[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

"Hmph, I don't think so, Zanden." Swiftant rises up from the bramble and debris, holding onto to resistance commander. The man was barely alive, hanging on helplessly. His gloves gripped onto Swift's forearm as he squirmed in vain to free himself from his captor.

Without moving my neck, I get a glimpse of Swift out of the corner of my eye...I was still disappointed with how recent events panned out. I was supposed to stop him from going haywire. He has expunged Vengeance for now. But who knows how long it will be until another surfaces?

Swift goes on to indulge Zanden. He wants to derive intel from us. I won't become his pompous witness...

A moments pause.
I sheath Sora. “I won't stain my blade with your blood. Sora's heart is too pure.
“Afraid I'll snap your play toy?” Zanden laughs to himself. “How about you just give me the sword?”
Zanden smiles, all fangs.
“...I'll have to disregard that offer, and present you with disdain.”
I clasp my hands together, and unleash a fusillade of rolling waves at Zanden, for but a moment he was left dumbfounded by such a quickly executed attack of this caliber... I didn't even have to write a symbol upon my hand....This was another test, and to try such an act during a battle of this caliber was taking a huge risk.

Haphazardly, Zanden releases a ball of fire at my wave, the two collide head on, and explodes into a hissing fog cloud. Just what I hoped....I think to myself. The cover of fog is on my side. As I prepare a second wave, Zanden quickly counterattacks, and sends off two more blinded blasts....He doesn't know my location, he hopes to hit me in this manner? How sad.

I rush forward my both my hands down by my side, turning my palms inward, I focus energies into my fingertips, my hands glow under the concentration of gathering magics.

I clap my hands together, and then quickly release them, pushing them off of each other towards the direction of Zanden, the fog begins to subside, and a violet ball of light flies straight at Zanden at a high speed. Light trails over the grove, and races towards the target.... Just as it was about to hit its mark.

Dragonstyle: Immolation! Zanden opens his mouth wide, and shoots off a swirling ball of molten lava.
As before, our attacks greet each other headlong...This time though, there was a massive explosion. I held my ground, but I heard Yuu yell out as the discharge sent him soaring through the air. He landed hard on his side. His cane went in the other direction.

“Yuu! Hang on!” I spun about and used the sensory-teleportation to instantaneously move to Yuu's position. “Sir, are you alright? ...No response, he wasn't doing well, the grimacing expression on his face said it all.

Zanden took this opportune moment to send more attacks my way.

Dragonstyle: Burst of Fury ! Zanden sent off 3 simultaneous infernos in my direction, each bigger than the last. I grabbed Yuu, and I made a dash for it, back to my previous position, but as my feet dashed across the grass, Zanden turned his claw to the right, and his blast did the same through the air, and honed in on me, I dug both my heels into the ground, squatted down, and went to the left. With his other claw he motioned for the two other blasts to come from the left, and straight on.

A Pincher attack.... I pushed off from the ground and jumped straight up into the air, Yuu hung on to me for dear life. The two blasts coming in from the left and right met with impact, and exploded the grove below, a crevice formed, and rock and earth fell into it. Some fog still loomed, as I started to fall back towards safe ground, Out of the mist, Another blast was coming at me, as well as his third attack. He had some countermeasures in place, he had planned for the fog as well, and took appropriate action... I couldn't retaliate with Yuu on me, the best I could do, was launch the old man into a nearby tree, as I fell, I drew up my knees, and took out Sora, with some luck, I dug Sora into the ground, and landed on top of the handguard, standing straight up, pierced in between two bits of rock. The blast that was coming straight for me I was able to dodge, just barely. I felt the heat of it, as it zoomed by me. The other blast though wasn't aimed for me. It was for Yuu, and it trailed after him, hurdling towards the tree I tossed him in. There was no way I was going to get to him in time, I concentrated, hoping in vain I could materialize by his side, but it was for naught, that spinning ball of flame smashed into that tree, wood and branch crackled and popped, and there was a massive explosion. The entire forest in the immediate area was set ablaze. I kept my wits about me and laid my hands on the soil, a wall of water rushed up and covered over me. Shielding me from the explosion....

The water subsided, I was drenched, but it was worth it, and Zanden was in the middle of that inferno. I sat in shame, I wasn't able to protect Yuu, I keep failing....Zanden laughed uproariously.