Within the undergrowth I had been attacked by a single Feles with a flaming sword and no words. I could see no dark mist around, so he was not being manipulated by the darkness at all and was giving me no chance to ask who he was or explain the intent of my trip.

The Feles lashed out quickly and without hesitation, from his movements he was obviously a seasoned fighter, perhaps he had even expected someone to try and infiltrate his village.

I kept avoiding his attacks, left and right, staying away from the blazing sword, a powerful fire talisman. The heat made a hissing sound as the rain came into contact with it.

The knight had clearly said they were attacked by multiple villages with wind talismans, so where were the others, perhaps taking on my unit, but Larana had yet to hear in from them, so that was a low probability.

“You’ll have to get him to answer your questions,” said Arata. “Sorry.” He faded away as multiple lightning bolts struck all around us.

“No worries,” I responded taking in a deep breath. I would get some answers from this Feles about what was happening here as it had been obvious none of the knights on duty had been within the walls, simply defending and stopping them from getting out.

I drew both my swords, clashing head on with his. I felt the immeasurable heat from his talisman as it was just as hot as Raziel’s, but nothing his heat resistance couldn’t stop.

We quickly went into a game of cat and mouse, both of us switching between offence and defence, he was good. His swings were one after the other, left, right, thrusting forward; the flames on his sword never extinguishing.

I ducked low spotting a small opening, but as I made for it, he caught me instead, slashing the corner off my cape as I had only just managed to see the trap. He had left himself open on purpose.

I heard the voice of his talisman. “This isn’t working.”

The Feles didn’t responded as he jumped away from me. His whole body began to glow red as his swords heat became more intense, but before he could implement anything, he moved to the right as a lightning bolt came down directly where he was standing.

I glanced about quickly realising the lightning strikes had become more frequent around us since we first started fighting, was he the cause of the lightning or their target?

I heard a low groaning as he began to release waves of fire from his body. It didn’t touch the trees, but I knew this attack was intended for me. I held out my hand, summoning my own fire, sending out Raziel’s power to combat his.

I infused it with Larana’s wind to enhance it further, but it was still evenly matched, and the two waves cancelled each other out, creating a smoke screen.

I moved my left side back as a sword thrust through the smoke, burning away half of my cape. He was close enough, I swiped Raziel’s sword, right at him.

As my strike came closer, he jumped away and I was suddenly blasted away by a powerful gust of wind. Larana’s winds swirled faintly around me, stopping me hitting the tree behind me, but I had no time to stop as he was back at me again.

I jumped high and flipped over him with a boost from Larana’s wind as he swiped his sword, felling the tree that had been behind me.

Panting I stared at the Feles, he casually turned around to look at me. He seemed to be thinking, was this fight over?

He seemed to sigh as he held his sword out, then put his hand on the red gem at the base of the hilt, he then ran his hand down the swords blade.

“Master move!” shouted Larana.

“What?” I was suddenly alarmed as he moved his sword by his side, slowly, posed to strike. I felt the air getting hotter and the power coming from him increasing, who the heck was this guy?

“Move,” she warned again. “Run, do something.” I wasn’t sure what had her so scared all of a sudden, until the Feles moved.

His whole body emanated with the power of his sword, as he moved, I saw his clothing change, to armour of reds and greens. One step and he was right in front of me.

My eyes widened as I stepped back, my clairvoyance guiding me as to his strikes, as multiple ones came all at once, from every direction his strikes per second were through the roof. I had to move quickly, one mistake and it was all over.

I managed to move away from him as he had finished his assault, well I thought he had, but he was at me again.

I lifted Raziel and Arata’s swords to defend myself as he pushed me back further, where was all this power coming from, the heat was almost too much for my heat resistance and I felt he was also surrounded by the wind.

“Master.” I heard Mila as I was struck on my legs and side, he’d gotten five slashes in one second.

“I’m not done.” I pushed forward, moving my body, and reflecting his attacks with my swords, and Larana’s wind, unleashing more of her power to keep up. She boosted my movement speed.

I could sense his surprise, my body glowed faintly green as I focused more on Larana’s power, boosting speed even more.

I swiped both Raziel and Arata, sending out fire, lightning, and wind, pushing the Feles a far distance away from me. Unleashing so much power at once I felt the strain on my body.

I stared at the Feles as the red glow around his body began to fade and so did his armour, thank god, it had a time limit.

It had felt like I had been fighting the talisman itself, never had I ever seen such power between a talisman and their master, he was skilled in combat and the use of talismans, no wonder they couldn’t get anywhere near this place, not with someone this powerful watching over it.

“Master,” said Larana.

“What?” I was panting.

“I know who that is,” she admitted.

“Who?” I watched as he held his sword forward, the red gem on the hilt glowed, then another gem glowed green, changing the form of his sword into a bow. There was only one known Feles to wield a talisman containing more than two elements.

“Yamato.”

“Dad.”