And so the three way deadlock began. Three Daimyos, including herself, and two Shoguns - it was one of the rarest sights for any to see. Couple that with the eight or so Paladin members, and Nyx found herself in quite the disadvantageous situation.

  However, she wasn’t the main target, only a distraction. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage. Just then, Taysa sprinted towards Siegren, with Ares and two Paladins trailing close behind. Cadmi attempted to intercept, but Ares jumped in between them swinging with her great blade. Siegren was forced to dodge as her blade connected with Cadmi’s shield.

  As Siegren brought his blade out to retaliate against Ares, it shattered under the impact of Ares’ afterimage blade. Reeling from the second strike, Siegren barely managed to bring his shield up in time to block against Taysa, whose hammer launched him back and caused him to slip and fall. Taysa’s two Paladins, Sephrina and Helena went to followup on her attack. However, they suddenly found themselves paralyzed.

  In the next moment, Siegren stood up, satisfied that his trap had worked. Two hunters, even those as skilled as Division hunters, weren’t enough to stop him in that mental world of his making. He raised his shield, attempting to pummel Helena with the sharp end. Ares, unsure of what happened, jumped in to parry Siegren’s killing blow. He cursed as her two swings pushed him back. He needed time to recharge the Johrei stores in his blade, but couldn’t find an opportunity in between Ares’ strikes.

  Taysa, on the other hand, was dealing with Cadmi alone. She blocked the initial strike from his blade with the shaft of her great hammer, only to find herself hit in the arm when she tried to retaliate with an identical strike afterwards. Unless, there was another Elite’s core which shared the same ability, that attack looked just like Ares’.

  She jumped back at another slash and swung her hammer around in a wide arc. Without clear balance, her strike wasn’t nearly as heavy as the one that had caused Siegren to fly back earlier, but it was enough to push Cadmi back a bit.

  But something felt off just now…

  She reoriented herself and charged in, swinging again. This time she had the full weight of her attack behind her, and with the strength enhancements from her armor, even the most durable of individuals would have trouble getting out of her swing unscathed.

  But against all odds, her attack stopped. His shield had blocked it. Rather, it wasn’t just the Johrei defenses which held, it was as if…

  Cadmi was pleased at her look of astonishment as she realized neither of them could make the other budge. With the same type of strike that sent Siegren flying earlier, Cadmi’s shield didn’t even flinch. It confirmed it for her.

  Someway, somehow, Cadmi had managed to copy her weapon’s ability. That explained Ares’ ability earlier. Was this an Enthipid’s special core ability somehow? But that didn’t align with any reports of the Enthipids she’s encountered. Neither does it track with what Elites are typically capable of. No reports in the hunter boards, nor in history of fighting the creatures, ever reported an Enthipid which is able to wield more than one unique ability. Even the Supreme Enthipid of the past only had a single, albeit immense power.

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  Though she didn’t rule out the possibility, there had to have been some other explanation.

  Assuming Cadmi’s ability matched Taysa’s own, even with her strength enhancements, it was pointless against Gloam of Stars’. The Enthipid she had killed was able to trap itself in a state of stasis that ignored virtually every law of physics. In this state, nothing was able to move it, and yet, it could not move itself. Once the Johrei ran out, and all the Standard-grades which protected it were dealt with, Taysa managed to execute it, though it was a tiring day-long effort. In that sense, it wasn’t the hardest Elite to kill, just the most tedious. especially, since Elites have much larger stores of Johrei than your run-of-the-mill Enthipids, making them exceptional attrition fighters.

  This was going to come down to a pure contest of skill in the end.

  Nyx, seeing the action take place readied some explosives and tossed them in the direction of Cadmi and Taysa, only to find each deflected precisely by a thin Johrei blade. The explosions sounded off nearby, cracking the floor around them. Kilm stood at the behest of 5 other Paladin members, each blocking Nyx’s pathway to the brothers.

  ”Back off, Daimyo. You’re not part of the quarry. If you step away, we won’t have to resort to violence”

  ”Heh, sorry little girl. You and your people there will just have to accept that I’m a bit of a greedy bitch.”

  She threw another set of explosives, this time at the feet of the Paladins. Kilm wouldn’t be able to deflect this one at that angle.

  ”Scatter!” Kilm yelled as she and the rest of the Paladins jumped out of the way of the explosions. Parts of the blast caught onto Kilm who, despite her speed, suffered some damage from the blast, along with some of her fellow Paladins. Smoke kicked up and as she pushed the dust aside, she immediately reacted to Nyx’s following blade strike. Even when caught by surprise, Kilm’s muscle reaction as a duelist were top notch, even amongst the Paladin, and she hardly ever lost a duel of blades with any hunter.

  However, Nyx wasn’t a blade expert, and that was Kilm’s mistake. A flash of light lit beneath Kilm as Nyx jumped, hopping off of the back of her own blade, which simultaneously put pressure on the blade Kilm was holding, forcing her back, and giving Nyx a springboard from which she could leap off from.

  The explosion triggered, Kilm’s shield shattered and she passed out from the impact. Luckily her shielding prevent any fatal injury and a Paladin had to tend to her while the remaining four chased Nyx who went after the brothers.

  Cadmi, noticing Nyx, smiled a wicked smile.

  The three opposing parties were about to clash and just as Nyx readied one of her last remaining sets of explosives, a deep rumble shook beneath them.

  A quake, but one of this magnitude?

  All three parties looked up to the sky, riddled with growing ash as a great tremor could be felt out in the distance.

  What was happening? Nyx thought.

  Somewhere in Tresgate, thousands died as the remnants of the World Eater Enthipid collapsed, crushing the populace and buildings, responding to the changing of the tides from a call nobody but it could hear. And no one, save for a few, realize the events which led to this.