After taking a look into the many cages strewn about the cave, Carmen finally located Rivell and Sarah.

  “Hey, Sarah! Rivell! Wake up.” She loudly whispered, trying to get their attention.

  They slowly opened their eyes as they sat up, wondering what had happened to them.

  “Where are we? Why did those bastards cage us up like animals??” Sarah furiously asked, looking down at the peculiar shackles binding her wrists.

  “I think they were wanting to sell us off or something. Worry about it later though, we’ve gotta get out of here.”

  She helped them out of their cages and undid the shackles, causing them to loudly drop onto the floor. Just as they were about to leave the cave, Logan and Wilson appeared and swiftly blocked their exit. The trio skidded to a stop and braced themselves for a fight.

  “Hmph, I knew those idiots would mess things up.” Logan said with a dark expression, not pleased at all to see them out of their confines.

  He suddenly aimed his hand upwards, concentrating his Core Energy into a single point. Moments later, a thin dagger started to emerge from his palm, it's wavy and light blue blade twinkling in the light. When he gripped the silver handle, the temperature in the cave began to plummet as an icy wind permeated from his Manifest.

  Logan pointed his dagger towards the group and assumed a battle stance, spreading his feet and skillfully shifting his weight. His expression grew darker and with the amount of Core Energy he exerted, it was clear he wanted to bring a swift end to this battle. Carmen reached towards her hip to unsheathe her rapier, but she quickly noticed that it was missing.

  “You go look for your weapon. We’ll hold him off.” Sarah said as she stepped forward.

  Carmen nodded and sprinted to the other side of the cave, not wanting to waste any more time. Wilson immediately summoned his Manifest and dashed after her.

  Sarah tried to intercept his path, but before she could fire a wind arrow, Logan appeared in front of her with his dagger pointed at her face. Sarah’s eyes went wide, fully expecting the blade to stab her, however, the attack was blocked by a bright green shield. It surrounded her like a bubble and completely absorbed Logan’s stab, putting a surprised expression on the man’s face.

  “I’ve got you, Sarah!” Rivell yelled back, his Manifest glowing brightly as the pages slowly turned.

  “Nice Job! That new shield you've got is pretty clutch!” Sarah replied with a grateful smile.

  She then aimed her bow at Logan and fired off a single arrow. It raced towards his face, prompting Logan to leap to his left, dodging out of the way. However, unbeknownst to him, the arrow caught the cold wind and changed its trajectory. It circled around and struck him directly on the back, causing a fair amount of damage as it pushed Logan forward.

  Before he could gather himself, Sarah was already on the assault; firing off more arrows in his direction. They whistled throughout the air, whizzing by their target with great speed. Logan continued to leap back, slicing his dagger in front of him to create a thin sheet of ice. The ice successfully blocked the arrows, giving Logan a moment to collect himself from Sarah’s relentless rain of attacks.

  As the three continued their battle, Carmen was frantically looking around for her rapier. She rummaged through box after box until her search was quickly halted by Wilson’s speedy approach. He summoned forth his Manifest, a wooden club fashioned from dark brown vines, and smacked it into the ground. A vine burst through the earth below and took aim at Carmen, snaking towards her legs. She darted to the left and rolled out of the way, causing the vine to just barely miss its target.

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  “Were you really a Vesta? Where is your Manifest little girl??” Wilson loudly asked with a crazed smile, commanding the vine to go in for another attack.

  Carmen quickly stood and glared at him, trying to come up with a way to win this one-sided fight. She looked to her left and to her right until a glint of light caught her eye. It was her rapier, sitting next to a few other weapons in an old wooden box.

  Wilson aimed his club at Carmen and the tightly wound vines separated, now appearing as a bundle of brown snakes attached to a handle. The vines flew towards her with great quickness, growing incredibly sharp and long with each passing moment.

  Carmen dipped and sidestepped the attack, dancing around with graceful elegance. She made it look effortless with how easily she moved, as though she could sense their attack pattern before they made the attempt.

  'Just what is this girl!?!'

  Wilson was unable to understand her movement. Even though he was attacking completely randomly, his efforts were entirely pointless. Carmen continued her skillful dashing and eventually got to her weapon, taking hold of the champagne-colored hilt as she ripped it out of the box.

  'This is nothing compared to Jorah’s Manifest. I actually struggled to dodge the speed of her metal cables. These are moving in slow motion in comparison.'

  Carmen stopped dodging and glanced at the other weapons as an idea suddenly came to her mind. She turned around and waited for Wilson to make his next move, glaring at him with her fiery red eyes.

  “Tch. So what, you’ve got a weapon now. It’s no match for a Manifest though!!” He yelled while aiming his club at her, causing it to unravel and attack once again.

  Carmen smirked and leapt into the air, dodging the incoming vines just as swiftly as before. She then aimed her hand at the weapon-filled box to manipulate it, sending all of its contents hurtling towards Wilson. Swords, knives, axes, and various other sharp objects flew towards him in rapid succession, catching him completely off guard. A knife sliced across his face, cutting him deep in the right eye and causing blood to streak out of his face with a forceful squirt.

  “GAHHH!” He yelled out, screaming out in pain while covering his right eye.

  As he stumbled back, he unsummoned his Manifest, struggling to get over the amount of pain he felt. Carmen quickly used this opportunity and aimed her rapier at him, charging her Core Energy before exerting it the best she could. She thrust it forward and sent out a sharp burst of gravitational energy from the tip of her blade. It instantly barreled towards Wilson, sending him off his feet and knocking his head into the ceiling of the large cave. He crashed down to the ground with a loud thud, violently shaking the gravel filled terrain in the process.

  While Wilson squirmed on the ground in pain, Logan was also sent flying backwards from a powerful force. Carmen looked over her shoulder and saw Sarah lowering her bow and nodding, motioning for Carmen to join them. She quickly bolted over and asked if they were okay.

  “Yeah, this guy is strong, but we can definitely take him.” Sarah replied with a confident smirk, enjoying this fight way more than she should.

  Logan stood and scowled at the group, ready to unleash his next flurry of attacks.

  “I SWEAR, YOU CHILDREN NEED TO BE TAUGHT A LESSON!!!” He yelled out in an absolute rage, blood trickling down his forehead.

  “Oh shut up, old man! Go find another group of kids to cry at, you geriatric bitch!” Sarah screamed back with an annoyed expression, feeling fed up with her opponent at this point.

  She then aimed her bow at the ceiling and began charging Marabel, building a tremendous amount of wind energy around the tip of the arrow.

  “Uh… What are you about to do???” Rivell questioned, growing more concerned as he noticed the crazed smile on Sarah’s face.

  “Doing what I should’ve done ages ago. Get ready to leave guys!!”

  She finished her preparations and was moments away from doing something incredibly reckless. Carmen and Rivell looked at each other with wide eyes, anticipating the worst. The two realized what was coming and they began to sprint for the exit, not wanting to be present when everything blew. Logan dashed forward, trying his best to reach her before she let go, but he was unfortunately too slow.

  Sarah released her bow and the arrow exploded outward, firing off towards the cave’s ceiling with impossible speed and power. It crashed into the rocky ceiling with violent force, instantly collapsing it and sending debris everywhere. The explosion was massive and Sarah exited at the nick of time, leaping out right as the entire cave crushed in on itself. Logan and Wilson were completely locked inside with no way out.

  “Are you insane?!?!?!” Rivell yelled, frustrated that his friend could have easily gotten them killed just now.

  “Maybe a little!”

  Sarah's laugh bellowed as she was absolutely thrilled that her idea had worked so well. Just as they began to stand up, they heard the other individuals from earlier rushing up the hillside to check out what the explosion was.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here before the others show up!” Carmen said as they headed in the opposite direction, crouching down behind the thick treeline. They raced back to their original camp and gathered their things, quickly leaving the area and continuing their journey towards Rivell’s Aunt.