Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

While Lucius and Kalliope took on the Advance Rank fighters, Marie and the two Eroan beastmen rained down covering fire on the remaining warriors.

Most of them were Beginner and Intermediate Ranks, so they could not hold up to the strength of Marie's spells or to too many of the arrows from the Eroans.

Because of that, the covering group was able to keep the small fries off the backs of those holding off the more powerful opponents. Mia was grateful that it worked out this way and used the opportunity to shuffle among the battlefield to sneakily take out a few men herself.

Her sand-colored cloak and outfit that she received as a gift from Kalliope kept made her hard to pick out in the midst of a battle, especially in concert with her stealth skills. Though there was no shade and they were under the oppressive light of the desert sun, she was still able to maintain a surprising amount of stealth without the ability to use her dark magic.

She was still stuck using her daggers instead of the bow with which she was the most proficient, but this was the best plan for them.

Renton and Lynn traded blows with the Master Rank fighter several feet away from where Mia was currently hidden. She was awaiting an opening to come at the warrior from behind and finish him, but he was surprisingly aware of his surroundings.

Fighting against the two warriors was no problem for him and the speed with which he could block their simultaneous attacks was impressive. Spear Arts was a rather rare skill that someone possessed and for someone to have taken those abilities into the Master Rank was nothing less than impressive.

Renton slashed at the man with his axe with repeated overhead attacks, trying to overwhelm his defenses, while Lynn continuously aimed jabs and punches at his midsection and upper legs. With expert flicks of his wrist, the Spearman would block these attacks with the body of the weapon and deflect them away from himself to give space to block the next attack.

Renton and Lynn could only keep it up for so long because of the Ice Magic enchantment on the spear. Every single strike and block seemed to inflict damage and spat out a burst of cold air. These waves of Ice Magic were wearing her two allies down; Mia could see it in their faces.

Still, when everything in her told her to jump in and help, she held back and waited for the opening.

"[Axe Arts: Double Edge]!"

Mana whirled around Renton's axe and created a secondary cutting edge just in front of the axe itself. He swung at the enemy from the right with full force. Mia also noticed Renton's mark flash momentarily during the strike.

Renton's mark was the Feather Mark. He could make an object temporarily a fraction of it's normal weight and then return it to normal with a though. Using this with his massive axe allowed him to swing it with even more force, then after initiating the swing, increasing the weight of the weapon again while maintaining the same momentum.

This technique was exhausting for Renton, but it resulted in massively powerful attacks many times stronger than "what he would normally be capable of. With that, plus his Double Edge, the impact was not only stronger, but would hit twice in succession.

Renton's and Mia's faces broke out in surprise after the Spearman not only took the first hit without issue, he barely reacted to the second impact either. Both blows simply glanced off his spear.

"Nice attempt, but weak." He taunted. "[Spear Arts: Triple Thrust]"

Lynn jumped backwards to get out of the strike range and managed to avoid two rapid jabs from the spear that were both aimed at her torso. Renton cried out in pain as he took a hit to his upper arm. It was shallow, but ice began to form around the outside of the wound.

He was given no room to relax as their opponent followed up with additional strikes, the first was a thrust to Renton's head, which was easily dodged. However the follow up was a sweep of the feet with the rear of the spear.

Mia watched as Renton became airborne. The Spearman continued to follow the momentum of the sweep and spun in a full circle with the spear, striking Renton in the gut with the flat of the spearhead.

Spittle sprayed from Renton's mouth as reaction to the sudden impact. Mia took this opportunity to rush the man with her dagger out. Her Mark of Silence was already active, so she made no sound as she swiftly approached him from behind.

Unfortunately in her haste, she forgot to account for the fact that he could probably still smell her, on top of his rank and experience likely giving him a sixth sense in battlefield awareness.

Mia was barely able to duck under a thrust from the spear, which was made without him looking. Before he could turn around, Lynn rushed him as well.

"[Unarmed Arts: Flurry of Blows]"

Lynn's punches assailed their opponent faster than before, with each successive punch, her hands continued to speed up. Even to Mia, who was the same rank, could barely keep up with the blurs that were once her hands.

"You stubborn bitch…"

"Take this!" Lynn shouted in response as she landed one final blow straight on the Spearman's nose.

"Gah!"

"Hurgh!"

Mia watched in horror as the Spearman ran Lynn through the gut with a single hit. She felt her body become weak for a moment as she watched her friend's eyes go wide with shock at the realization. Then, Lynn smiled. The woman reached out her hand slowly and placed it on the shoulder of the Spearman.

"What? Going to congratulate me on killing you?" He sneered.

The mark on the back of Lynn's hand glowed. "Now Mia…"

The strength returned to her as Mia swiftly took advantage of the opportunity her friend sacrificed herself for.

"My sight! What'd you do?! Why cant I… Urgh!"

While the spearman began to panic, having damaged hearing from Lucius' spell, damaged smell from Lynn's strike on his nose, and now being blinded by Lynn's mark, Mia wrapped herself around his back like a snake.

"Die." She whispered as she sunk her dagger into his neck.

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