Daichi was the first to move, eyes narrowing on Suzu where she stood amid the wreckage with unsettling calm. He drew a long breath, planted his feet, and slammed his fists together. A cyclone burst outward, sand, splinters, and broken tiles swirling into a roaring wall. “We need to push her back, keep her off balance! ” he shouted above the gale, voice slicing through the noise. Suzu’s answering laugh curled under the wind, cold and amused.
“Is that fear I sense?” she taunted, lifting her blood-scythe so the crimson edge hummed. “Come, then. Show me.” Hiroki lunged first, his whole frame haloed in white-hot fire. “I’m on it! ” He sprinted, fists blazing, leaving swirling steam in his wake, then punched out a fan of flames straight for Suzu’s chest. Aiko dashed beside him, light on her feet. She couldn’t swap Suzu, the corrupted aura repelled her power, but she could still warp herself and her teammates to keep the blood-mage guessing. “Keep her reacting!” she called, snapping her fingers; in a blink she traded places with Hiroki, then with Yoshinori, creating three false angles that forced Suzu’s eyes to track. But Suzu merely rolled one shoulder. Dark, viscous blood rippled into a curved shield, drinking the fire and dead-stopping Hiroki’s charge. Crimson tendrils lashed outward; one sliced a burning line across Hiroki’s arm. “Argh!” he hissed, staggering as fresh blood mingled with char. Pain only stoked his resolve, he wheeled back in to jab again, every blow flinging sparks. Yoshinori came in on the flank, lightning crackling over both forearms. “Take this!” he yelled, firing a volley of bolts aimed tight at Suzu’s wrists, trying to break her fine control. Suzu’s eyes flashed; she folded her shield into a spiral and reflected the current. Blue arcs snapped back; Yoshinori dove, sand exploding where he’d been. She’s redirecting any ranged hit… Daichi shifted, teeth clenched. He bent the whirlwind, launched himself on a riding gust, then whipped the air sideways to sweep Suzu’s legs. But crimson coils spiked from the ground, anchoring her like roots. One lash cut Daichi’s thigh; he hit the sand hard, grit grinding into the wound. Ryuji and Tetsuo charged the instant Daichi fell. “We’re not letting her walk through us!” Ryuji roared, body skinning over in iron-gray plates. Tetsuo thundered in, fists coated in jagged stone. He hammered two meaty blows against Suzu’s guard; the pavement cratered under his heels. Yet the blood barrier only rippled. Suzu flicked her wrist. A whip of hardened blood cracked across Ryuji’s torso, his hardened skin split, crimson welling. He staggered back, choking. “Damn it, we’re not even denting her!” he gasped. Tetsuo caught the returning lash on a rocky forearm, but the raw force still shoved him three paces. “This isn’t working,” he rasped, wiping a smear of blood from his brow. “We need a new approach, fast.” Behind the melee, Aira and Itsuki worked in tandem, palms glowing. Every wound they patched siphoned the last of their reserves. “I’m nearly dry, Itsuki,” Aira whispered through clenched teeth. “Me too,” Itsuki answered, voice shaking. She felt lightheaded, every pulse of Suzu’s sinister aura gnawed at her composure. Suzu’s laughter, once hollow, had grown manic. “Your efforts are futile!” she cried, arms wide. “You cannot stop what’s already been set in motion!” With a grand sweep, she stabbed her scythe into the broken street. Blood surged up like molten glass, forming squat pillars and hooking barbs, an arena she controlled completely. The battlefield shrank under her oppressive will. Hiroki, arm still smoking, growled. He thrust both palms forward; a cone of super-heated air detonated against the nearest pillar, blasting shards, but fresh blood instantly replaced the missing mass. “She’s rebuilding faster than we can break!” he barked. Yoshinori’s mind raced. Every ranged element she turns. Every brute strike she cushions. The blood anchors her… Sparks crawled along his knuckles as he skidded beside Aiko. “Swap me behind that pillar!” Aiko’s eyes met his, tired but determined. She nodded, and Yoshinori vanished, reappearing at a weak point in Suzu’s lattice where she hadn’t eyes. He slammed a voltage spike into the ground; the electricity raced under, trying to pop the blood pillars from below. Suzu sensed it, her scythe twisted, siphoning charge into a crackling red web that arced harmlessly to the sky. She smirked. Aira’s knees hit the sand; her glow flickered out. “I can’t, there’s nothing left,” she whispered. Itsuki caught her shoulder, but her own vision blurred, aura stuttering between gold and murky gray. Suzu’s presence was a hammer on her soul. Tetsuo drew a ragged breath, guarding Ryuji’s forward slump. “This is turning into a slaughter,” he muttered, eyes cutting to Shunjiro, who stood just behind, fists trembling, watching his friends bleed. Suzu twirled her scythe, blood spray fanning like petals. “You fight, you fall, you break,” she intoned, voice now echo-thin, almost bored. “Will no one show me a reason to stop?” Cracks spider-webbed deeper in the guilds’ morale. But somewhere under the roar of wind and crackle of dark power, Shunjiro inhaled, long, steady, trying to feel the beat of every comrade’s heart. Their first coordinated rush had failed. Their healers were nearly drained. And Suzu still stood, untouched at the storm’s heart. The battlefield trembled, less from the blood-mage, more from the raw dread settling over every soul who realized they were, quite suddenly, outmatched.