The second Feran roared, its robes melting along its flank.
But their numbers began to press in. Seven, then eight grandmasters surrounded him, their movements coordinated.
On the other side, Anjee was fighting with everything he had. His strikes were desperate but wild, his claws glowing green with Essence.
His face twisted in anger and pain. He knew the faces of those he fought. One of them shouted something in their tongue, and Anjee hesitated for half a second, just half a second.
That was enough. A Feran appeared behind him, slashing downward with a spear of condensed Essence.
"Anjee!" Primus roared, flickering forward in a burst of flame. He appeared between them and crossed his arms to block the incoming strike. The spear slammed into his forearms, shattering on contact but the backlash was brutal.
BOOM!
Fire exploded outward, but Primus’s body was thrown back like a meteor, crashing through a cluster of debris. His back slammed into a broken rock, and blood sprayed from his mouth as he coughed hard, the flames around him flickering weakly for the first time.
Anjee turned sharply, his expression breaking. "Primus!"
Primus gritted his teeth, pushing himself up on one knee.
"Don’t stop fighting!" he growled, but his right arm was trembling, the skin charred and smoking where the Essence spear had hit.
The Ferans didn’t stop. They roared and closed in again, forming a tightening circle. Flames ignited again across Primus’s shoulders, but they were unstable. His breathing was heavy, each exhale spilling smoke.
He lunged at one of them, slamming a flaming fist into its chest, but another two attacked from both sides at once. One hit him square across the ribs, another raked his back with Essence claws. He staggered, coughing blood.
My eyes stayed fixed on Vaelix as I raised my hand toward Primus.
’Phantom Dive.’
In the next instant, shadows erupted around Primus and Anjee. The darkness twisted and folded in on itself, swallowing them completely just as a barrage of Feran attacks closed in.
The next heartbeat, both of them materialized beside me, battered, breathing hard, but alive.
Primus stumbled to one knee, flames flickering weakly across his shoulders. Blood trickled down his arm, half of his chest burned and blackened where a beam had grazed him. Anjee stood behind him, panting, his claws trembling and eyes wide with disbelief at how close he’d come to dying.
"You two are done," I said quietly, scanning the battlefield again. "Fall back and recover."
Primus looked up at me, his eyes still burning faintly red. "Heh... it was fun."
I didn’t respond.
’Fall back,’ I ordered through the link.
Silver was the first to react. He let out a deafening screech that rippled through the void, and then his wings flared wide. The twin tornadoes swirling around him imploded inward before detonating outward in a blinding crimson blast.
BOOM!
The explosion tore through the battlefield. The shockwave rippled through space, vaporizing several Feran grandmasters instantly and sending dozens more hurtling away in chaos.