Khud wasted no time heading towards a masked Midas, who was barely able to duck under his expanded fist that was launched at him. In his bowing state, the youth swiftly picked off one of the leaves that sprouted from the previously ripped-apart vine, tightly grasping it in between his fingers as his stone activated once more to send a vine out in between them, creating some distance between himself and Khud as he jumped back once it swung at him.
The glass jar still in his hand, Khuds hand was aimed at by Guan, who remained in the driver's seat. The unexpected arrow that shot at him was blocked with his other hand, deflecting it to the side as he simply punched against the metal tip. Noticing his lack of attention to him, Midas redirected the floating vine underground, navigating the earth in between them as it shot up from right in front of Khud, grasping his arm to launch him against the already cleared bidding stage.
In front of the falling-apart roof, Fuegir used the red stone slotted into his bracelet, sending bolts of fire out against the hefty blade of Gunvar, only briefly able to stun him from swinging further, as the fire had no real effect against the water-covered blade. Pushing forward, Gunvar swung his sword around himself, using the momentum of the clash between his weapon and the incoming bolt of fire to swing the other way around—not allowing the pirate in front of him to catch a break.
Uteli watched from the inside of the carriage as Guan and Jikith in the distance held off any incoming guards or knights. The archer beside her allowed Jikith to go one-on-one with his foes, allowing him to pick off multiple guards and knights as his dagger swiftly slotted itself in between the plating of his enemies, stabbing through their flesh as long as they didn't wear chainmail.
Gunvar wasn't able to move due to the pirate in front of him, forced to come up with a different idea before anyone else could act against him. The man far away from him with the longer brown hair and the wool top wielding the dagger seemed much weaker to Gunvar than the other two—practically unable to sense any mana from him. Judging from the history he had with the pirate in front of him, the commander saw Fuegir as the strongest of the three pirates—establishing some space in between him and his foe as he angled his sword directly at him, condensing the water around the blade.
Dashing up from the kicked-up dust that was thrown into the air by his impact into the bidding stage, Khud extended his hand out at the youth, swinging for his cheek, making Midas lean backwards to evade, allowing the helmet-wearing student to kick the foe in his stomach. Already anticipating a blow onto his open torso, the youth concentrated mana into his stomach muscles, making them stiffen up just like with his arm muscles to enhance his blows with his sickle. Unable to kick the youth to the ground, Midas swung his sickle at Khuds's own stomach, making him back off again as two more arrows shot at him, one hitting the glass jar, making it fall onto the ground.
Seeing the jar fall, the youth grasped onto his vine again, allowing the plant to grasp the glass before Khud could, sharply making it turn in the air towards the ride, having to divert his gaze from his enemy to make sure the glass safely arrived at Guan. Dropping it off swiftly, Midas risked a glance at his right, seeing Uteli grasp the jar. Midas's cheek was already met with a fist before he could look at Khud, flinging up the now empty walkwayby the blow, getting up to barely block another hit with his sickle—unable to find any other vine leaf for his plant stone to use in his reach.
Stuffing the glass jar into the leather bag belonging to Midas, Uteli grasped her axe quickly again, launching herself at a sneaky knight that approached one of the Fahin that were looked after by Guan. The heavy axe smashed in the helmet of the sneaky foe, making his slim grin contort into a wide-open mouth as the knight screamed in pain as his helmet was bent by the force of the axe head. Shooting another knight that would've stabbed Uteli from behind, Guan nodded at the girl.
Unsure what the heavily plated knight in front of him was planning to do, Fuegir formed a more suppressed shot of fire of his own—the ball of flames grew slim as rotation altered its form, the stress it experienced tucking at it. Knocked back onto one foot by the force, the pirate sent off the ball of flames—Guan took it head-on, his chest plate pushing deeply into his skin at the impact; the shot only left dim oxidation marks on the metal; his broadsword was now completely coated in a thick layer of water, the mass of it only loosely bound onto it, before being shot out onto the enemy.
Unable to react in time, Fuegir's eyes widened at a wave of water crashing into him—the feeling of the impact was blinding, slimly filling his nostril with water as he briefly wasn't able to catch his breath, ultimately falling to the ground as he didn't regain his footing in time. Taking heavy steps towards his falling enemy, Gunvar struck his blade down at the pirate—his blow suddenly meeting another, as the same man in the wool shirt stood in front of him, the tiny blade enough to somehow push him back.
Unable to bend for now, Midas relied on his sickle solely, dodging under any swing he could avoid, as one hit alone wasn't enough to send him to the ground. Khud sent barrages of fists at him, most of them aimed at the youth's chin or jaw. Pushing him back against one of the rides, the youth found himself at a dead end. Switching his stone out now would be impossible; his time frame was too short, and the stone rune on his right hand made it easy for Khud to figure out who he was underneath the cloth.
Eventually being punched in his face again, Midas's back touched the counter of one of the wagons, making him glance at a displayed pile of spice. Grasping the dust as his widened eyes directly followed Khuds's gaze, he focused on aiming at his stomach once more. Barely avoiding it by stepping to the side, Midas made Khud punch against the wood of the ride, making it shake lightly. Dimmly frustrated with the youth's evasive maneuvers, Khuds concentrated gaze was broken as Spice forced his eyes to shut close.
Pushing the powder into the slot of the helmet Khud wore on him, Midas gripped onto the back of it, forcing it off of his enemy—clenching up his arm muscles to deliver a blow right onto the nose of an unmasked Khud. Midas's mana began to run out; his effort to reattach the cut-off vine and redirect another to the ground made him spend a lot of his energy. His enemy, however, seemed to feel the exact opposite, able to sense an increase with seemingly every blow Khud landed on him.
His eyes red and tearing, Khud held onto his pale head with clenching fingers—his whole face seemed to be burnt, scars covering his whole cheeks and forehead. Clutching onto his scalp and chin as if he would feel them for the same time, the foe's mouth revealed flashing teeth—acting out at the reveal of what was beneath his helmet. Midas's own expression grew more alarmed, something noticeable despite only his eyes being visible due to the cloth covering him—the surge of mana that shot through the enemy didn't seem to stop growing.
The one Gunvar discarded as the weakest of the three now stood in front of the seemingly strongest one. With a playful grin and his arms spread out, Jikith stood in front of Fuegir as he slowly managed to get up onto his feet again. Inviting the broadsword user to clash with him again, Jikith took slow steps forward, only loosely holding onto the handle of his dagger as he held it out in his enemy's direction.
"Why so reluctant all of a sudden...?"
"What is the purpose of you stealing the auctioned goods?"
Seemingly unable to get through to his enemy just yet, Jikith took the lead and dashed forward, clashing with the broad blade as he tried to find a spot in between the thick plating of his enemy. Seeing the man in front of him wear chainmail, Jikith grinned to himself, having no chance to get through his armor without the usage of a Null-Ability. Dodging another swing, Jikith let his mana flow into his blade, waiting for the perfect moment to clash his blade against the hefty weapon of Gunvar.
Able to land three deflects as Jikith circled around the armored man, he watched with a flat grin as Gunvar suddenly stepped back, already knowing what might come at him as Fuegir quickly got up onto his feet again, dashing towards the enemy with his dagger pointed at him. Seeing him approach, Gunvar let the water concentrating at the tip of his blade reach out to his weapon, snatching it from him as he kicked him down.
"Now I know why all of your men are currently falling, no matter if it's here... underneath Baumfall... or in the Luvious Forest; a commander like you is simply unable to shield them properly—no matter how thick your armor is."
Widening his eyes in anger at the comment, Gunvar sent out another wave of water—its sides arched to hit Jikith's sides as well, most likely aiming for his eardrums so he would lose his footing. Seeing the wall of water approach him, Jikith took steps back, waiting for the right moment in which Gunvar would step into the same positions they had clashed their blades in, unable to help but grin as he was now able to finally strike back.
"Detonate."
Focusing his mana into his eyes in a split moment, Jikith raised both of his hands—the forces of mana that clashed against each other created spots of light that floated around Gunvar, making his Null-Ability work. He let go of the suppressed mana at the exact spots—releasing all three of the condensed points of mana at once, creating three explosions detonating to Gunvar's sides and in front of him at the exact same moment.
Shook by the sudden bursts of mana, Gunvar had to blink twice—the condensed energy that lay in the exact spots they had clashed their weapons against each other in had been somehow freed by Jikith, buying Fuegir enough time to step forward and get back his dagger that was held onto by the layer of water covering Gunvar's weapon. Once he got to himself, the commander raised his head up to Jikith's dagger—directly aimed at his eye—planning to directly poke through his helmet through the slim slot of it.
Dramatically amped up in speed, Midas found no time to react to the swift, almost gliding motion of Khud—barely dodging a blow, he watched one singular punch break off a piece of the wooden counter behind him, able to smell the spices that were sent up into the air due to the impact. Trying to dodge under another blow, the youth aimed for the lower torso of his enemy—met with a backhand that launched his head into the ground.
Clenching his teeth, Midas switched his dagger to his more unstable right hand, balancing his body weight with his left hand as he launched a kick up at his foe, only buying him enough time to get onto his feet before being met by another incoming fist. Having blocked one, another followed—hitting his right cheek, shook—another to his left hit, followed by one to his stomach, then chin, and lastly to his nose. The back of Midas's head smacked against the already battle-scarred wagon, his eyes dimming—instantly focusing again as the youth forced himself to keep his eyes open.
Just by Khuds presence alone, Midas was able to note that his mana output must have begun to sink slightly ever since his foe's helmet was taken from him—in direct combat it was obvious that the youth would utterly fail trying to defeat him. Even though he couldn't tell for sure, Khud seemed to be using a sort of null ability, allowing him to either experience a sudden rush of mana when aggravated or allow for a slight creep of it for every hit either he or his enemy hit.
Just now, the youth used a split second to glance at his enemy's shoulder—his eye widening at the swift parries of Jikith, able to observe explosions of light seemingly appear out of nowhere at roughly the same spot he and Gunvar had clashed blades. Blood visibly stained his striped cloth, a trail of it running down from his nose to his mouth area as his blank stare hit directly onto Khud, who seemed to be close to popping one of his blood vessels on his head anytime soon.
The youth might have an actual chance to win the fight now, even if he had to rely on another to get rid of the enemy—finding no other option for himself to deal with it, as the cloth covering his forehead, mouth, and nose made it hard to breathe, with blood not making it any easier, Midas ducked under another swing—giving it all to run straight into Jikith's direction.