Senra stared down from her perch into the pool of water, eagerly observing her latest experiment. Most of the other gods were not present for one reason or another, but Ceris sat next to her, staring intently at the pool as well.
"How do you think she'll handle it?" Ceris questioned from beside her, both looking at the same Celestial down on Eleria.
"I... I have no idea, actually. I've never had to give someone that much because of what they already had, on top of the bonus I threw in. It should be very interesting, if a little disorienting when the state begins and ends," Senra responded giddily.
"I'm sure it will be more than just a little disorienting. The girl can almost become law over water when she reaches for your knowledge, there will be too much to process the first few times. She is going to be a monster when she's older and can control entire lakes," Ceris replied.
"Well that's ok. She either handles it or dies, that's the price of power," Senra said with an irresponsible wave of her hand. "Now, what will you show us, cutie?"
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Alexa stared at the Dwarf before her as she pushed down her feelings of embarrassment. She'd piece through those later, or not at all. Things were becoming more and more confusing between where she stood with Damien and now was not the time to think on it.
"Both combatants know the rules?!" the Halfling shouted out.
She nodded her head to his question, though she wasn't exactly ready. Physically she was at her best, but her mental state was in disarray. Not only because of Damien, but also because she didn't understand what was going on with her body.
Ever since she'd communed she had felt SOMETHING was different, but she couldn't exactly tell what. It definitely wasn't like she understood it to be. She had always been told it would be a feeling of power, of strength. Like she'd tap into a well of knowledge she couldn't understand or comprehend, but could wield as if it were her own two hands and feet every time she accessed where it was stored in her brain, yet this wasn't what she felt at all.
Instead, it was as if a substantial weight had been pressed upon her mind and the only way to alleviate that pressure was to puncture it and let it consume her. It was a little exciting and a little terrifying all at the same time, the thought of utilizing it. It was overbearing in its presence, feeling as if it could take over her mind. She had no choice in this duel but to do it, though, and at least knew it wasn't dangerous for her or anyone close to her anymore. She could feel it had the same will as her, the same desires, it just also held a certain quality that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
Nevertheless, Alexa would find out soon enough as she definitely didn't have the power to overwhelm Eita this time through training and sheer luck alone. He'd been training all winter for this specific rematch and knew her tricks. She'd be able to stall him, run him around, and avoid his direct assault but eventually, she'd run out of mana and he'd take her down. He wouldn't fall for the same strategy twice. Using everything she had at her disposal was the only way victory would be claimed here and she wouldn't lose in front of... whatever they were to her. She wouldn't allow herself to.
Alexa only hoped she could somehow win this without tapping into that power. A duel wasn't the best place to let something unknown run rampant, especially not such a carefree being.
"This is a match for Diamond placement, rank five!"
Alexa took a deep breath and steeled her nerves, setting her sights on the Dwarf before her as he slowly placed his hands on his katana while adorning a threatening glare. She began rotating mana throughout her body and prepared to summon her chosen elements at any moment with it, ready to deal the first blow in a manner that would surely stun the little man before her while hopefully make him warier. She needed to try and end this quick by knockout while trying not to go unconscious herself.
Alexa lowered her body into a stance and waited for the Halfling to continue.
"Both combatants are ready," he declared.
Her muscles tensed and her mind sharpened further. She blocked out almost every irrelevant sound as she focused solely on her opponent. She almost didn't hear the signal, getting her cue to begin instead by the sight of the man's hand dropping in her peripheral vision.
"Match, BEGIN!"
Immediately, she shot her mana sense out all around the Arena and felt as Eita lunged toward her at unprecedented speed, nearly crossing the fifty-foot distance between them from a dead stop in less than a second while distorting the air around him with the intense heat his fists were radiating.
Alexa had already planned for this and lifted both her hands upward as the ground beneath her responded to her call, jutting out into a blunted pole.
Eita's right hand shot forward almost at the same time, unsheathing his Katana as his fist and the pommel were brought in front of his body. A moment later, he barreled through the pole that was supposed to hit his chin and closed in on her form with his left fist by his hip and burning with flame, the real threat made clear.
Alexa had moved two hands, though.
The ground and Arena shook as Eita was flung through the air and landed into the far wall, crashing into it and demolishing the stone surface. After a moment, his body spilled out of the wreckage and onto the floor as Alexa sighed, disappointed in herself.
If this had been a fight to the death, she would be the victor and he would still be impaled on the second pole she'd launched in the shadow of the first. It wasn't though, and he looked hardly injured as he lifted himself from the ground nimbly, spitting blood to his side. If her aim had been better, she'd have hit his chin and knocked him out, but she'd failed and wouldn't get a second chance to surprise him.
"Fuckin crafty trick there, N'moran. Looks like there's still some more to you than just playing in water. This is going to be fun," he said with a grin, hopping from foot to foot.
'Freaking battle maniac...' she thought, doing her best to suppress her own grin.
Alexa watched as he once again set into a stance to dive at her. She created a large ring of water around herself and waited for his arrival, already wondering when she should enter her commune. Sooner was probably smarter for keeping her rank, but she wanted to see how long she could hold out before she had to, so she held off.
A second later and he was once again charging forward, a bit slower this time. She stepped in and thrust her arm at him, shooting a number of different columns of water in his direction from her ring as he sprinted between them while edging closer.
Eita came within twenty feet before finally losing his footing on some of the wet ground and a spout from behind him threatened to strike true because of it. He threw his arm out in an arc while filling his katana with fire, evaporating all the water in a ten-foot radius around him in an instant launched at him and covering the area in steam.
Moving quickly, Alexa condensed the steam back into water and then further into ice, coating the ground between them and the Dwarf himself in a thin layer of it. Eita hadn't noticed it as he tried to correct his stance from the earlier swing and slipped when he moved to adjust his balance, prompting Alexa to immediately capitalize on the mistake as the man himself twisted while falling, throwing out a hand to guard his face. She hadn't gone for that easy win, however, and his guard fell when the ice in the area coalesced into a pillar that drove into his lower left stomach, sending him hurtling parallel to the ground and into the Arena wall yet again.
Alexa smiled at the feeling of a rib cracking under her mana, but didn't waste her time and immediately went on the offensive, moving forward while arcing her hands over her head. The liquid in the area responded to her call and lifted off the ground, merging into a wave that arched toward where he had bounced off the wall.
Eita slammed his right leg into the wall behind him and shot through a thin portion of water that was close to the ground, not yet merged with the larger wave above.
'Shit!' Alexa inwardly screamed, chastising herself for thinking he was injured enough to move against so rashly.
Quickly, she created a torrent of water originating from her hands and sent it on a collision course with the Dwarf, who once again sliced through with his blazing red sword, blasting up another screen of steam as she felt him take a step through the mana. Alexa once again condensed the steam into ice around her and revealed the Dwarf roughly ten feet away, hovering a foot off the surface, having chosen to use his step to leap through the air for her rather than to run on the ground.
The sight caused no small amount of relief to well up in Alexa. If he had chosen to run on the ice, she wasn't confident he'd slip, but in the air, he was an easy target for the pillar of ice already shaping and launching diagonally toward his temple.
His left arm barely made it up to guard in time, the Arena shaking as Eita once again left his bodies impression on the wall. When he stood up this time, his grin had disappeared, and he was coldly staring at her.
"Fucking Mages. You let me touch you once and you're in the infirmary."
"I could have killed you three times now," she replied back. "Your elbow can't stop a spike the size of your body."
"Rules are a pesky thing, aren't they?" he claimed, sneering at her as he began to pace forward slowly in a low stance.
Alexa felt anger well up in her as she reset her stance, refilling the ring of water circulating around her.
He approached slower and much more cautiously finally, showing he'd given up on the brash attempts. Alexa continuously sent column after column towards him as he closed in and dodged each, nimble as a cat. Any ice she tried to use to slip him up melted and steamed before his foot even reached the ground, waves of heat radiating from his feet and legs.
Slowly, steadily, he approached like a tank, unable to be stopped by her onslaught.
Once Eita was within ten feet, he lept sideways out of the path of another water column and spun left on the balls of his feet upon landing, sending a wave of fire out from his sword in all directions again. Alexa erected a wall of ice to ward off the heat and dove to the right as he came barreling through it not a half-second after his flame had hit it.
'He's faster.'
His eyes locked onto hers almost in slow motion as he flew past, grinning like a madman while reaching out for her with his red left palm, but fell short a foot.
While her body was falling, she threw out her right hand, gathering what liquid in the area she still had control of, and sent it at where her mana sense claimed his head was while he spun and landed, driving his hand and sword into the ground to stop his forward momentum.
His body lowered and his thighs tensed to leap, leaning forward rapidly and unexpectedly while setting her bludgeon of water on a collision course with the back of his neck as a small grin traced across his lips.
'You idiot!' Alexa yelled in her mind, forcing herself to regain complete control of her attack to shift it toward his back.
The diverted focus caused her to give up on cushioning her own fall, but her water struck true in between his shoulder blades. Eita crumpled face-first into the Arena floor as Alexa tumbled across the ground herself, receiving multiple superficial wounds due to his negligence.
Mimicking what he'd done earlier, she shoved her palms into the dirt to stop her rolling and created a thick smokescreen of mist around where she'd halted. Once it was up, she used ground magic to shift her body backward and to the right, but was too slow.
The sound of broken rock sounded out as Eita barreled into the place she'd just been, causing an explosion of fire to slam into her side and throw her across the arena. He'd launched himself directly at where she'd been once he'd recovered, like a wild animal having sensed weak prey.
Alexa hit the ground hard, knees first, and tucked her body in to minimize the damage she was about to receive from the rapidly approaching wall. Her shoulders and neck scraped along the rough dirt as her body twisted, causing her back to slam into the Arena wall, quickly followed by her head.
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The sound of clapping echoed throughout the Arena as Alexa tried to force her mind to focus from the daze it was in. Looking up, Eita's body silhouette began getting clearer and clearer as it emerged from the rapidly retreating mist, walking toward her as his hands met one another. Blood trickled down from multiple cuts on his forehead, nose, and mouth as he grinned at her downed, infuriated figure.
"Good fight, good fight. You even broke my nose."
"If I hadn't been paying attention, I'd have killed you there! Why would you do that!?" Alexa screamed back. "If I had been a moment slower or distracted, I'd have hit your neck and you'd be finished!"
"Rules, rules, rules... I believe in our healers, and your ability," he replied to her furious expression, shrugging lightly and enraging her more as he continued forward. "You can't keep me away with petty tricks until I run out of steam this time, though. I'm not going to just burn mana to get to you, like last time. Give up and I won't have to beat you unconscious," he demanded.
Looking at him as he approached was a bit daunting, but the confidence radiating from the bond and red mist of anger she was seeing through almost made her laugh incredulously instead of reeling from intimidation. Purposely leaning forward so she'd have to call off her attack, losing the chance to catch her fall, delaying her escape, all so that he would win...
'I don't care anymore,' she thought, once again creating a cloud of mist around her position as she allowed the gift from the gods to permeate her being.
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He approached with caution, no matter how much gravitas his words belayed. The girl was smart, and it seemed she wanted to keep trying to drag this fight on. Being reckless and cocky would only end in his defeat again.
He'd appeared over-confident at the beginning of the fight to throw her off and test their respective limits after the winter break. Eita's loss last year had humbled him, and he'd spent all winter training against mages to ensure it wouldn't happen again, but finding out where she was was just as important as drawing this battle out. Unfortunately, she was as naive as she'd been last year, though, and he was disappointed. Someone like that didn't deserve to be in the top five.
In fact, he could have killed her, same as she, in their last encounter with just a flick of his wrist, slicing off her head with his katana rather than blasting her across the arena, but rules were rules, yet they were also meant to be circumvented. Instead of winning with blood, he'd taken advantage of her good nature and forced her attack to be on a collision course with a spot that might have been fatal to him.
Or, it would have seemed that way. In reality, he had shifted quite a bit of mana to just below the surface of his neck, waiting for her attack to actually hit. He gambled that a burst of fire and strengthening that area would dampen the blow enough that it might just leave a bruise, but his back up plan it hadn't been necessary because of her childishness.
It was a dirty way of winning, but this was a matter of pride and securing his rightful place. It brought honor to his race to be in the five, and he'd see it done, using whatever weakness she showed.
Eita ramped up the heat radiating off his body and caused the air around him to begin to swirl, clearing a path through the mist as he walked carefully toward where he'd last seen her. Finally, he picked out her silhouette and then her body came into view, still seated against the wall where she'd been, head down.
"What, given up alr-"
His voice caught in his throat as her head shot up, eyes gleaming with a dark blue, grey and silver swirling more radiant than before.
'Ah shit.'
Eita's back and head slammed into the opposite side of the Arena, having flown over one hundred feet in the blink of an eye as he tried to repair his eardrums. His mind ran through what he'd seen as he hit the ground on all fours, holding back the cool bloody vomit that threatened to come leaking out. A quick scan of his body showed four shattered ribs, a punctured lung, a shredded abdomen, and a loss of clothing in a circular pattern by his sternum. Whatever it was she'd done, it had been impossible to dodge or see for that matter.
He looked upward while standing to see her already standing on the other side of the arena, arms coated in large swaths of water extending past her hands at least a foot as it turned into blunted ice at the tip.
'That's new.'
His face paled as he watched tides of water swirl around and gently lift the Celestial, carrying her forward. That was something only those who had communed could do, and only achieved by those whose names were spoken of in stories told by bards at taverns.
The liquid coated her up to her chest while her wings and hair were similarly coated with a thin layer, feathers and hair alike flowing around with her movements. The wave picked up speed as she leaned forward, roiling on a collision course with him as he lifted both his arms up.
Eita felt shame encompass his being as she closed in from thirty feet away. She'd just been playing with him earlier, and had wanted to win without resorting to this, yet he'd played her for a fool. He knew when he'd been beat.
"I con-" he started, eyes widening as the wave ejected an infuriated Celestial.
He dove sideways as her right fist buried itself a few feet deep into the stone he'd just been in front of, unable to utter his concession.
Scrambling to his feet, he leapt to the left as a plethora of whips shot out of her arm and tried to strike him, the water from her left hand catching her body as she fell from the wall and sending her in his direction once more.
Eita launched his body to the side and felt his left foot catch on something, momentum dulled as stinging agony struck a now broken ankle. Looking back as his body hit the ground, he saw the twenty-feet of distance he'd created between them bridged by one long strand of water that held onto his leg and was dragging him back toward the advancing Celestial. The water seemed to have a mind of its own as tens of small ice spikes, like claws on a beast, drove into his lower calf and climbed upward while its master once again launched toward him.
Bellowing in pain, Eita swung his katana down toward his leg, loosing flames to lance off the whip while rolling to the left. The pain disappeared on his leg as he brought his right arm up, blocking his head as a large fist of ice and water slammed into the ground where he'd been a half-second ago. Once again, his eardrums shattered as an explosion sounded out and his upper half was blasted across the Arena, lower half lagging behind slightly and causing him to spin sideways through the air.
Before his body could impact the wall, tiny, crystallized shards of ice appeared out of thin air all around him before slicing into him from the right, leaving a series of minuscule cuts across his skin as a storm of numbing, cold pain drilled into his body.
Finally, the wall greeted his left side as more ribs cracked under the pressure. Blood sputtered out of his mouth and froze in the air as it fell to the ground, the ice all around him beginning to take away the feeling from his limbs. He began trying to heat his body, but it was no use. The cold sapped all away, making it worse than it had been before he'd tried.
His vision began to blur as he realized he wasn't dropping to the floor. Glancing up, he saw his opponent remove its fist from a large crater and turn toward him, not even needing to focus on him to incapacitate him.
"I... concede," he choked out, barely able to move his jaw as his ears and eyes became covered in a thin layer of frost.
The moment he uttered the words, the wave beneath the girl collapsed on itself and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
"LEXI!" an alarmed voice called out.
The ice around him instantly lost most of its chill and began to break apart. With a last-ditch effort, Eita tried warming himself again and felt his limbs regain their movement.
Finally, the sound of something breaking echoed out from behind him and he fell three feet to the Arena floor, vomiting blood and resting on his stinging hands and knees. Looking up, Eita stared at the girl who had nearly killed him as her boyfriend lifted her into his arms. The Fae grew to the size of a minotaur before grabbing both and launching into the sky, disappearing to the west for the infirmary most likely as the non-combatants cried out behind them.
He wished they'd have brought him along as well.
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Kastra watched on in utter shock as Alexa pulled her fist out of the stone wall and turned once again toward the Dwarf, set to attack. Damien seemed proud, but didn't appear to understand exactly how amazing what Alexa was doing was.
Kastra's shock only increased as she watched Alexa send out multiple strands of water to lock in on the dwarf. She'd heard of the great water Mages of past ages and the strongest of today being able to do something similar, but never while controlling so many other distinct pieces of magic. Albeit, they were able to utilize much larger proportions of water and were much more deadly.
At the moment Alexa had turned toward the Dwarf, she was also facing them. The look on her face showed one of intense pain, not control, causing her to worry.
Alexa's fist collided with the ground next to the Dwarf again and ice seemed to materialize out of thin air from all around the Arena, condensing and slamming him into the wall while leaving a large white splatter on the ground and wall leading to where Eita hung sideways, frozen in place. Her face further grimaced in agony as she turned away from where Kastra sat and removed her fist from the hole she'd made, making her way toward Eita when finally the Dwarf on death's door choked out his surrender.
Instantly, Alexa's tranquil mind disappeared from the bond, and she fell to the floor.
"LEXI!" Kastra yelled out in worry as Damien and she lept over the arena walls.
"She's breathing hard and it feels like her mana is freaking out," Damien said as he looked over her, resting her back and head in his arms.
"I'll bring us to the infirmary," Kastra stated, growing to a large enough size to carry both as two younger-looking medics rushed forward.
"Good plan," Damien said, picking Alexa up in his arms as Kastra grabbed onto him. "Healing her isn't helping much, but it's at least calming some of it down."
"Stop, let u-"
The voices of the junior medics became masked by the wind as Kastra shot into the air and aimed for the main building.
"It won't help if she torched her mana veins, only take away some of the pain. She did too much, fluctuating the temperature of the elements like that. When did she even get so good at ice magic? I've never seen someone create it out of thin air," Kastra said into Damien's ear as she looked at Alexa's face, contorted in pain even while passed out.
"She never was that amazing at it, only good at making it turn to and from water quickly, but never like that. I don't understand how she even did that last bit, like she'd ripped the moisture from the air and flash froze it to a temperature even we could feel from outside the Arena, all within milliseconds."
Kastra nodded. That made more sense, though she'd never heard of anyone being able to rip water out of the air either.
They landed near the back entrance to the cafeteria and Kastra yanked open the door, flying as fast as possible over the crowds of people and out the large double doors by the Host Tree, jerking right and doing her best to dodge around the students. Another right and a left brought her to the medical bay finally.
Shouldering the door open, she set Damien down as he moved Alexa to a bed and a healer approached.
"What-"
"Overused her mana. A lot, probably. She passed out from the pain," Damien stated as Kastra resized and flit to the bed, resting Alexa's head in her lap while sending her own mana in to try and soothe the girl's ripped up veins, running her small fingers through her hair. "She's Diamond, if that makes a difference to you."
The healer, a Dresmyr male, paused slightly, focusing his eyes on Alexa, then nodded and jogged over to a cabinet. He waved his hand near it and a click sounded out, glass doors opening automatically. The man reached inside and pulled out a yellow vial, uncorking it with his upper left hand and closing the doors simultaneously with his two lower hands.
"This will help. Lumphyta extract, extremely potent," he said, walking back and leaning over Alexa. "The moss grows in most dungeons, but when gathered in extremely large quantities can be processed... I can't get her mouth open."
Kastra looked on as Damien yanked the open vial out of the man's grasp with his right hand and grabbed Alexa's jaw with his left, squeezing it until her clenching ceased and her mouth opened slightly. He poured it down her throat and let her mouth clench back closed in pain. Almost instantly, her expression neutralized and her breathing seemed to become stable, as did Kastra's out of relief.
She felt as the liquid almost seemed to disappear into the tissue of Alexa's body, spreading outward until it found her veins, and then spreading throughout them, healing tears and leaving them swollen.
"That should tide her over for at least the night. She'll be out for a day or two and wake up in a lot of pain, but nowhere near the same amount that caused her to pass out. She really did a number on herself. She'll be out of commission for at least a month," the healer stated.
"A month?" Damien asked, incredulous.
"At Eleram, yes. If I hadn't given her that just now, it'd be at least four or longer."
"And what if you gave her more?" Damien questioned.
"It would help, obviously. But it's expensive. We are only allowed to give one dose per-"
"How expensive?" Damien interrupted.
The healer narrowed his eyes at him before continuing.
"We're only allowed to give one dose per case like this, and only if it's as severe as hers was. If the student wants to buy more to speed up the process, they can, of course. Otherwise, we leave them on moss beds and let them recover naturally."
"How much are they?" Damien asked again.
"You won't be able to afford them as a new Gold student, Mr. Tearen. She might be able to when she wakes," he said, emphasizing Damien's last name.
"We have shared funds. How many more vials would it take to get her back on her feet, and how much are they?" Damien questioned for the third time, over-enunciating his final words in an irritated tone.
The Dresmyr's eyebrows lifted in surprise as he replied.
"I didn't know she was close enough to anyone to give them family privilege. Always heard she was a bit of a-"
"How-" Damien interrupted as the healer held up his hand, halting the question.
Kastra was thankful for the man but was also getting extremely annoyed at his lack of focus. The situation might not be dire to him, but she and Damien were both more than a little stressed out.
"One more would cut her bedtime down to around a week, and she'll be back to normal in two, two more would have her moving around in two days and using mana in less than a week. Any more than that and it'll begin to hurt her, oversaturating her body with too much Core mana. They're fifty gold apiece," he finished, finally.
"Two then," Damien said, holding out his ring.
"Are you-" the man started before seeing both of their faces and stopping.
He nodded and hovered his own hand over Damien's as their rings lit up briefly. Kastra watched as he moved over to the same cabinet to pull out two more vials before closing it back up.
"I'll make sure to administer them-"
"We'll be taking her back home if there's nothing more you can do here for her other than give her the medicine," Damien said, interrupting the healer.
"Well, that's fine, I suppose. Just make sure you wait until tomorrow to give her the next one, and the day after for the final one," he replied, extending his extra hands holding the vials out to Damien while maintaining a neutral expression.
Damien nodded and took both the vials before lifting Alexa and turning, headed for the door. Kastra jumped up and began to grow in size again, following him out. Once they'd gotten outside, Damien turned around and poked his head back into the infirmary.
"Sorry if I was curt. I'm worried. Thank you for your help."
Kastra nodded in agreeance as they turned again, walking down the hallway while she tried to ease his roiling anxiety as the situation became less dire.
"I'll take her home from here," she said to him, motioning for him to let her take Alexa off his hands.
The statement caused his worry to flare worse as he shook his head.
"I'll come with. Don't want her to think I ditched her when she wakes up," he said with a nervous chuckle.
"She won't, and you have class still," Kastra replied.
"Yeah... but... I just-"
Interrupting his words, she picked them both up and once again flew through the hallways of the main building, dodging people as they yelled up at them. When she got outside, she aimed for their new home, flying on the breeze in a relaxed manner while sighing.
Being in love with people was hard work.