A Beautiful Flower Has Thorns
Reina, when she looked over her shoulder, it wasn't a monster she saw, nor was it a monster that chopped off her arm.
It was a person. It was none other than her trusty butler.
Marcus stood there, saying not a word. He brandished the sword in his hand, ready for battle. He looked prepared to fight in honor of protecting his master, but his master must have changed, considering that he was the one who chopped Reina's arm.
"You're bleeding," Krai said. His voice sounded like he was about to cry. "Please, let me stop the bleeding."
He got close; still, he had no clue what he could do to help her. There was no additional cloth on hand, and there was no time to erect the magic tent to get inside and acquire the medical supplies. He doesn't even have healing magic.
In simple terms, he was useless in this situation.
"I'm fine." Her voice was beginning to struggle a little bit.
**Shing!**
Another strike came. This time, Reina was able to react to the attack.
"Ice Blizzard!"
She didn't have enough time to say the full incantation, only the name of the spell.
A dome-like shape appeared and covered Reina and Krai. It was rotating in place and was composed of water and small pieces of ice rotating at a high velocity with the water.
This magic was a protective barrier from Reina to stop Marcus's attack on them. He struck the barrier and ricocheted back. He stood straight after being thrown back by the rotating barrier and watched Reina and Krai from outside.
If a normal person touched the barrier, their hand would be ripped off due to the speed of the barrier not being in equilibrium with the person's speed. But Marcus was fast and strong, so the rebound was all he received.
Reina groans as she falls to the ground on one knee with her hand still on the shoulder wound. She freezes her shoulder with ice that covers the wound, and it was effective at stopping the bleeding completely.
"Master, I don't understand. What is going on? Why is Sir Marcus attacking us?"
"I don't know either... The bottom line is, Marcus just cut my arm off... and in all my time with him, the most he could do was to pinch my cheeks.
He's been like a father to me."
Reina was breathing heavily, and her eyes looked like she was about to pass out. Her voice struggled to sound normal with all the pain. She looks at Marcus, who runs towards them with his second sword drawn, while applying Mana Build.
He runs at high speed in the same direction as the barrier's rotation. He starts slow and gradually accelerates, trying to match the speed of the rotation.
"What do we do?"
"Listen... We must quickly find the cause of this. If he matches the speed of the rotation, he will be able to get inside, and that would be the end of us."
"Can't you just freeze him?"
"I can't. He's moving too fast..."
Krai gasps. All hope is now gone.
They can't match him in close combat, and besides, he's the one who taught them how to fight with the sword, so everything they try on him will be intercepted easily.
They have to figure out something else to stop Marcus.
"..."
"Don't give up just yet."
"Huh?"
"There's got to be something out of place. Something that is making him lose control like that."
"...Lose control?"
Reina looks beyond the barrier and realizes that Marcus's speed is close to matching that of the barrier. She starts firing ice swords at him from inside the barrier. The swords' only purpose is to slow him down and reduce the chances of him getting inside the barrier.
Marcus sees them coming. He dodges some and blocks some with his sword. The sword he used to shatter the ice swords began to be coated in ice and frost. He saw the frost expanding to the hilt and threw the sword away before it reached his hand.
Now he was dodging them.
"Krai, you find the cause. I'll hold Marcus back."
"But.. I can't.."
"You can do this... Find a way for us to all get out of this forest alive."
Reina's words knocked him out of his negative state of mind and despair. He wore his game face on and glanced around the place, looking for clues or any abnormalities that might have led to this situation.
What is it that I'm looking for?
The view from inside the barrier was clear, even though the rotation distorted the images from the outside. He stared at Marcus, trying to study his behavior. He saw that his eyes were staring blankly into space, but his reflexes and motor movements were on high alert.
Why did he suddenly start acting like that? Is he being controlled? If so, by what?
He remembers everything that happened leading to this.
The spirits began acting strangely, and then they flew away in a panic. That was the first clue he had and maybe the only one he needed.
So why did they fly away? Spirits are known to be one of the most powerful creatures in this world. So, for them to fly away like that, they must be afraid of something even more powerful than them.
Is it a mid-level spirit?
He glanced around again, this time not just mindlessly searching for clues. This time, he was searching for a more powerful enemy than the lesser spirits.
It is the only conclusion he came to.
Where is it?!
He was beginning to feel frustrated. He wasn't making any progress with his search, and any longer, they would have to taste the steel of Marcus' sword.
"Huh?" He suddenly let out a curious sigh, staring at the outside.
"Did you find something?"
Reina was breathing heavily. Her eyes looked as though she hadn't slept in days, and she was getting pale. She might have considerable mana, but she's still a human with the same levels of blood as those with low mana levels.
And losing said blood was obviously going to deteriorate her physical and mental state. No amount of willpower would make her stand up as if nothing had happened.
"It's a spirit. That's the cause of this... I think."
"..."
She was struggling to keep the attack on Marcus while bearing the side effects of blood loss.
"Look outside. Those flower spores in the air are the cause of this, and that flower was not there a minute ago." He pointed.
Out in the distance, a big flower, the height of an average teenager, was now there in the outer area of the flower field. Just a few meters away from them. The flower looked normal, unassuming, like a Dahlia. Its color was a beautiful harmony between the combination of red, yellow, and blue.
"How do we help Marcus?"
She didn't ask how or why he thinks the flower is the cause. All she wanted to know was the solution. She left the solution in Krai's hands because she was not thinking clearly with all the pain and confusion.
"Destroy that flower... If my hunch is right, destroying that flower will remove its hold on Marcus."
A solution was finally found, assuming that the flower was controlling Marcus. It is the only logical assumption, or why else would he start attacking them like that out of the blue? He didn't speak or show any emotions.
He moved like a well-oiled robot.
Usually, when someone betrays you and seeks to kill you, when they have you cornered, and your life is in their hands, they do it with a lot of rambling and a sinister grin on their face.
But that's not how Marcus acted at all.
"Right."
She stopped firing the ice swords and turned around to face the direction of the flower with her whole body. Her target was now the flower Krai had pointed at.
She began her attack with the same ice swords. A number of them shot in bunches, all coming one after the other.
And while she was attacking, an odd thing happened, or rather a blessing. Marcus now shifted from trying to enter the barrier to defending the flower.
This was a confirmation that indeed the flower is the cause of this.
All the swords Reina shot were deflected. He used his remaining sword with no regard for it being frozen, and ultimately, he would lose another weapon.
The flower was doing all it could to protect itself by using Marcus as a meat shield.
"Tch!"
Reina clicks her tongue, and Krai gasps. They watched as Marcus was being used as a shield to stop the incoming ice swords.
"None of the swords are getting through!"
Krai's face was written with frustration, anger, and anxiety.
The problem was there, but dealing with it proved to be difficult. Reina could only use the same attack repeatedly. If she changes attacks or starts to chant, that small window of opportunity will spell their death.
They were seeing the true strength of the Sword Master Marcus. Much like Reina, who's a master of the water element, he was no joke with moving his body and commanding the sword. Their struggle to overwhelm him was evident proof of that.
Master is looking pretty weak, too. She's about to pass out. Damnit!
He screamed in his head. Frustration, anger, and annoyance were all the emotions he felt. Even seeing his master breathing heavily and struggling to keep her eyes open filled him with worry.
"Master, I'm going out." He got up and lunged to the outside of the barrier.
"..."
Reina didn't say anything. She was only staring and shooting swords at the flower. Nothing else could steal her attention at that moment.
It was as if she were asleep, but awake as well.
The barrier that wouldn't let Marcus in, let Krai out. He passed through it without trouble and got to the outside.
With his sword in hand, he ran in the same line as the ice swords from Reina.
This is my chance! He thought.
Since Marcus was preoccupied with protecting the flower, Krai saw it as an opportunity to pass him and kill it.
He can't deal with two attacks at the same time.
If the flower uses Marcus to go after Krai, then it will be struck by the ice sword and freeze to death. However, if it lets Krai get closer, it will also be cut to death. Either way, it will have to make a choice.
Krai ran and passed Marcus and was only a few meters away from the flower. He didn't try to stop him from passing by; he didn't even look his way.
The moment Krai passed and was only a few meters away, victory was in his hands until the flower fought back. It grew shoots like roots on the base of its stem with pointy ends that would pierce a person through, which it used to attack Krai.
"I may not be able to take Old Man Marcus on, but I don't think I would lose to a flower!"
He dodges and parries all the flowers' attacks. He grew angry, and more frustration followed. His patience was at its wits' end.
"Just die!!"
He managed to pass all the attacks the flower threw at him; he didn't even bat an eye.
With one clean strike, the flower stem was cut down, but he didn't let it end there. Before the flower could fall to the ground, he threw in some more strikes to cut it into pieces for good measure. It was not just to break Marcus out of its control; it was payback for the trouble it caused them.
