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Blake suppressed her urge to jump out and lash at Ty. He once again appeared out of nowhere, catching them off guard. Crooked smile present, it circled around the three girls before finally standing still in front of them.
"You finally came. Thank you," it bowed lowly. Amber didn't seem amused; rather, she felt the urge to destroy it right where it stood and just go back home. A shame I can't just end it all here, she grumbled inwardly.
"Whatever. Just do what you came here to do," Blake said dismissively to the Ire.
"Ah, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Sebastian," the Ire continued, "My master is expecting you in a different location. However, I will not be the one to guide you there, since my master calls for you to undergo a trail of sorts." It cackled and raised a hand (or claw). A blood red orb appeared out of thin air hovering right above it and made its way towards Blake. The orb was no bigger than a tennis ball, yet the moment it got close to Blake it sent her nerves into overdrive. She could sense nothing but blood lust from the little floating ball of light; she almost mistook it for a bloodthirsty Ire.
"Follow the orb towards where my master awaits you," Sebastian croaked, "But beware of my fellows in the way there. They have not been... oh, what's the word again? Ah, 'civilized' as I am." With a creepy laugh Sebastian once again disappeared, leaving Blake and the other two alone and on edge.
"You're kidding me," Amber broke the silence, "We have to fight Ires on the way to see one dude? Really?"
"Let's just get this over with. The faster we get through this, the faster we learn about what the hell is with Ty - er, Sebastian," Blake quickly said, covering Layla in an aura suit like usual. This time, Amber used her aura in a similar manner, weaving her aura with Blake's aura already surrounding Layla. The result was an almost corporeal black armor with red tints along the borders. Layla felt the auras of both her friends warmly protecting her as she felt the weight of her aura gun from Blake form around her hand. Amber supplied a bit more aura for the gun as well, saying that it should help with kickback of Ires in case she needed it. With everything set for them to go, Blake finally took the red orb into her hand and felt a tug in her mind. It felt as if there was a mental arrow in her mind pulling her along towards its final destination, to which Blake followed as Layla and Amber followed suit.

The orb led them towards the forest line behind the destroyed building. It led them far into the forest and into an open field surrounded by tall, looming trees. It seemed almost peaceful with the sunlight shining down and the green grass underneath their feet. The only thing that ruined the atmosphere was the dozens of Ires waiting at the center of the field eyeing the girls as they emerged from the trees. Layla could barely breathe at the sheer amount of Ires that expanded outwards from them. The size was much greater than the hordes they faced at the city, and their sizes were much larger. It was almost as if each and every Ire there had gone to a gym, got ripped, and gathered right at that spot just to kill her and the others.
"This must be that trial Sebastian was talking about," Blake said almost too calmly, "If you guys could, would you kindly leave this to me?" Layla and Amber were caught off-guard by Blake's sudden request. It sounded almost as if she had lost her mind.
"You crazy?! That's more than two hundred buff-looking Ires out there!" Amber asked in shock, "That's suicidal to take them on alone! At least have me with you!"
"No, I'm perfectly fine," Blake kept her voice low, keeping her eyes on the horde of Ires, "But we don't know if there are other trials like this. It's best to have some of us at full strength if possible. Besides," Blake looked to Layla, "I'd rather not have Layla engage them. This group is too big to just let her stand off to the side. They could get past you and I and head for her, and if that really happens what can we do? I can go after a majority of them and if they slip past me then you guys can fight them off from a distance to make things easier on yourselves."
"But you'll be severely injured still," Layla finally spoke up, "Wouldn't it be smarter if we all attacked them at once? I mean, yes it will be hard since I can't use my own aura but at the very least I can provide support from somewhere the Ires can't reach. Like..." She quickly scanned the area, her eyes falling to the top of the trees. "I can climb up the trees and pick them off. With you guys engaging all the Ires at once, they wouldn't pay any mind to me. That would mean that I would be safe despite taking such a risk," Layla suggested, pointing to a tall tree. Amber took some time to think about it herself; it was safer than Blake's idea, but it was still risky. Layla was very vulnerable despite the armor she and Blake provided. If they both fell in battle, Layla would just be prey in a predator's den. Still, she fancied Layla's idea over Blake's, and to her relief Blake felt the same.
"Fine, we can do that," Blake conceded, "On the condition that you find a place that's safe and out of sight. I don't want Ires to immediately see you if they decide to come after the one shooting them. Got it?" Layla nodded furiously, glad that her plan was the one to be put to use. Amber helped Layla up a tree where she could safely perch and watch the horde from afar before joining Blake at the front line once more. Both steeled their nerves, took a breath, and charged.

The Ires rushed towards them in tremendous speed. Blake couldn't help but smile as she noticed some of the Ires in the back disappearing into smoke after howling in pain as Layla picked them off one at a time. As she had thought, the Ires were in fact keeping their full attention on Blake and Amber, giving ample time for Layla to adjust her shot and work her way through one Ire at a time. Amber was also great with crowd control, using her whip and her attacks to guide the Ires towards a more centralized location so Layla could begin taking out Ires three at a time. Not much far off, Blake was doing the same, pushing the Ires towards a center point while slashing through a few that got too close to her. Amber and Blake kept in sync with one another as they kept the Ires at bay while Layla worked efficiently to slowly dwindle down the Ires' numbers. Within two hours, two hundred became five hundred as more and more emerged from nowhere and charged at the ground duo all the same. Blake was fine due to her experience fighting solo for half of her life, but she soon began to worry for Amber. She was doing fine in the beginning, but exhaustion and fatigue began to take its toll. It wasn't long before even Layla could tell that Amber was beginning to struggle against the onslaught of Ires.
Layla wished she could do more, but she knew that if she jumped into the fight she would be killed within moments of exposing her location. She grit her teeth as she continued to pick off more unlucky Ires who found themselves in Layla's sights. She could only hope that Blake would be able to help Amber in her time of need. Amber's breath had become labored throughout the fight, which she felt as though it had been ages since the fight began. In truth, they had been fighting for the equivalent of four hours, yet the Ires' numbers had only grown since then. Amber started to believe that Sebastian was just a special Ire who wanted nothing more than to see them dead through this so-called "trial." She was even beginning to doubt that Sebastian even had someone that it would even consider to be its master. The fight continued on for another hour with no rest, but this time, the Ires' sheer numbers finally began to die down. Unfortunately at this point, Amber felt her legs give out mid-battle as she struggled to keep herself upright. Damn it, she cursed inwardly, I can't pass out here! Stay up, dammit, stay up! The Ires appeared to have sensed her distress, hounding her relentlessly until one finally struck her right side causing her to fall. She hit the ground with a sickening thud as the multitude of Ires began to pile on top of her.
"Amber!" Layla screamed out, jumping down from her hiding spot and rushing over. There were still hundreds of Ires left; some of them targeting Layla instead.
"Layla! Stay back! It's too dangerous over here!" Blake called out before getting smacked into the ground by a surprise attack from above her. Within seconds, all three girls found themselves trapped underneath dozens of Ires each. Blake could tell through the muffled human cries among the shrewd musings of the Ires that Amber was struggling just to breathe. She herself didn't have too much trouble, as she immediately destroyed all the ones in her vicinity with a few quick attacks after recovering from that surprise hit to the top of her skull. What worried her more was the fact that neither Amber nor Layla had broken free yet. Relax and give them time;they can do this, Blake tried to convince herself from panicking, and ultimately failing miserably. With both of her friends still stuck underneath dozens of merciless Ires Blake had finally had it with everything. She felt her anger engulf her entirely as her vision turned blood red.

"...ake... Blake... BLAKE!!!" Layla screamed as she shook Blake hard enough for the girl to return to her senses. Blake groaned as she tried to pop her eardrums from the sudden outbursts of her name. Her head felt groggy as well, which didn't help matters. Blake did find relief in seeing that both Amber and Layla were relatively alright with no Ires around them. Or, to be more accurate, no actively bloodthirsty Ires around them; whatever was left of them was now dissolving into black mist.
"Oh, hey," Blake smiled wearily, "What'd I miss?"
"You... you don't remember a thing, do you?" Layla asked hesitantly, looking uneasy as she helped Blake to her feet. Blake didn't notice up until that point, but despite Amber's clear exhaustion, her aura was still active albeit flickering. It felt almost as if she was on guard in case of an ambush. Blake immediately sobered up and sat upright. What had happened when she blacked out?
"No, not really," Blake answered honestly, "All I can really remember is that I got really worried. Neither one of you showed signs of freeing yourselves and then... then..."
"You're vision went red, and you lost consciousness then?" Amber finished, guard still raised. Blake blinked and nodded in surprise. It now made her extremely curious as to what had happened; what did she do during the time she was out of it? She sensed Layla's unease and turned to see the girl who was kneeling by her side stand up and back away from her as if to get away from danger.
"Let me tell you what you missed," Amber spoke lowly, her tone grave, "Long story short: you went berserk. Your eyes turned scary red, and within seconds all the Ires on top of me and Layla disappeared. However..." Blake could only stare as Layla's eyes widened from the sudden recollection, rushing to hide behind Amber. The girl's aura also intensified in color as she raised an arm in front of Layla, protectively from Blake.
"You managed to free us, all right," Amber growled lowly, taking a defensive stance, "But nearly killed us in the process."