"Well, look who we have here."

Eve jumped, then raised a hand to her face to sigh into it. She was beyond screaming at this point. Lilja and Viola were exiting the castle, approaching near, looking quite entertained. At least, Lilja was. Her smirk was radiant.

"Hello, Eve," she said. "You look like a stunner."

Eve had a gorgeous, pre-prepared explicit, but she chose the better option and decided to ignore them and turned back to the battle. Ophelia locked a hand around Sundance's throat and sent him flying. He tried to land melodically, but with his ankle a liability, he was not only lethargic but a danger to himself.

"I would ask why you're here...but I already have a headache."

"Your friends suggested a rescue mission–one for you and Sundance, I am unsure if the meager villains are atop their wishlist–and I insisted on coming along. Then, we split apart. To cover further ground, which was an idea I suggested and everyone agreed upon. Men are fools, really. I can hardly tolerate their company, anyway."

"So it was just you and...Viola?"

"God, no. I was forced to team with these boys. I've forgotten their names already. The tall Japanese boy–well, you're Japanese, too, so that may sound irrelevant. Very tall, very handsome. And the little weird mamodo child with the earrings and leather."

"Ishimaru? Chainz?"

"Those two, yes. Oh, that little mamodo boy is so very rude."

"No, they're not so–Sundance, wait–"

Ophelia grabbed the front of Sundance's shirt, her laugh a devilish cackle, and shoved him straight to the ground with a terrible thump. He raised an arm to block his face, anticipating a different attack, but she dug the heel of her foot into his knee–the same leg of his bad ankle–instead. Sundance closed his eyes, clenching his teeth to stifle a scream, then back-pedaled, driving both legs into her chest and knocking her to the floor. His first successful endeavor in the battle.

"Upra!"

Sundance's eyes materialized and he released a jet of red paint from his mouth, which Ophelia was only able to semi-dodge. When the paint counteracted with the wood, it sizzled. On Ophelia's forearm, it turned the skin a horrible, combined shade of purple and brown and begun melting it like wax. Ophelia glanced at it, but she looked mostly unaffected.

"Well, it looks like you finally got me," she said, unaffected.

Sundance staggered back to catch his breath, then swiped at his forehead and returned to the carnage.

"Ralodo!"

"Upra!"

Paint and snow collided. Neither made a harmful impact. Sundance jumped Ophelia, climbing onto her back with struggle and trying to maintain a good headlock, but Ophelia dug a hand into his arm, a full hand of nails. He grasped an arm around of her neck and Ophelia's nails were starting to draw blood. Eve narrowed her eyes. "Damn, it's strange."

"What is?"

Eve waved her off, declining to say. "The third spell, Lomas Bleez!"

Sundance's forearm transformed into a rainbow shimmering boomerang and with a mighty battle cry, he released it. Ophelia dodged the boomerang's first swing and twisted a hand back to grab Sundance, snatching his chin and successfully breaking his hold. When the boomerang swung around, it hit her square in the forehead and the sound was deafening, knocking her into the bridge railing. Sundance pushed away from her and shook a hand through his hair, then grinned at Eve.

Eve wasn't in the mood to return it. Ophelia was still down and was starting to bleed from her hairline. Caleb watched expressionlessly. The book in his hand held a mild glow.

Sundance pounced over, careful on his ankle, back to Eve. He was practically beaming. "We're doing great!"

"Yeah..."

"What's wrong?"

Eve was a second away from saying until the familiar sound of skittering had Sundance reacting. Ophelia was still lying on her side, looking mostly unconscious. However, ice beetles were escaping her mouth in rows. It was an ugly, disgusting sight.

"Again with this?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "Upra!"

Sundance opened his mouth and released a gush of vibrant gush of red paint. However, only a few of the beetles were destroyed. They were approaching fast. Sundance turned to Eve, raising his hands, eyes wide, desperate. Eve started turning forward pages, fumbling, needing a spell and not finding one.

But it was too late. The remainder of them surrounded Sundance in a circle and detonated. Fog filled the air. Eve raised a hand to her face, tempted to scream into it. When the fog cleared, Sundance's whole arm, shoulder, and half of his neck were coated in frost, shimmering an eerie white. He was trembling.

"Sundance?" Eve called over.

"I...I'm fine–"

"Sundance–"

"Not a chance!" Ophelia shrieked, snagging Sundance by his frostbitten arm and forcing him into a submission. "Caleb, now!"

But Caleb didn't respond. He drifted his gaze across the water lazily. Ophelia bared her teeth at him like something rabid. "What are you doing, you pathetic imbecile? Read my book now!"

Caleb still hadn't replied. Ophelia's book was beginning to lose its glow.

Sundance was kicking and squirming and struggling against Ophelia's hold. He was trying to land a secure kick, but his legs were too short to reach. From lying facedown on the wood, his lip had split on a splinter. Ophelia snatched his other leg, twisting it and holding both in a leglock. "You little...brat–" she sneered.

Lilja and Viola watched the scuffle, bemused. At the sound of a familiar voice, Lilja turned, eyebrows raised.

"I seriously hate this."

Lilja rolled her eyes to the skyline, then offered Eve a momentary glance. "What is it now, child?"

Eve raised a hand to her forehead. "Nothing...no, it's nothing."

Viola looked like she wanted to intervene, share a kind word or two, but Lilja lifted a silencing hand.

Sundance spat in Ophelia's face, bewildering her enough to loosen her hand, and he managed to squeeze free. He was stumbling and struggling, a bruised mess, but he dodged Ophelia's next fist and kick wherever she attempted to land them.

"Relirium!"

No one had expected the spell. Not even Ophelia as she transformed into a spectacular, spiked ice blossom. Sundance withdrew his fist before he'd wind up with a handful of ice splinters and slid back a step. So when Ophelia retained her natural form, it appeared to be a distraction and Ophelia slung an arm under his legs, effectively throwing him off-kilter. But when she tried to drive a knee into his eye, he rolled out of the way and landed a great kick, which sent her staggering.

Sundance didn't relish in the glory of landing a direct attack. When he was free for a moment, he pressed a hand onto the bridge post and heaved his face over the water, coughing. The sound was agonizing. Internal.

"Sundance..."

The sheen of ice on arm was melting. Albeit, slowly. Underneath, the skin was revealed to be a terrible, raw, bluish shade. "Eve, please, stop," he said, raspy and low, a voice older than him. "Please just give me a spell."

"Ralodo!"

Another explosion of ice sprayed past them, covering the expanse of the bridge in a snowy spread and blending with the previous amount. It was an unintentional miss. And when Ophelia turned to Caleb, incredulous, she hadn't expected it either.

"The third spell, Lomas Bleez!"

Their boomerang materialized and arced through the sky, momentarily disappearing in the distance. But because of Sundance's exhaustion, his aim was off and Ophelia barely had to move to evade its swing. As it came back around for its second swing, it grazed the sleeve of Caleb's jacket, slicing through the fabric, unknowingly to him.

"Aw, was that it? I was expecting something much more colorful. More magical." Ophelia sneered, laughing nastily.

Sundance ducked his face into his arm, cradling it to stifle the sound of his cough. "We're doomed."

There was a hand on his shoulder. A tentative squeeze. "No, we're not. Get up. I have an idea."

Someone was near. Sundance jumped again, begun to struggle instinctively, but it was Eve again. He recognized her touch. She was shaking his shoulder. Nuzzling his hair. And for one innocent, adolescent moment, he felt warmth. "Get up, Sundance. You're fine."

Sundance responded in a series of childish grumbles, refusing to budge. After a moment, Eve removed her hand. She was probably sighing again.

"Come on...now, you're just being annoying. I seriously can't even with you, sometimes."

Then, there was a fierce tug at his ear and he screamed–actually, screamed–reliving traumatic memories of stealing from bread and fruit vendors and getting caught, then getting dragged back to The Refuge shamefully by his ear and being unable to hear correctly out of it for, at least, a week.

Sundance cradled his ear protectively. "What the hell was that for?!"

Eve raised her eyebrows, not exactly looking sympathetic. "You're lucky I didn't pull your hair. My mom used to do that to me. Anyway," she said, rolling her eyes. "Stop with whatever you're doing and listen to what I'm about to tell you."

Sundance blinked–rubbing his ear, still–then nodded.

Resh intercepted Lulubell before she could touch them. Her weapon was a shard of her glass. She handled it like a dagger. Resh tried to grab her forearm, but took one of Lulubell's blind swings to the forehead. The gash was dramatic. Phil cringed at the appearance of blood, opening Resh's book to a new page.

Lulubell continued her assault, but Resh had better "Believe me, blind or not, I could still easily destroy all of you!"

Resh chose not to reply. Miraculously, she caught Lulubell's arm, twisting the shard from her hand and cutting her hand in the process. The shard dissipated. Lulubell kneed Resh in the nose and she stumbled, covering it with both hands.

"Luna!" she screamed.

"Haradi!"

Lulubell opened her hands and rose petals with sharpened edges spun past Resh and dispersed before they could collide with anything solid, which was likely due to the extent of Lulubell's injuries. Barrett snorted. She turned on her partner, however.

"Really, Luna? You're gonna use that spell? Really? Do you think we'll get anywhere with something so meager?"

"Gigano–"

"No!" Resh shouted, lunging at her partner.

"What's wrong with you?" Phil asked, his brow furrowed.

"It feels wrong using spells on her–I mean...like this." Resh insisted

At that moment, Kyo had finally risen. His gaze, though, remained blank. His fists clenched. "How could you ever feel sympathy for someone who has burned one of your comrade's books?"

"Of course not! What I mean is–"

"Yeah, whatever," Kyo answered, directing his gaze onward. Resh turned to Phil, confused and devastated and hurt, but he offered a shrug and scowl as penance.

"You left your guard open, brat!"

Lulubell was out for blood. So close. Too close. Resh turned to Phil, horrified, desperate to protect him, and already throwing herself in front of him to do so. But she saw Kyo stepping forward bravely and she was too shocked to scream. Kyo opened his hand and flung whatever he held into Lulubell's face with perfect aim, successfully deterring her. At first, she thought it was dust. It couldn't have been. The ashes of Amera's book.

"For Amera." he said, retreating a few steps.

"You asshole," she growled, covering both eyes.

They finally had an opening, albeit a bittersweet one. Before Resh could jump in and wrestle Lulubell in a , they noticed Itosagi running on all-fours toward Luna, gaze bright and boastful, and lunged into the air.

Lulubell gasped in realization, a hand still over one eye. "No!"

"Kuroguran!"

With the reappearance of silver claws and aqua armor, Itosagi released a powerful burst of electricity and zapped the book straight from Luna's hand, consuming it immediately in golden flames and leaving Luna unharmed. Though Barrett and Tyson had been standing barely a foot away from her, they watched. Lulubell's shriek was animalistic. She tore at her hair, looking and sounding hysterical. "This can't...this can't be happening. I need to protect Luna. Oh my God, oh my God."

"We'll protect her for you," Resh offered kindly.

At Resh's attempt at kindness, Lulubell froze, hands sliding from her hair. She faced them. Her book was nearly gone. So was she. "I hate all of you." she said.

And as she vanished, they felt no solace. There was an actual moment of silence.

"Well, thank everyone, she's gone," Barrett said, dusting his hands and stepping forward. Tyson removed one of his earbuds. He'd been listening to his MP3, apparently. "Thought we'd never be rid of that chick."

"So you let your partner be willingly destroyed?" Resh countered.

"Technically, I didn't destroy her. You kids did." he answered, pointing over at them. "Now, it's my turn. Try to make this interesting, won't you? I love a challenge."

Neither of them launched forward to intercept him. After a moment, Barrett released a sound between a snort and a sigh. "Okay, Tyson. Get me a spell to annihilate these fools."

Resh rolled her eyes.

"Gizak."

"You got it now?"

"I think so."

Eve nodded, placing a hand on Sundance's shoulder and giving him a gentle shove. He looked more determined. Easeful.

"I hope this little pep talk actually works this time. I'm getting tired of having to wait around all this time." Ophelia said, exaggerating a yawn. "Are you ready or not? Probably not."

Sundance gave his best grin. "Always."

"What's your plan?" Lilja demanded.

"Nothing special."

"Hmm," she said, expressionless. "Also, I happened to notice something. I was staring at Caleb for a few minutes already. There is something peculiar about him and I wonder if you have noticed, too. He gets into these phases. Sometimes, I see him reacting and moving and readily announcing spells. Other times, he broods and stares at nothing. I do not know, but there ought to be something wrong with him."

"Oh yeah? No, I didn't notice that." Eve replied, opening Sundance's book to a different page. "Sundance, careful there! Upra!"

Lilja narrowed her eyes and said nothing.

An update within a week? How can that be? Lulubell has finally been defeated but they still have Barrett and Tyson to deal with. Eve has possibly devised a plan and both battles could go to anyone at this point. Tune into next week's chapter to find out! R&R!