Rain dripped off the tip of Emily’s nose as she tried to keep both Oscar and Marth in her vision. Alex was not in a condition to fight and even if they weren’t they were outclassed right now. Atticus still hadn’t woken up, but Emily felt he was the reason the three of them had survived the initial fall.

Once Marth had spoken about the Blood Mages and this so-called bounty she knew they weren’t going to get out of her without a fight.

All that mattered now was surviving till Kael or his men found them.

“Stop trying to think your way out of this Emily. You’re all going to die here.” Oscar grinned as he began to circle her towards Alex.

“Possibly, but I’m going to make it hell for you to try,” Emily said as she smiled back at the man.

“In fact, I think I can at least kill you-”

Emily swung her scepter out in Oscar's direction and having seen what it was capable his eyes widened.

The ball of force that appeared at the end of the weapon launched itself at the guy. Oscar’s stance lowered and he jumped back to avoid the explosion.

Fortunately for him, he was not her target.

At the last second, the ball of grey source swerved to the midpoint between their two groups, crashing into the ground and detonating, sending mud and slurry in all directions. Marth ducked behind his shield, while Oscar used his elbow to block it from getting into his eyes. Everything, including Emily, got a coating of mud, as she slapped the she-wolf's rump.

“Cupcake take Alex and find Kael!” Emily growled through their link. There was the smallest hesitation before the she-wolf leaned down grabbed Alex by the back of his cloak and took off running. Alex yelped in surprise and shouted after Emily but his voice was lost to the sound of the wind

“Fuck! He can’t get away, follow him!” Marth exclaimed. The two of them had arrived on a single Rime wolf and Oscar hopped into its back now and took off after Cupcake.

Emily flicked her wrist and two large whips poured from her arms before cracking after the wolf.

“Not happening, you witch!” Marth muttered as he swiped his sword at the cord of blood stretching past him.

The weight of his sword cleaved through the blood but Emily didn’t let that stop her as she had the remaining blood slingshot itself at the wolf's hindleg and wrap around it. The moment it hit she cut upward, ravaging its leg and underbelly.

The Rime wolf yelped into the darkness as it sprinted from her vision. Hopefully, that would be enough to slow the beast down.

Emily turned her focus on the battle at hand because if she made a mistake she would be a dead woman.

Marth growled as he closed the distance between them.

“Screw it, I’ll just chop you into pieces.”

Because Emily has extended herself so much to get at the beast, Marth had no problem closing the distance and plunging the blade into her belly.

Emily grunted as the steel perforated her stomach, but that only made for another point to draw blood from as it coiled up Marth's sword and attempted to wrap around his wrist. Seeing this he grunted and yanked the blade from its home in Emily's body.

Marth flicked his blade scattering the blood and swung his blade toward Emily’s neck. Knowing that she had to put some space between them Emily pulled her blood in her body and jerked herself backward as she flew out of reach.

The winds and rain pelted off her body as Emily hung in the air. Marth’s eyes narrowed and he craned his neck to look up at her.

“Well fuck, you can fly? Honestly, you’ve been full of surprises since the day you arrived and I hate surprises.” As he said this he must have triggered a skill, as his body rapidly took on a rocky hue. It spread from his feet and encased his head in seconds, even his weapons became coated in stone.

Emily was still planning her next move when he launched himself at her. Needing more time she used her lift spell to send him back towards the ground, but for the first time, the spell failed her. The force it created seemed to wash over Marth’s rocky shell and only had half its normal stopping power. Because of that Emily only had enough time to swivel out of the way of the sword but not the shield.

When the encased buckler hit, it felt like slamming into a wall and Emily went crashing back to the ground.

Marth grabbed onto her arm and she was certain something cracked as they fell. At the last second Emily managed to control their descent so that she fell on top of Marth instead of the other way around, but falling onto a pile of rocks wasn’t exactly the victory she’d been hoping for.

Her teeth cracked together as they landed but Marth didn’t seem as affected. He reached up and grabbed her throat, But Emily was ready for this.

Blood poured from her skin and the power in her chest churned. It wrapped around Marth's extended palm and encased his whole arm and with a rapid twist, she bent his fingers at unnatural angles. Not even the stone could prevent the popping and cracking of his knuckles. Marth screamed but recovered as he battered Emily away with his free hand.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Emily went flying across the banks as she tumbled down the hill. Even as she came to a stop she found her bearings and fired a duo of blood bolts. The projectiles crashed into a still-recovering Marth and tore some of the rock away at his chest revealing his armor below. Suddenly Marth started laughing as he picked up his fallen sword.

“Shit, I can’t believe someone like you is working for someone like him! Who knew you were this strong, I thought I could just kill you and be on my way, but I can see that if I save even a little strength, I’ll die.” Emily was on her feet, wounds already closing and bones resetting.

Emily charged four more blood bolts in her hands and began to rotate them.

“Why bother talking, it won’t change things. Just die!” saying this she slammed the bolts together and fired them as one massive projectile.

At the same time, stone rose around Marth and repaired his armor, thickening it and making his muscles bulk up.

The projectile crushed into his raised shield and detonated, but the explosion spread out across his body and visibly lessened. The stone that had fallen away rebuilt itself in seconds and then Marth did something Emily hadn’t expected, he fell into the earth. As in his whole body suddenly just merged with the stone. She’d never seen Marth use any of these skills in a fight but that didn’t matter right now, what mattered was getting away from the ground just before Emily could take off though a hand made of stone rose from the ground nearest to her and grabbed her ankle.

“Fuck!” was all she got out before she was slammed into the ground and then again on the other side. Emily groaned as her ankle gave out, snapping like a twig as it tore through the muscle.

Without thinking she encased herself in blood and built her gown, using it to latch onto the stone and hold her in place.

A blood bolt at the arm poking out of the ground proved useless as the stone repaired the damage as fast as she could do it.

Marth’s voice seemed to come from all directions.

“You're as resilient as Oscar made you out to be, maybe more. Come on, let's stop this now, I don’t know where your loyalty is coming from but nothing worth your life. Join Team Two and I’ll even give you a cut of the bounty”

Emily couldn’t help laughing as blood dripped from her nose.

She couldn’t help it, she was desperate, nothing was working against this guy and the longer things went on the worse things would get for her. Her power wouldn’t last forever. She needed change their tempo, now.

“If only I could, but threatening his life is as good as threatening mine, and it's as you say, ‘Nothing is worth my life’.”

Emily reached down with her blood, letting the crimson liquid mix with the layer of stone and plunge into the grooves of his shell. She guided it through the rock like water seeping into the earth, and soon she found the point where his armor ended and his flesh began. He was just below the surface as Emily pumped blood into that narrow gap.

“What in the Origo’s name are you- ”

Suddenly the earth screamed as Emily began stabbing the blood into him as she formed them into countless tiny pins.

The hand let go but Emily kept her attention on the blood even as he sunk deeper into the earth.

“Sorry, I’m inside now, You're going to have to get out here and kill me if you want it to stop!” Emily laughed as she launched herself into the air.

Even as she did this, she took control of Marth's blood as it seeped out of the countless wounds and used it to continue to ravage his body.

It probably felt like hundreds of tiny fire ants climbing through a suit of armor that he couldn’t take off.

Emily continued to rise higher until the lake floated directly below her, but she never lost sight of Marth even as he moved through the earth like a fish in water.

Suddenly he changed direction and headed straight for Emily which only made her smile more. Like a salmon swimming upstream, Marth launched himself from the stone and out into the open. His armor was repaired, but blood seeped out from the cracks, leaving trails of red against the stone.

Emily watched as Marth swung his blade overhead in an attempt to bisect her, but Emily didn’t move.

Instead, she used Vital shell to block the worst of it and when the shield collapsed she took the rest of the hit to her chest.

A huge gash opened up on her body but in that same motion, Emily grabbed onto the rock man and let his momentum carry them backward. Emily controlled their descent to send them both towards the middle of the lake.

The two of them crashed into the icy water and were submerged within seconds. Marth struggled to reach the surface, but Emily held onto him, dragging him deeper under the waves. The stone encasing his body made it nearly impossible for him to swim upward as trails of red marked their descent into the depths.

The first thing Emily wondered when Marth had done his land shark impression was how he could breathe. Considering he had a green bridge, there was likely something helping him avoid suffocation under the earth. But the same couldn't be said for the water. Even better, when Emily fired a bolt at his neck, the stone cracked and broke away, with nothing to replenish it, it never recovered.

Blood tinged the water a ruby color but Emily reined it in, preventing it from dissipating into the waters as it orbited in tendrils around the duo mixing with her gown.

Marth, realizing the situation he was in, began to thrash. He tried to cut Emily with his sword, but the blood in his armor and the surrounding waters prevented him from moving much beyond a struggle. Bubbles of air escaped his mouth, floating up to the surface.

Emily could see the desperation setting in and then the stone around Marth crumbled as he canceled the skill and let his shield go. Abandoning everything that didn’t serve him, he refused to give up.

There was the briefest moment when he managed to break free by slamming his elbow into her nose, but Emily tightened her blood magic around him once more. He remained submerged, unable to float or sink to the bottom, suspended in the middle of the lake.

Emily was slightly lower than Marth so she looked up at him as he tried to swim to the surface. He tried to lash out with his sword one last time, but Emily twisted his hand again and the blade fell from his grip and sunk below them as well.

Emily's lungs were burning now, but Marth’s thrashing was using far more oxygen as he continued to fight. All too soon, the moment she'd been waiting for came.

Marth's struggles were slowing, so Emily moved him closer as she placed a hand on either side of his head. Light illuminated the rippling water above them as Emily caught a glimpse of Marth’s face. It was desperate and yet vacant as he stared up at her. She could see the regret in his eyes—a dawning realization that he had miscalculated everything. It was a look she’d seen on the faces of those who had underestimated her before. A flicker of despair flashed across his features, echoing in his mind: ‘I was supposed to win.’

He had never imagined that things could turn out like this—and perhaps that was precisely why they had.

A smile graced Emily’s face as her hair floated out in all directions before she pressed her lips to the side of his neck and sank her fangs into his skin. Marth jolted at the pain, but all he managed to do was bring his hand up to tug weakly at Emily's armor.

Water pressure pushed against their eardrums sealed Marth’s final cry beneath the icy lake.

Blood points: 162