Chapter 20

Mard Geer skillfully dances about the battlefield as Kyoka wears herself out trying to hit him. Mard Geer is careful to steer her away from Zeref, so as to avoid him falling prey to one of her attacks. He doesn't get out of the onslaught of attacks unscathed though. Every time the wind rushes past him, his skin feels irritated, as though it has become sensitive to the slightest touch.

"You can't run forever!" Kyoka cries out.

"I won't need to." Mard Geer counters, "Tell me, how long can you keep this spell up for?"

Kyoka stops her attack, giving Mard Geer a moment to rest. She seems mildly shocked by Mard Geer's question.

"What are you getting at?"

Mard Geer smiles deviously, "I've already deduced that your magic allows you to alter a person's sensitivity, making even a grazing blow feel like a full-on impact. And if I'm correct, you have to be continuously pouring magic into the spell to keep it active. Am I right?"

Without a second thought, Kyoka charges at Mard Geer and swings her claws at him. He jumps back, but is too slow, and suffers a grazing cut across his chest. He hisses in pain as the sensation is amplified greatly. Kyoka follows up with a second slash, which hits dead on. Mard Geer cries out in agony as blood spills from his wound.

As Kyoka is rearing up for a third strike, Mard Geer musters up just enough strength to summon a large thorn. The thorn wraps around Kyoka and launches her into the sky, safely away from Mard Geer.

"Maybe I let my guard down a little." He muses, "But then, it did give me the perfect opportunity to restrain you."

Kyoka is bound tightly to the vine up in the sky. Her arms are bound to her sides, so she is unable to cut the vines holding her. Mard Geer tightens the grip of the vines, making Kyoka cry out in pain. He then lurches the vine back a little, before swinging it forward and crashing it to the ground. Debris flies up into the air, as the thorn crashes into the ground. He follows up by making the thorn fly through the sky once more and crash into the ground opposite of the first crater. It rears up once more, but this time instead of thrashing onto the ground, it launches Kyoka away.

The woman is launched to the ground and rolls like a rag doll until she stops. For a moment she just lays on the ground. She amanges to work up the strength to pick herself back up. She expected a challenge, but she thought it would be from fighting multiple people at once. Even she has to admit, Mard Geer is a talented mage.

"You're…not bad." She says as she stumbles to her feet, "You were able to figure out my magic pretty quickly and put the hurt on just as fast. It's a shame you're on their side. You would have been a valuable asset to the royal army."

Just as Kyoka is about to charge at Mard Geer once more, he fires another large thorn at her. It hits her in the stomach, and she coughs up blood. The woman falls to her knees as the thorn retracts away. Mard Geer feels Kyoka's magic leave his body. The sensitivity washes away with it.

"You were too predictable, Kyoka." Mard Geer told her, "Increase your opponents' sensitivity and hit them hard. That just about boils down what your plan was. Unfortunately, the level of sensitivity you were able to conjure up was simply too low to have a lasting impact on the fight."

"Why are you…telling me this?"

Mard Geer's lips curve into a devilish smile, "Because, you're a talented mage. It's a shame, your talents are being wasted by the royal army."

Mard Geer proceeds to walk up to the shaken Kyoka, and jabs her in the back of the neck, effectively knocking her out.

"I'm afraid we are on completely different levels."

He then makes his way over to Zeref. The older Dragneel brother had managed to get himself into a sitting position. He appeared quite calm and was content to just watch his assistant fight the general.

"Had I not met you, that would have been me." Mard Geer confesses.

"She would be a valuable asset as well." Zeref points out.

"What about her?" Mard Geer points to the blonde-haired woman, who had yet to regain consciousness.

"Maybe in a different world."

"Who is she anyway? And how did you defeat her so fast?"

Mard Geer reached down and helped pull his master to his feet.

"She's a time mage." Zeref explained, "She's one of the assassins I warned you about."

"Then we should end her right here and now."

"Go ahead."

Mard Geer swipes his hand to the side and sends a barrage of thorns at Dimaria. To his shock though, Dimaria's eyes shoot open as the velocity of the thorn-missiles slows down exponentially. Mard Geer moves to strike once more but finds his own movement have also slowed down considerably. To his horror though, he watches as Dimaria picks herself up, completely unaffected by the slowing of time! She proceeds to slowly knock the thorns harmlessly out her way with the back of her hand.

"You're lucky." She calls out in a raspy voice, "If it weren't for him, I'd cut you to ribbons!"

In an instant she is gone, and the thorns sail forward on their new courses at full speed.

"Looks like she only had enough magic to make a getaway." Zeref says.

Mard Geer stares out in the direction Dimaria once was. Although he doesn't fear the woman, he can't help but be in awe at her strength. For her to have taken on his master, survived, and still had enough magic to make a getaway, she must be a very powerful mage.

"Master Zeref?"

"Yes?"

"Who exactly wants you dead?"

Zeref chuckles to himself briefly, "Don't worry. It's nothing that concerns you."

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