Shattered Sanity

(Meanwhile, enroute to the Northern Forest, The Crew)

WHOOSH!

”FUCK! That almost took my ear off!” Batista shouted, as an arrow tore through the air beside his head and disappeared somewhere ahead of them.

”You’ve got another one!” Randy yelled.

Batista immediately ducked.

WHOOSH!

The second arrow sailed over him, although instead of appearing frightened, Batista burst into laughter as he continued sprinting alongside the others.

”These bastards really want us, I know the arrow heads are blunt and won’t pierce, but still, they would hurt like hell if they hit!”

”No shit!” Jeff shouted, as a burst of Flame Aether struck the ground barely two meters behind him. ”They’ve been screaming Riven’s name since we left the fucking castle!”

Riven couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he ran.

There was something strangely exhilarating about the entire situation, as arrows continued flying around them while occasional spells forced the six of them to suddenly change direction, duck or defend themselves without ever slowing down for long.

”LEFT!”

Riven reacted immediately as Matt shouted the warning, twisting aside moments before another arrow passed between him and Flair.

Behind them, their pursuers continued gaining ground.

Most were First Years, and although several had already fallen behind after the chase stretched farther north, the faster students were still keeping pace while constantly attacking whenever an opportunity appeared.

”Lord Riven, I sincerely hope Circuit’s plan works out, because otherwise we are going to be screwed!” Randy shouted, as he glanced over his shoulder.

”It will, we have already done the groundwork!” Riven replied, as another spell flew towards them.

A sphere of condensed Earth Aether came hurtling through the air, and almost instinctively, Riven twisted while running and brought Sky-Cleaver around with both hands.

BANG!

The halberd smashed through the incoming spell, scattering fragments of hardened earth around him before Riven immediately resumed sprinting.

”HAHAHA! Way to go boss!” Batista shouted.

”Stop celebrating and fucking run!” Matt snapped.

However, one of their pursuers was no longer merely keeping pace.

The Second Year amongst the group had steadily separated himself from everyone behind him, as the superior physical attributes granted by his higher Ascension Rank allowed him to close the distance far faster than any of the First Years.

Riven glanced back once and immediately noticed him.

The man had already pulled several dozen meters ahead of the other pursuers.

Worse, he was gaining on them with every passing second.

”Uh... guys?” Jeff called out.

”I see him,” Riven replied.

The Second Year accelerated again.

Batista looked over his shoulder, saw how quickly the distance was disappearing and immediately began laughing.

”Oh, this fucker is fast! Hahahaha! We might have to improvise!”

”Why the hell are you laughing then? You moron?!” Flair shouted.

”Because.... I know I can take him on if he comes too close!”

Another arrow whistled between them as the six continued racing towards the Northern Forest, although the Second Year behind them was now close enough that Riven knew they weren’t going to outrun him all the way to the Northern Forest.

”Listen up. We can’t outrun this guy, but what we can do is create enough distance that he doesn’t have backup and then stop to take him out at once.

For the next minute, run as hard as you can, and then on my signal, we stop and take him out,” Riven instructed, as he glanced towards the rest of his crew.

”Now fucking run!”

The six immediately accelerated.

For the next minute, they stopped trying to return fire and concentrated entirely upon creating distance from the larger group behind them, even as the Second Year continued closing the gap.

That was precisely what Riven wanted.

The faster they ran, the farther the Second Year was forced to separate himself from his slower First Year companions if he wanted to catch them, until the arrows flying from behind gradually began falling short and even the ranged spells could no longer comfortably reach them.

Meanwhile, the Second Year continued gaining.

Thirty meters became twenty.

Twenty became fifteen.

By the time he closed within ten meters, the nearest of his companions had fallen almost a hundred meters behind, leaving him completely isolated from anyone capable of helping him.

Riven glanced back one final time and noticed that this was the opening they needed.

”NOW!”

He screamed, as all six of them stopped simultaneously and turned.

”Shit....”

The Second Year muttered, as his momentum did not allow for him to halt nearly as quickly, as he got sandwiched between where Randy and Batista had stopped.

”I’ll go up...”

”I’ll take down then....”

The two of them co-ordinated, as they forced the Aureate senior to choose which direction to defend while his forward momentum made it impossible to form a guard.

He chose Batista.

The Second Year twisted towards him and threw a heavy punch, forcing Batista to raise both arms and absorb the blow rather than attempting to counterattack.

That was all Batista needed to do.

The moment the Second Year’s attention shifted towards him, Randy attacked from the opposite side and swept his leg against the man’s ankle, disrupting his footing without trying to overpower him directly.

The Second Year stumbled.

Flair immediately attacked from the front, forcing him to raise his sword and defend before he could recover his balance, while Matt struck from behind and drove him another step forward.

They weren’t giving him enough time to properly plant his feet.

Every attack forced him to respond to the next.

The Second Year still managed to shove Flair away and swing his sword towards Randy, although Jeff crashed into his sword arm before the strike could gather any strength.

Riven had deliberately remained outside the exchange.

He wasn’t trying to overwhelm the Second Year alongside everyone else.

He was waiting for the opening they were creating for him.

It finally came when Batista slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest at the same moment Randy hooked his ankle again, sending the already unbalanced Second Year crashing onto one knee.

As it was only then that Riven moved.....

’I can’t use Sky Cleaver, but I can use my fist.’

He thought, as with Sky-Cleaver in his left hand, he stepped directly into the opening, rotated his body and drove his right fist across the Second Year’s jaw with every bit of strength he could comfortably use without risking permanent injury.

BANG!

The man’s head snapped sideways.

His eyes immediately rolled backwards as his body collapsed onto the ground, completely unconscious.

For half a second, the six simply stared down at him.

Then Batista started laughing.

Riven couldn’t help joining him.

”COME ON! KEEP RUNNING!” Riven shouted, as he pointed towards the Northern Forest and immediately took off again.

The others followed while laughing and giggling amongst themselves, leaving the unconscious Second Year lying behind them as the distant First Years continued their pursuit.

Within moments, arrows began flying towards them once again.

Riven ducked beneath one without breaking stride, heard Randy curse somewhere beside him and laughed even harder as the Northern Forest finally began looming ahead.

Their pursuers were still coming, but now, they were the ones walking into trouble.