The Battle of the Aspects

Confusion ran throughout the room, at the sound of two barriers activating rang throughout the room even though the main target of the struggle was still standing behind his companion. The others turned around to see the sight, as both Hana and the magician lay on the ground with a familiar transparent barrier surrounding their bodies.

Soon enough they were taken out of the room, disappearing like the fleeting wind. A thunderous silence stroke the room as Jack slowly walked towards his axe, resting on the radiant white floor.

*

A minute ago, when Jack had sent a message to the other two pairs, he forgot to mention a discrepancy in the plan. The plan that Jack had sent the two pairs was quite simple, they would all surround Tarik while keeping his mind more occupied on Hana as she pointed her arrow towards his head. And while his frontline was distracted, Jack would rush in, all the others had to do was push the tank to the side, allowing Jack to get up close to the mage.

However, even though the plan sounded pretty good for the situation, it still made the others doubt. So at the bottom of Hana's pair message, there was a little note, stating, that once Tarik was defeated, the two of them would turn on the other A-rank party. Saying that Jack only wanted a fifth place at best.

While on the other hand, the other party received an invitation. During the fight, after pushing the frontline to the side, he and his pair would attack Hana's frontline, and after finishing Tarik's pair, the two of them would turn on Hana and finish off the last remaining party of Arthur.

It was a simple plan, to say the least, but at the end of the day, they were both wrong.

Jack's plan that he forgot to mention was simple.

Move the frontlines away from their backlines, and leave him open to their backs. And taking the opportunity given to him by the others, he slashed the magician in half and sent an axe immediately flying towards Hana's neck. Activating their barriers, and thus eliminating the two damage dealers of the whole party.

*

Returning to the present, the others found themselves in disbelief as they looked at Jack picking his axe. Even Arthur who was not involved in the conflict was shocked at the sudden events.

Two front liners with no party to help remained stoned until Jack spoke.

"Tarik is still standing, you should focus yourselves on him, he is my next target. So let's join hands and defeat him"

Unthinkable emotions ran through the lonesome wolves of the room, they had no pair to support them, and the man that had backstabbed them had the audacity to ask for cooperation once again.

They had no one to trust, even the other isolated man could backstab them at any moment.

Not only that but they were now in a squeeze, being surrounded by both a magician who had lost his restrictions and a backstabber with no remorse.

Lei's skeletons then started to move, standing behind both of them and not waiting for their answers any longer, Jack spoke in a terrifying voice, "I said to fight...We will follow the same plan as before"

The two of them didn't have a choice, either join hands with the backstabber or the angry tyrant that would kill them immediately after receiving such humiliation.

They had no choice. Aiming their swords toward Tarik, he smiled like a maniac.

A fireball rose from his hand, growing larger as time flew by. The lonesome wolves' swords clashed against Tarik's frontline but although some cuts were made against the other man, not a single true injury could be seen.

In the end, the fireball grew big enough as it was ready to be launched, extending his hand forward, Tarik was about to send the two allyless children to the grave.

Red, Tarik's view of the outside changed, the other participants in the event were no longer visible to his eye, instead, he stared into the distance, seeing the black endless eyes staring at him.

A shiver ran down Tarik's spine as he sent his fireball flying toward Jack, who easily dodged it by stepping to the side due to the long distance between him and Tarik.

'He taunted me?'

Instantly after dodging, Jack started to rush forward, with Tarik's frontline already being preoccupied, he was an easy target.

Not trying to become food to his hunter, Tarik immediately extended his hand forward, as ice shards quickly formed around his hand, sending them flying in a matter of seconds.

Reacting as if it was nothing, Jack sliced every single shard in half, and as per usual he sent an axe flying towards his opponent.

Tarik reacted quickly activating his magic to create a small plate of ice, that only barely blocked the attack.

*Clank

Smiling at the fact, Tarik stared at Jack who was still running at him in the distance.

However, his expression froze, the moment he noticed that Jack's other axe was no longer in his hand.

Looking up, Tarik could hear the rotating object slowly falling down, bouncing off of him as his barrier activated.

'He threw that axe in the air when I created the ice shield?'

Noticing the fact that his partner had been taken down, the third lonesome wolf was shocked and scared for his future.

"Stop attacking him"

Doing as they were told, the two betrayed front liners, decided that it would be best to follow the orders of Jack, who had by now taken out two of the four S rankers.

Tarik's partner also decided to stop.

"We will all be joining hands to fight against the last party of S rankers, seeing as there are two of them, it best if we have everyone around."

Arthur who was standing in front of Alicia holding onto his spear, was unsure as to what to do, considering that a fight would soon begin with them being the main target of the group.

Alicia on the hand, had a different thought in her mind.

She wanted to first divide the group and make them fight amongst themselves before taking them on, however, just from hearing their conversations she knew, that it would be hard.

"Once we defeat them, it will be free for all to guarantee the same chances of all of us getting a high ranking. And don't fall for their friend requests, Why would the daughter of the Onjouji clan give up her ranking for someone else's?"

'He is a bastardly leader.'

Alicia had noticed it since the moment they turned towards Tarik. Jack wasn't normal in any sense.

He was a commander that lead with fear and rewards, he was manipulative, and most of all, strong.

The group had a little doubt at first but the moment they noticed his goal of only defeating the S rankers, they understood that they could follow behind him.

Considering that in the end, they would have the greatest chance to make it far.

The temporary group had already taken their positions surrounding the two of them, Alicia was in deep thought, wondering the way she could escape this predicament and turn the tides of battle.

"Spears are not good for fighting against multiple opponents, divide yourselves and slowly approach him from all sides...The little princess being protected is only good at healing, as long as you strike with a decisive attack, she will be useless in the battle."

The fight was mundane if Jack had to say it, in simple words, the group would try to walk closer and then they would be pushed away by Arthur, only for him to get cut by someone attacking from a different angle, and in the end, all of the damage would be healed off by Alicia.

'Maybe I should have kept the magician alive.'

Lei's skeletons were also doing their best as they tried moving closer only for them to be pushed away by Arthur doing a sweeping attack.

For Arthur and Alicia, this was a battle of survival trying to get someone down as they protected themselves.

For others, it was just a normal battle but for Jack and Lei, this was a battle of time and resources.

The more Arthur and Alicia survived, the more the other three would be exhausted, and the more the other three attacked the more Alicia and Arthur would get exhausted. But in Jack's and Lei's case, all they were doing, in reality, was resting.

The fight, however, was taking a while, 10 minutes, then 20 and the fight was still going on. Arthur was still in top shape in both stamina and health.

Only the three lonesome wolves were exhausted. Alicia seemed tired but still kept her composure after all this time.

"So Arthur did have that ability?", Jack murmured without anyone hearing it.

Standing up, Jack stretched his body before finally rushing forward in an instant, Arthur reacted immediately but unlike what he expected, Jack didn't aim for him, instead eliminating the other three that had already been running out of breath.