The fight between the Gatyri, Roen, and Dee was wild chaos. The man was obviously a Gatyri now that I got a closer look. He was around Roen’s height, but built much wider with larger muscles. The Gatyri was barefoot and as hairy as a bear with his arms and feet having more than I would consider normal. He had curly brown hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a pair of blue denim jeans with a short sleeved shirt with a thick pair of strange glossy black gloves. Despite the jeans he was moving fluidly around every attack with remarkable flexibility. Roen had his swords in their double blade form and was a whirlwind of steel, yet the man was a step ahead.

As I moved to help them fight, I saw Dee throwing some of her knives toward the man. The Gatyri’s head snapped towards the knives and he quickly snapped his foot down. He just as quickly lifted that foot back up and to my surprise an entire wall of stone rose up to block Dee’s attack. The wall of stone had to be 2 meters tall and half as wide. It moved way too fast to be natural which meant that the man quickly used bonding to make the wall and kinetics to increase its speed all in the blink of an eye. He did all that while still dodging and somehow deflecting Roen’s swords.

Dee saw me moving and met me halfway. She said to me, “This Gatyri specializes in bonding. He also has these gloves that can withstand Roen’s swords. He can also quickly make walls of stone with his feet. I need you to run in and use the flash technique against him as a distraction. When I yell, ‘Roen back off!’ that’s your cue.”

I nodded and got myself prepared. I concentrated on pushing my chakra through my body and preparing the flash technique. I inched closer to the fight as Dee got herself into a position behind and to the side of the Gatyri. Soon she gave the signal. Roen acted as expected and backed away. As I moved in, the Gatyri immediately focused on me with an intense glare. I landed right in front of him and projected the brightest flash I could.

Despite being blinded the Gatyri still swung a wide kick that was aimed directly for my body. On instinct from training with Roen, I tried to create space and used one arm to defend my body. That was a mistake. Roen never used his full strength and most definitely did not aim to kill me. This Gatyri did. My arm was pressed against my midsection and my entire body crumpled around the point of impact. I felt myself lifted off the ground and then I was flying through the air.

For a second I saw a blur of movement then I tumbled onto the stone cave floor. I think I rolled on impact, but I was so disoriented I could not tell. As I regained my senses, I felt pain radiate from my shoulders, ribs, and especially the arm that blocked the kick. I struggled to get up for a moment, but eventually managed to get on my arms and knees. Craning my head up I saw that my distraction worked.

Dee threw two shuriken during my distraction and both landed. Unfortunately the Gatyri was somehow still standing. The shuriken were on the only two unprotected parts of the man’s body, his arms and neck. One was pinned in his left bicep while the other was on the back of his neck. The Gatyri’s neck was thick and wide which saved his life. The shuriken was stuck between his left artery and his spine.

With a gutteral, “YOU FUCKERS!” the man ripped the shuriken from the back of his neck with his right hand. He then stomped down and lifted his foot that dragged another stone wall up. He leaned back for a moment then kicked the wall towards Roen. The wall was large and moving way too fast. Roen jumped up instantly, but he could not clear the near two meter tall wall fast enough. He was hunched by his hips over the top of the moving wall. Just before he could be smashed against the edge of the cave, Roen flipped over and landed hard on the stone.

Dee frantically threw a barrage of steel towards the Gatyri. The sheer volume led to some cuts here and there, but for the most part the man was able to deflect with his gloves or dodge. He ran over to Dee and a dangerous game of cat and mouse began. Dee held two daggers in her and methodically moved two steps back for every swipe or stab she made towards the man. The Gatyri was slightly slower than her, but he had the advantage of strength and aggression.

They moved across the cave towards the entrance and a desperate idea popped into my mind. Outside of the entrance with only a rope around it, lay the giant pit. A fall from that height would most likely kill anyone. We just needed to lure him towards the edge and push him. I need to get up, check on Roen, and tell him about my idea. As soon as breathing stops hurting.

I tenderly touched my ribs and felt the forming bruises. The pain was not going away, so I needed to ignore it. I willed myself to my feet and painfully jogged over to Roen. He looked … alive. Since he was not wearing a shirt, I could see the giant bruise forming on his lower abdomen where he hunched over the stone wall. His knees and legs had some cuts and scrapes, but otherwise he seemed fine. His head showed no signs of bleeding, but he was definitely unconscious from the rough landing.

I had no idea how to handle something like a head injury, so I just gently shook him. Fortunately in only a couple seconds he woke up.

Roen opened his eyes wide and asked, “What?”

“You hit the ground pretty hard. How do you feel?”

“I feel, I was - I was knocked out. Give me a moment.”

“Yeah collect yourself. But um while you do that listen.”

“Hmm.”

“I had the idea to throw the Gatyri into the pit that’s near the entrance.”

“Help me up.”

“Alright and up we go.”

“I shall confront him head on. You attack the Gatyri from his left and Dee his right.”

“How do you want to push him through the entrance?”

“Hmm. When we reach the entrance, you break off and flood the entrance tunnel with your chakra. Your chakra in the stone will slow him down enough that he will not be able to use any toyu inside.”

“That will work?”

Roen’s usual focused demeanor returned and his answered, “Yes, it will.”

Roen picked up his swords then took off to help Dee. I followed after him. As I moved forward, I slipped the dagger on my leg out of its sheath. If I was to push this man to his death, I should be able to point a weapon towards him. Running forward with the dagger in a backwards grip in my right hand, I got in position.

Dee got into her position. I am not sure if she figured out what we were planning or just naturally took the open position when attacking a target like we were. Either way she seemed ready if tired and worn out. Roen ran forward and starting building momentum. He turned while keeping his forward momentum. It looked like he was performing a series of pirouettes. He was spinning at dizzying speeds and his blades pushed the Gatyri back. I was surprised he could move like that after being knocked out.

I mainly followed and made sure to stop the Gatyri from trying to slip past us. The man would glance my way and I would hold up my dagger. That seemed enough especially with how aggressively Roen was attacking. Soon enough we reached the entrance and I got ready for my part. The Gatyri was jogging backwards into the entrance tunnel and I took off.

Sprinting as fast as I could, I touched the stone of the entrance. I had never tried to use my chakra on something so big. To use my chakra efficiently I focused only on the inner surface of the tunnel. Despite focusing on just the thin surface it was a challenge to push through with my chakra. Will and determination pulled me through and in a few seconds I felt most of my chakra plunge into the stone. I did not know what to do at this point. For the moment I just needed to maintain this status quo.

Then I felt it. It was like another force was willing my chakra out of the stone. I looked into the tunnel and saw the Gatyri with his hand placed on the tunnel wall. We made eye contact for a brief moment. His brown eyes met my pink eyes and soon enough Roen’s blade pushed him back. I kept my chakra in the stone until they left the tunnel. When I called back my chakra from the stone, I noticed that I had lost a great deal of chakra despite not actually ‘doing’ anything with it. I wondered why that was? Maybe defending against the Gatyri’s push used up some chakra? These were questions for another time, so I shelved them and ran after the others.

The Gatyri was probably wise to our devious plan, so he was beginning to change his style. There was probably five meters of walking space surrounding the pit which meant he would have plenty of space to maneuver out of a trap. As I began to worry and formulate ideas, I saw something in the corner of my eye. Dee had repositioned herself slightly behind the Gatyri and was forming an illusion. It was subtle and if I had not been looking at the time, I would not have noticed. Her illusion added another metal stake with some rope. There was an empty space in the rope perimeter around the pit, and this illusion made it just a bit smaller with the added rope and stake.

As we pushed the man back, I noticed how he glanced behind every now and then. Roen kept increasing his pace and attacks became more wild and vicious, aiming to simply push the Gatyri back more than anything else. But despite that I knew that the Gatyri was letting us push him near the pit. It was obvious considering he could have created stone walls to simply block off the pit. We both had plans with similar endings, and I was not sure if ours would prove to be superior.

Eventually when we neared the pit, he made his move. With lightning fast movement and precision he lunged towards the first spike in the rope perimeter. His body leaned precariously forward as he reached for the spike. At the same moment his foot slapped against the ground and I felt the ground beneath my feet slide. Looking down I saw the seamless cracks that signaled the Gatyri was aiming to throw us and the stone beneath our feet down into the pit.

Before the man could lift us up, he stumbled and tipped foward. His hand was grasping at thin air where a metal stake was supposed to be. Without the stake and rope to cancel the momentum from his sudden lunge, the Gatyri lost his footing and had to rapidly correct. As Dee’s illusion faltered due to the interference, I saw a quick range of emotions displayed. First, his face held an expression of sheer shock. Then he glanced towards us in confusion. Finally, he whipped his head around to face Dee, rage apparent from the mad look in his eyes. Yet it was too late. Dee pushed him slightly and the man lost any hope of regaining his footing. The Gatyri fell forward into the pit to his death.