POV: Aria Akari
The man was none other than Wrath, who stood several inches taller than Rai with a warm ivory complexion, long, disheveled black hair that was kept in a ponytail with sharp yellow eyes and prominent scars marred across his face.
His attire was somewhat rugged, consisting of an unzipped black cargo jacket paired with a black undershirt, black cargo pants and black heavy duty boots.
"You know I can't let you kids get away with this, right?" Wrath asked with an enigmatic smile as he cracked his neck, but to his surprise, Arthur unsheathed both of his swords and began walking towards Wrath until he stood no further than a few feet across from him.
"I find it hard to believe you're just a teenager with an Aspectual Force such as your own, although…"
"You're an interesting one, aren't you?" Wrath said as he suddenly appeared in front of Rai, who remained unfazed from Wrath's attempt of intimidation as Wrath's grin widened in amusement.
"Is it arrogance or confidence? There's not an ounce of fear within your eyes and yet, I can't seem to imagine myself losing to a mere child. Well, no matter since this is the end for you all anyways." Wrath added with a content smile as he activated his Aspect, releasing his Aspectual Force in the midst as his aura began to surge, causing Everett to drop onto his knees, clutching his chest as he struggled to breathe while Sarah stood in terror, trembling with cold sweat erupting across her skin as Arthur and myself endured, but despite the frightening sensation his Aspectual Force exuded, Rai seemed to be unaffected as his equanimous demeanor left me puzzled, unable to comprehend his actions.
I don't understand.
The worst case scenario is happening right before us, so why…
Why isn't he activating his Aspect?!
"I don't know what you're hiding from us for you to be this confident in your capabilities, but use your head, Rai!"
Rai…
Who are you?
"Aria, help Everett and Sarah regain their composure and escape from this forest. Find the closest city and contact the Headmaster." Rai ordered sternly as his eyes remained focused on Wrath, who stood a foot across from Rai, glaring down at him with a wry smile.
"What are you talking about?! I'm not leaving-"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE TODAY!" Sarah screamed, her spirit shattering from fear as she sprinted away from the group, following the trail that led to the exit of the forest as Wrath began laughing hysterically at her desperation for survival.
"Her actions are to be expected, but unfortunately, she won't make it very far." Wrath said, wiping tears of joy from his eyes as a man who shared a similar frame to Wrath emerged from the distant forest behind us, but as I laid my eyes onto the man, I felt my insides curl in disgust as I watched the man drag Sarah's unconscious body across the ground by her hair.
"SARAH!" I screamed, anxious and enraged as the man tossed Sarah's body aside, flicking Sarah's blood off of his hand as his provocation nearly made me lose my rationality.
The man was none other than Pride, the last remaining member of the Seven Sins who had an almond complexion with mid-length twisted black hair that was braided into a ponytail, leaving two single twist resting across the left side of his forehead as for his facial features, he had a strong jawline with sharp black eyes and a small scar through the left side of his mouth.
His outfit was similar to Wrath's as he wore black cargo shorts instead with his sleeves rolled just below his elbow and a silver cross necklace that seemed to be a family heirloom.
"It's a shame how stupid this girl is. You all may have had the slightest chance of survival if she didn't abandon the group." Pride remarked mockingly with a chuckle as tears of frustration began to well, but calming my rage and bringing me back to my senses was a sudden wave of bloodlust directed towards Pride, whose body tensed up with fear momentarily as Rai dashed towards Pride with a calm, yet furious expression as Pride's eyes widened in surprise.
"It seems I underestimated your eagerness to die!" Pride said with a carefree grin as he tried to grab Rai, but to his dismay, Rai swiftly evaded his grasp, pivoting on his heel as he landed a spinning back heel kick into Pride's chin.
As Pride's eyes rolled back, his body began falling towards the ground and in that moment, Rai unsheathed his sword and with a swift, yet lethal motion, he attempted to end Pride's life by slashing through his neck, however, Wrath raised his hand and used his Aspect to pull Rai towards him as Rai's eyes widened in surprise.
He can manipulate gravity?!
As Rai slid backwards across the ground towards Wrath, he spun his body around, planting his sword down in the midst as leverage to throw himself into the air with the intention of landing an ax kick into Wrath's head, but Wrath anticipated Rai's every move as he grabbed Rai's leg and slammed him into the earth below with a grin creeping onto his face.
"Interesting!" Wrath exclaimed exuberantly as he tried to stomp his foot onto Rai's chest, however, Rai dodged his attack with a swift back roll as Arthur suddenly appeared beside Wrath and tried to slash through the side of Wrath's torso, but to Arthur's frustration, Wrath repelled him away with a force of gravity as the impact sent Arthur sliding backwards across the ground.
Arthur quickly regained his footing, planting his feet firmly into the ground before dashing towards Wrath with several lethal slashes, however, Wrath weaved Arthur's blade with unexpected agility as Rai dashed towards his blindspot with a spinning side kick, but despite Rai's inventive prowess for combat, Wrath dodged Rai's attack with a swift back step, grabbing Rai's vulnerable leg in the midst as he launched Rai into Arthur, causing the two of them to tumble across the ground entangled with one another.
"Now I understand how my comrades were defeated." Wrath said with a grin as Rai was the first one to pick himself up from the ground, sprinting towards Wrath alone as he initiated an exchange with a feint into a roundhouse kick towards Wrath's chin, however, Wrath parried Rai's leg away as the two of them began exchanging attacks through hand-to-hand combat.
As they fought, I was astonished that Rai was slowly gaining the edge over Wrath, but despite being superior in hand-to-hand combat, I knew Rai's loss was inevitable as his forearms began trembling with pain from the accumulated damage building up from blocking Wrath's heavy fists.
Wrath immediately took advantage of this as he used his Aspect to pull Rai towards him and smashed his fist into Rai's abdomen, causing him to spew out saliva as the impact sent him tumbling backwards across the ground while Arthur dashed towards Wrath with a fierce gaze.
"One has an exceptional sense for combat with enough skill to hold their own against an Aspector, despite not using their own while the other…" Wrath said as he watched Arthur, who closed the distance between them with a single step as he gripped the handle of his swords tightly.
"Ascension!" Arthur yelled as he tried to slash upwards through Wrath's torso, but consternation consumed his mind as Wrath placed a veil of gravity with immense pressure over Arthur, preventing him from moving as Wrath gripped the blade of Arthur's black sword with absurd strength, prompting an apprehensive expression from Arthur as evident desperation rose within his eyes, pleasing Wrath as he tightened his grasp on Arthur's blade in delight.
"Has the potential to surpass even my own power, but in the end…" Wrath added as he pressed his thumb into the blade of Arthur's sword, shattering it as Arthur watched the blade of his treasured sword crumble before him.
"YOU ALL ARE FAR TOO WEAK!" Wrath roared as he repelled everything around him with his gravity, sending debris flying towards us as Everett and I shielded ourselves with our forearms while Arthur slid backwards across the ground, however, in the midst of Wrath's attack, the radiant light that usual shined within Arthur's eyes vanished as if his spirit was tethered to his sword, staring at his broken sword in bewilderment as he remained silent, struggling to accept the new reality before him.
As Wrath walked towards the dispirited Arthur, Rai dashed towards Wrath with the intention of exchanging attacks once more as he tried to initiate the exchange with a feint into a sharp uppercut towards Wrath chin, however, Wrath blocked Rai's attack with his hand as he used his other to backhand Rai across his face before swiftly stepping forward and placing his hand onto Rai's chest.
"Distortion." Wrath uttered as he blasted a destructive force of gravity through Rai's chest, causing Rai to spew out blood as the impact sent him flying backwards into the distant forest.
RAI!
"I thought I sensed something within you, but it seems my judgment was wrong." Wrath added with a disappointed expression as he continued advancing towards Arthur, whose expression remained the same as he stared at his broken sword in utter disbelief, but within my peripheral vision, I noticed Pride walking towards the area where Wrath sent Rai.
"What do you think you're doing, Pride?" Wrath asked with a sigh as Pride continued to advance towards Rai with a furious expression.
"I'm going to kill that boy." Pride replied irritably, however, Wrath directed his bloodlust towards Pride, who suddenly stopped in place with cold sweat beading across his forehead as they locked gazes until Pride clicked his tongue in frustration and averted his eyes towards the ground.
"That boy almost killed you because of your arrogance. If that boy was able to survive my attack, then I will fight him alone. Dispose of the others while I kill this boy." Wrath ordered as Pride nodded, activating his Aspect and releasing his Aspectual Force as his eyes locked onto me, causing an unnerving sensation to course within me as I prepared myself for the inevitable, however, breaking the tension was Arthur, who suddenly began laughing as I felt his Aspectual Force spike exponentially, directing Pride's attention towards Arthur as he began to watch him cautiously.
"What a joke. Rai didn't even use his Aspect and yet, you think you're strong enough to take them on your own?" Arthur asked mockingly with a condescending grin, provoking Pride as he clenched his jaw in anger while Arthur sheathed his broken sword and pointed his white sword towards the two of them.
"The two are bound to lose today, but there's no need to fret because I'm going to become the strongest in the world and for that, I'll give you two the honor of facing me, SO COME!" Arthur yelled exuberantly, his overwhelming Aspectual Force dominating the area as his aura began to surge, prompting an ecstatic grin from Wrath as he matched Arthur's newfound energy with his own while Pride clenched his jaw in frustration.
"It seems your arrogance knows no bounds!" Pride remarked as he activated his Aspect and tried to rush towards Arthur, but in the moment he tried to take a single step, terror dawned upon him while cold sweat enveloped his entire body as the source of his dread was from none other than Arthur's sharpened gaze, which exuded absolute confidence as his eyes seemed to have anticipated Pride's every move, enraging Pride as Arthur's actions provoked his very essence and yet, Pride was unable to gain the courage to take a step forward as he eventually deactivated his Aspect and accepted his reality, choosing to watch from afar as he gnawed on his bottom lip in exasperation.
Arthur…
"A single glance and you're able to render Pride useless. I'll admit that you're far more interesting than before, so I'll accept your wish!" Wrath exclaimed as the two of them dashed towards each other and began exchanging attacks while I shifted my focus to Pride, who remained still as I wondered why he chose not to pursue us, despite Wrath giving him an order to.
"Aria, Sarah is still breathing!" Everett shouted as his voice snapped me out of my daze.
As Arthur and Wrath fought, I quickly rushed towards Everett and began healing Sarah, who had a fatal head injury and a broken jaw, but as I healed her, I felt myself nearing my exhaust limit at a much faster rate than usual because of my poor efficiency in aura manipulation.
I need to at least stop the bleeding!
Desperately healing Sarah to the best of my ability, I glanced towards Arthur to check on him, but to my surprise, he was overwhelming Wrath as he forced him into a defensive position.
"He's strong!" Everett remarked in awe as I noticed Everett regained his composure, despite Wrath's Aspectual Force running amok within the area.
"Are you okay, Everett?" I asked with concern as I noticed Everett was still trembling in fear.
"Not really. I'm terrified. My heart feels as if it's going to explode any second now, although, when Arthur's Aspectual Force suddenly swelled, it relieved some of the fear, so as of now, I'm able to manage." Everett replied as the two of us directed our attention towards Arthur once more, who continued to overwhelm Wrath with adroit swordsmanship as every swing was laced with lethality, but despite Arthur having an advantageous position, his deft footwork eventually succumbed to fatigue as a sense of enervation washed over Arthur's face.
No…
"Aria, he can do this! Arthur can win this!" Everett exclaimed with a grin as Arthur gritted his teeth, persistently pushing through the harsh adversities that stood before him as his desperation was becoming more evident by the second.
As I watched Arthur pant heavily from exhaustion, I felt despair slowly creeping up from behind as Everett's grin was replaced with an anxious frown.
He's not winning!
There's no way he could be winning!
He's already fought four members and now he's facing Wrath alone!
Arthur is strong, but he's still human nonetheless!
"Everett, we have to leave-"
As I watched Arthur slowly lose his momentum, I wanted to run away with my life as I knew it was impossible for me to defeat Wrath, let alone Pride, but a thought of Rai suddenly crossed my mind as I remembered him placing his life on the line for us without even using his Aspect.
Whether his actions were courageous or nonsensical, I didn't have the right to decide.
The fact was that Rai placed his life on the line for us and yet, I couldn't imagine myself surviving against the monstrosity that stood before me.