Word Of Law Tribe - Wren's Encounter!

It was an unexpectedly powerful punch, one that he had severely underestimated and regretted as he flew and crashed right through the walls of a house, before righting himself in mid-air with a flip and landing on his feet again. The momentum of the punch hadn’t been fully dissipated though, with Shane’s feet drawing two wide lines in the solid earth. His eyes widened with surprise as he took note of the meter long cuts in the dirt. His opponent was strong, apt for a creature made entirely out of rocks and dirt. Thankfully, it was one of a kind, although that didn’t really help the situation much.

All around him, elemental monsters were wreaking havoc. Flames had taken on feline form as they weaved through the village, slashing and slicing with their razor-sharp claws with agility. Creatures of wind took the form of birds, swooping in and out of the air as they divebombed the innocent villagers fighting for their lives. Snakes formed out of vines, with wide gaping mouths of sharp teeth were terrorizing the village as they slithered here and there, ensnaring careless villagers with their thorny vines.

Shane wanted to help but there was too many that required his help, and he could only do what was the best. Minimize the damage. At the moment, the earth golem was the biggest threat of them all. Anyone who had dared to step in front of the golem had been mercilessly slapped away by the rocks that formed its arms while some had been stomped into the ground. At the very least, the villagers still had a fighting chance against the other elemental creatures. They were a hunting tribe, and combined with the little magic that they knew, they had managed to play down the threat slightly. But it was just delaying their impending doom.

Materializing his trusty shield in his right hand instead of his left, Shane ran at the golem and threw the shield. The shield sliced through the air, devoid of any wind resistance and struck the golem squarely in the chest before bouncing into the air. Thrown with all of his strength, the shield had thrown the golem off balance when it hit it in the chest, cracking the rocks and dirt that formed its body. Shane leapt into the air, his right hand outstretched to catch the shield out of the air with nary a drop in his rhythm and strapped it to his left arm.

The jump had brought him right in front of the golem as it took one step back to balance itself. This gave Shane the opening he needed, reeling his right arm back. An almost transparent pulse of energy rippled outwards from his right arm as Shane solidified his stance and threw a punch right into the creature’s chest. The impact from the punch created a gust of wind as it landed, pushing the golem further off balance and requiring it to step backward. But that wasn’t the end of Shane’s attacks. The moment his fist had landed, Shane began chaining it into a combo, following it up with a left hook, smashing the edge of his shield into the same spot again.

What came after the left hook was an elbow strike from the right, still hitting the same spot on the golem’s chest as the cracks continued to lengthen, the web of cracks betting wider and wider. The fourth and final strike that it took to bring down the golem, entirely smashing its chest into pieces, was a jumping roundhouse kick that sent the golem flying backwards as it broke into a pile of rocks. As the rocks crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust from the ground, Shane was already charging back into the village. His sights were set on the two flaming felines, preparing to pounce on the two hunters, a male and female, as they protected a few whimpering children that had their backs pressed against the wall of a hut. The two of them were among the many other hunters and others that were capable of fighting back against the threats, and like the others, they bore terrible scars from the battle at hand.

To the right side of them was another male hunter, slightly on the bigger side, holding a huge broadsword imbued with magic as he contended against a fire and plant elemental while a slimmer man stood behind him, armed with a bow as he repeatedly repelled the wind elementals that were trying to dive down on them. Within close vicinity, everyone that was capable was fighting for their lives.

Sprinting forth, Shane’s figure suddenly disappeared in mid-stride and the next second he had reappeared right behind the two fire elementals. His shield was raised high into the air, glowing with a warm, yellow light before he dropped to the ground on one knee, slamming the edge of the shield into the ground, releasing a wave of yellow light that originated with him as the centre, flooding outwards in an ever-growing circle. The light damaged those that Shane had designated as enemies, while the villagers were spared, leaving them unharmed as the light just washed over them.

Shane ignored the few thanks that had been mumbled in his direction and hastily moved forward in search of more of those elementals. The man leapt onto the roof of one of the huts, feeling the wood give slightly under his weight, and scanned the rest of the village. There were a few more of the monsters left. A surge of energy gurgled into existence from within him and covered his entire body, and in the next second the shield bearer zipped out of existence from the top of the roof.

With the extreme speed that only using Plus Ultra at max capacity could pull off, Shane seemingly appeared at multiple locations at the same time, punching or kicking the enemies that he had appeared beside or behind, one-shotting them without restraint. The myriad duplicates of himself that had appeared around the village were afterimages, and in actual, he had just moved around fast enough to leave those afterimages behind, and when they blurred out of thin air, Shane was once more standing atop the roof of another village, looking out around the whole village once more for any of the elemental creatures that he might have missed.

There was no shouting in glee, no hooting and arms pumping into the air that came with the end of the battle. The enemies had disappeared with their destruction but the aftermath had not. Shane felt not the exhilaration of a battle well fought. Instead, the man listlessly stepped off the roof and dropped to the ground on his feet and quietly assisted with the clean up.The broken houses were nothing but material belongings. What really weighed on the remainder of the tribe were the dead.

Rolling up his sleeves, Shane made good use of his strength and helped the tribesmen carry the bodies of their fallen comrades, some young, some old and some having fought and died valiantly in battle. They were all carried and placed in front of what was once the village square, which at the northern end of the clearing was the tribe chief’s home and ringed by the houses of the others. Friends and family wept over the dead, while Shane stood to one side, under the shadows of the houses as dusk slowly approached. When night finally arrived, the new village chief stood forward, carrying a huge torch.

The bodies of the dead had been laid on a huge woodstack, covered over with dark cloth. For a few minutes there was no movement at all from the surviving tribesmen, all of them lowering their heads as a sign of respect to the dead. Once the time was up, the new village chief walked forward and set the cloth covering the dead bodies alight. Archers stood out from the crowd, holding their bows and pulling the bowstring back, and simultaneously released arrows of flames at the aflame woodstack, their arrows of fire adding to the ferocity of the flames.

The tiniest of sobs could be heard and as the fire reached higher and higher into the sky, more and more sounds of mourning could be heard from the villagers. At this point, the expressionless Shane merely turned away and walked away from the village. The one he was supposed to protect was dead, his mission a failure. There was nothing else he could do here. He wasn’t getting any closer to figuring out the situation at hand or apprehending the culprit behind this whole fiasco. He only knew that these attacks on the tribes weren’t going to end anytime soon.

As he walked into the darkness under the cover of the trees in the night, Shane felt his iLac vibrate in his right pants pocket. Fishing it out, the former Rune Knight checked the message that had arrived. It was a message from Castle, and within it was a set of coordinates. His gaze steeled when he saw the series of numbers, and without any hesitation, the man let out a shrill whistle. Five seconds later, a reply came back to him in the form of a shriek followed by a gentle whooshing of air. Shane leapt up into the air and when he landed, it was on the back of Liba, his trusty avian sidekick. She had been gifted to him by an acquaintance and both master and pet had gotten close very quickly.

While Liba could glide through the skies at an accelerated pace, it still took the bird a few hours to arrive at the locations that Castle had provided to Shane. During the flight, Shane had sat down, balancing himself perfectly on the back of the massive eagle and had even managed to catch some shut eye while he sat cross legged and arms crossed. When they finally arrived, the sound of battle drifted to his ears and the former general stood up and looked down from high above as Liba glided in a tight circle above the village.

Shane’s expression perked up with a slight smile as he noticed that the people doing battle below were wearing a very familiar uniform. He could even pinpoint a particular Rune Knight below, a pint-sized ginger with a larger than life spirit. How long has it been since he had last seen her when she was a recruit? To think that right now she would be leading her own squad. The blonde soldier watched the Rune Knights handle the threat with ease, with the situation slightly milder than the attack he had fought through the previous day.

When everything was all tidied up, Shane decided to make his entrance.

“Let’s descend,” Shane whispered, loud enough for Liba’s sensitive ears to pick it up and immediately the large eagle dove down. By then, her owner had already dropped his knees and grabbed her feathers by the side of her neck albeit gently, just enough to keep himself from flying away. The dive was a thrilling roller coaster ride to the earth and at the last minute, as though performing a high altitude low opening drop like what her owner loved to do, Liba opened her wings wide at the very last moment, allowing the air to fill her wings to slow down the dive. When she had finally pulled up of the dive, Liba fully opened her wings and gradually swooped down to the ground where Shane jumped off with a smirk on his face.

“Show off,” Shane teased as he looked at the bird when he landed, before Liba flew off again to somewhere nearby until Shane called for her again.

The last part of what Wren had shouted had been heard clearly by Shane. With his shield strapped to his back, Shane crossed his arms in front of his chest as he approached the group of Rune Knights and their captives.

“So… been awhile we last met. Not much of a growth spurt, huh?” Shane spoke in a friendly tone as he stood in front of Wren and her squad.

[2038 words]

‘To the left, to the right, step back. Now.’

Those thoughts flashed by in Tor’s mind in concert with his actions, the Rune Knight moving around quickly as he evaded a combo of two thrusts and a slash that was aimed at him. The fruits of his training in close combat was slowly beginning to show themselves. The assailant attacking him now might be of a lower level, but at least he was able to synchronize his thoughts and his actions now in regards to evading.

In the past Tor would have been required to defend against such attacks, but ever since training himself by putting himself in fights against other Rune Knights of higher caliber, his melee combat abilities have slowly been refined. Once only capable of attacking and defending, he was now able to mix in some evasive maneuvers.

The moment the slash ended its arc, Tor stepped forward immediately, taking advantage of the small opening and in a quick flurry, unleashed a punch towards the kidnapper’s chest, uppercut him with an open palm and ending with a quick palm strike to the man’s neck. The attacks caused the kidnapper to drop his weapon and stagger backwards, both hands moving to clutch around his own throat. But he could barely move away in time with his staggering steps, when Tor threw a front kick at the man’s unguarded abdomen, slamming into a pile of empty wooden crates behind him.

A Rune Knight Private from behind Tor rushed out from behind Tor, lunging at the defeated kidnapper and quickly snapping down the handcuffs on his wrists.

“Good work, Lesley,” Tor said before turning around to look at the other Rune Knights in the squad. The other three kidnappers were pressed and pinned to the ground or a wall by a respective Rune Knight Private, all of them hands caught behind their back with handcuffs around them.

“We’ve got them all, Warrant Officer Fulgur!!” the one who had apprehended the lead kidnapper Tor had defeated.

“Ahh.. guys, please stop it with the rank and last name. Just call me Tor, or Toril,” Tor replied with an embarrassed look on his face as he quickly held up his hands to chest level. Having just been promoted to Warrant Officer rank, Tor had been assigned several tasks where he had to bring fresh Privates and lead them. He was fine with it all, except for their insistence on calling him by his full rank and last name. “What about the hostages?”

“They’re here, Warrant Officer Fulgur!” another voice piped up. It was another Private, who had been assigned to secure the hostages while the rest took down the kidnappers.

“Aiyaya… Good work, Jetson. All of you did a good job, team,” Tor’s head drooped into his open right palm, creating a smacking sound before he raised it up again and smiled at his squad.

“Warrant Officer, we are a squad, not a team,” another Private offered at which Tor finally had enough and just gave him a glare, wiping off his excited grin.

Tor was just about to ask them to wrap everything up when his iLac rang.

‘It’s 7am in the morning. Who could it be?’

Tor had a puzzled look on his face as he too out his iLac and looked at the number of the incoming call.

‘Him?’

“Tor. I need your help. Can you come to the coordinates that I just sent you by text?” the firm voice spoke over the iLac.

“I guess it’s really urgent if you called me this late at night. Alright, I will check the text and get there as soon as possible,” Tor replied and the call ended just like that. Still standing there with his squad looking at him and waiting for further instructions, Tor checked the unread message he had just received and saw that it was really just coordinates and nothing else.

“Hah, as expected of him. Still the same eh…” Tor spoke softly to himself before raising his head to look at the expectant looks of his squad members, waiting for his instructions. “Let’s wrap this up and get back to HQ. Donar, write the report and put it on my desk after you’re done with it.”

After the kidnappers had been put into the lockup pending further judgement and the hostages returned to their families, Tor finally had the time to rush back to his room and prepare his next outing. It was easy to pack, chucking everything he needed into his storage dimension, a magic that he had picked up to make bringing things easier but not powerful enough to reach the level of proper Requip Magic. Still, within the dimension, there were still a few weapons that Tor frequently used.

Before he left his room, Tor stopped in front of the mirror and looked at himself in it. Dying his hair black after he had been promoted to Warrant Officer rank had been an appropriate choice, making him look more mature compared to when he had kept his hair the original dirty blonde. Having been promoted had also signified the end of the transition for his attitude towards his job as a Rune Knight, and the new hair color could be considered a fresh start that went hand in hand with this new attitude.

When he had first walked through the doors of the Rune Knight HQ with Shane’s recommendation letter in hand, Tor had only thought of it as a job. A proper job where he wouldn’t go astray. But as time went on, the responsibilities of a Rune Knight began to become more and more natural to him, and gradually, he began to respect his own identity as a Rune Knight and grew proud of it.

A satisfied smile appeared on Tor’s face and then he just ruffled his black hair. He was dressed casually in a white T-shirt, black jeans, white sneakers and black hoodie, since he had no idea what he was going to do when he reached those coordinates. He could change his outfit anytime through his custom SO uniform anyway, so it wasn’t really a problem for him.

Tor jogged to the nearest open space available, summoning lightning wings that flared out into existence from behind him and rocketed into the sky with a whoosh before disappearing from sight.

It took Tor two hours to fly at top speed to the coordinates, and throughout the journey, Tor had to alternate between using his lightning wings and the draconic wings from his shield. Sometimes he looked like a god of lightning while sometimes he looked like a demonic being as he soared through the skies. When he neared the coordinates, Tor began to perk up and observe his surroundings more closely.

Tor pulled back on the draconic wings behind him slightly, narrowing its width and then dropped into a dive towards the village below him. This was always the best part of flying, the wind rushing past his face, the thrill of the dive that gets his heart pumping fast, the adrenaline coursing insanely through his veins, and the anticipation of pulling out of the dive with as much style as he could pull off.

The altitude was shaved off extremely quickly Tor angled his body forwards and downwards, his head leading the way while his arms were clenched to his sides. The figures on the ground were starting to look real familiar to him as he got nearer and nearer to the ground. When he was twenty feet off the ground, Tor willed for his wings to open up to its full width, the increased span grabbing at the air and arresting his meteor-like descent for him to slowly hover to the ground.

“Warrant Officer Hayden? What are you doing here with Shane?” Tor asked as he landed. The dark purple and black wings behind him disappeared like wisps of flame into the air.

“Why is a former Rune Knight so openly making contact with Rune Knights?” Tor asked as he looked at Shane. The former Rune Knight Major General still looked the same as always, but a sense of defeat seemed to hang around him, despite the cheerful smirk he wore on his face.

“There’s been a group of people going after various tribes with long histories. I have been tracking down these people as they go around, hunting down tribe after tribe and that’s how I met with Wren,” Shane explained as he folded his arms across his chest. “I originally called you to help me out on this since I haven’t been able to figure out the reason for their attacks, but since Wren’s already working on this case, I think the two of you should work together on this.”

Tor’s gaze hardened at the simple explanation, especially so when Shane had said that he had no clue about what was happening yet. If innocent tribes were being hunted, then it was probably part of his responsibility as a Rune Knight to do his part.

“Since it’s come to this, would you mind if I join you on this mission, Warrant Officer Hayden?” It was a mouthful to call Wren by her full title and last name. If it was just the two of them, he would have just called her Wren to save time but she currently had her squad with her at the moment, and it wouldn’t do for Tor to do anything that would make her lose the respect of her subordinates.

[1589 words]
[Total WC: 2226 words] *I have deducted Shane's WC from the total WC