*WARNING: Mentions of blood, images with blood, and violence though it is not too detailed.*
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Magic spikes aimed and released towards Ice, who was held down by a strong force of dark magic. He made effort to reach for his bow and arrow, only for them to be just out of his reach.
" Ice! " Blaze leaped in front of his twin brother to protect him. His eyes glowed a fiery orange color as he drew a rune spell and pushed it to the spikes, melting them instantly. In another heartbeat, Ice was released from the dark magic thanks to Solar.
Another attack came as fast as lightning towards Blaze. Ice did not think twice to push him aside and get the full blast of the attack, sending him backwards into the open forest. The fierce attack left a bloody scar on his cheek.
" Be cautious, everyone! " warned one of his brothers. Upon seeing another attack from the dark mage, Ice quickly summoned his magic replica of his weapon and instantly charged forward, some of his brothers not far behind him.
" We need to find a way to get close to him! We can't get a tear from him if the distance is too big! " Solar grunted, knocking a creature unconscious with his magical techniques. Quake and Blaze, who fought alongside him and Ice, heard him and fought to advance forward.
Retak'ka summoned magic dark animals of all kinds, and Cyclone took it upon himself to take on the winged ones. A dark raven dove towards him and he didn't hesitate to destroy it with his magic boomerangs. With magical wings of his own making, he was able to stay in the air longer and out-fly most of the winged creatures.
Leaf aided his air bending brother with some useful tricks of his own. As a child of Mother Nature, he was granted access to all flora around him, from branches of big trees to the smallest of roots. With just a single rune spell he was able to gain full control of the vines and branches around him, grabbing the creatures by the legs and hunting them down one by one.
Quake improvised with magic and melee. He summoned rocks and stones of all kinds from the ground and pushed it towards the creatures, knocking them down little by little. In their haziness, Quake took the opportunity to jab them in the guts with his sword, killing them instantly.
Knowing not to excessively use his magic energy, Thunder stuck to melee. He sliced any dark creature that came his way in half, causing them to turn into molecules of dark magic. He'd throw them off from time to time, letting his brothers take the final blow on some of them. After destroying one he pushed his way, Solar went back to back with Thunder.
" We can't spend too much time on the dark creatures. He's distracting us from the real objective, " he panted behind his brother.
Thunder kept his eyes on the creatures surrounding them. " What do you suggest we do? " He knew Solar had a plan.
" Let Cyclone, Quake, Leaf, Solar and the twins distract the dark creatures. You, Kaizo and I will try and take on Retak'ka. If we can beat him up hard enough, we might just get a tear out of him. "
Though he was behind him, Thunder could feel a slight bit of uncertainty from his youngest brother. The plan requires them to get less than a meter away from Retak'ka, endangering their chances. He turned his head, not enough to face him, but enough to have him at the corner of his eye. " And are you sure it will work? "
The exhale Solar gave out wasn't the best comfort. He bit his lip, and tightened his grip on his shiny white sword. " Only one way to find out. "
The two jumped together, avoiding as much dark creatures as they could. " Kaizo! " Solar called his master. Kaizo heard his call and knew what needed to be done. He kicked a creature out of his way and jumped to join them on the trees.
" I'll create a shield for protection. But you'll need to be out of the magic range to make contact with him, " he explained to his students. Thunder and Solar nodded to him.
" We'll take whatever chance we can get, " Thunder assured him.
Once they caught sight of Retak'ka at the higher ground. They finally got a better look at him. Almost every part of his body was burning with dark magic, and his bluish complexion was a sickening pale, an effect of excessive dark magic usage. His eyes were bloodshot red, overwhelmed by evil.
Kaizo got in front of Thunder and Solar as they slid along the slippery moss on the branches. He drew the shield spell and a magic net ball secured them just when they ran out of branches. With Retak'ka distracted by the scene below him, the three took their chance.
Kaizo flew them towards Retak'ka and Thunder punched the dark mage square in the face, spit escaping from his mouth. They wasted no time and Solar gutted him before he addressed anything else. For countless of times, they continued the process, closing their minds away from anything else.
In the midst of this, Cyclone had just recovered from an attack from a dark eagle, avoiding the sharp claws and returning the favor afterwards. He landed safely on a branch, letting his magic makeshift wings rest. It gave him an opportunity to observe his surroundings, to watch as his oldest and youngest attack Retak'ka repeatedly without rest.
It gave him a semi heart attack for a second before he finally understood. " Cyclone! "
Strings of vines suddenly brushed past him, strangling a dark creature that was coming right for him. Leaf swung to the branch across from him. " Be careful, Cyclone! What's wrong? "
" We need to buy Thunder and Solar some time. They are trying to get the last ingredient from Retak'ka. "
Leaf's eyes widened. " What do we do then? "
" We must keep any dark creatures away from them. We must protect them at all costs. "
Leaf nodded to his brother, determined to go along with their plan. He waited for Cyclone to finish his rest and open his magic wings once more to swing into action alongside him. They landed perfectly among their other brothers who fought on the ground.
Cyclone grunted as he swung his body, his wings colliding with the creatures around him and knocking them down. Glancing up, he immediately realized the number of winged creatures had increased to an extent. His brother Quake was just next to him, fighting just as hard as he was.
" Quake-ah! Tower! " Cyclone called, sprinting towards him. Quake heeded his command, he drew his earthly colored rune spell and a tower of rock rose in his command. Cyclone used it as an ascending board to the sky to fight off the winged creatures.
The twins fought back to back and side by side. Although they had their own section to look out for, they didn't neglect on each other's safety at all. Blaze would yell for Ice to duck while he threw his magic chakrams at a dark gorilla, where as Ice would bend inhumanly ways to avoid Blaze from getting in the shot of aiming at a dark tiger. In short, they were each other's guardian angel.
" You're going to break your backbone in half someday, Ice, " Blaze teased, fending off the creatures on his side.
Ice scoffed as he wiped the blood off of his previously cut cheek. " One would go long ways to protect their seniors, you know, " he retorted, kicking a creature in the stomach. " Not that you would know what that feels like, Blaze. "
" Hey, I'm not the oldest in our Old Man's book here! " Blaze playfully glared, manhandling Ice to bend over to make way for his chakram, successfully hitting a dark lion that came their way. Blaze almost smirked. " But I am in ours. "
Ice tsk-ed with a smirk, standing upright in front of Blaze and then bent sideways, releasing his magic arrow at a dark panther behind his older twin. Ice exhaled, smiling at Blaze, " You're such a pain, big brother. "
Blaze couldn't hold back his smile as he returned Ice's fist bump. They heard a roar in the distance and didn't hesitate to back each other up once more.
They didn't address how long they've been at it, they just let the adrenaline take over and move whenever they saw fit. Kaizo moved swiftly through the air towards Retak'ka for another blow from behind. Solar pulled his arm back with his might, ready to take the dark mage down. His guard was let down when Retak'ka suddenly turned around.
Cyclone pinned a dark hawk to a tree and let Leaf wrap his vines to secure the evil creature till it vanished into dust.
Just when he deemed the plan well planned out, a body flew past him into a tree next to Leaf's.
" Solar!! " Leaf yelled, dropping down right next to his little brother. The youngest had a swollen cheek with blood dripping from his lips. He winced when Leaf examined him. Leaf flinched when two more bodies landed right next to him. " Thunder! Kaizo! "
Thunder panted heavily under Kaizo's arms. The moment he pushed his hand onto the ground to stand, he fell back down with a strangled yell. Cyclone was horrified to see the markings slowly advance onto his cheeks and just under his eyes.
" Such naivety.. I must say, I'm disappointed.... "
Cyclone turned around to see Retak'ka hovering towards them, dark smoke floating all around him. Solar grunted with anger. " We didn't even put a single scratch on him.... " he panted through the pain on his cheek.
" I have expected more from your group. But considering that you've lasted this long, you are deemed impressive, definitely strong mages, " Retak'ka chuckled. His smirked widened. " But I'm afraid, not strong enough. "
All the dark creatures came retreating back to him, leaving the other brothers standing in battle stance. The dark smoke went into his body, letting him eat it whole in one go. Their senses weren't playing tricks on them. He was getting stronger with every breath.
He was floating on his own now, and his pupils were no longer visible through the dark magic covering them. With just a simple hand gesture, waves of water came rushing towards them like a tsunami.
Ice panicked, and quickly created an ice wall to fight against the dark version of his element. He pushed with all his might against the waves to protect his brothers, but he stood no chance against such strong magic. The ice wall shattered and the water engulfed them in an instant, leaving them breathless after.
Retak'ka didn't spare them a second before apprehending them with withered vines and roots, deeming them defenseless. They tried to struggle out of the grasps, but to no avail. Retak'ka let out a delightful laugh. " Oh, what a sight. It never gets old. "
He advanced towards his prisoners slowly. " You know, it didn't have to come to this. You could've just let it run free and do it's work, then you wouldn't be here to meet your deaths at such a young age. "
Blaze glared daggers at him. " And leave our brother to die just like that? You really are a monster... "
Retak'ka only smiled at his spit. " That I've been called many times, my child. It matters not to me who lives or who dies, if it shall pleasure me, I shall gladly seek it~ " Retak'ka commanded the vines and it pushed Thunder to his feet. Retak'ka smirked when Thunder made no effort to look at him. He squatted to lift his head.
" Don't touch him! "
" Get away from him! "
" Get away from our brother!! "
Retak'ka ignored their outbursts and growls, and proceeded to force Thunder's head to look directly at him. He examined every part of his face. " What beautiful scarlet eyes. It reminds me of another's that are just as beautiful. What a shame it'll all go to waste. " When he let go of his chin, Thunder's whole body jerked and thudded to the ground. Retak'ka stepped on his head like a rock.
Cyclone fumed at him. His eyes were full of nothing but raging anger at the sight. " GET AWAY FROM HIM! YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM! " he struggled and struggled to get out of the binds of the vines. Retak'ka just laughed at his misery.
Cyclone felt the vines loosen and he quickly realized he was free. Still clouded with anger, he made a beeline towards Retak'ka, only to be stopped by his own body. He looked down, he was turning into stone.
" What's.. What's happening? "
" I can't feel my legs... L-Leaf, I can't- "
" Cyclone! " yelled Quake, his tone accompanied with sobs and whimpers.
Cyclone feared of what he may see when he turns his head around. He almost dared not take a peek. The moment his eyes met the sight of his distressed brothers and master turning into solid rock, they started to water instantly. The others behind him were meeting the same fate as he was.
He was going to die.
His brothers, his master, they were going to die.
His stomach and heart dropped when a source of magic energy he was tied with begin to fade way too fast.
He bolted his head back to Thunder, who was now facing them with the weakest of eyes. Cyclone had never felt someone's magic energy go down so vigorously before. The slow disappearance of everyone's magic energy was making him dizzy.
He could see the shiny tears running down Thunder's dirty, marked cheeks. " N-no... D-don't- " he weakly protested, his voice barely even a whisper. It broke Cyclone's heart into literal dust.
It was getting harder to breath. His vision was getting blurry, he couldn't see straight anymore. With the last of his strength, he reached out as far as he could, trying to at least brush against his big brother, one last time.
" Thundy-ah- It's.. It's okay.. We're here- " God, how could he possibly sound brave for his dying brother when he himself was dying as well? The tears wouldn't stop no matter how hard he wished them to stop. The sobs and wails of his family behind tore his heart apart.
He didn't want to leave him.
Not when they were so close.
He didn't want to leave them, they were his only family.
But his body was finally constricted. All hope was lost.
The last he heard was Retak'ka's sickening tone. " Farewell, fellow mages. "
The last thing he saw before complete darkness was a dim reddish glow coming from Thunder's neck.