Around the campfire continued to sit the likes of Dante, Illiya, and Adalaine. Not much said among them, not much movement. Just stationary, with Dante even leaned back against a rock. Both of the girls were still next to one another, a log behind them. The only sound to be heard at that very moment was none other than the crackle of the wood in the fire.

“… so… you two ever-”

“No.”

“But ya didn’t even let me-”

“Yeah well I don’t care.”

“Mmm…”

Kerblunk blum blung

A trio of explosions from afar, not terribly distant. Dante’s head rose and turned into the direction with a blink, as did Illiya though minus the blink, and Adalaine simply shifting her sights outward. All now looked out for a few brief moments in the direction of the sounds before turning away.

“Huh… that’s odd. Someone’s turnin’ up the heat. Eh, ‘lise probbly pissed someone off again. ‘minds me of this time when-”

“DANTEEE!” came a yell from the direction of the explosions.

This time all three of them sat up, looking to see three figures come rushing in at top speed- Fen Rao, Yeager, and Shree. All three were bolting at certainly above human speeds, skidding to a halt near the boundary where the salt was placed, the younger two huffing as they stopped. Yeager placed a hand on a tree and leaned to it, huffing.

“Wha, back so- what’s up Vamp? Find a twig that looked like a cruci-”

“Cut the crap, Elise needs help pronto!”

Dante shot up in an instant, popping off of the ground and to his feet, glaring out at Fen, “Wha’happened? Why’re you ‘ere?”

“Your Lightonian friend lit up and we had to go-” Yeager choked out.

“She’s fighting that trio group that captured your friends!” Shree quickly added.

“By ‘erself?! Fuck that that crazy bitch, idiot!” Dante barked, tearing off immediately from the campfire and right over the white line, pushing well passed Fen Rao.

“Hey, wait up, I’m going back with you you numskull!” Fen Rao spat out.

“B-but Fen-”

“Shree if we don’t take action now we’re not going to make it out of here and our people will be doomed to the same fate! Those three are too powerful for her to handle on her own. If you’re with me, then lets do this- just stay out of the path of her light!”

“R-right!”

As the three left the area the young princess took a stand, to which her guardian then shot up with a shout, “Adalaine no! This is not-”

“Illiya please, we have to help!”

“Adalaine-”

“Illiya she’s agreed to help us, if we lose her we might not make it out of these woods. Please!”

“Tch-”

The illuminating glow of a brilliant white blade swinging through the ever present sea of dark, clashing with and fending off a strike from a large hook-shaped weapon. A figure whose swing had been blocked, backing away as Elise swung round and blocked another strike with a black rod from a different assailant. Said striker stumbled away, giving way for the towering Rengard to come in with his broadsword swinging out horizontally.

Her sword swung round, clashing with the massive weapon. A strike with enough force and with the churning of rocks, away sailed Elise through the air. Back she flew, uprooted by the hefty strike. And as she flew, so to did her sword, slashing outwards at the air- and from the blade of her weapon flew a crescent sword slash of light energy screaming through the air, carving right through the branches above the trio. Up they glanced with Rengard even grunting, all bolting away as an avalanche of wood and debris came raining down overtop their position.

“Tch- little brat!” Rengard spat, glancing ahead, his eyes widening, “Hrgh-!?”

Elise hovered in the air right in front of the brute, her left arm already wrapped around her shoulder and swinging right at the vampire’s throat.

“NRGH!”

CLANG!!

His feet ground to a halt, his right arm angled up and pulling his sword up in a bid to block. Elise’s sword slammed hard into the broad flat surface of Rengard’s sword dealing only a slight scratch to his cheek. From there she pulled away, kicking off of the side and launching backwards at Maja.

“MAJA, DODGE!”

The brooding woman looked back, watching as Elise again swung her arm. A good few meters from Maja’s position and out flew another slicing wave of energy damn well airborne.

“GRRRHA!”

One solid leap, taken at the absolute last second. Just as her feet reached a meter into the air that energy slash came screaming by just beneath, the rubber of the bottom of her feet being torn way. Maja’s weight brought her down, right at the time a SCHLUNG filled the air, followed by the crackle of wood and bark. One swift glance behind her proved exactly why, a tree falling right for Maja’s position.

“NEH!” she grunted, slamming her left foot to the ground and only her left.

Maja flew to the right, narrowly avoiding as the tree slammed down mere moments after. The branches crackled and splintered into the air near Elise’s position, raining down around. The collapse transpired right behind, and not so much as a flicker of concern had crossed her in that time.

The vamp looked up, her hooks slamming onto the ground. Across from Elise stood Rengard with his massive sword in hand, charging forward once again and swinging it down. The light warrior wasted no time, swinging her sword up and bracing, SLAM!! Down came the ax, or in this case the sword. The ground beneath her feet crackled and buckled away, the glow around her sword fading way slightly for only a few brief moments, one hand on her handle and the other on the back of the blade.

“{Hrgh- such force, with just the edge of his blade? His strength is ludicrous!}”

Rengard growled as he continued to press, placing both hands now upon the weapon. His body twitched and roared as he continued to apply force. All the while Elise’s legs buckled back; though not yet giving in. Her eyes flashed, her legs giving.

Onto her back she fell; though as she did a single kick was sent forward. From the bottom of her foot flew a light blast straight into Rengard’s gut, detonating in an instant. The howl of the muscle man rang out, the clang of his blade on the ground as he himself skidded back. The edge cleaved through rock and ground as it was drug along up until he stopped- whilst for Elise she was rolling from the blast’s smoke and spark cloud, on both feet and with a hand unto the ground. The brute blinked, seeing no sword in her hand… and then raising his free hand to his face, a fresh cut now appearing.

“Tch- fucking hell can this girl rock,” Rengard chuckled, standing up firm and raising his weapon as behind him the sword Elise had held was now planted in a tree.

Across from him to his right the ground split open, rock and dirt flying up into the air a few meters and splashing back down after, Sereena’s form pulling from the ground, “Guh why is that a good thing you chowder brain? Makes our job harder!”

“Bitch you love it when they squirm, don’t talk to me like you don’t! And why the bloody hell are you in the ground woman?!”

“Fuck you Ren, I don’t like getting slapped up with this shit!”

“Tch. Hell, there they go again,” Maja grumbled, looking from them to Elise.

“Well it’s not my fault if you can’t pull your damn wei- wei, wayyyy… guuuuuh-”

The hulking warrior groaned out, the end of his blade slamming down broadside to the ground as he himself dropped to one knee stumbling forward. One hand slammed down, allowing him to catch himself, spitting up a little afterwards. Vomit, or in this case only the diluted stomach acid, splashed up along his chin and on the ground in front of him. His eyes shook for a moment, his heaving intensifying briefly.

Both Maja and Sereena shot looks up, Maja’s stern and serious while Sereena’s was more confusion and a splotch of dread.

“What’s the matter over there Ren? Pick yourself up already, come on!” Sereena barked.

“Wh-what the ffffuck didja do to me?” he huffed.

“Hmph, so that’s how it is,” Maja murmured, taking the focus off the giant, “The light blasts from earlier stung but not enough to affect our core constitution, and the only damage dealt so far is-”

Blood trickled from both of the wounds on Rengard’s face, one to the left on the jaw and one to the right on the forehead.

“A poisoned blade, no doubt about it. Yet for it to work so fast- I find myself bewildered at that actually.”

“A special combination of different plant powders and other extracts. My two favorites are Hemlock and Wolfsbane- I’ll let you do the math on that one.”

“Hemlock alone wouldn’t be so lethal so suddenly, and Wolfsbane wouldn’t take something like us down on its own… unless whatever you’ve bolstered it with both accelerates and amplifies the effects. Most impressive Lightonian.”

“Heh, there are a couple things you’re only grasping at, and one thing you’re completely wrong on. But rather than reveal my secrets at the risk of you learning a flaw and exploiting it-” she spoke, bracing herself, “What I will say, is that I am no Lightonian.”

“Hoh? Well then, you are indeed interesting Elise Bakuuva, most interesting indeed,” Maja chuckled, “Though perhaps it is time we all stop messing around, what say you?”

Behind her, Rengard rose. His massive cleaver slammed into the ground, his silver eye glow beginning to turn orange, veins on his forehead practically popping out. As for Sereena, she merely flipped her hair back and once more picked up the rods. Maja on the flip side, stood with both hooks in hand, angled for attack. Elise was left on her own, without a weapon, standing as she did glancing around.

“You’ve only been playing around?”

“Oh yes. I’ll give you credit kid, that little toxin hurt for just a bit there,” Rengard chuckled.

“It’s pointless little brat. Your light and your poison, they mean nothing to the likes of us,” Sereena giggled.

“Heh, yeah, this has been fun kid; but I think it’s time to wrap this up. After all, we need to go hunt down those friends of yours and- *SCRUNCH* HUFFWAK!”

Blood sprayed from Rengard’s chest, it coated the broadsword that stuck out from it, it trickled back onto the arm and hand that held the weapon, and it clung on pretty damn well as the figure stepped up, “Well now loog’it what we’ve got ‘ere. Havin’ a round o’ fun without us again kid?”

“Heh,” Elise chuckled, eyes closed and turning her head away, “You always were good at making an entrance… Dante.”

And so it was that there, behind the impaled Rengard, stood Dante- his broadsword sticking through the brute vampire’s back and out the chest.