“I think everything is agreed upon… but let’s go over the entire plan once more just to be sure.” - Said at the meeting in the great hall. A few days before the raid on the islands began.

  “The raid on the Black islands will begin with the fleets setting sail. There will be four fleets and each will sail from a different direction of the world. The eastern fleet will depart first, because it has to secretly sail around the entire islands before it can begin approaching them. After that, the northern and southern fleets will sail, and finally the western.”

  “The goal of the fleets is clear… reach the islands, retrieve the legendary items and eliminate all members of Two’s group.” - The united forces of Middleworld expected around seventy members of Two’s group. Therefore, a six-hundred person army prepared to attack should be enough.

  “With that said… there is a big chance that Two’s group will begin to flee as soon as they spot our fleets. Thanks to the portal ability one of their members has… I expect at least a quarter of them to escape. Therefore, we must lure them somewhere.”

  “The second half of our united army will be on the cliff, where Bowler will release a massive beam of brown energy into the sky. A beam so large that it will be visible even from the islands. The moment the western fleet is around five hundred meters from the islands… an archer will fire a flaming arrow and give Bowler the signal. Two’s group wants the Crystals… if they’re greedy, we’ll serve one right under their noses!!”

  555 soldiers from Blackearth, 300 from Stone world, 200 from Seaway, 100 from the Great north and 45 from Lava lake. A 1,200-member army. In total, around 100,000 people live in Middleworld, about 10,000 of them are knights or archers. Kingdoms like to keep knights in reserve and send only part of their armies into attack. The fact that 1,200 warriors gathered is still insane… INSANE!!

  Brown month, night 27. Near the cliff.

  Why… WHY… why are there so many of them. We assumed at most a quarter would manage to escape… THEY ARE ALL HERE! The cliff is not prepared to face this many people with superpowers!! - These thoughts rushed through Force’s head the moment he saw the horrifying scene before his eyes.

  Force stood on a small mountain about 300 meters from the trap on the cliff that the united Middleworld had prepared. A trap for Two’s group. From this mountain he could see around sixty people with superpowers massacring the united army of Middleworld.

  “Another one? Well I’m amazed!!” - Force’s confusion was interrupted by Two, who stood on the small mountain. At his feet lay Sapphire, who had arrived earlier than Force. Around Force stood Nine with Eight and two other people who had numbers burned onto their hands. Six and Eighty nine. The last people on the mountain were the five prisoners from the Black islands.

  “Hello little boy, did you get lost?” - Two asked Force, signaling Eight to pacify him. In the background, Six was about to open another portal, but at that moment the entire mountain began to shake.

  The mountain shattered into a thousand pieces and Bowler shot up from the ground, rising really quickly because he created a stone pillar beneath himself that lifted him upward.

  Six tried to create a portal and escape, but before he could, he was struck in the mouth by a stone pillar. At the same time two more pillars smashed into Six’s arms. Bowler’s goal was to break them.

  While everyone was falling, Bowler pushed off a fragment of the mountain and created another pillar that carried him to Six. Before Six could even understand what was happening, Bowler struck him with full force in the body with the legendary hammer.

  Six hit the ground and broke several bones. Bowler began forming a massive stone dome around himself and Six. Six tried one last time to escape through a portal, one arm was broken but the other could still be used. Bowler quickly noticed that Six needed his hands to create portals. The moment Six attempted to open one, a stone pillar shot from the wall of the dome and slammed into him.

  “Finally… FINALLY you’re out of the game. From here, you have no chance of escape.”

  A few hours before the raid on the Black Islands.

  “SOOO FRIENDS… NOW LISTEN TO ME!!!” - Said Two, while all remaining members of his group… 65 people, stood around him.

  “The raid on our temporary base is approaching. But Horwann and his little group have no idea that this place will be their graveyard! I can’t wait to tell him to his face how I knew EVERYTHING he planned… already today!!!!”

  “ANYWAY!! There’s still a chance we lose… after all, they have a BIG numerical advantage. So I’d like to introduce the first three stars of the evening. Six, Nine and Thirty three… step forward!!”

  “Six will stay on the small mountain with me and a few others, his task is clear. Secure our transportation. Six will send all of you except a few small exceptions to the cliff. Six will send Nine to the western fleet, where she will destroy all their ships, and Six will send Thirty three to the eastern fleet to murder all the sailors. We won’t attack the southern fleet because I heard Wind will be there… and she could ruin our plans. We’ll also leave the northern fleet alone because I’d like to show Horwann our beautiful performance on his new favorite… Raven.”

  “After that, Six will make sure none of us are in danger… he’ll watch the battles on the cliff from the small mountain and if someone is in danger, Six will save them! It’ll be fun!!!!… That is, if nothing happens to Six hehe.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  These memories passed through Two’s mind the moment the entire mountain beneath him shattered due to the power of the brown Crystal.

  Damn… I didn’t expect anyone to notice us… and if someone did, not this fast. How the hell did that bastard notice us so quickly! OH WELL!!!!

  Inside the stone dome, Bowler approached Six. Six was broken and covered in blood, yet he managed to say a few words. - “How… HOW.”

  “Easy… my only task was to find you and remove you from the battle. Horwann asked me just before the raid… in case the exact situation that happened actually happened. The moment purple portals began appearing above our heads, I started searching for you… Hey, would you like to know one of the brown Crystal’s abilities that isn’t talked about much? Tracking.”

  As mentioned before, the brown Crystal grants the user the ability to control earth, reshape it and so on. That said, when the user concentrates deeply, they can sense through the Crystal who is standing on the ground or within it. Bowler sensed only the united army and the newcomers arriving through portals in his vicinity. But when he expanded his tracking, Bowler felt several people at the top of the mountain about 300 meters from the cliff. This ability is not widely known or used… which is why Two had never heard of it.

  “DAMN IT! Why didn’t Two warn us about this?!” - Six shouted and tried to escape again, hoping Bowler wouldn’t react in time. But Bowler never lifted his hammer from the ground. The moment he saw Six’s hand move, he created another stone pillar that struck him directly in the face.

  “Two couldn’t have known… Wait… did he warn you about everything?” - Six remained silent. - “Yeah… I probably won’t get anything out of you, but guess what… you’re not leaving here unless you do what I say. You have two options, either answer all my questions or I’ll keep doing this.” - Another stone pillar shot up and struck Six. While Six was airborne, another pillar hit him from the left. Six hit the ground and Bowler approached again. - “So? Will you talk now?”

  Two and the others standing on the mountain were seconds away from hitting the ground. Everyone panicked… everyone except Two and his people. Two looked at Eighty nine and Eighty nine knew exactly what to do.

  Eighty nine spread out like gelatin… which is his ability. Everyone landed on Eighty nine and their fall was softened.

  Before Force could recover from the fall, Two lunged at him. Force dodged the first strike, to which Two responded with a quick smile, opened his third eye and struck Force in the chin, then kicked him to the ground and aimed his sword at him.

  “Sooo little boy. I have a FEW questions… For example what the hell did you do with Thirty three.”

  “I’ll tell you when you close that third eye… that eye freaks me the hell out.”

  Two punched Force in the face again. - “Look look… you’re not in a position to make rules, but I don’t want to waste my time with you here.” - Two closed his third eye.

  At that moment Force inconspicuously pulled the last pouch of explosive ash from his pocket.

  “Thanks… So it was actually very easy… I just had to do one thing… THROW THIS ASH INTO THAT GIRL’S FACE!!” - Force threw all the ash he managed to pull from the pouch into Two’s head. The rest exploded in his own hand, but on the other hand, Two took hard hit.

  “DAMN DAMN DAMN” - Two staggered around the destroyed mountain, his whole face bleeding, he couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, he was in shock.

  Force used the moment to grab his axe with his uninjured hand. But before he could strike, a strange gelatin grabbed his arm. It was Eighty nine, who transformed his arm into gelatin and grabbed Force.

  Eighty nine pulled Force toward him at full speed, jumped and kicked him in the stomach. Force fell and tried to lunge at Eighty nine. Eighty nine stretched both of his arms and pulled Force again, this time kneeing him in the head.

  Before Force could get up, Eighty nine grabbed his head and struck him again. Then he stepped back and started yelling.

  “This isn’t going to work, you idiot… YOU CAN’T EVEN TOUCH ME!!! Your strike would pass through my body, it won’t do anything to me!!! You can try if you want.”

  Arrogant Eighty nine put his hands behind his head and invited Force to hit him. Force, full of rage, ran toward him. But there was one small detail Eighty nine didn’t realize. Force is one of the most experienced members of the red Crystal army.

  Force noticed one thing… Eighty nine’s body is gelatin, but his head is not. Force positioned his axe as if aiming for the body. The moment he was close, he changed the trajectory. On Eighty nine’s face appeared the expression “I messed up.” But it was too late. Force’s axe was buried in Eighty nine’s head.

  Force heard Two’s voice behind him. - “GOOD GOOD… my senses are starting to come back. DAMN… for a moment I was actually DAMN SCARED.” - Two wiped blood from his face onto his clothes. - “I’ll be fine… I’ll be fine!!! YOU… LET’S GO!!” - Two pointed at Force.

  Force pulled the axe from Eighty nine’s head and prepared to attack. His mind was ready, but his body was not. He couldn’t step forward. - I… I can’t move. What is this feeling… Am I... am I scared? Nahhh, there's no way… I’ve faced so many fearced people before… MOVE, LEGS DAMN IT.

  Force managed to take one step… then froze again. - No no no… The man I just killed… I only won because he underestimated me… otherwise I would’ve lost… I wouldn't even land a SINGLE blow… And he was ONLY Eighty nine… In front of me stands Two… TWO! I blink and I’m dead… I… I have no chance.

  Two was ready to take revenge for his face, but Force had other plans. Force turned and ran in a direction away from the cliff. No one stood in his way because everyone was fighting.

  Two watched him run with disbelief.- “I’m amazed… I almost want to cry because of his weakness… HAHAHAH. Whatever… I don’t feel like running after him. I think… I think I’ll lie down for a moment… my head hurts.”

  Two lay down in the remains of the mountain and closed his eyes.

  But moments before this, another duel had taken place.

  “Nine… NINE! Get up… go help Two if he needs it. I’ll take care of the one with blue hair.” - Said Eight while trying to pull Nine out of the rubble. - “Eight… I… I killed someone again today. I thought because of my position I’d only destroy ships… but no… I killed again.” - Nine spoke as if alive on the outside, but dead inside… completely lifeless.

  “NINE DAMN IT… this is not the time… we have to fight!” - Nine didn’t move. Eight tried to pull her, but at that moment Sapphire’s trident struck him in the head.

  Sapphire had found his weapon in the rubble and attacked Eight. The moment Eight was hit, both he and Sapphire were shocked.

  T-this is impossible… my strike only scratched him… That can’t be. That trident is forged from Oceanite!! - Oceanite is the strongest metal found around Middleworld. - T-this is impossible… that strike scratched my head… that weapon is damn strong!

  Sapphire and Eight began fighting. Eight blocked Sapphire’s attacks with his hands. Occasionally Eight failed to react and Sapphire struck his body. These hits were weaker since the element of surprise was gone, but they still injured Eight.

  Finally Eight managed to catch Sapphire’s strike and punched him in the jaw with the other hand. Sapphire stepped back slightly, but Eight was already behind him, landing relentless punches left and right. Eventually Sapphire dodged and retreated several meters.

  Eight and Sapphire looked at each other one last time. Sapphire spat blood. Eight glanced at his wounds and pulled out his weapon… a mace.

  They both charged at each other… the duel of two very experienced warriors had begun!