“Fuck!” Crann spat, as she planted her left hand on the grass beneath her, lance aimed towards Kaze, as she began to kneel. “You’re a bigger pest than I expected…” She continued, Kaze keeping distance with his longsword aimed right towards her. The blades of grass touched by Crann extended and flowed up her body, wrapping around her torso like a thin tunic, covering her front and rear injuries and stopping any more bleeding completely.

 As she stood back up, she raised her left palm, before slamming it through the air to the right, dozens of brambles to the side of Kaze flowing like snakes as they slashed against his body. One of the thorns would snake directly through Kaze’s right forearm, the different spiked vines wrapping around his wrists and ankles. Blood began to leak from where he was pierced, as panic began to draw across his face. “I’m going to enjoy running you through, brat,” Crann exclaimed with dark glee, stomping forward towards Kaze, reeling her right arm back as she approached, preparing to skewer him.

“Warrior of the Sun!” Fenrisolace bellowed, slamming his metal fist into the Goddess’s head from above, knocking her to the ground. As the dryad lifted her face from the dirt, she quickly pushed herself to her feet, turning on her heels towards her attacker. As the Goddess turned, she swiftly received a right hook to the forehead, knocking her backwards towards Kaze. The dryad held her head as she recovered, dazed, blood dripping from her brow. As the blood continued flowing down the bridge of her nose, Fenris looked down on her with complete excitement across his face. “Come get some!” He bellowed, fists held tight to his head, hands very slightly open, his beady yellow eyes leaking through the cracks of his gauntlet’s fingers. The Goddess had anger painted on her face, before leaping straight into the briars to the left of Kaze, disappearing amongst them.

Fenrisolace tutted as he approached Kaze, tightening the grip on his right fist. He stopped just in front of Kaze, as the air around his arm began to look fuzzy to the white-haired young man. The beastman continued to flex, before snapping his arm upwards into the air, a sudden flame would ignite at his shoulder. Slowly creeping up his arm, towards the tips of his fingers an orange flame coiled upwards, before all at once it flared, beaming with power. “Combustion Fist.” He muttered as he finished performing the technique, before beginning to chop with his iron dressed fist through Kaze’s restraints.

“Ah, thank you, Fenris,” Kaze muttered, rubbing his newer wounds. “I think I’ll have to stay out of the rest of this fight, I’m bleeding a whole lot.” He said with disposition, as he began to tear into his kimono some more, starting with rewrapping his left palm, before working on the impalement in his right forearm.

Fenrisolace clasped his hands together, one of them burning with flames as he stretched his hands forward, cracking his knuckles “Don’t worry. I can likely handle her all by myself anyways.” He responded with a cocky smile, the fire that ignited around his arm slowly fizzling out. Kaze sighed as he treated his cuts, as Fenrisolace began stomping further into the maze.

Karrow proceeded with caution corner to corner of the immense labyrinth, a pair of fluttering sand drakes just above his head being constantly fed sand as they do laps in the air. The sound of a branch snapped behind the Godhunter, who reacted by quickly turning on his heels and thrusting his right palm forward to send one of his small beasts. The wyvern rocketed through the air only to slam headfirst into one of the maze’s root walls, bursting into dust.

At the same time he turned around to check his rear, Crann rushed to him with a gauntlet around her right arm made of wrapped vines. Each individual finger of the gauntlet, sharp and deadly, like a beast's claw. She slashed into his right arm, taking a large chunk from it as the sand warrior jumped backwards, howling in pain. “Bitch!” He yelled to her, as he extended his left hand to the sky.

Karrow’s final wyvern flew into his palm, bursting into dust before it began wrapping and snaking around his hand. A gauntlet of sandstone formed, much more hardened and powerful looking than Crann’s sleek and sharp fist. Karrow lunged forward, thrusting a left hook towards the Goddess’s head, only for it to be caught within her moss-green claw.

“This was your counterattack? Punching me?” She scoffed, laughing softly as she crushed the sandstone fist within her hand, rubble and dust flying through the cracks of her claws. The dust exploded in both parties' visions, as she continued to squeeze Karrow’s bare hand. “I’ve already taken your right arm, why not your left.” The Goddess cackled.

Crann then stumbled backwards, putting her left hand to her face, as she became confused from a sharp pain flowing through her jaw. The dust would clear as Crann’s fingers rubbed against a sand knife embedded within her cheek.

“You’re overconfident” Karrow spat back towards Crann, his right hand by his side, with his index and middle fingers, pointed towards the Goddess. He smiled, but only as sweat dripped down the side of his temple, a large gash out of his right arm, he could begin to retreat slowly as the Goddess loosened her grip on his now crushed hand.

Crann would be enraged as she reeled her arm backwards, extending her fingers in preparation to stab into Karrow. However, at the same time just above her arrived a green blur. Karrow was the first to see him, as the orc hovered in the air just a handful of meters above the Goddess. Aiming his left palm down towards her, and gripping it tight with his right a yellow light would be primed and ready within the grasp of his hand. Upon recognising Karrow’s gaze change, she looked up to where his sights were set, only to raise her right hand in defence. A powerful blinding light projected immediately downwards onto the Goddess, blocked seemingly entirely by the grassy gauntlet. 

Crann’s vine fist turned to cinders as it fell apart around her hand, charred and destroyed by the power of the blast. As her gauntlet fell apart, the blade stabbed into her cheek reduced to rubble, falling from just above her jaw alongside the dripping red blood. Ilgar rolled onto the ground just behind Karrow as he landed, Crann’s hand blackened. The Goddess covered in wounds hidden by a tunic of grass, blood leaking from her forehead. She stumbled backwards, her blood-red eyes glaring at the two who now opposed her.

She screamed in anger. “I’ve had enough of this!” As her right arm dug into the wall to her right, the briars and thorns that made up the labyrinth began to flow onto her body. The entire maze began to swim towards Crann, as it built around her- power and size exploding as the small Goddess became one with her trap.

Michaelis, just around the maze's corner from where Crann and her opposition lay, began to back up as she combined with her jungle. Disappointment painted his face as he gripped his dagger tight, retreating towards the rest of the group, who had begun huddling up as they opposed the ever-growing giant, the maze acting like a distant memory.

Kaze’s arm and hand while wrapped up with tatters of his kimono, still dripped blood, his eyes looking heavy. In a similar situation, Karrow’s right arm having a large chunk removed from it and his left hand now purple and red from being crushed within Crann’s grasp. Ilgar was in just as bad shape, as despite taking no damage he was panting heavily. Sweat beaded down from his temple as some smoke escaped his palm, from the previous blast he had launched.

The vines continued to wrap and envelop one another until finally, the form was complete- a large briar dragon. Thorns, vines and leaves all binding one another to create an immense structure. Claws like drills the size of a human, and a gaping maw that screamed power. Her eyes formed out of bundles of red roses, as crimson as the Goddess’s own.

“You all seem tired, so I suggest staying back.” Michaelis sighed, as he walked around the left side of the huddled injured three, blade in his hand as he stared up at the dragon, unphased.

“You can stay back too if you feel like complaining more.” Fenris spat back at Michaelis, walking around the right side of the group, cracking his knuckles through his iron gauntlets.

“Just don’t hold me back wolf-boy.” Michaelis jabbed, laughing to himself as alongside the beastman, they approached the immense dragon, releasing a chilling roar towards its challengers.

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