Some of the company started towards the emerging figures, but Liv shooed them in another direction. They quickly got the message, moving away. Liv strode towards the figures, who were holding weapons and generally looked bored. "Hey, there's someone to kill over there," she heard as she walked, though she was too far away to identify who had spoken.

One of the figures lazily threw a water bullet at Liv. She leaned out of the way, not slowing at all. The figure looked surprised, generating another one. This time it accelerated faster, but Liv, once again, leaned out of the way.

Then the bullet curved in midair, straining to reach her. Liv's sword flashed, and it was cut out of the air, losing the magic animating and keeping it together. She started walking once again, her sword now unsheathed. The leaders finally noticed her as a threat, unsheathing weapons. Liv broke into a jog no longer moving slowly to avoid attacks. It was time to fight now, and slowing down would put her at a disadvantage.

She ducked, a sword flying over her head, as a spear jabbed at her. Grabbing it, Liv pulled it towards her. The spear's wielder grinned, lightning flashing down its length and into Liv. It didn't have much of an effect, Liv's own lightning quickly destroying it. The spear-user's grin faded as he lost his balance, Liv's sword coming out to cut off his head. If they weren't going to bring out their big guns, they would get stomped.

Another one of the leaders lost his temper at this, black inscriptions appearing on their body. Liv swayed away from one, two, three spear strikes before slashing. Her strike was easily blocked, the leaders' spear's haft snapping up into position. He pushed Liv away, and she flew back, barely stopping herself from falling over. Vivian tittered behind her. "Are you trying to be annoying on purpose?," Liv asked, dodging another thrust.

Vivian floated in front of her. None of her opponents attacked the floating girl, and Liv assumed she was invisible to everyone but her. As a strike flew through her, Liv amended that. Also incorporeal. "No. Activate your abilities and take them out already. You don't have time."

Liv nodded. Her body sped up, lightning infusing her muscles, as water cooled them down, tempering her speed. She disappeared from the leaders' eyesight, the ones in the back losing their heads. "Don't hold back!," one called out, black inscriptions fading in to view on his skin as well.

Liv started fighting in earnest, Whispering to a spirit to activate the ability she had Named while fighting the Headmaster. "Dance through the breeze," she said, the wind suddenly aiding her.

She slipped through multiple attacks before punching out at the leader closest to her. Wind blades erupted from her finger, obliterating his stomach. She jumped, landing on a halberd which embedded its spear tip in the dying man. Liv, on a whim, decided to name another technique. "I ask for this move to be recognized by-," she suddenly stopped as a wind spirit sent feelings of shaking its head and simply 'no' at her. Liv got the feeling that she didn't need to be deferent and simply needed to ask for a move to be named.

"Please name this move," Liv started again, pulling Darkness into her palm, fed by a helpful spirit close by.

"Dark Bindings," Liv finished, chains of darkness reaching from her to a surprised man holding a claymore. The nearby spirit and Vivian shook their metaphorical and incorporeal heads as one. "The spirits as a whole have to accept this Name, and they're not going to. You can create chains out of anything. Follow the truth of the element."

Liv sighed, pulling a leader onto her blade. "Weren't these people supposed to be hard?," she asked Vivian.

Vivian shook her head. "Uh... by leader, I meant more... lieuntenants. The generals are waiting for you to go to them."

Liv closed her eyes. "More work," she said, cutting off someone's head.

Vivian waggled her finger. "Now, young lady, while you're killing people, you have to make sure you're killing them properly. You can't focus on talking to me."

Liv rolled her eyes, electrocuting someone. "I literally have to talk to spirits to get them to do what I want them to. In the middle of a fight."

Vivian fell over in midair, which was actually quite comical. "Oh, how you wound me."

Liv ignored her, continuing to slaughter the lieuntenants. One dropped his sword, falling to his knees. Liv's sword almost found his neck, before she stopped. "You're... surrendering?," she asked, looking deep into his eyes.

The lieuntenant nodded. Liv nodded back, turning to Jade's group in the distance. "PRISONERS!," she yelled at them. Zara waved at her, and Liv took that as a yes. The company hustled towards her as the lieuntenants lay their arms down, losing their morale at the sight of one of their own doing the same. "Vivian, can you chain them?," Liv asked. "You're being lazy, so here's some work for you."

Vivian got up from her fake faint, a melody starting to play. The soldiers got handcuffed and foot-cuffed, as knives levitated out of their clothes, liquefying. One had a poisoned needle come out of his mouth, before joining the ball of metal. It hardened and dropped in Liv's hand, as Vivian conjured an incorporeal chair and sat down in midair.

Liv tossed the metal to Zara, who started shouting at the recruits. Vivian's chair scooted in front of her. "The generals are in the tent. Move everyone out of the way," Vivian told her.

Liv nodded, walking to Zara. "-DO IT, MAGGOTS- oh, hey," she said, turning to Liv.

"Everyone needs to move before I start fighting the generals," Liv said.

Zara nodded. "MAGGOTS! MOVE OR I'LL MAKE SURE YOU GET TO HELL BEFORE ME!"

Liv shuddered. That seemed like an effective threat. Once the group was a safe distance away, Liv prepared a fireball, thanking the helpful spirit. Then, calming her nerves, she shot it at the tent, blowing up the entire thing. She prepared her sword.

Two figures stepped out of the fire. A man, and a woman. The man had pointy ears, his skin not dark but simply pure black. The woman had nature creeping out of her, fungi growing on her elbows and flowers in her hair. Except it was... corrupted. The fungi exuded poison and the flowers had a deadly sense to them.

"So, you're the one who massacred our subordinates," the dark elf said.

The dryad said nothing, opening her mouth to a smile. It revealed worms and other insects crawling inside her mouth. The dark elf snapped his fingers, conjuring a sword of darkness. "Very well then, let's fight," he said, speaking again.

Vivian's eyes widened, and she zipped to the side, her chair dissipating. A tree root flew through the space she'd just vacated. "They can see and hit me," she said, floating over to Liv.

Vivian started solidifying, turning fully solid and dropping next to Liv. "I'm fighting now, I guess," Vivian said, turning to Liv, who nodded.

Liv and Vivian jumped towards the duo, Liv preparing a spirit of Fire while Vivian sang a song of Ice. They smashed into their opponents, Vivian's crystalline sword singing a song of death in Liv's arms while her sword did the same in Vivian's. The dryad unleashed vines from her body, pulling herself back just enough to dodge Vivian's swing while the Dark elf directly blocked Liv's.

The dark elf's sword swung at Liv, and she stepped around it, striking again and scoring a small cut on the elf. Vivian unleashed her Ice, frost crystallizing on her sword and lengthening it. The dryad didn't shoot herself far enough back, losing a few mushrooms. They fell on the floor, rapidly freezing. Liv launched a fireball at the dryad before dodging another slash, engaging in high-speed swordfighting with the dark elf after the dryad stumbled out of the way of the fireball, just getting singed. The dryad, getting beaten up, suddenly smiled once more, revealing her hideous mouth. Then the same shadowy brands as the lieuntenants faded in on her. The dark elf sighed, his own fading in while they were still fighting.

The tide of the battle suddenly changed, Liv and Vivian now getting pushed back. Vivian dodged a vine, another one hitting her and drawing blood with its thorns. Vivian's song suddenly switched, from Ice to End. The attacks leveraged against them were suddenly starting to end early, missing, while Liv felt luck move onto their side, as the end of their opponents was made more likely.

The shadowy brands flared, and all of it was nullified.

Vines wrapped around Liv, tossing her through multiple tents as the dark elf hit Vivian's desperate block, smashing her back with Liv anyways. They flew backwards as Liv reached for any spirit she could.

Then she found it.

A single spirit of End had been created by Vivian's song. Liv called it over. There wasn't enough time to perform a Call, not at her level. This was their last chance. The spirit of end accepted the energy Liv gave it, emptying her pool. It floated at the dryad, entering her.

The combatants rushed at each other once more. Liv got cut deeply in her side by the dark elf, more lines of fire appearing on her face and stomach. She continued stalling her opponent. This had to work.

The dryad started swaying on her feet. Liv grinned. It was working. Another cut was scored onto her arm as she desperately defended against the flurry of attacks. Then the dryad slowly fell over, the life leaving her eyes. Vivian turned, a cloak of Storm surrounding her as she helped Liv beat back the swordsman. This time, it was the dark elf who was smashed back, as Vivian's storm launched him when Liv created an opening, flicking his sword out of the way. They followed him as he flew through the camp, flying past its edge. The man stood in a clearing... laughing?

"Idiots. Killing one of us doesn't make us weaker. It strengthens the rest."

The black brands on the dark elf pulsed, increasing in size. Black armor formed over him without eye slits, a shell of energy. Vivian launched herself at it, to get through before it fully formed, but the dark elf moved far faster than he had before, backhanding Vivian. She flew back, hitting Liv, and they both slammed into a tree, landing in a tangle of limbs. The dark armor approached, clearly not intending to show mercy. It finished forming, covering the dark elf's entire body. There was no getting through it now.

Liv looked at Vivian, and saw her eyes close, her body going limp. Drat. She was unconscious. Liv watched doom approach and reached for anything that could help, mentally running around the inside of her body.. The suit of armor raised its fist, ready to smash her to a pulp. Liv closed her eyes, reaching farther. There was nothing. The fist started to come down, launching towards her head with a finality to it. Time seemed to slow as Liv kept searching. This would be impossible to dodge, even if she would do it and leave Vivian behind, which would never happen.

Liv refused to give up, even as the fist reached her head. Just as her skull cracked, Liv found it.

The power of Will, discovered by her stubbornness and refusal to let death claim her.

She blasted the fist coming down away, getting up. A new reserve appeared, next to her slowly regenerating energy. Liv drew on her Will, using it to fuel a strike she felt was the basic attack of this discipline. Even with her skull cracked, Liv forced her mind to stay on track, warding away the blow's effects with pure Willpower.

"Thoughtcleave."