Royal Rebel 4 ~ The Return

Chapter 4: Beasts of the Past

Azu's POV

"Alright, focus..." I whispered to myself as I tried to adjust my stance, trying to get a feel for my surroundings so I could coordinate properly with them. I aimed my sword out to my right, lowering my body and preparing for any movement I would need to make.

Deep breath in, let it out.

I snapped my fingers, signaling to the Shrine that it could release the holographic guardian scouts. I could sense one coming towards me on my left, so I quickly turned and sliced through it, crippling it enough to give me time to flip backwards and avoid the one running in behind me.

That one harshly collided into the one I had hit, destroying the first one and damaging itself. I hit the ground, quickly did a spin attack for two smaller scouts coming in from each side of me, and then disappeared to avoid the laser shot down from a sentry.

I appeared again on top of a pillar, placing my hand on it to feel where the guardians were. I sensed one just beneath me, and based on the slight vibrations I could feel coming from it's feet, I knew it was preparing it's laser. And right when I heard the noise before it shot, I leaped off the pillar with my shield in front of me.

It released the beam, and the very moment I felt it clash with my shield, I pushed it back. I heard the explosion as the little robot was defeated, and I fell back to the ground, pulling my sword back out to prepare myself for wave two.

I snapped again, allowing the next group to be released onto the field, but I had hardly a chance to figure out where any were before I heard a giant explosion, followed by the floor shaking and more explosions. I nearly fell, and I shielded myself so none of the explosions could hit me.

"Azu! There you are, I've been looking for you all morning." I heard a voice accompany footsteps after the last explosions went off, and I let down my shield and turned my head to where I heard the voice.

"Mother?" I asked, and I soon felt her hand on my shoulder. "Mother! Do you have any idea how much you scared me?!"

"I'm sorry, Azu, but it was a fast and efficient way to destroy the guardians." She shrugged, walking over to one of the pillars to lean against it. I heard her disappear and then reappear on top of said pillar. "Send in the third wave. I wish to see how you're training has been going."

"Alright." I got into position again, prepared for any attacks with my hand held out. I snapped, allowing the next group of holograms to be sent my way. I leaped over one that ran towards me and landed on top of it, stabbing right into it's eye, killing it.

I turned around and slashed through a few of the guardians coming from behind, and spun again to whack one that had jumped from where I defeated. I could hear sentries closing in above me, so I sent a bomb up to split them up and do some damage to them.

I leaped into the air and did a spin attack from there, knocking the majority of the flying beasts on the ground. I landed on top of a little scout who had been waiting under me, and I stabbed it's head and exploded it, throwing myself backwards into a flip.

I slid across the ground as I landed, heaving my sword with me as I turned only the upper half of my body, launching my sword at the large scout dashing towards me. The sound of it's feet pattering against the ground quickly stopped, and I rushed over, grabbed my sword and then waited for the mini horde of small guardians to come running at me.

Slash after slash, whack after whack, the beasts went down one by one. I took out the last few with a bomb, and then I knew one more was coming from behind me again, a bigger one.

I spun around three times catching it in the spin every time, and then I aimed a bomb, leaped up and stabbed it in the head before letting off the explosion, defeating it.