Chapter 7: Wars
"Ace! Where the hell have you been!" someone shouted as Ace got inside the Zenith base. Two arrows barely missed the sage's head, as he ducked for cover. Several yells of pain came to Ace's ears. Just how he liked it. He smirked as he readied a spell. He pointed a finger at the hunter who had tried to shoot him earlier. His hand crackled with blue energy. After a few seconds, he released what he had built up. Streams of freezing ice went from Ace's palm to the hunter, encasing him in a block of glacier. He looked to his right as a wizard hurled a ball of lightning at the frozen body in front, frying it dead.
"Good work sage, now go to the emperium room, our leader needs assistance. I'll take care of things here," the wizard told him, already fatigued. Ace nodded and ran for the said room. On the way, several bodies lay on the floor, either dead or barely alive. Ace just continued on, not bothering to check on the bodies. Soon, he reached the door that led to his destination.
"The door won't –ungh- budge," he said warily. He decided to just kick it down, and that, he did. The sight that greeted his eyes devastated him greatly. Ace just stood there, mouth agape.
"Oh my god…" he gasped, staring still at the lifeless bodies in front of and beside him. Slowly, he walked towards the huge golden crystal in the center. After he took a few steps, he heard a light groan to his right. His head turned sharply, desperately trying to find source. When he found it, he rushed to the spot.
"Arthur…? Arthur! Wake up!" Ace screamed at the fragile looking wizard in his arms.
"Ace? Is that you?" he said weakly, coughing at every word.
"Protect the emperium crystal Ace…" the wizard told him, inhaling deeply. Ace gently lay Arthur's body on floor as he heard shattering behind him. A quick turn of his head and he saw where the sound was coming from. A monk, clothed in a deep shade of red, was bashing fiercely the crystal in front of her, emitting sparks as each punch connected. Ace quickly ran to her, stumbling over a dead knight on the floor. As soon as he reached the garbed woman, he took out his dagger and thrust it heavily towards his target. A loud clang signaled that the attack was unsuccessful.
"Damn it…" Ace mumbled as he jumped backwards to avoid a jab to his gut. Only at this moment that he realized that this was a woman. A woman of one the highest ranks in the whole of Midgard, one of the fabled Champions. I'm in more trouble than I thought, he thought as he strafed to his right to avoid being hit.
The woman stepped back, parrying a pitiful stab from her foe. She raised her right hand, whispered a short in incantation and five glowing spheres came to her side, encircling her with their luminous glow. In a flash, she disappeared, only to reappear behind the startled sage. She quickly followed with her three hit combo to his back, sending him flying. As Ace regained his stance, to his dismay the champion had once again disappeared. Instinctively, he raised his head to see a gloved hand coming towards his head. He sidestepped to the right, thrusting his dagger as the woman came down. A squirt of blood and a seething smile by Ace came after.
"Ugh…Lucky hit sage…" the champion staggered and leapt far from Ace. She landed on her knee, placing her palm over the wound, closing it. She stood up, went into her fighting stance and grinned. Ace merely looked a her, in his own stance as he readied his dagger and guard in front. Once Ace opened his mouth to cast his spell, she lunged. He barely dodged the punch but easily recovered. In return, he slashed at her diagonally, only managing to shred a piece of her robe. Both came face to face as they recovered from each other's attacks. Once more, they leapt to attack. The champion landed gracefully while Ace fell, gripping his side as her fist connected with it, hurting him severely. The woman took this opportunity to activate Fury, a special monk technique. Her fist collided with the ground as she gathered unfathomable energy to her body. White energy crackled as her spirits disappeared. She felt the power course through her very veins.
As Ace got up, stumbling a bit, placed the tip of his dagger on his right hand's open palm. After a few words of concentration, the dagger stood straight on its own, still pointing downwards. It pierced his hand, making him wince but he managed to stand the pain. Blood trickled down his hand onto the floor. Ace sheathed the dagger as he whispered more words once again. He let the blood drip and collect on the marbled floor. Soon a bloody pool was growing steadily. The woman's eyes widened in surprise at the sight before her. The blood glowed a deep red, darker than the blood itself. The pool rippled for a brief moment. Then slowly, a figure in the form of a paw, came out. Soon an animal, a fox, formed, drenched with the blood. It went to Ace's side, nipping at his robes. He kneeled and cradled it in his arms, feeding it some meat. Ace smiled evilly.
"Wha-," was all the woman could say as the fox darted up to her, fangs bared. She managed to avoid a bite to her arm as she used Snap to escape. The fox once again was on her. She jumped back behind the fox to escape another lethal bite to her neck. It turned to face her and ran at full speed. The woman was spent and she knew she couldn't escape this one so she braced herself. What she thought to be another attack to her leg turned out be a whip to her face. She did not expect this turn of events so now her head was heavily laced with bruises and cuts, all with blood seeping out. She placed her palm over face for another Heal spell but to her dismay, she couldn't. A laugh made her turn towards her opponent once again. The fox was at his side again, nipping at his robes. His hand outstretched, powder in his palms. He winked.
"How do you like Magnetic Earth miss?" Ace asked innocently, still a smile on his face.
"Don't like it one bit sage," the Champion replied, instantly disappearing from where she stood only a second before. Ace turned sharply to locate his target. The Ninetails beside him growled menacingly as it tried to help its master. The pair failed to notice two gloved hands homing in on their unguarded heads. They were knocked back, Ace grabbed the Ninetails in his arms as they skidded across the room. The woman followed up with another blow to his back. And another, and another. Ace couldn't stand to defend himself since he was preoccupied with his Ninetails. With one last punch from the champion, Ace was sent hurtling into a wall, leaving a dent in it. As he tried to stand, he whispered words to his Ninetails and it disappeared. He grit his teeth and his eyes glinted menacingly. When the woman saw this she staggered back. She had never seen these kinds of eyes before, like they belonged to a devil. He brought his dagger, now a shade of deep crimson. It was giving of a reddish aura, spreading to Ace's arms, then to his body until it covered his whole being. Though the woman showed signs of surprise, this was not new to her. She has seen this in the past, and it meant that something was about to happen once again. Something the people of Midgard wouldn't expect to happen again.
"This can not be…How come you wield this dagger?" she questioned him, seemingly afraid of the sage.
"Why do you care woman?" Ace's voice boomed, advancing towards her. The woman stepped back, beads of sweat now forming on her forehead and body. Then, Ace's body blurred out of sight. After a quick second, she felt something sting at her neck. She swore inwardly.
"Don't move if you don't want to die…" the sage warned her. She just grinned and used her elbow to hit Ace's stomach, again knocking him back. He dug his dagger into the floor to stop moving. On instinct, he raised the weapon to his face, successfully blocking the champion's blow. He countered with a slice to the woman's arms but missed by a few inches. Once again, he tried to slice her but to no avail. She jumped back, into her fighting stance, hand raised for protection. Then she extended her arm made a come hither gesture.
Ace dashed towards her, dagger held tightly in his hand. After five steps he vanished once more, appearing above the champion's head. She raised her fist to block the incoming attack. Her arm followed suit, aiming for Ace's chest. He crashed into the roof, falling hard seconds after. He gathered what strength he had left, trying to stand up to defend himself. He knew he wouldn't last any longer if this continued on. Preparing himself, he placed arms in a cross formation, bracing for the champion's next attack.
The woman took one step forward, concentrated and once more summoned her five spirit spheres. She clenched her right fist, whispered the incantation for Fury, and absorbed her spheres into her body. She was charged with so much spiritual energy. She stood up again, both palms open, facing upward. Suddenly, they glowed bright and the five spirit balls erupted from them. The luminous spheres gave off such a bright light that Ace had to cover his eyes from the intensity. After invoking the power of speed upon herself, she sped towards the awaiting sage, her body in pain from all the stored up energy inside. She looked into Ace's fierce eyes. One step forward. Ace stepped back, arms still crossed. Second step. She mumbled something that the sage could not understand. Ace clenched his fists in anticipation. Third step…Fourth step. Fifth. Moroccan symbols slowly appeared above the both of them. Ace kept on retreating until he reached the far wall. Here, he stared at the woman. Again she vanished. Ace closed his eyes. The five spirit spheres appeared around his body, followed closely by the woman. She reeled back and delivered her final blow. All five spheres were absorbed into her fist as it connected with Ace's chest. Blue energy erupted and engulfed Ace, who was screaming in pain. The scream of defeat.
"Asura Strike…" he heard the woman say as she went through him. His limp body slid to the floor. He had enough energy left to see the woman drink a flask of a blue liquid. She went to the crystal, shattering it with one last blow. He heard the sound of teleportation as his eyes closed. Slowly, the dear life that he once possessed slipped out of his unconscious form, leaving him in a world of total darkness.