Cold steel smitten the snow as the last of the resistance fell to Uther Calum's overbearing attack. He swung at the open air, clearing the torn flesh away from his ax. The maginite ax was famous for being difficult to wield as it was to defend against. Only those with considerable might and stamina could hope to tame it. Uther then rode his steed over the remains of his conquered foes as he made his way back to camp. He had finally carved a hole in the heart of the village, managing to drag the Guston Captain to his knees. The man had some ability, he would admit, but all fell before the might of his ax. He had lost a few good men during this mission, but they were worthy sacrifices for what was to come. Ever since he was a boy, he had dreamed of glory on the Northern front. Yes, today he had finally accomplished it.

The villages between Gusto and Katar, although neutral, often suffered the highest amount of causalities. Since they were unable to defend themselves, Uther found it dishonorable to occupy the village. There was little honor in making poor farmers share their daily meal. Therefore, the camp was situated just outside one of these villages, surrounded by wooden pikes on all sides.

Uther's warhorse quickly entered the camp. Just behind him, his troops followed while the prisoners were dragged along the icy pathway by ropes tied to the horses. Quickly dismounting his horse and entering his tent, Uther removed his armor from his robust frame. He could feel the Guston flesh plastered all over his body and it crawled his skin. It was unsuitable for any upstanding highborn to be covered in rotting flesh, he always told himself.

"Where are the prisoners?" Uther asked the young guard just outside his tent after changing into his robes. "At, at the far end of the camp Captain," responded the guard with as much composure he could muster. Just as he was about to walk off, Uther heard a horse riding in the distance. The crunching sounds of the snow-filled plains as hoof stomped against it was difficult to ignore. He knew right away that a messenger from the Northern Keep was approaching. The messenger horses always had a specific rhythm to their strides, purposeful yet hurried. Uther often wondered how many others noticed these minor details the way he did.

"Captain, Milord Calum sends word!" shouted the messenger respectfully after dismounting. He quickly saluted then handed Uther the scroll before doing his best to catch his breath. Opening the scroll, Uther's indifferent face hardened just before causing the scroll to spontaneously combust. "Take me to the prisoners!" he shouted to the guard before taking off in the opposite direction.

---

One was the first to follow Khal out of the room after the awkward start to the morning. "Your control over your element is getting better I reckon," he said with a small chuckle. Ignoring him, Khal walked all the towards the rooms filled with the dead bodies. "What are you looking for?" One asked, not taking any offense to Khal's sour attitude. Khal continued searching, removing the clothes as well as the mask of every dead Spiderling until he found what he was looking for.

"Look here, these men were defeated without putting up a fight," Khal finally said. One stared at the Spiderlings inquisitively before trying to put the pieces together. "Wait, you don't mean-"

Suddenly a loud crash echoed outside. Alarmed, One quickly felt the vibrations around him before whispering to Khal, "Fuck, I count fifteen of 'em. Wait, we need a plan, oi!"

Khal rushed outside quickly, annoyed at himself. Directly in from of him, Kitten, Anvil, and Red were all on their knees, restrained. "Five right? Quick work you made of the Spiderlings here. I half expected them to win against you, but I guess One wasn't as injured as I would hope." Khal looked towards a lanky man in a neat blue shirt. His mask seemed more like a hood than anything else, hiding his face completely. His squeaky voice was partially muffled by the mask. Khal slowly sharpened his gaze and observed before paying the man no interest.

"When did you choose to ally yourself with them? Was it before our first meeting or after?" Khal asked as he directed his vision towards Anvil. Kitten's body jolted at Khal's accusation while Red looked on dumbfounded. The man in the blue shirt was about to reprimand Khal for ignoring him but stopped himself when he noticed Anvil's gaze. "Hmm, very astute, you might be the smartest of all the numbered." Anvil quickly stood up before quickly ripping his restraints to pieces.

The man in the blue shirt quickly nodded to Anvil before standing behind him, along with the rest of the Spiderlings. "When did you find out?" Anvil asked. "When you freed the Spiderling earlier. That was your blood cladding technique, right? There was no way he could have gotten loose otherwise," Khal said as he observed Anvil. He was a little more than surprised at the interaction the other Spiderlings had with Anvil.

"Ha ha! Is that so? Well allow me to reintroduce myself, I'm Two," Anvil responded confidently. Khal could tell that Two held a smirk below his mask, but he paid it no mind. "And those two?" Khal asked, pointing to Kitten and Red as he tried to control the shock in his voice. "Those weaklings? They were a means to an end," Two responded with disdain. "This is the Hollows, the greatest battleground for those who seek power." Two raised both arms in the air as he slowly made eye contact with his men. "Those without the willpower would never reach those heights. Now, Five, I will only ask this once. Join me and we will have our names soar to the heavens. The Black Recluse is changing, soon those who hold all the power here will be no more."

"So I've heard but how did you? Surely everyone here was brought without their knowledge."

Two chuckled creepily before responding to Khal, "Yes, that's usually the case. We're just pawns in the highborn games but even us pawns can attain power. Are you with me or against me?"

Khal instantly activated his cognizance, pushing it as far as possible around him. At the same time, One exit the room behind him. "The same offer stands for you One unless you're still not interested," Three blurted from behind Two.

One quickly nodded his head towards Khal, almost knowingly. He formed an earthen armor around his entire body, only leaving space for his eyes before cladding it completely. "His mind seems to be made up, what do you say Five?" Two asked quickly, less patient than before. Khal quickly used wind-walk towards Kitten and Red, cutting their restraints with a winded chop. He wasted no time before cutting down two of the Spiderlings around him. "Kill him!" Three shouted hysterically. The remaining Spiderlings quickly swarmed Khal, cutting off his escape.

Suddenly, spiked rocked hurled towards the group of Spiderlings, impaling a few and leaving most of them too injured to continue. Two and Three both used the bodies of the closest Spiderlings to shield themselves from the onslaught. Using the opening, Khal escaped from the encirclement back into the dirt room. He could sense a small projectile approaching with his cognizance, but it was too fast to evade. Unexpectedly a sharp pain radiated from his shoulder just as he entered the room. "Fuck!" He screamed in agony. He touched the area on his shoulder and removed a long, spiked substance that instantly dissolved in his hand. Blood? He thought to himself as the red tinge coated his hand. He quickly looked around to notice that both Kitten and Red had already made their way to the room with him. One, however, was still outside hurling boulders and spikes towards the Spiderlings.

Applying pressure to his injured shoulder, Khal panicked when he remembered how many opportunities Two had to kill him. He must be powerful to be so confident... Khal thought. It was without a doubt a difficult situation but Khal knew that he had also grown. He was no longer the little child at Saddleback Road when he fought Tal. No, he was much stronger now and more decisive than before. He clenched his fist then realized just how sweaty has palms had become. "Kitten, Red, lend me your strength. One won't last long out there on his own. Right now, he's overusing his spirit power to buy us time." Both Kitten and Red stared outside dumbfounded at One's abilities.

One's armor granted him complete protection from anything Two or Three could throw at him. Two's blood cladding as well as Three's cladded arm were both mysterious but couldn't offer much offensive power to take out One. Khal watched on, but he could see the exhaustion setting in and sooner or later One would die.

Wrapping his shoulder tightly with his shirt, Khal then turned and screamed, "I said we need to help him! Pull yourself together! If he dies, we die!" Kitten was the first to be jolted back to reality. Collecting herself, she nudged Red before they both turned towards Khal. "What would you have us do?" she asked pleadingly.

"Have you gone crazy? What can we do in a fight like this?" Red interjected dispiritedly.

"Relax, it's all of us against the two of them. One can only last for another minute or two. If we can kill Three, then we might survive this."

Khal didn't wait for any response from the two, instead, he slowly stepped outside. The first thing he noticed was that the hallway was barely recognizable. Majority of the rooms had even collapsed from the boulders. A few meters away, Two and Three were panting as they faced a near impenetrable One. Two stood behind Three, throwing cladded droplets of blood towards One which penetrated only momentarily. Khal focused on Three. He had a giant arm made from some sort of cladding technique that Khal was unfamiliar with. Strange, he was able to keep One's attacks at bay while Two countered almost instantly.

Khal wind-walked towards Three quickly before swinging a wind-palm towards his back. Although the man noticed him and even cladded, he was still forced forward because of the air pressure. Three slammed into the wall before One quickly followed up with some boulders towards his direction. Having no other choice than to protect him, Two quickly crushed all the rocks with his blood cladding, allowing Three to orient himself. "Get up! One is almost out of Spirit Power!" Two screamed.

Suddenly, Kitten stomped out with her light embedded kick towards Three, forcing the man to defend with his giant-sized left hand. Red used the opportunity to attack with his cladded fist but was interrupted by the blood needles headed his way. Dodging the attack, Red failed to notice Two's approach. His cladded fist was sliced cleanly with a sharp instrument before he was kicked a meter away. Red squealed vehemently as he clenched his stump with his only remaining hand. Two charged at Red to finish him off but was forced to defend against the multitude of rocks headed his way. He scoffed at being forced back but still managed to send a few more blood needles towards Red.

Noticing Red's screaming, Khal shifted his attention to Two, only for his eyes to dilate in shock. The first thing he saw was a long, thin blade made of blood. What was worse was the barely noticeable color of his cladding, pale red. Khal knew that even he needed a few more months before his cladding was 2nd class. Fuck, we should have run when we had the chance, there is no way we could win, he thought to himself.

Khal quickly wind-walked in front of Red before enveloping the needles with wind element. Without a moment's notice, the needles were launched towards Two, twice as fast as they came. Khal knew the attack wouldn't work, he quickly grabbed the nearest spiked rock and dashed towards Two. Cladded in a viscous orange, he slashed with all the power he could muster. Two quickly dissipated the needles before blocking Khal's rushing attack.

"It's still too early for you to face me!" Two screamed as he tried to slice the rock in half. Two was surprised as his blade only cut halfway into the rock before Khal followed up with a wind palm to his ribs. Khal watched as the man's body jolted towards the wall but surprisingly his blood blade warped around one of the rocks, decelerating the impact. Shit, even Master Copper's Trace technique can't make up for the difference in power, Khal thought to himself as he looked at his weapon.

Two kicked off the wall forcefully before cutting his wrists, drawing out more of his blood. He formed twin swords before cladding it completely and charging towards Khal. He closed the distance quickly, slashing with both blades. Khal's reaction time was much faster, he embedded his wind into the cladded spike before sending a crushing blow towards Two's exposed head. The spike cut through the air without much resistance while Khal tried his best to maintain his focus on his Trace technique.

Two released the twin blades suddenly, causing them to deform into maces that quickly sped ahead. Khal heard a crunching sound as the attack crushed the spike into pieces, raising a dust cloud to block his vision. Two then sent a blood needle into Khal's chest, causing a popping sound on contact. The pain was excruciating but Khal refused to look away. He knew that Two would be more dangerous if he allowed him to fight the others. He only hoped that they could defeat Three quickly before coming to his aid.

Khal took a step back as he inhaled deeply. Shit, he punctured my right lung, Khal thought to himself. His shoulder and now his lung, Khal felt an ominous feeling of death approaching. It was the first time he really felt the pressure of dying. 10 months had gone by, and although he had managed to survive till now, his limits had never been tested. He tightened his stance and doubled his focus. He used his Trance technique on his only lung, maximizing its effort before using the technique on his fists and feet. Fully cladding his fists, he wind-walked towards Two, preparing to give a final bout. Wind-walk was a difficult technique to control once it was already in motion, Khal was yet to figure out the intricacies of his technique to perform it repeatedly. He controlled the wind element around his body, changing the wind pressure to maximize his speed. He believed that if he couldn't win with power then he would win with ingenuity.

It was the first time he really tried to see how much he could really do with his elementum powers. Although he could feel the wind pressure slowly slipping from his control, it was enough to cover the short distance between him and Two. He swung directly towards Two's neck, aiming to finish it in one blow. Two's reaction time was a little too slow to grasp Khal's attack so instead, he created a blood shield in front of himself. Khal's attack crashed directly into the shield, denting it in the process.

Two stared on, shocked at what he was seeing. Where did he get this power? He thought to himself as he watched Khal's bloodshot eyes. It was unheard of for a 3rd class cladding to clash head to head with a 2nd class as Khal was doing. Two knew he had to kill him now else this fight would no longer be in his control. Just as he was about to make his move, the earth shook suddenly, obstructing his aim. Khal quickly evaded the attack before creating enough space between himself and Two.

Distracted by the shockwave, Khal looked over to see One's armor shattering, emitting a popping sound while a large dust cloud took the form of the entire hallway. It took a few minutes for the dust to settle before Kitten and Red slowly limped away. Khal could see One's exhausted face as he held on to the wall. His labored breathing proving that he gave everything he had. Three, however, couldn't be located easily. Khal had to squint and survey patiently before he saw Three impaled through the mouth on the opposite wall, his hood no longer hiding what little remained of his face.

"Boyd!" Two yelled as he stared at the sight. "You'll pay for this!" He hysterically tore the flesh off his chest with his cladded hands with abandon. Instead of gushing down his clothes, the blood rolled up both of his arms before forming sharp tentacles. He then rushed towards One, lashing out with his powerful attacks. Khal realizing that this was his change, also rushed forward with his techniques towards Two's exposed back. One looked on in exhaustion as Two approached. The crazed man was no longer holding back but there was little One could do. He was just about to close his eyes and welcome his faith when he suddenly stretched out his hand and shouted, "Wait!"

Just as Khal was within reach of Two, four tentacles suddenly turned towards him at a blinding speed, giving him little chance to react. They stabbed him through the heart, almost ripping his chest completely open. Khal fell to the floor instantly, grabbing his chest as he stared at the blood rushing out of him. He looked on confused, he no longer heard One's voice as Two ripped One's defenseless body to shreds. The pressure of death no longer seemed so important. Khal knew he had done his best, he had done what any great warrior should. He slowly closed his eyes before his face fell flat on the dirt.