Western Istan Isles.

1 Mile from Ishenvale City.

Start of the 3rd Harvest.

112th Era.

Alyce takes a moment and removes her cloak and tosses it towards the shirtless Cylika. "Take it. Run back to the carts! I'll be back shortly." Cylika nods wrapping herself in the cloak and limps off.

The large man gets up cracking his jaw back into place. "Damn. Lucky hit kid." Alyce notes her blade strapped to his belt. "But you won't get lucky like that again." The man stands up and unsheathes the ax from his back. His large arm piece consisting of a shoulder guard, elbow guard, and gauntlet all connected by wires begins to hum. A surge of red vapor flows from the gauntlet and envelopes the handle of his ax and forms around the blade. Soon the vapor along the handle turns to quick strikes of electric energy and the blade is giving off a hiss.

"So, you're also a Merk." Alyce positions herself in a defensive stance: her right hand eye level and slightly open giving off her blue mist, with her left arm behind her ready to strike and her legs spread. She stands on her toes and lightly bounces shifting her weight to each leg which also glow with her blue vapor.

"Hehe, well. I guess I should just kill you for finding out." The large man takes an offensive stance: His ax held diagonally and his legs spread his left leg back preparing for a charge.

"Not that hard to figure out. Your Gandalam is a clear give away. But since you're already out to kill me why not answer me a simple question: Why are you captain of a Defense Unit? Is your place not at your stronghold?" Alyce's eye studies the man's body looking for a weak point in his medium armor.

"I'm here to keep the peace."

Alyce clicks her tongue "Didn't answer my question. You're a Merk, your place is your stronghold, you should be with your group controlling the Diel population making sure they don't overrun the surface. My guess: is that you're working with the Duke. The man I'm going to kill."

"Heh, yeah right. You have no weapon. You have no strength over me. Your pathetic false limbs will do nothing for you. NOW! ENOUGH TALK!" The man charges Alyce and swings his ax. Alyce attempts to grab it but the force is too great and she's sent flying, she adjusts her body and lands on a tree. She shakes her head and looks up, noticing both the dark purple Slash coming from her hand and body where the ax connected. She also sees the man charging her once more! She quickly jumps over him but he catches her and throws her to the ground.

Alyce struggles to get up and the man raises his ax. Quickly she dives under the man's legs and spins, grabbing both her broken blade and a short knife. She then rolls away as the man swings once more and the ax is buried into the dirt, the ax's vibration causing the ground to be disrupted and a explosion of debris flies up. Alyce grabs a handful of dirt in her left hand and holds her broken blade in her right. While gripping the knife between her teeth.

The man lifts his ax back up. "ARGH! OVERCHARGE!" He yells out and a violent surge of red electric energy expels from his arm piece. And his ax grows larger. It's blade now near double it's original size sparks out electricity randomly. He then begins to spin on his heels. Gaining more momentum as he spins towards Alyce.

Alyce watches carefully and thinks to herself "If I can time this right I can hop over the ax, throw this dirt into his eyes, which would cause him to flinch allowin' me maybe... 3 or 4 seconds to charge up this knife with Astrel. Then I should be able to cut the wires supplying his Gandalam, after that I use Xun and bide my time until his ax runs out of Astrel. Once that happens, I create a break on his left shoulder. If I cleave through with Xun's full form I should be able to kill him easily."

As the man finally reaches Alyce she hops backwards onto another tree and launches herself over the man's spinning ax. She then drops the dirt in her left hand out into the man's spin path. The dirt drops just in time and he stammers back lowering his ax. Alyce then drags the blade along the black bar on her right arm and it glows blue with her vapor. She rushes forward and severs the wires along the man's gauntlet. The open wires release the red goo that was flowing through them and Alyce jumps back. The man shakes his head after clearing his eyes of dirt and begins charging Alyce. Switching the positioning of her blade from upright to upside down she holds the blade along the black bar of her arm. The blade charges with her vapor. Alyce rushes forward and swings for the man's left shoulder as he swings his ax towards her neck.

A pale purple light flashes quickly from the small forest that Cylika had just escaped...

-Thanks for reading Ainavale! I really enjoy writing this story and I hope you enjoyed it too! Please, if this series at all interests you subscribe! Thanks for the support and I hope you'll read the next "Episode"!