Eight Intertwined

66 - Earth

In light of Brand's newfound physical strength, the battlefield fell eerily silent for a brief handful of moments. Olberic's grip on his blade grew tighter as he watched the god carefully. He could tell that Brand was reaching the end of his energy. The magical hits he had sustained earlier had already started to take their toll on him, and it was just a matter of time before he started to completely crumble under the weight of the damage he had sustained. Olberic could tell that they just had to deal a bit more damage before the battle would be won. 

Of course, accomplishing that was bound to be much easier said than done. Brand's melee abilities were impressive as could be, and Olberic somehow doubted that their previous tricks of distracting the god were going to work out as well as they had previously. They were going to have to come up with something new, but that wasn't going to be easy as long as Cyrus, their main tactician, was out of commission for the next few minutes while Alfyn healed his wounds. Olberic was going to have to take command himself, and he could only hope that they were able to find a way around Brand's defenses. 

Brand held one hand out to the side, and he began to create a sword of stone from the small fragments of rock that had been left scattered throughout the arena. Because his blade had been stolen, he was being forced to improvise, and this was the best he was going to be able to do, at least for the time being. He wasn't going to be letting them win quite so easily, and he was making sure they knew it. 

Tressa pointed her spear in Brand's direction, and the wind around the travelers began to kick up before rushing towards him. It slammed into the man in an onslaught attack, and Brand stumbled backwards, though it didn't seem as if he had actually been hurt by the strike at all. If it had injured him, he was doing an impressive job of hiding it. He rolled out of the way when Tressa attempted to hit him with the wind once again, though for a brief flicker of a moment, his balance had been disturbed. 

Hägen was more than happy to take advantage of this, slamming into Brand quickly before the god had the chance to regain his sense of stability. Brand let out a small groan of surprise, not that the attack had done much damage. Still, it wasn't power that had fueled the strike; it was strategy. H'aanit had been the one to command Hägen to attack, and she took advantage of the benefit she had been granted to charge her axe with electricity before dashing in Brand's direction. 

The god attempted to throw up his sword to stop her from hitting him with the blade, but he was unable to fend her off completely. Instead, H'aanit managed to kick Brand's hand away, causing him to fumble with the blade for a brief moment. She struck as soon as the opportunity presented itself, and Brand was left to roar in pain at the sudden onslaught of pain rushing through his body. 

Therion was quick to follow up on what H'aanit was doing, and he charged his knife with fire magic before rushing up behind the god. He wasn't able to strike deeply, but he was more than fully capable of getting in a single attack. Luckily for him, that was all it took to leave Brand struggling to find his footing once again, stumbling for a few moments before he forced himself to his feet. 

Therion pulled his dagger out and attempted to duck out of the way of Brand's next punch. He was able to keep from being hit head on, albeit only barely, but the shockwave disturbed his balance. Therion's eyes went wide with the preparation of being hit once again, but he never felt the blow. Instead, a blast of wind knocked him out of Brand's danger zone, and Therion rolled before rising into a crouch. He glanced over and saw that Tressa had been the one responsible for blocking the wind that saved him. She nodded in his direction, and he returned the favor. 

Olberic noticed that Brand had been left shocked and caught off guard by Therion's sudden act of evasion, so he took the opportunity for what it was and started to dash in the god's direction. He swung the earthen blade he had stolen from Brand in a wide arc before the two began to clash once again. Still, the raw strength of Brand's weapon gave Olberic the burst of power he needed in order to push back until Brand had no choice but to stumble away. Olberic was silently impressed with just how strong the sword was, and he knew that it was a perfect match for its owner.