The week had passed quite quickly in comparison to the previous ones, but I had spent all of it training my absolute hardest after Elowen’s revelation. Feng and Yuxi… they hadn’t stopped at Jasper. Now, they were attempting to kill Hua and play it off as an accident. They disgusted me, and with every passing second, I could feel my hatred festering like a sickly infected wound, growing stronger every day. I had told Hua that it wasn’t the right place nor the time… but now, I felt more inclined to become a hypocrite and simply go after them.
The previous day, Hotaru had finally revealed my new blade, and it was nothing like I had imagined, but in a good way. Due to it being made up of the various broken pieces from the titans, it had various cracks along the length of the blade which in no way impaired its combat ability. The blade was segmented, which was where the pseudo-soul cores came into play. Due to the cores, when soul was funnelled into the blade, it had the capacity to turn into a whip through the segments detaching and a long, thin length of wire within the segments controlled by soul. Because of this, the blade could extend the length between each segment as far as the user had soul.
The blade itself had a crucifix-guarded hilt and appeared to be a mix of a longsword and shortsword, capable of being used by both hands but lightweight enough to be used by one. And as such, I had spent the previous day adjusting to the blade and getting used to it. Eclipsing Heaven still couldn’t be used due to the weakness of my body, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use two swords at all. Hotaru had also fashioned me a scabbard from leather, and I was forced to strap the sword over my back due to its size in comparison to me– it didn’t have the size-changing ability Requiem did.
We had been stumped for a name for quite some time– until Isabella piped up. ‘Genesis’-- the origin. According to her, it was quite fitting for a blade. And so, my new sword had been dubbed ‘Genesis’.
Yet my mind wandered back to where I was, within one of the waiting rooms within the colosseum, sitting waiting for the first round of the tournament to begin. Liam and Elowen sat opposite me, talking amongst themselves. They were dressed in armour– as expected of them, having been trained from a young age and no doubt funded by the princesses to give them the best chance of winning. I didn’t have that– and I didn’t need it, either. They had more muscle mass as well as the reach advantage. I didn’t want them to give them the speed advantage as well, carrying a load of extra weight in the form of specially-made armour for twelve-year olds, like something a parent would get their kid who wished to become a knight.
Instead, I had dressed lightly. A simple white shirt with some under armour in order to protect me if things got dicey, a pair of gloves with reinforced knuckles, baggy black martial arts pants that tightened around the ankles which tucked into a pair of black boots to protect my feet. All funded by Hua, of course– as when I’d told her I’d be fighting with my normal clothing, she had wanted to hear none of it. My hand traced over the mask I had found in Meryll’s attic. Though I wished to don it once more, to feel Meryll with me again, I couldn’t. It wasn’t the time.
Isabella’s voice rang loud and clear through my mind, waking me up slightly as I put the mask into my bag. I didn’t have time to overthink things, not right now when the fight was so close. I had a habit of doing that– it was likely chronic. But during battle, all thoughts escaped me, and I slipped into nothing but instinct. During battles, I was alive. There was no worrying about who was watching– it was just me and my opponent. The true ‘me’ came out whilst I was fighting, as it was all I had ever known.
‘You’ll be fine,’ Isabella reassured me.
‘I know. You’re going to stay with Hua up on the balcony, yes?’
‘I don’t really have a choice in the matter, do I?’
‘Not at all. This needs to be a show of my skill, not yours. Otherwise, nobody will ever believe in her.’
‘I understand, but what if they–’
‘I’ll be fine. Fire and Lightning isn’t the only thing I have, remember?’
Her voice trailed away as she hopped into my lap, nuzzling underneath my chin as I heard the call. Elowen and Liam got to their feet, making their way out as I soon followed, the blinding light of the outside contrasting the dimly lit room.
–
As soon as we made our way out, the cheering began, and Isabella veered right, leaping up into Hua’s arms, who gave me a reassuring look before conjuring a few vines which allowed her to reach the balcony and stand beside her sisters, father, and mother.
We had been told the rules before. It was a three-way fight, and the last person left standing won. If the opponent surrendered, or was rendered incapable of fighting back, they were considered to have been defeated. Within my head, I repeated this a few times, heading over my corner. We stood atop a triangular platform, raised above ground level through magic. The crowd sat above us, and my eyes searched for my parents, landing on them, cheering the same as everyone else as they looked down at me. I wasn’t about to dishonour them.
Drawing Genesis and Requiem, placing the scabbards off to one side, I waited. It wasn’t too long before the horn sounded– and the battle began.
Elowen began by creating a large ball of fire with his staff raised, but it wasn’t the worst I had dealt with. If I had to guess, he was likely stronger than Jasper. If that’s all he amounted to, this battle would be a waste of my time. The searing heat from the large ball of flames could be felt all the way from my corner of the arena, and he wasted no time releasing it, the ball’s speed betraying its size as it narrowly missed me, body turning sideways to avoid it.
My blood coursed through my veins, heartbeat pounding to the point I could hear it as it muted the sounds of the crowd, adrenaline running through me. I felt alive. Pushing off of one leg, I tore across the battlefield, leaping up and over a blast of flame he fired at me, rolling across the plateau. Thankfully, it was made of stone, and wasn’t flammable. Yet before I could strike him down, a wall of earth was raised in front of me. My eyes switched targets. Liam. He stood with his wand raised, chanting something, getting ready to use a spell– but it wasn’t him who released anything.
A small blast of flames hit me in the back. I wasn’t too fussed about it– until it exploded, sending me flying, back searing with burns as I felt my flesh bubble. Teeth gritting, I turned towards Liam.
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They were working together. Individually, I could dispatch them. However, together, that was a problem. Flames wrapped around my wrists, engulfing the length of Requiem as I used the blade as a conduit in order to release a crescent blast of flames towards Liam, which was blocked by a large wall of earth.
Sending soul to Genesis and flicking my wrist lightly, the blade extended into a whip-sword. Forcing more soul into it, the blade continued to extend as I swung, lashing out and tearing through the wall of earth. He was… gone?
“Got you.” He murmured, appearing in front of me. His leg swung, and I caught it in both hands, feeling the force run through me like a shockwave as I barely managed to stop the strike.
“No, I think I’ve got you.” Throwing his leg off to the side, I forced him to lose balance before responding with a well-placed, soul-reinforced jab directly to the side of his face that sent him flying backwards.
But where was Liam? My heart thudded deep within my chest. I wasn’t afraid. This battle was different to the one with Jasper. No, here I was perfectly capable of winning. This wasn’t fear. Rather, it was utter exhilaration. A smile crossed my face as I stood against Elowen, staff raised once more. This ball of fire was far bigger than the last. It warped to form a large spear, the same spell Jasper had used but on a far larger scale.
Yet now, I didn’t see him in Elowen. His actions no longer haunted mine, and that was for the best. Slowly but surely, I had felt myself becoming warped. One-track minded, just like him. And that wasn’t who I was– who I wanted to become. I didn’t want to become the person I used to be.
Facing the tip of the spear, I didn’t falter. Instead, I merely fought harder. Electricity coursed through my body, crackling over my palms and both my blades. The wind howled, and barriers were placed up to protect the audience from the fallout of our next actions– but neither of us were willing to back down. Liam had formed himself a dome from the earth, likely attempting to watch us both destroy each other before proclaiming himself as the winner.
I had been developing a spell lately, but it always failed whenever I tried to use it. Now wasn’t the best time to try… but I couldn’t help but think about it.
“Oh, what the hell.”
–
Electricity focused in my palm, buzzing before slowly but surely changing colour to a deep purple, and then completely and utterly black. It jolted from my palm to the floor, destroying whatever it came into contact with. The heat from the fear caused sweat to trickle down my forehead and body, palms becoming unnecessarily clammy as I dropped both my blades. I didn’t need them. Raising my hand, the black lightning still surging around it, I pointed my index and middle fingers towards Elowen and the flaming spear in a finger gun.
I had been afraid of fire, once. Jasper had made me afraid, made me cower in fear of my own self and my own mind. As I faced the spell down once more, my mind drifted back to the cart and my battle with him. Heart thudding within my chest, expressions of fear drawn across everyone’s faces as he stood, halberd in hand, that cocky, arrogant grin across his face. Sweat trickling down my body as the ring of fire engulfed the area, and that look of ecstasy that crawled across his face as he held Hua over the edge.
The lightning burst forth from my fingertips, as did the lance.
[Chaos Lightning]
[Hellflame Spear]
The two spells met each other in the middle, and a large bang went off, along with white light filling the clearing, my ears filled with ringing and a low tinnitus tone to the point it made my ears ache. Despite the blast and shockwave that followed, I remained standing, having clad my entire body in soul. At the very least, the blast resulted in less damage than being hit by that spear would have…
The dome around Liam fell, and I wasted no time picking up my blades again, sending soul to my feet, and blitzing towards him. My blades tore through his body in the shape of a cross before he had the time to react, watching as his body slowly fell to the floor, fresh blood running down the length of the swords. It was warm as I felt it run over my fingers, the smell of blood in my nostrils setting my instincts ablaze.
The smell of blood was linked to memories of my past life, my body stilling. Memories of battles, blood, and war. Countless lives lost… my eyes continued to stare into space, as I watched the scenes play out before my eyes. Over, and over, and over. Despite not being there, they were real to me. Like I could reach out and touch them, hold their bodies until they became cold. There were countless Dianas and Merylls to the point that the amount of people I had lost became innumerable.
I wouldn’t be cradling Hua’s dead body next. At that moment, I promised myself that. My body shifted to face Elowen, a cold look in my eyes. Every step left him stuck in place– whether it was fear or something else, I didn’t know. It was as though my consciousness had become utterly detached and I was floating somewhere above, watching the monster I had locked deep within myself, that creature of war that had come out as I cried my eyes out, guttural screams ripping from my throat and escaping my mouth as I begged for the dead to return to me. Though they never would.
I approached Liam. My eyes stared down at him coldly, and I swore I could see them become nothing more than balls of deep black with white pupils. His staff clattered to the floor as I stood over him, the entire colosseum falling silent. Requiem was raised up, the tip pressing against his neck. I couldn’t forgive them. I couldn’t forgive them for trying to kill Hua– but was this truly the right thing to do? Was it really right to pay for their sins with their lives?
‘Yes.’ I told myself. Or rather, whatever darkness that lingered deep within my soul murmured to me. ‘Kill him.’
The blade was raised up to my shoulder, and it paused there. Liam was still fear-stricken, unable to move. And it swung, but I never felt the sensation of slicing through flesh.
Instead, the blade paused right before his neck, my entire body trapped, as the world paused– everything except for my eyes.
[Chronosphere]
Except, this wasn’t me. Isabella had leapt from Hua’s arms, and was padding towards me, having transformed into her true form. Unlike Diana, her scales were a pure white with some black and purple, her steel blue eyes staring directly into my multicoloured ones.
“You can stop now, my child. There is nothing to protect. You have won.”
“But I can’t stop yet. He still–!”
“It’s okay. After all…” I could see something of a smile form on her draconic features. “I am here.”
Her mastery over Chronosphere was clearly at a far higher degree than mine, capable of holding it up for long periods of time very easily.
“However, I must remove this spell now. Recovering my power over time proves difficult in this form.”
“Wha–”
“Sleep.”
Isabella reverted to her small form and made her way back over to Hua, before ending the spell. Chronosphere fell, and almost immediately after, my blades clattered to the floor. However, instead of my body crumpling, I remained standing, eyes open, seemingly staring directly at Elowen.
“I-I surrender!” He exclaimed. “P-please, don’t hurt me!”
Yet his cries fell on deaf ears. I had fainted, eyes open, still standing.