Disclaimer: I don't own Winx Club.
Oh, I wish I could take credit for that comeback line Cyborg, I wish. No, that's an old line that I most recently heard from a friend of mine telling off a mutual acquaintance of ours. (He's known to be a possessive jerk, so I don't feel much sympathy for the guy.) It's not my line, but it is a classic comeback.
Now, let's get going.
Artis stepped into the circle of scorched dirt. It was thirty feet across and had been scoured clean of grass by Tellis's fire. With her foot she nudged at the ground. It was hard and smooth, providing excellent footing.
"Are you ready to die, fairy?" Tellis's mocking voice came from the other side of the circle where he held his sword in both hands.
"No one dies today, Tellis." Artis said, reversing the grip on her daggers so they now pointed down. "Not even you."
"Foolish girl!" He charged, bringing his sword down with blinding speed. However, Artis was faster, catching his blow on the hilt of the dagger in her left hand. She began to move her right hand forward as if to bring the other dagger up in a slash.
Tellis stepped back, just out of range of the expected attack. He was surprised when instead of Artis's blade whistling past him, she punched him in the chest with the pommel. Caught off guard and off balance, he fell backwards. Expecting her to follow up and attack while he was on the ground, he rolled to his right, popping back up to his feet.
Where'd she go?
He barely had time for her non-presence to register when she came up behind him. Her left hand pressed a dagger to his throat while her right disarmed him. Everyone paused for a moment, staring at her, wondering what she'd do next.
"I suppose I should tell you, I've learned some new tricks. Like the ability to see a short ways into the future." She pulled her dagger from his throat and pushed him to the ground. "You never stood a chance."
Tellis stumbled to his feet, searching for his sword. "Why don't you kill me?" He demanded.
"Because that would be giving you what you want. I'll kill in self-defense, or in the defense of a friend, but not just to satisfy you." She sheathed her daggers and grabbed Tellis's sword from the ground.
"That's what you're really after. You're not here for justice, or even revenge. You're here for blood. Mine, yours, it doesn't matter. That's all that's left to you." She threw the sword to him. "You're not worth it. We're done."
Tellis could only stare at her as she turned her back on him and began walking towards her friends. This was impossible! How could she have defeated him so easily? He was the master, and she the amateur! But she'd beaten him! Not just beaten him, but humiliated him! This could not stand.
His vision flashed red as he raised his sword and charged at her, a wordless cry of rage escaping his lips.
Artis turned, her daggers appearing in her hands again. His sword slammed down upon her blades again as she blocked his attack. Rather than draw back, he kept pushing, attempting to overpower the girl.
Artis smiled, then winked at him. "Time Slip." She became a blur, ducking under and around his sword before he could react, jumping up and knocking him the ground with a spinning kick that threw him across the ground, all in the blink of an eye. "I warned you." Artis said, returning to normal speed.
"You- You- You-" Tellis sputtered in rage. "You will die!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out an Ember Stone. "By Ekroin's and my power combined, you shall know death!" A fiery aura formed around him as he summoned power to himself.
"I don't think so. Chronal Crush!" Tellis became the epicenter of an implosion, followed immediately by an explosion as the over pressure resolved itself. He fell to the ground, barely conscious. The Ember Stone fell from his now-limp fingers, rolling across the ground to rest against Artis's foot. She reached down and picked it up.
"Ekroin." She said, staring at the small stone. It seemed to flare brighter, as if it recognized the name. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I didn't have to kill you, but I did anyways. And, in the same situation, I'd probably do it again. But that doesn't mean I don't regret it. Or that I'm happy with what I'm about to do."
She put the stone on the ground, lifted her boot, and stomped on it. The stone shattered into pieces. A small flame escaped from the wreckage to float in front of Artis. It briefly took the form of Ekroin as he had appeared in life. Stern, proud, and strong, he stared at Artis, his eyes of fire burning with an emotion Artis couldn't quite describe. Then he collapsed back into a wisp of flame which vanished.
"You...You'll never escape." Tellis said, laughing a little. He'd struggled back to his hands and knees. "You'll die here, whether by my hand or not. You will not live to see the light of day." He gave a short whistle, then collapsed. The other Ember Blades hurried over to him, hoisting him onto their shoulders as they began to drag him away.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Artis asked.
An ear-splitting shriek pierced the night.
The girls turned to face the Cave Gliders which had surrounded them.
"Oh." Artis said.
The six fairies quickly gather in a small circle.
"Nyssa, you said these things are immune to magic?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, but there's more to it than that."
"Explain." Dhalia said, her voice hard. "Quickly."
"Any blast or beam shot at them does nothing. Sometimes it bounces, sometimes it vanishes, but most of the time it, well, I call it splintering."
"What does that mean?" Reyva demanded.
"It means it splits into a hundred tiny versions of itself that fly in every direction."
"Magical Refraction." Perdi said.
"What?"
"Magical Refraction. It's like what happens when you put light through a prism. It breaks up into pieces. It's a very rare phenomenon, but it sounds like these things use it for self-defense."
"So these things are immune to direct magical attacks?" Dhalia asked.
"Yes." Nyssa said.
"Did you try indirect attacks?"
"Indirect attacks?"
"Yes, using the effects of the magic to fight them, rather than the magic itself."
"Um..."
"You never tried it, did you?" Dhalia pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "Come on Classix, let's do this. Nyssa, go round up our old friends over there." She pointed at the Ember Blades. "Let's move."
"Let's go Magix!"
(Cue transformation music)
Six fairies stood in a circle, facing the creatures. Nyssa flew off to where the four men were making their escape.
"Alright girls, no blasting." Dhalia said.
"How often do we just blast things anyways?" Amelia asked.
"Not very." Artis said.
"Right. Artis, you're with me. Perdi and Amelia, try to slow them down. Reyva, you're on clean up."
Reyva grinned. "This should be fun."
"Alright Classix, let's go!"
"Come on Sedrin, we have to get out of here!" Rengal said as the other two Ember Blades carried Tellis's unconscious form between them.
"I'm trying! It doesn't help that we have to carry this lunatic here!" Sedrin said, struggling to hold up Tellis's shoulders.
"You want to switch places with Ferrick?"
"Sure."
Nyssa settled in front of them, blocking their escape. "You're not going anywhere."
"Like you can stop us." Rengal said dismissively. "Who are you anyways?"
"My name is Nyssa, but you know me better as Lady Sasha."
Rengal hesitated for a moment, then snorted in disbelief. "Yeah. Right."
"I guess I'll just have to prove it." She said as she drew her sword, magic coalescing in her left hand.
"Ready?" Dhalia asked.
"Ready." Artis replied.
"Rippleforce!" Dhalia shouted, punching the ground. Shock waves rippled across the ground in rings around her.
"Chronal Compression!" Artis shouted. The rippling waves of force slowed or accelerated, merging into a single powerful shock wave that tore through the creatures. Many were launched into the sky, landing on their backs with the spikes driven into the ground, rendering them immobile and helpless. The ones that were still capable of fighting slid towards Dhalia with a dangerous speed.
"Perdi, Amelia, now!"
"Mystic Image!" The two shouted. Perdi guessed that these things don't see, but rather used magic as a guide, much like other creatures use sound or smell. The sudden appearance of numerous magical decoys forced directly into their simple, instinct driven minds drove them crazy. They began attacking each other in confusion, slamming each other with their blades.
"Reyva!"
"On it! Spacial Warp!" Just like in their battle back at Stonehenge, reality began to twist and shift. The disgusting creatures began to distort as reality was tied into knots. "Reality Freeze!" It crashed back into a more normal configuration. Then the explosions began.
"Power Cage!" Dhalia shouted. The blast front hit an invisible wall and rolled back in upon itself, filling a dome with fire, briefly turning night into day. When it cleared, the creatures were gone and a crater over a hundred yards across was in their place. The smell was gone too.
"You could try for some subtlety you know." Amelia said.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, but you could have killed us!"
"Easy there." Artis said. "Let's go check on Nyssa."
They arrived to find Nyssa standing in the midst of three groaning men. Bruises and small cuts covered them as they struggled to get to their feet. Nyssa sheathed her sword as the Classix landed around them.
"Believe me now?" She asked her victims. They could only groan. "What do you want to do with them?"
"We're taking them back to Melivon." Dhalia said. "Luminé can deal with them there."
"Right."
"Let's go."
The Classix were sitting in the room Dhalia and Reyva were sharing. They'd turned the Ember Blades over to Luminé and the authorities of Melivon, and, rather than going back to sleep, they were now having a meeting.
"Alright girls, we've been letting ourselves get distracted. It's time we got back to our real mission." Dhalia said. "We find Eclipsis, we capture her, and we force her back into the Magic Dimension. It's the only way to end this."
"Question, do you even know where the Gates of Mortality are?" Nyssa asked.
"...No."
"I do."
"Good, then you can show us."
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
"About sixteen years ago, someone sealed them from the other side. There's no way out."
A/N: Points to anyone who can tell me who sealed the Gates and how. The answer is out there, if you look for it.
Anyways, that's about it for this chapter. Lots of action, some interesting insight into Artis, especially her uncanny ability to read people, and I no longer have to deal with those guys.
See you all next time.