- cut throat

I was hiding in the shadows of a building as the conflagration lighting up the storehouse lit up the night sky.

Alder and Denny stood side by side, their silhouette contrasted by the bright fire. They were facing a giant of a man, muscles bulging and long wavy hair dropped to his shoulder, giving of an oppressive feeling.

Looks like conan the barbarian. Scary.

Alder took out a curved dagger from his sheath and frowned, "Its Dubois. Seems like they were quite serious about taking us out. At least the rest of his men are burning inside the building now."

Denny gave Alder a questioning gaze, to which Alder further explained' "Dubois, a ruthless officer notorious in the Sonia Sea. Actually, he has been disguising as a pirate, raiding Loenese merchants crossing the sea routes.

Looks like that storehouse wasn't storing worshipping materials but their loot. Too bad it's burned down huh?"

Denny winced at the new information.

And so did I.

Oof. We just burned down a building of probably valuable merchandise. My money!

A deep voice harrumphed, "As if we would be foolish enough to use valuables for bait. It matters not, you troublemakes in Nas have been annoying us for too long. Now give up your leaders' and members name and I'll make your deaths quick."

Dubois placed his large sword in his chest and an a full body armor materialized and covered him, making him look like a noble knight compared his previous appearance of a barbaric giant.

The illusory scales on Alder thickened as he prepared, then he started to pour out water from a flask into the ground. Using a grasping motion, the newly formed puddle in the ground floated up and formed an orb.

Wait. He's a water bender? Did I transmigrate into the Avatar universe?

Denny, in the meantime reached out to the burning building behind Dubois and pulled and some of the flames actually flew towards him before forming a magical cape and boots.

Yep. Now there's a fire bender. Where's the air bender now?

Despite being two on one, worried faces were seen on Alder and Denny as they adopted a defensive pose. As they readied to face their opponent, suddenly from the air, a person slammed down but Dubois was able to use his large sword to block the hit.

The doorguard? He's a Storm Church member if I remember. He just flew! Thats a bloody air-bending if I've ever seen one! Hah! Just missing an air bender for the complete group.

Dubois immediately riposted and slashed back at the flying doorguard, who dodged by flying back, towards where Denny and Alder were.

Alder's shoulder relaxed, "Miller! Good to see you. You're the same sequence as him right? That means that we outnumber him? That increases our chances, no?"

Miller landed slowly on the ground as the gales surrounding him dispersed. He shook his head, "We're on their turf. Who knows what reinforcement will arive. Unfortunately he's seen our faces so we'll have to kill him before we escape."

Dubois cracked his neck at the declaration, and laughed boisterously. "Kill me? Hah! How will your puny winds hurt me through my dawn armor? Looks like this was a very successful trap. And outnumbered? Lower sequences are of no consequence!"

The floor cracked as he charged at his three opponents and swung his sword at a wide arc.

Using both his scaled gloves to defend, Alder was flung back several meters and even a loud crack sound could be heard as bones from both arms were broken. Thr illusory scales broke apart from a single hit and his face scrunched up from the pain. The orb of water floating in the air helplessly dropped down back into the ground.

Denny was not as fortunate as initially he ducked to evade the swing and even retaliated with a gout of flame towards Dubois helm. There fire had no effect and stunned by the ineffectiveness, his reaction was slightly delayed and he was unable to dodge the following kick. The armoured boots crashed into his chest and he was killed before even reaching the ground.

His flaming cape and boots immediately dissipated as he kicked the bucket.

Only Miller barely got hit, and as he retreated he threw several flasks at Alder's direction. Some of the flask burst at the impact and released their contents, which was water. Alder dipped his broken hands into the newly formed puddle and concentrated as the water formed a film around his injury. He closed his eyes and began chanting.

Okay. Should I run away? Does the knight in shining armor know I am here? Argh! I gotta take the risk.

I conjured as much smog as I could and controlling them, disguised amongst the smoke and ask of the burning building, it slowly approached the knight. When it got close enough, I assaulted him and directed all of the smog through his helm and into his mouth.

My tactic worked as Dubois was too focused on Miller and Alder and he inhaled my fog.

He started coughing. Then he turned to look me directly in the eyes.

Ah. That was a bad idea. Now he knows where I am.

He raised his sword above his head and his blade glowed with a pale light.

Oh fuck me sideways. He's gonna 'getsuga tenshou' my ass, right? Can I cut his attack like a shounen protagonist? Probably not. Fuck me...

"Get him before he can dispel the curse! Keep attacking him!" Miller had summoned his gale again and was rapidly flying towards Dubois, ready to attack his back.

Dubois swung down but twisted his hips at the same time, redirecting his attack at Miller instead of me. Rays of light left his blade and transformed into a hurricane. Miller tried to dosge the attack but was only partially successful.

The hurricane exploded outwards and the shockwave left an impact on the ground as big as a house. Even I and Alder, who were far away was blown back.

The attack shredded Miller's left arm and shoulder and he was bleeding profusely. He knelt on one knee and tried to stand up but was too weak to do so.

Dubois himself had dropped his sword and was panting on the ground. The attack seemed to take a lot out of him and even his armor had faded away. In between deep breaths, coughs interrupted his recovery and some spatters of blood were even coughed out.

Taking advantage of the current situation, Alder had ran towards Dubois. Screaming in rage, his arms had partially healed, he began pounding on Dubois. He seemed to be too consumed by rage as he ignores Dubois pulling back his fist to retaliate.

With one swing, a fist struck Alder's face and broke his nose. He was also knocked down prone on the ground.

Dubois slowly stood up, and sneered down at Alder. He lifted his foot and stomped down on Alder's chest. A loud crunch was enough to signal his death.

A howling sound was heard and Dubois grasped at his neck. He tried to cover it but blood seeped out in large quantities. A wind blade had sliced through his throat and the loss of blood forced him to his knees once again. He looked in shock at Miller, who had his only hand stretched out in the last attack.

Dubois fell face down on the floor.

Finally defeated at the cost of two beyonder lives.