(Note: my fault for not posting yesterday, I had exams so I was busy)
Having knocked out one of the dark mages, I grinned while eyeing the remaining two, only for the ground to seemingly come to life as my feet were suddenly trapped by mud that swiftly hardened into stone. Glancing to my right, I saw the person responsible exiting a portion of the destroyed wall with a single hand outstretched. 'Mud Magic?' However, my thoughts were interrupted as a large, incredibly muscular woman crashed into the ground beside me, standing up from the self-made crater with a hardened gaze while looking directly at me.
"What the hell, a kid!?" "Tsk, it doesn't matter. If the kid found us, they're more nearby. We've got to leave quickly!" Chuckling at their words, I shook my head. "Nope. I'm alone, so don't disappoint me." Freeing my feet from the hardened mud, I dashed towards the muscular woman, who scoffed and punched me, prompting me to do the same as our fists collided, though, to my surprise, I had only forced her slightly backward. I was decently confident in my physical strength, so this was a bit surprising, yet I wasn't complaining; this was precisely what I needed.
"Ugh, watch out, this kid packs a punch." As the woman shook her hand while wincing, I lunged toward her again, only for a wall of earth, followed by hardened mud to cover it, blocking my path towards her. Smirking, I landed on the wall before turning around and using it as a springboard as I leaped towards the wind mage, who quickly reacted, launching numerous wind bullets my way, though, like a beast, I powered them while they left several bruises on my body as they packed quite a punch.
Just as I neared him, the mage launched a powerful gust of wind, which slightly slowed me down before he leaped into the air, narrowly escaping me; as I tracked him through the air, I felt the ground slightly tremble before glancing at the muscular woman who charged toward me. "Saya, keep him focused on you! We'll help wear him down!" "Tch, got it!" Hearing their plan, I grinned, and instead of trying to strategically break it, I would destroy it.
Lunging at the woman, I kicked her side, causing her to wince, though my other foot was promptly trapped by hardened mud, only for a stone slab to emerge from the ground, slamming right into my chin and knocking my head back. To follow up, the woman slammed her fist into my stomach, sending me crashing across the ground before I flipped in the air, reorienting myself.
Landing on the ground, I rubbed my jaw before spitting blood, along with a front tooth, onto the ground. "Oh, this is dangerous!" Cracking my fingers, I lunged back into the fray, attacking the woman while her partners assisted her from the sides. The battle was brutal for me; every time I attacked, the mud mage would take advantage to briefly lock me in place, which was enough time for either the earth mage, the wind mage, the woman, or even all of them to attack me. While I could block one or possibly even two of their attacks, doing so against all three was impossible.
What made things worse was that halfway through the battle, the woman who uses chain Magic awoke and joined the battle, turning it into a one-vs-five. She and the mud mage restraining my limbs allowed the three others to land even more hits on me. As I raised my arms, blocking a massive boulder, the muscular woman punched me backward as my feet skidded across the ground, only for the wind mage to knock me off balance while the mud and chain mage attacked.
Pushing my hand against the ground, I flew into the air, evading the mage from hardening mud around me, but the chains continued to head right for me in the air. Slamming into a piece of the fortress, I dug my nails into the stone wall before leaping out of the way at the last second, causing the chains to penetrate the wall while I landed on the ground. My body was battered from the constant and continuous abuse from these three mages; blood coated most of my skin, and my skeleton creaked in pain with every movement, yet, despite my state, I was enjoying every second of this battle as I was learning.
Fighting these mages was proving incredibly valuable to me in both experience and knowledge, though I knew I'd likely die if I didn't break their formation soon. Taking a deep breath, I narrowed my eyes at the approaching muscular woman while the four other mages prepared to attack, either to protect her or immobilize me.
Dashing toward the woman, I leaped into the air the moment I felt the ground faintly tremble, narrowly avoiding being trapped by mud, though I glanced to my right, eyeing the chain that headed right for me; outstretching my hand, I allowed the chain to wrap around my arm while I grabbed it, though just as I was about to pull the mage towards me again, she promptly released hold of the chain with a faint smirk.
Grinning, I spun the chain in the air and tossed it toward the wind mage, causing a wall of earth to sprout from the ground, protecting the wind mage; however, that was merely a feint; my goal was never the wind mage. 'Heh, got you.' With a bloodthirsty expression, I tossed the chain toward the earth wall while shifting my expression towards the muscular woman; by fainting an attack at the mage, I took all the focus away from the woman, giving me an opportune moment as I dodged her fist before pushing off it and violently kicking her face.
Finally landing a solid blow on her, I knocked her onto her ass while landing on the ground before quickly following up with another punch; although I was required to smash an earth wall protecting her, the power contained in my fists was barely weakened as I broke her jaw. Stepping onto her, I grabbed her shirt and aggressively punched her, forcing her to raise her arms as she blocked my relentless attacks.
"Damn, it! Stop him! We can't let him take out Saya!" Hearing their concerned voices, I merely grinned and continued to attack, causing her arms to quickly become dark purple from the intense bruising.
As I continuously attacked, I felt a chain wrap around my neck, pulling me back, while rocks and bullets of wind pelted my chest, peeling my skin off, cracking my bones, and even lodging themselves into my body. Mud slowly covered the woman beneath me, forming a hard outer shell that protected her, yet I could chip away faster than he could harden the mud.
With them slowly whittling away at my body, I knew this would be the deciding moment: would I defeat the woman beneath me and cause their formation to collapse, allowing me to pick them off one by one? Or would they manage to knock me off her first?
Although it felt like a long time, it only took me about ten seconds to break through the hardened mud and arms before I began to pummel away at her face, quickly turning it into something unrecognizable. With unrestrained ferociousness, I continued to attack with nearly all of my strength, causing her resistance to slowly lessen until she was limp in my grasp, and only then did I finally stop attacking her.
Dropping the unconscious woman with a now unrecognizable face to the ground, my blood continuously dripped onto her body while I slowly raised my head, gazing at the four other mages. "D-Dammit! He's almost dead, though! He won't last long!" "You two, restrain him, we'll finish him off!" Hearing their attempt to salvage the situation, I flashed a predatory grin before lunging toward them.
Punching the rocks that flew right at me while ignoring the wind mage's attacks, I felt a chain wrap around my leg, prompting me to kick, launching the mage into the closest one beside her and knocking her and the earth mage to the ground. Dashing to the mud mage, I saw him frantically encase himself within hardened mud, causing me to grin as I quickly grabbed his wrist with my bloody hand and violently punched his stomach. Shattering the hardened mud exoskeleton off his body, I saw his face contort into something inhumane before I followed up with a knee to the chin, knocking him out.
Grabbing him by his ankle, I dashed at the wind mage, who leaped into the air, using his wind to avoid me; though I expected this, that's why I carried the unconscious mage. Tossing the body at the floating mage, knocking him out of the sky, I grabbed him by his hair just as he landed on the ground and brutally punched his chest, shattering his rib cage and knocking him out almost immediately. With those two defeated, I shifted my focus to the remaining two and didn't hesitate to lunge dash toward them.
Shattering the rocks thrown my way with punches and dodging the chains, I stomped my foot onto the ground, cracking and shaking the ground beneath them; taking advantage of their lack of balance, I charged for the earth mage, who managed to create a thick wall of earth to protect him.
Headbutting the earth wall, destroying it, and shocking the mage, I stabbed my nails into his chest before slicing down, tearing through bones, muscles, and flesh, causing him to drop to one knee. Finishing him with a kick to the face that slammed him into the ground, I did a backflip, evading two chains from behind me before landing on them.
"Y-You B-Beast!" She yelled at me with both fear and anger as she attacked me with another set of chains, which I grabbed before yanking her towards me and clutching her face.
"... and you're my prey." Grinning, I smashed her into the ground before stomping onto her chest, caving her chest in and knocking her out. "A-Ahh, t-that was d-difficult. H-Haven't been this injured in a long time." Collapsing onto the ground, I took a moment to collect myself before standing up and gathering the bodies, only to slowly return to Cedar.