Assault in Oskoporos

Zeke and Duncan were startled by its sudden advance but the only person to see it coming was Abel. He landed a punch to its head, but it turned directions and began to head straight for Duncan.

It snarled and threw up its body, slashing at his face. He grunted in pain, but then readied his sword that was currently sheathed. As the panther backed away, he took a swing but hit nothing but air.

In this swing, his dark blue qi started to cloak the sword, enhancing its properties. He span around with grace, bringing the sword over his head to then throw it down powerfully.

The panther had insane reflexes and managed to already back away to try and evade his incoming slash.

He cut right at its shoulder muscle, making it whimper in pain. Just as it did so, Abel came charging in from the side and viciously kicked it in its ribcage. The panther was forced to the side but remained on its paws.

The panther continued to try and attack these people but did so in a defensive manner. It made sure to try and dodge any of the sword slashes that would come its way, and it was doing quite a good job.

"We need to get rid of this thing quickly. We won't get any points otherwise!" Duncan exclaimed, aiming his sword right at the snarling panther.

Abel was crouched down, laying on his hands and feet. The other two didn't pay much attention to it, but he felt surprisingly natural in this position.

Blasting off, he charged right for the panther and landed a swinging punch right to its face. While his body continued to spin anti-clockwise, he used this spinning momentum to extend and land a back kick to the advancing panther.

Just as he landed this attack, it staggered and was visibly hurt by it.

"Die!" Duncan called out, shooting down his sword ferociously.

The edge of his blade caught the panther's neck, severing its head right off. Its body fell limp, and the beast was killed.

They retrieved its own crystal, which was a dark purple colour, then they ventured further.

They could hear the distant sounds of battling students in the surroundings, which motivated them to continue forward and find beasts to battle themselves.

Walking ahead, they soon found themselves in this weird, broken-down settlement. There were buildings made of this odd grey stone, and vines covered these destroyed settlements.

"Where are we?" Abel asked.

"We're in the ancient village of Oskoporos. It was one of the settlements humans tried to form before walled cities became a thing. As you can see, it wasn't long before this place became conquered by the beasts." Zeke replied.

Abel would always ask his friend, Zeke, about things like this because he was very well-informed. He would read a lot, and Abel would too, but he found much more fun in reading books based on war and action.

Zeke seemed to be more enthralled by non-fiction, informative literature. 

As they continued walking, the area around them felt quiet. Almost too quiet.

From ahead of them, a student with brown hair and eyes revealed himself from a corner beside them. He readjusted the breastplate that he wore and stopped the three right in their tracks.

Beside him, was a taller, slimmer student with messy silver hair.

"You really felt strong when you took that test, didn't you, Abel?" The student at the front asked.

"Well, I know that you cheated and I'm going to prove that right here, right now!" He shouted, erupting in an orange aura of qi.

"It's all a misunderstanding. He didn't cheat on the test, I promise you." Duncan claimed, vouching for his friend.

"Would you be quiet? I wasn't talking to you. You know what, Cade, get that guy!" The shorter student ordered.

He commanded his friend as if he was one of his subordinates, and the grey-haired student followed his command blindly.

"Of course, Nikolas." Cade stated, walking ahead.

He wore bracers across his forearms, along with two short daggers that he revealed from their cases on his waist.

Nikolas then ran straight for Abel, and qi of an orange colour manifested over his body.

Duncan, seeing this boy run right for his friend, sped ahead to attack him. Before he could reach him, though, a bolt of lightning was shot in his direction that hit right into his shoulder. This lightning bolt knocked him off course, so that he wasn't able to reach Abel in time.

"You think I'm just going to let you help your friend there? I don't think so..." Cade declared.

'Oh no! I have to help Abel!' Duncan declared to himself, watching his friend engage in combat with Nikolas.

Armour made purely from this energy manifested over Nikolas' knuckles and forearms as he charged forward.

He had piercing brown eyes, and brown hair of moderate length. He wasn't tall, but had a decently muscular physique. 

He threw his first punch, and Abel blocked it using his forearms. The momentum behind his hefty strike forced him to slide back, and he could tell that he was going to swiftly attack again. He was fuelled by rage, and a hurt ego was one thing that made cultivators like him rage.

Another punch came whipping toward him, but it was shut down before the fist could even go far. Abel punched him himself and caused more damage. His fist simply moved faster and caught him right on his chin.

His head tilted round a decent amount, while also stopping him right in his tracks.

Giving the werewolf a look of anger having received that attack, he landed a punch of his own that forced him back, which made blood drip out Abel's nose.

Abel felt slightly disoriented from that attack, and he could feel his anger growing. His eyes flashed golden, which stunned the boy ahead of him. He raised his eyebrows in confusion, but before he could properly react, Abel pounced.

Whoosh!

He dashed ahead and used immense speed in the process. He closed the gap between them in a flash, punching the boy right in his chest.

This intense impact caused him to slide back several metres, then he leaped right after him.

He reached several metres into the air and looked like a beast with his limbs stretched wide. It felt almost like a natural movement for him, but his opponent looked prepared.

Placing out his forearm, a shield made of orange, armoured qi was formed that blocked his incoming punch.

His body came crashing into the shield, while also making him ricochet off it.

He came to a stop again but wasn't exactly looking to fight in a calculated way. These people had ambushed him to try and prove their superiority.

Their arrogance disgusted him, and his beastly instincts were already beginning to take form.

He continued forward with a restless assault. His adversary looked desperate to handle all his heavy-hitting strikes with his armoured qi and was doing a decent job at it.

Abel struggled to break through his guard, but his opponent was wearing out.

Using such advanced techniques for people of their level of cultivation would drain their qi.

Instead of forming a large qi shield, Nikolas decided to just try and use his basic qi armour that was over his arms to protect himself.

If he continued to use such a large qi shield, his energy would be drained very quickly.

This proved to be a rookie mistake, however, as Abel landed a impactful punch right to his face that snapped his nose right in two.

Blood came pouring out his nose, that dripped over his lips, and he just stood there, aghast.

Taking a light wipe at his mouth, he looked even more shocked at the volume of blood that he saw on his hand.

His look of shock turned to a look of anger and rage.

"You know what, you're done!!" He exclaimed, unsheathing a blade from his pocket.

Cade had been keeping Zeke and Duncan both at bay. These warriors lacked powerful qi and powerful bodies, so were easy to contain. Duncan fought with rage and an unshakeable will to help his friend, which confused Cade.

He had never seen someone so willing to help a friend of theirs, but that wasn't of any concern to him. All he wanted to do was complete his job, and that was to let his stronger friend, Nikolas, do as he pleased.

Upon hearing his friend's declaration, he looked worried and suddenly looked more intent on holding Duncan and Zeke back.

"What is he doing?" Zeke asked, looking over Cade's shoulder with concern.