To Battle: Part 3 [MOX-994]

The battle raged on, with both corrupted and uncorrupted xyns fighting tooth and claw for their survival. Troia slashed down on the corrupted moxyn’s face, and it roared in pain- buying her enough time to kick it towards a burly Knight vexyn, who blasted at it with their breath. 

Pantalaimon soared together with the other Scouts in the sky, spraying their breath as powerful jets of air towards the Corrupted xyns below to attack. The armed villagers fought as fiercely as they were able to defend their home brandishing their own magic and weapons- even makeshift weapons, like rakes and hoes- to deter the corrupted xyns away. But the corrupted xyns were relentless; they moved and fought in a careful, calculated fashion that no other xyn had seen before- and the longer the fighting went on, the more they wore out the uncorrupted xyns with their unnatural strength.

It seemed that without Samson’s guidance, the uncorrupted xyns couldn’t seem to hold their own against the corrupted ones…

“Troia!” Pantalaimon shouted. They dove down to Troia’s side, panting. “I’m starting to think that we need Samson back on our side to help us! These corrupted xyns- they’re far more powerful and coordinated than they’re supposed to be!”

Troia didn’t move from her spot, lashing her tail out at another xyn that tried to lunge for her and temporarily blinding it while doing so. “Are you suggesting that we run off to find him? We need to help the xyns that are already here!”

Pantalaimon barked back at her even louder. “They won’t be here much longer if we don’t risk it!”

But, suddenly, as if on cue, every corrupted xyn ceased their fighting, and froze in place. All of their ears swiveled to one direction; the Corrupted Lands. The villagers paused their fighting too, uncertain of what to do.

The eyes of the corrupted xyns flared brilliantly with their purple-white lightning, and they stood their, waiting for a few moments.

One by one, every corrupted xyn walked away, from the battlefield- as if entranced by something no other xyn could see or hear.

It was nothing that the uncorrupted xyns had ever seen before. They, too, were all silent, afraid of what they were witnessing.

One of the fighters was about to shout to rally the knights and villagers together, but was silenced by another xyn clapping a wing over their mouth; clearly out of the fear that the corrupted xyns would snap out of their trance, and return to slaughter them.

Troia could only feel a chill through her spine as she watched the very last corrupted xyn leave, and turn into a black speck beyond the horizon. 

Something was calling to the corrupted xyns from far beyond. What was it…?

—

The villagers, knights, Troia and Pantalaimon stood together in a circle, shaken and uncertain of what they had just seen. 

“Why didn’t we chase after them?” asked one xyn. It was the same one that almost shouted during the corrupted xyn’s retreat, and they seemed unnaturally tense.”Isn’t it the job of the knights to beat them out altogether? You let them away scot free!”

“And did you see how they nearly overwhelmed and corrupted us?” A knight retorted. “We can’t lose the rest of you to corruption!”

Several more xyns were about to join in with the bickering, but Pantalaimon snapped to silence them. “Stop it, you two! We still don’t know where Samson is- we need to find him!“

Troia. “There’s no time to waste. Scouts, have you seen anything in midair during our battle?”

One flying scout shouted from above. “I saw something explode in the nearby forest during our fight, towards the south! We need to follow it now!”

“Come on!” Troia cried. “Anyxyn that’s able to fight, come with me! We need some fighters and a scout behind to defend the village!” 

Everyone present shouted in agreement; Troia, Pantalaimon, and several other knights and armed villagers immediately bolted out to follow the scoutxyn’s lead, while some remained behind to tend to the wreckage of the village…