Eventually, they were ported to the battleground itself, a prompt from the Framework filling Jake’s view.

[Welcome to the War Swept Canyon.

Within the two opposing bases are a flag. Defend yours, and capture the enemy’s in order to win.

Flag Bearers will be weighed down, and cannot use movement abilities or mounts and will be forced to move at a slower pace, in addition to glowing brightly–wielders of the flag cannot be hidden by any means. Flight is disabled in this Battleground.

A Flag can only be captured while your flag is present in your base. Kill the enemy Flag Bearer and touch your team’s flag to return it. Allies of the slain Flag Bearers can retrieve the flag and continue towards capture if they touch the flag before the enemy team.

Resurrection is enabled in this Battleground, and it occurs at the shrine once every 5 minutes. In addition to the resurrection shrines, a restoration shrine exists on each side of the battlefield to allow teams to recover at an accelerated pace.

The first team to three captures wins, or, when the twenty-minute timer runs out, the team with the most captures wins. In a tie situation, resurrection will be disabled and the next capture will decide victory.]

As there was usually in Battlegrounds, Framework Script detailed additional rules around where they spawned, like writing on their bubble. Many of the rules were mostly relevant when dealing with Tartarus involvement, but they were detailed nonetheless.

The nineteen of them now stood on a ledge at the edge of the barrier, looking over a gulch or valley, with castled bases on each side. From what Jake could tell, there were three total paths into each base. The first was an open gate at the base of the castle, which had a tunnel-like corridor that ran through the center and toward the flag room–a sloping, upward path.

Then, there was a ramp that ran up the right side of the keep and around–revealed by some kind of damage, a hole in the side of the castle walls. The somewhat spiraling path lead up and around to where Jake and his party now stood, in front of the resurrection area, and near the two offset upper entrances to the flag room.

The enemy spawn area was covered in an opaque barrier when seen by them. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t get any ideas about their enemy until the battle began.

The third path was actually because Jake’s party would have no issues simply leaping or climbing upward on the side of the keep, near where the resurrection shrine was located. It was about four or five stories high, which wasn’t impossible for any of his party to leap with auril and mana running through them.

Flying wasn’t allowed, but jumping and gliding was. Then, Avalara and Bree when buffed up could likely just walk up the steep incline. Going down, it was a sharp fall or slide for an Earth human, but Jake imagined at this level, most could either handle it physically, or had some means of mitigating fall damage. Perhaps, the enemy also wouldn’t have too much difficulty running and jumping up the large drop.

Mounts were also allowed, and common among those above level forty and thus they would see them in this event.

The terrain within the valley was truly varied, with rolling hills, trees, and even a small creek running through. There were the two recovery areas mentioned, that looked like a small shrine area on the left side of the valley near each base. The valley was long and wide enough that it did look as if it would take several minutes even on a mount to cross in its entirety.

Tanda’s ears were flat on her head, as she tried to flap her wings and lift off the ground, to no avail. She also tried jumping and gliding, which worked, but it was definitely an odd feeling for her. “It’s just like that Greater Rift. What a pain.”

Dahlia chuckled. “Not to worry, daughter. Even though we can’t truly fly, we are still fast–faster than these weaklings are, trust me. Most of them don’t have battle mounts like clan-daughter Ophelia, so a single arrow or javelin will dismount them.”

Jake tried to use his flames to float, and he could only lift himself off the ground a little over two feet off the ground. He jumped and used his flames to keep him afloat, but he found himself drifting toward that very same level. It was an odd effect, but he understood he could still float or fly horizontally a couple of feet off the ground as long as he wanted.

Ophelia summoned Valora. She whinnied in excitement as she appeared in motes of light, happy to be brought out for the battle, and leaped into the air. But then snorted and shook her head in annoyance, as she found herself drifting toward the ground.

“Sorry, Val, just how this one works. I guess it’d be super unfair to have to watch for flyers coming from the sky to the flag room, annoyingly stealing the flag in just a few seconds after respawn, really. I know I’d be able to do that, anyway.”

Jake decided to summon Zephyr and Jasmina, knowing he’d want to bring out these powerful allies. Given that they were permanent summons, they’d be extremely resilient to banishing spells–but not immune. Still, he thought they would be worth it. The extra effort to banish them would mean the enemy clergy wasn’t doing something else, like healing their allies or casting other defensive spells.

He could still use Call Summon on any of his girls, so long as they weren’t currently carrying the flag. Such an ability was quite powerful, and he intended to use it if he needed to.

The battle began, the barrier collapsing around them and their opponents. The family, minus Jasmina, since she was a bit slower on land, rushed down the ramp, and the enemy across from them did too.

Their enemy was largely on mounts, and spotting who they all thought was Cassius was easy. The Greek-themed warrior was riding some kind of griffin mount, and Jake thought it might be possible it was a battle mount, like Valora.

His armor was golden and matched that of a Greek Hoplite, with a few differences. His armor looked ostentatious with a crown on his head, though Jake definitely couldn’t throw stones from his own glass house. Cassius wore a large shield and an oversized Greek Xiphos sword, what would normally be a two-handed weapon in a single hand.

The rest of the enemy warriors were riding large rams, boars, or versions of giant dogs or smaller dinosaurs, like raptors. It was a wide variety among the about forty enemies, and Jake quickly determined from that, that Calix was likely not present. Even Avaron must be hiding or sneaking, as no mounts could be seen that matched him.

Jake’s Battlegroup headed toward the center, and so did their opponent. It seemed they were more than happy to go for an initial clash. There were numerous tried and true strategies for winning War Swept Canyon, and being superior in a fight, while one of them, was not actually completely required.

Winning strategies could involve enemy avoidance and superior flag running and retrieval. A team didn’t have to defeat the enemy’s entire team in a fight, only slay their Flag Bearer to retrieve the flag. And if their team’s Flag Bearer was faster or the support of the team superior in helping them cross the canyon better, it was possible to win even though the enemy would win in a straight up battle.

Still, even in those scenarios, the team that won the most often was usually the strongest team in a fight. Those strategies typically only worked when things were close enough that the victor was up in the air.

So they would find out now: how close was this match? The winner of the opening clash would often get ahead, grabbing the first capture, though not always.

Jake riding Bloodberri in his Monarch State, Bree, Zephyr and Avalara set the pace at the front of their formation as they stomped or slithered across the battlefield, their large forms moving swift for their size. Ophelia ran beside them on Valora, but she was ready to dash ahead to engage her target of choice.

Fhesiah, Tanda, and Sati all flew together not far behind, floating or flapping their wings just a couple of feet off the ground as they kept pace easily. The Ravenwolf Clan flapped their wings as they raced across the battlefield beside them, their bows and javelins at the ready, with Jake’s surprise at the ready.

The enemy’s makeup was quite similar to the Battlegroup they already faced. Grecian and Nordic warriors and casters, with a handful of archers. A few jotun, centaur, dvergr, dark elves, but they were mostly human. There were a few powerful looking standouts, however.

It was who Jake assumed was Cassius and Avaron’s elite teams of about twenty men in total, establishing the front of the enemy’s formation. These men stood out as being a bit larger and more powerful than the rest, with much higher quality equipment. They also looked like they were evolved versions of the same races and with regal-looking mounts, and shiny armor and weapons emanating power. Perhaps, they had completed their Trials, or otherwise performed well enough in a Prime Instance to ascend and collect these useful creatures for themselves.

Not only that, but many of them might have actually been in the third Tier, and were downgraded to the second in order to participate in this world’s Conquest. The reason they could do this and still participate in events like this one was because the Obsidian Blades weren't much concerned about advantages like research benefits and more. They simply bought their success with money, numbers, and what they’d already seen: extortion.

Jake and his party could fight for their first Tier guilds if they wanted, but their first Tier guilds would lose much of their benefits forever, and for not a lot of gain. Not only was it essentially a waste of his family’s efforts and their time better spent on second Tier worlds or above, but Hestia had also mentioned the Contribution Cap. This would make it a detriment for any Conquest they participated in, likely having the enemy show up with two Champions to their one, or simply spawning double the amounts of Rifts and other unfair challenges that put the war at risk from their participation.

The Obsidian Blades weren't concerned about research and other advantages. The only real reason the guilds were even separated into Subguilds at all in the first place was so that their lower Tier members weren’t a detriment to their own in PvP War Games.

Rather than continue on their mounts until the clash, the enemy dismounted, and formed battle lines with their shields and weapons. The stake items used before weren’t allowed in this Battleground, but many activated scrolls or drank potions, as Jake had predicted.

The casters from his research favored an item that established a shimmering barrier around them, which would keep them protected during the initial engagement as they cast their other spells.

Jake chuckled as the casters stopped and began casting spells, and the banishing spells washed over Avalara, Zephyr and Bree, but not Bloodberri. Likely, they were familiar with her race. Zephyr’s divine winds helped deflect much of the effect, but Jake could feel its connection to the battlefield partially unraveling by the dispelling winds that tore at its magically constructed body, and he was forced to reinforce the special construct with a bit of his mana in response.

He wondered if maybe he could have gotten away with having a few extra summoned templates that could have stuck around for longer as they got confused about why their banishment spells were not working. Maybe, they would have given up before trying some of his other ones.

Ready for the battle to begin in earnest, he used Call Summon on Jasmina, bringing her to the center of the battlefield behind Bloodberri. The Naga Siren immediately began singing her wordless song, bolstering all of the nearby beastkin allies.

The Ravenwolf Clan started shooting their arrows and javelins, containing Jake’s prepared item: barrier piercing projectiles. Manifestations of Highlands beasts struck the enemy hard, and knocked a few in the back who didn’t dismount from their mounts. Shields from diligent warriors caught other projectiles, but a few casters and enemy archers got hit hard immediately by Jake’s Champion Presence combined with the deadly Ravenwolf Clan’s attacks.

Jake’s Monarch-enhanced aura slowed the incoming enemies as they were covered by it, and he began casting his control spells. Despite how strong his people were, they were certainly outnumbered. He would do his best to correct this.

An elite, strong-looking spartan warrior leaped toward Ophelia with his spear and round shield, his body covered in a dense, shining light from a potion he just drank. Her Hearth Guardian intercepted him in midair with its shield, and a bolt of lightning from Valora struck into him as she continued past him, seeking the enemy’s casters.

Using her Blitz, she stormed to the enemy’s backlines, faster than any could react, and lanced one with her polearm. A blast of coned vajrafire was sent out in a wave, shocking three more targets from her blow and weakening whatever barriers might have been left, and her Monarch-enhanced Vajrafire Consecration washed over and shocked nearly all the enemies nearby with the disk-like explosion of lightning and flames.

Bree had decided to take on her dinodog form, and two dinodogs were manifested near her. Avalara opened her Sublimation, her portal to Highlands, but rather than jungle appearing, it was like a green haze of Auril energy. This battlefield’s magic worked against constructions, preventing teams from somehow engineering magical defensive structures to give them an edge. Instead, she focused on drawing in more auril and creating a weave of deadly, thorny vines on her body.

Tanda added her portal, and so did Timone as Jasmina sang her song, bolstering the Auril available in the area. With all this Auril filling the air and combined with Jake and Bloodberri’s special auras, the protection provided to every member of the Battlegroup was rather formidable. A volley of arrows nearly struck one of Tanda’s aunts dead on, but the explosion of flame blocked several outright, while others were knocked out of the air with a mere swipe of her wing.

A barrier of wind surrounded Cassius’ griffin, the creature screeching with anger as arrows and javelins with manifestations struck it from Dahlia and Timone. It hardly slowed down with Cassius on its back, until Jake struck.

He cast a Runic Spear of Force, and like an invisible lance, it crashed into the large mount. A transparent aura with a small image of a shield appeared and weakened the magical effect. Still, the monster had looked like it received a heavy kick in its shoulder, causing it to stumble and fall to the ground, dragging itself through the dirt before it recovered and stood, and the Son of Ares managed to stay mounted.

The several clergy of Ares were among Cassius’ Battlegroup, and they supplied an energy effect that was a lot like Valor, called [War Energy]. It was like a manifestation of their faith in war. Weaker in its overall power on an individual level, but it was like a pool of the energy that could be used both offensively and defensively. Warrior Priests of Ares were a lot more like most paladins, and they thrived on the chaos of battle. They lacked great healing spells, but they made up for it in offensive capabilities, their smites looking a lot like a weapon or shield.

Cassius had remained mounted from his blow, but he looked pissed as Jake released a few Runic Shackles onto a few of the enemy warriors. The golden flaming chains wrapped around their legs, causing them to trip and fall to the ground. The casters immediately began trying to dispel these, but Jake’s mana and control combined with the density made this no easy task. Three shackles actually kept six people busy for a short time.

With all the fights erupting across the battlefield, it was almost too much for Jake to track. Avalara and Bree soaked up a lot of the enemy’s focus, their massive forms drawing ample attention–just as intended. Several of the elite warriors moved to engage them, and spells raced across the field to strike them.

Something touched at the edge of Jake’s Umbral Gaze, and Ira warned Jake–there was a target using powerful magic to obscure themselves. Avaron was noticeably absent, so it was likely the man in question dashing across the field toward their base. It seemed he was avoiding the fight entirely, creeping through the battlefield with an illusion around him, much like what Fhesiah’s kitsune flames could accomplish. Either that, or he was planning to assassinate one of their allies, joining the fight at an opportune moment. Jake would keep an eye on him as long as he could. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NovᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet

Nessa replied to his thoughts in his mind, [Even if he’s stronger now, I’m confident Ruby and I can handle him.]

Jake trusted her, and reasoned that their ability to detect him so easily was a card he’d rather keep hidden for now.

The many mages’ attacks on Avalara and Bree were met with Jake’s Aura, vine shields or defensive manifestations, and the two monstrous women did not even slow down in their approach. A runic spear of flame, ice, and earth struck them, along with the thrown magic of the Grecian casters. The mages in this team were far superior to the ones they had faced, their response much more rapid and formidable.

There was also a bard playing a lyre, but Tanda blasted him with an arrow and her deathly flames with a laugh.

It was now that the two sets of front-liners were about to collide. Avalara and Bree each clashed with several warriors, their shields at the ready.

Cassius himself didn’t seem as though he wanted to engage Jake and Bloodberri now that his charge had been disrupted. He was hanging out behind some of his elites as he prepared his entry to battle, his armor, shield and sword glimmering in the daylight.

A jotun warrior with gray skin covered in blue tattoos and Nordic armor charged for Bloodberri with a roar to meet her in combat, but the girl’s upper body lifted into the air as her tail launched her. Her upper body did a flip with Jake needing to hold on tight, and her immense armored tail followed as she strained. Suddenly, the auril and nethril-filled tail was whipped and brought down with the force of a freight train.

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The jotun’s eyes widened as their tail smashed into him, a manifestation of a giant snake’s tail covering it, and a blackened aura washing over the giant. He barely had the wherewithal to bring up his weapon in time to block in time, the shock from the strange attack evident as he was sent flying through the air with some of his bones broken, and punctures from the deadly spikes on her armor.

Berri laughed. “Aw, come on! You guys were supposed to be strong, I thought.” Covered in bronze light from their Twilight energies mixing, she whipped forward again with her hearthblade edged, living axe roaring toward an unsuspecting warrior. He brought up his shield with a transparent magical barrier in front of it, but Blood wrenched it off to the side with her telekinetic might, allowing her giant axe blade to bury itself deep into his chest.

It shredded through his armor like it wasn’t even there, and despite a few healing spells arriving on the man, her tail quickly surrounded him and shredded him with a satisfied smirk as he was dispersed into motes of light. Jake deflected several attacks with his floating shield and even threw Argos as a javelin, piercing into the Jotun’s form before heals could bring him into a proper fighting form and finished him off.

Several slowed warriors from Jake’s Monarch State moved to box Bloodberri in, but she just laughed at their attempts, her Twilight Monarch aura making their attacks bounce right off of her Mythic Armor infused with her Technique’s bronze energy. Jake’s Aura actually exploded in one of the men’s faces, sending him tumbling back.

One of the War Priests shouted, drawing a bunch of the war energy into him. A manifestation of an axe came down as he swung, but her tail covered in both auril and nethril crashed into it purposefully, shattering the manifestation and smacking into the man. The War Priest was punctured by her spikes and sent flying.

Jake helped defend Bloodberri, not that she really seemed to need it, by throwing Argos and sending it spearing through enemies with his pyrokinesis, targeting the warriors from his carriage and locking up more of them with his Runic Shackles. It seemed they were not great at countering this, though some used scrolls in attempts to dispel them, as their clergy attempted to help. He had locked down several of them for over fifteen seconds each thanks to his Monarch State despite their efforts, an eternity in combat.

Cassius moved to finally join in on the attack as Bloodberri and Jake dealt with the targets, but Timone and Dahlia intercepted him with their polearms. They had enlarged themselves with their Sublimations, covered in thick fur or feathers, and they met him with vicious attacks.

The griffin’s claw blocked Dahlia’s attack, while Timone’s was blocked by Cassius shield. Their attacks were made with incredible momentum from their weight and speed, so each caused the rider and mount to stagger backwards.

“You two again. Finally, some payback.” Cassius grinned, as the war energy built over his body.

Dahlia snorted. “Unless you learned how to use a sword better than a beastkin child between then and now, I doubt that very much.”

Cassius scowled. “You faced me severely limited. This battle will not end the same way, you disgusting abominations.”

Timone chuckled as he spread his wings wide behind him, dense auril being drawn in and swirling around from his, Avalara, and his daughter’s Sublimations. “Did you explain away your loss and not reflect, or train to improve? I’m afraid unless you did, the result will be the same. You might be less limited, but we have grown.”

The auril began to shift into a tremendous flock of ravens, and the auril gathering by Dahlia became several wolves, gathering beside her. Her polearm brightened with auril, her blades and spear on her halberd extending. The density of their spirits could be felt, and no doubt Cassius himself could feel this.

Cassius sneered as his griffin cried out in anger, the immense flock of ravens and pack of wolves attacking both of them as Timone and Dahlia began picking them apart.

Jake’s girls were all interested in taking on the child of the Divine, but it was a simple fact that if the man could not beat Timone and Dahlia, he wouldn’t even be a challenge to them. The party focused on the enemy Battlegroup, Tanda’s deathly arrows seeking casters and healers, taking them out through their protections.

Despite how the mages were clearly better, Jake still wasn’t impressed with their mages, except a singular Grecian mage stood in the back with a palpable magical aura surrounding him. In addition to a magical quiver filled with more powerful weaponry inside it, he held a staff with a wreath floating around the top. His attacks had mostly washed over Bree and Avalara at first, but now, it looked like he sought a squishier target.

Lifting it above his head, a metallic lightning bolt rose from his quiver, before being infused with intense magical might, electricity arcing all across the item, before it fired at Jasmina.

The bolt of deadly lightning raced all the way across the battlefield in an instant, but it was met with swirling auril mixed with Jake’s Aura. The arcing electricity still struck and shocked her as the magic flooded her body, but her song barely halted through the pain of the attack. Auril was already working to heal the wounds it caused in her naga body, and it would take quite the effort to take even her down.

A frown could be seen on the mage’s face as several lightning bolts rose from his quiver and he prepared such an assault. It took several seconds for him to launch the attack, but a shield of water rose in front of Jasmina which took on the hue of Jake’s Champion Presence, and even some water from the nearby creek joined what she created. His frown became one of disbelief as her preparations completely countered his, the three bolts striking the shield of water completely ineffectually.

Jasmina looked very pleased with herself as her water was sent out as a wave. It washed over some warriors not far away, their bodies being shocked and dragged away from Bree’s melee.

Ophelia dashed around Valora and cutting through enemies, and Bloodberri plowing into gathered warriors. Fhesiah hung around with Sati in the back, sending darts of kitsune flames into the enemy and protecting the weaker Ravenwolf Clan members.

Their enemy was much better organized than the previous Battlegroup, their potions or scrolls granting them powerful barriers or resilience, and their tank’s ability to protect their allies was much more effective. Unlike the previous Battlegroup which died in one or two swings or deadly attacks, tanks moved to intercept attacks, and even received heals or barriers from their allies. The war energy ended up being used mostly for defense, but what it could accomplish when expended frequently was no better than what a beastkin could accomplish with their Auril.

The enemy warriors even took blows for their much more squishy allies, some kind of magic lighting up–much like Ophelia’s Sentinel or Eternal Oath ability. It took some time, but enemies were falling across the battlefield, their numbers dwindling. The elites especially took several moments to take down when they met Bree and Avalara with linked shields, but they were being picked apart by the large women, their flaming or deathly vines wrapping around their limbs, or just being overpowered by their might.

Jake’s family opted not to use any potions yet. It wasn’t that Jake and his family didn’t have potions that could boost their output for a time. It was that anything that could actually influence them significantly enough to matter was incredibly expensive. Divine Reinforcement was already an incredible buff, and most other effects were rather miniscule in comparison and overridden by its all-encompassing nature.

The skirmish continued, Bloodberri and Jake easily besting several enemies and scattering them into motes of light. The Ravenwolf Clan combined with Tanda’s sniping, Zephyr shredding enemies with its wing blade, and Ophelia cutting down enemies on Valora, took out various of the more squishy enemies in quick succession. The dvergr Runic Priests and the two Grecian healers were taken out, leaving only the War Priests of Ares to provide any healing remaining.

The powerful Grecian caster was then harried by Zephyr, the man sending three large suns of Apollo, like three giant fireballs at the creature. Zephyr dodged two and blocked a third with its shield, and then sent a cyclone of wind at him, tearing him to pieces.

There were only a couple of handfuls of enemies left when Berri said, “I’ll just go on ahead, and get the flag. These last few guys can’t stop me.”

She snaked toward the tunnel–the base of the keep, and a few of their warriors did try to stop her. But they were met with spears of flames or blasts of telekinetic force, her trailing tail whipping into them or Jake sending blasts of frost into them. Berri actually used a manifestation overlapping with her tail swipe, the casual blow sending a warrior flying into another.

Pushing through the enemies rapidly, she entered the upward-sloping tunnel toward the flag room as Avalara, Bree, Tanda and Ophelia continued to clean up the remaining enemies. They fell more quickly by the moment, Jake’s party overwhelming them.

Dahlia and Timone’s Sublimations had covered them, their bodies growing along with their halberds. Covered in dense auril energies, their might set Cassius on the back foot, the two striking both hard and fast. The griffin had gotten dispelled into motes of light from their furious assault enhanced by Jake’s Aura early on, and Cassius couldn’t land a decisive blow against their teamwork as ravens and wolves harried him.

They were whittling him away, and even with him becoming stronger as the battle went on with his body covered in light, it did not matter. He had taken numerous wounds, and now no priests remained to heal him. The two had begun running their Cyclic Strikes, but were burning them away at one cycle. With the auril of Highlands reinforcing them with their songs, plus the Ravenwolf Clan and Tanda, Bree, and Avalara, it was building up rather quickly.

The man was skilled with his xiphos and shield, but the flock of ravens invaded his form, reducing his available war energy. The wolves harrying him clamped onto his legs and arms, bruising the flesh underneath his armor and slowed his body.

Individually, he was stronger than Timone or Dahlia, but their attacks were not so straightforward. He could block Dahlia’s downward swing, but then her streamer from her outfit would snap forward, a wolf’s manifestation biting into his body. His war energy was used to reduce the damage, but he was being whittled away.

And then where one was met with a shield, the other would strike to his flank. Timone’s blows were filled with power and speed, cutting deeply and adding on to the wounds across his body. The man didn’t even use his special Divine Energy as he had done in the previous battle, and so while a few of his manifestations of weapons combined with his attacks had struck Timone and Dahlia, their auril-infused protection combined with their self-healing was able to shrug off the attacks.

Timone landed a powerful overhead blow onto Cassius’ shoulder, bringing the man down to his knees. Streamers wrapped around his legs, preventing him from moving as Dahlia’s halberd cut into his arm.

Dahlia grinned. “I’ve got a present for you, Cassius.”

Her cape flaps wrapped around his weakened arms, spreading them apart. She withdrew a sword from her Storage Bracelet–his xiphos.

“Your sword! You dropped it last time. You can take your trash back.”

She plunged it into his chest, right through his heart. Cassius’ eyes were filled with rage, as he dispersed into motes of light.

The sword fell to the ground, and Dahlia’s tail was wagging rapidly as she looked at it. “I’ll just leave that there, I think it’ll just make him madder.”

Meanwhile, Bloodberri was already returning with the flag. The flag room was nearly empty, much like theirs. They only had a group of four people meant to keep a stealthy individual or a small elite team from sneaking off with the flag with zero resistance.

The enemy respawned before Bloodberri could fully make it across the field, and they raced to catch up. Bloodberri was slowed by her flag carrying, but her movement was still nearly as fast as the enemy on their mounts, even Cassius’ griffin. With her lead, the enemy wouldn’t make it, and they knew that–holding off at the reincarnation shrine instead of fruitlessly chasing her.

Inside the flag room, Nessa and Ruby were having a fight of their own.

***

Nessa had only seen two Ravenwolf Clan family members slain in the kill messages of the Battlegroup, yet they had nearly taken out the entire enemy team of the Obsidian Blades. However, Ira had spotted where Avaron was, letting Nessa know that he was about to enter the flag room.

The flag floated in a special field at the back of the stone tiled and bricked room, and Nessa had created a pool of her lake in front of it. Rather than the usual, shallow pool that she would create, she made it higher, covering the maximum height people could float off the ground. It was spread out covering a good third of the flag room, and she had entered it, along with Ruby.

Eventually, Nessa caught him in her Divine Sense near the doorway. Her voice echoed into the room, but she didn’t show herself from within her lake. “I know you’re there. You don’t need to touch my lake for me to see you.”

Avaron appeared near her water, an infuriating smirk on his face as he walked casually closer with his spear held behind his back between the arms at his sides. “You must have learned some new tricks. I’m surprised you could detect me.”

Nessa said, “All by yourself, Avaron? What a surprise, did you ditch that valkyrie slut?”

Avaron scowled. “She was a useless waste of a slot. Aren’t you all alone here as well?”

She chuckled. “Is that what you think? That does not bode well for you.”

Ruby rose rapidly from the water, her sword piercing toward his form. The man shifted partially into particles of light, moving rapidly away from her stab.

Her body was covered in her scaled blood plate as she rushed toward him, the man not gaining much distance, but he deflected her well-aimed slashing attacks one after the other. The man was skilled with a spear as he spun his body and twirled his weapon, and strong enough to keep himself from being overpowered too quickly.

Avaron got a little distance as he retreated, and then looked her up and down, a frown on his face. “What…are you?”

Ruby’s ear on top of her head which protruded from her visored helmet of blood twitched. “I’m a blood badgerdillo.”

“That…I don’t think helps me understand at all. You’re not going to join this fight, Tyrsdottir? You haven’t moved. I’m sure you’d like some revenge.”

Nessa shrugged, though he couldn’t see her action. “I’ve already gotten it, don’t you remember when I crushed you? I’d much rather ensure the flag stays right where it is. Ruby here doesn’t need my help for trash like you, but if your foot so much as touches my lake to get this flag, then I will be forced to change my mind.”

“I’ll make you regret those words from underneath my boot.”

Light covered Avaron’s body like a cloak, and beams of light started shooting out as he stabbed toward Ruby. She evaded the attacks by twisting her body just as he thrust his spear, and blood formed into shields, blocking what she couldn’t dodge. Blood started to run over her armor, a thin coating, as more rushed out of her and she replaced what she lost from the light magic attacks.

Blocking his spear with her sword, the two began their dance. His feints actually caused spears of light to be shot out, and Ruby dodged rather than allow her blood armor to be damaged. His stabs of his spear kept her at length, but that didn’t work against Ruby for very long.

Her speed picked up, her fencing stabs probing Avaron’s defenses as blood started to snake around her and fill the air. Avaron saw this happening, watching the blood with narrowed eyes. However, he wasn’t prepared for when she surged forward, her speed enhanced with even more Qi. He became light once more and evaded to the side, but her streamers of blood suddenly transformed into blades, and shot for his new position without missing a beat.

Avaron blocked one with his spear, but he was unable to block the several others. They sliced into the places where his armor was thinnest, an area near his ankle and one near his wrist. They pierced the cloak of light, and her dueling saber followed from her dash, his spear out of position and unready for it to enter his armpit.

The man grunted in pain as he retreated, and blood floated toward Ruby like streamers from the created wounds.

It floated to her chest, and the flame within Ruby brightened as it consumed it. She frowned. “Your blood, it’s gross.”

Avaron’s face was twisted into a disapproving frown. “Disgusting. You sure know how to pick strange allies, Tyrsdottir.” His head snapped toward the tunnel, likely learning something over their Battlegroup. “I guess I need to finish this quickly, I can’t believe Cassius lost. It’s up to me now.”

His body brightened and he drank a potion, his spirituality rising. Nessa could tell he was using a small amount of his nascent Divine Energy, and Ruby grinned as she prepared to meet it.

Her spirituality rose, the blood streamers forming into larger blades of blood, which rippled with unspoken danger. Even Nessa felt like she was in front of the maws and claws of a dangerous beast. Hungry. Tenacious. Deadly.

For the first time, Avaron actually looked worried, his head scanning back and forth to the knives of blood. “What is this power? You carry no Divine Essence. How can your strength of spirit be so high?”

Nessa snorted. “You work with cultivators, but don’t understand their power? Does Loki know that you’re a wastrel? Perhaps that’s why he sold you out, and I’ll be getting to question you soon.”

“I don’t know what you mean about that, but for them to have such power is blasphemy. Only the Divine can truly grasp the heavens.”

Nessa chuckled at that. “You deny reality? Deny or not, Ruby’s power is very real.”

With a growl, Avaron’s form split up into numerous copies around Ruby, their spears glimmering with power. His twelve forms arranged like the points of a clock were all charging up to perform a powerful stab, the light within them building. Nessa was a little surprised that from most of her magical senses, she could not detect which one was real–when it came to mana and divine energy, he was somehow all twelve at the same time. Of course, her eyes could see the truth, and she was tempted to act to help out Ruby and point it out, but she moved on her own.

With a blur, Ruby dashed toward one of the spear warriors, and her dao-infused claw pierced Avaron’s form, exiting out his back and her claw gripping onto his spine. Blood started being drained from him and into her bloodflame as he screamed, the girl likely choosing not to shred his heart and prevent him from dying instantly.

Nessa knew she likely couldn’t gain any of his Divine Essence in this way, the Framework protecting against it, but she could likely get something from his special blood.

Avaron choked up blood from his mouth, his face a mask of confusion as it floated toward her too. “That…how could you know?”

Ruby shrugged. “Only one of the copies had blood in it. It’s why Jake put me here.”

Avaron dispersed into motes of light, disbelief still on his face.

Nessa walked out of her lake, and smiled at Ruby. “Good job, but you shouldn’t have told him, making him wonder. He might be able to compensate for that next time.”

Ruby frowned, looking at her claw with her ears flat on her head. “He was weak, I was only getting warmed up. Why?”

Nessa chuckled. “Part of it was that you are too strong with Jake’s buffs, and another part is that he didn’t want to use his true strength in a meaningless skirmish. Think about our family’s Divine Energy. Would they want to summon their Divine in this fight over a single flag theft, and waste it? They have something like that, and he only used a tiny amount.”

Ruby tilted her head. “You have something like that too, then? I’ve never seen you use it.”

“Mine’s a little different from theirs, but yes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t recharge nearly as quickly and easily as a Champion’s even in the Refuge, so I use it sparingly. Anyway, do be careful in our next fight with him, as he may decide to use it. I witnessed him swap places with his valkyrie lover, he may actually even be able to swap between us two now.”

Ruby nodded at that, but she smiled and her tail behind her flicked. “Just goes to show how strong Clan Hart is, doesn’t it? We’ve joined the best Clan.”

Nessa chuckled. “You said it.”

Berri came down the tunnel, Nessa able to see her from near the flag area. A set of stairs brought her to the side of the room, just a few steps away from the flag itself. Jake had stayed with their forces, to ensure they had defense against the enemy if they rushed to attack suddenly.

She touched their flag while holding the enemy’s, a prompt confirming its capture as it disappeared.

[Capture Complete! Hearthtribe leads 1-0.]

She dusted off her hands. “That was easy. Two more to go!”

Nessa laughed, and jumped to give Berri a high-five, and a tail slap, their tail-tips meeting. “Good job, Berri. It seems you’re impossible for them to stop.”

Blood grinned. “And great job on defense, you two. Lia was ready to lance him if he made it out of the room, but it’s best for us to not waste any time.”

The snake girl headed back down the tunnel, moving much more rapidly to go for the next capture. It was only a few seconds later that they received a prompt.

[Hearthtribe has stolen the Obsidian Mercenary’s Flag!]

Nessa’s eyes widened. “I thought most of them had respawned already?”

Ruby’s ears and tail flicked. “Guess they saw no reason not to push our advantage.”

Fhesiah chuckled over their thought communication. [I snuck in and saw the flag room defense was a little light, and I just couldn’t help myself. I’m coming down the central tunnel, I could probably use some help in a minute!]

It seemed they were going to increase their lead quickly.