Leo took a deep breath. The scent of dust and fresh blood hung thick in the air. Locking eyes with the sudden threat descending from above, he wasted a single split second. He drew his katana from its sheath and unleashed a devastating, powerful slash right in mid-air.
Swish!
The blade moved with such blinding speed that it practically tore through the air. But this cultist was no ordinary enemy. Seeing the deadly attack coming, he showed no fear; he raised his forearms to block the strike. The katana clashed against his arms, throwing off a shower of sparks. Utilizing the sheer impact of the blow, the cultist planted his feet against the cliff wall, pushed off with a massive jump, and landed safely on the ground. Leo followed suit, executing a graceful flip to plant his feet firmly on the dirt.
The two stood facing each other. The cultist first glanced down at his forearms, where a deep, thick blood was oozing out. Then, slowly raising his head, his gaze locked onto Leo. Instead of fear, a bizarre, childish smile plastered his face.
"Ehhh?! You actually tried to chop me straight in half! How mean of you!" The cultist whined, waving his hands dramatically. "I was coming in for such a warm, loving hug, and you went and scared me. Now I'm mad at you... just for a little bit."
Listening to his nonsense, a sharp frown creased Leo's forehead. He thought to himself, 'Is this guy a freaking child? How is he spouting such rubbish in a situation like this?'
Meanwhile, right at the top of the cliff, the carriage slammed to a halt. As the thumping of the horses' hooves died down, Chris looked at Ray with dead serious eyes.
"Keep your guard up. I can sense more than one enemy presence down there. We need to get down to help Leo, fast," Chris urged, the tension evident in his voice.
Ray nodded firmly, "Right, I'll watch my back." He then glanced at the back seat where Felix lay completely unconscious. "What do we do about Felix? We can't just leave him alone like this."
A sharp, clever smirk played on Chris's lips. "I have just the idea for that. Come on, get out of the carriage first."
The two quickly stepped outside. Ray leaned over the edge of the cliff and shouted with all his might, "Leo! Stay sharp! There's more than one enemy down there!"
Without even looking back up, Leo replied coldly, "I've already sensed their presence!"
Up above, Chris raised his right index finger into the air. He closed his eyes, and when he snapped them open a second later, they glowed with an eerie, piercing grey light. Dense, dark smoke began pouring from the tip of his finger. Within seconds, the smoke erupted like a localized storm, enveloping the entire carriage and forming an unbreakable Smoke Prison.
Ray stared in absolute awe. "What... what is that?"
Looking down the cliff, Chris reassured him, "Don't worry, your friend is safe. This prison is as solid on the outside as it is protective on the inside. No one is breaking through this."
Down below, Leo was still trying to look up the cliff, but due to the sheer height, he could only make out the faint silhouettes of Chris and Ray.
Annoyed by Leo's blatant indifference, the eccentric cultist tilted his head and pointed a finger at him. "Ehh?! You ignored me? Me?! You are so mean! I'm putting so much effort into talking to you, and you're looking over there? Hmph! Now my feelings are hurt. So, I've decided — punishment time! And for your punishment... chop chop! Off with your head!"
Leo glared at the crazed cultist, his anger flaring. His patience had officially run out. "Are you a child who wandered off with his parents or something? You are incredibly annoying! You're just wasting time and making me furious."
The cultist dramatically gasped, clapping both hands over his mouth. "Oh dear, sorry, sorry! Don't be mad! I just wanted to be friends. Hmph... alright, I've decided. I won't cut off your head anymore. See? See how nice I am? Ehehe~ I'll just remove both of your arms from your body instead."
Leo's eyes turned icy cold. "You are still so damn annoying..."
"Umm... okay, how about just one arm?" the cultist bargained, offering a new proposal. "You'll still have one left! So what's the big deal? Ehehe~ I think that's a perfectly fair deal!"
Leo didn't bother responding this time. Pushing his weight onto his feet, he burst into a ferocious forward sprint. He moved so fast he left an afterimage in the air, unleashing a deadly horizontal slash with his katana.
Schwing!
The cultist sensed the lethal danger at the very last millisecond and pulled off an unholy backflip. Leo's blade narrowly missed, grazing the tips of the cultist's hair. However, the sheer force behind the slash was so devastating that a massive tree trunk standing behind him was cleanly sliced in half, crashing heavily to the ground.
Landing nimbly on another tree trunk, the cultist sat down, swinging his legs back and forth in the air like a spoiled brat. "Hmph! Fine then! You have way too many tantrums. First you don't want to be friends, then you refuse punishment, then you want to bargain. You are so complicated! I don't want to be your friend anymore. Go away!" He turned his face away in a pout, "I'm not playing with you anymore."
Leo gripped his katana tightly in his right hand, keeping his eyes glued to the enemy. Suddenly, his sensory perception spiked wildly. He felt a sudden surge of multiple dark energies manifesting at once and immediately took two steps back.
Chris and Ray jumped down from the cliff together, landing heavily as a cloud of dust exploded around them. Looking back, Leo muttered, "This cultist has been throwing a massive drama since the start. He isn't fighting, just spouting nonsense."
Ray placed a hand on Leo's shoulder, letting out a tense laugh. "Man, what a freakish villain. I haven't even seen a villain like this in a storybook or a novel."
Chris stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the target. "Save the novel talk for later, focus on what's in front of us." He pointed his finger directly at the weird cultist. "If you came here to fight us, then fight! Why are you wasting time?"
Perched on the tree trunk, the cultist yelled back, "I really just came to play... honestly! But my companions here, they refused to play nice."
The moment those words left his mouth, a visible ripple distorted the air. Dark, shadow-like figures began to materialize on the surrounding tree trunks amid flashes of sharp light. Within moments, excluding the weird cultist, ten more cultists stood before them. All wore hooded cloaks, their eyes harboring the cold stillness of death.
Grinning madly while swinging his legs, the cultist cheered, "I won't play with you guys anymore, but they definitely will!"
Chris let out a tired sigh and cracked his neck. "And here I thought you guys would bring a small army, but there are only ten of you. Fine by me, this will be fun."
Chris raised his right hand into the air. A dark Dimensional Portal ripped open right above his palm, and a gleaming, heavy sword emerged from it. Gripping the hilt tightly, Chris ran his left palm along the flat of the blade. In an instant, a thick, grey smoke cloaked the entire blade, instantly doubling its sharpness and lethality.
"Come on," Chris said in a bone-chilling tone.
The words had barely left his lips when Chris launched forward like a human missile, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. He closed the distance to the left tree trunk in the blink of an eye, reaching the two cultists standing there.
Without giving them a single moment to react, Chris's smoke-engulfed blade cleanly took off both their heads. Geysers of blood erupted into the air. Chris immediately spun around to check on Leo and Ray's position, but two more cultists blindsided him from the air, delivering a powerful, simultaneous double-kick aimed straight at his chest.
Chris reacted instantly, bringing up the flat side of his heavy sword to block the incoming assault.
The impact was incredibly violent. Chris lost his balance and was sent hurtling backward, shattering a massive tree before crashing onto the ground as wood splinters rained everywhere.
The Desperate Struggle
Now, the remaining six cultists locked their sights onto Leo and Ray. There was absolutely no mercy in their eyes.
Leo glanced sideways, "Are you ready?" Ray tightened his fists, blue lighting crackling furiously across his forearms. "Born ready!"
The moment they spoke, the 6 cultists lunged forward with speed. Leo unleashed his red aura, his katana glowing with a brilliant, blood-red light. Raising his blade, he unleashed a destructive energy slash in a perfectly straight line. The red energy wave ripped through the ground as it tore forward.
Seeing the lethal attack, the cultists split ranks, dodging to the left and right. With their attention completely occupied by Leo's attack, Ray seized the distraction.
Like a flash of lightning, Ray appeared right in a cultist's blind spot. "Focus on me! I'm your enemy too!" Ray roared, driving a devastating lighting Fist straight into the cultist's face.
CRACK!
The shockwave of the lightning shattered the cultist's face, blasting him backward. Without stopping, Ray spun his body, channeling his momentum into a second lightning Fist right into another cultist's stomach. The lightning discharged straight through the cultist's body, sending him flying into the distance.
But the enemies were relentless. A cultist sneaked up behind Ray, launching a blazing Flame Arrow at point-blank range. Sensing the danger at the absolute last second, Ray didn't even turn around; he reached out and caught the arrow barehanded in mid-air. Though he managed to stop its momentum, the intense magical heat severely burned his palm. Ray hissed, gritting his teeth through the searing pain.
Meanwhile, Leo dashed through the air toward the remaining three cultists. In one fluid, seamless motion, he swung his katana and completely sliced through the first cultist's rib cage, sending blood spraying into the air. He pressed forward to take off the second cultist's arm, but the third cultist intercepted him, blocking Leo's katana with a glowing Flame Sword. Sparks and tongues of fire erupted wildly around them.
Suddenly, the cultist whose rib cage Leo had just slashed stood back up, completely ignoring the fatal wound as if he felt no pain. Raising his flame sword high, he brought it down in a deadly strike aimed right at Leo's head. Catching the movement from the corner of his eye, Leo evaded with insane speed, leaping backward to safety. He landed heavily right next to Ray.
The tide of battle had severely shifted. Standing before Leo and Ray were four cultists, including the one whose stomach was bleeding profusely but stood completely unfazed. To make matters worse, the two cultists who had been fighting Chris rushed over, flanking the others. A total of six cultists now completely surrounded them.
Leo and Ray slowly backed up, their boots dragging through the dirt. But there was nowhere left to run—behind them stood nothing but the solid, towering wall of the cliff. Their path of escape was completely blocked.
Suddenly, the six cultists formed a sinister, synchronized black magic circle, summoning dark Bows into their hands. Nocking demonic Flaming Arrows onto the strings, they pulled back with terrifying strength. Six lethal arrows of fire were locked dead-on at Leo and Ray's hearts.
The roaring flames cast an eerie red glow across the massive cliff face. The air grew suffocatingly hot, and any hope of escape had completely vanished.
Leo tightened his grip on his katana, while Ray forced the lightning to crackle even brighter around his bleeding hand. They exchanged a grim look—this was undeniably the most dangerous situation of their lives.