I tore the sickness from your bodies; smashed its head against the bricks.
I made a castle from its bones that you may always dwell in it.
The Last Lost Continent.
It had been a fortnight since the gathering and greeting of the two Asgardian princes. The remaining suitors had not seen the battlefield since, which seemed to make most of them anxious. In my mind, the meeting of the two princes raised the stakes. Now the competitors knew their prizes, and knew that along with their powers were handsome faces. My mindset did not falter—If I lost, I would happily return to my family; If I won, I would be off to Asgard.
It would seem that the little stunt that Loki had pulled at the soiree was enough to set off the other competitors and put them all against me. That was fine with me. It also seemed to awaken a feral monster within the others, which could have only meant enjoyable battle in the future.
A rap on the wooden door to my room alerted me of whom I assumed to be one of the messengers, there to fill me in with the day's plans. With my assumptions correct, I curtsied to the same messenger I saw each morning. Today, he said armor was necessary, as Lord Freyr sought to continue the battles.
As all my robes were the same as the first, the only areas being truly protected were my shoulders and torso, though I had a variety of colors. A bloody rouge fitted my mood, considering many of the other suitors sought to spill my blood today. I would gladly deny them their dreams.
Breakfast was served, per the usual. I could feel my face set in stone at the table to match the haughty glares I was receiving. Murderous intent filled the dining hall—it was actually rather pathetic. At the same time it made me wonder. Would they really kill me at the opportunity to become betrothed to a prince they knew nothing of? If they did, it showed their vanity well.
We finished breakfast as a whole before following after Lord Freyr towards the courtyard. With slow, steady steps, I trailed behind the group. Not only was it much easier to avoid their icy glares, but I was able to keep a watchful eye on their wicked tongues as they plotted their victory. It sickened me that some thought victories were going to be so easy. I supposed they needed reminding that we were all warriors of Lord Freyr, defenders of Alvheim; we were all a challenge.
My opponent today was Idonea, a perky, confident brunette. Actually, it was more like the girl was cocky with the way she was looking me up and down. I kept my gaze as hard as possible, my face as blank as a slate until we reached the court that we would be battling on.
With Idonea on one end, myself on the other, the officiator called the start of battle. That look in her eye rivaled a panther, silently stalking its prey for its family with a wicked smile threatening to bare her fangs. It was fairly obvious that she wasn't going to make the first move, but much to my surprise, she spoke.
"Look at that glazed look in your eye, Althea. That feral intent to kill. I wonder what troubles you so? Could it be the fact that you actually have reason to claim victor of this contest?"
"A reason is something I have not. Competitive nature simply gets the best of me."
"Lies, lies, and more lies." Idonea chimed, stalking silkily around me. "You think a simple dance brings you to Prince Loki's favor? You poor, desperate creature."
"Me? You are the one relying on intimidation to defeat an opponent. What kind of coward are you?"
"None at all!" With that, she summoned her staff to appear in her hand, ready to be brought down onto me. As a reflex, I charged my hands up, uttering a spell as fast as I could to conjure up the ice shield that now stood in front of me. Idonea shattered it with her spear, but the diversion was enough to allow me to dodge her attack. "You'll need to be better than that."
Her staff spun in her hands at speeds unreadable; the sheer force could probably lop off my head. Idonea was not only extremely fast and agile but she was also proving to be very lethal and ruthless. I was too busy trying to avoid the blasted weapon between her fingers that I hadn't the time to conjure another spell. "What's the matter, Althea? Why don't you fight back?"
Idonea's staff began to tear at the ground, pulling the concrete from the soil into directions unknown. The most I could have possibly done in my position was summon miniscule spells to fend her off, but what I needed was something strong enough to deter her from my path. With my hands working on defending myself from her stupid staff, my mind and mouth were working on knocking her down. The soil that pulled into a pillar was enough to knock off Idonea's balance and give me enough time to retaliate.
She recovered quickly, but it was enough time for me to summon ice to encase her feet. "Holding an enemy down with one hand and striking with the free? What an immoral, cowardly victory!" With a hiss, I held up my arms in spell position, ready to call upon unworldly elements to send Idonea to her demise.
"It's not about nobility or pride on the battlefield, it's about taking out your opponents." The ice crept up her body as I threw my arms down, finishing off my spell. Crystals eventually crawled into her open mouth, suffocating her and filling her airways with the solid until she could no longer breathe.
"Victor: Althea," Called the proctor. With some help, the proctor had removed Idonea's body from the battlefield after I had set her limbs free, though I kept ice lodged in her throat. Another proctor took the other's place, one of the other competitors following immediately after. She took a stance at the opposite end of the field, a lethal look glazing over her eyes. I didn't even register the consecutive battle.
"Battle between Althea and Laja shall begin." Neither of us made sudden movement, and I was already instantly reminded of my previous fight.
"Can we come to an agreement?" Laja's voice was dark, cold, and void of emotion, much like her appearance. "Summon a single weapon—that's all we fight with, yeah?"
"No magic, no tricks?"
"No magic, no bullshit." Without much of second thoughts, I encased my left arm with sheer ice to form a blade. Laja seemed to take this as a silent agreement before charging at me, her thin scimitar gleaming at me. When it neared, I brought my right arm to defend myself, the metal blade cutting through my robe and digging into my skin. Since my left was open, I drew my arm back, trying to hack away at Laja.
She pulled away, dragging the blade across my skin to further its destruction. "Is your hand to hand so poor?" She sneered, her scimitar slicing through the air before I was even granted the opportunity to recover from the pain in my arm. The moment I felt the cool metal seer past the skin on my chin, I realized how much of a disadvantage I was at. Laja was beyond skilled in hand to hand combat—obviously it was her forte—and she had no issues cutting through my body.
With the strength I could muster at the time being, I swung my arm blade into her, the force knocking her off of me. Blood ran down my chin in waterfalls. A wicked, deranged look crossed Laja's face as she stood a good distance from me with a feral intent to kill. No words were exchanged as she charged at me once again at a blinding speed.
Everything happened faster than my brain could process the situation. Realization sunk in when the metal of Laja's scimitar slid along my skin. I was able to process the blade cutting the small fibers of my skin. I was able to process my shoulders sinking into the gravel as she forced her weight onto mine. I was able to process the blood dripping from my neck.
She was really ready to kill me.
I struggled, especially with my arm blade, to push Laja off of me. "Does Althea forfeit?" The proctor called out, raising his hand ready to make his call. Absolutely not. It was not for the fact that the winner became a queen or even for an Asgardian prince's hand in marriage. It would be such a shame to admit that I forfeited battle to a deranged psychopath that was suffocating me and attempting to slit my throat.
"Never!" I snarled, willing myself to push off of the ground with my shoulders and force Laja off. The shock of my freedom granted me enough time to slam her neck with my icicle of an arm, the intense pressure causing her to cough and choke for air. While she was done, I had reversed how we stood previously. I was hunched over her, my bare arm pinning her throat into the ground with my weapon ready to strike her.
"You don't have the guts to do anything." Laja sneered. The attempt at double reverse psychology made me laugh internally as I brought my homemade ice pick down and slashed her head from ear to ear.
"Victor: Althea!" I drew my arm back, the ice dripping with fresh blood. The proctor came to remove Laja's severed body off of the battlefield—he didn't seem to care about holding the bleeding half of her head. The blade melted from my arm as another proctor came into my ring. This had to be a joke of some sort—I couldn't do three continuous battles. And, if I had the fights were going the way I thought they were, it was going to end up being a free for all between the final three. I was thankful to see Lord Freyr follow after this new proctor, though two very familiar faces came into sight.
"Congratulations on making it this far," Freyr announced. "Tomorrow is the final round. The victor will be chosen to be sent to Asgard as a representation of Alvheim, so please, try your very best." My aqua eyes studied the other two in an analytical matter. The taller of the two had locks spun of silver that hung just above her belly with fully black eyes to contrast. The name Sorel suit her very well—sour. She was an extremely bitter, ruthless person. The other was no better. Her hair was an unmistakable shade of blood purple, though not dark enough to be classified as raven. Didrika was just as ruthless as Sorel; it made sense that the two were the other finalists.
"I wish you all the best of luck." Freyr chimed before walking off the battle field, the proctor staring at us.
Disclaimer: I own no publicly recognizable characters- specifically the summons recognized as Final Fantasy 10's aeons. I thought they fit perfectly but take no credit to their creation. Only of Althea, Everett, Elvira, and Rika.
Author Note: Majority of the battles are out of the way, and now there's only one battle royale left! How will Althea fare? Find out in the next installment of The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit. I'd especially like to thank lostfeather1 for constantly reviewing and giving feedback to me, as well as others that have reviewed, favorited, etc. Please, reviews are motivation for me, so keep them coming!