The battle started with immense intensity. Josh was the first to attack. From the palm of his open hand, blades of wind ripped through the air at the giant manticore. Despite the speed and quantity of the blades, the manticore was able to jump out of the way of the attack. Its speed was impressive, especially for its size. As the manticore landed, Josh began to focus his Essence into his sword. The first attack was meant as a distraction to give him the time to focus on a bigger attack with his sword.
Sean and Austin moved together to attack the manticore. With a wave of Sean’s hand, one of the birds soared towards the manticore. The manticore again was able to dodge the attack, but Sean followed up with another of his birds. As the manticore landed, it twisted its body to dodge out of the way of the second bird. Austin used this as his chance to attack. While the manticore was distracted by Sean’s attacks, Austin threw his silver orb of light at the manticore. The manticore was unable to move quickly enough after dodging the second bird and was hit directly by Austin’s orb. As usual, the attack did not do much damage, but now Austin had created a magnetic link with the manticore and could do some real damage.
Electricity crackled around the manticore, and Maya could tell that she would get caught in it if she got close. She needed to wait for some sort of opening to attack the beast. As she watched her team fight the manticore, she felt frustration rise inside of her. She desperately wanted to fight. She wanted to feel the adrenaline as she swung her axe and moved through her enemy’s attacks.
Sean did not let up on his attacks just because Austin hit the creature with his own. His birds weaved around the manticore and relentlessly pursued it. The beast was forced to constantly keep on the move to dodge out of the way of the attacks. Then the beast grew frustrated and let out a powerful roar. The roar echoed throughout the arena as the electricity around the manticore surged in power. The electricity enveloped the manticore in a dome-like shape. The birds rammed into the dome and were vaporized into nothing.
As the dome started to fade away, lightning bolts crashed from the sky all throughout the arena. The bolts came down at random spots, one after another, and forced the group to move. Josh even had to break his concentration on his attack to dodge out of the way of the bolts. Since they could not predict where the next bolt would land, they were forced into constant movement to avoid getting hit.
Austin dodged out of the way of several of the bolts as he ran throughout the arena. Then he saw the manticore’s silhouette grow closer to him from the corner of his eye. He quickly turned to face the manticore, and it leaped towards him. Before he could react, the manticore jumped on top of Austin and pinned him to the ground with one of his paws. The manticore’s jaws opened wide as it came down to bite Austin.
Maya saw the manticore leaping towards Austin and quickly turned in its direction. She ran as fast as she could to intercept the manticore. Everything felt like it moved in slow motion as she saw her husband caught off guard. As she charged towards the manticore, Essence flowed into her axe and back into her. She barely paid attention to the amount of Essence she put into the axe. She needed to save her husband. It did not matter if the manticore was surrounded by electricity.
The axe blade came down on the side of the manticore. As Maya sank the axe blade into the manticore, her body grew larger, and her face shifted to look like a wolf’s face. The manticore reeled backward in pain, but Maya held on with her axe. The manticore tossed around as it tried to throw Maya off. In response, Maya stabbed her other hand into the side of the manticore. The sharp claws pierced through and gave Maya another point to hold on. With a new place to hold on, Maya tore the axe blade from the manticore. Her body was thrown around in every direction as she tore the blade out, but she did not let go. Instead, she threw her body back at the manticore and brought her axe down on the manticore once more.
Austin managed to push himself off the ground and noticed that the manticore was no longer surrounded by electricity. Its electric attacks must have been created from its cloak of electricity. He then noticed blue sparks floated throughout the arena and started to draw back into the manticore as it tossed around. If Austin did not act quickly, then the manticore would be surrounded by it once more, and Maya would get hit by a powerful shock.
“Everyone! Use as many attacks as you can!” Austin yelled out to Sean and Josh. “I think it’s going to surround itself with electricity again! If that happens, then Maya will get hit with the full force!”
The pair did not hesitate to start another assault on the beast at Austin’s order. While Sean formed more of his birds from water, Josh already started his attack. He focused his Essence into large blades of wind that flew towards the Manticore. The attack did not have the speed of his smaller blades, and he had to form one at a time. Despite that, the blades were stronger and sharper. With the manticore distracted by Maya, it was the perfect attack to use. Josh continued to swing his open hand in an arc to throw blades at the beast. The attacks each landed with full force at the manticore’s side and cut deep into it. The final of his blades cut through one of its wings. As the last blade hit, Josh moved his open hand to the hilt of his sword and focused Essence through both of his arms into it.
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Quickly following up the blades of air were Sean’s birds and Austin’s metal beads. They rushed through the air at almost the speed. The birds were surrounded by a hailstorm of metal beads. Austin continued to form beads in each of his hands and threw each group of beads in a scatter shot. The beads and birds crashed into the manticore and threw it off its feet. Its large frame crashed into the ground, and Maya was forced to let go of the beast. She was barely able to move out of the way of it as it slammed into the ground next to her. Her axe was still stuck in its side as well.
Before the manticore even stood up, the sparks finished gathering into its body. The electricity only crackled around its body for a moment before it released once more. A powerful blast of blue electricity surrounded the manticore, and Maya could not react in time. She took a direct hit from the blast of electricity. Her body went flying as burns covered her. When she fell to the ground, she tried to force herself to stand, but the pain was too much.
Austin stopped his assault of beads as he saw Maya’s burnt body fly through the air. Deep anger grew inside of him and caused his Essence to flare uncontrollably. His body was covered in silver Essence that rose like a flame. In his anger, he clenched his fist, and the Essence sucked towards him and framed his body. The Essence started to take shape and create armor. As it finished taking shape, Austin’s body was covered in smooth armor that seemed to perfectly shape his frame.
Essence flowed through Austin’s armor, and he kicked off towards the manticore. His body turned into a silver blur as the kick sent him flying. This new armor of his was way more conductive than anything he had made before. If it were not for his enhanced physical state of being a Copper, Austin probably would not be able to control the immense power that ran through his armor.
The manticore stood up and turned its attention to Austin. The manticore just had enough time to see Austin coming, but not enough time to dodge out of the way. Austin’s shoulder slammed into the manticore's face and cracked the bones underneath. The manticore let out a pained howl as many of its teeth shattered.
This time, the manticore ignored the pain. Instead, its eyes grew intense and narrowed. It immediately swung one of its large paws at Austin. Austin dug his feet into the ground in anticipation of the strike. He raised one of his arms to block, and the paws slammed into it. Austin’s feet skidded across the ground as he took the force of the attack. Despite the strength behind the blow, Austin’s stance did not falter.
The manticore swung his other paw at Austin. This time, Austin did not move into a defensive posture. Instead, he sent a burst of Essence through his arm and swung his fist at the paw. The two attacks met each other with incredible strength. Neither force could prove itself stronger than the other. Austin had speed and power, while the manticore had power and overwhelming weight and size. The two were both thrown backward by the force.
Both Austin and the manticore quickly caught their footing. Austin knew that he could not draw the fight out much longer. If he did, the manticore would have its electric cloak again, and Austin would be forced to attack from a distance. So, he threw himself forward once more. The manticore did the same, and their attacks met each other with overwhelming force. Austin’s shoulder slammed once more into the face of the manticore. This time, they both were thrown backward again. As Austin was thrown backward, he realized the force of the exchange had caused his armor to start to crack.
“Watch out!” Josh yelled towards Austin.
Austin looked back to see that Josh had channeled a good deal of Essence into his sword. He could barely see Josh as wind and dirt twisted around his body. Then Josh swung his sword towards the manticore. The blade that erupted from Josh’s sword could hardly be called a blade. It was like the whole area between the manticore and Josh was distorted. The vacuum that made up Josh’s usual blade attacks surrounded the manticore and sliced at it from all directions. Wounds enveloped the manticore’s entire body. As the moment of the attack ended, the manticore’s body looked like a complete mess. It seemed to be barely holding on to life.
As the manticore tried to recover from its wounds, Austin moved to close the gap between the two. The silver light of Essence formed in Austin’s hand. The light started to take the shape of a weapon. Once Austin reached the manticore, he leaped into the air and brought the light down on the manticore. As Austin brought the light down, it broke apart to reveal an axe. Austin sank the axe deep into the manticore’s skull. The life left the manticore’s eyes as the axe sank into it. Then the rest of its body went limp. Austin quickly turned away from the beast. He did not even bother to pull his Essence-forged axe from it.
As Austin walked away from the manticore, his armor broke apart into silver motes of light. Then he immediately brought his attention to Maya. He ran towards his fallen wife. Now that the enemy was dealt with, he had to see if she was okay.
