I missed a week again, didn't I? Shit. My bad guys. That's all on me again. I get way into other things I'm doing and I forget I have a quasi important thing to do. I really need to get on that. Sometimes I get to invested in a new series I'm watching/reading. It happens. Thank you for waiting though!
Enjoy!
Steph could tell something was wrong as soon as the arrows stopped flying. She looked up in alarm, waiting for something to happen.
"Why'd she stop?" She demanded.
"I dunno," Reyna replied, hiding behind the vines still. "Kimmy! You see anything up there?!"
"No!" Kimmy replied, still holding her bleeding shoulder. "I don't see her!"
"Anyone?!" Steph demanded.
"No, I don't see her!" Akihiro replied.
"This is making me really anxious nyah..." Kumi murmured, sounding upset. There was silence for a long time, only the sound of the wind to accompany them.
Before Kimmy screeched. Steph looked up in surprise to find the girl falling again, another arrow lodged in her chest.
"Kimmy!" Megan shouted, jumping the vines protecting them to catch the girl.
"Megan, don't!" Reyna shouted. It didn't matter. Megan too was hit by an arrow, which flew directly through her midsection.
"I didn't realise that these kids were so foolish," A voice said. Steph turned to watch as Artemis appeared from the woods, watching them as her eyes gleamed in the moonlight. Steph didn't know what it was, but she could feel that the woman's power had increased. Something had changed.
"Lightning Burst!" Steph shouted, wasting no time. A current of electricity flew from her outreached hand towards Artemis, who leapt back into the woods to dodge it.
"It's time to stop playing around," the woman's voice came from the woods. "The sun has set. My brother has been felled. I will not waste more time."
"What the hell is she talking about?" Reyna demanded.
"I don't know," Steph replied weakly. "All I know is she seems a bit more proactive. Keep your guard up you guys!"
"Way ahead of you!" Tsuneo shouted, reinforcing the vines protecting them. That didn't last long though.
"Moonlight Burst!" Artemis' voice came. Steph looked around for the attack, but the origin was not what she expected. The attack rained down from above, searing a hole in the vines, which then burst into flames.
"What the hell did she do?!" Mai asked as she shielded her face.
"I don't know, but I won't let us burn to death!" Kunio shouted, using his water magic to free them from the flames. However, he didn't do it before the vines had been roasted away, leaving them all open for an attack.
"Midnight Flurry!" Steph's neck tingled, and she ducked just in time to dodge a flurry of glowing arrows as they flew over her head. She was the lucky one. Rachel, Kunio, Tsuneo and Ryo all hit the dirt, arrows lodged in their bodies. After sitting for a moment the arrows exploded, dealing even more damage.
"You guys!" Reyna shouted, shuffling her deck. "Shield Card!" She threw down cards at the guys feet, shielding them with magic. She did the same to Megan and Kimmy, leaving her, Steph, Kumi, Mai, Toshiro and Akihiro standing.
"I need to find the girl," Artemis' voice came again. "I will defeat all of you."
"Find her!" Reyna shouted, cards lodged between all her fingers.
"Working on it!" Mai shouted, using her telekinesis to rip up trees and throw them all around in an attempt to strike Artemis down. It didn't work. All over her attacks missed, and another arrow flew out towards her. Mai wasn't going to fall too, her own magic stopping the arrow and snapping it in two before it hit her.
"Aren't you the troublesome ones?" Artemis' voice came. "I suppose only the stronger ones could have dodged those first few attacks."
"I-I'm so sorry you guys..." Kunio's voice came from where he was being protected. "S-She got us good."
"Just don't die from those wounds," Steph replied. "Then you can pay us back for saving you."
"Trash shouldn't speak," Artemis said. "They should only give up what they have for the remaining battlers." A snap of Artemis' fingers resounded in the forest, and the arrows lodged in the others began to glow. Steph watched as the arrows began to siphon power out of them, the magic flowing into the forest.
"Is she doing what I think she's doing nyah?" Kumi asked weakly. Steph clicked her teeth in irritation.
"She's taking their magic," She said. "Those arrows must have been enchanted with a spell that lets her do that."
"Well isn't she a pain in the ass," Reyna replied. "I'm not letting anyone else get hurt though." Steph turned to watch as the woman raised her hand, cards still waiting in her hand.
"Reyna?" She asked weakly. The woman just smirked.
"Sorry if this burns," she said. "Card Magic! Blazing Inferno!" Three red cards were thrown into the woods, and then three more behind them. The entire forest went up in flames following the explosions Reyna caused, making the woman smirk.
"Toshiro!" She shouted.
"On it!" He replied. The man lowered his hands to the ground, shock waves flowing out from his hands. These ones though, were far more powerful than before. The earth beneath Steph's feet began to crumble and split, and before long entire chunks of the ground were being thrown up and away.
"Find her!" Reyna shouted. "She can't hide from all of this!" Knowing she was right, Steph began to scan the burning forest and thrown up rocks, looking for any sign of the woman that she could find.
She soon found her.
"There!" She shouting, pointing towards a thrown up piece of rubble. Artemis was secured to it by an arrow in the debris, watching them warily.
"I got this!" Akihiro shouted. "Body Enhancement Strength! Speed!" The man shouted up from the ground and straight into the debris Artemis was riding, breaking it and sending her into free fall.
"Raging Bolt!" Steph shouted, thunder booming around her as the spell was unleashed towards the woman.
"Moonlight Blast!" Artemis shouted back. Steph watched, in shock, as the moon itself lit up, a blast of white light descending to the battlefield and meeting Raging Bolt head on. The resulting blast threw her to the ground, coughing as dust was thrown into her face.
"Steph-gah!" Steph looked up to watch as Akihiro hit the ground, an arrow lodged in his leg. A swift kick in the face sent the man reeling backwards, and for good measure he was batted away by Artemis with her bow. He hit the ground hard and struggled to move, but it was clear the arrow lodged right in the back of his knee made that hard.
"Card Magic! Tornado Zone!" Reyna's voice rang out from the dust, and soon the whipping wind forced all of the dust away. Tornadoes circled the remaining fighters, all in various states of damage. Steph was dazed thanks to the blast, but she hadn't noticed an arrow hit her shoulder because of all the adrenaline pumping through her body. Reyna had been hit by a few arrows herself, but she'd clearly ripped them out before any sort of addition affect could be applied. Akihiro, Toshiro and Mai were all lying around in disrepair, arrows lodged in them and scorch marks from blasts. Only Kumi seemed to have made it out okay, probably because she was a cat.
"When did she kick into another gear?" Steph demanded, ripping the arrow out of her shoulder. "She's fighting now."
"The sun has set," Artemis responded over the whipping winds. "My brother has been taken down. I will avenge him in a moment, but for now I have to deal with the children who stop me here."
"And how exactly are you planning on doing that?" Reyna demanded. "It's still a six versus one!"
"Maybe so," Artemis said, raising a hand over her head. "But enough of us have fallen already. I will not join them." A bright white light sparked in her raised hand, which began to accumulate power.
"She's doing something nyah!" Kumi shouted. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about!"
"I call upon the power of the Hunt," Artemis called as the glow brightened. "Hear my cry and grant me strength. My name will become Diana! Imbue me with the power to defeat my foes!"
The light engulfed the woman, throwing up even more dust that was thrown away by Reyna's tornadoes. Steph couldn't tear her eyes away as the light morphed around Artemis, seemingly changing the woman's outline. Before ling the light faded away, leaving Artemis very much changed.
Her body was now clad in pearly white armour, that covered her entire body save for her joints so she could move. Her bow and arrows also glowed a pearly white, casting an eerie light across the grass. Her eyes also glowed of the same colour, which bore into them as she stared.
"What did she do?" Kumi demanded weakly.
"It's an amplification technique of some kind," Reyna replied. "Hone in on her, she's powered up." Steph did as she was told, eyes widening as the range of Artemis' strength and magic. This was definitely not good.
"My name is now Diana," the woman said. "I will use the strength given to me by the Hunt and by brother to defeat you. Prepare yourselves, wizards. The light cast by our moon has become your enemy."
"She loves to talk herself up, huh?" Steph asked, crackling with electricity. "Why don't we knock her down a few pegs?" Reyna snickered as she drew new cards from her deck.
"I like the sound of that, Sparky." She said. Kumi snickered and lowered her body into a more nimble position.
"I'll block anymore of those glowy arrows!" She said, magic binds flowing out behind her like a cats tail.
"Me too," Mai said as her body glowed bright red.
"I'll help you ladies," Toshiro said as his body glowed white, a sign he was applying enhancements.
"I'll try my best to throw her off balance, I guess." Akihiro said as he bent down to touch the ground." Go!"
That was all they needed to hear.
Steph launched herself forward and gathered magic around her foot, swinging into into Diana's midsection. The woman dodged it easily by jumping in the air, which left her open to Toshiro's punch as he came at her from the air. She dodged this as well by torquing her body backwards, her own leg glowing bright white. She slammed it into Toshiro before he could recover, sending him flying backwards. He was grabbed by Mai's magic before he hit the ground, and the raven haired girl sent him flying back at Diana without waiting. Steph tag teamed with him and struck at Diana multiple times at close range, but somehow the woman avoided multiple strikes and evaded them. Backing up, Steph growled.
"Thunder's Boom!" She shouted. This spell was a new one she'd concocted. Lightning flew out from her hand like a sound wave, giving Diana almost no place to escape to as it flew towards her. The woman drew her bow and aimed arrows at the blast, but as they flew from the bow Kumi's tails struck like a viper going in for the kill. The arrows were destroyed thanks to their enchants, allowing Steph's attack to hit. Before she could recover Diana was grabbed by plants that sprouted out of one of Reyna's cards, constricting her. She easily broke free and aimed a blast of magic at Reyna and Mai, who dodged it. Steph brought her hands together and shot out a flurry of lightning blasts, all of which were dodged.
"I will give you due credit, children." Diana said as she dodged effortlessly. "You are certainly strong. But you're not strong enough."
"Shut up!" Steph shouted, bolting forth and grabbing the woman by the shoulders before she could get away. Steph ran her current through Diana's body to electrocute her, but the woman barely moved.
"Is this all the Dreyar daughter is capable of?" She asked through the shocking. "Pathetic." Steph glared at her angrily as she was smacked back with the bow, throwing her down onto the ground. She heard the bows bowstring being pulled back, so she instinctively dodged. She wasn't fast enough. Four arrows dug into her legs, causing her to hit the ground as magic exploded in the arrowheads. She cried out in pain as her legs began to bleed, quite violently.
"Steph!" Reyna shouted as she writhed in pain. "Ice Barrier Card!" An icy barrier was erected between Steph and Diana, who looked mildly annoyed by the interruption.
"Are you okay?" Kumi shouted from the other side of the barrier.
"I'm fine!" Steph shouted as she gritted her teeth, ripping the arrows out. "Don't worry about me!" Reyna nodded, turning and brandishing her cards at Diana again. She threw a few that exploded when they reached the woman, but it didn't seem to bother her. Trees flew at her thanks to Mai, and the earth itself re-shifted thanks to Akihiro. Steph found herself sliding towards the others thanks to this, coming to a stop near them.
"I've got another idea," Reyna said as she shuffled her deck. "Here Steph." Steph caught the card that was tossed to her, looking down at it. Upon it was a picture of armour, and the card felt thick and heavy in her hand.
"What is this?" She asked.
"I've been working on enchanted cards to help my allies," Reyna replied. "That's an armour card. Slap that bad boy on your skin and it'll activate, giving you more damage reduction."
"Sounds like a game," Steph replied, lifting up her sleeve to do as she was told. Slapping the card down on her forearm, she watched it glow and sin into her skin. The picture of armour was still visible, and glowing now.
"Here's one for you, Toshiro." Reyna said as she tossed one to the man, who caught it. "Here's the plan. Steph and Toshiro are the front line. Keep her distracted and try and beat her. Kumi and I are the mid line. We'll stop any attacks we can with our own magic. Mai and Akihiro, you guys are the back line, Support us any way you can."
"When did you sober up?" Toshiro asked as his own armour card activated. Reyna chuckled.
"I'm never sober."
With this, battle started again. Steph blasted forth and raised a hand over her head, an orb of magic forming there.
"Negative Charge!" She shouted. Throwing the sphere, it blasted for Diana, who dodged it.
The sphere followed.
"A magnetic magic, huh?" She heard Diana asked as she reappeared in front of her, arrows knocked. "That's annoying." The sphere was destroyed, but Diana hadn't been looking to catch Toshiro as he raised a leg to kick her. She turned just in time to block it with her bow, which sent everyone back. Steph wasn't going to give her any space, launching forward again. arrows flew at her, but they were all knocked away by her bare skin. Looked like that armour spell really worked, huh? Backing up to dodge the next flurry just in case, Steph grimaced in irritation. The woman seemed to disinterested in them. Only interested in chasing down Luna. Taking her away from them.
Not on her watch. Not again.
"I'm going to end this!" She shouted, raising both hands to her midsection. "Hold her off for a second, Toshiro!"
"Got it!" Toshiro shouted, rushing forth to grapple with Diana. Steph channelled all of her magic into her hands, , electricity forming in a small ball there.
However, the sphere soon turned black. Lightning crackled around it, and a few of the others looked over at her.
"Steph, that spell..." Mai started weakly.
"Keep her busy!" Steph replied, focused on her spell as the ball shrank slightly. "I need to use this!"
"You heard her!" Reyna shouted, throwing cards at Diana as Kumi's tails lashed out violently.
Steph knew that she hadn't trained as much as the others in the last year. She didn't have an open Second Origin, she hadn't trained super hard when she had been in hiding, and she hadn't gone out of her way to find new ways to use her magic. Except for this one. She had to channel all of the magic she could spare into her hands, and change it's charge. Usually her electricity had a positive charge. Not this time. Soon she clasped her hands together, dark light coming from underneath.
"Toshiro back up!" She shouted, the man immediately doing as she asked. "Kumi!"
"Nyah!" Kumi shouted, her binds lashing out and wrapping around Diana's arms and legs, immobilising her. Diana looked over at her, and Steph was satisfied to see a glimmer of fear on the woman's face.
"What is that?" She demanded as she struggled against the binds.
"The strongest spell I have," Steph replied as the power in her hands raged to be freed. "You clearly powered up a lot by doing what you did, and I'm not a fan of taking this to seven rounds. So I'm going to use this to defeat you, right now!" Diana frowned at this.
"Go ahead and try it then," she said. "Let's see who is better, Dreyar daughter." Steph growled at this, swallowing hard.
"Fine!" She shouted. "I hope this hurts! This is what you get for hurting my friends!" With this, she slowly began to open her hands.
Once she did, sitting in her palm was a small ball of black electricity. It looked a lot like Rina's magic, but it was certainly not God Slaying magic.
"Woah, my hair is standing up," Reyna said weakly. "It feels like I'm being pulled in there..." Diana looked more frightened now, which Steph relished in as she prepared to throw the attack.
"You brought this on yourself, you know." She said frankly. "This is what you get for hurting my friends! Negatron Impact!"
The spell blasted out of Steph's hands at record speeds, flying right for Diana. The woman couldn't move thanks to Kumi, so she had to choice but to stay and take the impact from the spell.
And when it impacted, it really impacted.
Anyone who had been close enough to Steph's spell had their entire body pulled towards Negatron Impact. The abilities negative charged pulled at their hair and clothes, which had the opposite charge. The black ball of lightning connected with Diana, throwing up a cloud of dust and fire no one had been anticipating. Steph herself struggled to stay on her feet, and it threw Reyna to the ground easily. The debris soon settled, but the dust would probably take a while.
"D-Did you get her?" Kumi asked weakly.
"I-I don't know," Steph replied as she struggled to stay on her feet. She'd charged the spell to much, she could barely stand now. "I-I think I did." For a long time nothing happened, but soon a voice laughed.
A male voice.
"That certainly was powerful, Ms. Stephanie Dreyar."
Steph watched in disbelief as the dust cleared, where three new people were standing. The one in the middle was an older man with greying hair and a long beard. This staff crackled with electricity, and he was draped in robes from head to toe. His eyes were pure white, radiating raw magic power. Next to him a younger man, also in robes, wielding a trident. He too had a beard, although shorter than the others mans. The final man was wearing a modern suit, and his black hair and eyes radiated trouble.
"Thanks Zeus," someone said. "I almost got hurt there." Steph whirled just in time to watch Diana smash Mai in the side of the head, sending the poor girl flailing into the trees like a rag doll, snapping several as she flew.
"Mai!" Reyna shouted, before she was constricted by water. The water flew up her body and around her face, presumably drowning her.
"Reyna!" Toshiro and Akihiro shouted together, running for their friend. Both were down a bolts of lightning before they got close. Kumi tried to raise binds to fight, but an arrow flew through her hands and pinned her to a tree, before water covered her face too.
This left Steph as the only one standing, the injured others being blasted by Diana as she walked around.
"Hello Steph," Zeus said. "It's been a while since we left met. How are you?"
"W-We never met," Steph said weakly. "That was a trap."
"Ah yes, indeed it was." Zeus replied as he scratched his beard. "I really am not a fan of this violence, so please be taken down like a good girl." Steph gritted her teeth angrily at this, knowing she was hopelessly outnumbered. There was no way she'd be able to defeat all three of them and Diana, much less on her own.
"And if I don't?" She asked.
"We unleash hell," The man behind him, Hades, said. "Is that what you want?"
"There is something we want, though." The third man, Poseidon, said. "Give us the girls location, and we'll spare you."
Of course it came back to Luna.
"I'd never do that!" Steph shouted. "I'd rather you killed me!"
"That can be arranged," Zeus said. "Perhaps you need convincing? I understand. This is not an easy decision to make. Hades!" Hades smirked and snapped his fingers as Zeus said this. Steph watched, horrified, as skeletons came out from behind the men, bumbling towards her.
Carrying Simon, Nami and Mami's limp bodies.
The three were tossed onto the ground in front of her, and the skeletons wandered off again.
"S-Simon?" She asked weakly. "Simon! Nami! Mami! Are you guys okay?!" After a moment of silence, Simon coughed. He lifted his head weakly, one blurry eye focusing in on her.
"S-Steph...?" He asked.
"What did they do to you?!" Steph asked, feeling more rage well up inside of her. "Are you okay?!" Simon did not reply right away, simply breathing heavy and struggling to keep an eye on her. Finally. He spoke.
Do...Don't fight them, Steph...You...You'll die."
That seems like a good place to leave it for today! Let me know if this fight was good, guy! I'm trying to reinvigorate my fighting scene strength, so let me know what you thought!
Although rereading it as I'm about to post makes me second guess it's quality. Let me know though!
I hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!
Chapter 330: Changing Tide