Rise From Ashes (Rune Knights Headquarters)

Shane sat with his face in left hand, the elbow propped up on the table as he scooped scrambled eggs into his open mouth without paying much attention to it. Despite being dressed up for work in his usual combination of black long-sleeved shirt and khaki pants with black steel-soled boots, Shane’s eyes were half closed. His sitting posture was a complete mess. If not for his left arm holding his head up, his upper body would have been completely sprawled all over the dining table. He was currently in the cafeteria of the Rune Knights headquarters, allowing the Rune Knights to get a quick meal before starting their shifts or during the breaks in their shifts.

And Shane was currently trying his best to shovel his breakfast into his mouth. He wasn’t sitting alone due to how packed the cafeteria was, with one Rune Knight sitting beside him and another sitting opposite him. The two of them were whispering in hushed tones, but every once in a while, even in his half-asleep mode, Shane’s enhanced hearing would pick up some interesting details.

“…it should be around five more minutes…”

“…Zone B, Unit B-10-03…”

“…twenty… knights…”

“…assault…”

At the last word, Shane’s attention was finally piqued and slowly, he straightened himself up. This wasn’t a casual conversation he was listening to. And his instincts were telling him to question the two Rune Knights further. However, before he could do that, a third Rune Knight came over in a furtive manner and rapped his knuckles twice on their table as he walked by. Jolted from their conversation, the two Rune Knights hurriedly stood up and straightened themselves, gave Shane a look, before running off after the third Rune Knight.

Shane had met their glance, sensing something wrong. The two of them, startled by the sudden change in his expression, ran off after the Rune Knight from just now. The silver-haired mage didn’t even get to stop them, when the entire building was rocked by a violent explosion. The entire Rune Knight headquarters was engulfed in a series of explosions, and the sequence of explosions was getting louder and louder each time.

“Damn, it’s getting closer!” Shane said to himself, and then shouted, “Get out of here!” before another mighty explosion, this time targeting the cafeteria, completely engulfed Shane’s surroundings, blowing the entire cafeteria apart in a storm of flames and debris. And it was still going on.

Just before the explosion had struck, Shane had used his Revolving Heaven spell, creating a safe zone within a dome of streaming wind. Anybody who had been close to him would have been protected as well. From the inside of the dome of swirling wind, Shane watched in horror at the Rune Knights that had failed to survive the explosion. Crushed, burned, blown to bits, slashed. The very sight sickened Shane, but as he looked around, there were also some knights that had used their own defensive spells to escape the situation.

“Save whoever you can, and MOVE!” Shane shouted at the top of his voice, as he walked forward towards the outside of the headquarters. There was no longer any corridor to take, nor were there walls to block his passage forward now. Once they were outside, Shane released his spell. The first thing he noticed was a large wolf. A large wolf that was giving orders. Bizarrely, the other Rune Knights that had been outside were taking her orders, obediently taking their places behind it. His left eyebrow flexed upwards for a bit, before he ran over as well.

“Shane Stern, Rune Knight!” Shane called out as he ran up to the wolf. “I have reasons to suspect it’s a prison break. And there are Rune Knights colluding with whoever is orchestrating this!”

Katsumi paced outside the Rune Knights HQ. She could do this. There was no reason to be the 'strongest' anymore. At least not by her lonesome. The people that needed protection out here in the real world needed more than her swords. They needed a united team that could handle any threat. It made sense in her head. It all made sense in her head. So why couldn't she walk up the bloody steps and into the building? She'd been pacing here for twenty minutes, awkwardly fingering her Henkan. The Black Swords Woman took a deep breath. Time to woman up. She took a step toward the building.

And the world exploded. Katsumi was thrown backward slamming into something. Her gaze went fuzzy. Her mind might have been slightly affected as well. She thought a large wolf had just run into the building. Screaming and shouting began to bring Katsumi back to reality. Danger. Destruction. The swords woman was on her feet in an instant. Her Henkan were in her hands. The sluggish thoughts in her head slowly began to align. Someone had attacked the Rune Knights. The entrance into the building was partially collapsed. Small fires seemed to burn everywhere. Katsumi wanted to charge right in. However, the survivors were streaming from the only entrance she could see. Not wanting to hinder their progress, she ran around the side of the building.

It looked much worse from this angle. Part of the roof had collapsed. Holes dotted the walls. Fires burned not only in the building but on various chunks littering the grounds. There was only one hole that looked big enough for her to dive through. From the looks of it, it led into the remains of the cafeteria. Without knowing what awaited her, the swords woman plunged into Rune Knights HQ. Right into an altercation between what appeared to be prisoners and... a slime? The slime was holding up the ceiling while the prisoners approached.

Katsumi snapped out the Henkan III. Quickly twisting the correct lacrima, she pointed the red wand at the prisoners. She spoke rapidly to invoke one of her spells. "System Call. Generate Aerial element. Burst element." A cone of wind shot from the end of the wand. Taken by surprise, the prisoners stumbled away from the slime. Katsumi smiled at her success. She didn't quite realize their attention was now on her.

"What the-"
"Look there's another one!" Several of the orange garbed men rounded on her. Their leering smiles indicated they were underestimating her. The swords woman sighed heavily, pulling the Henkan I from her belt. "Who's first?" She said wearily. Best to get this over soon. She wanted to help the slime. He might have a limited amount of strength for all she knew. Having to fight on top of holding up the ceiling wasn't ideal either. As the prisoners continued to cautiously approach, Katsumi took charge of the situation. "All of you are a bunch of pansies."

Holding the sword form of the Henkan I in front of her face, Katsumi activated a new spell. The feeling of being wind filled her body. Slowly lowering the sword, the swords woman moved. Spectral copies of Katsumi quickly filled the area around the prisoners. They shouted in confusion, striking out at her copies. Their fists and spells simply sailed straight through. Without knowing what the spell would do, the prisoners were keeping back to back. They were smarter than they looked. For now they were handled. It was time to help out the slime. Turning toward said slime, Katsumi pointed her wand again.

"System Call. Generate Metallic Element. Form Element, Column. Discharge." She repeated the command several times as fast as she could. A light flashed at the end of her wand. From the floor around the slime, thick shining metal columns rose to take some of the weight of the ceiling. Hopefully, that would hold it. It was only then that Katsumi noticed the still forms lying around the slime. Other Rune Knights from their uniforms. She nervously chewed her lip. That could have ended badly if she'd caught them with her spells. The swords woman quickly filed away the thought to be more aware of her surroundings. A rock struck her shoulder. Not a great start to the new resolution. Katsumi turned toward the source of the projectile.

The prisoners had realized that her spell was relatively harmless. It looked as if they'd been throwing stones to find the real one. Now that they'd found her, they thought they'd won. It was cute really. They advanced through the clones, promising all sorts of lewd punishments. Katsumi made a face. She took a meek position, eyes wide, sword and wand down. "Oh please don't hurt me, big mean prisoners. I didn't mean to scare you. Please, use my body as you want. I've always had a prisoner fantasy. Such strong hands." They clearly missed her sarcasm. Their hands eagerly clutched the air. Did they really think it would be that easy.

"As if." Her sword came up, stabbing into the closest one. He howled, crumpling around the glowing blade. "I'm not some meek victim you can push around." Katsumi flowed between them. Her sword cut slices in all of them. They flailed, howling but not one came close to touching her. "Is that really the best you've got?" Katsumi asked, slapping one with the flat of her blade. "Because this is rather bor-" Something slammed into the back of her head. The swords woman went sprawling. Her weapons went flying into the distance. "That shut you up, didn't it, bitch?" Someone sneered behind her. "Now how's bout we's have ourselves some fun?" A feeling of dread began to fill Katsumi as she looked around her blurry surroundings. She'd bitten off more than she could chew this time. The consequences for that oversight might be worse than anything she'd ever imagined.

WC: 989

It was a weird experience, even when he had been in the magical world for so long, to have a wolf talking back to him. Nevertheless, there would be a later time for him to look back on this moment and find the peculiarity in the situation. In the face of the precarious situation, all of the Rune Knights had obediently rallied behind the wolf and were taking his instructions to the letter. Shane nodded with a fierce expression in his eyes, his red eye seemingly glowing in the light of the blazing building behind them.

He followed closely behind the wolf, his Sky Demon Slayer magic allowing him the speed to keep pace with the lupine leader. They were headed straight for the cafeteria, and Shane’s eyes widened, observing the bizarre scene before him. It was a completely different picture from when he had left it earlier, nearly on the verge of collapse. There was now black slime, standing and reaching tall into the ceilings to support the entire structure from collapsing. Shane’s left eye caught sight of a red-haired mage attached to the black slime. It was probably his magic.

A few steel pillars were assisting to hold the ceiling together where the slime couldn’t reach as well, rising from the ground and stabbing themselves up. Pulling his focus back, Shane could see that the escaped prisoners were causing a riot in the place, ganging up on the fallen Rune Knights, knights that hadn’t been here when he had led the escape from the cafeteria earlier.
A blast of magic shot out from the wolf woman, too fast for Shane to observe what the nature of her magic was, but more than enough to slam all the escaped prisoners into the weakening walls. Another order was called out from the wolf, to bring the downed prisoners back to their cells. Shane led the way, with two more Rune Knights behind him, as they opened the way back towards the prison cells.

Howls of glee and pleasure were being transformed into screams and shouts of pain with every step Shane’s group took towards the prison cells. A sword of ice, seemingly glittering and reflecting light, was held in Shane’s right hand as he engaged in a flurry of slashes and thrusts at the head of the group. Every strike was precise and calculated, either stabbing through their shoulders to disable their arms or slashing their inner thighs, with the occasional punch into their faces. The Rune Knights behind Shane were slowly picking them up after another, unable to keep up with the icy swordsmanship that the silver-haired mage was displaying.

It didn’t take them very long until they reached the prisons. This was one of the lower-level prisons, mainly for criminals sentenced between 10 to 30-year life sentences. The prison was below ground, built into the walls of the huge rectangular pit dug into the ground. Shane and his group of Rune Knights stood above the pit, the only thing stopping them from falling into the pit being the metal railings. Two walkway bridged the four sides of the pit, forming a cross in the middle. At each arm of the cross were staircases that led down into the pit, and there were a few Rune Knights trying to stop the prisoners from climbing up.

A few had already been fallen down, pulled over the railing by the prisoners that had managed to climb up the pillars supporting the walkways. And the Rune Knights defending the staircases were slowly losing.

“Throw those prisoners over the rails and get over to our comrades!” Shane ordered, before climbing over the railing himself and dropped himself into the pit, right in the middle of the largest crowd.

“Sky Demon Slayer’s Coiling Whirlwind!” Shane shouted, using the wind generated around his arms to spin quickly as he dropped, forming a whirlwind with himself in the center. The spell pushed away all of the prisoners around him, dropping them to the ground. Another group of prisoners saw his entrance and charged at him.

Fluidly, Shane shifted his position and created a long tachi of white ice from his right hand and held it with both hands before lunging forward, taking long strides forward while performing wide sweeping slashes. Trails of ice streaked in the air with every slash, and at the end of Shane’s final slash, all of the ice created from his slashes exploded in a shower of ice crystals. All the prisoners caught within were thrown back from the force of the explosion, wounds appearing all over their body as the ice shards pierced through flesh and tendon.

[776 words]
[1407/3500 words]

Fighting in the real world hurt. A lot. Everything inside her head throbbed terribly with every pump of her heart. She could barely focus on the men in front of her. Still even with her blurry vision, Katsumi could make out the intention of the men. She probably shouldn't have planted ideas in their heads. Or goaded them. Regardless they knew what they wanted now. The swords woman should have pulled the Henkan II from her belt. She should have swung out with a foot or used her previous spell provided her. Yet she didn't do any of these things. Katsumi was frozen. Her mind was pushing back to LAO. A red pattern flashed in her HUD. Her Hp was rapidly dropping. The symbol for confusion and paralyze were blinking next to her health bar. She was helpless. These mobs had simply been too much for her. She was going to die here without ever clearing the game.

Then the wolf appeared with backup. The wolf did something to the thugs and then suddenly she wasn't a wolf. Instead there was a blonde goddess standing before her. The woman was extending a hand while holding her weapons. Katsumi only accepted the hand extended to her to see if the goddess was real. With a jolt, the swords woman was back on her feet. She graciously accepted the weapons with a bow. "T-thank you, miss." Katsumi managed to stammer. Her fingers fumbled with the lacrima on her sword's hilt. Perhaps it would be better if she stayed away from the front lines for the time being.

The approach of the redhead threw Katsumi more off balance. She fumbled with the Henkan I. It almost fell on the floor when Katsumi tried to hook it into her belt. "The outside is c-calm, s-sir. Or it w-was w-when I came in." Katsumi reported to the man. His expression didn't make her feel very good. It hadn't looked good outside but it hadn't been terrible. The explosion had ripped through the building from the inside. Or perhaps she'd missed something. Watching the Rune Knights march away, Katsumi frowned. Was the building in good enough shape for the prisoners to be returned to their cells? Shouldn't they be moving everybody out of the building?

The swordswoman raised her wand. She wanted to help out as best she could. Given the black slime still upon the ceiling, the pillars weren't enough. How to help though? She could combine the various elements, creating a mixture like cement. However, that would only hold so long. Eventually the pressure from the building would cause the magic to crumble. Katsumi looked at the red haired man. The blonde woman had already charged away while Katsumi was thinking. "Is there anything I can do to help? I can create something to help hold up the building or see if I can find any other survivors or move these survivors outside. I'm not sure how stable the building is." And she was babbling. Fantastic. With her youthful appearance, she probably looked like a child. She could go for a cookie though. Cookies were good. Especially chocolate chip ones.

Howling and a few gunshots brought Katsumi's attention to the hole in the wall. It was easy to see the horde of red robed mages coming down the way. Katsumi glanced at the redhead. "Can you fight while holding up the ceiling?" She asked ducking as a fireball went off above her head. Only dust showered down giving the impression that the blast hadn't been too strong. Good. Good. She could handle these guys then. Probably. They were waving a large assortment of weapons as they climbed the rubble outside. The swordswoman swallowed several times trying to tamp down on the fear inside her. She'd fought worse. She'd been in worse situations.

Katsumi locked eyes with the first man to scramble through the hole. He was wearing a black necklace ornament that was either a fang or a claw. It looked like all of them had it as more poured through the hole. A select few also looked like they had multiple ornaments. That was usually significant in games and Katsumi had no reason to believe otherwise here. Those with more fang/claw things were stronger than the other rabble. "System Call. Generate Cryogenic Element. Form element, bird shape. Burst." Five light blue lights formed at the tips of her fingers. With the burst command, the lights shot forward. Each became a tiny bird before they slammed into the first wave of red robes. A few stumbled and fell but not enough to stop the horde. Katsumi started backing up quickly.

"Do you know who these guys are?" Katsumi shouted at the redhead. It looked like she might have to use her swords. They were getting too close and she couldn't fire off spells rapidly. "System Call. Generate Aerial Element. Burst" She said a cone of wind pushing from her wand. It scattered a few of the charging mages but it only made the rest pause for a moment at most. Luckily that was all that was required. The wand was shoved into the belt and twin swords popped into existence in Katsumi's hands. She was glad Elizabeth had installed the quick start button on the Henkan. It might have been ugly otherwise.

Katsumi pulled back her left hand. Even holding the sword, it was good enough to activate the spell. Her hand began to glow yellow. Katsumi picked out her target. The spell launched her forward even as she struck out, adding speed to her strike. The man doubled over. A quick bat of the sword hilt made him tumble into unconsciousness. There was no time to see if the redhead was helping. Nor was there time to see if she'd gotten in his way by accident. Katsumi's twin swords began to weave through the air. It was a beautiful, deadly dance keeping the enemy mages at bay. Katsumi was hindered by her desire not to kill any of them. After her recent summoning and subsequent punishment by the MC, the swordswoman had no desire to be handed yet another punishment for killing. For now, she would use her dance only in defense until she could figure out a good way to non-lethally deal with these mages.

WC: 1054
Total: 2,043
@DOPPO @Onida @Shane Stern

The Rune Knights that had followed Shane into the first prison zone looked around their surroundings with a grim look on their face. They knew very well where their boundaries as Rune Knights lie, even when dealing with heinous criminals. And yet, in order to restore order to the chaos of the ensuing attacks, which from the repeated sounds of explosions and yelling told him it had yet to cease, Shane and the Rune Knights had been forced to resort to extreme force to completely down the escaped convicts.

All around them were the fallen bodies of the escaped prisoners. During the entire ordeal, where he had only ten Rune Knights joining him in the prison pit, he had flitted around the battlefield, taking the prisoners with ease. They had been careful with their attacks. Heavy enough to force them down but not enough to take their lives. Except for a few that had proved to be extremely stubborn and destructive. He had been the one who had carried out the finishing blows for those, not wanting his comrades in arms to be burdened on their conscience.

A few more Rune Knights were at the top of the cross-like pathway that connected the four sides of the pit, doing their best to prevent the convicts from escaping through the stairs.

“Good job guys,” Shane said with a nod, Breaker in sword form in his right hand while a sword of white ice was held in his left. The silver-haired mage was just about to issue his next set of instructions for them to clear up the place when he felt a wave of intense heat behind him. He turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of fire from the corner of his eyes aiming straight at him. But he was too late. The fireball caught him in the chest the moment he fully turned around, completely engulfing as Shane was thrown backwards into his men and past them, rolling on the ground until the fire died out.

Groaning, Shane pulled himself back up on his knees, when another fireball came flying at him.
“Vacuum Palm!” the silver-haired mage growled as he thrust his right palm forward, throwing forward a focused blast of wind, cancelling out the fireball as they met in mid-air. He was now standing straight, his black shirt a burnt mess that Shane grabbed by the collar and tore off his body with a single pull.

“Lump all of the prisoners into the prison cell. Fill one cell up to the brim before filling up the next and lock them up with whatever method you can think of,” Shane instructed his men while his eyes were locked on the new opponent before him. Two more men walked up from behind him. It was easy to see from their outfits that they weren’t the prisoners kept here. “You guys must be the ones behind this assault then. Expect no mercy.”

Shane hadn’t even finished speaking when he lunged at the one who had attacked him. The fire mage stood still with his two arms raised forward, two circles of flames appearing around his wrist as he then opened up his palm, directing two streams of purple flames in Shane’s direction. The silver-haired mage had already expected something like this with his straightforward attack, swinging his left hand to the side to create three wind spheres. Manifesting in the blink of an eye, two spheres quickly shot in front of Shane and defended against the twin flames.

Shane bent low to the ground and slid to a halt as he came within striking range, leading with an uppercut right at the jaw. The flame mage was instantly carried off his feet into the air before crashing back down on one knee. The other two mages had already scattered when the fire mage fired off his twin flames, watching from the sides and waiting for their opportunity. The moment the fire mage was on the ground, Shane kneed him hard in the face. The flame mage’s head swung backwards from the force, a small spray of blood exiting his nose and mouth.

Shane was about to continue attacking when he was attacked from the right by a lightning bolt in the form of a thrown axe. Kicking off the ground and leaping backwards, the Rune Knight barely avoided being shocked by the projectile lightning spell. It had struck the ground instead, leaving a black scorch mark where it landed. The moment he touched the ground, five gigantic hounds made entirely of ice appeared around Shane for a split second before dashing off. Two each for the other two mages, while a single ice hound charged forward at the fire mage.

He had managed to pull himself up, wiping his bloody nose with his sleeve but was a little too slow in his reaction. The ice hound plowed into him without slowing down, throwing him off his feet. When the ice hound had dashed forth, Shane had followed closely behind. When the flame mage was thrown into the air, ice quickly creating a crust over his entire body and keeping him immobile, the Rune Knight had taken out Breaker from its sheath and extended it into its spear form. As soon as the mage was about to crash back into the ground, Shane had charged forward with his spear held horizontally, pointed to the front with his left wrist supporting the shaft to keep its aim true, a golden glow surrounding his entire body, and performed a mighty thrust forward into the fire mage.

The spear pierced through the fire mage with ease, the momentum of the blow throwing him away from his original landing spot and straight into the wall behind him with a loud crash. Bleeding and disoriented while still under the effects of being tackled by the White Hound spell, the fire mage was unable to even right himself up. Shane retracted Breaker into its sword form and turned around, just in time to watch the other mages being tackled by the ice hounds. They had each managed to destroy one of the two chasing them, but the result was still the same. He would deal with the fallen one first, as he turned back around to the fire mage.

[1051 words]
[Total WC: 2458 / 3500]

[698 words]
[Total WC: 3156 / 3500]

Don't kill them? Well Duh! Geez, some people. It wasn't like her intelligence score modifier was in the negatives. Except when cookies were involved. Because who didn't get dumb over good cookies. Katsumi wrinkled her nose at the redhead. She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue. Insolence was not a good way to integrate herself into the Rune Knights. She'd have to work beside these guys for a few years hopefully. The black haired beauty turned back to her opponents. They weren't overly strong DPS wise but there were many of them. Her speed defense was being sorely taxed. How to attack without killing one? Her DPS and critical affirmation were, like, super high.  One wrong strike would bring on bleeding damage along with a critical. Instant KO.

Wind arrows flew into the horde. Hell yeah, reinforcements! Strong ones too hopefully. Katsumi risked a glance over her shoulder. Handsome, rugged, blonde guy. She could dig it if his game skills were on par with his looks. She totally couldn't date someone who wasn't at least a mid-level fighter in two different games. A girl had her standards. An excellent cookie chef might be forgiven such a transgression though. Mr. Rugged soldier guy was helping the fallen by the looks of it. That was good. He was like a paladin/cleric then. A background healer type. That was fine by Katsumi. No need to jam up her style.

Enough of this High Defense fighting style. Katsumi's swords snaked out to nick her opponents. Her arms moved faster and faster. Her swords flashed. Anyone that could see her face saw an intense mask of concentration. Katsumi soon stood among fallen bodies. Her enemies weren't defeated. Merely incapacitated for the moment. There was a lull in the horde for a moment. The red cloaks couldn't believe this petite girl had mad DPS. The swordswoman took the opportunity presented. "Eat this!" She shouted over her shoulder, flipping the bird at the enemies. Probably not the best Taunt she'd ever done but whatever. It drew at least some aggro.

Katsumi flicked her Henkan. The setting flipped to the wand. Ice blue magic runes began to circle the tip as she accessed its magic. This was the perfect spell for hitting multiple opponents. "System Call. Generate Cryogenic Element. Form Element, whip shape. Invoke Frost Scale Whip. Enhance Armament." A twist planted the petite woman facing her opponents again. A fierce scowl covered her features. Several ice segments spiraled from the end of her wand. At least that's what it appeared to be. Flicking her wrist sent the segments careening smoothly into the red cloaks. Those that had been charging after her--obviously because of her Taunt and no other reason-- took the brunt of the attack. Those struck found their bodies slowing down. Frost coated the affected area, rapidly spreading. Katsumi grinned happily.

"Haha! See that! I did it!" She clapped or attempted to. Her weapons clanged together awkwardly. "Oops..." A blast of magic nearly took off her face. Head in the game Kat.  This was a battlefield. Time to assess. There were still wounded Rune Knights. Red cloaks were pouring through the gap in the wall. One of two functional Rune Knights was tied up holding the ceiling up. The other was evacuating people. Katsumi had just tied up her magic. One of them anyways. So no tanks, one partial healer, one DPS and whatever the last guy was against the horde. They had this. They totally had this. A roar cut through that happy thought. Katsumi reevaluated. They probably had this.

Entering through the hole was a massive giant of a knight. The knight's armor was pure red. A titanic sword hung from one hand. Katsumi scowled at the show of strength. Her Strength score was too low to even touch that thing with two hands. Damn min-max-ers. There was no way she could take that on with her current level. That was a red skull boss. She might do a tiny sliver of damage but that was it. Out of the corner of her eye, Katsumi caught sight of Mr. rugged soldier guy. He probably had the levels needed. Yet that one was focused on a rescue operation.

Katsumi scampered over to the man. She closed the Henkan I to hook it on her belt. If she was rescuing people, she'd need one free hand. "Switch!" She called out slapping the man on the shoulder. The petite woman stole the most current rescuee from the man. "I... ugh... I got him. Go take care of the big guy!" Katsumi grunted as she lugged the man toward the hallway. It was the best option given the cafeteria was ruined and the way outside was blocked. "You can do it, big guy! I'll give you a cookie later!" Katsumi yelled after depositing the Rune Knight. She was running back in to grab another of the fallen. Her whip was used to fend off any weaklings that might try to stop her.

WC: 837
TWC: 2,880

As he exited the corridor after pulling in another wounded soldier from the battle, Shane was pleasantly surprised to find the female swordsman casting a spell resembling a whip. The elemental effects of the weapon became apparent when the hit targets began to have frost covering their body and their immediate surroundings. Watching the ice spread, putting out some of the fires with sheer magical power, Shane rolled his eyes as he realized that he could have done the same thing from the beginning.

However, before he could act on the new idea, a roar that was recognizably human but bordering on insanity ripped through the air, quelling all of the other battle cries. Eyes directly shifted to the source of the roar, only for Shane to see a gigantic man clad in red armor step through the hole, crushing rubble beneath his feet with each step. An equally large sword that was almost as long as the knight was tall, was held in one hand. Shane had no doubt that a single slash from the weapon would be enough to split his body entirely in two.

The swordswoman ran over to Shane, and with a quick slap to his shoulder and a shout of “Switch!”, the girl began to resume whatever Shane had been doing earlier, keeping the wounded soldiers out of the fight while shouting out words of encouragement. And in the midst of it all, Shane let out a loud laugh as he fully turned his body around towards the giant knight.

“Alright, you got it, kid!” the silver-haired Rune Knight shouted back. “But before that… Freezing World!” A whirlwind of icy shards began to circle around him, blowing his hair all over the place, and the moment Shane slammed both palms into the ground, the shards of ice flew outwards in a ring, ice forming where the shards flew. It took less than five seconds for the entire cafeteria which had once been burning to be completely covered in shimmering ice. Regretfully, Shane’s magic had failed to work on the black slimy goo kept in place by the redhead, still requiring him to hold up the ceiling.

But the giant red knight was unperturbed. As if this was all normal, the monster of a man bellowed again and did a horizontal swing with one hand. Shane took a step back, just barely clearing the range of the slash where he could feel the wind from the passing blade on his neck. Transitioning from the back step into a crouch, Shane found an opening immediately as he lunged forward, sharp blades of cutting wind forming around his hands, fingers bending slightly to imitate claws. He attacked without hesitation, bringing both arms to the front and letting the wind blades around his hands fly forward into the armoured chest.

The only result Shane got was multiple plink plink plinks as the bladed wind merely scratched the armor, runes glowing lightly as it was hit. By then, the giant knight had long already hold the large blade above his head and without waiting, smashed the weapon downwards. Shane had rolled to the side a little bit, and could feel the rumble in the ground as the weapon smashed through the ice and the ground. Shane’s eyes moved in a few directions consecutively, mainly at the corners of the ceiling, clicking his tongue when he saw a mixture of stone and ice shards falling down. The building was not going to stay up any longer if he allowed the large knight to swing that sword around wantonly.

As the large knight prepared to throw out another swing, this time holding his sword with both hands, Shane worked quickly to conjure up an equally large broadsword entirely of ice. The diagonal slash downwards from the red knight, blade bursting into flames as it sliced downwards was forcibly halted in mid-swing as the Rune Knight swung his equally large broadsword in an arc mirroring the red knight’s except that Shane’s was upwards.
A massive hollow clang resounded throughout the entire room, cracks appearing along Shane’s ice weapon before finally crumbling, leaving nothing but a hilt in his hand. Meanwhile, the large sword held by the red knight was still intact but not in a good condition. A large triangular piece of the weapon’s edge had been broken away at the point of impact, damaging its structural integrity.

It was a small win, but not enough to stop the pace of the fight. As the red knight was reeling from the exchange of strength, Shane ducked low and once more aimed for the knight’s chest. His right arm was pulled back, fist raised as layers after layers of ice grew over it at a quick rate, until his entire arm was encased in a gigantic gauntlet of ice. It was as if Shane was borrowing a giant’s fist as he slammed it forward. The runes on the large knight’s armor glowed blindingly, no doubt working at maximum capacity to diffuse the blow, but Shane was allowing it to. While his right fist was still pressed into the red knight struggling to absorb the blow, Shane pulled back his left arm and thrust it forward, wind gathering around his palm as he struck, dealing another blow to the armor with his Sky Demon Slayer powers.

And it made all the difference. The final wind element attack had been the armor’s breaking point, as the runes burned out and the armour cracked, for the giant knight to finally take the withheld impact of the blow, sending him flying back out of the hole had entered from. He barrelled over a few of the weaker troublemakers, crushing them beneath his weight. Shane inhaled and exhaled rapidly, as the adrenaline pumped in his blood, panting with each breath. He turned around to look at the female swordsmen with a thumbs up and a grin, “Mission complete!”

[989 words]
[Total WC: 4489 / 3500]

Katsumi had to use her whip a few times. These red robed freaks simply didn't operate on game turns. "You're supposed to leave the fallen and go after the boss!" She screamed at one of them. The woman had attempted to attack a fallen Rune Knight. Several lengths of whip barely stopped her from killing the man. Ice raced over her limbs. Katsumi came flying in with a double kick to finish the job. "You're gonna be... alright?" The chest of the Rune Knight wasn't moving. A black feeling curled inside Katsumi's chest. Two fingers let her know the man's pulse had stopped entirely. "Damn it."

The gray-haired Knight's victory and thumbs up helped raise her spirits. She shot him a double thumbs up. "Everyone is in the hallway, sir. Those left are fighting or... or gone." The petite swordswoman choked on her last words. She hated that she'd been too slow. Too weak. Again! These people would have been her comrades in arms. Friends. Family. Now they were gone. The battle wasn't over yet. The defeat of their champion had stunned the red robes, not incapacitated their ability to fight. A brief reprieve was all the gray-haired knight had earned them.

Two more intimidating figures stepped through the hole. The first was a hulking figure who wore little in the way of armor. He held an ax in either hand, one already dripping blood. Katsumi could feel the magic pouring off those weapons. She shivered, her gamer sense tingling. One of those had a health-damaging enchantment. Either it would halt HP regen or cause a bleeding effect. The other figure was lithe, feminine. She was clad in deep red leather armor. A bow was held in her hand. The hilt of a sword poked over her shoulder. They were accompanied by various mages. Some were clad in red leather rather than robes. Others carried wands over bladed weapons. "For Crimson Faaaaaaaang!" The hulking man screamed. A red aura descended over all the red-robed figures. Katsumi cursed under her breath. That was a buffing spell. No doubt about it. Side note: Crimson Fang must be the name of this group. Good to know.

"You've got the big guy!" Katsumi shouted at the other Knight. She hoped her Charisma check would pass. There was a possibility her Strength and Dexterity might allow her to face that guy head on. Katsumi wasn't one to play with her life though. Not when she didn't have to. Better to leave that man to the male Rune Knight. The two women could get into a catfight. Men liked those, right? The swordswoman ran forward into the fight.

A spray of blood caught Katsumi's cheek. The archer had planted an arrow in a Rune Knight's neck. Katsumi was torn. She could heal the Knight. Others could be brought down while she did so though. The archer was targeting weaknesses in the Rune Knight line. If too many fell, the Crimson Fang would surge forward. They'd be able to attack the wounded in the hallway. Katsumi dismissed her whip. The grunts of Crimson Fang were closing in quickly. She'd have to hold the line. There was one clear shot. It needed to be a Critical Hit.

"System Call. Generate Thermal Element. Form Element, bow shape. Invoke Conflagrant Flame Bow. Release Recollection! Eat this, bitch!" A massive bow of flames formed in Katsumi's hands. Pulling back on the string created an arrow. Right before the Crimson Fang converged on her, the swordswoman released the shot. The flaming arrow became a great bird, racing across the distance. Katsumi couldn't see if she hit or not. There were too many red robes around her.

A sword carved into her side. A fist hit her cheek, her head snapping sideways. She could feel her HP rapidly draining. Raising her sword, Katsumi slipped into a battle trance. The world fell away. There were only her opponents and her sword. Nothing else. The small woman almost closed her eyes in the peace of it all. Moving simply happened. Katsumi rode the song of battle. Slice, stab, reverse, parry, slice. The sounds of battle were her notes, the movement of her feet to an invisible rhythm. In the midst of battle, to the cries of war, Katsumi danced.

WC: 714
TWC: 3,594/3500

“You did your best,” Shane replied as the girl gave him a situation report. The entire cafeteria had finally been cleared of all their own men, save for the redhead still holding up the building. If he could, he would have wanted to drag the redhead away, letting the cafeteria collapse and bring the pests that called themselves Crimson Fang down with it. But it wasn’t meant to happen that way. He was a Rune Knight after all, and that wasn’t the way to do things. With a low sigh, barely audible, the Rune Knight turned back to face the members of the dark guild still pouring in.

They were relentless, failing to see the plight of their revolt and the eventual failure of it. For all of its flaws, the Rune Knight was still a military organization and to hell if they would be overtaken by such a minor dark guild. Turning slightly to look at his unconscious colleagues, leaning and lining the walls to the hallway, Shane could feel his blood boil. This entire thing had to be ended soon, but Shane was beginning to wonder if he had the ability to see it through the end.

His attention was pulled back to the group of Crimson Fang members, having been stunned and silenced when he had defeated the large knight that had served as their champion of sorts, but were now hollering and screaming at full power again. Pushing their way through the throng of Crimson Fang lower members, two figures made their way forward. It was another hulking giant, but instead of being fully armored, this one looked like a barbarian warrior.

He was only clad on his lower half, bulky armored greaves, visible through the red tattered cloth that he wore around his waist, its length well beneath his knees. His upper body was completely bare save for the helm he wore on his head. Shane could barely see anything in the T-shaped hole on the front of the helm, unable to make out any features but he could hear the repeated heavy breathing and the steam that was being emitted with every breath. For a big guy, he held rather small axes but he had one in each hand, blood dripping from both. Shane’s eyes narrowed, knowing very well who the blood belonged to.

The other one was only noticeable because she was the only female among the invaders, her lithe physique covered over by thick leather armor. The color of the leather armor, a deep red, left Shane unsure if it was dyed that way or it was from the blood of her enemies. Of his colleagues. She was equipped with a bow, a weapon Shane believed she was very well acquainted with, in addition to the sword she wore behind her back.

And then the barbarian screamed at his loudest. A shade of red energy seemed to descend from the air around the Crimson Fang members, and Shane could see the life in their eyes perk up. The young girl from earlier was prepared to jump into the fray again, and with a quick remark to Shane, going for the markswoman. That means the barbarian was his to deal with.

“I’m really not equipped for this,” Shane groaned as he stood forward to face off against the big guy. A single axe flew his way almost immediately, spinning blade over shaft as it cut through the air with a loud whooshing noise. Reacting in equal measure, Shane threw himself to the side, letting the flying weapon shoot past him. The blade of the axe cut into the stone walls of the cafeteria, lodging itself up to the middle of the blade. The Rune Knight quickly shifted his eyes back to the barbarian, just in time to evade again, ducking low to the ground as the Crimson Fang warrior slashed horizontally through the air. Shane could feel the pressure from the swipe above his head.

Shane stood back up as the weapon flashed past his head, grabbing the opening as the barbarian overextended himself. Twin blades of ice emerged in Shane’s grasp, a pair of tanto, and quickly Shane slashed thrice across the warrior’s bare chest, before kicking the barbarian away. But with the man’s size and weight being twice of Shane’s, the Rune Knight was barely to move him back a few feet while he flipped himself into the air from the kick, dropping down in a crouch. With a little distance between them, Shane could assess the damage he had inflicted on the barbarian and was relieved that the three slash wounds were actually deep enough to keep blood trickling. But the warrior, incensed by the fervor combat and more likely the buff he had placed on himself and his allies, ignored the pain and charged at Shane.

The silver-haired mage sidestepped out of the way, but was thrown off his feet as the giant charged by him, knocking him with his left arm. Shane recovered quickly, just in time to see the barbarian reach his stuck axe and pulled it out from the wall. Dust and debris flew out of the gap in the wall when the axe was withdrawn. Shane threw himself forward before the barbarian could turn around in time, his entire body enveloped in a layer of wind, lunged at the barbarian and struck him with a raised knee right in the middle of his back. And he got what he aimed for.

A resounding crack, as multiple vertebrae in the man’s spinal column broke, paused all of the sounds for a moment, before it was followed by a loud thump to the ground. Shane let out breath in exhaustion, bending down to grab one of the bloodied axe from the fallen barbarian, his eyes still wide open in shock. Shane could see that he was trying to will his body to move, but it no longer listened to him unless he could get his spine fixed.

“Come on, you degenerates. I can do this all day!” Shane roared as he leapt forward from where he stood, pouncing at the nearest one, bringing the borrowed axe down in a downwards slash. The Crimson Fang member, unable to react in time, dropped to the ground as a gout of blood erupted from his severed shoulder, screaming in agony.

[1061 words]
[Total WC: 5,550 / 3500]