VIII. It's One Versus Five

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***

Irina let out a sigh of relief. She was able to contact the manor to get Evangelyn over. It seemed that Lucian was also winning against the Nightmare who said that the Umbra would only last for five minutes and a minute already passed.

But is that really a Nightmare, she thought. It didn't change its appearance except for its fingers that became swords. Was this what Lucian meant about it being highly intelligent?

The two exchanged blows but it's rather one-sided. The Nightmare hadn't been able to land a single hit, while Lucian swung his sword three times, and the Nightmare lost three fingers.

"KIEEERK!", the Nightmare screamed.

"There goes the fourth one", Lucian said while maneuvering to wrap his chain to its arms and quickly dashing towards it to deliver the finishing slash.

*Swiish! Swiish! Swiish!*

For a moment, Irina thought blades were flying to Lucian's direction. Her thought was confirmed when he motioned to avoid something. He jumped back having to release the chained Nightmare and took a defensive stance. A portion of his sleeve was cut.

"Lucian!", she exclaimed.

"Stay there! I got this." he assured her.

What just happened, Irina thought. She sure saw that Lucian had the Nightmare bound with his chain, how could he make such attacks?

"So that's why the Hunters never stood a chance, and you had no use for their body.", Lucian said to the adversary.

"Oh, man! Did you figure it out?", it asked.

"You intentionally went through the trouble of returning the body to taunt us to hunting you. After all, you've assimilated a very powerful body. A wind elf.", Lucian explained.

"Man! You're really good, unlike those weak Hunters I killed. But you're not completely right about everything." it said while bringing out a glowing green crystal. He immediately recognized that Emerald. That's bad news.

"Irina! Come over here and don't leave my back!"

She quickly followed. Whatever that Nightmare was brewing, it felt a lot worse than anything she had seen so far. "Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe you can hand me a weapon or something.", she suggested.

"Not right now, I'd be too distracted if I let you fight. And even if I want to, I don't have other weapons with me." Lucian said clicking his tongue. She didn't know him much but seeing him fight twice, she knew how confident he was with his skills. It was the first time he looked like he didn't have full control of the situation.

"Hey, you were keeping time. How long do we have here?", he asked in a low voice, maybe trying to hide his worried tone.

"Two and a half minutes", she said.

They may not last that long if his suspicions were right. Evangelyn would be here any second, then they may have a chance.

"Where did you get that Emerald?", he asked the Nightmare elf to buy time.

"Oh, I'm sure you know. Also, I know you're trying to stall, man. Did you think I was foolish not to notice?", it answered. Lucian kept his guard up. With Irina close by, he cannot use his Immolation or he would burn her, but he also could not let her be far from him. He knew full well what would happen next. Where the hell is Eve, he thought.

"I was also stalling, man. You know what this Royal Emerald does." The crystal shone bright and several magic circles appeared on the ground, four by Lucian's count. "It takes a minute to activate this spell and I had to stand still, man. I mean, what a drag. But you just couldn't attack me even if you knew, right?" it grinned. "I could've called more if I have time but I'm sure a squad is enough."

"SUMMONITORES COMMANDATUM!", invoking the spell it prepared. A pillar of light arose from the magic circles and a second later, four fully armored elves were now facing them. They were elite elven soldiers, the Royal Guards that served the monarchs directly. Lucian's suspicion was unfortunately right. These elves can only be summoned by a royalty. "This damn brat is the elf prince!", he cursed.

Irina knew that the only thing she could do now was to trust Lucian. No matter how much she hated being helpless every time they're facing a paranormal incident, she had to put her faith in him. Not doing so would distract him and may cost their lives. She may have given up in the past days, but now she's not ready to die yet. I have to meet my mom first, she thought, gripping her locket.

To her surprise, she saw Lucian's sword disappear. For a second, she thought he gave up fighting in order to escape. Her knees felt weak on what he did next. Lucian headed for the elves, bare handed!

The elves were skilled but they didn't underestimate Lucian. They attacked in a coordinated manner and Lucian was barely dodging. In fact, Irina saw that there was blood splashing from his direction. He was hit! But he kept on fighting.

She observed the fight carefully. He wasn't throwing any punches or attacks. He was just trying to suppress their attacks by disarming them while dodging. "Why would he do that?!", she didn't notice she said it out loud. The Nightmare elf prince noticed her.

"Oh man, I almost forgot about you.", it said. Wind formed on its palm, so dense that it could be seen with naked eyes. "I was taught that to enhance the spirit, one must suffer physical pain. I don't really believe it but it's a great time to experiment", as it threw the dense ball of wind at her. Swooosh!!

"Irina!!!", she heard Lucian cry her name. His arms were clasped by the elves on each side, while one was choking him. She could swear she saw Lucian's eyes burning green with rage. A little green sparked from his fists. But before he could bring out his flames and the wind ball hit Irina, a woman's figure swiftly entered the scene, deflecting it. BOOM!!

"Lucian. You're a mess.", it was Evangelyn! Irina may be scared of her but there was no better timing for her arrival. She looked at her, she didn't have her katana. She was holding.. was that a paper fan? It was a Harisen. "Did she deflect that wind ball with that?", Irina wondered.

"Oh, man! That's a home run! Hahaha!", the prince laughed in amusement. "We still have more than a minute of fun. With a beat up guy and a powerless chick, that's barely three versus five!" The prince transformed another finger to a sword, and with one of his Royal Guard, rushed towards Evangelyn.

Evangelyn lowered her posture, as if posing for a sprint. She met the approaching prince, grabbed him by his wrist, and executed a perfect shoulder judo throw. She used its momentum to rotate her body to the direction of the Royal Guard and smashed him with her harisen.

Seeing that, Irina thought it would disintegrate like a Nightmare, but the elf glowed white and a magic circle suddenly appeared on its feet, which disappeared just as quickly, including the elf. She didn't understand what just happened but she was glad Evangelyn was on their side.

"You, b**ch! Do you know the consequence of what you just did?!", the prince was furious.

"I. Don't. Fucking. Care.", Evangelyn answered with a devilish grin as she swung her harisen, taunting the Elf Prince. "Lucian may not raise his weapon against you, but not me. All of you can come at me at once. It's one versus five."

"Oops! I forgot I just disposed of the other one, so it's one versus four. Bring it on, pointy bastards!"