Hills

The snow had fully covered the ground. The grass was white and felt cold when touched. The hills where Yuto was taking the rampager connected to the vast forest near the village. Before the Priest came, sometimes the children would play out on the field and roll down the hill for fun. That all changed when the Priest started his ritual. The tallest hill broke in half and became a cliff edge where no one could go. Yuto figured that this was a perfect place to fight against Shai Zou Len.

Yuto jumped off the cliff and aimed his bow downward, “Awakened Soul, Enhanced!” He shot an arrow and it opened a gateway. As he went through it, another opened at the bottom of the cliff. Yuto came out of the second gateway and tumbled over the snow. His body rolled further away from the cliff, but the snow slowed him down. He got up and looked at the top of the cliff. He awaited the rampager’s return.

Shai leaped off the cliff and while in the air, looked around to spot Yuto. Yuto managed to run toward the base of the cliff to escape its gaze. Landing in front of him, Shai stood tall and became less aggravated. It was as if he was trying to listen for Yuto.

He did not know what to do. The thought of Shai finding out that he was behind him scared him a bit. Yuto had expected Aleyah and Aleyos to be with him by now.

Suddenly, the rampager began to move. He was walking away from the cliff which eased Yuto’s panic but raised his concern. What if the rampager encounters another town? He had to stop him from taking any more lives.

Yuto pulled back his bow and the sound of the string made the beast turn with rage in its eye. Before being able to release a single shot, the rampager teleported behind him. Yuto turned around and looked up into its eye, which looked as red as ever up close. It lifted its arm to kill him, but instead, it screamed out in pain.

The beast turned around and Yuto saw Aleyah on its back with her blades stabbing the creature. Aleyah struggled to stay on the rampager’s back, but she used the dull part of the blades attached to Shai Zou Len to stay on.

Shai Zou Len stood still, reached behind its back, and grabbed Aleyah’s arm. The beast slammed her on the ground and then kicked her toward the open field of white. She slid all along the ground losing both her blades. Yuto cried out for her which gained the rampager’s attention.

It continued its path toward him but was soon interrupted once more. Aleyos came rushing in on a horse. His spear glowed green and was pointed toward the beast.

“Duck Yuto!” He yelled.

Yuto dived into the snow as Aleyos collided into the rampager. He swung the spear into the rampager and Shai flew towards the trees closest to the cliff. Its body was lost in the debris of wood and snow.

“This thing won’t be down for long. Get on.” Aleyos told Yuto.

Yuto climbed on the back of the horse and Aleyos went after Aleyah who was still laying on the ground. When they got to her, they both got off the horse and ran to her body. Aleyos held Aleyah up while Yuto checked her arm for any injuries. Finally, Aleyah came to and Yuto backed away.

“Are you okay Aleyah?!” He started to freak out. He felt that if she was greatly injured at all, it was his fault for being unable to fight back.

“I’m–fine,” she coughed. “We can’t let that thing escape from here.”

Aleyos helped her up and Yuto went to grab her blades. As he picked up the last one, he saw the rampager get up. He rushed over to the others and warned them that Shai was waking up. When he passed Aleyah her blades, she had a determined expression on her face. She was ready to face it again.

“So what do we know about this thing?” She asked.

“When I shot at it, it suddenly ended up right behind me. Do you think its eye allows it to teleport wherever it looks at last?” Yuto suggested.

“That’s probably the case,” she responded.

The rampager walked out of the forest but failed to notice that they were standing in the open white field watching it walk around.

“Then how are we supposed to seal it?”

“Catching it off guard is the best way,” Aleyos answered.

Yuto turned to him, “But how are we going to do that-”

Suddenly, Shai appeared behind Aleyah and Aleyos. Its red eye, which at first stared straight ahead, moved downward and stared directly at Yuto. Fear struck his heart and at first, he was hesitant to move, but then he heard the sound of Aleyah’s voice calling out his name.

“YUTO!” She cried out. Aleyah and Aleyos had already moved out of the way, but Yuto didn’t. He was still in front of the rampager, facing it dead in its blood-red eye.

He forced his feet to push his body out the way, however, the beast still managed to slam its sword on the ground. The force of the slam pushed Yuto further than he wanted and rolled on the ground. Under the rampager was a medium-sized crater. It roared in frustration.

Yuto was on the ground for some time. The force of the slam really made it hard for him to stand back up. It didn’t help that he felt his aura depleting faster when he was near the rampager. When he woke up, he saw the twins fighting the beast. They were not doing much to it, but they were great distractions keeping Yuto safe

As Yuto sat there in the snow, he bowed his head in frustration. In all his life, he never felt so unsure of himself until today. Yuto had lost all faith in his abilities and the role he played as Team Trinity’s Mythic soul witch. His strength was nowhere near as strong as Aleyah nor was his courage compared to Aleyos. At that moment, he concluded that he brought down Team Trinity. The small missions they were given was because he tarnished the twin’s reputation as the weakest member who will never be on par with them. That’s what he thought as snow started to cover his body. He wanted to be buried and left here to die, but fate had other plans.

“You better be using that brain of yours to figure out a way to stop this thing!” Aleyah shouted at Yuto while she blocked an incoming attack.

Yuto looked up at them, “What?”

“We’re not playing tag with this thing, Yuto. You’re our brains so start thinking!” She replied as she pushed back the rampager’s swords that collided against hers.

Yuto’s eyes widened. As he sat there on the cold ground, he balled his hands into a fist. He was upset that such thoughts crossed his mind. Aleyah had her strength and leadership, while Aleyos had his courage and supportive language. What did he have? Yuto stood up realizing that he had something that completed Trinity.

Meanwhile, the rampager teleported behind Aleyah while she was crouched on the ground. This was anticipated by her. She twirled her blades in a stabbing position.

“Searing Soul, Heatwave!” Her blades glowed an orange color and snow started to melt around her. She stabbed the ground and a ring of heat, invisible to the naked eye, surround her in a circle. It melted the snow and started to increase in circumference. The heat acted as a force of hot wind and forced the beast away from her, but was not enough to knock it down.

Aleyos ran over to her. “Do you think a trap will stop its teleportation?”

She pulled her blades out of the ground and stood up, “Probably not, but until Yuto figures out a way to stop this thing, it’s worth a shot.”

Aleyos nodded in agreement, “Stand back.” Aleyah moved away from him.

The beast roared once more and instead of teleporting, it rushed at them like a bull. The ground shook beneath them, but that did not stop Aleyos from making his next move.

“Champion Soul, Earthbound Arena!”

Just like the entrance exam, they took when they faced against Team Delta, green electricity charged around the spear. Aleyos then spun it around his body so that his spear can scan the whole area. Once it made a full three-sixty around his body, he stabbed the surface of the ground. A magic circle had appeared and stopped the spear from entering the dirt. Everything that was in Aleyos’ line of sight as far as one kilometer became covered in green lightning including himself. This had stopped both Aleyos and the rampager from moving, but he felt the amount of aura that he used to keep it down immediately start to seep from his body in a rapid progression.

“I won’t…be able to…hold on…for much longer…”

Aleyah looked at him as he struggled to keep hold of the arena. She tightened her grip on her blades, “I’m going in now!” She pushed her feet forward into the electrical field. After using an arena, whatever is not affected initially cannot be affected after the spell has been cast.

When she got close enough to Shai, she jumped in the air to stab it in the eye. She figured that it was the best place to do the most damage to it, maybe even kill it if they were lucky, but luck was not on their side.

The beast managed to move its head and looked at Aleyah in the air. She was shocked that this thing was able to overcome her brother’s arena ability. Aleyos was in a shock as well, but because he got distracted, the arena was lifted and the rampager became mobile again. It teleported behind Aleyah as she was in the air.

“No!” Aleyos shouted.

Aleyah’s heart skipped a beat and just like Yuto, fear took control as well. She was too weak to move out of the way and she knew that if this monster managed to hit her at all, it would be the end for her.

Shai Zou Len swung its swords, but not at Aleyah. It went to block the arrows being fired at its face from Yuto who appeared from under both him and Aleyah.

Yuto continued to fire rapidly forcing Shai to miss its opportunity to kill Aleyah. Even after the moment had passed, Yuto continued to reign arrows upon it. He was aiming strictly for the beast’s face and it knew that as well, so it continued to back away from them.

“Thanks, Yuto.” Aleyah told him with great gratitude.

He continued to fire at Shai. “It’s not over yet. I may have figured something out.”

Aleyos went over to them, “What is it?”

“Two things, every time one of us went for an attack, it knew to dodge or block us except for a few occasions. One was when Aleyos came running in on the horse. Usually, it would’ve turned because of the noise, but I don’t think it can hear animals.”

“Are you sure?” Aleyos asked.

“This is just a hunch, but I think because it was given human sacrifices, it can only tone into human sounds. Our breathing, movements, voices; it can track it all and yet, it failed to stop you from attacking it. The other thing I noticed is that when both I and Aleyah went for his eye, it went on the defensive to protect it. We should use these to our advantage.”

“So all we need is the horse and then somehow stab it in the eye without it blocking or dodging?” Aleyah sounded unsure about the plan.

“I know it sounds crazy, but that’s the best I got…” Yuto also sounded unsure of himself. Were his words filled with empty hope? He stopped shooting at Shai and placed his bow beside him.

Aleyos placed his hand on Yuto’s shoulder. Yuto looked up at him and saw that Aleyos had faith in him. Aleyah then grabbed Yuto’s hand and he turned over to her. He saw the same in her eyes.

“If you have a plan, we will follow it Yuto,” she reassured him.

He nodded, “We need to knock it down again.”

“Leave that to me.”

He tightened his grip around her hand a bit to stress that he was serious, “No. Leave that to me. Aleyah, you need to be the one to seal it away.”

She looked worried, “What are you going to do?”

“Thanks to Aleyos here, I have an idea. Just trust me and go distract it as best as you can. Don’t worry about knocking it down.” Yuto then turned to Aleyos, “When I give you the signal, I need you to use the last bit of your aura to trap it again.”

“I’m not sure if I can. Earthbound arena consumed a lot of my aura. I barely have any left to summon another one,” Aleyos responded with such defeat in his voice.

Yuto placed his hand on Aleyos’ shoulder this time and Aleyos looked at him. “We have to give it our all this time Aleyos. We’re all in this together, aren’t we?”

Aleyos looked at both his sister and best friend. He gave them a nod.

Yuto released Aleyah’s hand and took his hand off Aleyos’ shoulder. He started to make his way away from them, but before he faced the direction he wanted to go, he shouted, “We can’t die here, so go all out!” He turned around and sprinted toward the direction of the town.

Aleyah and Aleyos watched him as he faded away from their sight. Aleyah chuckled a bit and gained her brother’s attention.

“What was that for?”

“I almost forgot something.”

He looked confused. “And that is?”

“The pact we made after accepting Mr. Sawano’s invitation to Sentinel.” She turned around and saw Shai Zou Len walking menacingly towards them out of the dust of snow passing by.

Aleyos turned his way too, “I almost forgot about it myself.”