Both warriors stared at each other with weapons hefted and ready to strike. Evelyn made sure to keep a safe distance from Cemri. Her blades had a short range, but she was a fury class daeva and could tap into a great amount of strength and speed. She wore only a light leather armor over her sun-kissed skin and long raven black hair with two braided strands. The grin on her face widened as she recognized Evelyn's hesitation.

"What's the matter? I used to remember you enjoying a good fight. The flow of bodies, art of sparring and the taste of victory. A pure thrill."

Evelyn needed to pinpoint the location of both their summoners and strike before they did the same to Rouya. The only alternative would be for her to pull back and hope she could protect Rouya upfront. A fight against Cemri would only bog her down but it could also be beneficial in discovering the trail of magic leading to her. She twirled the glaive in front of her, creating a powerful gust of wind and brushing the Cemri's braids back. When she felt she'd collected enough energy built up into weapon with it brimming under the palm of her hands she stopped and took in her opponent one final time.

"I'm fighting for someone I care about that's what's changed. Now I'm going to end your presence here and give you some time to consider your own reasons for fighting." Evelyn dashed ahead with the tip of the glaive trailing behind her. She covered the half mile between them in a matter of moments and came within striking distance of her.

Cemri gave her a bemused smile as she approached and leaped into the air once Evelyn moved in to attack her. She twirled in the air, flashing her blades in a cross at where she anticipated Evelyn would be only to find it vacant. "What the— where did you go?" She quickly glanced about and her eyes widened when she found Evelyn had repositioned herself several feet away where Cemri would land.

"I've seen you fight enough times to know how you'd react," Evelyn remarked, shifting her stance and bringing her glaive up for an overhead strike but just as her blade fell Cemri somehow managed to narrowly avoid her and touched down on the ground. The failure didn't last long and Evelyn quickly shuffled around, slapping the pole against Cemri's chest.

The fury flew back several hundred yards and collided against the walls of Aequilla with a loud rupture. Pieces of the wall became unbalanced and toppled over creating a billowing dust cloud. Evelyn didn't wait for her to get on her feet and immediately went back on the offensive. She stormed through the cloud but as the dust settled she could no longer spot Cemri. Evelyn halted and immediately braced herself for an attack and turned.

[https://i.ibb.co/Z6Lb5Sf/battle-final.jpg]

Cemri lashed out with both blades, trimming part of Evelyn's crimson hair with one and the other grinding against her chain-mail but not penetrating it. She scowled and followed her attack with a roundhouse kick dislodging Evelyn and forcing her to put some distance between the two. "Don't get your hopes up. This match is already settled. You just haven't realized it yet."

"We'll see about that when I send you back to your master."

Cemri bent her knees and brought her arms to her sides, chanelling all the magic she could from her summoner and into her next attack. The muscles in her arms and legs bulged and Evelyn felt her intense power press against her own. Her eyes flared as she let out a deafening roar and hurled a chunk of the crumbled wall at Evelyn.

Evelyn sliced through the stone with ease and spotted the fury bursting through the rubble right at her. They fought each other four years prior but the fight then had been heavily in Evelyn's favor with two allies supporting her. She dug her feet into the ground and kicked up dirt, swiftly following the motion by spinning on her toes as she brought the glaive around. One of Cemri's moon blades scraped against the backside of the glaive with sparks flying as it rolled down but was blocked by the hold.

"Ugh." Cemri spat blood after landing on the tip of glaive. The moon blades slipped out of her grasp and her eyes widened but were still locked on Evelyn.

Explosions for the wild magic Tessia and Ahzi fired at each other rained down around them, shattering buildings and sending people fleeing.

The relief was only temporary as the anger inside Cemri fueled her strength. She screamed and brought her hand down to snap the pole in two. She stumbled to her knees and smiled back at Evelyn with blood spilling out of the corner of her lips. She pulled the glaive out of her gut and tossed it aside, laughing as she neared the defenseless Evelyn.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Evelyn was an immortal daeva and fought in countless battles but she felt fear for the first time. It dug itself deep inside her and gnawed on her from the back of her mind. Fear of losing Rouya.

Cemri hurled a punch at Evelyn but she deflected the blow with her arm. Her knuckles penetrated Evelyn's bracers and left a deep dent. A flurry of blows erupted, going for Evelyn's face and torso and steadily increasing in speed as she put more and more of herself into the fight. For every time Evelyn managed to deflect or block an attack, Cemri exploited the opening with a swift move, cracking her armor and bruising the body beneath it.

It took a lot out of Evelyn to withstand the barrage of attacks and she knew she needed to take control of the fight. She injured Cemri, but it wasn't enough to knock her out of the fight just yet. Evelyn swooped to the side and linked her foot to Cemri's. With a solid kick, she dislodged her and immediately followed up by thrusting her elbow into her back and knocking her to the ground. Evelyn dropped on top of her, trying to pin her down with her knee and latch on to her arms.

Both sides wrestled with each other, rolling in the mud as they attempted to gain the upper hand and pin the other down.

"You want to play dirty? I can do that!" Cemri shouted as she rolled onto her back and backhanded Evelyn across the face. She grabbed Evelyn's skull between her two massive hands and brought her face up to Evelyn's. "Say good night to your princess."

Badum

Evelyn head-butted Cemri with all the strength she had left and freed herself from the fury's grasp. Her power was diminishing and the stream of magic supplied by Rouya was growing weaker by the minute. She rose onto her shaky legs and searched, trying to focus on Cemri and where she was getting her magic. People wouldn't be able to magic in the same way daeva could. The way it encapsulated beings and dripped from them like sweat.

Cemri wasn't getting her magic from Aequilla. Her summoner was off-world, relegating their fight as meaningless unless she discovered his whereabouts. The fury crawled forward and grabbed Evelyn's ankle.

"I'm not finished with you. We're just starting here," Cemri growled.

Evelyn wasn't having any of it and jumped aside before making her way back to the palace with all the speed should get muster. It took her moments, but she still felt as if it had been an eternity. She crossed the grounds to the small castle located behind the palace. A remnant from the olden days when armies still fought, but it still remained one of the most heavily fortified positions in the capitol.

Mitra stood on the ramparts and watched Evelyn's approach while still delivering a volley of arrows out in support of Tessia against Ahzi. They'd been successful in pushing her further away from the city and damaging her chariot. Faced with the prospect of defeat, it appeared as if she opted for a retreat when she disappeared into the horizon.

They may have won the evening skirmish, but the battle was long from over.

"I like your makeover. It's a real improvement to before," Mitra chided, eyeing down the bloodied and dirtied maiden. "Any luck in locating the summoners? All it takes is one of my arrows to end a fight."

Evelyn looked at her crossly and gathered some magic to renew her armor to mint condition and shine as well as healing her wounds. "You're free to join me next time. I'll give you something to remember me by."

She brushed passed the archer maiden and entered the castle, swiftly maneuvering through the narrow corridors until she found Rouya and Markus in the armory. She looked stunning all dressed up for a fight and the scythe resting against her shoulders. If only they had the luxury of spending more time together.

"Evelyn," Rouya said, lighting up and rushing into her arms. "I'm so glad to see you're all right. Did you find them? I was getting worried after what I saw happened to the lower half of the city."

"It's horrible but we should leave this place. Javed is coordinating his attack from off-world. It'll take a joint effort and attacking him directly before he groups up with more of his allies." Evelyn held Rouya at a distance and looked into her eyes. "We need to move now, before it becomes more difficult to follow the traces of magic."

"That won't be necessary," came a voice from the shadows. Evelyn instinctively placed herself in front of Rouya and prepared to fight the new arrival. "I've come to finish what we should have finished more thoroughly days ago."

"Well then, you're even dumber than I thought," Rouya said, crossing her arms. "I'll be more than willing to pass on my sentence for your betrayal."

"You'd have to get by me first," Cemri said as she appeared out of thin air beside Javad. She glanced at Evelyn and licked her lips. "We were in the middle of something when you just up and left. That's very rude of you, you know."

Ahzi took shape a moment later, cocking the lock of her dragon pistol back. "I'm here to claim this world in the name of my master, Lord Sameh and do with it as I please. First, I have to get rid of you maggots."

"Hey, that's unfair," Cemri snapped. "You can't just claim Aequilla. This world clearly falls into the jurisdiction of my great and powerful summoner."

"You're both fools to believe you can win this fight without my support," came another voice from the other side of the armory. Evelyn spun around to face the new threat only to feel herself exposed on more than one side. Attia brushed her hair back and gave off a long bored yawn as she walked over to join the other maidens. "Evelyn and I already made arrangements. Let's not let this date end the way it did last time. I want to see your full strength and revel in your defeat."

The three maidens, Ahzi, Attia and Cemri, stood opposite the three maidens protecting Markus and Evelyn. The intensity of magic building up had only started and only one side could claim the relics. In the end, Evelyn knew there could only be a single Padishah Emperor.