Saying that they had been ready would be overstatement. They hadn’t had their strategy, the battle formation, the attack fleets. Nothing. They hadn’t even distributed the uniforms and hadn’t got to inform the soldiers. They hadn’t gone over the plan with the soldiers and hadn’t even gotten to recruit the new citizens that enlisted.
They had been in Snow’s kingdom when they had felt the quake. It was sudden and new because it had never happened before. Just before Snow could pull up a hologram to find out what was happening, there was a distant blast and it didn’t just happen once or twice, it continued.
And when it hit the castle it was from the ground up. Elementa had strong defense. Snow had claimed many times that the barrier was impenetrable to any attack, but the barrier broke and they had all heard it break like glass. The castle took a pretty bad hit, but they were able to get out of there before any serious damage could be done.
“Hale” Snow said with a hand on his ear.
“What in the four quads” Agira said to himself as he looked around. He didn’t even know where they stood currently. Was it the palace? Was it a place in Elementa at all? Because now home world didn’t look like home world.
“Hale do you hear me?” Snow was trying not to lose it.
“I can give one guess on who did this” Dilia said.
“We honestly weren’t ready for this” Victor said adjusting his glasses. This wasn’t time to explode. “First thing first, find the root of this problem and contain it before more harm can be done”.
“If Elementa is like this I don’t need to know the state of the other places” Agira said.
“Then why are we still here?” Snow said stepping forward. “I am going to take care of this before she can….” Snow didn’t complete his sentence. He just looked around. “You can see the picture. The sooner we get rid of this the better”.
“She just destroyed everything!” Dilia yelled. “We have half plans! The communication is dead and I don’t even know what has become of all our militaries because of all this!” she made wild gestures. “Tell me your highness what are we going to do?!”
“I don’t know what you three are going to do” he spoke truthfully. “What I’m going to do, I’m going to find her and I am going to give her everything in my arsenal till Hale finds himself and gets everything in order to join in. You can all do whatever you want”.
The ground beneath him glowed and he was gone.
“This is dumb…..but I won’t let that pompous king one-up me” Agira said as the ground beneath him glowed orange red and he was gone.
“Well my people come first and as their leader I have to protect them. Snow’s idea doesn’t sound so bad”.
She was surrounded by children that looked like grown men. But she was outvoted. It was three against one and she had no choice but to automatically join.
Getting there they just had to follow the trail of destruction from where it started. There was no point anymore. Just piece of land for miles covered in dirt and tiny pieces of rubble.
Snow was dressed in crystal blue armor and his hair was in a braid. A braid meant just for war. Agira appeared beside him dressed in fur. A fur off-shoulder shirt that was shaped like an upside down triangle disappearing into a fur skirt with leggings into fur boots. His hair was left to fly. Victor was in leather not so different from his usual Tempan getup. Trousers, boots and a very long jacket, but his glasses were different. They were on the smaller side.
Dilia stood behind them making a face. “Really?” she murmured. They all just had to be good looking. But there was no time to dwell on that, not when their opponent dropped from the sky making the very ground shake.
“I see you got my invitation” she said.
“Loud and clear” Victor replied.
Agira sighed.
“Let me return the favor” Snow said.
“You three!” she yelled, but they didn’t listen to her.
Victor’s glasses exposed just his eyes and lasers shot at her which she dodged easily.
It was long-range so she could handle that easily. She would play with the leaders for a while before the cavalry arrived. The crown disintegrated but didn’t go to the small of her back. Both scythes were in her hand.
She expected the fiery leader to attack first, but it was the beautiful king. He was coming. She ran towards him too and her scythe hit his sword hard on and steel met steel in a big loud slice. He had one sword, she had two scythes. She wasn’t sure if he knew.
They disengaged and she swung at his neck which he ducked under rolling forward to slice her in the middle, but she flipped over it placing an arm on his shoulder and forcing him to his knees before throwing her other scythe at the others.
“The king needs assistance as always” and Agira wasn’t there anymore. With how red his hair was he could be confused for a tiger and it didn’t help with how he was running. He jumped over Snow and Tresicta smiled up at him. She made a face as she saw hot lava coming towards her.
Her fan appeared in front of her and shielded her face. Her power absorbed energy, didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt her. Snow was back on his feet and hosed her down with water making her go back to where she initially was.
She slicked her hair back. They were smart. She absorbed the water inside her, but she would save that for later. She had seen them, now it was time for her to see what she was capable of. The butterflies were fluttering around her now. She was in the mood to skewer them.
They went towards their targets at blinding speed.
Agira shot lava at the offending insects. “Snow we’re better at short-range” he stated.
“I am aware”.
“Let’s go or do you still need to rest?”
Snow growled and took a running start, but Agira sped past him jumping again to attack Tresicta. She threw her scythe at him, which he hit with his axe sending it to the far side. Snow was in her field of vision and she aimed for his face, but the man before her turned into liquid and punched her stomach and Agira kicked her in her face. She was encased in ice and Snow went up.
This was enough for now.
She absorbed the ice and in a ball of green it went back at Snow sending him back to his comrades so she could focus on Agira. No such luck. She was hit straight in her chest that forced her onto a knee. And then birds had surrounded her. They were clawing and pecking and scratching at her. It was annoying and she screamed.
“Together!” she heard the woman yell.
She could feel all of them warming up and the birds wouldn’t let up and there was something holding her legs. Looking down it was vines made out of water.
Laser, ice, lava and death coming at her. Looks like they could all work together, that was her thought before she was hit.
“I want to be certain she’s dead” Snow said.
The four of them walked, but the dust was clearing and she looked to be on her feet. But when did she become two?
“She’s not alone” Dilia said and when it finally cleared there was a boy with her.
“So she does have an army” Victor stated.
“With her strength and whatever that one possesses….”
“We can finish this” Snow said cutting the woman off.
Tresicta was on her feet now and smiling at the boy. “We’re just playing. I don’t want to go all out with no one to see”.
Victor aimed at both of them, but her steel butterfly blocked the hit. Kieran flapped his wings and went up looking down at them before a huge fireball was going down.
Snow looked up and he didn’t even make it look like he did anything. A giant water ball was going up and made contact making the battlefield steamy.
“What was that?!” Dilia demanded clutching her side and when she removed her hand there was blood on her palm. Victor looked up and clutched his cheek immediately. He could already smell the blood. And that was how it was cuts sprouting blood on various parts of their body.
Snow looked to be holding in a scream as he just kept getting cut out of nowhere. He released a roar and ice went everywhere. The other leaders made sure to shield themselves. The king sighed looking forward with a glare, hair still in place and armor still intact the places he had been cut were his lower half and mostly his face. Whatever hit them couldn’t cut through the armor.
Well parts of the body that were protected with the armor.
Looking forward she was on the other side of the field on a throne. A really tall throne that was placed at the top of steps. She sat with her legs crossed and Snow could see her smile. She didn’t even look strained with effort.
Dilia had a questioning look when she saw frost on his boots.
They stood on their feet. “Where’s that boy?” Agira questioned. Suddenly they were all in the air. None of them were ready for that and there was a flash of green that was really distracting. They couldn’t get down, couldn’t move. They just floated there waiting for whatever would come and it was coming back. With much more force than they had given it in the beginning.
They braced for the impact. And when it did hit, they felt everything.
The four of them lay on the ground in different positions and trying to recover.
“I never did know what others felt when they got hit with lasers. I know now” Victor wheezed. The glasses covering his eyes all cracked and there was a wiring noise that wouldn’t stop.
“Hale” Snow called again into his ear. “Communication is still down”.
None of them had gotten to their feet, when Kieran dropped in their midst.
Agira was the first to react. Going for a sweep kick, but Kieran jumped landing on his attacking leg. Snow was quick jumping onto his feet going for his face, but fire clouded his vision. Victor running up with a knee and Dilia sneaking up from behind.
Victor was pushed back and flames covered his hands all the way to the elbow before he grabbed Dilia by her own hands. She didn’t scream though. She launched both feet forward hitting him square in the ribs launching him back. He was able to stabilize himself with his wings.
He barely missed the icicle that was aimed at his eye socket. He smiled to himself as a thought crossed his mind.
Snow aimed a lot at him and fired and he missed gravely. It went where he wasn’t even aiming and following the line of attack it was going straight at Agira. At the last second he turned the ice spears to water, so he wouldn’t be the one responsible for accidentally murdering the leader of Sava.
It hit Agira and the lava he had been aiming for Kieran went towards Victor. He dodged, but was still able to take a little of the attack and accidentally shot at Snow who was still confused at how he missed gravely.
Dilia was the only one on her feet right now. That was what she got for having a different power from the rest of them. But she was good in short and long range. She looked at the young boy.
“Such a waste” she said and butterflies were leaving her person. They were made of smoke so nothing could really touch them. Not anything anyone threw at them. There was a reason she was given the name poison. She didn’t need to lift a finger. A simple touch from her, a simple perch from her friends. Any form of contact.
The arena was now stormy dark. Kieran stood unbothered as the smoke clouded his vision. He heard the flutter from a distance and he set his body ablaze. He wasn’t indestructible and he just couldn’t just die from a bug nonetheless. This was just a nuisance than it was an opponent. It was smoke. He couldn’t just control what wasn’t made of fire. He couldn’t just fight fire with fire and he couldn’t just call this type of smoke. It wasn’t made of fire.
The bugs were fluttering round him now and he knew he was in a dangerous position because they couldn’t be burnt. And if he was to drop the flame right now, he would be nothing but dirt. She appeared before him in a cloud of smoke and she was smiling at him.
“There’s not much you can do now” he said. “Only if you had a power much stronger”.
“My power might not be considered what another Supernatural would call powerful? When just a touch leads to death? You might be right, but I serve as a good distraction”.
Kieran gasped as his air was restricted and he scratched at his throat. The flames protecting him went down and he received a hard stomp between his shoulder blades that forced him to his knees.
“Your fire can’t burn this rope” Victor said as he was pulled up by the strong object around his neck making him wheeze and he was thrown over Victor landing down hard on his back. He wasn’t expecting to shoot up from his position on the ground. It was water.
The ball encased him and he couldn’t move inside it. He couldn’t breathe and he could feel the ball getting smaller and smaller until it curled him into a ball and the water ball exploded and Agira speared him in the air and he was going down. But it didn’t stop there.
Dilia was hovering above him as he was falling. Black tentacle like organisms crawled up his body and he was going further until he crashed into the ground.
Victor, Snow, Agira and Dilia dropped on their feet. Looking at their fallen opponent and then the woman that was still on the throne still not moved at what her ally had gone through.
“We need a plan” Dilia said.
“She attacks with energy, any type of energy. She can take us all out just from where she sits” Agira said.
“We’re overestimating her” Snow growled.
“She took out all of us bound! Have you forgotten king?!” Victor yelled.
“Instead of attacking, why don’t we just take?” Dilia suggested.
“Take what?” Agira looked at her.
“Take her power. You know the seal don’t all of you?”
“It might work” Snow said. “Let’s go!”
Tresicta stood up. Maybe it was time for her to stop playing around with them. Her crown disappeared and instead of jumping off, she walked down the steps. That enraged Snow and he took off running sword in hand. Her butterflies went towards them and he knocked them out.
Agira had his battle-axe in his hand. Snow always did this.
Tresicta slid under Snow and swung her scythe under Agira’s feet, but he jumped over her and was bringing his axe down, but she did a flip out of the way. Victor’s wires came towards her and she blocked with her scythe. It tangled round the blade and she pulled him towards her.
His lasers were the next attack, but she blocked it. With a hand and that gave him time to escape.
Black tentacles came out from the earth crossing over her shoulders and keeping her rooted to where she stayed. She didn’t struggle. She raised her head to look at what they had planned.
A seal appeared on her palms and the others hands mimicked hers. She was in a barrier and looking down and the seal just underneath her feet she looked up and she laughed. They really thought she could go out like that.
They didn’t do their research about her. She destroyed hone world and they thought the way to beat her would be to take her powers away? They had gotten dumber.
“You can’t win like this” she said.
They all ignored her as the seal beneath her began to warm up and then the energy erupted out of the seal. Tresicta just laughed and laughed louder as they continued to try to take her power away, indirectly feeding her.
“Don’t let up!” Sow said with a lot of effort.
“Didn’t you hear me? You can’t win!!” and the tentacles keeping her in place melted off her skin as she glowed gold. She continued laughing as she glowed brighter and brighter raising her hands up.
“The barrier won’t hold!” Victor informed them.
“Hold it!” Agira yelled.
The energy became too much. Too much and too bad and they couldn’t hold it. Their control was slipping and the barrier exploded in a big blast of light. Tresicta stood in their midst and raised her hand. She spread her fingers and made a come hither motion and they were off their feet floating like earlier.
She looked to Snow.
“What would your daughter say now?” she questioned. “What would all you people say now?” and spread her fingers again making their bodies twist in different positions. She relished in their sounds of agony.
She made a dismissive motion and they were swatted away like insignificant flies.
They didn’t know where one body began and one ended. They were all over each other and couldn’t move when they felt dirt above them. Agira looked up and it was to see a massive boulder hovering above them. That boy was back on his feet.
He sat up and was barely able to cover it in lava before it fell on them. They weren’t crushed per say. It was broken down a little before it fell on them. No one was severely hurt.
“You three get up” Agira said pushing some of the rubble of himself. He had to admit that the four of them combined where no match for Tresicta.
“Is that it?” she asked stepping behind the boy. “You four weren’t four at all. I barely broke a sweat” and she stood hands in the air and she was floating. The ground below her was shaking and the air around all of them became stifling. It was suffocating.
Pure energy hovered above her hand in a spinning ball. And it got bigger by each passing second.
Snow decided he had recovered enough. “Are you just going to stand there and stare?!” he demanded from the three of them.
He placed his hands on the earth and multiple ice walls erupted from the ground up shielding them.
“I’m not sure that’ll stop that” Dilia pointed out. “And I can’t help in the defense”.
“I can try slowing it down” Agira said panting. “Throw me up” he told Victor.
“Are you sure?” the president asked taking him in.
“I didn’t stutter. Throw me up”.
Victor grabbed him by his fur. “I expected you to be bigger. Bulkier, muscular. You’re tall and lithe”.
“Victor I swear to all moons of Luvina if you do not throw me….” He growled when he felt his hot hands on the exposed parts of his stomach which were his abdominal region and was tossed up. He twisted around just in time to see Tresicta let it go and he spat lava at it and was coming back down. He really hoped that was able to do something.
He landed uncomfortably in Victor’s hands and he was sure the blind man did that on purpose.
“This isn’t time for the two of you to play!” Dilia snapped. “It’s coming!!!”
The ball had gotten hit by Agira’s lava and that slowed it down a little, but didn’t stop its journey towards them. It went through the first ice wall and then the second and then the third, fourth and fifth.
“You all should step behind me. When it passes my lasers…..”
“….won‘t be able to do much” Snow said and didn’t make any attempt to move from the ball that was coming their way.
“If I shoot with my lasers I could be able to push it to a different direction even if I can’t completely disintegrate it”.
“I’ll see what ice can do. If I can freeze it”.
“I’ll try with the lava again” Agira said standing beside Victor.
Dilia stood beside Snow. “I’ll see if I can crumble pure energy” she said face all determined.
“It’s coming” and they could feel the heat even with the walls shielding them. “We’ll break through it”.
“Victor you first” Dilia said.
Victor shot lasers through the wall breaking it and hitting the ball head on. Snow followed after him ice coming out of his mouth joining the direction of the lasers. Agira took a deep breath and there was lava and Dilia’s butterflies went further.
Tresicta laughed.
“I like how persistent they are” and she made that dismissive motion with her hand again and the blast was thrilling. She chuckled to herself and she stopped.
“Oh my four worlds!!” she gasped a hand covering her lips. “Things just got interesting” she said her eyes gleaming at Kieran.
Snow expected to feel more pain. New pain from the previous one. That internal pain he always felt when she attacked. But apart from the previous bruises and cuts, he was okay.
“Your highness!” there was an urgent plea.
Opening his eyes, all the other leaders were with him, but Hale was there and they were in a different place entirely.
“I have never been happy to see you like I am now” Snow was on his feet. “Are you the only one here?” he asked.
“Everyone is here sir and they await your orders” he said getting on his knee and holding out a hand with a communication device in it.
“When you say everyone?” he asked again.
“I mean everyone” he said with his eyes gesturing to the others.
He turned to see their various right-hands and advisors appear beside them.
Now that backup was here, it didn’t seem like they had spent hours, maybe more trying to fight off someone that was all-powerful. They looked and felt energized and rejuvenated. “I hope you’re ready” Snow said putting the device in his ear and staring far ahead.
Dilia came to stand by him and so did Victor and Agira.
“Everyone in position” they said in unison.