As Leon and Nathan continued to pressure Mako and Erin, they purposefully didn't commit fully and didn't rush in; not that it would be easy considering Mako and Erin were also firing back different elemental projectiles to stop their advance.
The reason why they were doing s was to keep Mako and Erin busy and distracted while Bill did the main work.
When they had started firing projectiles at Mako after Nathan's howl, Leon had signaled to Bill with his hand signs to not engage them and instead circle behind them and steal the crystal instead without them even knowing and make a run for it back to their starting position.
This was the reason why Bill had stopped attacking Erin, it wasn't because he was out of energy to continue, but rather he wasn't there at all. He was tunneling underground around them so that he could steal the crystal.
However, as Bill got close to the pit where the crystal was placed, he was forced to emerge back into the surface as the base of the pit was made out of metal and it reached much deeper into the earth.
Bill couldn't manipulate Earth that deep as it was just too compact for him, nor could he manipulate metal which was why the only option he had was to emerge quietly back on the surface and steal the crystal.
He sensed the surface for anyone's presence using his earth ability and when he sensed that the coast was clear, he emerged from the ground right in front of the fiery pit, ready to grab the crystal before it spawned more sentinels.
He looked around to make sure no one saw him emerging and then turned around to grab the...
"IT'S GONE!! THEY ALREADY TOOK THE CRYSTAL!!" Bill shouted loudly to alert not just Nathan and Leon about the situation, but unfortunately also Mako and Erin who had no idea what was going on.
Bill looked around and could only see Mako and Erin with visible signs of confusion on their face.
"Where's Iris?" Bill asked out loud.
"Right behind you," A familiar voice resounded from behind and as Bill quickly turned around, he came face to face with Iris holding onto the orange crystal with her eyes glowing blue.
Before Bill could even move a muscle, Iris conjured a massive water blast, the biggest she had ever produced, and blasted Bill down to the ground at point-blank range with no defenses.
The force and pressure of the blast caught Bill off guard and he was quickly knocked down onto the ground and became unconscious.
Mako and Erin were left speechless after witnessing what Iris had but there was no time to sit and admire as Iris quickly began moving towards the entrance from where they came into the central area.
At that exact moment, the effects of Nathan's howl had expired and now Mako and Erin could fight at their full power and without feeling helpless and afraid.
Nathan's Advanced Perception was able to pick up what had happened and he spotted Iris running the long way around to avoid them as she tried to leave the central area and return to their starting point.
"Stop her! She has the crystal!" Nathan shouted as he pointed at Iris in the distance.
Leon quickly jumped into action as he activated his speed ability and dashed forward to try and intercept Iris.
However, a wall of ice blocked his path as Erin appeared in front of him ready for a fight.
"Where do you think you're going, pretty boy," Erin taunted as she walled off anyway for Leon to get through leaving him no choice but to stay and fight.n0velusb.c0m
Meanwhile, Nathan transformed back into his complete Blood Wolf Form and started chasing after Iris from her original path, but he also got cut off as a huge wall of earth appeared in front of him, blocking him from proceeding further.
Mako jumped down from the wall and retracted his Storm Caller staff as it wasn't the best weapon for close combat fighting and instead smashed his fist into the ground and using earth aura pulled out a stone sword.
He activated his defense stance and awaited for Nathan to make a move as all he had to do was to stall him for as long as possible, giving Iris as big of a headstart as he could.
Mako stood firm, his stone sword at the ready, as Nathan, in his complete Blood Wolf form, bounded towards him with lightning speed, his senses heightened to an incredible degree.
As Nathan lunged at Mako, his body crackled with electricity, his skin glowing with a faint blue hue. He channeled his Lightning energy into his sword itself which wasn't as effective as the Storm Caller Staff, but was easier and faster to do since its size was smaller.
Just as Nathan was about to strike, Mako brought down his charged sword, sending a surge of lightning through the blade and into Nathan's path.
Nathan's fur stood on end as the lightning struck him, causing him to skid to a halt mid-leap. The electric shock coursed through his body, temporarily stunning him. It was the opening Mako needed. With a powerful swing, he struck at Nathan, aiming to exploit the momentary weakness. However, Nathan recovered swiftly, his advanced perception allowing him to react just in time to twist his body and evade the blow.
The two clashed in a flurry of movements. Mako tried his best to counter Nathan's wild and strong claw attacks and bites with his stone swords, but given that he wasn't a trained swordsman at all and neither did he have a decent sword, he had blown through ten stone swords at this point whilst fighting Nathan in close combat.
The only reason why Mako was still able to keep his ground against Nathan was because of his non-ability skills such as his Phantom skillset, Moption Sense, and High Jump as well as the new melee mana skill set he had learned after defeating Mikhail in the recruitment test which included skills such Mana Slash, Mana Thrust, Mana Block, and Cyclone Parry.
He also used the Earth ability to create barriers and cover, attempting to slow down Nathan's movements and gain the upper hand as well as his Fire and Lightning to shoot elemental projectiles at him.
Meanwhile, Erin and Leon were engaged in their own fierce duel. Leon's Hardening ability had turned his skin quite hard, allowing him to withstand Erin's attacks more effectively. Erin, however, wasn't one to back down. She used her Ice ability to create razor-sharp ice shards that she launched at Leon with decent accuracy.
Leon's body was covered in scratches and gouges from the ice shards, but his determination didn't waver. He retaliated with bursts of fire, sending flames dancing toward Erin.
Iris melted the ice around her into water and used those to counter the fire, creating clouds of steam that temporarily obscured their vision. However, this amount of steam was nothing compared to what the team had faced before as it was just enough to block vision and could do much else.
Erin didn't want to play a cat and mouse game within the cover of the steam and instead activated her Wind ability and blew away all of the steam at once, clearing the area and resuming the battle once again.
Leon began to channel his Earth ability. The ground beneath Erin's feet rumbled and shifted, creating a series of rocky spikes that erupted from the ground, threatening to impale her. Erin used her Wind ability to launch herself into the air just as the spikes emerged from underneath her and was barely able to dodge them as they stopped reaching higher just as Erin's Updraft skill concluded and went on cooldown.
Erin landed graciously on top of the biggest Earth spike as a taunt to Leon which did the trick and a vein popped on Leon's forehead as he rushed in once again to resume the fight.
Back in the battle between Mako and Nathan, the two continued their fierce clash.
Nathan growled and lunged at Mako, his teeth snapping dangerously close to Mako's arm. Mako managed to dodge just in time with a mana block which broke his fifteenth stone sword, but this time Nathan's claws hit his shoulder and dug into his muscle, scrapping down and leaving a deep blood-gushing wound on his right shoulder, that began leaking out blood.
The pain was quite intense and the injury quite strong but what was worse was that Nathan suddenly stopped attacking and didn't chase after Mako after he had been injured stead he went for his spilled blood which he start licking up like a very hungry puppy.
Mako was confused but he didn't have time to worry about him as he instead had to focus on himself. He put pressure on the wound and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was pretty much useless, he wouldn't be able to use his right hand in the fight anymore.
Ignoring the pain, Mako began channeling his energy into a final strike.
Meanwhile, Nathan had finished smacking his lips on Mako's blood and now a change occurred in his appearance as he turned from a black and grey colored wolf into a black and red coloured wolf.
Mako could feel the intense boost in power and aura that was leaking out of Nathan's body as he seemed a lot stronger than before. Mako had no idea what had happened, but he didn't have time to find out as he had to spend as much time as possible charging up his final attack.
Mako's left hand started glowing green with tiny light particles converging towards his palm. Nathan let out a powerful roar of pain as he was ready for the final showdown. He rushed towards Mako with his mouth wide open and his razor-sharp teeth glowing red with blood aura as he lunged towards Mako.
Back in Erin and Leon's battle, Erin had created an intricate dance between using her Water, Wind, and Ice, while Leon's flames had left scorch marks on the terrain. The two friends yet enemies locked eyes, both breathing heavily as they prepared for the final exchange.
Leon's eyes glinted with determination as he activated his Fire ability to its fullest extent intending to use a massive skill that he had learned but hadn't been able to use up until now. Flames erupted from his body, creating a blazing aura that surrounded him. He condensed all of the flames into his fist which glowed extremely brightly as he rushed towards Erin.
Erin, undeterred by Leon's impressive display, summoned all of her Ice aura within her and began condensing her entire right arm in extremely thick and solid ice all the while building as much wind aura beneath her feet as possible.
Once Leon was in range, Erin blasted herself forward with intense speed using all that concentrated Wind and extended her frozen right forward, ready to meet Leon's attack and give her own final blow
Both Mako and Nathan as well as Leon and Erin were going to release their strongest skills and clas one last time with each other to decide the winner; however, before anyone of them could connect, a loud and familiar voice rang in their ears.
"STOP!"
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