The Heroes and The Fallen Angel

Chapter 5's

The day changed and we woke up with our heads a little dizzy. Maybe because a sleep of only two hours made us this way, a little sleepy. Our spirit does not fade, we still have to survive. Our show today was as it has been, back in training but now we are trying a bit of a new variant in training. My squad or Maehara's squad, against Kariya's.

Since the first clang of the fight began, Mugi immediately charged quickly towards Kariya. Akiyama helped him attack through the left side. Akiyama's screams sounded all the way here.

"Yeah!" yelled Akiyama while launching a slash attack using his greatsword.

Kariya dodged, retreated slightly then repelled Mugi's attack. He let Fumiko run past Akiyama and Mugi, and directly attacked me and Ruri. I fired three shots of arrows at him. All are repelled by him like the Lord Of The Ring movie, where Aragorn fends off an arrow attack from the goblins.

"Damn it!" I shot back an arrow and still didn't make it to Fumiko. "Ruri, I will switch to melee attacks!"

"Understand!" sahut Ruri who was busy serving slashes and trident belonging to Fumiko.

The clang of the sound of swords and trident spears adorned the bright morning in the back room of the village. Mugi and Akiyama retreated for a moment, they attacked again when Kariya looked a little overwhelmed. But damn it feels, because the sense of tired kariya can be eliminated by because of the help of magical supporters who heal his small wounds Kariya. Rin was back there busy chanting healing spells.

"Receive this!" ruri shouted while throwing a new ice dagger at her. The dagger broke when it collided with Fumiko's trident.

I entered at a time like this, helping Ruri attack through the side and back. I launched a swift stabbing attack towards Fumiko's exposed back. Failing of course, the trident quickly moved through the air like a wind.

Fumiko's gaze was now on me, but was changed to the approaching balls of fire. BLASTS! There was a loud explosion up there. The fireball collided with another fireball. Apparently Saku and Yuito, are attacking each other and also protecting each other's comrades in the middle of the battlefield. Really fast magical belonging to Yuito, even he can thwart the attack of Maehara's water chain while holding the fireball attack from Saku.

"Rabour!" I shouted as I ran towards Fumiko.

"All right!"

Ruri ran from the opposite direction and we met in the middle, giving each other attacks to Fumiko who fought like she was dancing. Fast and elegant too. It is not wrong to be called the classroom flower, Fumiko is beautiful even when fighting. But somehow this feeling made both my hands hot, like there was a high-pressure whirlwind.

I launched the final stab and stayed fumiko's way. What can I do, I retreated for a moment, and so did Ruri. Ruri's face widened as she looked at me.

"Yuuji, your hands,"

"My hands?"

Somehow, the short sword I used let out a small flame. The blade is like a fire. I really didn't do anything, I didn't cast a magical spell and I wasn't using one either.

Shit, Fumiko's approaching!

"Kids, come here" said Naerith from the airy edge. His hoarse voice saved me. Fumiko stopped and the others stopped too, all looking towards the source of the sound.

"Senior" said Yuito, while his magic circle slowly faded.

"Hey, don't interrupt, we're hollering!" yell Akiyama.

We all exchanged glances, confused about what senior Naerith was about to say. Kariya who was the first to move, walked while sheathing her sword, approaching towards the tree man. He looked at us for a moment and said.

"Come guys, I think seniors have something important to say to us." Her voice sounded wise, rare and very different from the Kariya I knew in class.

That way, the training session this time is over already. We went back to the store last night. This place was quieter and also looked more tidy. Naerith was waiting for us at the middle table of the dining hall. We followed him, sitting at the table there and the next table.

"You must have heard of the Red Witch, or better known as the traitor." We all nodded. "It's said he's near this village and he's on his way here, so I'm asking you to hide for a while." Senior Naerith looked at us one by one; we exchanged looks.

"Hidden where?" ask Maehara again.

"Headquarters, it's safest to go there, even if this traitor has no intention of attacking the headquarters."

Suddenly Kariya got up from sitting down, she said as she tidied up her gear at the waist. "All right, we'll be back. Fumiko, Rin, and Yuito, get your things ready, we're going to the headquarters via the Time Pass."

"Eh, you guys just left?" Mugi asked somewhat surprised.

"Of course, since senior Naerith said it, it means that it is important for us to follow. We should go back."

I don't know why, I feel like Kariya has really changed. He sounded more like Maehara and more obedient. Yes the difference Maehara rough version a little.

*****

At the hotel, we were busy cleaning things. Starting war equipment, such as shields, swords and others, to personal items such as school shirts and dolls. (Ruri always brings a teddy bear to school).

"Why don't we just kill this traitor, he's just a nope and we have a lot! There's senior Naerith and Lorath with the Queen, we can win!"

"Akiyama, I don't think that's possible, look at the tense faces of our two seniors instead of playing." Ruri looked at the window of the room, outside, Lorath and Naerith were talking.

"It looks like they've also been thinking about what the best scenario would be, we can now lose and die fighting the traitor."

"That's because we're too weak, ah shit!" Akiyama threw a glance at the wooden floor, his hands folded in front of his chest.

I understand how Akiyama feels. It felt like we were always treated like a useless lowly, there should be no seniors and also we should always be hiding. We're the ones who can't do anything.

"Here come on." Maehara patted Akiyama's shoulder and immediately went out of the room with the others.

Out there, in front of the forest, we were reunited with the Kariya squad who seemed to have come first. They lead in front, we follow from behind. Akiyama's face was still pouting. Geez Akiyama, don't be so moody, if we're stronger, we'll be back. It was my heart when I saw Akiyama's pouting face.

The moment we entered the forest, the air felt a little different here. It was a bit heavy and it also felt like something was pushing us. It is unmistakable this is because of the Ether Node that is in the depths of the forest there. A flash of pure blue Ether flashed above the sky there. Like lines of thread flying in the wind.

I glanced through the forest, birch trees and oaks filled our left-right. My hair stood up, for some reason I felt like a strange figure was watching me from within the forest. His ruby red eyes scared me.

"Stop!" Kariya raised her hand up. Everyone stopped then.

"What's Kariya?"

"Shhhh!"

"I see, we're not alone here, are we?" ask Fumiko slowly.

We hurried away from the trail, out and towards the birch and oak trees. Hiding while listening to footsteps that sound soft here. Two robed figures walked down the path. My instincts tell me that one of them is the traitor.