"Uuuhrgh," Blade stirred as she coughed. Her throat was so soar it burned. Her eyes stung immensly. They were squinted shut, she couldn't open them, whatever had hit them would sting even more if she did. So, she shut them harder instead, trying to remember what had happened. There was an eerie silence and no wind around her. The taste of rain or the smell of wet grass - gone. In fact, that storm was no more. Not even the slightest tingling of magic on her skin. They just had fired on that shield. Failed. 'Sienna's resonance spell. And…' Then she noticed, the ground beneath her felt so smooth, and wet? No, not entirely. More like glass with the thinnest waterskin echoing some ripples. She tried to grab into it. Indeed, there was no grass or mud.
"What?!" Her thought echoed out.
Blade's eyes shot open despite the possible pain. She knew that phenomenon. And there it was, the endless black nothingness, the white glowing line dividing the black, her mind space. She was about to jump to her feet when unexpectedly a force hammered her into the ground gravity with the weight of a mountain worked against her. A scream of pain escaped Blade's quivering lips and subsided to desperate grunts as she tried to escape it, clawing forward. Before it hit her, "This is my space! Get lost!" She roared. She knew this place. Her mind. Her rules. Willpower was everything here.
"Ahahaha," A crazy and sinister male laughter. "Cute. What fun to think you could act here. Excellent." The bemused chuckle subsided into a deadly silence as bloodlust crept in, "You made me lose to the others. Shame. On. You." A complaint, close to a child's bickering and yet words only a grown-up would say.
Blade thought her chest would explode as an invisible hand squeezed her torso and tried to crush her ribs. She couldn't get up no matter how much she willed it or even stop that suffocating pain. Blade could almost taste blood in her mouth. Impossible. Her eyes rolled around before she spotted the shadow towering above her, stretching into the endless distance. That guy was behind her! "PISS OFF!" She roared fiercely as she summoned a spear within her mind space and shot it from above estimating the position of that asshole. The spear shot directly past her at an average height. She aimed for centre mass.
"Pfffff," even more laughter, the spear got deflected with a ringing sound and clattered to the ground, "Silly thing. Is that all you can do here? Ahhh, so boring… Are you THAT eager to die early? Sorry, not today." Savagery dripped in that raspy voice.
The unyielding force that encaged her cracked at her bones. Blade gasped for air. She squeaked and shuttered as her spear slit her cheek open when it rammed into the ground right next to her head the pointy harpoon tip right next to her eyes shy of touching the eyeball. Her blood pooled from the cheek tainting the black ground into a red endless sea. The uncanny crimson spread to the horizon line in the blink of an eye. Terror grabbed and drowned Blade. A fissure like a lightning strike shattered the sky. "Who are you!?" She screamed. Inexplicably she was unable to calm herself down. Her emotions spiralling out of control.
"WHY?!" Her thought echoed out once again.
The crimson floor below gave way as unnatural panic overtook her and she fell through. Blade desperately caught an edge and held on for dear life, while her lower body submerged in the water below. She was slipping as if the floor had become an ice sheet. She trembled as a freezing presence crept up from the depts. Something was down there in that endless darkness and it wasn't that maniac. She could feel all-devouring eyes gleaming pulling her in. The hair on her neck stood up as she kept slipping. Something wrapped around her foot scorching like an inferno. Everything inside her screamed to get the fuck out of that water, now! She'd lose herself! Eradicated!
"Can't have that!" The voice of that maniac echoed from behind her. This was oh-so-hilarious to him. He revelled in her agony. However, he rammed her own spear into her hand and pinned Blade on the edge of the gaping hole in the crimson floor. "That'd be too boring. I'd thought you more resilient…" He clicked his tongue. "Boring."
Blade retched from the pain. She hated it so much but that torture kept her from falling into the sea of despair. She still felt that dooming pull yet it was a stalemate. Luckily that ass stopped crushing her with gravity. She reached far back with her other arm before she tore her nails into the ground and tried to pull herself out of that water. She couldn't command her - this mind space at all.
"Why?!" Her thought echoed out drenched in terror yet again. Never had it been like this here. This was her mind. Not even on Phere-Moan she had failed! She had won… won against that blackness.
"Why, oh, why," a malicious chuckle. "There only can be one in charge. And it ain't you, deary. Now… this death ain't for you. Oh, no… it ain't. Have fun drowning in reality." A cold whisper in the Fairies ear. "Bye; bye. Play nice with your friends!" A dust cloud swept over Blade before it disintegrated into nothingness.
Alone. In the endless black without warning a screeching noise and sickening distortion tried to blow Blade's ears out. Everything collapsed around her the endlessness closing in rapidly before everything went black.
Suddenly, Blade was back at the mansion. All her friends holding their heads hunched over as their nails dug into their heads. Gasping, grounding teeth, grunting. "Guys! Get a grip!" Blade shook her head and rushed towards Mercury. The inverted shield priorly translucent now was pitch black. Yet somehow dim sunlight made its way through. Blade's heart pounded in her ears. She was shaken to the core. 'There's no time for being scared!' She cursed in her mind and laid a hand on Mercury's shoulder. "Mercu-"
The dark red shimmer of his fire axe head swished past Blade as Mercury drew the tiniest scratch across her arm. 'Damn, she's fast!' He felt so proud and so annoyed. "You're not getting away that easily!" He smirked at her and followed up with his wind axe.
"Are you crazy!?" Blade jumped backwards and shortly glanced at the scratch, "Piercing spear!" In haste, she created another weapon just in time for the follow-up. A shadow fell on her, growling. Eyes wide she spotted the Terror Wolfs behind her. Teeth bared.
Kitty laughed enthusiastically, "You're going down, guys!"
"Blade!" Snow screeched shocked, "ICE WALL!" Her arm shot out as she dashed into the sky.
The wolves bit into the freezing blockade. "Too easy! Sound Scythe!" Sienna grinned as she watched the ice shatter into sparkling dust.
A warrior's roar from the side as a giant sand wave came crashing down from the side. Seth breathed heavily. "Shit." His eyes searched for his main target which had escaped once again.
"AHAHAHA, Plasma Sphere!" Nebula stuck her tongue out. She shot from Seth's blind spot after swapping with a clone.
"STOP!" Blade reached into her pouch and flung a phanto-dagger into the spell as she soared magic through her body to enhance her speed.
Mercury ignited his axe's fire element, "Eyes on your opponent!" He scolded Blade as he got into her perimeter. Spears were good at keeping enemies at a distance however they weren't all too effective if they were right up in your face.
"Tch." Blade just in time raised the shaft trying to lock in his axe and take a swipe at his head with the other end.
Mercury sneered as he angled as well and with a short burst of flame the spear split into two and dispersed. "Sloppy!"
Promptly he got hit by an ice orb and half way froze as the crystals raced over his body. "Blade! Cover!" Snow begged as the terror wolves snapped at her heels. "We're getting slaughtered!"
"I'm not even through with you!" Kitty rejoiced; it was hilarious to see them all scramble.
Seth had his own trouble as Sienna and Nebula were relentlessly trying to take him out. His sand wave was one attack that had to be stopped and dealt with before the next charge. "Snow, turtle formation!"
'Good call,' Blade dashed away but got snatched by the foot as Mercury drew her in and smacked her to the ground. "STOP! What's wrong with you!?" Blade blocked just in time with her bracelet shield which shattered directly, "Magic Dart!" Barely it gave her enough time to flee as she shot at him. 'They all have lost their minds?! Who the heck did attack - The Pixie!' Blade slid through the damp sand as she reached Snow's position breathlessly.
"ICE CAGE!" Snow roared. 'You're not getting through this one.' Her will was like a blazing storm and so was the magic she emitted. She wasn't holding back at all - not like she normally did. Fearless.
"NICE!" Seth just got up from his dive roll. "Gesh, those Wolf fangs…" He ground his teeth as the damn mud tried to crack that freezing fortress of theirs with its jaws.
"This isn't the time for infighting!" Blade hissed in disbelief at everyone. "This ain't funny! You got to get a grip! We're on a mission! Not Battle Class! Fight it!" Blade begged her hands trembling but no one understood what she meant. They didn't even react to her statement. Distraught she looked around and spotted Clue hidden, trembling herself, white-eyed inside some toppled-over bucket. "YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Blade barked at her before the danger of battle demanded her attention again.
Sienna's neon mint green Fairy clothes clashed with the pitch-black shield above them. She gathered magic in her palms, "And down goes the cage!" She dashed at them. "Resonan-"
"Spinning Chakrams!" Blade redirected her attention. 'We can't lose this shield! If I at least get Snow and Seth to stop…' The soaring blades glimmered in her Light Fairy Magic and cut through the air in a deadly spiral.
"Veil!" Nebula sniggered her chest rose and fell. Her eyes peeled, "Solid fog!" She hardened her fog just as one of the chakrams passed through it. "HA!"
"Shit," Seth bit his lips, "This ain't over yet!" He loaded his two-hander to the max. "Snow!"
Snow gave a nod and let her cage crumble, "Freezing heart!" She facepalmed one of the Terror Wolves. Her ice magic like an all-consuming force of nature rushed over it. Her magic was so powerful and she wasn't at all that shy girl who was undecive in battles.
"Eat sand!" Seth sent off a ginormous sand wave even drawing some wet sand and earth with it.
Mercury jumped right in front of Sienna, "Not today!" His wind axe summoned a tornado that ripped right through the wave and he followed up with fire and the roaring inferno pierced through - right at the others.
"Charmix! Semblance Phantasms!" Nebula duplicated with her clones, "Plasma Sphere!"
'Crap!' Blade sacrificed her chakrams into the spheres as with her free hand she gathered magic and half-assed her spell yet compensated with more power behind it, "PIERCE!" Blade shot a spear right into those flames. It cut through like butter and screwed its trajectory up, "SNOW!" She fell to her knee short of breath. She had used plenty of weapons and Light Magic. 'Fuck. What am I to…' She clenched her teeth. 'Ancient hilt? No… way too dangerous of a weapon. Especially if I lose it. Luna Vindex!? But is it a curse or something else?! If it's simply PSI…' She just didn't know what to do.
"ICE CAGE!" Snow's white short hair flung around like crazy as her dome rose, hardly in time and halfway melted by the fire that still came for them. She clicked her tongue and reinforced it from the inside out.
"Answer my call, Twin Blood Bats! Finally, Blade, you're going down! Mark it in your calendars, guys!" Kitty cackled her blond bangs brustling as wild as her fighting spirit, "Let's do this Sienna! Let's make their heads ring!"
Glowing runes painted themselves on the forest ground. Pebbles and gras bent as a gust blew outwards against the raging storm. Karim appeared and promptly shot out a water orb, "Crap." A swish of his hand and it dispersed into a harmless splash. "Sorry, deer. Emergency call." He'd not let anything up to chance. The animal had already vanished in the undergrowth. Karims ornamented cape bashed around his legs. He held up an arm to get a good look at those storm clouds above. "Ahhh…damn…convergence on a natural origin storm." To counter this would cost him half a minute. "Kids first…" he mumbled to himself. His eyes followed the flow of the storm. "Was I still that far off?" He lit his eyes up in magic. Of course, he had not teleported right into the hot zone. There were too many unknowns. The bothersome storm had influenced his teleportation destination just like he had expected nonetheless he had accounted for that - theoretically. 'There!' Karim spotted the swirling darkness a good kilometre or two away. He threw his staff into the air where it vanished as his whole body shrank into his Werfox form. "Tidal Dash!" he growled water sprouting from his four paws. His muscles tensed his tail straightened. Like a geyser, the water shot out and he darted through boulders and trees alike straight as an arrow. In his wake, the forest was cut to pieces in a path of destruction.
The dome was massive. Strong in Black Magic and eerie to a fault. The runes were half hidden on its surface but they glimmered through. The storm above was dying down curiously enough. Whatever had fed it, it didn't any more. The much more annoying thing though was, that there was no way to look inside, not a peep came from inside the dome either.
Only a deadly silence even with his keen Werfox ears he couldn't make anything out. Karim turned back to his hybrid form. The staff was right back at his side. "Ahhh," He moaned pissed and summoned a crystal ball, covered by other magic stones and Red Jade. He infused it with magic. "Predator Karim here, to all response forces for Lord Ramon's mansion." He contacted Red Fountain who promptly looped the Hunter Division in. "Bring more back up. Black Magic Convergence shield. I can't see inside. No life signs of the kids are detectable through that. Estimated radius… hm, it outgrows the building grounds. Doesn't reach the forest edge. I got flung off two kilometres. Also, confirmation for the storm. It's Light Magic and Convergence as well. Both of these spells are HUGE. At least level seven."
"Seven?" The Division Hunter Fairy resounded, "Ramon has no one so powerful in his staff. And that's surely not himself. His magic sucks." She cursed a bit quietly. "Don't be stupid and go in even if you can take this on. You got civilians to protect as well. That changes things."
"They are students and quite capable not civilians," Karim noted but already focused on the runes on that swirling dome of doom. "Just hurry it up. I'll have a spell ready to converge on to crack this shell." Karim fletched his fangs at that nuisance and rammed his staff into the ground. "Tidal Vortex!" He first summoned a strong shield around himself. He couldn't smell, hear or feel anyone else outside the dome but he'd not be so foolish to leave himself open. He raised his big ornament staff. It lid up in Dark Magic, strong crackles as he touched that shield with its tip, "Decipher Essence!" Like fire his magic crawled up his arm to deflect all that Black magic that pushed back, trying to consume his magic and him. Unphased by it all, he focused his spell and brought forth those shimmering runes. And behind him, a tapestry of counter runes slowly built up on a miniature scale.
Blade's lips quivered. The ice cage was quaking the two Blood Bats with Sienna's Resonance spell were horrific for any shield. Yet, Snow, the little Snowdrop, her magic burst forth like sunbeams hitting the ice all around them. She froze cracks shut in the blink of an eye changing density and thickness, making it harder for Sienna to find the resonance frequency. 'This can't go on…' Blade already could see little ice crystals sprouting on her own skin. While that shield held off the others inside they were approaching sub-zero. Everything was a mess. Her Winx form would run out. She already exhausted her Charmix to counter this cold and boost her body. She had wasted so many weapons already. Her Light Fairy magic was running low. "Seth, listen." She turned around. "Seth!" She closed the gap quickly.
Seth stood there undeterred ice creeping up his cheeks. The Paladin training suit kept him warm, but it didn't cover his face and instead of protecting his body his magic flowed into his sword. "Don't worry, I'm already recharging the sword." He grinned. "We'll win this match."
"There is no match!" Blade begged furiously her warskirt growing stiff and she knew she'd have to give up her winx any minute now or risk going unconscious or burnout. "See reason! Think! Where are the teachers? We're not even on Magix. We had a mission, remember? You're second in command! Mercury is first. We came here for herbs. We tried to find shelter from the storm." Her voice was adamant and distraught at the same time.
"Blade, did you hit your head too hard?" Seth tilted his head slightly. "It was just a scratch…" He looked at her tiny wound on the arm that already had clotted. "Don't worry, we'll make it. A bit of cold never hurt anyone." He had no fear or worry in his voice, simply determination.
"Your face is freezing over!" Blade threw her hands up into the air. She couldn't stop Snow. In the worst case, they'd die if the others broke through. However, staying in that freezer was a stupid idea. Snow would go down by burnout not by cold being a Fairy of Ice had that perk going for her at the very least.
Seth looked at Blade dumbfounded and smiled at her to reassure Blade, "Just take a break you used a lot of your Fairy magic. I know you can swap to Shadion but we'll need it in our counterattack. Just focus and get your head back into the game."
"UURUGH," Blade ground her teeth. Nothing she said had deterred anyone. She walked past Seth ruffling through her dreadlocks. Her Winx flickered and faded. She was spread too thin her concentration shifting and magic dropping and with that her transformation. Blade's teeth began to chatter instantly. 'Think, damn it! Vindex, or not!?' She just knew that it would be impossible for her to shoot magic through the others to break that curse or spell or whatever. That dome spell had been high level, too high level for her to combat. 'But PSI…' She knew nothing that would work against mind hacks. 'Even I was no match in my own mind…' She bit her thumbnail. "It's all about the strength of the own mind… if it goes against one own's will it at least gives an in… but they think this is class. They're not shooting to kill… there's no reason they'd fight that… Maybe I should let it play out… but what if it turns to slaughter after all….ahhhhhh…" She mumbled to herself. "Where is that shitty Pixie?!" Blade hissed as she noticed the blurred shadows of Nebula's clones. Not only had Nebula created more of them, but she lined them up for a barrage with Plasma Spheres. Mercury's vague silhouette flared up red at one hand. The bats had stopped for some reason and also Sienna. Blade's eyes went wide as she heard it.
"Answer my call, Tidal Snake!" Kitty roared. "Time to crack you out of that shell! Better give up now!"
"Never!" Uncannily Snow hollered back and ice shot over the floor. very straw of grass froze solid, glittering in deadly white turning everything into a snow globe of unimaginable beauty, breathtaking.
Blade's throat stung as only chilly air hit her lungs. "Shadion!" Blade screamed shocked and jumped into the air. Her skin prickled with cold as it turned into that ash grey and her neon green wings sprouted and jammed a bit from this cold. Blade flared up her magic to counter the creeping ice on her back and some thin plates crumbled from her black torn vest. " EVERYONE, STOP!" One glance at Seth and it was as if he was freezing to the ground, his feet stuck fast, though he didn't even seem to notice. 'They're all so damn reckless!'
"Ready, Snow! Blade get your head into the game. We ain't losing to them! That good grade is ours!" Seth grinned and tensed his fingers as his brown-beige hair turned into icicles. Sand swirled around his green shimmering sword edge and turned into fine hail by that sub-zero death trap they were in.
"Whirling Chakrams!" Blade summoned her weapons outside the dome and shot them out at Nebula's clone army as the giant snake shadow rose and the dooming tail's shadow rapidly grew atop of them, short of impact.
"Now!" Mercury shouted and slashed his ablaze axe horizontally and followed vertically with the wind axe its white shaft adorned by wings at the head a stark contrast to the gleaming inferno he sent off.
"Cross Fade!" Sienna shot with a bit of an angle finding a spot between Mercury's raging firestorm and Nebula's Plasma Spheres, which obliterated Blade's chakrams. The two soundwaves hammered on the ice cage with a drum roll of the imminent calamity.
The air trembled from the echo that cracked at the ice sending it into an eerie vibration even the ground shook. The smell of burned ground as fire dried and scorched it simultaneously. Thunderously, the ginormous snake tail crashed into the ice dome and under its weight the dome buckled at last.
Nebula's deadly sphere hail gave it the rest as the orbs burrowed into the ice inch by inch.
"Shatter!" Blade's voice rang out as from inside at a high angle she smashed the roof to pieces like a falling star ice sparkles glittered before they melted away in the remnants of Mercury's firestorm. Blade dashed through the roof with Snow and Seth aggressively seized by their upper arms earning a few scratches and bruises from flying ice pieces. She cut corners so as not to get hit by the redirected snake tail. 'Damn Kitty's reflexes!' She already saw the tail incoming from the right again. 'We're too heavy!'
"Eat hail!" Seth cackled. The tail of pure ice dust got overshadowed by the sand that followed his two-handers tip. The frozen sand, hardened and strengthened, rose. Fog evaporated with the fading after heat as the last flames gave out. Even with one hand seized by Blade, it was easy for Seth to raise his sword and he slashed through the air to command their sand tsunami much to the dismay of Blade who lost balance completely and tumbled mid-air halfway crashing into the Dark magic snake tail.
"Oh shit!" Kitty squeaked moving her Tidal Snake to gain shelter rather than trying to use Blade's screw-up to her advantage. There was no time. Her on-standby bats were immediately destroyed.
Sienna was too far away to take cover in time. "Acoustic Soundwave!" She screamed as she sent out a slash of magic waves. She had nearly cut through the whole wave that came to swallow her whole, but her attack wasn't strong enough against the mix of magic and physical matter. Sienna grimaced as she felt a stinging pain at her left wing tip as she manoeuvred through the sand as best as possible. Her chest stung as pain rushed through her veins. Everything blurred before her eyes. That agony took her breath away and she smashed uncontrolled to the ground as her magic didn't react to her will.
"SIENNA!" Clue with tears in her eyes rushed out from her little bucket towards the newly found friend. "Hold on! I'm here!" The little Pixie raced towards the Fairy that was buried alive. She vanished with her under the unforgiving blanket that graced the battlefield and even swallowed a nearby shed. Only shortly one could glimpse Clue was summoning some magic.
Mercury dive rolled behind it the wave looming right behind him. Luckily for them, the dark snake clone held off most of the sand before it began to show holes and became unstable.
"That Seth….urgh…." Kitty was breathless and stumbled forward into Mercury. Summoning that huge snake had taken the rest out of her. "Why?... I should have more than enough…" Her consciousness faded so did the snake.
"Shit," Mercury grabbed Kitty and flung her through the impact zone to the edge of Seth's attack as the tsunami swallowed the evaporating snake. 'Leave it up to him to pull one out of his ass…' Luckily his fire axe covered his head and had enough heat left to weather the hail and the armour protected the rest from the ebbing down sand wave.
"Are you crazy!?" Blade hissed at Seth. She was shocked to the core by no means was this deadly, at least not if this were Battle Class but there were no safeguards here and there were no capacities to rescue anyone.
Seth chuckled with a raspy voice, "Told ya…" The boy coughed his eyelids fluttered before the green blade fell from his grasp and rammed into the ice sand at the edge of the devastation.
"Fog image!"
Out of the blue lavender hair popped up in front of Blade, a clone. Blade ground her teeth so hard. Utterly lost about what to do. She hadn't even a second. Hands both full.
"Mirror Space!" Nebula, the real one, materialised right before Blade. "You're done. We win." Nebula laughed full of joy as she raised her hand with a Plasma Sphere at hand. The ball flickered greatly and wouldn't truly form as if it were a broken light bulb.
Blade drew on her Dark Magic as she coated her entire body. She dashed right into that spell head-first, kept Seth and Snow away from it her arms dragged behind, straight into a body slam through the unstable invocation. The sparks crackled as the Dark Magic hit the fading Light Magic particles.
Nebula got thrown back, tumbled, her will to fight still strong, "Oh no, you don't!" She overplayed her dizziness.
Blade was close to her limits as well and rushed in again. Blade had no arms free, 'Close-Combat it is!' She clenched her friends' clothes tighter and for once her adrenaline was helpful. Before she could overthink, she landed a kick to Nebula's stomach and sent her crashing to the ground. She had still buffered it of course. Blade's arms burned under the two heavyweights she was holding onto. There was no way to carry another. Seth was done. Snow… unresponsive and way too low on magic. 'Did she go burn out!? Wait, no… I'd- CONCENTRATE!' Her eyes darted to Nebula. She had no time for this. Blade blinked and blinked again as she raced to the mini desert below. She needed her hands free before Nebula would retaliate. Yet… nothing. No follow-up. "What!?" Nebula wasn't getting up again. "EHHHH?! Crap! No. That's not!- Fuck." This was bad. Really bad. Black Magic could overtake a body, mind, or even the soul. And if one was unconscious… nothing was stopping it. In this one second, she realised. This was even more dangerous now than when they had attacked each other. Too many down. No healer. No way to counter. If they'd raise as Phoenix puppets it'd be all over! 'What am I…?' She gulped deeply as she sat Seth and Snow down. There was no Black Magic yet from anyone. She heard the singing of a hurled weapon right behind her back. "Fairy EDGE!" Her black and ghostly green brimming short sword blocked the fire axe. A swipe to the right and the axe hammered into the sand at the sidelines. Mercury.
"Ahhh, seriously!?" Mercury moaned. He had been so damn sure to win with that move. "What do you eat girl?" He puffed a loose strand out of his face. His shoulders moved up and down from his deep breaths. He had spent most of his magic. No more elemental attacks were possible. "Such a cheat with two magic types." He teased annoyed. He eased and tightened his grip on the wind axe.
"Stop!" Blade gulped so deeply. Sure with the training shields that hit would have been blocked. But they had none here. He had hurled his axe at her back without hesitation. "This fight is over! We gotta help them!" Blade begged. Her sword at the ready. "MERCURY! PLEASE! You can have this win! I give up! You win. Now help me!" She was so lost. She didn't want to fight him or any of them, and yet, their team had decimated itself. 'We're so lucky… Snow…Shit. Those…Crap, what if those guys are still nearby!?' Blade felt so sick. Her eyes wandered just for a split second along the pitch-black dome around them. Instant regret.
"Nice try!" Mercury saw his opening. His muscles tensed. Magic soared through his veins. One dash. They weren't that far apart. A grin of victory on his lips. He wouldn't fall for a feint. 'Silly Sorceress tactics.' It was such joy as he saw her eyes widening. That sparkling blue eyes, light blue, just like the clear summer days on Magix. And yet in this form, ghostly green played around them. The pupils were white as snow. Her skin was ashen grey and her clothes ragged. Nonetheless, nothing could be more astonishing, and mesmerising than her. Even when she was spooked.
Blade rose her sword, blocked. Nevertheless, Mercury stepped into her stance. A quick tangle as weapons and hands fought for supremacy. A tug of war that threw Blade to the ground before she realised he had swiped her feet away. She de-transformed promptly as her wings nearly got squashed between her and the frozen sand. Her eyes, like a predator, pinned the energy axe head and her sword shot like a spear from the ground up and shattered one of the Red Jade crystals that stabilised the hilt. She went in for a punch to his face. 'I can't lose! If I go unconscious!' A bit of a panic sat in with a growing massive headache.
The axe got ripped from his hand. "Holy!" Mercury cursed. His fingers were pulsating from the pain. 'She always goes beyond!' His heart pounded nonetheless he caught her punch with his palm enclosed her fist and forced her arm to the ground. He was up top and therefore had the upper hand. "Professors told you. Times are over for you winning against us Specialists in strength contests." He smirked and quickly seized her other arm as well. Being on top made this so much easier. He put his weight on her to subdue Blade and minimise options. He could feel how she was enhancing her strength with magic, but so did he. He, all of the boys, had caught up by now to that neat ability. And the warnings the Professors and trainer as prophesied came true for the first time ever. "Our win." Mercury chuckled a bit relieved.
"YES! FINE!" Blade shouted at him furiously. Tears trying to creep in. "SO, LET GO!" Blade begged. She couldn't help it. Her throat was sneering shut. Mercury would never hurt her. 'He'd never… but he isn't...' He wouldn't let go of her. 'Where does this end? The scenario is over! Why does he still fight me?!' She could feel that the stress was getting to her and the exhaustion. "MERCRUY!" She screamed at him. "YOU WON! WE GOT TO GET SIENNA!" She roared into his face. Nothing. He kept her vigorously pinned and stayed ignorant of anything else around them. "MERCURY!" Blade screeched into his face. 'What do I do!?'
Mercury countered any of her moves to free herself. "Gesh, Blade. Give it up." He couldn't understand. This match was over. It'd be called any second now by the teachers. 'She's a dragon in her own right.' As much as he wanted to see her succeed he wouldn't forfeit a battle just so she'd feel good. His short absence of thought was directly taken advantage of.
'Now!' Blade slipped one hand from his grasp and tried to push up to reach his jugular notch.
"Oh, no you don't!" Promptly Mercury responded and hammered her arms into the sand above her head once more. His torso drew in above her. His hazelnut eyes reflected in hers. A smirk stole itself on his lips to see her so fierce always made his heart race. That glare. That will. There was no one he admired more than her.
Blade ground her teeth. He wasn't getting the message. And that grin… 'Shit.' He was completely gone. Drowned in whatever spell this was and that gaze… Blade gulped as she saw herself reflected in his eyes. Saw her own fear. Gasped. 'If I get knocked out…no. Sienna…the others… will he kill?!' She felt so sick, for some reason she simply couldn't stay level-headed. No matter what she tried. No room to control her breath and relax. She was so driven to fight him, to escape and she was spiraling herself into a frenzy of sorts. 'Fuck.' His grip tightened around her wrists even more. Her struggles to throw him off were in vain. She could feel her fingers pulsate as they cramped. 'Shit.' Blade bit her lip as she squinted her eyes. "I'm so sorry…" She whispered and ripped her eyes open burning with determination.
Mercury felt the magic build up behind him. He glanced over his shoulders. It was already too late. A Dark magic bolt rammed into his shoulder. A dark streak as it sped up, followed by the crushing sound of plating and an outcry of pain from his lips. The projectile burrowed through flesh and bone. His eyes shot back to Blade. He tried to hold her down but the agony that shot through his arm made his eyesight blurry.
Blade tore free from his grasp. Three straightened-out fingers as she jabbed her fingers into his jugular notch.
He convulsed. Breathless he grasped at his throat - disorientated.
Blade pushed up, grabbed him by the shoulder plates and nailed him to the ground. An eerie unhealthy sound as her magic projectile got driven in further. The cracking sound of his plating and bones rang out once more. His grunts were muffled and yet agony was written all over his face. 'Sorry,' Blade bit her lip she couldn't stop now. Just like Sienna, her spells were great in breaking through defences - if used correctly. But the tainting red on his blue cloak wasn't at all what she wanted, nor the trickle of blood that followed the edges of the chest plating to the front crystal. 'I had no choice!' Blade tried to ease her mind and reached straight into her belt pocket and drew another phanto-dagger. Twirled it in her hands to get the perfect grip to hold it to his neck. If fortune was on her side… he'd stop fighting at least. The match would be over with a victory for her team. And hopefully, the scenario implanted in them would be over. Her hand just drew in the humming blue edge a shimmer of hope to this chaos as she shifted her body weight to topple him. Dagger in hand, places reversed.