Hello, everyone! I'm glad that I was able to get this chapter up for you all. A kind of word of advice that I would love to share to those of you who write on this site, please, don't write as many stories as I am at the same time. It's a very difficult thing, and you have to make a note of everything you come up with. It is a terrible, terrible thing, but I love it!

I hope you appreciate it as well. Speaking of, at the end of this chapter, I'll put up a list of my Mages of Lancet Series to those of you who may be interested in checking it out. I'll do it at the end since I've already spent a lot of time just chatting and making comments that most of you probably won't even read.

Cursed Blessings

Rogue felt another body go limp in his arms before he kept rushing up the mountainside. For some reason, something felt wrong to him. Not only did it feel wrong, it looked wrong. Crimson eyes narrowed on Katja's symbol.

The Royal Guard was still up there. Katja had been the first one to the top of the mountain, but she wasn't moving. She hadn't in the past ten minutes. Already, people had taken snowboards and passed her by. Hidden Mask had been the first one to go down the slope. Second had been Catori from Kindred Spirit, and third was Lamia Scale. Katja had allowed three people to get past her even though she'd been hyping about how great of a snowboarder she was. Yeah, definitely wrong.

Making a mad dash, Rogue heard the winds picking up. Already, a dark cloud was forming overhead. It looked like a vicious snowstorm was getting ready to brew. If Katja was unconscious, she could freeze to death out here. Rogue couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.

When another rival got in his way, Rogue turned into a shadow only to appear and swipe the woman's legs out from under her. As soon as she hit the ground, he summoned his shadow to fling her down the mountain. Her voice cursed him the whole tumble down.

With another enemy out of the way, Rogue found it to be smooth sailing up the mountain. There wasn't a soul in sight. It was merely him, this mountain, and the snow trying to keep him legs from moving.

As soon as he got to the peak, he was amazed to find hardly anyone near him. He stared harder at the holographic map to study it closer. Mages that were close, were so far down the mountain that they didn't even pose a risk. It gave him a little time to search for Kat.

Narrowing his eyes at her symbol, Rogue picked up a snowboard for his descent then searched her out. The symbol wasn't budging. It merely blinked slowly like the other mages that had been knocked out but were still functioning well enough to partake in the games.

He called her name despite the howling winds. "Katja! Katja! I know you're up here! Where are you?" Even as he called her out, the wind seemed hell bent on hiding his voice.

It wrapped around the sound waves pushing from his lips and attempted to strangle them silent. The winds sucked his words away with their own howling curses. Even as he called in vain, Rogue continued to glance at the map.

A scowl crossed his face when he realized Fairy Tail and Grimm were coming in hot. If Adamine was coming, Rogue wasn't sure how he would deal with her. She was the Demigoddess of Lione and the Diamond Goddess of Fairy Tail. Shadows versus a glittering gem like that? Rogue knew he'd need to develop a battle strategy specifically for her since she was an unknown enemy. He'd never even seen her fight before.

Grimm? Another unknown.

They were a Lancet guild, one that had recently been targeted by mage hunters. That guild had been rumored to have dropped out of the games. Judging by the way their curved marking was darting almost side by side with Fairy Tail.

Rogue was ready for battle, but he was also concerned for Katja. Taking one more step in the white fluff around him, Rogue nearly stepped on something. When he blinked down, he realized that something to be Katja's ebony gauntlet.

Cloth floated around him as Rogue shoveled snow off a body that was getting coated over in the white flakes. Damn. No wonder he hadn't seen her. She was buried deeper, and… Wait. Was that blood on his fingertips? The deeper he dug, the more blood he saw in the snow. Someone had knocked her out, and they had knocked her out good.

Eventually, Rogue unveiled Kat's face. Her mask was stained red from a crimson stream leaking downwards. It followed the gentle curve of her heart shaped face then spread out in the soft, warm fabric. The cloth had been pulled around her throat. Had someone wanted to reveal her face, let more of her skin freeze to this wicked cold?

Digging deeper, Rogue finally uncovered the rest of her body. Well, at least as much of it as he could see. Without being able to touch her skin, Rogue couldn't slap her face to get her to wake up, but he could shake her.

Hands grabbed her shoulders, and Rogue called, "Kat. Wake up! Katja, wake up!" When that didn't work, he chanced a glance at the map. Fairy Tail and Grimm were only seconds away now. If Rogue didn't do something quick, he might join Katja in the snow.

A cold determination settled over Rogue, and he remembered the fact that Katja's hair had done nothing to him when he'd touched it the other day. Wrapping a hand around a lock of her hair that wasn't matted in blood, Rogue tugged her hair like a school boy to his playground crush.

Immediately, he got a response. Hazel eyes flashed wide, and Rogue was flipped on his back. With those deadly gauntlets far too close for comfort, Rogue just stared at Kat narrowed her brows at him.

This had to be her favorite position. Every time he surprised her, he somehow wound up beneath her. The gauntlets glistened above his throat. Cold splotches of slush splashed across his pale skin. Crazy woman.

"Rogue?" she wondered as if breaking from a sort of trance. "What are you doing… Where are… What are we… Oh, shit!" Ripping up from Rogue, Katja slammed her feet inside of the boots of a snowboard. She was about to hop into place until Rogue snagged her covered shoulder.

"Katja, you shouldn't be moving. You took a blow to the head, were knocked unconscious," he explained, trying to get her to sit down before she passed out from blood loss or a minor concussion.

"Thanks for helping me out, Rogue, but I have to win this thing. Did you see the bitch that knocked me out?" she asked, swinging her head around only to grip it in a wave of dizziness. Skiadrum, she did not need to be moving.

Before she could fall on her ass, Rogue steadied her with a grip on her shoulder. "Katja," he urged. "You can't go." He tried to sit her down, let her get her bearings, but she jerked out of his grip.

Her gauntlet sunk into the side of a tree as she cradled her skull. "You won't change my mind, Rogue. If you let me go, I can cure you of your motion sickness," she bartered, jerking her eyes towards the map. Three people were ahead of her. Three soon-to-be-beat-into-the-snow people. You're ass is mine, bastard, she thought in reference to whoever had knocked her out.

She was mad. Needed to get revenge on the man or woman who thought to screw her over. She already had to get back at Catori. This guy or girl was next. "Just wait until I find you," she stated, promising her revenge aloud.

Her eyes darted back towards Rogue. He was weighing his options, but Katja didn't have time for his measurements. She had to go, and she had to go now. "Come on, Rogue. Yes or no. Do you want me to heal you or not?"

Rogue looked back towards the map. After seeing Fairy Tail and Grimm charging up towards the peak, he slapped his feet into his own board. "Alright. Fine. But, how are you going to—"

Deciding that direct contact was the best option given their circumstances, Katja cut Rogue off with a kiss. Her gauntlet wrapped in the fabric of his mantle to draw him to her, and she forced her magic to produce a poison that would numb his nauseous stomach. Since she was actively controlling the magic, they were safe. She just had to make sure she stayed in control but damn! She'd never kissed anyone before.

It was quite the intense feeling. The nearness. His body heat. That surprised look on his handsome face.

Never would Katja have thought that her first kiss was to a complete stranger and just because he needed something to numb his gut. She almost felt like she was using him as much as he was using her.

Kat didn't think that she would ever kiss anyone—romantically or not. Even though this probably wouldn't count, it would to her. This was as close to intimacy as Katja could ever get. Thanks to her cursed blessing.

His skin was warm. His lips were soft. She could even feel his black hair whipping against her dark skin in the wind. Against his lips, Katja forced herself to focus. "Kiss of Death," Katja whispered, feeling a surge of excitement when his lips parted on a shocked breath.

She thought she felt the brush of his tongue across his bottom lip. Was he tasting her poison? She lived with it for so long that she'd forgotten how it tasted. Were her lips sweet like flavored ice or savory like seasonings? Could they even be sour like her favorite lemon candy?

On cue to her former words, the poison in her body created the numbing sensation that Katja would need to soothe his stomach. Her pulse quickened when she realized this kiss was soon to be over. She got to enjoy a few more short moments then the absolute embarrassment of her and Rogue's kiss flashing across the freaking big screen!

Isaac that bastard!

"Looks like the weather isn't doing much to keep the heat down on the mountaintop," King Isaac commentated from his booth. Gasps abounded from the crowd.

She could only imagine the questions in her head. Isaac even had the audacity to move the camera screen to where Colin was standing slack jawed in the stands. The silver eyed and ivory haired mage's mouth looked like someone had unscrewed it at the side to leave it hanging.

Strangely, some part of Katja was laughing. She'd never seen Colin do anything but read his PlaySpell magazines. Katja was actually kissing someone—something that Colin had never done to any of the women he supposedly went to see. Strip clubs may have been fun for him, but Katja was feeling some grade A physical contact.

With someone who didn't share her untouchable curse. Remembering herself, she pulled her head back quickly. Redness tried to creep up her skin, but she took a second to flip Isaac the bird.

More gasps abounded on the holograph's sound system. Good. Let them know how Kat really felt.

"Am I-did you cure it?" Rogue asked, abruptly changing the question Katja knew he wanted to ask. Am I going to die?

Quickly, she forced herself to get her head out of the gutter.

"I numbed it. With this poison, you won't be able to feel anything. In a few seconds, your entire body will go numb. Just remember to breathe and remember that just because you can't feel your legs doesn't mean that they aren't there," Katja explained. She wiped her mouth then spat like she hated the taste of his skin. Hastily, she hiked her mask back up to cover her red lips and her red face.

A thousand questions looked like they were trying to play out on Rogue's face, but Katja was already gone. She kicked her foot to send herself down the slopes. As soon as the warm caramel of Adamine's head came into view alongside the dark purple of a woman Kat had never seen before, she was already sliding down the mountain. Let Rogue deal with them. He wouldn't be able to feel pain for the next hour anyway.

Sven's jaw could have dropped when he caught sight of his sister locking lips with the shadow dragon slayer. As a matter of fact, when thought came back inside his head, he realized his jaw was unhinged.

Kat had… She actually… His sister just kissed someone, and on global television nonetheless. "Go big or go home," Sven whispered from his perch in the trees. Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he would have never believed Katja had willingly touched a human being other than himself.

Shaking his head hard, Sven adjusted in the pine tree. He had a purpose for being here, and he could question Katja about her kiss later. He needed to do his job as a member of the Royal Guard. That job was to patrol the land Isaac had set to be the preliminaries.

Hollis was to guard over the town. Colin was to watch Thor's Field. Felix had the privilege of standing watch at Isaac's side. They each had their jobs, and with Katja being the one of the field, Sven had been the prime choice to guard the land.

His body leaped into another tree as he followed a woman never seen before. She had dark purple hair and bore the diamond marking of Grimm. That mark was an obvious one, an elegant one. Named after a set of brothers who traveled the world writing down old fairy tales, Grimm honored their heritage by having mages who used magic based from those fairy tales. These new members of Grimm? Well, their magic didn't fit the bill.

Pulling out the file Grimm had given him on their mages, Sven unveiled one mentioning a woman named Sela. Dark purple hair, lunar eyes that glowed in the darkness. Those weren't exactly odd things. What set her apart was the fact that her magic was something called Impact Magic.

It practically absorbed impacts. After taking a hit, she could then then fire the same power in her own punches. Things that were carried with the punch such as fire wouldn't be able to be recreated. Even so, it was hardly a fairy tale power. She wasn't the average Grimm mage.

He followed the woman closely. Sela stood with her shoulders back, and her eyes narrowed on Adamine. They were also met with Rogue who was wide eyed from Kat's kiss.

Sven couldn't help himself but glare at Rogue's mouth. His lips held Kat's signature, a faint purple stain that people thought to be lipstick. It wasn't lipstick. It was poison.

Examining Rogue closer, Sven noticed something. "That couldn't be…" It was. Kat hadn't just smooched Rogue, she'd given him one of her Cursed Blessings, a spell that helped but also harmed. Given Rogue's motion sickness, Sven could assume which one she'd done. Duh. Kiss of Death. She had a Kiss of Death the same way Sven could deliver Death's Bite.

Suddenly, Sven felt like an idiot. Kat didn't like Rogue. She was just doing him a favor. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sven settled himself in the tree to watch the mountaintop's events unfold.

Rogue braced when the two enemies he'd been hoping to avoid showed up. Adamine stood on his left. The Grimm member he didn't know was on his right.

"We meet again," the purple haired woman taunted towards Princess Adamine.

Beaming with her fangs flashing, Adam proclaimed, "I let you get away once. It won't happen again, Sela."

Blue magic lit up around Sela's hand, and she readied herself for battle. "It's a shame that I have to kick your ass when you're pregnant, but don't expect me to go easy on you."

Pregnant? Adamine was pregnant! Whoa! Wait! Wait! Wait! Rogue wasn't going to fight a pregnant woman. That was just—no! He couldn't—

He didn't have a choice.

"Hel's Crater!" Sela commanded, giving no regard to Adam's supposed pregnant state. Slamming her fist into the ground, Rogue had to leap out of the way of a massive fissure splitting the mountain.

He wasn't able to dodge that blow for long. "Adamantine Dragon Secret Art: Split Fissure!" Adamine shouted. Her hands turned to diamond, and she dropped to the earth with hands overhead. Sinking her diamond claws into the earth, she tore the mountain completely apart

with her bare hands.

It took Rogue a second to realize something. These girl's weren't fighting each other. They were trying to take out the snowboarders that were already going down the mountain. They started a damned avalanche!

Massive waves of snow were disturbed. They shivered and ebbed in oversized plates before tumbling down. Rogue was about to make a quick escape from these ground breaking females until they turned on him.

Adamine snatched Sela by the wrist before slinging her into Rogue. Feet came flying towards Rogue. Hastily, he turned himself into a shadow. His body reappeared above Sela. "Shadow Dragon's Crushing Fang!" he roared, throwing his shadow coated fist down on Sela's back.

The woman let out a gust of breath but rolled onto her back in the snow. She crossed her hands in front of her, looking to be aiming at Rogue, but Adamine merely leaped atop her waiting palms.

"Hel's Dragon!" the two of them proclaimed when Adamine drove her diamond coated fist into Rogue's face. Spit flung out of his mouth.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Rogue could hear Mato announce, "With Princess Adamine and the mystery Grimm member, I don't see Rogue getting out of here easily-kabo!"

"Damn straight," Isaac added. "My cousin would never let another slayer show her up."

His body staggered when he landed on his feet, but Rogue was far from finished. When he kicked his snowboard down the mountain, he realized Katja's poison was working. No motion sickness. No pain. Even though Adam and Sela's attack should have had his head singing, he hadn't felt a thing. Frightening.

"Shadow Dragon's Roar!" Rogue commanded, thrusting a spiraling wave of darkness towards the woman.

Thanks to their own tussling, Rogue was able to slam Adamine against a tree and Sela head over heels into the snow. The both of them shook their hair out before chasing after him.

Adamine, Rogue, and Sela were riding behind the roar of an avalanche as they battled.

Sela's snowboard ran across a smooth rock face, and she was launched into the sky. "Force Breaker!" she cried, coming down right on top of Rogue to deliver a punishing blow.

Even though he was shaky on his board, Rogue managed to swing left. He missed her blow by mere inches, could even feel the wind off it. Catching her by the forearm before she could retreat, Rogue tossed her in front of him. "Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!" Wrapping his shadow body around Sela, he proceeded to drill blow after blow into her body.

"That's my prey!" Adamine snarled, twisting her body to ride closer towards Rogue and Sela. "Chakra Release: Heart!" She unsealed one of the seven lacrima that decorated her skin, and Rogue gaped as the rumor was proven true. Adamine sprouted diamond dragon wings from her back.

Unlike most slayers who had lacrima inside them or dragon antibodies, Adamine was different. She had been allowed to dragonify to a certain state due to an experiment by Zeref. Seven lacrima sealed certain traits within her. When all were released, she was supposedly able to turn the earth's tectonic plates against her enemies.

She tackled both Rogue and Sela. They all tumbled in the snow and rolled down the mountainside without losing their snowboards. The magic boards fused to their legs, folding in on themselves until they were simply boots.

"Chakra Release: Crown!" Adamine released another lacrima, and horns ripped free from her skull. They curved backwards along either side of her head. With a mighty thrust she stabbed the horns into the earth to halt the group's descent.

Diamond wings wrapped around them, and she pulled her horns free. Right when Rogue and Sela shared a look like they were to team up against the slayer, she launched them into the sky.

Fangs flashed on a wicked grin, and Adamine spun her enemies in her arms. She twisted backwards in the air then commanded, "Adamantine Dragon's Final Assault!" Her body turned and rotated like a hurricane. Adamine was making a headfirst plunge to the earth before she pulled up at the last second. Her claws dug deep inside of Sela and Rogue before she flung their bodies into the earth like a rugby player celebrating a goal.

Rogue felt his vision waver at the same time that Sela fell limp beside him. He couldn't feel the pain. He couldn't even feel the blood running down his body from Adam's vicious attacks. "I thought pregnant women were supposed to bitch and moan about everything," he grunted, spitting blood and a tooth into the snow.

Given his dragon slayer abilities, it would regenerate, but damn. He was glad for Katja's poison. As he watched Adamine's wings and horns seem to crumple in on themselves and sink back under her flesh, he felt his snowboard returning to normal.

He wasn't going to let Adamine get away with that. Pregnant or not. He was going to get his revenge.

Swiping blood off his face when it leaked down into his eye, Rogue forced himself to adjust to the strange sensation of snowboarding.

Mages of Lancet Series: 1 Demon Within, 2 Modeling under Snow, 3 Lost Mage to Good Home (Thinking of deleting that one), 4 Hired to Kill, 5 Spirits (thinking of deleting this one, too), 6 Claws of the Phoenix

All these stories stem from my Dragon Princess Series. Just in case, I'll include it as well. Damn. I feel like that last page in a book where it tells you the writer's stories. Oh, schwell. 1 Hunt and be Hunted, 2 Tablet and a Tome, 3 Magical Massacre, 4 Magical Prerogative (only unfinished story in that series. all others are done)