Chapter 88: Failure In Its Rawest Form
Frida stood still, her breathing ragged but controlled as the jagged memories of Velcor's plan faded from her mind. The battlefield, alive with cheers and gasps from spectators, snapped her back to the present. She clenched her fists, the weight of the fight anchoring her amidst the chaos of emotions. Lars stood across from her, his pink aura flickering like flames. His gaze was sharp, but she could see it—the cracks in his composure, the way his chest heaved from exertion and frustration.
This isn't about the past, she reminded herself. It's not about revenge, or punishing him, or proving him wrong. It's about proving myself right.
She raised her hand, her mana spiking dramatically as she summoned her next spell. "Amethyst Crystal Magic: Brutus Armour!"
The ground trembled beneath her as shimmering violet crystals erupted around her, encasing her in jagged, form-fitting armor. The plates were polished and radiant, each reflecting her renewed determination. Hannibal's Blade, broken in their earlier exchange, hovered in the air. The shards vibrated, glowing as they coalesced into a massive, ornate weapon—a longsword as regal as it was deadly.
Frida gripped the hilt with both hands, raising the weapon high. "Amethyst Crystal Magic: King Solomon's Sword," she declared, her voice steady. The blade crackled with power, its edge gleaming with a sharpness that seemed to cut the very air.
Across from her, Lars stiffened, the aura around him intensifying. "You're really going all out now, huh?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she surged forward, her speed far surpassing anything she had shown before. Lars barely had time to react, swinging his glaive upward to intercept the strike.
The impact was cataclysmic. Sparks flew as King Solomon's Sword clashed against Lars' glaive, the force of their collision creating a shockwave that rippled across the battlefield. Lars grunted, straining under the sheer power of her attack, his boots skidding backward as he fought to hold his ground.
Frida didn't relent. She launched into a relentless assault, her movements fluid and precise. Each strike came faster, each angle sharper, her sword swinging with the elegance of a dance and the ferocity of a storm. Lars found himself on the defensive, struggling to keep up as her attacks rained down on him like a hailstorm of crystal and mana.
What the hell is this? he thought, his arms shaking with the effort of parrying her blows. She's faster, stronger… and she hasn't even broken a sweat! Is this from the Eye of Wisdom?
He tried to counter with a blast of pink energy, but Frida sidestepped it effortlessly, closing the distance in an instant. She swung her sword in a wide arc, forcing Lars to duck before retaliating with a sweeping strike of his glaive.
Their weapons clashed again, sending out another shockwave. Lars growled, pouring more mana into his attacks. But no matter how much power he unleashed, Frida matched him blow for blow, her calm, focused expression never faltering.
That calmness enraged him.
"Is that it?" Lars shouted, his voice tinged with desperation. "Not even a smile? A smirk? Anything?"
Frida's violet gaze locked onto his, unflinching. Her voice was cool, almost detached. "This isn't personal, Lars. It's just a fight."
The words hit him harder than any blow. Just a fight? The thought made his blood boil. How could she be so indifferent, so unfeeling, when they were pouring everything into this?
His aura flared violently, a blazing pink inferno. "Fine!" he roared, his grip tightening on his glaive. "Let's see how calm you are after this!"
The battlefield erupted in chaos as the siblings unleashed their full power. Frida's King Solomon's Sword and Lars' glaive collided, sending arcs of pink and violet energy crackling through the air. Their attacks were so intense that the ground beneath them began to fracture, chunks of earth rising into the air from the sheer force of their mana.
Their battle spiraled out of control, spilling into the matches of their teammates. Cade and Puli were forced to abandon their fight as a wave of crystal shards tore through the arena.
Puli whistled, her eyes wide. "Whoa. Those two are insane!"
Luck and Cara, locked in their lightning-fast duel, paused as a massive pink beam streaked past them, narrowly missing Luck's head.
"They're fighting like they're on a proper battlefield," Luck said, grinning wildly.
Cara smirked, brushing dust off her shoulder. "Idiots. They're going to level the whole arena."
Even Zoe and Klaus, deep in their battle of magic, froze as the siblings' clash barreled into their space. Zoe raised an eyebrow, her usual smirk replaced by genuine curiosity. "Well, that's a show."
Klaus adjusted his glasses, his tone measured. "Their power is extraordinary." Inside, he was completely fangirling over how powerful Lars had become.
In the spectator box, Kirsch Vermillion folded his arms, his gaze fixed on Frida. "She's fighting more beautifully now," he remarked, a rare note of genuine admiration in his voice.
Beside him, Anastacia nodded, her eyes never leaving the battlefield. "Indeed. She's found her balance."
The siblings' fight raged on, their movements blurring as they pushed each other to their absolute limits. Lars swung his glaive in a devastating arc, aiming to overpower Frida with sheer force. But she sidestepped gracefully, her movements precise and measured.
Frida retaliated with a powerful thrust, her sword glowing with mana. Lars barely managed to block, the impact sending a jolt of pain through his arms.
"Amethyst Crystal Magic: Hand of Caesar," Frida said coldly, using it to grab Lars, but Lars used Grand Catharsis to repel her and her spell back. The amethyst mage put her hands to the ground, casting Regicide under her breath, and a wave of crystals rushed at Lars, but he countered with Telekinetic Thrust, piercing and shattering the amethyst.
The fragments hovered in the air as Frida brought her hands in, sending them all rushing at Lars. Once again, he cast Infinite Thought Shield to stop them all, making them clatter harmlessly on the ground, and rushed at his sister, his disposition becoming more ruthless.
"You ruined my LIFE!" Lars said, relentlessly slashing at Frida as she parried nearly every single swing. She was starting to tire now, however - Lars could sense it. "Every single day I lived in fear of what way you'd make my life miserable that day. It was a relief for me when you started doing more with the Silver Eagles, because that meant I had to see you less!"
Frida said nothing, but her eye narrowed. Lars continued.
"You were supposed to protect me!" Lars roared, his voice cracking with raw pain. "You were supposed to care! Instead, you mocked me, humiliated me! Every mistake I made, every time I fell short, you were right there to rub it in my face!"
His attacks grew more aggressive, forcing her back step by step as he vented the storm of emotions buried deep within him.
Frida parried another furious strike, the shockwave shaking the fractured arena. Her arms trembled under the relentless force, her armor cracked and battered, but her expression didn't waver. She held her tongue, refusing to deny or defend.
"And you think you're the victim here?" Lars snarled, his pink aura blazing brighter, hotter. "You never even apologized! Not once! You just… walked away like none of it mattered. Like I didn't matter!"
Frida's lips parted slightly, but no words came. Her silence was a knife twisting in Lars' chest. His frustration boiled over, his attacks losing precision as his emotions drove him further into fury.
"Say something!" Lars shouted, slamming his glaive against her sword in a thunderous clash that sent mana exploding outward. "Tell me I'm wrong! Tell me why I shouldn't hate you!"
"You should," Frida suddenly said, pushing Lars away from her, and thrusting King Solomon's Sword at him. He blocked it neatly, his weapon shaking as they locked eyes once again. "But this is a match. And my focus needs to be entirely on winning."
"Winning was all that mattered to you!" Lars roared. "Mind Magic: Kraftvoller Gedankenstoß!"
The mind blast hit Frida squarely in the chest, exploding in her face, and she was sent flying back once again. She struggled to her feet, but two huge Mind Wardens, a foot or two taller than Frida, created by Gedankenreich, lumbered towards her.
"It was always about being better than me! Always about putting yourself up while pushing others down!" the Mertens boy said, as Frida struggled against a Mind Warden's punch. She pushed it back, slicing it back into the mind energy it came from with one clean sweep, but the other was already upon her, forcing her to block with a Wall of Jericho as it swung a heavy punch towards her.
With a sweep of his glaive, Lars generated pink longswords with white lines pointed at the currently duelling Frida and Mind Warden. "Sword Rain," he intoned, and the swords flew at Frida and Lars' mental construct. One felled the big mind soldier straight through its midriff, making it fall to the ground.
The others hurtled towards Frida, but none of them found their target as she chose to erect another Wall of Jericho to block them.
"Funny you should build walls to block me off from you," Lars said. "Whenever I tried to reconcile with you, find out why you hated me so much, you just solved you asking the difficult questions to yourself by building another wall between us! You insecure piece of shit!"
Lars slammed the hilt of his glaive into the ground - partly in anger, and partly because he needed to cast his next spell.
"Mind Magic: Stress Output!" Lars yelled, as cracks filled with mind energy began to erupt in the ground. As Frida, slightly scared of Lars's outburst, stepped back, she stepped exactly onto a crack, and it started to glow pink, a beam of energy bursting from it. Frida just managed to dodge out of the way.
But Lars was already there. He placed a hand to her lower back.
"Celestial Mind Magic: Stratagem of a True Genius."
…
Zoe and Cade found themselves naturally falling into step together. Puli darted above them, her Feather Magic feathers streaking downward like guided missiles. Klaus stood resolute to their right, his Steel Magic fortress glinting in the fractured sunlight. The pair's teamwork was seamless, each adjusting to the other without hesitation—though Zoe's frustration was palpable.
Her celestial, Liora, floated beside her with an exaggerated smirk. The radiant spirit's flowing white hair swirled around her as she leaned in conspiratorially. "Oh, Zoe, you and Cade make such a lovely team. Maybe when this is over, you can weave your little love story—"
"Shut up, Liora!" Zoe hissed, her cheeks flushing pink. She jabbed her paintbrush forward, drawing an enormous kanji in the air that glowed a deep red. "FIRE." The kanji burst into flames, a roaring wave of heat surging toward Klaus' defenses.
Before the fire could reach its mark, Cade's steady voice cut through the noise. "Zoe, focus. Head in the game."
She shot him an irritated glance, but Cade didn't even flinch, his fingers moving deftly through his growing network of threads. The battlefield around him shimmered faintly as emotions danced through his magical strings. He smirked faintly, his voice calm yet carrying an edge of excitement.
"It's ready," he said.
Zoe frowned, wiping sweat from her brow. "What's ready?"
He gave her a sly look, his teal eyes glinting. "Emotional Thread Resonance. The core spell of my Celestial Thread Magic."
Without missing a beat, Cade gestured with his left hand, pulling taut a glowing thread vibrating with energy. It shimmered a deep crimson, almost alive with fury.
"My threads take on properties based on the emotions I absorb during battle," he explained. "Like this one." The thread snapped forward, a blazing whip of energy that lashed out at Klaus. "This is Wrath That Burns Through the Heavens. You can imagine what it does."
The fiery whip slammed into Klaus' steel wall, leaving scorch marks that hissed and popped with heat. Klaus furrowed his brow, reinforcing the barrier with another plate of shining metal.
"And this one…" Cade reached out to a violet strand and tugged it free, its aura calm and steady. "Longing That Turns the World to Stone."
The thread coiled around a flurry of Puli's feathers mid-air, hardening it instantly into rock before it dropped harmlessly to the ground.
Zaira appeared at his shoulder, wringing her hands nervously. Her small frame glowed softly, her white dress fluttering as though caught in a breeze. "There's also Joy That Dances on the Wind, which amplifies speed when wrapped around someone, and Despair That Cracks the Sky, which creates shockwaves when it hits the ground," she murmured.
"Yeah, yeah, you're very clever," Zoe snapped, dodging a volley of steel shards that Klaus had hurled their way. She gritted her teeth, her paintbrush flying as she painted another glowing kanji in the air. "SHIELD." The character hardened into a barrier of shimmering ink, deflecting the attack.
Cade chuckled, his hands moving quickly to manipulate his threads. "You sound mad, Zoe. I can use that, too, you know."
"No shit, smartass," Zoe growled, twirling her brush to create another kanji. "SPEED." The symbol flared, and in an instant, she was a blur, appearing behind Puli and forcing the Feather Magic user to retreat higher into the air.
But before Zoe could press her advantage, Cade's mana exploded outward in a brilliant surge. The threads surrounding him twisted and shifted, their colors deepening as his aura darkened to a shimmering silver. His hair took on a metallic sheen, and golden thread-like markings etched themselves across his arms and face. The air around him seemed to hum with raw power as Cade floated just off the ground, suspended by the energy coursing through him.
Zoe froze mid-step, her jaw dropping. "Wait a second - you've had Celestial Convergence this whole time?"
Cade grinned, his transformed appearance radiating calm confidence. "What can I say? I'm a fast learner."
"You lied to me!" she yelled, her face turning red.
"I withheld information," Cade corrected, deflecting Klaus' steel assault with a lazy flick of his hand. "Focus, Zoe. You're up next."
Grinding her teeth, Zoe closed her eyes and let the power within her flow outward. Liora, ever gleeful, whispered, "Oh, here we go. Try not to explode, darling."
Zoe's aura burst forth, a deep midnight blue that swirled around her like an ink storm. Her already dark hair darkened, glowing markings appearing on her robe. Her grimoire floated beside her, its pages turning rapidly as her paintbrush glowed with mana. Two black wings appeared on her back.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," she said, her voice low and dangerous.
Cade chuckled, snapping his threads into place. "Feeling better now?"
"Shut up and fight," Zoe growled.
Together, they turned their focus on Puli and Klaus, their combined power overwhelming. Zoe's kanji blazed in the air, each symbol creating devastating effects that forced Puli to stay on the defensive. Cade's threads twisted and danced through the battlefield, trapping Klaus in a web of raw emotion that disrupted his mana flow.
Klaus gritted his teeth, realizing too late that he'd made a grave error. "I've miscalculated," he muttered as Cade's threads tightened and Zoe's ink storm surged forward.
…
The battlefield shook beneath Cara and Luck as they clashed again, blurs of movement too fast for most eyes to follow. The air crackled with raw energy, each of their strikes sending shockwaves rippling across the ground. Cara's claws extended mid-swing, a wild arc of mana crashing into Luck's own lightning-charged claws with a deafening boom.
Luck's grin stretched wider, electricity sparking around him like a second skin. "You're fast," he said, his voice practically dripping with glee, "but you're not fast enough!"
Cara shot back, her voice full of breathless laughter. "You're the one keeping up with me, lightning boy!" She lunged again, her Beast Magic claws slashing wildly, the strikes so relentless they barely left room for Luck to counter.
In the back of her mind, Bashir's voice boomed like a thunderclap, his usual growl laced with frustration. "Cara, you reckless little pup! Stop relying on brute strength and random bursts of speed! Use your instincts or you'll never win!"
"Old man, I am using my instincts!" Cara snapped aloud, twisting mid-strike to avoid a crackling claw swipe from Luck. The rebuttal only seemed to infuriate Bashir more, his spectral lion form pacing just behind her with narrowed, glowing eyes.
"Silence!" Bashir roared, his voice reverberating through her head. "You're not even worthy of using a single Celestial Beast Magic spell with that attitude!"
Luck, overhearing, burst into wild laughter as he landed a glancing blow on Cara's side, electricity jolting through her. She barely flinched, baring her teeth in a feral grin.
"Your spirit's funny," Luck said, his eyes gleaming with manic excitement. "You're even funnier! But even a blind man can see you can't keep this up for long."
Cara growled, her beastly claws extending further as she darted around Luck in a wide circle. "I'm not done yet, you overcharged battery!"
"Stop playing and trust your instincts!" Bashir barked, his voice sharp and commanding now.
Cara skidded to a halt, her feet kicking up a spray of dirt as she faced Luck head-on. Her heart pounded, her breaths coming quick, but she closed her eyes for a single moment. "Ohhhhhh! Fine," she muttered, her grin softening into something more dangerous. "I'll let my instincts guide me."
Bashir went silent, stunned for the first time in their bond. Then, with a low growl of approval, he said, "So now you understand. You have my permission to use one spell."
Cara's claws glowed, a vibrant golden hue radiating from them as the ground beneath her cracked with the force of her mana. Her grin returned, feral and wild. "Let's see how you like this!"
"Celestial Beast Magic: Roaming Hunter's Reflex!"
A shimmering, lion-shaped aura burst around her as her claws elongated even further, her body moving faster than ever before. Luck's grin faltered - barely, of course - as Cara lunged forward, her strikes unpredictable and primal. Every move she made shifted mid-course, adapting to his counterattacks with animalistic precision.
Luck cackled, blocking her strikes with crackling energy. "Now this is what I'm talking about! You're getting real serious!"
Cara growled as her claws scraped his lightning armor, sparks flying. "I'm not just getting serious," she said, her voice dripping with determination. "I'm going to beat you!"
Her attacks grew faster, more ferocious, her instincts taking over completely. Every swing, every dodge, every feint felt fluid, as though her body and mana moved without hesitation. For a moment, it was as if she'd become the very beast her magic channeled.
But Luck didn't falter. His strikes grew wilder, faster, his laughter louder. "More!" he shouted, his voice electric with glee. "Come on, Cara, give me more!"
"You give me more!" Cara shot back, her voice a half-laugh, half-roar. She pressed him harder, their movements now a chaotic dance of speed and ferocity.
But Luck shook his head, still grinning. "Nope. This is all you get. Let's see if you can handle it!"
Cara's wild grin twisted into a snarl, her mana flaring even brighter. "Fine! Then I'll beat you with this!"
She charged at him with everything she had, her reflexes guiding her strikes faster than Luck's lightning could counter. Her claws slammed into him with enough force to send him skidding back, his feet carving grooves into the battlefield.
Luck's grin widened, even as he staggered slightly. "You're amazing!" he said, his eyes lighting up with unrestrained excitement. "This is so much fun!"
Cara's breaths came heavy, but her grin matched his. "I'm not done yet," she growled. "Not even close!"
…
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath, and time itself slowed as Lars uttered the name of his spell. A surge of pink mana erupted from his hand, a brilliant and all-consuming beam of shimmering, destructive energy that cleaved through the space between them. The arena fell silent—not in awe, but in the crushing absence of sound that followed an earth-shattering roar. The very air seemed to tremble, vibrating with the force of the attack.
Frida's Brutus Armour, once an imposing shell of gleaming violet crystal, began to crack. First a single fissure, then an explosion of shards that scattered like glass caught in a hurricane. Her King Solomon's Sword - her pride, her symbol of dominance - disintegrated into a fleeting cascade of mana particles. She staggered back, exposed and vulnerable, her breaths ragged and uneven. Blood began to seep from her right eye, carving a crimson path down her pale cheek, stark against the violet glow of her defeated magic.
Her eyes, once fierce and unyielding, now wavered as they found his. The fire had not entirely gone, but it flickered dangerously, on the verge of being snuffed out. She stared at him, not with hatred or anger, but with something far worse—a quiet resignation that struck Lars like a blade to the chest.
Her voice was faint, almost swallowed by the charged air, but her words were sharp enough to cut.
"Is this enough for you?"
Lars stood frozen, his glaive still glowing faintly with residual mana, its tip buried in the fractured ground. His chest heaved, but it wasn't just exhaustion that gripped him—it was something deeper, something heavier. His heart hammered against his ribs, not in triumph but in a hollow, aching rhythm that refused to slow. The battle was over. Victory was within his grasp. And yet…
Frida's legs buckled, and for a moment, she seemed about to fall. But she caught herself, swaying, her strength slipping away with every breath. Her hand moved instinctively to her side, but there was nothing left to grasp—no sword, no armor, no defense. She was utterly exposed. And still, she stood.
"I get it now," she said, her tone distant, detached. "If all I've ever been to you is an enemy… then finish it. If this is what you need to be free of me, Lars, do it."
Her words shattered something inside him. The weight of the arena's silence pressed down on him, the gaze of his teammates, the roar of the crowd—all of it blurred into static. He tightened his grip on his glaive, the pink aura around him flickering violently. His instincts screamed at him to end it, to seize the victory he had fought so hard for.
But his feet wouldn't move.
His arms, so steady just moments ago, now felt impossibly heavy. The weapon in his hand was a stranger to him, its edge dull against the storm of emotions surging within. She was giving him what he thought he wanted—submission, surrender, proof of her defeat. But the hollow ache in his chest only grew, gnawing at the edges of his resolve.
"You're pathetic," he said finally, though his voice wavered, betraying the venom he intended. His words cracked, breaking under the weight of the tremor in his tone. "You think this is what I want? To beat you into the ground and have you… have you just—"
Frida staggered forward, her body trembling. Blood dripped steadily from her eye now, staining the earth beneath her. She fell to her knees, one hand bracing against the ground as her lips curved into a bitter smile.
"That's exactly what you wanted," she whispered, her voice a fragile thread. "And I deserved it. All of it."
The words hit Lars like a blow, knocking the air from his lungs. His grip slackened on the glaive as he took a half-step back, his vision blurring for a moment. The anger, the adrenaline—all of it evaporated in an instant, leaving only the sound of his own shaky breaths.
Frida swayed again, her strength bleeding away. Her head tilted forward, her voice dropping to a barely audible whisper.
"I was… never going to be enough for you, Lars."
The blood from her eye quickened, pooling in a steady stream that darkened the ground beneath her. The Eye of Wisdom, once gleaming with an ethereal violet light, now took on a deep, menacing red hue. The sight sent a cold jolt through Lars, freezing him in place.
Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, she collapsed. Her body crumpled to the ground, lifeless but for the faint, erratic rise and fall of her chest. Her blood spread outward in a morbid halo, the aftermath of a battle that had gone too far. Her last thought echoed faintly, unspoken but palpable.
Guess I was the failure after all.
"Frida!" Lars shouted, the word tearing from his throat as he threw his glaive aside and dropped to his knees beside her. His hands hovered uselessly above her, trembling, unsure whether to touch her, to shake her awake, to try to fix what had just happened. "Get the fuck up! You think you can get away with this?!"
But there was no response. Her breaths came faint and labored, her body utterly still.
Before Lars could do anything more, a deafening crash echoed across the arena. His head snapped around in time to see the crystal Team O had been defending shatter into glittering dust.
"Match over!" the announcer's voice boomed, cutting through the tension like a knife. "Victory goes to Team M!"
Zoe stood over the remains of the crystal, her brush still smoking from her final spell. Beside her, Cade steadied himself, his threads retreating to his fingertips. Both looked battered but triumphant, their faces pale but lit with the faintest smiles of relief.
Cara, mid-strike against Luck, skidded to a halt, groaning dramatically. "Aw… it's already over?"
Lars barely registered the cheers that erupted from the stands. His hands clenched into fists, trembling, as he turned back to his sister. The pink aura that had surrounded him moments ago faded entirely, leaving him hollow.
This wasn't how it was supposed to feel.
He thought winning would be cathartic, that finally besting Frida would fill the void she'd left in him. But as the medics swarmed the field, surrounding her battered body, all Lars could feel was the crushing weight of guilt.
It wasn't victory. It was failure.
Failure in its rawest, most bitter form.
A/N: frida's character arc - so peak
if anyone asks why her change in view was so drastic, it's because she's being influenced by the eye of wisdom to be wiser
i also love cade's thread names
i need to make a timeline of all the stuff that's happened in mertens family history so i don't lose track of stuff
if anyone could tell me where dates seem inaccurate to you i'll go back and edit them