The night of the Null Sons rally was far from over, the storm still going strong, and Liza and Leah were still in a bit of a chase, their chosen opponent leaping from wall to wall to scale the buildings and run on the roofs with Liza and Leah following from street level…

This was because Liza could mimic those movements, but Leah could not, her physical abilities as a Sage were the lowest in the class, about as strong as a low-rank three Star Sage in physical ability despite being a top-ranked three Star Sage.

“Liza, I’ll give you a boost, you go up!” Leah offered, and Liza looked to her, and then frowned.

Liza could admit, logically, it made sense, but a part of Liza didn’t want to leave Leah behind.

“Don’t worry, just stop her long enough for me to join!” Leah didn’t know why Liza was being hesitant, but Liza finally nodded reluctantly.

“Alright.” Liza added, feeling the boosting Spell take place, increasing her speed and shielding her from the rain apparently.

Liza used her new speed to lean forward, increasing her pace while summoning Nirvana into her hands, running parallel to the wall of a building before she jumped, running along the side of the wall and then kicking off, flipping against the building on the opposite side of the street, continuing her run while holding her momentum.

Leah stared at the feat of physical ability with awe and a not so small amount of envy… she could certainly run long distances, and at a reasonable pace, but Leah just couldn’t keep up with any of her classmates in this regard.

The Rogue Sage heard the loud steps of Liza, splashing as they were on the puddles left on the roofs once Liza managed to vault onto the roofs themselves, and looking behind her, the Rogue Sage cursed loudly, waving an arm back, a large amount of leaves bursting from her hands as a smokescreen of sorts.

It was an impressive tactic, Liza could admit, but with a bit of intense focus and leaping forward, Liza appeared to ‘glitch’ in reality, blurring and reappearing on the other side of the leaf barrier, the Rogue Sage staring wide eyed at the action.

No doubt, a confusing thing to see, and not one that Liza used often, but what Liza was essentially going was ‘skipping frame’s’ of an action.

To do this move, Liza had to initiate an action, and then select an amount of Time to ‘skip’ and then she would do so.

The limitations of this movement ability were many, though they were lessening as she grew in strength, at her current power, Liza could only ‘skip’ a couple of seconds into her own future.

And that was another issue of the move, she was ‘skipping’ into the future, while it was instantaneous to others and her own perception, Liza could feel that her physical body was undergoing change as if those seconds were taking place.

If Sages did not have extended lifespans, Liza’s own techniques would kill her, taking of her lifespan as they did… it was why she seemed so lazy outside of fights, focusing her own power on slowing down her own aging further, to make up for the negative effects of her power.

The Rogue Sage obviously knew none of this, no way some random Rogue Sage would know about a Time Sage when only one was confirmed to exist in the world.

All she knew was that Liza had been behind her leaf barrier, she was going to prepare an attack to stop Liza while Liza was blinded, and instead, she found Liza much closer than she was before.

The Rogue Sage was only barely able to get an arm in the way, knocked off the roof and to the street by a swing of Nirvana, flipping and landing on her feet while cradling her arm for a moment.

“The fuck was that?” The Rogue Sage cursed, looking up to where Liza was, then taking a step back, a blade of Wind almost cutting her where she stood, realizing that she was being chased by two Sages.

“A three Star Wind Sage, and a four Star… Light Sage? No…” The Rogue Sage mumbled, still uncertain as to what exactly was going on with Liza, as if Liza really was a Light Sage, there would have been an accompanying ‘flash’ of Light to signify her Element.

White light, the Light Element, blue light, the Lightning Element, just to be clear there.

“What Element I have, is none of your concern. Stand down.” Liza warned, landing on the street with a crunch, her gauntlets and greaves shining from the light of the nearby street-lights and from the rain, a hood appearing and covering her dual-coloured hair.

“I refuse, you upright little shits don’t know anything about what we’re doing, or why.” The Rogue Sage complained, raising a hand and summoning a pair of clawed gauntlets with a lacquered exterior, clawed greaves as well… clearly, she would fight rather than go quietly.

Leah blinked, acknowledging that they didn’t know why the murders were happening… only knowing that something weird was going on, considering they had come to stop a Null Sons rally from getting violent, only to encounter Rogue Sages pretending to be executioners for Null Sons?

Something wasn’t adding up.

“Regardless, we have our orders to stop you. The moral implications come later.” Liza once more spoke, and Leah couldn’t help biting her lip as she looked over at Liza taking charge of the situation…

Looking at the odd glances, the Rogue Sage had no idea what was going on between these two girls, but she couldn’t go quietly.

“Yeah, ignore what’s really going on… typical.” The Rogue Sage crouched, her greaves digging into the ground and Liza moved, placing herself between the Rogue Sage and Leah immediately, Nirvana blocking the drop kick launched by the Rogue Sage.

With effort, Liza pushed back, throwing the Rogue Sage into the air, the Rogue Sage twirling in the air, and Liza widened her eyes, tilting her head, feeling a streak of pain along her cheek, followed by the known sensation of blood flowing down her cheek.

“Oh? You saw that? You’re lucky, most die the first time I do that…” The Rogue Sage said, her mask disappearing beneath a helmet, the helmet possessing two points similar in nature to a cat’s ears.

“You… your Clad is armour… but your Armament, it’s those.” Liza noted, bringing a thumb up to her cheek, focusing some of her power and accelerating her healing, the bleeding stopping and scabbing over in a moment.

What ‘those’ Liza was referring to, were the ‘claws’ of the Rogue Sage, the gauntlets and greaves alike had four claws, and one had flown past Liza’s cheek, attached to the gauntlet by a thin but sharp piece of wire most likely…

Or considering the girl was a Wood Element Sage, it was more likely that it was a super thin vine with some method of cutting, microscopic thorns perhaps?

Anything could happen with Sages after all.

“Just because you know, it doesn’t mean you win.” The Rogue Sage, who Liza was considering calling ‘Cat’ until the fight was over, said, and Liza and Leah could both admit that Cat had a point…

But, Liza was still the blind-spot for the Rogue Sage, being the stronger of the two, and her Element still unknown.

This fight would be continued, but at the same time as this fight was beginning, Vince and Jade had managed to track down their own target, the Rogue Sage slowing down to a stop in a park, leaving the duo of three Star Sages to slow down as well.

“…I need to ask, but is this a joke?” the Rogue Sage had a synthesized voice, Vince and Jade expected this though…

“Oh? Why would you think that?” Vince asked, Jade at his side raising Lumiere in preparation for the fight while Vince held his Komorebi in his hands, twirling them.

“I’m a four Star Sage… granted, I’m a Fire Sage in the middle of what is essentially a low-key monsoon, but still, I’m a four Star Sage. Both of you are not only three Stars, but one of you is even using guns as weapons.” Jade winced, already knowing that Vince was getting pissed…

But, this was a serious situation, Vince wouldn’t fly off the handle just because his favoured weapons were looked down upon. It was the standard view of the world after all.

“So, you think it’s a joke? That two three Star Sages could hunt down a four Star Sage?” Jade spoke, knowing that Vince was a moment from cursing at the Rogue Sage, and possibly a few generations of said Rogue Sage’s family.

“If it’s not a joke, then it’s arrogance on your part… that, or heavily underestimating me. Both are annoying.” The Rogue Sage raised a hand, unclipping his cloak, showing a form fitting body suit, clearly lined with bits of armour, before he raised his hand to his side, a flame growing from his hands.

A ‘spear’ like weapon appeared, but it definitely wasn’t a spear, possessing a curved blade which curled in on itself almost… now, which ‘spear’ type weapon this was, Vince was a bit lost on… Jade wasn’t.

“It’s a bardiche. It’s basically an axe on a spear shaft.” Jade dumbed down her explanation slightly, Vince just nodding to her before focusing back on their shared opponent…

“It isn’t that simple, but sure, call it an ‘axe on a spear shaft’… whatever. I guess I’ll just kill the two of you.” The Rogue Sage seemed to shrug, lightly tossing his weapon upwards, and catching it by the end of the shaft…

Then swinging it downwards, a haze of heat surrounding the edge of his weapon prompting Jade and Vince to dodge in opposite directions as a wave of Fire blasted the section where both had been standing a moment ago.

“I think you’re going to find it difficult to kill us, Rogue Sage.” Vince growled out, hunching forward and spreading his feet slightly, getting ready to move as required as he raised his Komorebi, two blasts of Light already hurtling towards the Rogue Sage.

“Hmph…” the Sage scoffed, spinning his weapon and deflecting both bullets of Light.

“Being called Rogue Sage would be annoying. The name is William.” The Rogue Sage added, Fire crackling against the rain, wreathing William in a haze of orange and red…

An Aura type Clad most likely, what it did was unknown, but that didn’t bother Vince or Jade…

With a shared glance, Jade had a form fitting breastplate form out of interlocking bands of metal, her hands covered in gloves which kept the ‘interlocking’ theme, veins of white Light going throughout the armour.

Vince on the other hand, shone for a moment, the scent of the forest could be smelt if one got close enough, and his eyes narrowed in an animalistic manner…

And then there was a burst of movement, Vince shooting at William, strafing as he did so, the Rogue Sage sweeping his weapon in front of him and sending a wave of Fire at Vince in return, the Aura surrounding the Rogue Sage flaring up at the impacts of the bullets around his legs and shoulders, no shots hitting his head or chest.

Vince’s eyes narrowed as he ducked, the rain combining with the wave of Fire to give a burst of steam above him, leaving Vince to grimace at the feeling of heat above him, pushing off of the ground and jumping backwards.

Jade wasn’t idle, throwing the dagger of her Lumiere at William from the side, watching with narrowed eyes as the dagger seemed to shift off its flight path slightly the closer it got to William.

The Rogue Sage was a bit delayed in moving, but he managed to dodge the dagger after a moment, his eyes widening as he leapt back when he noticed the dagger halt in mid-air and squirm.

William was lucky he had moved back, with a blade bomb centred on the dagger appearing, two particularly larger blades reaching out like pincers to try and cut him in half, with William using the haft of his weapon to push himself even further out of reach.

Vince watched the dodge with narrowed eyes, knowing that this fight wasn’t entirely a battle of strength, but more of strategy.

Yes, William was a four Star Sage to their three Stars, but Jade and Vince had the advantage of the rain weakening Fire, as well as the fight being a two on one situation.

As it were, William’s advantages were his physical strength/durability, and the lack of knowledge of his Aura.

For Vince and Jade, their advantages were the aforementioned teamwork, and that Vince’s Aura was also unknown, and as a smaller advantage, when it came to range, Vince had the fight under control.

Realizing this, Vince immediately turned and ran, William seeing the action and dashing after Vince, keen to attack the ‘open’ back of the weaker Sage.

“Halt.” William was forced to a stop, not by the words themselves, but by the trench dug into the ground, the flash of light cutting past where his foot would have landed, had he not felt the attack coming on.

“You would let your partner run so easily? Do you believe you can survive against me alone?” William asked, sceptical of the entire situation, but still reacting with a swing of his weapon towards Jade’s direction, the burst of Fire erupting from the weapon doing its job of keeping Jade from closing distance.

“He might seem flaky from time to time, but I have no doubt that man is only moving for victory. As for whether or not I will survive… well.” Jade spoke, a twirl of her Lumiere calling the previously created Blade Bomb to act as a shield for her, the Fire splashing uselessly against the wall of Metal.

The moment the burst was negated, the metal flowed, appearing liquid in state as it clung close to Jade, clearly not a Clad, yet acting very similarly to one, the ‘flowing’ of the armour and rain giving Jade the appearance of a regal painting.

If that was done subconsciously, William would be surprised.

“Instead of surviving, what if I just defeated you without my partner?” Jade asked, eyes narrowed and soft, dangerous smile for all who looked to see.

William, Jade and Vince would continue their fight, as there was still quite a ways until its conclusion… but elsewhere, a fight was approaching the moments of completion.

Leah and Liza were still fighting Cat, the Wood Rogue Sage possessing much higher ability to manoeuvre with her wire-claws acting as grappling hooks.

The Rogue Sage often and frequently would hack and slash at Liza, the younger Sage blocking with Nirvana when she had to, otherwise dodging and countering.

These counters would be dodged through a combination of Cat’s flexibility and her Armament, twisting and turning through some of Liza’s more complex attacks before using her wire-claws to dart out of the way when a difficult to dodge attack came.

Liza and Cat were not equal though, in skill or power, but Leah’s presence was evening the playing field.

Cat dodged the latest attack with a groan of annoyance, her Armament pulling her towards the wall of a nearby building, the Rogue Sage looking at Liza and Leah with a frown.

Both individually, Cat could defeat, but with both, Cat was having some issues… logic dictated that Cat should take out Leah, the weaker link…

But that was one of the first things that Cat tried, and that was met with Leah herself suddenly moving at high speed in a manner reminiscent of Liza’s movements, letting Cat know that it wasn’t something limited to only the monochrome girl.

But, it was still clear that something was going on there… Liza did nothing but attack with her Armament, moving quickly aside, Cat had not seen a hint of elemental manipulation from Liza.

In the opposite direction was Leah, who was flinging Spells around, blocking any attacks that Liza couldn’t block by herself, or attacking Cat in conjunction with Liza, which would then force Cat to use her claws to escape…

Cat couldn’t even use her Element correctly, despite the advantageous weather, because Leah could apparently control both Wind and Water, and in a storm at that?

The only thing that could make Leah any more dangerous in the current situation would be if she had a Lightning Element as well. Any time that Cat tried to grow something with her Wood Element they’d be cut down almost immediately by blades of Wind or knocked down by a burst of Water.

“The two of you are really annoying. That aside, I really have to ask…” If physical and elemental attacks were both not working… she’d have to try mental.

“What’s with the weird dynamic between you two? Staff girl gives orders and wand girl just hops to deliver? But wand girl is worthless and needs to be carried by staff girl…” Liza and Leah both stiffened slightly at the words, Cat seeing the minute twitches as a hint of deeper weakness.

“I really have no idea why you two would be fighting together… After all, you both seem to have some issues with one another.” Cat added, wanting to dig deeper into the ‘wound’ but not having the information that would give her that clarity.

“T-t-there’s no issue-” Leah tried to defend them, interrupted by Liza slamming her staff against the floor, leaving cracks on the concrete.

“Leah. You’re feeding her ammunition.” Liza stated, Leah immediately flinching at the rebuke.

Cat sought to immediately point out the lop-sided nature of that interaction, but before she could Liza had already continued speaking.

“That being said, there are issues. Don’t deny them Leah.” Liza spoke, knuckles whitening from how hard she was clenching Nirvana, seeing what Cat was attempting to do, drive a rift between Liza and Leah, lower their teamwork ability.

“B-b-but…” Leah muttered, looking to the floor, Cat about to move to take advantage of her seeming vulnerability-

And suddenly Cat winced, body freezing up as a flare of pain arose from her arm, as if it was being dug into… it wasn’t even entirely that painful, more the suddenness of it that forced her into staying still.

The only hint to what could be happening was that one of the rings on Liza’s staff shone, the other three clanging as usual.

“Dukkha… suffering. Now keep out.” Liza added, pointing her staff at Cat, the Rogue Sage gritting her teeth behind her mask, already identifying that it was some effect of Liza’s Armament.

“Leah… Let me guess the two worries.” Liza spoke, and Leah gulped, reminded that while Liza was normally quiet, it was when she wasn’t that one would realize why Liza was to be listened to.

Edward was the ‘leader’ of their class, but it was solely because Liza kept quiet most of the time. In essence, the true leader of the S-Class was the small girl holding a staff taller than she was.

“You’re worried that you’re being a burden to me. And you are also worried that I hate you.” Cat, not knowing the politics of their classroom, wouldn’t realize why the two points were separate.

For Leah, it was clear though… and true.

Leah was worried that she was being a burden in this fight, Liza taking charge, and clearly not chasing and attacking Cat as well as she could, needing to stick close to Leah to help her escape Cat’s attacks.

And Leah was worried that Liza hated her, because Leah was dating Kazuya… it was a silly worry during a fight, such a small thing compared to fighting for your life…

But a worry was a worry. Regardless of weight and situation, worries were just that, something weighing a person down, leaving pressure on their mind.

“We’re a bit busy with this fight, but we will talk after… just know that, if anything, I feel that I am holding you back.” Leah widened her eyes, clearly disbelieving of the words.

“I know what you’re capable of Leah. Don’t worry, go all out.” Liza added, looking back to Cat, the Rogue Sage dropping from the wall, rolling her arm in annoyance, but the ring on Nirvana, referring to Dukkha, was dimming, clearly Liza stopping the power.

Dukkha was more powerful the more blows Liza landed on the opponent, but against Cat, she had only managed to land one blow in the entire fight, so it was worth little.

Dukkha had to be used very few times early in a fight, or else the opponent could get used to the phantom pains, ignoring them to continue fighting.

“Wow, there’s more packed in there than I thought… but if you think that three Star Sage can take me out, you’re delusional staff girl.” Cat spoke, clearly still annoyed that the sudden application of Dukkha.

“If you think she is the weaker one between the two of us… you’re even more delusional than I.” Liza responded, shaking Nirvana about, the Khakkara rings clattering together, one of the rings beginning to glow.

Seeing the ring glow, Cat and Leah both narrowed their eyes, one wondering at the effect, the other realizing what had to be done.

Cat rushed Liza, the monochrome haired girl running towards Cat in return, and with a swing of Liza’s Nirvana, a second ring began to glow… and once it shown as brightly as the first, Liza disappeared.

Cat was left wide eyed, having to cross her arms in front of her face as a blade of Wind knocked into her gauntlets, leaving her sliding back slightly.

It was as she slid back that Cat realized where Liza had gone, ending up behind Cat, taking a swing at the Rogue Sage.

It was all Cat could do to jump, flipping backwards and over Liza, the younger Sage twisting Nirvana until the staff head was planted into the ground, pushing off to kick at Cat in mid-air.

Cat’s gauntlets hit Liza’s greave covered feet, giving Cat even greater lift from the recoil… and seemingly leaving her in the air for Leah to take a swing at with a whip made of Water.

Cat’s claw-wires were still a thing though, allowing her to pull herself out of the attack just barely, landing back on the ground with a deep breath for air, the rough movements taxing due to being whipped around by her own Armament.

Liza landed with a light touch for having metallic boots covering her feet, the smaller Sage removing Nirvana from where it had dug into the ground, two of the rings still glowing brightly.

“Magga. Path.” Liza spoke calmly, and just from the terms, Cat had an idea of what was going on… one of those glowing rings allowed Liza to move so suddenly behind Cat… and another gave her pain, the suffering ring.

That left two that Cat did not know the abilities of.

If the Rogue Sage had any idea of the four noble truths of Buddhism, she might have had an idea of what was to come.

As it was, Cat was left blindsided when Leah suddenly called out, her wand raised to the air… and there was a dome of water surrounding Cat and Liza.

“Atmospheric Lock!” Leah called, Liza smirking even as the air within the bubble rapidly thinned out, being vented through the water, Cat gasping as her body was suddenly deprived of the much needed oxygen.

Cat didn’t speak, instead staring at Liza, shocked that Leah would catch Liza in this attack as well… and seeing the white and black haired girl lifting Nirvana, the base of the staff resting against her palm, the staff horizontal with the point aiming at Cat…

Then the third ring glowed, and Cat winced, more pain flaring in her arm once more, and finally the fourth glowed along as Liza pushed her weapon, Nirvana hurtling at Cat point first.

“Samudaya… Cause.” Liza’s mutter was difficult to hear, with the rapidly diminishing air to leave her words audible, but it was heard nonetheless, as Cat felt herself unable to move her feet to escape…

Cat was trapped, no doubt an effect of that Samudaya ability… Cause?

Liza wouldn’t explain it to an enemy, but Samudaya was an ‘aggro’ ability of sorts, forcing an opponent affected by Dukkha to be unable to run away from Liza until she was affected by an equivalent pain to what was caused by Dukkha.

If Liza had broken an opponent’s arm, Samudaya would leave them unable to move away from Liza until they broke her arm in turn… or caused equivalent pain, again.

But Cat would not realize this, oxygen deprived, feeling her lungs expanding as the vacuum around her attempted to pull the oxygen from her very lungs, tired, exhausted, suddenly feeling pain, and getting attacked…

Cat panicked, and when one panics, one normally runs away from the cause of the panic... or breaks down.

Cat, in her favour, did not break down… but she could not run, raising a hand to try and stop the staff, still staring at Liza, who was no doubt feeling pain as she was…

Then Liza mouthed something, and vanished once more, surprising Cat who was still ready to block Nirvana… but even the staff was suddenly gone.

The powers could be activated without holding the staff?

The lack of air prevented the word from being spoken, but what Liza had said was the final of the four noble truths she had access to.

Nirodha, ending. What that particular one did was rewind Liza to wherever she initially activated the technique… it was the one she used when Leah had finally allowed herself to use the Atmospheric Lock without worrying for Liza’s safety.

There were, of course, limitations to Nirodha. Liza couldn’t keep the ability active for longer than one minute, Liza had to be in a heavily disadvantageous situation, suffocating and without a weapon for example, and the other three truths had to have been used during the one minute duration of Nirodha.

It was easy to activate all three of the other truths for Liza, the problem for her was the duration and the ‘disadvantaged’ drawbacks, but with Leah around, it was actually easier than expected to meet those requirements.

The end result was that Cat passed out shortly after Liza reappeared outside of the Atmospheric Lock, gasping for air greedily.

“See… what I mean?” Liza complained, hands on her knees as she breathed, giving a side glance to Leah who was too busy concentrating on her technique to answer or notice.

“You’re stronger than you think…” Liza finally mumbled, watching as the Atmospheric Lock was slowly disengaged once Leah realized that Cat was truly unconscious.

That was another victory for the second year S-Class, proof of their skill.

Vince and Jade, without any confirmation from their classmates, already assumed their victory, and were determined to win along with their teammates.

“You… are definitely stronger than you should be.” William complained, looking at the tired, bruised form of Jade, not entirely free of injuries himself.

A cut here and there, a welt on his stomach where a boot impacted, William was definitely injured, but he was clearly in a better situation than Jade.

“I’ll take the compliment.” Jade responded, still glaring at William even with the burns along her arms, as well as the splotches of red left behind by cuts that were cauterized as they were made.

It was pain, hellish pain for someone who grew up pampered like Jade…

But Jade knew that this was also the reality of one that was a Sage, and that just because she would rather be anywhere else other than here, this was the reality of the situation.

“And I underestimated the annoyance your teammate could be.” It was another admittance from William, the Rogue Sage glaring at a vine wrapped around his ankle, thorns attempting to dig in and barely puncturing his skin.

But ‘barely’ still meant it was working, and with a slight amount of focus the thorns were burnt away, leaving William wiggling his ankle for a moment, secure in the knowledge that his mobility wasn’t heavily impacted just yet.

Being mobile was one of the most important things for a Sage, the only time that became a non-factor was when both sides were of equal speed.

An example of a fight where mobility no longer mattered was the one between Everburn and Apostle, both well aware of the tricks of the other after two previous fights, and thus seeing it pointless to even posture.

That fight was one of power against power, precious few other abilities needed with the way their balance was maintained.

The current fight was not an equal one however, even together Jade and Vince couldn’t keep William from running around.

The best they could do was limit his paths, and it was one of the things that kept Jade alive, Vince making the idea of chasing after Jade through a thicket of cacti, thorns, or flytraps an unpleasant one, and by the time William burnt the plants away Jade was already recovering slightly, the rain making the plants much more difficult to burn.

“That being said, I still don’t see a way for you two to win. Your partner is worthless in regards to hurting me, and you can’t land a good enough hit to do anything.” William warned, brandishing his bardiche, his offhand rising to also grasp the handle.

“So because of your mirage, you assume my partner can’t hit you?” Jade asked, having already worked out that William’s Clad truly was just that, a mirage, distorting his appearance to a greater extent the further one was away from him, one would aim at his body and miss by an entire metre from far away, the ability being weaker up close.

What that meant was that while the distance made Vince less of a target, it also meant that Vince couldn’t attack William, only delay the Rogue Sage, with only Jade able to get any meaningful hit.

All of the damage Vince had done to William were a result of William deciding that the damage he’d gain from chasing Jade would be worth the damage he’d do to her, or cases where he missed the trap, such as that vine that had wrapped around William’s ankle.

“Am I wrong? I’ve never really needed armour, as no long ranged enemy could ever hit me… and if they got close enough to ignore the Mirage, I just had to be stronger.” William was absurdly confident about his power, and he had a right to be…

But Jade didn’t stop smiling, since the moment Vince created distance between the fight, Jade hadn’t stop smiling, even though the pain was extreme, and even then maintaining her glare…

Jade was confident, and William had no clue why.

“Tell me something… where is my partner?” Jade finally asked after a moment, and William raised an eyebrow… then furrowed his brows.

…Where was Vince? The shots arrived, the plants grew, occasionally Jade would be healed by a blast of Light, especially if she had received an injury to her legs… but where were they coming from?

“You underestimated his weaponry, thinking that they were worthless because of how rarely used they are… but there are advantages to guns, such as the much further drop distance.” Jade said in a matter of fact tone, and William realized that she was right, bullet drop was barely noticeable at this distance, especially with it being a Sage gun…

Following the straight line of the shots should be simple, but sometimes the shots would come from too wide a difference in angle for it to be normal.

William took a step closer, in an attempt to stop Jade from increasing his current paranoia… and then finally heard the crunch of gravel behind him.

…When had someone gotten that close to him? William couldn’t even attempt to answer his own question before he had the back of his knees kicked in, stumbling badly due to being in motion when the attack came in.

William blindly swung his weapon behind him with a blast of Fire, knowing his opponent had to be really close to hit him like that, but if he hurt the other, William did not know, having hit nothing with his bardiche…

But William was made well aware of the presence behind him when he felt two things pressed into his lower back before a burst of pain had him rolling forward, the sound of a gunshot clear…

William had gotten hit… by the supposedly ‘scared’ ranged fighter.

William rolled, trying to control his roll before he got too close, but it was too late. He had managed to stop his roll just in time to see a dagger planted right next to him in the ground… and he had been fighting Jade long enough to know what was about to happen.

“Oh shit.” These were the last words of William could say before the Blade-Bomb appeared, the literal shredder slicing into his flesh, some serrated edged even tearing his skin apart as he was knocked away, injured in a bad way from the attack, made even worse when he was tossed into a vine which began to wrap itself around William, capturing the Rogue Sage.

“…Is he even still alive?” Vince asked with wide eyes, staring at the red around the edges of the many blades where Jade’s dagger once was, and the Metal-Light Sage stared at the evidence of her attack for a moment before turning and leaning over, retching noises letting Vince know what was going on even if he wasn’t looking at Jade.

“… That was kind of an anti-climactic ending, wasn’t it?” Vince asked after confirming that William was still alive… but ‘anti-climactic’ or not… a victory was a victory.