“Pandora!”

The half-elf priestess fell to her knees, panting. Fuuuck… her vision was swimming. Her teammates’ voices were fading in and out around her.

Yuki caught her as Pandora’s knees gave out. She’s burning up. Yuki gritted her teeth. Pandora, you idiot. Blocking an attack from that weapon...

“Get me a Mana Potion!” Yuki yelled.

Embla nodded and began to rapidly rummage through her pouch. She grabbed a few vials out of the bag and handed Yuki one filled with blue liquid. The fox girl grabbed the vial and popped it open.

“Hehe… is that for me?” Pandora said weakly. She coughed violently.

“Just shut up and drink.” Yuki tipped the vial into her mouth.

“Where’s the bandit chief?” Cal asked.

“I don’t see him,” Red answered.

“Ahahahaha!” they all turned towards the direction of the wall. Marius stood there next to a Gusisnautar. All his wounds were gone. In his hand was an empty vial. The five could guess what he just took in order to recover. On the wall next to him were dozens of bandits with manacasters all pointed in their direction. In front of them, dozens more marched towards them like a swarm of ants marching towards food.

“This… This is bad,” Embla said, gripping her swords.

“No shit.” Cal pulled more arrows from his quiver and nocked them into his bow.

“We gotta keep them off Yuki and Pandora while she recovers,” Red said. Flames wafted off his body as he drew his sword.

“Kill them all!” Marius barked. The bandits wasted no time charging towards the five.

Embla and Red charged forward to meet them halfway. Cal closed his eyes and breathed. Golden energy coated each arrow on his bow. He opened them and unleashed the arrows towards the charging horde. The arrows shot past Embla and Red and hit three bandits in the head. But the arrows didn’t stop. They shot past the next bandit and the bandit behind him. The arrows didn’t stop until it hit the fortress wall.

“Don’t tire yourself out,” Yuki said. Pandora was slowly regaining her bearings.

“I’m not,” Cal said.

Yuki frowned.

“Cal…” Pandora looked at her brother. The color was beginning to return to her face. “Don’t overdo it.”

“I’m not.” He fired arrow after arrow as the bandits drew closer.

Yuki raised her hand and slammed her palm into the ground. “[Icicle Barrier].” A massive dome of ice erupted from the ground around them. The weapons of the bandits bounced off the ice as they uselessly sliced, shot, and hammered away at the wall.

“That bought us a few minutes. We’re screwed if they fire that cannon again.” Cal sighed. His hand went to his quiver. Shit… I’m out. Should I? His hand glowed dimly.

“Cal, don’t.” Pandora reached out and gripped her twin’s hand. “You can’t.”

“It’s an emergency. I have to…” He looked at his sister’s pained expression.

“No, you don’t. Save it for an emergency. I’ll use it.” Yuki’s eyes glowed red as she handed Pandora over to her twin. Cal’s eyes grew wide at her declaration.

“You’re insane! If you use that Burst, you’ll be in a worse condition than Pan was just now!” Cal had a worried look on his face. She’s really willing to risk herself like that again? He looked up to Yuki, who had her back to them.

She closed her eyes and began to draw on her mana. A red glow enveloped her body. The ice began to crack from the pressure her mana was radiating.

I have to use it. I have no choice… As she opened her eyes, the ice around them shattered. But… nothing happened. Instead, fire rained down on the bandits around them, burning them to a crisp. A red comet landed in front of them.

“Red!” Yuki let out a sigh of relief and fell to her knee. Even the strain of prepping it is still too much for me to handle… she bit her lip.

“You were going to use [World of the Gleaming Moon] weren’t you?” Red asked. A roar sounded from behind him. The young dragon spun on the balls of his feet and blocked an ax that would have surely split his skull in two.

[Crimson Flare] Red swung his sword and let loose a wave of fire. The bandit was engulfed in the flames and fell to the ground. “You two, conserve your energy. We can’t keep this up. We need to get out of here now!”

“Where’s Embla?” Yuki asked, ignoring his question. She shakily got to her feet and raised her hands. She fired a series of [Icicle Raids] at the bandits on the wall.

“Here!” the girl landed next to Red. “We were forced to fall back. There’s way too many of them and not enough of us!” Embla jumped over the tip of a spear and sliced the weapon in half. Red finished the attacker off by running his blade through his stomach.

“Got any plans?” Cal asked.

“Why me!?” she asked.

“You’re the damn guide!” he yelled.

“Just because I’m the guide doesn’t mean I’m Odin or fucking Thor!” Embla killed another bandit.

“Well, you better think of some or we’re all screwed!” Cal yelled. He transformed his bow into their dual blades form.

Embla went quiet. The heat of the battle wasn’t doing her any favors. Her body was on auto-pilot with a single directive. As she sliced and diced the bandits in front of her, Embla felt that she had no choice.

“I might have something.” Embla’s words reached their ears.

“What is it?” Yuki asked.

“Just trust me,” the girl answered. Gripping her blades, she waited. Embla closed her eyes and breathed.

“I thought you were going to teach me something useful, Master!” Embla pouted. She came over to learn how to fight, pick up a few skills. Not swing her sword over and over again.

Her master chortled as he walked over. For an eleven-year-old, she’s determined. I’ll give her that much, he thought. “This is useful. It uses both mana and prana! I made it myself after all and it’s saved me multiple times in the past.”

“Like during the war?” she asked.

“Something like that,” he replied.

“Is this some sort of super-secret ultra mega burst?” Embla asked as she swung her sword again.

“It is. It’s a Burst that I made myself. You won’t find it anywhere. Not in any books or lexicons. This is made up by me and now I’m going to teach you!” his grin made her nervous. Every time her master had taught her something, it almost always ended up with her being hospitalized. Before Embla could back out, her master raised his hand.

She stopped, staring at him with some measure of curiosity.

“Now, the Burst I’m about to teach you is very important so keep an eye on how it’s done.”

Embla opened her eyes. “Get behind me.”

“Eh?” The others looked at her.

“Get behind me.”

“Ahahahaha!” The five looked towards the wall and saw Marius with his head thrown back. The bandit chief was already reveling in his victory.

Embla gulped. Her hands shook as her grip tightened. Doubt plagued her mind. She shook her head. Now’s not the time to second guess this decision. It has to work. As long as it’s not a physical attack, as long as it’s not physical. No matter how big the attack is, I should be able to do it, she thought to herself. Her resolve was as strong as steel. Embla’s eyes fixed upon the glowing blue light of the charging cannon.

“Fire.” The Gusisnautar roared to life. A high-pitched ringing noise emanated from the cannon’s barrel as red and blue specks of ethereal energy coalesced into a bright blue ball. The ringing became a roar as the cannon fired the ball of energy.

The ball ripped through the air, shattering what little glass remained in the buildings along its path.

Embla took a step forward.

“Repel the magic. Think of it like light and think of yourself as glass. Your job as the glass is to reflect that light back…” her master’s words floated into her ears.

“I am the glass. I am the glass.” Embla let loose a roar of fury as she swung her blades. She made contact with the orb and stopped it in its tracks. The force almost made her fall to the ground. There’s… so much energy!

“Nggghhhh!” she pushed back against it. My… My insides feel like they’re on fire!

The orb began to slowly warp against her Burst. Slowly but surely, she was pushing it back. Having no time to be satisfied by this development, Embla channeled more mana and prana into her blades. Come on!

She applied more force and this time, the orb warped drastically. It flattened itself along its vertical diameter, becoming a flat disk for a split second. A shockwave emanated from the disk, washing over everything around her as the disk reconstituted itself into an orb once more.

“Haaaaaah!” Embla swung her blades and launched the orb back at the wall. The orb flew back with such force that it blew away all the roof tiles around her. The blast traveled at high speeds, kicking up tons of dust along the way. The wall crumbled like paper as the ball of energy plowed through it and traveled into the forest.

A thunderous explosion ruptured the peace of the woods. A massive blue light could be seen in the distance as a powerful wave of air washed over them like the high tide. Birds screeched as they fled from their homes, filling the air with their sonorous cries.

Embla panted. Her blades were outstretched in front of her. Steam rolled off her body, giving off the appearance that she was just dipped in boiling water. Her blades fell to the floor beside her. Embla groaned as her vision swam from the pain. Crap… her knees buckled and she fell.

“Embla!” Cal ran forward and caught her before she could hit the ground.

“I knew you cared.” She coughed. “My insides feel like I just swallowed lava and lived to tell the tale.”

“What the hell was that?” he asked.

“It’s my Burst. We were all showing off so…” Embla pushed herself off him and shakily got to her feet, “I decided to show mine. Aww… my swords got melted.”

“Pandora!” Cal called.

“Right.” His twin closed her eyes and held her hands out. A warm glow enveloped Embla as the girl sighed in relief. It alleviated some of her pain but not all.

I’m going to need to push through this… Embla looked at her melted swords with a small frown on her face. She shook her head. “Was that all you got!?”

Hearing her taunt, Marius snapped out of his stupor. W- What? She deflected a blast from a Gusisnautar? That’s impossible! She’s nowhere near the level of an Einherjar or a Valkyrie! How the hell did she!?

“That stupid look on your face is wondering how I deflected it.” Embla grinned. Fighting off the pain, she took a step forward. “I’ll come over there and show you up close.”

Marius flinched. He looked towards his subordinates with an irate look on his face. “FIRE! KILL THAT BITCH! KILL HER NOW!” I’m not taking chances with her. She deflected a blast from this cannon! There’s no way I’m letting her breath for more than a second!

“Get down!” Pandora raised her staff.

“Wait,” Embla said. She smirked as the wall lit up with gunfire. They’re all aiming at me. Embla held her swords. I wonder… can I still reflect with a broken sword?

Time slowed down as the mana shots neared her. Embla moved forward and swung her blades. The mana bullets froze in midair before flying back at their casters.

“W- Wha…?” Marius looked at the row of corpses beside him. W- What the hell!? How did she!? That wasn’t a barrier skill or burst!

Embla wasted no time and began running towards the wall.

“What are you all waiting for!? Kill them!” Marius screamed.

Embla’s eyes narrowed as she saw several people getting in her way. I’m limited in what I can use right now. I need to conserve my energy… he still has the Gusisnautar. She ducked underneath a sword swing and countered with her own.

Embla kicked the bandit back. A shadow loomed over her. She quickly turned to see her attacker impaled with a golden arrow.

“Go! We’ll cover you!” Cal said. There was blood dripping from his mouth.

She nodded and took off. Wait… where did that arrow come from? He’s out of- no, think about it la- TER! She jumped over a bandit, using his head as a launch pad.

Where are they all coming from? Embla wondered. She prepared to use her broken blade to cut into the people in front of her when fire and ice engulfed the groups. Yuki… Red…

“Embla, jump!” Yuki yelled.

The hunter smiled. She jumped, launched into the air by an ice pillar that erupted from the ground beneath her. Yellow circles appeared in front of her, forming a path directly to Marius.

Thanks Pandora! Embla jumped from circle to circle, avoiding and deflecting the shots from the remaining snipers on the wall. Her red eyes locked onto Marius and the Gusisnautar. The bandit had kicked off the operator and got onto it.

He’s firing again, she thought as she readied herself.

“Hahaha! Ahahahaha!” Marius laughed maniacally as he pressed the button. The world was filled with blue light once more as the cannon fired.

“Haaah!” Embla swung her melted blades at the blast. The force of the collision created a blast wave that blew everyone away from the wall. The bandits that occupied it and the corpses that littered the wall were swept away.

Marius watched with abject horror and defeat as Embla held the blast back.

It’s even worse this time! She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming in pain.

The others stood on and watched as Embla held the blast back. Yuki had a grim expression on her face. Her red eyes narrowed as she continued to watch. No… that Burst. It can’t be it, can it?

“Haaaaaaah!” Embla poured the rest of her energy into the Burst. With a powerful burst of energy, the ball warped and flew directly into Marius.

Marius wasn’t able to flee or scream as the ball swallowed him whole. The energy ball traveled hundreds of meters from the castle wall and collided with one of the trees. The tree and the surrounding area was instantly obliterated by the attack.

Embla smiled wearily. Oh… Oh no… she plummeted to the ground, nearly screaming when her back hit the ground. Everything hurts, she weakly moved her hand and placed it on her torso. She winced. I think I broke a few ribs, she thought, feeling something loose inside her body.

“Em-!”

Embla squinted. It sounded like someone was calling to her. She weakly turned her head to see a blurred blonde figure out of the corner of her eye. Cal? she weakly thought.

“-ay aw… -you have to st- please!”

“Your voices are… mixi-” her eyes grew wide as a searing pain shot through her body. Her vision swam.

“Em-!”

“-bla!”

Why are you all screaming? she thought before her vision faded into darkness.