Ferain leapt up and sent a kick towards the boy’s head, but he turned to mist and her foot struck the wall behind him. The explosion of power was too much for her and she was sent tumbling back from the crater she left in the wall. When she unsteadily landed, she felt a strong kick in her back and she went face first back towards the place she broke. Before she could move, something hit the back of her knee and her leg gave out, causing her to drop to the remaining one. Suddenly, something grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head away from the wall. She reached up to grab the boy’s hand and clasped around his wrist. Before he could slam her face against the building, she let out a massive surge of her power and he screamed as he released her. She turned just in time to see a foot coming towards her face, which she shifted out of the way of. His boot struck concrete and she lashed out with one of her legs, connecting with his shin.

He fell face first as a blast of power came out with the hit, and she heard him groan from pain. Fera was out of breath and she was steadily losing more and more control of herself. With every crack of thunder and streak of lightning, her body pulsed with power, and it was about to explode from her. She tried to get to her feet, using the wall for support, when she felt something cold rising up in her body. The room was dropping in temperature, and it was happening quickly. She saw the boy’s body turning to mist and she hastily dove for it, trying to grab the blue flag that was dangling out of his back pocket before he vanished. Unfortunately, she was too late. He fell through the floor as a transparent figure and she simply fell onto the solid flooring. Fera already felt bruises coming on and the place where he had grabbed her hair stung so badly, she wouldn't be surprised if it was bleeding. This boy really hated her, and she did not have a clue why. It couldn't just be because of the rumors, right? And she was confused about how he knew her past. Those were things that only she knew, like the neighbor and their argument. There was no way he could know all of that. She took a breath, calmed her powers to the best of her ability, and climbed to her feet. She was shaky, but she was standing. She had a game to continue, but at this point, it really didn’t feel like such a lighthearted competition.

It felt much more dangerous than that. He wanted to hurt her, and she was really trying to avoid hurting him. It also didn’t help that she was still nowhere near being a good enough fighter for this sort of battle. There was only a month of training, so what could honestly be expected of her? Ferain took two more steps forward when something cold shot through her body. Instantly, she felt frozen and dropped to her knees. The misty figure of the boy stood in front of her with what looked like frost cascading down from his figure. He looked like a ghost, and if she knew her paranormal facts, he felt like one too. Ghosts apparently made everything around them colder, and he had done just that. She even saw her breath when she breathed out slowly.

Ferain forced herself up again, and she charged at her opponent. He dodged the first hit, fazed through the second, but Fera spun and sent a powerful kick towards his head as he became physical again. A bright flash of power filled the room and he staggered into the wall closest to him. Fera lunged and threw another punch but he shifted enough to cause her to miss. He then turned and grabbed her body before quickly throwing her away. She shocked him in the process, but it didn't seem to faze him all that much this time. She rolled towards a door, and he was on her before she could react. A kick went right into her gut, then an elbow connected with her cheek, and then she was hit with a chilling blast in the chest that sent her crashing through a classroom door.

She fell against two desks before hitting the ground and sliding into another one. This time, when he grabbed her hair, she felt the flag she used to tie it come loose. He dropped her face against the floor again and laughed.

“You’re useless, gutless, and a waste of time. We were made to be weapons, Prodigy, yet you deny what you are. Do you know why they teach us how to use our powers, why they teach us how to fight? It’s so we’re the strongest soldiers that could ever exist. People like you make me sick, not because of your actions, Ferain, but because of how you deny them. Own it. You could be a god if you wanted, like the ancient Zeus from all of those old myths. You could be unstoppable. But here you are, bleeding on the ground, and crying about how you’re weak and pitiful. You should just go home and stop embarrassing yourself.”

“And so should you!” came Anita’s voice. A gust of wind lifted the boy into the air and Anita leapt up, spun, and kicked him right back down. Before he crashed into several desks, a gust of wind kept him suspended and Anita sent another kick into his torso, one that was surrounded by her power. He flew into the glass window, cracked and indented the entire pane, and fell to the floor. “Fera!” Anita gasped, rushing to her side. She tried to touch her but there was a loud crack and she fell backwards.

“The flag. He has my–”

“I don’t care. Are you okay?”

“Fine. Get the flag.” Fera said, hoarsely. Blood was dripping from her mouth and she felt too sore to even get off of the ground.

“Fer–” Anita started, but she suddenly stopped and spun on her knees.

She waved her hand and a wave of wind deflected a desk that was coming towards her. She then spun again, kicking out with her leg and sending a powerful lash of air towards the stout boy in the doorway. It struck him and slammed him into the wall. She then lifted him into the ceiling and then slammed him back down against the ground. She turned again, rising to her feet, but the boy’s misty form shot through her and she flew backwards. Anita landed clumsily against some desks, pushing them into the wall, and then she had to quickly duck to avoid being crushed by another flying desk. The pale skinned kid ran at her now, like a rampaging bull, and when Anita leapt to avoid the charge, she was struck by another bone-chilling blast. She was overwhelmed, and Ferain felt helpless while she watched it happen.

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Anita flipped and air shot from her hands to catch herself, gently easing her to the floor. She ducked aside from an incoming kick and then spun to drive her heel into the chin of the boy. He flew away from the impact but it was enough time for the skinny one to grab her by the neck. He lifted her up, frost building up around the areas where his fingers were grasping.

“Ahhh!” Fera screamed, and in a flash of blue light, she was kicking him in the back.

He released Anita and crashed into the glass again, where Fera drove another kick into his stomach. The glass shattered and he blasted out of the window. Before he hit the ground, however, he shifted and flew back inside on a lower floor. Anita was gasping for air while clutching her throat and Fera was forced to lean against the windowsill while lightning ran sporadically around her body. For some reason, she actually felt like she was burning. She felt the many stings of her power against her skin, and she had a feeling if this kept up, she would be causing harm to herself if she could not control her abilities. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the stout student was on his stomach, still unconscious from Anita’s attack.

Fera took a step towards him but fell at once. The only reason she didn’t hit the ground was because a swirling twister of air caught her and helped her back to her feet.

“Hey.” Anita said, softly. “You’re doing great. Just… rest up for a minute, okay? You don’t look too good.” Anita then checked her band. “We still have over half an hour. One of them is down for the moment, and the other will second guess attacking us now. Use this to rest a bit.” Fera nodded, despite her desire to keep going, and she fell into a chair. Another flash of light filled the room from outside and this time, Ferain felt it. Her whole body stung, and she had to grit her teeth as her nails dug into the wood of the desk.

“Are you okay?” Anita hurriedly asked, rushing to her side.

“I don’t know.” Fera panted. “This has never happened before. It’s never hurt me before this.”

“I’m going to call off the match.” Anita said.

“No, you–”

“Enough!” shouted Anita. “Enough.” now more calmly. “I know you want to prove yourself, but you’re hurt. I’m not going to keep this up like everything’s okay. I’m going to find that idiot and tell him that we’re resigning. Wait here, and stop using your powers for a little. I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to keep this up.”

Fera was about to argue but Anita turned and started leaving. She would hear no more protests, Fera knew that. If she had to be honest with herself, and what better time than now for that, she was pretty sure they would’ve lost anyway. Even without her powers acting up, she was at her limit. She was done, and Anita couldn’t beat both of them and find the rest of the flags on her own. Anita left the room and Fera remained behind to wallow in her sorrow. As time went on of her hiding her face in the arms she folded atop the desk, a faint beep rang out from her watch. This was an indicator that the thirty minute mark was reached, meaning Anita had been gone for nearly ten minutes.

She was becoming concerned now, and so, she forced herself from her seat and started for the broken doorway. The shorter, bigger student was no longer on the ground. Somehow, she missed him getting up and leaving. It didn’t matter. As violent as they had been towards her and Anita, it was still a competition between students in a school. Once they heard that they were resigning, the fight would end and all would be well. Where he went didn't matter.

That is until Fera turned the corner and she was suddenly grabbed by the paler boy. She didn’t see it coming, and somehow, didn’t hear him either. He grabbed her throat and slammed the back of her head against the wall beside the door she had just left through. He had tears rolling down his face and he looked murderous now, which was a look she knew well from how people used to look at her. A girl that killed her own mother was not looked fondly upon, whether it was an accident or not. It was sadly an expression she was used to seeing, but it had not been there before. He didn’t like her, that was certain from the start, but he didn’t seem to have this much animosity towards her. Now that was different. Something changed. Something terrible happened while she was in the classroom.

“You murderer!” the boy screamed in her face, letting spit fly from his mouth. He squeezed harder and she felt the skin around her neck starting to bruise while she gasped for air. She tried using her powers, tried to force lightning into his body, but it didn’t seem to have any effect at all. It was as if he was impervious to it. “You monster! You killed him!” the boy shouted, lifting her slightly off of the ground.

Ferain’s legs were kicking and she was gripping his massive forearms with all of the strength she had, trying to break free of the mighty grip. Nothing was working, however, and she was starting to feel lightheaded from a lack of air. In a final attempt at freedom, she raised her legs, feeling incredibly thankful that there was enough space between his body and hers for her to kick his stomach. Normally, that amount of space would not have done anything, but with her power packed in, they both flew apart.

She flew through the thin portion of wall she was previously held captive against, and the boy flew towards the opposite side of the corridor. After landing on her back in the mixed pile of rubble and concrete chunks, Fera struggled to her knees, grasping at her throat with both of her hands while she coughed and struggled to suck in air. As she squirmed and sputtered, the terrifying possibility of never breathing again became very real in her frantically racing mind. What came with that terrible image was the certainty of death creeping up on her. Finally, though, the faintest traces of air started entering her lungs, causing her to gasp, as if coming up from underwater after several minutes of being held beneath the surface.

The boy was coming back towards her already but he was suddenly lifted and thrown towards another concrete wall. Anita ran into the room and hurried to her partner.

“Fera, we need to go. I already called the headmaster, he’s on his way. He told me to get you to safety.”

“Wh–” Fera tried to speak, but her throat burned too much to finish.

“That boy, the darker one…” Anita paused for a second. “He’s dead, Fera. The headmaster wants me to get you away from his partner.”

“Dea…” Ferain groaned. Ferain’s vision was growing darker and when she looked up, she saw Anita talking but could not hear her. “An…” she muttered, but then everything went dark around her and she faded away.