Visitors from the forest (3)

as soon as Mars pulled out the arrow stuck in his shoulder he activated his [Energy: absorb shield] while his body was transforming and the elvers looked at him in horror, until the captain managed to pull himself together and asked Mars with a slightly shaking voice

"...what are you?"

in response Mars only gave a smile before he yelled out

"just like we did with the spiders Victoria!"

almost simultaneously 3 shadow bullets hit Isabel, and turned into dark smoke that entered her nose and mouth before her green eyes turned completely black and she weakly fell over

"ISABEL!!!"

seeing his squad mate take a hit the captain yelled out her name loudly before he turned and looked at Mars and yelled hysterically

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?"

"nothing, that was Victoria"

"KILL HIM!"

as the captain elf yelled out a arrow hit Mars from behind again only this time it was aimed at his neck but as it hit the [Energy: absorb shield] it only hung in the air for a second before it fell down as it had been deprived of all its kinetic energy

"that must be some sort of air magic spell, Chloe, Rex use magic!"

as the captain elf gave his command he kicked the ground and changed Mars with his sword, and gave a overhand slash aiming for his neck that was parried by a set of claws

"...have your mother never told you it rude to slash at random people"

as Mars parried the flurry of slashes and stabs with his left hand he weakly grabbed his bone sword with his injured right hand and activated [Energy: healing] with 100 units of energy, that quickly closed the wound on his shoulder as he tightened the grip on the handle of his bone sword the [Energy: absorb shield] wore off as he began to counter attack

"Alvin!"

as Chloe yelled out to Alvin that had locked swords with Mars, he quickly jumped back just before a fire spear hit Mars and exploded covering the surroundings in smoke

"...good job Chloe I guess that's---"

as Alvin let down his guard thinking Mars was dead or at least mortally injured a figure shoot out from the smoke and before he could react a pale sword stabbed through his shoulder before a kick landed on his stomach that launched him into the air before he landed roughly on the ground rolling a few times before stopping not looking like he wouldn't get up anytime soon

"ALVIN!"

Chloe yelled out but Alvin was in no condition to answer as he was knocked out, before she looked at Mars with hatred in her eyes and drew her sword preparing to engage him in close combat

"that was a pretty good flame, but using fire on a half dragon is not really such a good idea"

as Mars was talking in a calm tone he shook the blood off his sword and walked towards Chloe with a slight smile before a figure jumped in front of him with sword drawn

"Chloe run!"

the figure was Rex that quickly slashed at Mars drawing him into a fast paced sword fight that made the fight between Mars and Alvin look like children fighting with sticks as sparks flew out and the sounds of swords hitting sword sounded out loudly

"but if we---!"

"no but, just run Chloe!"

as Chloe tried to argue with Rex he quickly shoot her down as he yelled at her while slashing at Mars with his sword before he yelled out again

"remember what we talked about, just run!"

Chloe stood and watched Rex fighting desperately with Mars before she glanced at Alvin and Isabel that showed not signs of moving with tears in her eyes before she turned and ran into the forest quickly disappearing from sight as Rex jumped back and took some distance from Mars as he gave him a good look with his remaining eye before he spoke

"never in my 800 years of traveling outside the forest have I ever seen someone like you... if you don't mind me asking what race are you?"

as Mars looked at the aged elf he knew he was trying to stall so Chloe could escape, but knowing Victoria was lurking in the forest and that even himself had no hope of out running Victoria he lowered his sword slightly before he asked

"what's your name elf? i'm Mars by the way"

"my name is Rex... so Mars would you mind satisfying an old elf curiosity?"

Mars raised his sword and rested it on his shoulder before he answered Rex with a wide smile

"I am a half dragon human, but i'm also the living god of energy"

as Rex heard Mars he trembled lightly before a defeated smile spread on his aged face and he spoke again

"not only one of the elusive half dragons, but also a living god... would you accept my surrender?"

as Mars heard Rex would surrender he was slightly puzzled and asked

"why would you surrender, you have no guarantee that I won't kill you and your squad afterwards?"

Rex sheathed his sword and sat down on a tree stump and gave a sigh before he spoke

"your are right I don't know what you will do, but I know I can't kill a living god"

"...in that case I accept your surrender, even though I had no intention of killing you in the first place... but there is a few conditions"

as Mars and Rex was negotiating Chloe was fleeing through the forest that was gradually turning dark as the sun was slowly setting with tears running down her face while grief filled her eyes as she thought about her squad that was most likely dead by now before her eyes turned to hate as she thought about the one responsible

"...I must get dad to kill that man"

thinking about getting her dad the current head of green river village to mobiles all of the army to hunt down that man a twisted smile spread on her face as she ran at full spread through the forest for almost 30 minutes before she slowed down and stopped to catch her breath as a cold feminine voice entered her head

"not going... to run... more?"

"who's there!"

as Chloe yelled out she grabbed her bow off her back and nocked an arrow before she scanned her surroundings, after not seeing anything she relaxed the string on her bow slightly and gave a sigh before mumbling

"...am I hearing voices now?"

"no... i'm... real"

as Chloe heard the same voice again she felt a chill down her spine and quickly pulled the string on the bow and turned around and let a arrow fly that hit a nearby tree as Chloe quickly pulled another arrow from her quiver and looked around again as her breath speed up before the voice entered her head again

"Mars said... not to kill... but you where.... mean"

hearing the voice was turning even more cold Chloe felt another chill up her spine and quickly jumped the side as a spear of darkness hit where she was just standing a second ago and the voice sounded out in her head again

"so... I can... be a little... mean too"

as soon as Chloe heard the voice she kicked the ground and began to run again before quickly stopping as she came face to face with a horned black panther the was sitting on a breach looking down on her with cold dark eyes and the voice sounded in her head again

"are you... going to run... more?"

feeling the voice had turned even more cold Chloe quickly fired a arrow at the black panther quickly hit the target but just passed right though as the panther turned into black smoke stunning Chloe

"what?"

as Chloe was stunned a shadow arrow shoot out from the side and hit her bow destroying it as it snapped like a twig waking Chloe from her daze as her legs gave out from under her and she sat down on the ground as the voice sounded out in her head again

"done... running?... then let's... get back"

as tears streamed down Chloe's cheeks as she had given up escaping a shadow bullet hit her head from behind and quickly turned into dark smoke that entered her nose and mouth as she felt her vision darken she saw a glimpse of a horned panther with black fur that had a orange red spider web pattern before she lost consciousness and fell over to the side