She had covered mere meters when a shadow fell over her. The Calamity Beast descended upon her position, its mass blotting out the light above. Sasha threw Dicing Edge to safety and stood firm, glaring defiantly at the creature when Sani Elvin suddenly switched places with her before flickering away himself.
Buddhist Hand appeared next, golden fist raised and face set in a determined frown. His left hand had been shattered by the twenty-foot spear the beast had used on him before it escaped to target Sasha, yet power coursed through his muscles, allowing him to fight despite the broken bones.
'This is going out of hand!' he thought grimly.
Sasha materialized in her original position and immediately began crafting another circle. They would have to repeat their strategy.
Dicing Edge had a pill between her teeth, one that melted gradually to replenish her depleted energy, though it required ten precious seconds to take effect.
She heard the rhythmic bang, bang of combat, then her dimmed vision registered flashes of golden light. Buddhist Hand alone was keeping the beast occupied, buying them time.
Sasha completed the circle and stood waiting for her moment.
A sharp screech erupted from the beast, creating several layers of concussive sound that expanded outward before converging upon Buddhist Hand. He immediately attempted to evade, his body flowing with the momentum, but failed to escape the sonic trap.
Energy arrows rained down upon the beast, Vera's attempt to give Buddhist Hand room to breathe, but they shattered against the overwhelming force field surrounding the creature.
The beast's core flared like a supernova, its light blazing across the ruins and illuminating every corner of the battlefield. This brilliance signaled the expansion of its plague, reaching everything touched by its glow.
But the beast concentrated its power upon Buddhist Hand, materializing another twenty-foot spear that shot toward him with point-blank precision.
"Ahhh!" Like a golden lion, Buddhist Hand roared. His battle cry shattered the sonic prison surrounding him, his entire body shimmering with golden energy as the spear slammed into his face.
Another spear formed and struck his chest, both weapons rotating with such velocity that they ionized the surrounding air, combusting into flames upon impact. Yet Buddhist Hand remained unharmed, though the force drove him deeper into the ground, drilling him further into the earth.
Even the beast seemed to require a moment to recover, taking three seconds before conjuring another spear for Buddhist Hand.
"Take me there!" Sasha shouted. Her body flickered, appearing ten meters beside the Calamity Beast. Her sudden presence diverted its attention, causing it to rotate and rain sharp spikes toward her. Each projectile was countered by energy arrows from Vera as Sasha prepared to release her lightning attack.
Flicker!
Katvha!
With unimaginable speed, the beast stretched the chain binding it and seemed to teleport behind Sasha. Its extended blade thrust forward to skewer her from behind.
Sasha appeared frozen as the blade approached. Sani couldn't comprehend the beast's speed, let alone pull her to safety in time.
A flash of white light heralded Dicing Edge's arrival. Her eyes glowed with fluorescent intensity, her skin dried and face set like sculpted marble. Her blade was unlike anything the beast had encountered—not merely sharp but trailing liquid energy in its wake.
The beast sensed the same danger from this weapon as from Sasha's lightning, but its movement couldn't be arrested. Dicing Edge's blade proved faster, dicing the beast's weapons with clinical precision. The trailing energy cut through a quarter of its body, and the infamous Blademourn energy slid inside the wound.
As swiftly as it had attacked, the beast flickered away, leaving devastation in its wake due to its tremendous speed.
Buddhist Hand pulled himself from the earth, drained and bleeding, his vision hazy but his body still intact, if severely weakened.
A sharp pulse of light emanated from the Calamity Force Core with an audible crack. It expelled the invasive Blademourn energy but demonstrated tactical intelligence—it had observed that the swordmaster always drained her power before recovering. Now that she had fallen, the beast was determined to finish her.
The golden warrior couldn't attack effectively, and the other fighters were mere annoyances to be ignored.
Flicker!
Katvha!
The chains strained as the beast flicker in Sasha's blind spot, its twenty-foot spear aimed directly at her. But a seven-foot dense energy arrow waited above the beast and detonated upon its appearance, causing significant injury.
Sani Elvin stood prepared to extract Sasha from danger.
"No!" she resisted, releasing her lightning just as the spear descended upon her at point-blank range, its rotation ionizing the surrounding air.
Dicing Edge lay unconscious nearby. If Sasha were pulled away, the swordmaster would be left unprotected. She expected her lightning, coiling toward the beast, would make it flinch—it didn't. Instead, short metallic spears shot from the beast's body, conducting her lightning away from its body.
Sasha tracked her lightning's trajectory despite the beast's overwhelming speed. She felt her attack veering off course as the hot air and plague sensation pressed against her skull.
Dicing Edge, halfway to consciousness, pulsed with renewed power. Despite her drained muscles, she summoned enough strength to flash them all away.
Bomb!
The abandoned position exploded as if struck by an RPG, leaving nothing but smoking wreckage.
Where Dicing Edge had transported them, the beast waited with another twenty-foot spear already hurtling toward their new position
Buddhist Hand roared again like a lion and flashed yellow force toward them, but he was just a moment too slow. His force merely slowed the spear, and they could see what looked like a grin spreading across the beast's maw.
Sani roared in madness, trying to pull Sasha away, but she resisted. Her head heated up, steam rising in waves as another Piercing Ring Lightning carved through the air before her from her mind and snaked toward the beast with blinding speed.
The sharp lightning strike moved faster than the spear, but somehow the spear conducted it as they moved close to each other in opposite directions. The lightning continued toward the beast but lost power as it traveled, merging with the spear and it continued toward her head.