If Eric thought that Bora Bora would be the most frightening thing that he’d see that day, he would quickly come to realize that he couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, he’d find that, to his surprise, the chaotic and out-of-control god descending from the Divine Isles, cloaked in chaos and hunting his enemy was nothing compared to the true strength of the ultimate servant of Arcana, the ability of an Ancient to survive unthinkable amounts of damage, and the awe-inspiring, world-altering powers of one of the oldest Ancients in existence.

But, as is the truth with all traumatic events, he had no way of predicting that any of those events would come to pass. When he made his way down from what remained of the palace grounds to take part in the fighting in the streets of the city, his only thoughts were of trying to provoke the wrath of the Primeval, so that he could be drawn into a final fight, and hopefully killed. There would be no need for a two-stage operation if they could end matters here, with their own hands.

-

Eric could tell that the tide of the battle was in their favor as soon as he came within sight of the first few groups. All around him, Infernals were on the defensive or being chased by larger groups of soldiers. One of their commanders had clearly stressed the importance of fighting carefully, and not attacking randomly. They’d broken the Infernals into smaller more manageable groups and were picking targets that gave them an advantage.

Just down one side street, Eric could see four mages using magic to limit the movements of two melee user Infernals. On the main road, two counter-mages were suppressing a trio of Infernal mages while their spear-wielding allies closed in to finish them off. And further down the road, a party of five was dancing around a pair of Infernals in heavy armor, using their superior speed to dart in and inflict light wounds before jumping back out of reach.

“These aren’t ordinary soldiers,” he commented, watching them work now. “They have too sharp a battle sense to be common fighters.”

“That’s because they were hand-picked by Grandmaster Tokugawa,” one of the Issho-Ni priests told him, grinning broadly. “Each picked for their specialties and general experience in combat.”

“Makes sense,” Eric said, nodding as they continued to jog closer. “We had so few men, it would be better to make sure we lose as few as possible.”

He came to a stop, and they echoed his action a half-second later, sensing that he’d made a decision. After a few more seconds to survey the scene, he pointed towards the two closest fighting groups. “Let’s lend them a hand so they can pick new targets.”

The priests acted at once. One of them yanked a pouch on their belt open, and a thick cloud of black powder flew up into the air. The two mages, obviously used to working together, split the cloud between the two of them and sent it flying toward the three suppressed Infernal mages. The enemy saw the attack coming and attempted to counter it, but as there was no magical quality to the powder, it simply dropped out of the sky and covered them head to foot.

“Akira!” They shouted in unison, and a tiny flicker of flame shot out of their fingertips, racing across the short distance between them and their targets. Eric actually lost sight of the flames as they dwindled down to virtually nothing. Then, “Hirogeru!”

At their command, the two tiny flickers of flame expanded like small bombs inches away from the Infernal mage’s faces. The flames caught at the black powder, which was consumed in an instant. There was a powerful, but limited explosion, and when the dark cloud of smoke cleared away, there was no sign of the mages, just some intense scorch marks on the ground.

“Damn!” Eric exclaimed, without quite meaning to. He looked askance at the two Issho-Ni priests, his eyes wide. “Where did you learn to do that?”

The senior of them threw him a quick grin, amused at his surprise. “We are priests of the God of War, you know. We know a thing or two about fighting.”

And to prove it, they both moved again, putting their hands on the warm cobbles of the high street. Seventy feet away, the rooftop nearest the Infernals in heavy armor shattered apart and rained down with the force and speed of bullets. One of the Infernals fell under the onslaught of the small stones, and the other was left barely able to stand. He was quickly finished off by the agile soldiers that surrounded him.

“Nice!” Eric shouted, feeling his spirits lift at the sight. With deadly mages like this at his back, they were in a position to do some serious damage. “Kabe Warriors, help the last group! Issho-Ni!”

He drew his swords as he let out the time-honored warcry of the organization, and he heard it echoed by the twenty people behind him. They charged down the high street, yelling all the way, and the soldiers fighting the Infernals let out a cheer as they noticed their approach. The four mages suppressing the Infernals darted to the side to open a path, and Eric closed the distance with one powerful lunge.

He slashed left and right, cutting into the exposed torso of one Infernal, then dropped to a knee, ducking under the blow of the second. Before the Infernal could recover from his folly, a spell flashed out of nowhere and slammed into his chest, throwing him against the wall of the building beside them, to collapse on the cobbles without a noise.

“Nice shot Megan!” he said, then turned to see it had been Damien, Michael’s Infernal partner that had attacked. “Err, sorry. Thanks, Damien.”

The Infernal smirked at his mistake and threw a dense clump of mana into the air. “Megan, help me search for more.”

She copied his actions, and using their expanded net of mana, they searched the area for more targets. It only took a few seconds before Megan pointed to an area to the right of their advance, then to the left, and behind her to the left. “Three sources of conflict. Behind us is almost settled in our favor, but on the right, they’re struggling. Eight Infernals versus ten, but it’s a bad matchup. Eric, go down that road. There are almost thirty Infernals there, but no mages.”

Eric nodded, though he was sure nobody else saw it. “Mages with me. Kabe Warriors hit the group over there to the right. You two follow and direct them.”

The two other Masters nodded, and immediately got the Kabe Warriors moving. They thundered down the side road as a group, shouting their warcries. Eric left Megan and Michael to decide which way they wanted to go, sure they’d follow him eventually. With the two mages in tow, he ran down the side street closest to him, his ears tensed to catch any sound of the Infernal group. It wasn’t hard, as they were on the move themselves, coming towards the very spot Eric was leaving.

“Support me,” he said to the two mages. “But don’t use that explosive spell again, or you might hit Hunter.”

They looked a little doubtful but nodded all the same, and he broke out of the side street right as the Infernals were coming into view. He didn’t hesitate at all, and gave them no chance to react to his presence. It wasn’t as if they would expect one man to run at them, right? That would be a suicide mission. But Eric thrived in fast-paced, close-quarter action, so he closed the distance as quickly as he could, feeling the priest’s magic reinforcing his body.

He hit them like a battering ram, right in the middle of their group, his swords already slashing all around him in a blur. He just struck as wide and powerfully as he could, not caring for individual targets. It worked in his favor with the tight press of bodies, and he cut down four of them before they were properly aware of his presence. Then it got a little trickier.

His rush had carried him right into their midst so that when they finally did react, despite already killing six of their number, he quickly found himself surrounded. Weapons rained down on him from all directions, and he spun for all he was worth, deflecting the majority of them in a move Ehran had drilled into his head. He could almost hear his mentor’s words echoing in his mind now, guiding him through the motion.

If there is metal all around you, you are a wall. You cannot cut a wall. The stance was aptly named after the turtle and its shell’s strength, and it was his very best defensive option. He couldn’t retaliate and attack them until he was out of their group, but he could protect himself. Even those lucky attacks that made it through his guard were blocked by the barrier the Issho-Ni priests were maintaining on his body. Then, in less time than he could think of it, the amount of power collected hit its peak, and Hunter made his move.

The great white wolf appeared without warning, clamping his jaws around the body of one Infernal and throwing him back, sending three more toppling down with a single move. Then he raced around Eric in a tight circle, his broad and powerful form sending another six Infernals flying back. He was so fast that his movements were a blur, even to Eric. When the wolf finally did slow down, he jumped over it, swords raised and changed the direction of his movement.

With the priest’s magic to protect his body, Hunter could focus on attacking alongside him. He leaped over and around Eric with ease, following his path and clearing out the worst of the group for him. He thrust, ducked, spun, and slashed as fast as he could, cutting down any Infernal that was lucky enough to escape the wolf’s claws and teeth. In no time at all, more than half of the Infernal group was dead or heavily wounded, crawling feebly away from the two figures in an attempt to escape the killing ground.

“Get out of the way!” Hunter growled. Eric was thrown by the order, as he’d never been in the wolf’s way before. Before he could ask what Hunter meant, the wolf had spun in his own length and rammed into Eric. Eric flew for perhaps a dozen feet, landing right at the priest’s feet. Neither of them could comprehend why the wolf had suddenly turned on him and attacked.

Then, without warning, reddish-yellow light filled their fields of vision. By instinct, Eric covered his eyes and felt the touch of fire covering his body from head to toe. Something, somewhere, had launched a massive flood of flames upon the street. It covered everything, deafening Eric with its roar, and blinded him completely.

He fully expected that to be the end of it all. The flames had incinerated him, he thought, and everything seemed to slow down. Then he blinked, and he was once again standing amidst the strewn half of the Infernals. Time seemed to be slowing, and he glanced up, just able to make out the figure flying high above him. That must have been the source of the flames, he reasoned, and the reason Hunter had slammed into him. Not an attack, but an attempt to save him.

And here was the wolf again, turning and charging at him. In that small fraction of time, he was able to understand what had happened. Hunter had let him glimpse a few seconds ahead into time, to show exactly what would happen. It still seemed hopeless, but at least now he was forewarned. He gritted his teeth, waiting for the impact of the wolf’s large form, and when he was thrown back towards the priest’s, he shouted an instant command.

“Barrier!”

They reacted with all the speed and confidence of trained battle mages, erecting a perfect protective dome all around them. A half-second later, the flames came roaring down, but Eric was protected. All he could feel was the heat of the flames, near-burning with their intensity, and he could just barely make out the whimpering screech that was Hunter being incinerated in an instant.

When the flames finally cleared away to reveal the badly scorched and singed area of the city, with any wooden part of the nearby buildings shattered beyond hope of repair, Eric pushed himself off the ground with a grunt, trying to gather his senses about him.

“How did you know that was coming?” One of the priests shouted, his face gaunt. Obviously, blocking the flames had taken a heavy toll on their mana reserves.

“Hunter warned me!” He shouted back, picking up his fallen swords. One of them had been in the flames, but as a magic weapon, it had been spared from much more than slight scorching on the handle. “I’ll explain it later!”

He snuck a peek around the corner of the nearest ruined building and saw the figure again. There were three rings of fire around them now, instead of four. Instinctively, he recognized that the rings were used in that flame attack. He could also tell that the stranger, and he was positive it was the Primeval or Averin, could use that attack at least three more times. He glanced back at the priests with a worried look, knowing they’d be lucky to survive one more, let alone three. There was only one action he could take. Everyone who hadn’t been near a barrier was sure to be killed by that blast, friend and foe alike.

“Run!”