Chapter 65: Encounter 

Chapter 65: Encounter

At the very front of a long assembly of carriages, horses and supplies, stood a beautiful girl with straight black hair and light brown skin. Different from her conversations with a certain boy, the girl stood there emanating an aura of an aloof, composed, and self-assured leader.

Seven people started to gather around the girl. Three of them hurriedly assembled into a prior formation around her, but opposite of them four individuals stopped and simply idled in place.

Jasul, the fireborne who courageously threw a fireball at Zan, was the first to question their leader.

"Umm…so…Kina and Dan told me that there was a group coming towards us? Are they hostile?"

Gayle simply replied, "They could be."

"Oh umm…okay…"

"Get into position and activate your powers."

"Are you sure? What if they think we're the hostile ones because we have our powers ou—"

BOOM!

A loud, thunderous sound came from the very back of the convoy. Instantly the four remaining individuals who idled in place rushed to their respective positions in the formation. The four individuals' nerves wracked as all of them activated their powers. Contrary to them, Conrad, Pane, and the girl named Relim didn't activate their powers, but placed their energy on the precipice of activation. That single action alone, told both of their skill at energy manipulation, and their familiarity with these kinds of situations.

'I have to thank Zan later on…'

"What was that!?"

"Are they attacking the back of the convoy!?" The girl that manifested fiery feathers made of flame asked.

"No…that was just our friend in the back. I told him to stay out of it, maybe he didn't want to?" Gayle replied.

"Well if they attacked him instead I think we'll be fine…" A boy with black furs all over his skin and face who was named Dan, said.

"What if he gets angry at us and attacks us next…" The anxious girl named Kina asked.

"Wait. What if we need his help? Why did you tell him to stay out of it?" Kina voiced her thoughts.

"This is our problem, not his. We should solve this ourselves even if it ends in physical confrontation." Gayle replied.

"If they want a fight we'll give it to them. I've been itching to beat someone down." Conrad replied.

Unlike the others, Pane who had the bloodline of the bear, and Relim who had the bloodline of the wolf, stayed silent. With Conrad and Dan, they were at the front of the formation, and were responsible for intercepting the more physical fighters.

Oddly enough Gayle was at the center of the formation, not towards the very front or the very back. The reason for this was that her role in the formation was much more fluid and diverse. She acted as both the commanding leader who gave out orders, and a capable fighter who would either initiate action, or respond to the situation as needed. Frequently she would act as the last bastion to protect the backline of outward energy manipulators, or casters as some people called it, or she acted as the hidden blade, who could turn the tides of the situation in the blink of an eye.

"Estimated time of arrival around five minutes…"

In Gayle's mind, a mental map was made out of the surrounding environment. Eleven dots were rapidly approaching her static eight dots. Judging by the arrow formation they used, it seemed they were preparing to pierce through their formation in a single go. The individual at the front was also moving at a much faster pace than the rest, as if they were confident in their ability to take on whatever they stumbled into.

"Conrad, move further back. You are to intercept the first assailant."

"Pane and Relim, move further forwards to his left and right respectively. Be ready to surge into attack as soon as the assailant's momentum is stopped."

The three carried out her orders like a well oiled machine. Immediately a triangle was made between the three with Conrad further back, surrounded by the entire power of the backline. Gayle hid herself among the casters, bringing out her flute in a ruse to confuse the oncoming assailants. In the same moment, her eyes transformed from the her odd, owl eyes, to normal human eyes who's irises

As the group waited in tension, a large, white owl descended from the skies behind them and gently landed on her owner's shoulder. To Gayle's surprise the same parchment of paper was still attached to the owl's leg. Although enemies were coming, the girl calmly unfurled the scroll of paper to reveal messy and scribbly writing.

"I will come if I feel like it."

'Hah. I guess that's quite like you.'

Zan's response could have come off as rude or disrespectful, but Gayle knew that under that rough response was a smudge of protectiveness.

It made her smile, but in the next second her expression hardened.

"They're here."

BOOM!

Gayle's group instantly braced themselves and not even a second after their leader said so, what looked like a meteor beamed right into Conrad. The man was enormous, fast and was covered in tough brown fur, but the distant blood of the dragon smashed his feet on the ground and totally stopped the man's momentum. Immediately the strength and ferociousness of a bear slammed the man down towards the ground, and a girl with the agility and deadliness of a wolf lacerated the man's neck, drawing blood.

The two attacks however, were ultimately useless against the seemingly tough skin of the mammoth looking man. Conrad and the assailant prepared to fight each other off, but Gayle knew that the group behind him was rapidly approaching. In the blink of an eye she flew towards the two like a predator towards prey, and from her back she pulled out a sharp sword made out of her own talons.

The sword lunged at the thigh of the mammoth looking man, and pierced itself right through his leg. He cried out in pain as he fell forwards and kneeled towards the owl-eyed leader. The man looked up at the girl, and what he saw was not the lively, talkative girl that Zan knew, but a cold callous killer who knew all too well of spilling blood. The girl activated her bloodline once more, and her black painted nails transformed to become wicked daggers of fantastical, magical, and mutated keratin.

The girl placed the sharp daggers on the man's large, furry neck. The wolf's claws were sharp enough to draw blood, but once the girl lightly placed her own talons on the man's neck, they already started to easily penetrate the thick and fat flesh. Despite his pain he stayed totally still, his own animal instincts were telling him that he could die here and now if she accidentally swiped him. The mammoth man took it one step further, and consciously deactivated his bloodline.

The backline saw the scene of spilled blood, and unlike the frontline who were used to such things, they had to swallow the vomit that came up from their throats.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

A group of ten individuals jumped down from a small, stoney hilltop, and landed opposite of Gayle and her party. One of the members saw what happened to their companion, and quickly she lost her composure. Hurriedly the girl manifested an intense cyclone of flame that flew towards her four enemies. The cyclone was five meters in height, and started to grow forward from ten feet to twenty feet until it reached Gayle and her crew. The sweltering and blazing heat could scare any normal bloodline to death, but Gayle and her frontline completely disregarded the attack and did not even move from their places.

WHOOSH!

A small phoenix made of flame flew from behind them and intercepted the intense spiraling inferno. The literal tornado of flame was surprisingly matched by that small bird, and in the end the two powers exploded where they met. A blast of hot wind assaulted both sides followed by dust and pebbles.

As the smoke and dust cleared and the group opposite was finally able to see, Gayle pressed her talons on the man's neck, spilling blood that came out faster and faster. The coldblooded display reminded the group of who had the advantage here.

"Cease and desist, or I'll take his life right now." Gayle commanded.

"Hey, hey, calm down. We just wanted to talk." A smooth talking young man said as he stepped forward to the front.

"Sending out a member of your group to attack us on sight is what you call talking?"

"Now why shouldn't I just kill him and be done with it?"

"Because you know that a battle between us could end in many of us dying."

"Oh? And you still had the guts to send an attacker to us?"

"It was a cautionary thing. He got too excited. It's our fault, okay?"

"Now could you please let him go?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"What are your intentions in picking a fight with us?"

"Wait. Gayle?" The girl who just sent the cyclone of fire towards them spoke.

"What?"

"You know me?"

…