First Spark

A rain of fireballs rushed down towards Katherine. She danced around them with casual grace, occasionally employing a flick of her meiyal blade to deflect a few.

The fiery Forest Jaws didn’t relent, spewing more, larger balls of flame. It kept a significant distance away, backing off whenever she tried to get closer.

Katherine breathed once, took a solid stance, and prepared her Katastrofera. She invested a hefty combination of Frein’s meiyal along with her own, increasing the Art’s potency by an amount she could barely gauge by feel. Her floating meiyal system flared to life, igniting blinding ribbons of light and shining with prismatic colors.

Along with this she Opened her Void Control Technique, Peace Within the Chaos, to place a protective barrier against potentially harmful effects of the Nightmare. The Technique didn’t originally serve any benefits against a Forest Jaws, but since this was an unusual one, Katherine treated it like a newly discovered Nightmare.

The first of the larger fireballs closed in. It was about ten times her size. Katherine struck and sliced through it with her blade enveloped with Kaimfra, meeting fire with fire. She held Katastrofera while slowly feeding it more meiyal.

The giant ball of flame parted in the middle; its impact exploded on either side of her. Then the rain followed.

One by one, Katherine parried and sliced the barrage of fire. The explosions scattered throughout the plains, even reaching as far as the forest behind her and causing it to catch aflame. Some specks of conflagration found their way into The Mist. They were swallowed whole and vanished as though nothing happened.

After the tenth or so fireball, the Jaws Lurking in the Forest finally ran out of gas. It turned to flee, but Katherine was quick to chase.

Katastrofera was destruction waiting to be unleashed. Previously, this much power building within the Art was only possible for her during the time before she went to Earth, let alone held it as stable as it was now in her meiyal core. Admittedly, Katherine was impressed. Even during her peak, a Meiyal Art this obedient and efficient was only something she could Draw on moments of extreme concentration.

It didn’t take long for the Lady to catch up. In a fit of desperation, the Forest Jaws spun, flailing its tail and swiping a claw at her. The rapid movement wasn’t typical of a monster its size, but Katherine was prepared for any surprises.

She ducked low out of the tail’s striking range, and met the claw with her meiyal blade. She tapped on her Display for just a split second to Draw Dai-Kaimfra. The blazing blade enhancement aura extended in an instant, slicing through Nightmarish flesh with ease but not deep enough to dismember a limb. The Forest Jaws flinched in pain, rearing back to show its belly.

Katherine unleashed the Art.

Katastrofera devastated the entire landscape. It was the level of output possible only by combining the Art with an integrated material specified for it. Not something Frein’s meiyal could accomplish.

Or maybe it does? Katherine didn’t know exactly what sort of change occurred to him after Tethering with Elizzel. It was a question to explore for later. They weren’t exactly out of trouble yet.

The Lady remained alert as the dust settled. Despite the destruction Katastrofera caused to the environment, the target itself barely suffered any damage. To her surprise, the Forest Jaw’s scales shined with a metallic sheen.

The Nightmare bellowed with anger, sending a blast of malicious Nightmare along with its piercing roar. Peace Within the Chaos protected Katherine from any of its effects, but the plant life and other vegetations around her instantly whittled and died. What little green this open field contained disintegrated from the cacophony of screaming childish souls, reducing the entire vista into mundane earth.

When the Forest Jaws realized its roar had no effect, it dropped into a stalking position.

Katherine prepared her meiyal blade, Kaimfra blazing around it. Delivering a fully charged version of Katastrofera on the Nightmare’s underbelly with little to no result made her abandon the attempt to try again. She’d reach Art fatigue before making a scratch on those scales deep enough to have them bleed.

She needed something with more firepower.

“Sam, did you get anybody?”

“I did a while ago,” the M.O.B.I.L.E. replied. “I’m reestablishing connection now, but I had to cut it off earlier.”

“Why?” she asked while she stared down at the massive Nightmare. It had repeatedly tried to regenerate, but by utilizing the preventive effects of fire and stealing massive amounts of meiyal through Gathering, Katherine had effectively delayed its healing process indefinitely. She took the opportunity to catch her breath and formulate another plan.

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“I couldn’t spare any meiyal, my lovely Lady of the Void. I don’t know if you remember, but you almost died back there! You probably didn’t feel it, but I had to jolt you awake a couple of times using my own reserves, you know. I’m guessing keeping your consciousness up is of higher priority than reaching out to a bunch of random people that may or may not be able to help right away.”

“Right. I forgot about that. Thank you.”

“Are you being sarcastic with me, young lady?” The small orb shook violently inside her pocket.

“Never mind that. Who did you connect with?”

“No idea. I didn’t have the chance to say hi. The Nightmare makes the signal so hazy; I can’t pinpoint to the same recipient. I’ll need more time. Shouldn’t take very long this time.”

“Alright, keep me posted.”

“Aye.”

Well, at least we can reach somebody. Now what do I do with this guy?

The Jaws Lurking in the Forest’s scales began to shift upwards, revealing small compartments from within. White mist began to crawl out of them which slowly enveloped the entirety of the giant creature.

Then it vanished.

But only from Katherine’s eyes.

Whether the Nightmare knew or not, Katherine’s I, Alone, Am the Center detected it. The Lady took this chance to employ some subtlety in the Technique to prevent the Forest Jaws from catching on. They were intelligent creatures, but it also meant they could get desperate. While it was compelled by The Mist to stay, proven truer now by the fact that it maintained a certain distance from its manipulator, its arsenal was still at its full disposal.

Caution bid her to ensure this wasn’t a trap. And that gave her an idea.

Katherine concentrated on a pattern she hadn’t used in a while. It depicted a circular blade with no handle. She poured meiyal on it and Drew.

“Shinera.”

Unlike the small ring it produced back on Earth, Shinera extended true. Now bolstered by Frein’s meiyal, it reached to about a hundred-meter radius around her. It was nothing amazing, but the Art wasn’t measured by the size of its reach, but by the impact once something crosses that threshold.

The Lady wasn’t done yet, paring the Meiyal Art with a lightning pattern.

“Shinetia,” she invoked. Lightning sizzled around her body as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Moments passed with nothing but pure silence and her breathing. Despite maintaining multiple Arts and Void Control Techniques at once, Katherine continued to Gather and Mill. Frein’s meiyal had effectively removed any stress accumulated from Drawing, but the supply had dwindled down to half. Katherine was honestly impressed it lasted this long given the intensity and quantity of the Arts she used.

Seconds turned to minutes. Through I, Alone, Am the Center, Katherine traced the Forest Jaws’ movements. It had carefully circled around her, stalking her from behind. Katherine allowed it, feigning ignorance to bait it into her own trap.

The Jaws Lurking in the Forest curled its muscular hind legs, folded its wings, and kicked off the ground. The earth behind it exploded from the propelling force as it launched itself with an opened vertical maw.

Katherine didn’t move until the Nightmare entered Shinera. The Lady of the Void blurred for an instant. Thunder struck, and the Forest Jaws recoiled the opposite way. It flipped and fell back first. The sheer weight of it caused the earth to quake, sending massive ripples off the ground. A large gash erupted from its midsection, causing a rain of blood. The screams of helpless children echoed throughout the land.

Katherine spent the next few seconds engulfing the Forest Jaws in the fires of Ferenfra. It didn’t surprise her to discover that it had no effect. Not all Nightmares perish in flames.

But if she had a stronger one…

Deep within the recesses of her memories, she recalled the pattern. A Meiyal Art so potent, so special, it could only be Drawn with an integrated meiyal-charged material to serve as its catalyst. An Art she developed personally with the Expunged Blaze in mind.

She poured her meiyal on the pattern. Frein’s meiyal resonated with it and the charged material amplified the entire Drawing process. Her display opened, a white circle wide enough to fit her by the shoulders. The red streak of the Expunged Blaze glowed true.

“Militia Style: Daifra,” Katherine directed the Art at the tip of her right thumb and middle finger. She raised them at the Jaws Lurking in the Forest and unleashed it with a snap.

“First Spark.”

Red sparks ignited to blue and white flames that exploded at the entirety of the pseudo-dragon. In a flashfire, the Forest Jaws disintegrated to ashes, gusted off by the force of impact. All that was left was baked earth and the heat haze that reached twice the length of the Nightmare that had been there.

Thanks to Frein’s meiyal, First Spark didn’t cause Katherine much stress despite her years out of practice with the Art. But it had reduced the remaining supply to a few drops along with the entirety of her reservoir.

Samesia waned and her vision blurred. She quickly Gathered and Milled to reestablish the Art. It was basically responsible for keeping her alive at this point, temporarily substituting for any internal organ that she couldn’t salvage until she could safely dedicate the time to heal them or, preferably, a more trained healer fixed them for her.

Katherine walked towards the edge of The Mist That Carries the Nightmare. She found a comfortable rock and sat and waited. Her I, Alone, Am the Center told her that Kristel and Enza were fine and were working their way towards her.

So, she just waited and stared at The Mist.

A few minutes passed. The Princess and the yuma finally found her.

“Are we not going to help?” she asked.

Katherine could see a change on the Princess. Subtle, but at the same time, obvious. For one, she wasn’t Art fatigued, but her question already implied that her target was dealt with. She was too eager.

“Someone helped you,” Katherine guessed.

“Are you using Heart’s Will on me?”

“The Blessing only tells me what’s going on in your head or whether you’re telling the truth or not; not tell me what happened to you. Besides, I find little use for that lately. If I knew earlier that we had enemies within our ranks, I would’ve listened in on the entire Cross Irista when I had the chance.”

“Fair enough.” Kristel sat beside her. “But we’re just going to sit here?”

“I don’t think he needs our help…I don’t think I can help.”

“Maybe I can,” said the Princess. “Someone did help me, Katherine. The one who sent the letters. Enza and I were supposed to be dead. The Forest Jaws was too strong for my flames, and a Fallen sneaked around us.”

“I’m sorry,” Katherine said quickly. “I—”

“Just so you know,” Sam said, suddenly showing up. “Katherine almost died, so cut her some slack if she couldn’t remember everything.”

“What exactly happened?” Kristel asked curiously. “All I know was how angry Frein was on our way here.”

“Oh, I’ll tell you all about it, Princess, while we wait for pretty boy. But first, I’ve made contact.”

“With who?” Katherine asked.

“Your father.”

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