One of the most well-known Clans across the three continents had arrived. Their name stretched far and wide, not just because of their power but also due to their unique setup. They were so well-known that even someone like Raze, who had only been there a short while, knew their name.
"The Crimson Crane, what are all of them doing here?" Raze thought. "Are they here to save that girl?"
It wasn't just Raze who had recognized them. Nabi noticed the distinctive features of Alba, the current Clan head of the Crimson Crane, with her dark pigmented red skin, a feature only found in a certain region.
"The Crimson Crane? And not just a few members, but all of you have come here to stop me, what an honor!" Nabi started to chuckle as he loosely moved his sword about through the air. "I thought your status was wanderers and to never get involved in affairs that dealt with the other factions."
Alba looked toward Reno and walked over to him, seeing some blood on his clothes.
"It seems you have hurt one of our members pretty badly. I would say that is reason enough to take you down. Crimson Crane, do whatever you can to take out this man!"
The Clan members all spread out immediately as they positioned themselves to clash against the middle-staged warrior.
Immediately, Froma, the small red-cheeked girl, rolled to the side and pulled out her bow, which looked like it had been carved from a large beast's tusks. She placed an arrow inside and pulled it one after the other as she got several more arrows from her quiver. All of them were powered with Qi.
Nabi, using his sword, struck each of them, and having hit one of the arrows before, he knew how strong they were, so he had to put a bit more strength into it. Hitting the arrows, some crashed on the ground, breaking the tiles underneath, while others were hit off the platform.
Taking this opportunity, the small man Elvlin, who held a giant glaive, jumped up in the sky and swung it down right on top of Nabi.
The Elder from the Light Faction used his sword to protect himself from the attack, but just like before, his legs were pushed into the ground as it started to break slightly beneath him.
From the side, Kizer, holding onto the long sword, and Lilly, the spear user, both of them came at the same time toward the old man.
"All of you are at the middle stage, no wonder your clan has made a name for yourselves, but your name is not due to your strength, but it is due to your uniqueness. You are nothing compared to us Elders of the Dawnblade clan!"
Kicking off from his foot, Nabi started to spin, and he deflected the glaive of Elvlin, pushing him to the side. He continued to spin his body, and he had hit the long sword of Kizer, as well as the spear of Lilly, crushing them both to the ground.
Immediately, with his other hand free, he had somehow managed to get behind Elvin and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him down to the ground. With his sword, he was getting ready to stab it down again, but Alba had come forward, swinging one sword after the other of her dual blades.
Nabi was on the retreat as he saw lines of red visual Qi coming at him, but he was blocking each of the strikes.
'Her swordsmanship is unique, and she is aiming for spots that are awkward for me to defend.'
Still, Nabi was keeping up with all of the hits one after the other. He certainly lived up to his reputation, and judging by the fact that he could fend off all of the Crimson Crane, it meant he had to be quite a high middle-staged warrior.
While he continued to defend attack after attack, he had failed to notice the presence at his side. A blonde man with a black mask had come out with a dagger coated in Qi.
With no choice, Nabi reacted, lifting his hand, and the dagger had gone right through it, even though it was coated in Qi, for the first time, Nabi was bleeding from a flesh wound.
"All of you at once is certainly annoying!" Nabi pulled his hand out and then circled his hand in two motions, firing out two Palm blasts at Cronker, hitting him in the stomach. He then jumped in the air, trying to reposition himself, but while in the air, several arrows were on him again. With a wide swing and his Qi, he managed to hit the arrows and had done so in a way so they were deflected right back toward the group.
Each of them was left using their techniques to defend themselves, and during that time, Nabi had kicked the air. He had done so using his Qi as something to push against, giving him something that made it look like he was somewhat flying.
Now he was heading down, and he was heading right towards someone. "Let's get rid of you one by one!" Nabi started to gather the Qi at the tip of his sword. As for the person he was aiming for, it looked like he was going after both Raze and Reno, who were both resting.
'Crap, I thought with all the others that they would have been able to keep him down, but this old man doesn't just have strong Qi, he's freakin' incredibly skillful!'
However, luckily for them, there was still one member that hadn't shown themselves yet. He had jumped in front of the two and pulled out his large black shield from his back. He stood behind it firmly, then right when the sword was about to thrust forward, he shifted his foot and bashed right into the tip of the blade.
A large amount of Qi exploded from both ends, and shockwaves were sent off, blowing wind in all directions. Even Rayna was struggling as she had managed to make her way closer to the plant.
'The Crimson Crane?' She thought. 'What are they doing here? Why would they come here and fight against the Light Faction? This makes no sense. Did my father pay them? Or is it something else.'
After having his skill blocked, Nabi continued to swing his sword several times, but Tilon with his shield continued to move it and block all of the incoming attacks.
That's when another attack was thrown at Raze, and the sword wasn't next to him, but the Qi strike left his sword, creating a line of aura that was sent his way.
Reno, seeing this, had no choice, as he went in front of him, bashing both of his fists together and taking a deep breath, he blew out his Qi, making a visual green cloud of smoke. It hit the attack and started to slow it down, but it was still able to continue to push through. That was until Kizer had jumped down with his long Sword and swung at the visual strike, breaking it into particles.
"What are you doing Reno!" Kizer said. "Are you an idiot? Why would you throw yourself in front of a stranger like that?"
Although Reno and this stranger might have come together, Kizer wasn't shy. It was clear that this person was weak and had been holding him back during the fight. In the world of Pagna, especially when they were going against a tough opponent like so, they had no time to worry about others.
"He's right!" Alba said as she jumped back. She had just been clashing head to head with Nabi, trying to at least wear him out, and now all of the others were having a go fighting at him. No matter how hard they were pushing, though, he was able to defend from it all and get in a few attacks of his own. If he didn't tire out, then it would slowly come to their loss, and although it looked like the fight was quite even, as soon as they lost one person, it would quickly go downhill.
"What are you doing? Forget about this guy. Hey, you, just scram out of this place," Alba shouted.
Reno wasn't so sure that was the right thing to do. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but it almost looked like Nabi was targeting the hooded figure for some reason.
'Did something happen in that interaction?' Reno thought.
Listening to them, Raze thought now, without the others, it was a good time for him to go, and as he turned around to move away, a sword strike came right towards him. Reno had pulled his shirt, bringing him back just in the nick of time, again allowing the strike to continue on and go off the pyramid.
'I was right, that damned Light Faction Elder, he's aiming for him for some reason. Could it be, does he know as well?' Reno decided then and there that there was only one thing he could do.
"Alba, we have to protect him," Reno said. "This man right here, he's the one that we've been looking for, he's the Dark Magus!"
Reno shouted the last words loud and clear so the others could hear what he had said, and they turned their heads slightly to look at the hooded man.n/-In
"This person… he's the Dark Magus?" Alba asked, and soon she smiled because this just changed everything. At the same time, though, she wasn't the only one surprised by those words, because Nabi, the Light Faction Elder, had heard them as well.
'He's the Dark Magus… no, that can't be, that's impossible, it can't be him,' Nabi thought.
