The Challenge of the Masters

⊱⊰ 48: Rampage ⊱⊰

Arisa breathed heavily, dodging yet another falling rock. As the creature roared, she looked around, wondering where the boy had gone.

Another long spiky rock fell, forcing Arisa to move sideways and summon her armor. As soon as her crimson armor covered her, Arisa's eyes widened, noticing that the large beast was dashing towards her.

Arisa tripped and fell as she dodged the animal's attack.

What's going on? Why is it attacking us?

Another roar pierced the atmosphere. Arisa rolled sideways in an attempt to avoid the raining rocks. She attempted to distance herself from the creature but slammed back on the shaking soil. Sounds of heavy stomps invaded her ears before she could stand up. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the beast of earth and flora was targeting her again.

"Hey," Arisa heard Thelma say, "over here!"

As Arisa attempted to stand up to protect herself, she saw a weak light flashing behind the creature. The creature didn't react to Thelma's attack and continued charging forward. Arisa summoned her sword. Her hands trembled as she tightened her grip on the weapon. She closed her eyes, hoping that despite being small compared to her opponent, her blade would protect her somehow.

Growls filled the air. With her heart drumming in her chest, Arisa opened her eyes. Her brows arched, seeing that various types of woods had wrapped around the tall beast, leaving only its sharp rock sculptured head.

"Quick," said Garoh, "use that power before it breaks free."

Arisa looked by the beast's side. Several steps away from it stood a jadeite green armored figure with both his arms raised. Garoh gestured his right hand, summoning more woods to keep trapping the creature as it succeeded to break a small number of them.

Surprised with the amount of power Garoh had to stop that beast, Arisa focused her power. She saw the beast's golden eyes as it roared, fighting to break free. Arisa raised her hand, pointing it at the creature in front of her. It didn't take long for a wall of dancing crimson fire to spread in front of her. Arisa gestured with her hand, sending the wall of fire to her target.

A sudden silence fell for a few seconds as the fire wall bathed its target with its flames. Arisa could hear her heart thumping as she waited for her power's results. A smile spread across her face when she saw Aries' symbol glow on the beast's head. The symbol disappeared as soon as it appeared.

"What?"

The creature roared again. The woods wrapped around it set it free. One blink and Arisa saw some of the thick long-shaped woods approaching her at high speed.

Arisa protected herself with her blade, quickly avoiding another set of woods attempting to pierce her. As the sharp woods persisted to strike her, Arisa cut a few of them with her blade while burning others by summoning her fire. But as soon as she thought she had cleared her area, more woods aimed at her.

As she fought against the threat, she noticed that she wasn't the only one being targeted. Not far from her, she saw Thelma protecting herself with her armored arms and at times summoning her flames to burn the unusual opponent. 

Kazuya, on the other hand, seemed as if he was using his touch to slow down some of the woods while he evaded and cut down others with his double-bladed staff. But no matter how many of those woods he would take down, more of them would pop out and attack him.

Arisa's blade met yet another spiky wood.

"What's going on?" said Arisa, cutting it down and moving sideways to avoid another threat. "Capricorn."