The thorns didn't just pierce him… they shredded through his Iron Defense, his once-impenetrable twenty thousand layers crumbled like wet parchment against their force. A deep, guttural gasp escaped his lips as the spikes drove through muscle and bone, embedding themselves into him like merciless fangs. The impact stole the ground from beneath his feet, his body momentarily suspended in the air before crashing down like a fallen titan. His body, barely able to even breathe, was on the ground trying to catch his breath, or at least what he could with his extensive injuries. The beast just towered above him, looking like it would do something should he move an inch to attack.
Ivy witnessed this and was dumbfounded. She began wondering why he had to suffer just so Peril could get her, why did they want her?? Why was one person in the way of two noble commanders of the king?? Why?? Why?? Why?? Wh… "Look out!!" Lore's voice took over the one in her head, she saw three of those kareki heading straight to her, sent by Peril herself. Lore was busy with the other two out of the five. Her eyes were set on Peril, on the cause of this, she was sure that if she left, if Peril was taken down, it would be better for everyone in Zephro. Ivy decided to use up the rest of her stamina for her ultimate move, granted, it would force her to pass out after everything they've been fighting and going through for the past hour and a half, but she thought of everything he could. There was no way out except to end Perilius as a threat once and for all. Ivy lunged in the air, spinning both her swords as fast as she could in front of her, in the direction of Perilius. The swords rotated anticlockwise, forcing things loose in the ground to arise at her will, grass loosened from the destruction of Trogan's thrashing, his very own freshly spilled blood, dust and tiny earth fragments. Peril watched as what looked like a small hill of sand was forming in front of her.
"Ivy doesn't wield a sand drift." She muttered under her breath.
Ivy herself was edging at her exhaustion, powering through all she could collect with her power. 'This should be enough, any more and I won't manage to launch it.' She thought. Her attack was ready. She chanted.
"落ちる翡翠 (Ochiru Hisui) — Fallen Jade!!"
The sand-like hill formed a massive circle around her, a circle that began spinning with her swords moving fast on the edges like the defense and offense attack it was. Lore was as surprised as they all were, but the fall of Trogan was more important than what was going to happen next, she rushed to his side, unaware why the thorned beast stopped moving. As she held his had on her lap, she glanced up and saw the cheetah… it had jumped within range of Ivy's attack, giving Lore the key to how those two monsters worked, however, just then, every single person in that space, in the night forest, rather, in the entire Northeastern side of the kingdom of Zephro heard a loud crash of thunder coming from the Palace.
Aware but unfazed, Peril was still trying to figure out what her ability was, in the air, the cheetah's senses forced it to delay its attack due to an overload on it ears. It fell back down, irritated to try regaining its balance. Peril clicked her tongue as she saw the cheetah fall right below Ivy's circle, next to it, the trees began falling, the dust grew more, the flowers spread out were dying. 'So that's what her drift is.' She realized with a grin on her face. She decided to do something about it when she began sprinting toward the bottom of the circle.
"MY DRIFT IS FACSIMILE!!" In her excitement, she claimed out loud. "YOU CAN'T BEAT ME WHEN YOUR OWN DRIFT IS USED AGAINST YOU!!" These words shocked everyone around, especially Ivy. At her current strength, if a similar power was used against her, she wouldn't have been able to fight back, or overpower it. She decided to concentrate it in order to keep the damage minimal, everything she collected on one focused attack. Her swords stopped spinning counter clockwise but remained floating, the massive circle turned into a sharp pyramid that she forced upside down, right above a running Perilius. Her swords were right above the pyramid when she chanted the words to her next move, the one sure to put her to sleep.
"金字塔埋葬 (Kinjitō Maisō) — Pyramid Burial!!"
Her swords began rotating clockwise, forcing everything she had on the attack. Peril saw this and unsheathed the Seventh Star Cross, she readied a stance as she watched the pyramid drop on her. She made a swift movement with it after aligning it with the tip of the building. She jumped, wielding the sword and slicing seamlessly through the almost but not perfectly constructed attack. All the way to the top, she hit her swords as well, deflecting them out of their position in the air, Ivy held one last look on her face, the pure surprise at how strong Peril was before she was taken by her green tunic and flung to the ground.
"IVY!!" Lore shouted as she watched her hit the earth. Her body shook upon seeing this. Peril landed next to a now fully unconscious Ivy. Her eyes were closed, her swords landed blade first on the ground next to her and Peril. Lore's heartbeat rose, more than it already had. Unsure of what to do, she picked up her lance and headed for her subordinate. She couldn't think, she couldn't do much but feel everything up until this point. Her knights, most killed at the entrance of the Night Forest, Trogan, her equal noble commander and a very good friend to her was beaten through his iron defense drift to the point he was on death's opened door. She was near her breaking point. However, Perilius was beginning to get impatient, she used the debris from Ivy's attack to create a spherical shield around them and then decided to rid herself of her playfulness and finish the job her master sent her. "You shouldn't have left your friend…. did you forget the monsters lurking in the dark??" She sneered with the most sinister voice anyone ever heard that night. Lore looked back, driven to do so by Peril's words. She wished, from that moment, that she didn't witness what she did. She had noticed that there were conditions on how both of them moved, but she was too emotionally and mentally burdened to use her gifted brilliance.
The thorned kareki had began moving again. Cracks and sounds of broken wood were all she heard before it made its move. It raised its massive boulder of a fist, this time, it didn't wait for provocation, it just acted. The fist landed on Trogan, again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Powerless, Lore fell to her knees, dropping her lance and holding her mouth with her hands. She could not believe what she was seeing. Just then…. another loud crash of thunder was heard, but this time, it was closer. Way closer, the clouds above them began sparking blue, lightning crackled in large and very loud amounts. Peril looked up and she let out a malicious smile. 'Its about time.' She thought. The thorned monster who's fist was splattered with blood stopped hitting… well, at this point… killing Trogan, as if aware of what was happening. Suddenly, Trogan's body was gone. A large stream of lightning then shot right in front of Lore, she witnessed a royal blue coat with the signature silver embroidery and lightning motifs of the king's outfit. "I'm sorry…" The calm bass with the kindest and most charismatic feel she knew, came from one person speaking as he held her head on his chest.
"I'm very sorry we're late Lore. Please forgive me." The king of Zephro spoke as he moved her behind a couple trees where he had already taken Trogan's body and covered it in his robe. He stood, turning around before heading back to the site.
"Those things…" Lore began, silently weeping. Zed turned his head to hear what she had to say. Given her destroyed emotional state, Lore was still the best strategist after Naja, and Zed held his pride high in that quality. "Both… both of them are too powerful for her to control fully, she can only use one at a time."
He left her weeping quietly as he returned immediately to stand next to the person who seemed pissed the most out of them all. Two ebony black katana that barely reflected the light shining from the moon on the open space were wielded on both hands. The katana on her right hand gripped so tight it began slightly fluctuating, it pointed at the shield Perilius had made. She glimpsed at Ivy's unconscious reflection from one of her Wakizashi swords that were stuck on the ground next to Perilius' boots.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??!!" Alloy Demanded. Her face twisted in an anger she had never felt before.