The Burning Rose

Chapter 21: Dawn of new beginnings

"Aahhhrr!" Callum bellowed as he fired a massive energy blast at the girls, forcing them to dodge in opposite directions. Cinder landed on the edge of the clearing, Amber closer to the ruins.

"What incredible power!" Cinder thought. To be able to use so much aura all at once, he must have an amazing reserve! Or he was just an idiot. She could believe either righ-"

"Watch out!"

Amber's warning came just in time. Cinder was able to roll out of the way of Callum, who had jumped into the air and brought his mace down right where she had been less then a second ago.

Before he could recover from the landing, Cinder snakes around behind him. She lashed out, aiming for the back of his neck. She activated her semblance, heating her blades causing them to glow.

Bang!

"Gah!" Cinder cried as the sniper shot her in the head, knocking her off balance. Before she could recover, Callum freed himself and smashed the pole of his mace against her, sending her flying to the forest's edge.

As she flew, Cinder slammed her blades together, turning them into a bow. She saw Callum charging after her and smirked. "Too easy!" She yelled as she fired her arrows. Callum couldn't react in time, the arrow hit I'm in the chest, then exploded sending him flying.

Landing on her feet, Cinder fired a second arrow at Callum. But it was sniped out of the air.

Cinder snarled as she turned to see the sniper on the trees. He was getting on her nerves! "Fine! I'll deal with you first then!" She yelled as she ran at him.

Immediately, bullets began raining down on her from the sniper, but she was fast enough to deflect them without losing much speed. She could see fear building in his eyes. He clearly wasn't good at close range combat.

As she approached, the sniper began retreating, firing from the hip as he leapt from tree to tree. But he was slow, He had barely gotten two trees away before Cinder was on top of him. "Got ya!" Cinder yelled as she leapt into the air for the sniper, deflecting his shots as she went. "It's over you annoying son of a bit-!"

Before she could land a blow, she was blasted out of the air as blue energy slammed into her side sending her crashing back down to earth.

"Gah!" Cinder hit the ground, losing her breath from the impact. Looking up, she saw Callum had gotten up and was charging her again. With a snarl of irritation, Cinder struggled onto her hands and knees. To have to use her mother's move against opponents like this was humiliating, but it would get rid of Callum, so she'd grin and bear it.

However, before he got close enough for her to strike, he pressed a switch on his mace. Immediately the ball detached from the hilt with only a chain connecting them. It was sent flying towards her while Callum stayed well out of her range.

Caught off guard, Cinder couldn't fully dodge the attack. She was able to avoid the ball, but as it hit the ground, a massive explosion of lightning came out of the ball, shocking her and messing up her landing, causing her to land in an undignified heap.

"Cinder!" Amber shouted. She tried to run to her teammate, but was cut off as an axe smashed in front of him, barely giving time to dodge. Stepping in front of her was the axeman with the tonfa and sword men taking positions on either side of her, surrounding her.

"You want to help her? You're going through us!" The swordsman said, a sneer across his face. With a sigh, Amber spun her staff above her head, creating a whirlwind that knocked her opponents back.

"Aaahh!" They screamed as they skidded back several feet. Now out of their range, Amber leveled her staff at the axeman. "You are a cliche. But fine, have it your way!" Amber said angrily. "Just don't blame me if you get badly hurt!"