Chapter 6

Those eyes… Cascadia thought. They're not normal. What at first had just been a bright, electric blue for eye colors had become complete bright blue. No pupil. They were literally glowing. He was close enough that she could see the whites of his eyes.

"What are you..?" Cascadia trailed off. Why can't I talk? She moved her lips, but no sound came out. What kind of magic was this? Cascadia flinched as a sharp pain shot through her arms. What was happening?

"Confused?" Xavier asked, "Feeling a bit pained?"

What is this? It feels like blood. He hasn't attacked yet, has he? She tried to look down, but couldn't move. She could only look into the glowing orbs. This must be a trick he's playing. Some kind of illusion magic. If I can look away, I might have a chance. She focused every bit of her magic energy to her hands, but nothing happened. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She once again focused her magic energy, but this time to her face. If she could get the ice to cover her eyes like lens, then maybe the illusion would be broken. The skin on the face is much thinner than the skin on the rest of her body, so it might just work.

Finally, she began to feel the ice forming where she was envisioning: just in front of her eyes. Soon, Xavier was just a blur. She could move again, and the pain was no longer there. It worked!

"Ice magic. Interesting. Is it perhaps ice make?" Xavier inquired. No more using magic. Cascadia scolded herself. She's already shown too much. She pulled out the sword stowed on her back and readied herself. She was going to have to fight with the ice lens and without magic. This was going to be difficult, but not entirely impossible. Being a dragon slayer, she had keener senses than normal humans, so she could go by scent and hearing.

"Going to fight me with a sword? It's not even requip magic. You call yourself a wizard, yet you won't use your magic?" Xavier scoffed.

"You're just not worth using up my magic energy on." Cascadia said, her voice slightly shaking. She knew already from just the few attacks he had done that he was definitely powerful. She just didn't want to risk her true magic getting discovered.

Here he comes, she thought. Sidestepping a punch. She felt something hit her stomach hard, causing her to drop to the ground. How? I know he missed me.

"You were clever impairing your sight with ice. If illusionary magic were my only type, you might have even been successful. However," Cacscadia's ice blindfold shatter, "my wave magic will make you regret underestimating my power."

Wave magic? I've never even heard of that… This was all that she was able to think before she felt another hit to her stomach. Is he controlling the sound and light waves? Cascadia looked down at her hands. Her magic was perfect for something like this. Light and sound travels slower through water and ice. Should she use her magic? If she didn't, she'd be killed.

"I'm going to show you the power of illusion and wave magic combined and use my full strength. Perhaps I should destroy the entire house, with your little friends along with it, to demonstrate. I will truly relish watching the fear on your face once you realized you should have used your magic. That you're failure of a wizard."

Cascadia clenched her hands. He hadn't been using full power? And can he truly destroy the entire mansion? From the look on his face, he seemed pretty confident. She can die, for all she cared, but she didn't want to get others killed just because of her paranoia.

Cascadia looked up, directing her magical energy to her fist, just as Xavier's eyes began to glow, "Illusionary magic, fun house." Suddenly, the room became distorted, full of mirrors, making several images of Xavier to appear.

Well, go big or go home. Cascadia thought calmly. She put her palms together, closing her eyes, concentrating. "Ice Dragon Secret Art: Mind distortion." She flashed her eyes open, the grey turning to pale blue, along with the pupil.

Suddenly, the room wavered, followed by a startled shout. She dropped to the ground, winded. That particular secret art took a lot of energy out of her for obvious reasons. It required intense concentration and simultaneous invasion of the persons mind and nerves. It required even more intense concentration to hold onto their mind for any amount of time.

"Did I really hear you say ice dragon?" Cascadia snapped out of her thoughts, still kneeling on the ground. Even though she managed to stop the illusion, she failed in taking his mind. "I didn't think there were any ice dragons left since Glacona, the great ice dragon, the one who stands on equal grounds with the dragon king."

Cascadia said nothing, only staring. "It's truly fascinating," Xavier continued, beginning to walk towards Cascadia, "I don't know if I want to kill you yet. I want to see more of this power." He stopped in front of Cascadia. Come on. She urged herself, but she used up a lot of energy on that last attack.

He put his hand on her face, "Not going to use any more? I guess I can just make you." Panic was exactly what she needed to snap her out of her stupor.

"Ice dragon wing-talon combo attack." Cascadia unleashed what she had left just as she heard a familiar voice.

"Cascadia?!" It was Erza.