CHAPTER FIVE: STAR-TOUCHED TOWARDS THE ELEMENTS.

 The air of bareness that carried through the entirety of Wraith Valley makes a wavering alignment with the sight of Zeal-leachers feeding off of their victims. The starving ones croaked odiously, slapping harsh palms on the feasting leachers' heads for a turn. Though the Star-Trail Accordance Trial was over, the current creatures no longer held any obligation to stay true to the pact or listen to their mother. The agreement prohibitions weren't maintained and the result had turned out grievous.

A particular Zeal-leacher was beginning to get irked by three others slapping all over its body for a turn and was about to retaliate when its victim's hands, initially limped at the sides, suddenly lunged into its mouth, punching through the soft tissue of its throat and ripping out its tongue. It led out an intensely high-pitched croak, backing away along with the shocked aggravators as it spewed its blood of green liquid. It fell to the ground, convulsing in agony as the three Zeal-leachers looked to the rising human.

 Cassandra groaned and hissed in irritation as lean honey-toned fingers slowly dug out the tongue hooks buried in her face. She squinted her eyes as she adjusted her vision to the bright surroundings. She could tell by the soft glow that the sun was at the rising stage. The echoes of booming belches through the valley pulled her back into action mode and she poured her focus into her senses, shocked momentarily to find her Ivy eyes picking up on the leisurely approaching creatures on all four from more than twenty miles away, despite the horizon from her height that should have been a limited haze to about a seventh of it. Her ears picked up on the two Zeal-leachers creeping up ten feet behind her with stable movements, again on all four despite the human hands-to-paw feet difference. Her rational thinking kicked in and she quickly calmed herself with successive breath intake.

“I’m a Holy Warrior now.”

She swiftly performed a back flip into the air as one of the creatures behind her lunged a secret attack, letting out a gasp as she braced her footings for a safe landing. She had just moved faster and farther than she intended. Her heart pumped greatly, releasing an enormous amount of adrenaline through her body and in that moment, she struggled to find her quotidian self as she backed a few cautious steps with a sharp gaze on the slowly advancing Zeal-leachers. They were smart enough to know she was outnumbered. She knew better than to resume engaging them in a physical fight when they've shredded away their leniency, courtesy of their dead comrade.

“Light damn, Ricky! You sure left the rest of us with one hell of a goodbye gift." She mumbled. "Come on, Cassie, you've got the approval of the Scripture god himself." She had to be able to manifest an elemental power now, right? She directed a good deal of her focus on her enhanced body, willing the strength coursing through her veins to provide something before she became the new record owner for the shortest-lived Holy Warrior.

She suddenly caught a Zeal-leacher about to grab her from the side and a foreign instinct had her aligning her right hand fingers with her arm and making a diagonal slash in its direction.

What all eyes witnessed was an offensive gust of wind shoving the Zeal-leacher more than ten feet away from the human, right before the upper torso fell from the rest of its body; its blood slowly spreading to a pool around its dead body.

Cassandra could only stare on in exhilaration, ignoring the now cautious Zeal-leachers slapping disturbed pals to the ground as they croaked loudly at her. She turned a downward gaze at her pointed-edged hand to feel an exciting rush of wind dancing over every inch of skin there. Then she spread her fingers to feel the sky element creeping in between each one in random patterns.

“Star-touched towards Wind, huh?” She murmured to herself before turning to the nearest creature that shrunk slightly at the determined glare. She made another slashing motion with her hands, severing the head from its body. She turned to the rest. “You’re all still hungry, right? Here!” She bombarded the creatures with seven consecutive attacks, each release giving her a clearer visual of almost invisible winds flying through the air in arcs of blades.

Within five minutes of repeated wind attacks coupled with years of accumulated battle skills, she had killed twenty-five Zeal-leachers, and the rest called for more backup. Their skin grew darker, their tube for tongue lashed out their mouths thicker and lengthier and their body size doubled as they shredded any last bit of leniency they were instructed to uphold.

Unfortunately, before Cassandra could even begin to take any action of incertitude, her exhilaration plummeted beneath the rise of exhaustion and she could feel her hand starting to carry an intense sting. The attacks that followed were missed as she struggled with either suppressing the wind into a sharp focus or her effective releases. Regret stung at her heart harder than the increasing physical ache in her hand. She allowed herself to be lost in her new powers when she could have utilized them for an effective escape or looked for Chad and the other two she had heard in the Supreme Watcher's realm for a solid group attack.

Thoroughly intimidated at the heart-pounding advances of the current Zeal-leachers, now in their unrestraint form, she frantically attempted to gather the wind around her hand but it only earned her a backlash that left her with two Type 3 skin tears. She clutched tightly at her bleeding hand which seemed to excite the monstrous-looking creatures. She fought through the distracting pain to find an escaping chance but was shocked when they quickly formed a trap of tight circle while cautiously moving in on her. Despite being panic-stricken, she grabbed at an element of surprise and ran with her heightened speed for the smaller one to her right, attempting to jump over its body and effectively escape the circle formation before they closed in on her, hopefully.

Except she didn’t account for a quicker reaction.

Her target, along with the two on its opposite sides, pounced towards her with outstretched human-like hands and flailing tongues before she could even jump. In that moment of hopelessness, she wondered if their intellect grew with their body size. She shut her eyes as she awaited the unbearable weight on her body.

Then the ground beneath her rumbled and shook with intensity, accompanied by the sound of loud crackings.

“Sandra, get out!”

The 5'9" ft woman opened her eyes to three long and sharp cones of rock that had risen a good thirteen from the earth right before her. Her eyes trailed the lengths up to find the limp bodies of the Zeal-leachers that would have torn her apart just a few seconds ago, now hung up by the earth spike tips pierced through their under chins and out the skull.

“Yo! Are you fucking deaf?!”

The familiar sound had her looking through the tiny gap between the cone bases to find a crouched Chad looking at her in distraught and she didn't waste any time checking on the furious Zeal-leachers, some of which had begun croaking and belching deeply his way. She dashed up the cones' sides with incredible parkour skill then performed a somersault out the wider gap at the top and thus, making it past the circle boundary. About ten seconds later, they were hot on her tail with a strong determination to end these humans who had laid waste to a lot of their siblings.

"Chad!" She yelled with irrepressible trepidation as she could tell the enlargened Zeal-leachers were catching up behind her; her heightened speed was now slightly weaker.

“Keep running!”

                            ……….……………………………………………………………………

 Chad had just gotten rid of the leacher that pulled him into the nightmare of a test when he found the Zeal-leachers around him revealing their true form. He quickly discovered his attained powers as the earth beneath him softened at his touch and he was able to manipulate its shape. Following battle protocols that were deeply ingrained into them at the military school, he began to look for Cassandra and the other two while slaughtering the creatures that got in his way. He was beginning to worry he might be the only one alive when a series of monotonous grunts amongst the huddled sound of numerous croaking reached his exasperatingly sensitive ears. He ran in that direction to catch the waves of lengthy jet-black hair and honey-toned cheek stuck in a dangerous trap and he instantly realized that couldn't be anyone other than Cassandra.

Right now, he stared measuring gold eyes at the monsters right on his friend's tail, maintaining his crouched posture as he willed that foreign instinct into exaction. His hands once again sank into the earth like it was water and he commanded a literal wave through the earth's crust, timed right behind Cassandra. This sent the valley creatures flying backward, giving her enough time to reach him.

"Starlights, Chad! You finally woke up. I thought your fears got you for good or something." She huffed as she slowly caught her breath. She then turned around to catch the ground settling back to its natural state and she smacked the man's neck. "What was that?!"

Chad wiped the bead of sweat from his forehead, shaking his disheveled wavy mahogany-colored hair out of his face with a smug smirk that would have held rivalry to Ricky’s cocky one. “Star-touched towards Earth, baby!” He flexed both his biceps through the spandex turtle neck top. He gave a dry chuckle at the annoying eye roll he earned from the woman, but it slowly died down in confusion when he noticed her eyes widen in fear of something behind him.

Not a second later, large muscular hands surged out of a sudden cloud of white smoke that appeared behind Chad and yanked his arms backward before the airy substance dispersed to reveal a monstrous Zeal-leacher. It then wrapped its thick tongue around the large man’s throat, squeezing with the strength of a python and Chad fell to his knees as he struggled for air.

Cassandra quickly shook herself of her trance and tried to gather the winds, earning another skin tear that left her grunting for a second. She witnessed Chad clawing at the ground in a failed attempt to enact his power and this spurred her into grabbing a solid hold of her resolve once again. She dashed behind the distracted monster and dug two of her left fingers into its eyes, causing it to release an intense croak in agony as she pierced her finger deeper into the soft flesh.

The creature is forced to release Chad and it takes a step back to catch a balance on its feet. Unwilling to let go of its weak spot, Cassandra wrapped her legs around its upper torso, her wounded arm held on the creature's shoulder as she brutally wiggled her fingers in its left eye socket causing it to shriek loudly.

Its long hands finally grabbed her by her hair and flung her forward where she managed to land on her feet with great acuity, right beside his recovering friend.

"I hate sneak attacks; dishonorable."A wheezing Chad, thoroughly displeased at almost being killed by that method, sunk his hands into the ground and two rocks spiked up in a criss-cross, which missed the injured creature as it quickly retreated into its cloud of white smoke and dispersed.

Cassandra’s eyes quickly searched around to catch the other Zeal-leachers dispersing in a cloud. “Chad, we can’t stay here. We need to start moving towards the exit or we’re gonna be ambushed to death in this awful place.”

“And where is that?” The Toffee-toned man rose to his feet while rubbing soothing fingers at his seriously bruised neck. “The Temple Pillars made it clear that we would be transported out of here as soon as the Accordance Trial is over but we’re still stuck.”

Cassandra turned to the ground to hide the bitterness seeping through her face. Doubt of the Priestess and the temple's sincerity towards them licked at her thoughts in light of their predicament. So far, she's only sure four finalists successfully became star-touched, two of whom she couldn't find right now. She remained uncertain as to whether they'd escaped their world of despair, or worse, killed by the unhinged creatures of the valley. She silently cursed at Ricky for causing this and leaving them to handle it. They are currently surrounded by the same valley itinerants that are now revealing they can vanish at will. She seriously didn't want to wait around long enough to see what else they were capable of, highly certain they would not be surviving that.

The duo's senses spiked and Chad immediately delivered a timely punch to a creature's face surging out of a sudden white cloud. His entry into WP-1at the military school was not a lucky stroke. Chad was one of the top-tier trainees with an abnormal rate of physical strength, slightly beneath Ricky. The surprise punch to the face sent the monster staggering backward and Cassandra quickly followed up with a powerful kick to its head, forcibly dispelling the cloud of white smoke around it.

These were the top picks of the entirety of Stell City after all. When push comes to shove, they still have their enhanced body to hold their own against these creatures.

 They ran towards the monster, intent on using the physical exertion Cassandra was previously against when a cloud suddenly appeared behind them and a Zeal-leacher lunged for their necks. They could the movement inching towards them.

“Swerve!”

An abrupt voice reached their ears and they did. They managed to maneuver their bodies to the side with great reflex; courtesy of Wisdom Temple’s Military School.

Within the same breaths, a wide stream of water shot through the monster’s skull from the back of the head, leaving a gaping hole in the creature’s head; splattered brains and all. It simply slumped to the ground.

“Yo! Valley Scum!”

The next second was graced with a bright orb that spun towards the first creature, smashing into his chest. What followed was an intense explosion that engulfed the Zeal-leacher in a whirl of fire, persisting through its croaks of agony until it became a thoroughly scorched corpse.

“What the heck is going on?!” Chad successfully voiced out Cassandra’s thoughts.

“That would be us, my comrade.”

The two turned behind them to find two young men in tattered finalist uniforms, walking towards them; one with a carefree attitude and the other a bit reserved by contrast.