KINETIC

One floor below Nila and Leo's rooms were Cain, Clay and Rene. Clay and Cain had their back towards each other, each facing a different end of the hallway. Between them was Rene, she was visibly shaking but did her best to maintain her composure.

A trickle of blood was rolling down Cains forehead and over his left eye as he stared at the person he was facing, A cultist wearing the usual cloak and mask.

At the opposite end of the hallway Clay had his own Cultist to face as well. Cain and Clay were each breathing heavily from the fighting they had endured thus far.

"Don't be so... scared, Rene. We won't... let them touch you." Clay said amidst his panting.

The Cultist facing Cain let out a low chuckle "We won't kill the girl, no no no, she's more useful alive. There are many uses for a female slave... Especially one so beautiful."

Rene's knees buckled and she fell to the floor. The thought of being used for 'that' brought back memories of her time in Trents room, causing her legs to go numb from fear.

As she fell, Cain and Clay each turned slightly in her direction out of worry, it was at this moment that the Cultist opposite Cain attacked. He lifted his hands and a sword flew towards Cain from the cultists side. As it arrived near Cain, the sword swung in a horizontal motion towards his neck.

Cain was slow to react and pulled back at the last second, luckily he had lightened his body beforehand so his speed was slightly increased. The blade missed his neck by a hairs length and continued to spin and attempt a vertical strike while Cain was off balance.

He rolled to the side and the sword smashed into the floor, destroying a section of the wood. The sword seems to move on it's own, but upon closer inspection, Cain was able to notice the sword moving in correlation with the Cultists hand movements.

'He's controlling the sword using an ability. He's too far away for me to attack him! I have to get closer if I want to do anything. If I can just land a single hit...' Cain was thinking of different ways to approach the cultist without being stabbed in the back by a floating sword, but eventually he stopped thinking about the what ifs and did what he does best.

' Charge in and rely on my instincts!' Cain pushed forwards off the ground, causing the floor boards to bend and creak from the force. He lifted one of his hammers to strike at the cultist once he reached a closer distance.

The cultist pulled his hand back and flicked it to the side, as he did, the sword moved between himself and Cain with speed and swung down diagonally towards Cains shoulder and neck.

Cain changed his attack and used the momentum of his hammer to strike at the sword. The weapons collided and a loud clanging sound was heard, the sword stopped dead as the hammer was pushed backwards, pulling Cains arm back with it and forcing him to slide back on his feet to stabilize himself.

The force of the collision traveled through Cains arm, making his bones ache. 'What the... How is it so strong! If I didn't move back with my arm, I would've broken my shoulder from the force!' Cain shouted internally as the pain was throbbing inside his arm and shoulder.

***

While Cain was busy on his end, Clay had his own opponent to deal with. When Cain was attacked, Clay didn't hesitate and charged towards the cultist. The cultist stood in a defensive stance, holding a dagger in each hand with the blades pointing down.

Clay threw out a punch, increasing the size of his arm as he did. Not only did it become wider, but it grew in length as well, giving him almost double the reach.

As his punch was about to connect, Clay's arm suddenly stopped and his body froze. In that moment the cultist slashed at Clay's arm with each of his daggers, leaving two deep cuts along the forearm.

As the pain hit, Clay's body reacted and he pulled his arm back out of instinct, reverting it to its normal size at the same time. Blood was pouring out the wounds and the wooden floor was being stained red by the second.

'What just happened?! I was about to hit him but... My body just froze...' Clay was feeling an intense pain running through his arm, making it difficult to move. Suddenly, there was a dull golden light coming from behind him and his arm started to feel less pain. When looking down, the cuts on his arm were closing and the blood stopped pouring out.

"I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do from a distance!" Rene called out from behind him. Her body was shaking and she was still on her knees, but her voice was steady and her eyes showed determination.

"Thank you! I really needed that." Clay said as he smiled, keeping his eyes on the cultist. The cultist clicked his tongue "That girl is a healer... How annoying! No matter, she can heal you as many times as she wants, all she'll be doing is prolonging your suffering."

"What do you want with Leo!? What's your reason for trying to capture him!?" Clay shouted as he raised his fists in a boxer like stance.

"Why would I tell you anything? I'd be wasting my breath on a soon to be corpse. Just give up and die!" The cultist shouted and began charging forward.

'I need to try defending this time. Attacking didn't work out well for me and doing the same thing twice while expecting a different result is the height of madness.' Clay thought to himself as he prepared to counter attack.

The cultist flipped his daggers so the blades faced upwards and lunged forwards with one of them. Clay raised his arm and increased its size in an attempt to hit the cultists arm away.

Just as their arms were meant to connect, Clay felt something strange affecting him and his body once again froze in place. The cultist brought his back foot forwards and changed the arm he was lunging with. He thrusted his dagger under Clay's arm and stabbed him in the stomach. All the while Clay could do nothing but watch as the dagger pierced his body.

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