"I had no idea, but Daryl was someone who was at a much higher level than I imagined, even with a year ofvery intense training with my mother, I still wasn't able to win, but I tried until the end to defeat him in a battle,which I didn't imagine could be so hard, I even thought I could win and leave with the last resort, butapparently none of that was going to happen, I wanted everything to be able to give Diana freedom andhappiness, but the world didn't want it that way, and that's where the part of leaving began.
I'm panting, Daryl's very strong, I didn't realise she'd be this much trouble, she can dodge with agility and attack too, I've almost been hit by a fool, if I had my Claiomh Solais around I'd be able to handle the damn thing, But I don't even have that to beat her, she's still staring at me with that sadistic smile, but I'm still going to try to attack, I'm going to do it without mercy this time, I held back just to test it, this is going to be for Diana, I clench my fist and prepare to attack once again.
"If I were you, I'd give up before it's too late" I'll never give up.
"I haven't been defeated and I'm not going to be" I say, preparing for another blow.
"Now I'm going to show you why you shouldn't underestimate me girl and show you the gulf between you and me" She's already posing too
I start to run using the momentum of my legs, running towards Daryl who creates a path full of snakes, where I give myself an extra boost by jumping up, then in the air I use my magic to propel myself with a glyph towards her to kick her, but when I get close to my aunt she dodges being as slender as a snake, which the kick hits the ground and raises a little dust, and I take the opportunity to throw myself at the same time.
I see her head-on in the form of a snake and she comes at me with her mouth open, which I prepare to punch, but she dodges and I continue in free fall, and with that I see myself being taken by surprise from below, where I use a spell to cause an explosion and protect myself, so I throw myself to another place on the ground and step on it hard to freeze a little more since the freezing from before wasn't enough for the snakes to be stopped.
"Tired Chariot? I'm just getting started" She can see you panting, but it's not from tiredness.
"Your snakes won't be very effective on the ground" I say confidently.
I vanish with magic, creating an image of myself, and it's just when the damned thing has gone up that I manage to appear behind the snake, leaving a full spell in my hands, firing it from behind and turning my aunt back into her normal form, which I see her turning round and firing a spell at me, and I dodge it, which is much more difficult to do on a slippery floor, even with trainers.
She smiles at me and I don't understand anything, until I look up and see that a shower of snakes has been created, all of them are coming towards me and I've already created a roof to protect myself, as if it were a shield, but I'm taken by surprise on the spot and a very strong punch is landed on me, I realise that the snakes were just illusions, but it's too late.
"You fell into my trap, now feel what it's like for a cavendish to really fight" She's very strong, that punch really hurt.
I try my best to defend myself, but she keeps hitting me with enormous force against my stomach, my face and other parts, until I decide to explode with rage and that pushes her away, making her slide back a little, then I face her more panting, and I start to clamp my legs as if I had the legs of some animal with claws to keep me on the ice with grip.
Gasping, I propel myself with the tiger legs I've put on to keep my claws attached, then I slide across the ice and Daryl easily dodges across the ice as if it were normal ground, but I was expecting it, I push backwards and thought I'd elbowed her when she defended herself, but I quickly turn my body round and turn my feet into eagle's feet to use my claws with everything I've got, only to narrowly miss my aunt, who dodges, and I jump backwards and see her going up, so I start defending her blows, but they're too fast, how can someone go up so calmly.
"You just lost this fight when you changed the ground to ice girl, I'll show you how you'll regret every decision you made in this fight that victory is certain for me" I'm almost out of defence.
I think strategically while I defend myself, I spread glyphs around both of us and with that I create enough and I cast a very basic spell which allows me to be hit by her blow to gain momentum by a glyph that I positioned to use only once and give me momentum and it was perfect I already start to concentrate a sphere of energy that I'm going to throw a whole wave of magic at Daryl there's no way she can escape it I
created a dome of glyphs that has a ball of magic going from one side to the other with a single exit, now let's see who's the smartest.
"Take that, you bastard!" I cast the wave of magic.
I see that it's even making a whole line of magic and falling with everything in the place of the glyph where it also accumulates, I think I took too much on an attack like that, but it's necessary, if something happens to Daryl I honestly don't care, I want to beat the damn thing once and for all, or else I'll run out of magic.
She appears out of nowhere in the midst of my energy being released and punches me making me stop then disappears and hits me from behind where I fall into the glyph hole I've made, I use my magic to remove the dome before I can be hit and with that the sphere of magic I threw escapes and hits a little bush nearby doing some damage, and I get up, somewhat out of breath, this attack was one of the strongest I could do.
"Oh how pathetic, she's already tired, we haven't even started playing" She just wants to scare me.
"I'm just getting started, I'm not going to hesitate, if any of these attacks kill you it's because I'm not hesitating to go for it" I say, taking my wand from my waist and turning it into a sword, as well as thawing the ground.
"Oh how cute, you've even thawed the ground, you've seen the disadvantage you're at, but I don't need to use my snakes, the fun I'll have here will be enough, you can come with that sword project, I'm not afraid" I won't hesitate, if it kills I'm sorry Daryl.
I take a deep breath and then I run towards her with the sword in my hands, but when I get close to her I see her dodging, I continue to make cuts and more cuts, I even switch to one-handed spells and she provokes me with her hands behind her back as if I didn't have any agility in the cuts, I didn't hit one of these, for the nine witches, I have to win this fight somehow, I can't let myself be defeated by this.
I start to use my head more, creating glyphs and making some paths, and then I cast a spell for them, which start to rebound, and then Daryl has no way of defending himself all the time, I go all out with a thrust, but it's gone, what the hell, what do you mean, then I'm hit from behind and I couldn't defend myself against my own attack, which ends up hurting me a bit, and I look back at her smiling.
"Is that what your serious coup would be?" She laughs even harder.
I decide to increase the charge, now there are two magic swords in my hand, as if they were lightsabers, even longer and I take a deep breath, starting to create illusion attacks to multiply myself, this way, she'll get even more confused and I can see that she's already got a bit more confused herself, this time my attack will work, that's it, my victory will be certain if I do it this way, I'm sure of it.
There are ten of me, so we all go up as if we were lined up, but then we spread out, so there's no way she can keep up, I'm coming at her with one of them, which she dodges and hits one by one of the illusions and I'm already giving her a push to get on her back, with a cut with everything, but she dodges and catches a glimpse of what I'm trying to continue, I could see her complaining of pain so it worked, she attacks me and I end up gathering a sword to defend myself, and I manage to hold off the attack she suddenly sends, but my defence seems to have burst and I'm thrown by the spell that explodes in my face and with that I fall sitting on the ground, but I get up, panting, I have to be strategic.
"I thought I'd be a clean fighter, but taking me from behind, did you really want to cut my back like that? You have no idea how serious you've just made me" I'm even holding the sword tighter, but I'm feeling a little shaky.
I still keep my guard up, which I continue to do confidently, she disappears and I see her appearing right in front of me, which I defend with my sword, only for her to nullify the defence, hitting me with everything as if she were hitting back and then I leave my guard open and she starts hitting me in the stomach, with enormous speed, I get to the point of spitting blood and I'm constantly hit in the face and body until I'm thrown to the ground and I realise, she's no small feat, I was stupid to face her in a head-on fight, I have to fight dirty, I have to win cowardly, otherwise I'll be left without Diana around here, I have no choice but to use words.
"You don't seem to understand, I'm above you, I'm above everything, you underestimated the true owner of the Cavendish and now your actions will have consequences" I whisper the words and perfectly the magic makes me carry something that can help me for emergencies, thank you for your help aunt Rose.
"You're not and never will be the leader of the Cavendish, the real leader is my mum" I say confidently and she starts to pick me up off the ground, holding me by the hair and even lifting me off the ground.
"I'm not here for your little jokes and monologues girl, you're a coward, you attacked me from behind, that's not done, I think I'm going to have to play with my food in a much more aggressive way, I was too playful, but it's time to show you what suffering is by disfiguring you" Except you're not going to.
She raised her hand to prepare to punch me hard, I could see the magic flowing from it, she could knock my teeth out, it would hurt if she caught me, but I quickly with one of my hands hidden I was also holding a bit of magic, along with Aunt Rosemary's special item.
I see her about to punch me, but I'm quicker and before her hand can go down I fire and she takes a few steps back. I shoot her in the stomach with everything I've got and I see her walking backwards in pain, she may be strong, but a bullet with magic is still stronger, I had to do it, so I start loading another shot and I can see her with her hand on my stomach looking at me and me with a serious, wounded face staring at her.
"A firearm? You coward! Do you want to kill me?" Here's your answer.
"I'm not going to let you terrorise anyone else's life Daryl, because now I'll take the blame for your murder" I fire another shot.
That second shot hits her right in the forehead, knocking her back a little from the intensity, even the pistol's kick is strong, I got one of these from Aunt Rose, it's a 9mm but with magic it can be powerful enough, but then Daryl wasn't lying dead on the ground, she was still in one piece, her forehead only made a small bruise where she's bleeding and the bullet itself didn't even go in, just the one in her stomach that she uses magic to get out, which I don't hesitate to do.
Even though it wasn't a loaded shot, I unloaded the comb into the damned thing, shot it again with magic and it took a few steps backwards, receiving the impact of 12 shots in a row, enough to stun it, which I concentrated a lot of magic on the last shot, that was my last resort, unfortunately I'll go to jail for it, But it'll all be worth it in the end, or I might end up winning, I don't know, but I'm going to use a lot of magic with everything in this last shot, I could see that my aunt was even bleeding everywhere spitting a lot of blood all over her body, full of holes, I had no qualms about hitting any of the shots, it's all or nothing now.
"This is the end Daryl Cavendish!" With all my magic I fire the last one.
She looks at me with a shocked face, the shot went all the way into her chest, I fell backwards with the impact of the kick, the gun destroyed the tip, that was a lot of magic, I saw that the shot hit her with everything too, which I get up seeing her a little far away fallen since the shot was able to take her away, I'm lucky I made it, she'll need a lot to cushion a projectile like that, I used a lot of magic, I'm even panting, but if nothing works, things are lost, I put all my magic into that shot.
"I'm sorry about that Daryl, but you didn't give me a choice, I hope you burn in hell where you deserve to be" I'll be very direct and even though I'm a little sore from the blows, I feel victorious.
I could see that she was still twitching with her fingers, like... How could she have withstood those shots, she's getting up, she's very bloodstained and then I saw the bullet itself coming out of her body that was losing a lot of blood, Daryl is very sore, I'm shocked, what the hell, I don't have any magic what do I do now? I'll have to go at her the traditional way, she must be furious with me.
"You're a coward Chariot Du Nord, did you really think that shooting at me would beat me? You really wanted to kill me" She's getting closer and walking slowly, I can see that the holes I made in her body are healing, as if she's going to grow bigger and bigger as she gets closer to me, I'm not going to stand here and wait.
I clench my fists and go at her anyway, I run and then she sends me a current of wind that pushes me back and I can see her healing herself little by little, this is bizarre, she still has enough magic for this, it wasn't enough for her to use it to heal herself, I'm not going to give up, I hope I still have at least a little strength left, I'm going to try to run faster, I remember Mum trained me with the wind having magic impeded and even then I didn't make it, I took an even stronger current that threw me back a bit and I had to cushion the fall to stop myself falling.
"You're desperate, that's marvellous, look I can see the fear in your eyes from afar, the desperation, that's what I like to see the most, your hope going away, now you're going to experience a terror that's never been seen in your life" I'm shaking, what am I going to do, I'm starting to get really scared and fear for my life, I only had this gun with the fifteen bullets, I was a fool to waste my magic on this, when I should have shot myself in the head when I had the chance, or used it from the start.
She healed completely, I could see the chest that I had made a hole in closing up and wow, it was a huge damage, it even regenerated the bone, I think I'm lost now, she disappears near me and I start to get alert,
Daryl reappears behind and I kick her, But she dodges so easily and grabs my leg and with a simple movement with her hand she breaks it throwing me with everything on the ground, which I'm already screaming in pain, I can't even stand up and worst of all I don't have the magic to endure the pain, I feel the broken bones piercing my muscles, a horrible pain inside.
"What's the matter, can't you walk? What a pity Chariot Du Nord" I'm dragging myself with enormous pain, but she appears in front of me, starts to hold me by the hair and stares me in the face, until she makes some roots hold my body and I'm screaming in pain because one of the parts is squeezing my broken leg.
This pain is horrible, she's still looking at me with a sadistic face, I'm crying with pain, I can't believe she's going to hit me like this, there's no one who can help me, I don't think there's another, I've lost, I've definitely lost, I look into her eyes, she's still laughing, she keeps squeezing my injured leg tighter and I scream in pain.
"Daryl! I... I... I surrender!" I try to ask for redemption, I can't even walk with an injured leg and she denies it with her head.
"You don't make the rules here, now I'm the one who has to have fun, Chariot" I'm even more horrified, she reaches for my face and I'm terrified.
"Please Daryl... Have mercy, I promise never again..." She covers my mouth.
"I don't want to hear your annoying voice, you've ripped a hole in my chest, you wanted to take my heart out, didn't you, now I'm going to show you what you wanted, I'm going to be totally heartless with you Chariot" I'm scared then she hits me full in the stomach.
I feel a blow so hard that I vomit blood, my breathing is already problematic and then she hits my other leg with the branches, breaking it, I'm screaming in pain, all this torture can't end soon, I just want... I just want it all to stop, I can't even stand up, I'm going to be in hospital for days and days because of this, what the hell. She started punching me in the face, I just watched her hand go back and forth, getting redder and redder, I'm just weak and in a lot of pain, my body has never felt something so intense before, I think this must be the end, my life is going to end here in the Cavendish backyard, who knew?
"What do you think?" I can't even speak properly, my throat is full of blood and some teeth have already come out.
She keeps hitting me, just when I think the pain might go away soon, she goes and hits me more and more, what a horrible pain, I can't stand it, I think it's all fading away for me, this must be the end, I keep seeing everything turning black, things getting darker, I think I'm going to find you Mum Bernadette.
[...]
I wake up in a strange underground place, as if I were tied to a bed, my body isn't in pain, my legs aren't broken, I'm struggling on the bed, noticing that I'm tied up, my arm even has a bandage, I have medicine in my vein, what have they done to me, where am I? By the nine witches what have they done to me, I'm trying to get out and I look over to see Daryl in the middle, my heart stops beating on the spot, I've lost... She's going to use me as an instrument of torture, but instead she just ends up letting me go, I get out of bed and look around, this is the old Cavendish hospital, what am I doing here? My legs are fine again.
"You've finally woken up, I was stupid to torture you with so much pain, I should have gone slowly, but anyway, you've lost Chariot" I get even more scared of her talking like that, I could see my suitcase on the side.
"How? That's impossible, how did I miss it?" I say shocked.
"You were inferior on all counts, but I have to hand it to you when you used firearms, but they left you with a mere 9mm that burst in your hand, if it was a revolver like the one Rosemary Morris uses, I would have been dead at the first shot, but a normal 9mm with your magic alone won't do anything, you've been too naïve, I'd even accept if you negotiated to take Diana away from me, with complete peace of mind, in exchange for doing some services for me for a few years, but you've been too cowardly" Would I accept something like that? No way.
"So that's it? I'm leaving?" She just shrugged.
"Well, there isn't a bug around here, I can tell you, I won, that's it, I'm going to demand that you return all the things that belong to the Cavendishes and return the mansion, and if you try anything again I won't have any pity, besides I have to reveal a few things, it was me who sabotaged your shows during your break-up with Croix, I wanted you to give up, I was paid a lot of money by the older witches to get in your way, they knew how to use me for that, so I sabotaged your shows, plus I was the one who killed Bernadette, that's right, I poisoned your mum, she didn't even realise, but over the months a specific maid came round delivering medicines that made her ill, but she had no idea that the poison made her body weaker with each one she took, and I did this for all kinds of medicines, when she stopped, the poison spread, it was the way, she would either die from the poison or live weakened by the medicines, the antidote was simply the most idiotic thing possible, just make the same potion I made, and it would reverse everything" She tells me this with an absurd naturalness and there's no way I can get angry, I know it would go very wrong.
"You're a bastard, why do it? Wasn't your life good enough?" I say to her.
"Because there's no greater pleasure than power, seeing everyone at your feet doing what you tell them to, even more than I like seeing people inferior to me lowering themselves and putting themselves in their place, just like you, I made your father treat you like dirt, he wouldn't even care about you, but I paid him to pick you up here and bring you to France, I made him stop you from going to Luna Nova and when I got tired I focused on ruining my sister's life, separating Laura from Diana, now I'm with you as my victim, it's simply pleasurable, I've been through so much in my life that it gives me pleasure to see other people feel this way, to see them frustrated, to see them devastated, depressed and in the end some of them kill themselves, there's no better flavour than this" She's crazy.
"You're a psychopath, you have no empathy at all" I say to her, who laughs.
"I know that, I'm proud of that, you're all right, you're all kings of morality, you feel the weight of doing any little thing, I'm not the least bit afraid to act the way I usually do, it really gives me pleasure, but now I've had enough of you Chariot, I've done what I had to do with you, I'll leave you alone with your mediocre little life, wherever you go, I have a child to torment and make her life a living hell with manipulations and everything else, one day I'll be the leader of all this and it's all thanks to you, thank you for doing what you did, the shock of her losing a great friend will be enormous when you're gone, thank you so much for everything" She's a monster, what a horrible person.
"Just let me go soon, I don't have much choice, do I?" I say, getting up, already disgusted with the human being I've encountered.
"Well, I don't have much to say now, I'll take you to the car and then you can buy the ticket you want at the airport, I don't want to see you around anymore, go to Australia, America, anywhere but Ireland or here in Scotland, I want you far away and without a trace, I don't want to see you near your future wife, your wedding that could happen now won't happen anymore" Daniella... I've just forgotten that, how could I have been such an imbecile.
I just swallow my tears and follow Daryl down the corridor, quiet and devastated, I didn't imagine things could turn out like this, I see her with a smile on her face, but I'm just devastated myself, I've been so defeated now, I've lost everything, Mum... Diana... Daniella, I'm just going to be alone with no-one, with nothing, alone, for the nine witches.
I'm getting into the car, driven by Carter, but before I'm fully in it I see the damned woman leaning against the door laughing at me, she's just giving me one last warning, I'm even swallowing saliva
"Just to remind you, what I said is true, don't think about coming back here or everyone you love will leave" She doesn't need to remind me.
I walk out of there, quiet and devastated, well I've lost, there's not much to say, that's the end of this adventure, I tried every way, I should have listened to Mum, if I just kept quiet I would have been able to complete the mission peacefully and Daryl would never have shown up, but I invented being friends with Diana, now I'm only going to feel more guilty for all the depression she's going to face.
I arrive at the airport, I take a deep breath and get ready to get out of the car, but Carter gets out first, I take a deep breath, well I think I've thought of the only option I can take from now on, I'm going to have to go through life like this, I'm sorry to everyone.
"We have to go, Chariot, Master Daryl just asked me to drop you off at the airport" said Carter.
"I know, Carter, thank you for everything" I say, hugging him and saying goodbye to the butler.
"Anna and I will take very good care of Diana, we can't be sacked on the orders of her mothers who put it in the contract that only they can send us away, we'll do everything to look after her, goodbye Chariot" said the butler as he left and I waved to him, taking a deep breath and crying,
I'm walking through the airport, the car has left, I've already thought about where I'm going to settle, since I still have some money left over from bank transfers and I have my international card, it's time to leave here for somewhere else, I know the ticket will probably be expensive, but come on, for the last time I'm leaving, I arrive at the Qantas counter, which is where they take tickets to this place.
"What can I get you?" She asks, and I take it very seriously.
"A flight to Adelaide, as soon as I can" I say to her as she looks at the computer.
"Look, there's a flight in two hours to Adelaide, but it's going to be very expensive, we've got an economy ticket left, it'll cost around £1,743" I've got enough for that, I'll even give her my card.
Goodbye forever family... From now on I'm going to get on with life in a different way, I think I should have taken that teacher's advice too after all, she was right to tell me to put my career aside and try something else, how could I have been so stupid.
"I didn't know it was you but I tried everything to get to the fight, if I could have helped I would have given youmagic to defeat my aunt, I knew she was evil and would recognise you as Chariot, I was going to help, butAnna wouldn't let me or anyone else, my cousins were hiding and they beat me up a lot so I couldn't getclose, I'm sorry for everything Chariot, things could have been different for both of us if I'd been a bitstronger."
"You're not to blame for anything Diana, well now you know, I fled for a while to Australia, I made a point ofkeeping the flight very discreet, especially since there I really started to take on my other identity thateveryone came to know, but let's find out everything that happened there, after all there's a lot to develop, forthe nine witches, how can so much misfortune happen in my life of this proportion."
See you, fighter witches...