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<02/10/1972 – 20:40 | Route 787, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>

With the same environment around them, the trio only peddled for less than ten minutes after setting off from the last battle. The sun was almost touching the horizon by now, and yet the orange glow of its radiance managed to keep the area on the bridge from getting dark. While keeping her pace at an average level, Taylor held the lead in front of Jane and Danny while taking it all in. Because of the decreased wind speed, the air had not gotten any colder or warmer than before, but even with her jacket to trap in her own body heat, Taylor's face and hands were brisk without the additional thermal protection.

Very little time passed since they continued to drive away from their last encounter, hoping they would not be stopped by another. Taylor already figured that simply accepting a single strike on one of their cards would actually make very good time. Though because of Jane's covert motives, they could not legally claim emergency to skip too many of these battles. Most of all, Jane wanted to fight regardless. She didn't want to continue getting stopped over and over again, though every single battle fought on this bridge and the last made for excellent experience and practice for the bigger fights ahead.

"I'm just saying..." Danny had been continuing the conversation from just a brief moment ago, contemplating the only way to solve one of Sprawn Valley's major issues. He was mostly speaking to Jane, since Taylor had not said much of anything for the past five minutes. "If they can change the rules here and there, people won't have to worry about getting forced to make that choice. Fight or get suspended? What kind of options are those?"

"Still," Jane argued. "There isn't anything we can do about it. That authority belongs to the champion of Leray magic alone. Perhaps the mage council could look into the issue as well if it counts as something below national matters, but I don't know if they will, and we can't talk to the champion until I get to fight him in the Eldora championship." Jane began to coast, keeping her position just behind Taylor in order to stay level with Danny's bicycle. Her thoughts held in the same area. The champion, regardless of who he is - simply doesn't get downtime to speak with civilians, regardless of most claims made. No, they're too busy hosting their championship battles instead. Never mind the damage such ignorance could do everywhere else. "Of course it isn't right. People like to exploit gaps like that all the time. There won't be guardians for every victim you know."

"Maybe that's what he meant..."

"Sorry?" Jane heard Danny mumble very lowly, unable to make out what he was talking about.

"It's nothing," he promised. Danny remembered the conversation very well, the one he had over the telephone with uncle Nyar. He wasn't very clear about what he in particular knew of Leray magic, but Nyar believed much like the rest of the world that it was incredibly dangerous to get involved with magic. At first, Danny thought magic was really accompanied with serious drawbacks, taking to his uncle's warning strictly, but after some time, Danny felt that all were mistaken. Then the concept of dark magic and system exploits became apparent. With thugs like the Scarlet Cult running around doing bad things, and with crazy stuff like Alpha Zero cropping up, who really knows anymore? Sprawn Valley is supposed to be a safe and fair place to conduct legitimate and exciting Leray matches, the kind people can watch and spectate for fun while the contestants get more experience to jump up the chain. Instead, the nation has people like Jane getting marked, thieves like Gustos exploiting innocent targets, and the chain of command sitting on their asses doing nothing about the impending threat to Lennith City. Jane even spoke of something before, something about a war that happened here several centuries ago for freedom, a war of magic. Learning how to use magic and exchange abilities with others in battle should be safe, it was designed to be fool proof. This is sadly not the case. What will he say after returning home? What will Nyar think of him after all of the involvement he has gotten himself and Taylor into despite the warnings?

"Watch out!" Taylor slammed the breaks to her bike, not producing enough ground friction to stop in time. She twisted the handles and steering to make the bike skid sideways, eventually falling off because of the vehicle's failure to maintain balance. Just as Taylor fell to the floor, Danny and Jane had to apply a forceful stop as well, looking up and around to see what had scared Taylor.

After inflicting only a minor scrape to her knees and arms, Taylor brushed herself off, standing back up quickly before her friends got closer to check her out. "Who was that?" Taylor saw someone, a dark figure for only a split second just as she was about to run over the unknown civilian. Despite the collision course and her failure to stop in time, Taylor's bike continued on without hitting anything.

"Taylor!" Jane didn't need to ask if she was okay - it was obvious enough. She only cared about why they had to make a sudden stop.

"Did you see him?"

Jane noticed Taylor looking around for someone, and joined in to determine if they were being followed or not. Nobody was in sight right now, so she had to be seeing ghosts. "You can't just stop us in the middle of the road like that!"

Taylor turned towards Jane with a violent expression. "We almost hit someone, and I'm sure that we should have. So where are they?"

"There's nobody here Taylor!" Danny didn't want to argue with her, but he nearly fell flat on his face too. That wasn't fun for anyone.

"My, my. Such fuss over a little trip."

Jane heard a different voice, one that somehow echoed in her ears while remaining untraceable. She turned her head around everywhere, noticing that Danny and Taylor were doing the same. They too could hear the ominous female voice, though whoever was hiding remained currently invisible. "So there is someone here," Jane deduced. "Show yourself!"

Danny felt threatened by the action. Who would be hiding and scaring Taylor like that? Why remain as invisible as possible? What would be the point if not for some sort of ambush? Surely a random challenger couldn't be that reckless, and if they were, he would be the one to fight instead of Jane!

Shortly upon the command, a bright light with an unusual symbol appeared on the floor in front of all three of them, shooting light from the cement until the form of a human came to be in the center of the symbol glyphring. Jane recognized such an entrance, and she has only seen it in real life two times before now. It was teleportation, different from matter transference. That alone spoke volumes about this mysterious person's magical abilities and skill levels, but the question still lingered regarding her identity and what she was doing here. To further add to confusion, matter transference would have worked just as well with a distance short enough to project one's voice, so why even bother showing off teleportation?

Dressed in a pitch-black cloak designed for special mages and magical users, the tall woman emerged from the now fading light of the teleportation symbol, standing between all three of Jane's troupe. "I can't believe I really found you here in the flesh. It's been some time, Jane Venn!"

Gasping in surprise, Jane failed to make out any facial features of the woman besides her dark average length hair bristling outward from the hooded robe. The darkness and position of her standing away from the sunlight hid her identity well, but how did she know Jane's name? "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

As Taylor and Danny crept slowly around the woman to try and get closer to Jane, the woman introduced herself first by dropping the top part of her hood, revealing her face. She was no more than 24 years old, though her stature retained its malevolence while she focused only on Jane. "I'm Kira, not that you would be able to remember. Though I'm surprised you don't at least remember my voice at all Jane. After all, I am looking forward to a rematch."

Jane nodded her head in confusion. "But I never fought anybody before by that name, and I don't remember you at all. You must have me confused with someone else."

"I don't think so." Kira drew both of her daggers from within her black cloak, keeping a background trace of Jane's friends behind her. "You fought against Patrissa wonderfully, but after that, you gave the rest of us no chance at all."

"You were with Patrissa?!" Jane still couldn't be sure what sort of cruel idea this was, but she pulled both of her daggers from her battle suit as well, remaining cautions just after hearing that name. Danny and Taylor probably would not remember much about this, but Patrissa was a criminal, working with other criminals to steal things from others while threatening their own lives. "I thought she was arrested with her gang."

"Indeed she was," Kira confirmed. "I was one of the stealth units hiding behind you when you unleashed that Redemption attack on everyone, but I didn't go down with the rest. I barely managed to escape that carnage you caused."

Jane stepped forward, the entire reminder of the battle lunging her into a rage. "You're the one who tried to steal from me, and many others before I showed up! Furthermore, I did not agree to battle willingly." Kira remained still, evaluating Jane's every word. "Lucky for you, we're still in a rush to Eldora. If you leave us alone now, I won't need to recall seeing your face or hearing your name."

In a laughing manner, Kira let herself drown in the suspense she had been waiting for. Such a bluff could only draw how weak she is... But these two unknowns won't do for her part of the plan. "It's much too late for that! Though since your friends were not part of that mess you made, I suppose I can let them go on to Eldora City unharmed. But know this Jane." With a more serious expression on her face, Kira pointed at Jane with the tip of her right dagger blade. "I'm going to kill you for what you did to our friends, and for what you did to my boss. I'm here for my revenge!"

"Some friends you had. What? You want a battle to the death?" Jane couldn't believe her ears, but from her peripheral, Danny and Taylor were both nodding left and right at the idea of running off in the middle of this. Kira is indeed dangerous if she was involved with Patrissa, so they can't be ready. "I will not fight you to the death. Danny and Taylor? Stay out of this one. Kira is all mine alone."

"Are you serious?!" Danny complained. That's enough of this solo crap!

Taylor pitched in to deter Jane from fighting against Kira. "You don't have to fight alone Jane!"

"I knew you were at least reasonable to leave your friends' lives out of this. We'll even make it an official battle. It won't matter, because I won't stop attacking you until your heart stops!" Kira couldn't keep herself from laughing maniacally, revealing her insatiable desire to torture others.

Jane can't conform to the idea of killing Kira just by winning. At the least, beating her in a battle would knock her unconscious for several moments to come. Then again, if Jane loses, Kira will kill her. That is the promise this insane wielder has made to her, twice now! It's a stupid reason to seek out revenge, but these people mean business all the time, never exaggerating. "Now those aren't very nice rewards."

"If your friends try to intervene after I'm finished with you, I'll chop them up next."

Jane nodded and kept her cool. "Now look Kira. I don't know who you think you are coming out here for revenge like this, but I'm not just going to let you get in the way of my mission. With all said, you have already made one grave mistake. Danny and Taylor are not to be threatened or harmed. If I die, there is no guarantee that someone of the likes of you will leave them alone. I swore an oath to protect my friends from harm, and I don't care what I have to do to protect them. So if you're so sure you want me to lock you behind a prison cell after defeating you, go ahead and do your worst!"

Kira's eyes squinted in agreement. As she backed up only slightly to activate a legitimate Siriean dome, Danny and Taylor were thus locked out to watch. Kira controlled the formation of the dome, making sure to trap the other end of the field right in between Jane and her friends.

Jane nervously glanced behind her, noticing that Danny and Taylor were pounding on the Siriean dome from outside. Kira trapped them out of there! Jane wasn't all that serious about fighting alone to the death, but now Kira was forcing this on her as well... Fine then. It will keep those two out of harm's way. So be it, shadow of Patrissa! It wasn't clear who would try and attack first, but Jane needed to engage her own energy scope first, with Kira copying the idea.

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Chapter Theme Shift: Boss Battle ~ Jeff Williams {Custom Extension}

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image [https://i.postimg.cc/X7TJGPNB/S3-Jane-N-024.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/Y0MPsMxL/S3-Kira-N-000.png]

Nothing about this battle felt normal. After all, Jane was battling against some psychopathic killer who wants only her life. The new enemy was also focused on singling out her victim in the namesake of her own revenge, but Jane just needed to use what she had learned from all of the other battles and place it into this one. Kira may be a formidable opponent, but she isn't invincible.

"Let's do this then," Kira announced.

Jane knew that her opponent was prepared for anything. Nevertheless, there wasn't much action happening right now. As a result, Jane decided it was best to go first, testing Kira's skills to adjust her own strategy. "Magical Blitz!" Jane's hands both lit up with blue radiance as the energy spheres formed in her hands. She threw both of them consecutively, forming more in each hand while twirling her body around to become a little less predictable. Jane threw the last two at Kira, paying little attention to how many hits she got until after the invocation of the spell was over with.

Kira didn't have to move very much to avoid taking hits of the stray projectiles heading her way. She slid to the left and slunk to the right. The third one nearly hit her face, so she leaned her head away to narrowly evade the third one. The fourth one was foreseeable as well, but at the same time very close to the third projectile. While barely managing to dodge the last blitz ball in the same method, Kira's neck got slightly grazed by the passing projectile as it flew onwards without a direct hit. Feeling just a minor sting on the side of her neck form the last blitz ball, Kira knew that she was okay with the way things were going right now.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/prCSN40G/S3-Kira-N-001.png]

Taylor and Danny were just as shocked as Jane was. Kira effortlessly dodged most of them without even moving. "Damn! She is good. Try harder Jane!"

Jane immediately noticed an incredible change happening around her. The color of the Siriean dome remained constant, but the light entering from outside had dimmed down so much. It was only happening on the inside of the dome, but the available sunlight entering the Siriean dome was thus cut in half for an unknown reason. The confused looks on her friends' faces spelled out that the illusion was not isolated to herself. Kira on the other hand didn't seem the least bit surprised, as if she planned this. This must be the work of hidden effects attached to her weapons or armor making it hard to see inside of the battlefield. Jane could still keep track of everything, but the entire environment outside appeared to be tinted with such a darker aura.

"Now it's my turn," she announced. Preparing for the chant of her magical ability, Kira leaped her arm in the air, glowing in essence as she shoved it back down for the invocation. "Aerial Plume!" The spell happened quickly, as photons began raining down from above Jane's position. Though as the small beams of light hit the ground, explosions with large radii were left in their impact. Jane had no time at all to evade or defend herself as one of the blasts managed to get under her feet, followed by another random explosion of damage that shoved her far off the ground and soaring away from Kira's position.

"Agh!" Taken by full surprise of the sheer power of Kira's single area attack, Jane had to quickly overcome the pain of an explosion affecting every place on her body while standing back up and regaining her momentum.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/4xV3z1nL/S3-Jane-N-025.png]

Jane shook her head too, pretending that it helped her recover even faster. Now that it was her turn to attack, Jane lifted her daggers up, ready to get close and personal. "Splicing Vengeance!" Jane rushed in towards Kira while she just stood there in wait. Jane's daggers were capable of dealing a high amount of damage, and Kira was not even attempting to evade the incoming attack. Just as Jane was in range to strike Kira, she began to swing her daggers forward for the slash.

Kira however put her boot out in front of her, kicking her leg forward in just the right place and time to slam Jane directly in the stomach. Knocking her opponent's attack back and canceling the Splicing Vengeance skill, Kira followed up her kick with another one, magically infusing the same boot with additional magical damage. "Counter Kick!" Kira leaped in the air with a very high-speed spin, just before landing the boot at Jane once again.

Just after feeling the thwack to the gut that knocked the wind out of Jane while stopping her attack completely, Kira managed to Counter Kick Jane in the same place with double the knockback. Jane was sent off her feet once again, falling down on the ground and away from Kira. The damage wasn't high, but the pain of blunt damage to her gut was more than enough to stun Jane where she lay.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/tgb4DVxX/S3-Jane-N-026.png]

Danny couldn't believe his eyes. Kira was way too fast for Jane to track, her timing was always spot on. "Jane's getting the floor mopped with her! Don't take that Jane!" He too noticed how difficult it was to see inside of the dome shield, but perhaps it has something to do with Kira's special effects. Her own power in comparison to Jane is so far impressive, and that reaction time rivals the same of Jane Venn, something he never would have expected.

Just as Jane finally got back to her feet, Kira began invoking another spell, not giving Jane any time to try and maneuver or counter, but because of the delay on Kira's invocation, Jane did manage to have just enough time to respond for a different strategy.

"Ozcom's Razor!" A giant blade summoned just above where Jane was standing, though it was in that moment that Jane chose to project her energy through her hands, crossing her arms around her in order to project a power shield around her body. Just as the blade began shooting downwards on top of Jane, she was protected by her personal shielding aura. Kira watched in disbelief as the massive blade stopped at the top of the power shield, failing to cut through and do any damage. Several hexagons formed on the outside of the top most part of the aura, fading just as the summoned blade did.

Jane didn't feel too drained after invoking her power shield, and after successfully blocking out an attack, she finally had some time to recover her wits again. Kira sure is fast though. It would require the use of attacks difficult to evade in order to score a single hit on this wielder. Jane had at least one idea right now. Using the dagger in her right hand, Jane infused magic into the blade and into herself for the next spell. "Dark Strike!" After teleporting just behind Kira, there was no delay whatsoever in Jane's speedy transition to send her blade flying upward through Kira's cloak. She was certain that the blade was deep enough to penetrate the armor and inflict real damage to Kira, but there wasn't even enough time to evaluate that yet. Jane knew she needed to jump back and away from Kira the moment after she was hit, as to not get involved in a speedy close combat counterattack. After the strike was successful, Jane noticed how ineffective the slash was entirely, failing to launch Kira into the air and dealing only minor damage. However, the slice itself did manage to cause her some pain, stunning her in place for a second while she tried to figure out where Jane had gone.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/9XYKqwWd/S3-Kira-N-002.png]

After comparing their energy scopes, Taylor came to a rather early conclusion. "This is bad! You think Kira was serious about killing Jane?"

Danny didn't give her an answer, much too focused on what was happening inside of the dome shield. Jane can't lose to a sap like Kira, not now!

After realizing where Jane was, Kira quickly turned around while releasing more energy from her hands. A red glyphring formed around both of her arms at the same time, using both of her open hands to launch the attack. "Laser Barrage!" A series of quick red beams of light fired from her hands, traveling much too quickly to see for more than half a second. Laser Barrage is basically the same attack type as needle barrage, only using energy lasers instead to increase the damage significantly.

However, Jane already put herself under another power shield before Kira's spell could get the best of her, blocking out all of the damage. The lasers all melted away into the aura, leaving behind several hexagons at their impact sight. Jane had never seen an attack used like this before, but she was glad to get to observe it in here without taking the spell's damage. With her power shield there to protect her, Kira was finally going to start having problems breaking through. Jane knew she had a clear chance to attack any moment her shield drops.

After losing the shield on purpose, Jane aimed her hand at Kira with a red aura surrounding her skin. She began slowly walking away backwards from Kira, gaining distance while forcing her spell to harm her. "Star of Darkness!"

Just as the red circle related to the familiar spell trapped Kira under her feet, Kira knew just how to react to the situation, doing so long before the spell got to do any damage. "Resistor Surge!" The object formed in her hand instantly, materializing from a short-lived small yellow glyphring, and Kira slammed it into the ground with its bottom needle holding itself up. With the electronic powered device now activated, Jane's entire spell was going to be only half as powerful.

Jane didn't expect a Resistor Surge to take effect. Just as Kira's HP began to slowly drain, Jane was now standing almost helpless. All she could do was wait it out and hope to not be attacked.

Kira knew her health was being drained, but she could barely notice it with her Resistor Surge activated. The device is specifically designed for this spell, cutting Star of Darkness in half on damage and draining levels. The red Star of Darkness spun under her feet, though it didn't even bother her. Instead, Kira charged up another spell, forming a red glyphring around her right wrist now aimed at Jane. "Fire Bolt!" Hoping to totally interrupt Jane's Star of Darkness spell even further, Kira launched a Fire Bolt in Jane's direction. Her opponent would now have no choice but to evade and drop the attack, or take the hit and try to keep going in spite of the damage. In several ways she could not see, Jane was quite predicable.

Soon after noticing a Fire Bolt heading her way, Jane used her only available hand and aimed her open palm in front of her. The right arm was the one controlling Star of Darkness, and Jane had to keep it going for the effect to complete. Using her left hand to protect herself, Jane reacted without even thinking clearly, projecting her energy in the similar wave form pattern from her left hand to generate a shield wall in front of her. Just as it happened, the aura that used to surround her body was now in the form of a linear wall, blocking the Fire Bolt's path perfectly. Jane didn't even expect to come up with the idea so quickly and randomly, but the Fire Bolt melted into the shield wall without breaking through, making for the strategy an effective plan to block.

Jane wasn't the only one at a loss for words. Danny and Taylor could not take their eyes of the fight, but it was more than impressive to see someone actually invoke two different spells in the exact same moment one is already being used. It's not even supposed to be a rarity, rather an impossibility. Yet Jane protected herself perfectly, keeping the Star of Darkness active the entire time. Just as the spell was ending, Kira was zapped with the usual hit of a red lightning bolt strike from above. The Star of Darkness faded from the ground slowly from the end of the spell, as did the glyphring surrounding Jane's right arm. She was now free, and Kira suffered a fair amount of damage despite the Resistor Surge.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/DyfDQfZt/S3-Kira-N-003.png]

Kira didn't come out of the damage disoriented. She was still as sharp as when she began the battle, and kept Jane in her sights at all time. Though with both of them at standstills, she risked getting cocky. "I say it's about time we wrapped this up!"

To that Jane replied, "As you wish!" Just after the strange remark, Jane began to release a ton of her charged energy, making the invocation less than immediate. She could tell that Kira was up to something as well, but it wasn't going to work with this particular skill. "Zero Zone!" Taking a huge toll on Jane's MP reserves, she released the time-stopping aura all around her, making the world void of all colors but black and white. Jane heard a type of echo in her voice, ignoring it for now and waiting for Zero Zone to finish taking effect, but what happened next was shocking for everyone.

A few seconds earlier, Kira had shouted the name of a spell that echoed in the air from the other side. "Zero Zone!" she shouted. As the world around her changed completely to match the spell's time phasing effects, she and Jane were the only two people unaffected by the ability. Kira was moving and looking around just fine, as if the Zero Zone had no possible effect on her the way it was supposed to. Jane was incredibly confused, but not for long. As ironic as this was, figuring out what just happened played little role in total. Jane just invoked Zero Zone. The echo she must have heard was not an echo; it's the only thing that can explain this. A world void of time, yet perfectly functioning for Jane and Kira both.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Kira shouted in anger. She used Zero zone as well, at the exact same moment Jane had invoked the skill. It was surprising for Kira to even realize that Jane possessed such power and skillful abilities, but with time stopped for nobody inside of the dome shield, they both went at it, ignoring the strange coincidence. It was hard enough seeing the entire world around them, including their own skin color turn to black and white. With the darkness already in the sky, seeing in this mode was very difficult.

Neither Jane nor Kira used that to an advantage. Jane and Kira both took their daggers out and charged at each other for a close combat strike while stuck inside of Zero Zone's aura. Jane already got in range, noticing how pumped and determined Kira was to defeat her right here and now. It wasn't going to be easy, but she still had her training from before. "Knight Dance!"

"Series Blitz!" Chanting all sorts of close combat tactics, Jane and Kira began slashing, punching, and kicking at each other in a series of movements impossible to track contrast to each other. Jane mixed in several kicks and dagger slices with random attempts to dodge, but while she managed to inflict several hits on Kira, it had no effect on stopping her relentless assault on Jane using similar close-ranged tactics as well. Kira used her daggers with a combination of side steps and energy spheres native to Magical Blitz. Kira was effective in shooting her energy spheres into Jane at point blank range, especially after side stepping to do so. Jane took impacts harder from the magical attack, but managed to dodge most of Kira's physical attacks. Kira only dodged some of Jane's dagger slices, much more of her magically infused kicks and punches.

It was simply a mess of two people going at it with random skill alone, coordination and training were the only factors right now. Jane slashed at Kira one more time towards the face, and at the same time, Kira fired another energy ball at Jane. The energy sphere carried a lot of force, knocking back Jane despite her accidental slice through the magical build up, and Kira was affected by the knockback as well. In the exact same moment, the Zero Zone effect ended for both of them, the world returning to full color and becoming brighter in response.

To what it looked like for Danny and Taylor, Jane and Kira had simply vanished for a split second, only to reappear in two different areas while being pushed away by nothing. It didn't make any sense at all, but that was because time had unknowingly been stopped and blocked out from their own perception. None of them could have guessed what happened, and yet the battle carried on as if there were no remaining issues.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/8PyYZ8fs/S3-Kira-N-004.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/TPcYsYVn/S3-Jane-N-027.png]

As it seems that both of them took damage, the fight could still go on for long until being judged. Jane was making some progress by now with her ability to shield against some of Kira's amazing assaults. Speaking of which...

"Time distortion or not, I will kill you Jane! Tri-Attack!" Using the similar method of creating three different and distant glyphrings to surround Jane, Kira was going to stand tall and hit Jane with a Thunderbolt, Fire Bolt, and an Ice Bolt nearly at the same time to accumulate the damage.

But Jane was expecting something as usual as a ranged attack using magic. "Power shield!" After coating herself with another energy shield again, Jane was protected by her blue translucent aura of protection. The Lightning Strike hit the shield first, using a quick bolt of electrical energy leaving behind hexes in its impact sight. Then the Fire Bolt and Ice Bolt hit the shield at the same time, failing to break through. It was in that moment where Jane congratulated herself once again, dropping her shield to counterattack again.

"You and that shield," Kira complained through the hissing in her teeth, while her murderous eyes locked into focus for the young but quick girl.

Jane didn't hesitate to stop and chat for a moment, already with her attack energy charged up. "Photon Burst!" With her invocation time even faster than the last, Jane lifted and slammed down her arm to create a powerful rainfall of energy photons directed towards Kira.

Kira looked up and noticed the fall of the photons quickly, the initial faint glow from the light above sufficient to distract her from Jane's current position. She didn't expect it either, seeing as it was an attack modified from Photon Blast to change the angle of attack. Jane was thinking with much intelligence right now, though her life was on the line. Kira tried to get out of the way despite this being a large area attack. She jumped back, then leaped back again until she went into an acrobatic backflip. The photons began slamming the ground in front of her, as Kira narrowly evaded a good radius of the waved attack. But just as she landed on her feet again, several more photons from above slammed into her with different vector angles, dealing massive magical damage for several long moments.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/526RGP8g/S3-Kira-N-005.png]

Kira only managed to partially dodge the attack, and she couldn't do anything about the problem right now. She would have to accept significant health loss and move on, struggling just to stand back up and shake off the last hit from the spell. Jane was barely doing any better, but her MP reserves were still at 50% capacity, so there would be plenty to watch out for. Still, even with her heavy damage and the pain the last attack inflicted, Kira saw several opportunities to attack Jane and keep her off balance. "Shadow Wave!" Kira threw the dark magical essence to the ground, shoving a difficult to see Shadow Wave towards Jane.

Then Shadow Wave picked up in speed and width as it traveled, making it impossible for Jane to try and jump out of its way, but with just a little magic, Jane thought of a more effective way to jump and dodge. Infusing magical energy into her feet, Jane granted herself temporary ability to lower her own gravitational weight and leap high into the air. Though it took a moment, Jane got off the ground at the very last second the Shadow Wave had nearly eaten her alive, and as she was flying higher into the air, Jane used the same moment to counterattack from here. Continuously floating in the air at the cost of MP energy, Jane released a very powerful and energy consuming spell that created a multi-colored glyphring in front of her, angled to aim downwards at Kira from her current height. "Prism!"

Jane began to invoke a powerful spell from the air, while floating in place from the additional magical energy. She now had to cast Prism, which meant giving the spell her entire focus and attention since the chosen sequence of elemental attacks are not at all randomized, not by some automatic process. Jane had to launch them herself using her hands and the glyphring's connection. Because of her quick maneuver and attack style, Kira was too surprised to do anything about this for the moment being.

She first threw two Fire Bolts at Kira, which hit her directly in the face. Kira hid her face down in her cloak with the rest of her body in a feeble attempt to try and naturally block the blasts. Jane continued relentlessly, launching two Ice Bolts down from above as well. Jane then finished off the sequence in her special order; two Thunderbolts, a Fire Bolt, a Thunderbolt, an Ice Bolt, a Thunderbolt, another Fire Bolt with another Thunderbolt, followed by ice, fire and then thunder again.

Kira groaned from how much pain the continued attack sequence was causing her, and the damage level was somewhat high as well, but Jane wasn't stupid. Kira's health should have dropped twice as far down than it did, and blocking couldn't have been the only factor involved. That black cloak she is wearing must be the culprit; cloaks tend to have special defensive effects that mostly cut elemental magical damage in half, which still makes the use of Prism an inefficient spell overall. Jane dropped her glyphring and then herself to the ground. Kira was already recovering from all of those hits, but Jane was ready for whatever comes next, waiting for something she could block with another shield.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/x1h4SKR2/S3-Kira-N-006.png]

Kira's eyebrows tightened as she looked up at Jane. Jane's magical capacity was still somewhat elevated, close to her own. "Let's change that," she mumbled silently. "Power Drain!" Kira launched a quick and powerful bright sphere as a projectile towards Jane. Its speed was so fast that Jane's attempt to protect herself form it failed entirely, but much to her surprise, no physical damage was done to her health.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/6355xJcg/S3-Jane-N-028.png]

Unlike most spells, Power Drain is a sphere designed to drain the target of a high amount of MP energy from their physical body, disorienting them in the process while making it impossible for the victim to use magic and spells from here on, disregarding passive regeneration. It took much of Kira's own magic just to use the spell, which is almost a double whammy in perspective. It costs MP to use, thus almost has the same effect on the person using the spell, but only half the magic is lost to the user compared to how much would be lost to the target if the sphere makes its mark.

Indeed, as described in Kira's memory, Jane was totally exhausted from the battle already, lightheaded and disoriented as a side effect of having all of her magic drained in one single instance. Jane now had no counter measures to use against Kira. She could only use physical attacks, and at the same time, her power shield would be inoperable with such low energy levels. Without even realizing it yet, Kira has a big advantage right now.

Jane concentrated on herself, trying to push just a tiny ounce of energy into one more spell that virtually requires nothing to activate in the first place. "Energy, Cycle!" In just a delayed huff of breath within her chanted spell, Jane's entire body became coated with a very thin and transparent purple colored aura, which did nothing else in the meantime. It took a moment for Kira to understand what was happening to Jane, not that she fully understood the effects anyway, being that only Jane and Claudia were aware of the artificial spell. Jane's MP reserves began to passively regenerate much quicker than it normally happens, though relatively slow since she was starting with zero percent of her energy. Even for Kira's perspective, Jane's trick currently isn't much of a threat.

"Charge Attack!" Deciding to reserve some of her own energy, Kira needed to attack Jane without expending magic, and that meant getting up close with utmost confidence. When in range, Kira let lose her random combination of dagger slices and kicks. Jane on the other hand did the same thing without changing her position, letting Kira come to her. Both of them were at it again, attacking with random physical hits in real-time without much of a strategy. Jane however suffered a few more painful hits and dagger strikes than she had inflicted upon Kira's body. With one final kick, Kira got to push Jane away and kick off of her chest to get some distance for herself, ending her combination sequence. The stats for both of them changed very little, though Jane's rapid MP recovery was now going noticed.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/XJHNVHDJ/S3-Jane-N-029.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/25WXjVcB/S3-Kira-N-007.png]

Jane decided to counterattack. Despite her next skill using up a small amount of magical energy, Jane kept its use to a minimum to keep her Energy Cycle aura going. Using up enough magic during the process would disrupt the sequence of Energy Cycle, as would invoking any type of other aura spells. "Crystal Arrow!" Keeping the arrow's explosive properties inside, Jane's yellow glyphring put the bow and arrow into her hands, allowing her to quickly wind up the arrow and shoot at Kira. Kira didn't seem as fast as she was before, failing to dodge a simple projectile that she could have done before. Perhaps it was Kira's exhaustion and fatigue finally catching up with her. Nevertheless, the arrow stuck into Kira, followed by a small explosion of the crystal knocking Kira to the floor with the bang of shrapnel shards.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/bJjVZpWV/S3-Kira-N-008.png]

Though cringing from the explosive and bruising pain she had not been expecting, Kira was quick to get back to her feet, and with enough magic to try and make use of another powerful attack, she took aim at Jane, who was standing too still for her own comfort. "Crimson Flare!" Kira quickly launched the Crimson Flare projectile, a massive hot and burning sphere that's speed would have been incredibly easy to walk out of its path. However, when Jane saw it coming, she knew that she had to take the heat this time, for the sake of her Energy Cycle to work properly. Bracing herself for a rather painful sensation of burning magical damage, Jane let her skin heat up fast just as the sphere began to swallow her up whole, inflicting a lot of damage and pain just before the sphere passed her by. She had to shut her eyes to prevent crying out from the heavy magic damage being done from inside of the massive sized sphere.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/2y1k3QPx/S3-Jane-N-030.png]

Kira didn't know what to get all surprised about; the fact that Jane's MP reserves jumped up upon taking damage, or that Jane intentionally just stood there to make it happen. Her body still had that thin purple glow around it, and just as it ended, Jane was still happy to counterattack.

Without disrupting her Energy Cycle spell, Jane kept her magical usage to a bare minimum, utilizing an old and weak attack spell that is however distant. Pulling out her daggers, Jane charged little MP energy into the blades, forming bright lights at the tips of her Rigel Runes. Aiming at Kira, Jane fired the beams of blue light with very high accuracy. "Mako Beam!" Jane only used two beams of light to conserve energy, and Kira was barely affected by the beam attack. The idea was to antagonize Kira, not to hurt her just yet.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/DZdjsRKv/S3-Kira-N-009.png]

"Flying Guillotine!" Kira took a lot more time than she should have after chanting the name of her spell to invoke the ability, since she first needed to pull out her daggers, infuse the magic, and throw them at Jane for the spell to take full effect. Again, Jane stood there without any intention of dodging or blocking the attack. Magical slashing damage was going to cut off even more HP, but at the same time, her Energy Cycle Spell would in turn convert that into usable energy.

As the red circle of death drilled through Jane once from in front and another time from behind, she clenched her teeth from the sharp cutting pain that entered her lower body, stinging everywhere. Just as her stats changed again, Jane was satisfied enough with the result to intentionally drop her Energy Cycle aura, removing the purple coat of light around her body upon conscious request.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/Fzw9SfvX/S3-Jane-N-031.png]

With her stats rebalanced, Jane went into immediate attack mode, running at Kira to get closer for her mid-ranged tactics. Kira would not be able to expect it, because she would have thought from the looks of it that Jane wanted another close combat rumble. Kira pulled out her daggers again as a result, and Jane let her have it from six meters away. "Median Flare!" Blasting a bright and powerful burst of light with only forty five degrees of spread, Kira was immediately hit by the powerful force that carried its energy and heat into her body, taking the damage as it nearly knocked her all the way down again.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/prW0Bk2D/S3-Kira-N-010.png]

Kira could feel herself failing to keep things together, and as a result of Jane now being on top of the battle, she had to resort to another strategy. Though it was totally unorthodox, Kira managed to pull out some sort of orb from her cloak. She held it up, as the top colored tip of it was shaded with a blue color. "Magic restoration. Fulfill me with more power!" The orb lit up brightly in response, showing off how incredibly quick the MP boosting orb took effect.

Jane could not believe it! This wasn't the typical spell bomb or booster orb that one could use in battle. It was specifically the type of restoration orb that can only be used outside of a Siriean dome. But Kira was holding one now, somehow managing to use it, despite the fact that the natural Leray rules are supposed to block it out! "That orb isn't for this battle," Jane shouted. Kira shouldn't be allowed to use that thing! How did she bypass the security protocols? "You can't use it right now, you cheating bitch!"

Kira laughed at Jane's sense of fair sportsmanship. "I'm trying to kill you silly, not win some kind of bet. Let's even the odds!" As the orb's brightness reached its full potential and faded shortly after, a temporary blue aura surrounded Kira's entire body, restoring a lot of her MP energy on the spot. The energy scope changed. It was surprising to Jane that Kira did not use a healing orb instead, and thought that perhaps Kira was actually enjoying some of those scars. Though at the same time, most people are critical at 19% health. Kira still appears like she could tackle the entire world. Where does she get all of that speed and stamina from?

image [https://i.postimg.cc/J0ppYJnS/S3-Kira-N-011.png]

"What?" Taylor sputtered. "That isn't fair! Stop this fight right now!" Kira didn't back down to Taylor's demands, nor did she even recognize her voice from here. Taylor immediately sent an Ice Bolt flying through her glyphring to the Siriean dome's outer layer, hoping to break it down by attacking its shield directly, but the dome simply absorbed the Ice Bolt without a single hint of failing, creating a large hexagonal shape of aura at the impact sight. Jane was trapped in there against a cheater hoping to kill her in battle. Is there was no way to bring this down?

Danny noticed Taylor's immediate attempt to free Jane, trusting the judgment that there was no surviving this battle. Even being marked, Jane was fighting fairly, and that wasn't good. Kira isn't going to play the rest of this out by the rules. She's a criminal! "Let's attack it together!" he provided. Surely their combined power should overwhelm the dome from outside. Danny had a new theory about the difference in this particular Siriean dome.

Jane noticed a few flashes of evanescent light behind her without turning around, muffled sounds that followed. Kira was facing the other way, and thus could make the same estimation easily.

"Bet your friends are getting a little nervous right about now."

Jane responded to Kira's tease with the only thing she had left. "Weren't we in the middle of something?" Planning for Kira to try and attack Jane again, the only hope is that she doesn't have another hidden orb in her back pocket. Otherwise, Danny and Taylor busting this dome down would be the only choice. Then again, how exactly is Kira going to accomplish her task? Kira had not used a single dark magical attack yet. Leray attacks normally aren't lethal in battle, so how exactly would she kill Jane? Jane could only make an educated guess that Kira would finish off her friends, then throw them into the ocean below while unconscious to drown. Leray veil or not, drowning at sea is an easy way to die even in Sprawn Valley. None can swim while unconscious.

"Right then. I get to do this now." Kira showed off her restored magical points by releasing a lot of her energy into another attack spell. This one took a long time to charge however, forming a large glyphring in front of her that began shooting an army's worth of photons. "Photon Blast!" She chanted the name during her invocation, giving Jane less time to predict what was coming next.

But Jane didn't need to predict the next attack, she just needed a powerful defense. Utilizing the abilities of her shielding aura, Jane sent the aura all around her body, not expecting any specific danger until it was on top of her. Several hundred photons that shot in the form of beams plowed the area where Jane was standing, designed to pierce through anything and everything. The photons slamming into her shield stopped short of the defensive reflection, creating small hexagons in its place again and again with the additional blasting sound of anti-aura deflection. Because of the high intensity of the attack though, Jane was losing her concentration quickly with the power of her shield dropping. Several more hexagons appeared, but the shield managed to barely hold up against the rest of the powerful full area attack directed at Jane.

Just as the attack was over and Jane dropped her shield, Kira wore the expression of a deeply disappointed unexpected surprise of doubt. It wasn't possible for her shield to hold up against one of Kira's most powerful magical attacks. Then again, Jane was full of random abilities just waiting to get the surprise on her. Kira knew as much, and she tried to prepare for any specific eventuality.

"Return Fire!" Jane called into the air. Using a glyphring set to float in place, Jane's magical usage became a little more taxed as she began to charge at Kira already with a strategy in mind. While Kira was closely watching Jane, three photon waves of energy blasted her from behind and sent her forwards. It was amazing that Kira did not trip and fall forward as a result. Just as Kira recovered her balance, Jane shoved down her hand, forming two large sharp spears from above to land on top of Kira. Only one of the spears sliced right by the skin of Kira's left arm, grazing her for a cut instead of the intended design of being shoved deep into her chest for high piercing damage. Jane however had the rest of the randomized spell in her power kick, with the energy already prepared to be released. Jane was danger close already, and leaped into the air to deliver her kick with her flying body to deliver the force of that impact. Kira however was still coordinated enough to jump out of the way. Jane simply missed her power kick, landing into the solid cement just behind Kira while her own momentum scraped her against the floor.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/wx24BKVF/S3-Kira-N-012.png]

Kira turned around to see that Jane had tripped onto the ground from her own mistake, and used that opportunity to throw something at her while she was down. "Magical Blitz!" Only getting the time to throw one energy ball at Jane's back, Kira tossed the sphere towards Jane. Before the impact, Jane chanted the name of another spell that immediately carried the force needed to shove Kira off her feet backwards utilizing some invisible push wave.

"Shining Bracer!" Jane managed to exert magic at just the right time before getting hit with a blitz ball in the back. Jane was stuck on the ground, with her own spell pushing her down further, but at least Kira tripped on the same spell just after Jane took another impact. Jane only absorbed a single energy sphere not thrown with a ton of force, so the damage had to be light. Jane barely felt anything hurting in her back, and used her newfound opportunity to try and stand up.

The problem with her plan was that Jane had to stand up and turn around in the same run. Kira simply had to get on her feet as quickly as possible, as she was already facing the same direction. Being more prepared to combat Jane from here, Kira invoked another simple spell during the time she took to skid back up on both legs. "Ozcom's Razor!" Using another familiar spell to get the best of her, Kira summoned another massive sharp blade hovering above Jane's position.

"Nagh!" Jane exhaled roughly as she tried to shift her arm movements to shield herself again, but during her process of invocation, nothing happened at all, the shield aura failing to initiate completely. Shortly after, the blade slammed down on her, cutting through her body deep enough to inflict massive sharp pain everywhere, including a fair amount of slashing damage. As the blade disappeared quickly, Jane was now stuck with a situation; the feeling of having a goliath blade stuck inside of her while being too drained of MP energy to create a shield. Her entire concentration became disoriented and faded.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/VshsphCZ/S3-Jane-N-032.png]

Despite feeling disoriented, Jane attempted to attack Kira anyway, while she tried to use all of this time to back away and retain her distance, a pitiful mistake according to Jane's standards. "You should have brought a healing orb instead. Blitz!" Jane literally sent her MP reserves down the drain, keeping only 2% in reserves from the moment her skill was invoked. The rest had been partially stored inside of her radiating green body, ready to be released onto the field. Jane started by drawing her daggers and sprinting towards Kira, the Blitz aura supplying just enough stamina for Jane to get over her faint feeling and blurred vision synchronized with her heart pulse.

Kira watched as Jane predictably ran towards her with another close combat assault move. While watching her opponent's moves carefully, something suddenly slammed her into the air carrying an immense force. Kira didn't even know what happened or what to think, but the impact alone cut up her side in several places at once, and she only had this brief moment in free-fall to realize that Jane just played her once again.

Jane watched as her secret side-winding Shadow Wave attack slammed into Kira from the side, something she was totally not expecting. Jane didn't even think it was that easy to generate a Shadow Wave from far away without giving away the ordinance location, but there it was. The wave bashed Kira beautifully, shoving her into the air, and now at close range to Kira, Jane shoved her daggers into Kira's leg as she lay vulnerable from the unexpected hit. The daggers cut in deep, forcing Kira to scream from the incredible pain that Jane managed to inflict from a simple physical attack. By hitting her leg, it would disrupt Kira's ability to move about elegantly.

Jane did not jinx her current luck, and with Blitz having the effect of Multi-cast in her body, there was a lot more room in her single spell to do much more. Jane jumped back for some distance, and formed a small red glyphring around each wrist, shooting two Fire Balls in total into Kira's body. The invocation timing of Jane's Fire Ball attack was impossible to keep up with. The energy from Blitz creates a high-energy aura, which then becomes a temporary source of magic the user can draw from until depleted. The bonus effect; invocation timing is sped up so quickly.

Jane tossed her daggers at Kira just as she tried to stand up, dealing normal slashing damage again, though it didn't seem to do as much as her first strike. With Kira trying to recover, Jane finished up her combination sequence by entering another mode entirely. "Rush Assault!" Another aura covered Jane's body, an aura of power that allowed Jane to move at twice her normal speed. She was already in range to hit Kira, and began with a quickly invoked combination of punches and kicks. Jane didn't even stop to try and dodge, while her every hit was infused with magical energy to increase the damage level at the same time. For once, Kira had absolutely no time to try and break free, dodge, or retaliate. Jane's strikes were relentless and fast, too fast for Kira to shake off the punch to the face or a kick to the gut. As the Rush Assault aura began to fade away, Jane took her daggers out again, and shoved them deep into Kira's chest, putting as much aggressive force into the blades as she could. By now, Jane's energy for her Blitz combo was spent, and she had to take the daggers out and get away, but Kira was most certainly stunned by the entire attack. The look on her face was very close to fading unconscious, that expression of intense pain, her teeth grinding as failure to properly express it. Just as Jane got some more distance from Kira, Kira slowly slunk to the ground supporting herself with one of her knees. Her energy scope was soon to go into the red at this rate.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/285cbH9Y/S3-Kira-N-013.png]

Realizing that Kira was finally at critical health conditions, and that one single attack would finally put her and this pathetic dome shield down, Jane gave her the chance to surrender peacefully. After all, Jane was not serious about killing Kira just because Kira wants to kill her. It just isn't right. "You've proven your point already," Jane exhaled. Even though her stats were much higher, Jane was breathing heavily too just from the sheer exhaustion of running around and using up all of her energy. "I get that Patrissa was your idol, but what you and Patrissa were doing to those innocent people, ganging up on them to steal what they properly owned was wrong. Nobody even knows your involvement with that. You can give up here and walk away now, and start a new life."

Kira tried to get her full point across, barely capable of standing. She was slouching on one leg, holding her chest with her left arm as it burned with a searing stabbing pain. "And where would— I... Be... Without showing you not to mess with what already is in the world? You— can't, escape my fate! I will kill you Jane!"

"I'm disappointed to hear that."

Kira knew that neither one of them was backing down until the end. With Jane's powerful shield, it would take everything she had to penetrate those defenses, and so that is what was left to give. "Prism!" Even though her stance was destroyed by several stab wounds in her legs and her chest, Kira managed to keep her right arm straight enough to form the multi-colored glyphring in front of her in her current stance, screaming at the top of her lungs just to attain the focus needed to expend the rest of her energy correctly. Much of her MP was immediately spent, but she had much more to give after using her MP restoration orb mid-battle.

Jane saw a Prism glyphring form in front of Kira, and though she doubted that it would be as powerful, Jane simply did not take the chance that Kira may succeed in using it to its fullest extent. Despite her low MP levels, Jane managed to form another power shield with a little less power than what was normally used. Kira's Prism combo activated, beginning the sequence with two Fire Bolts, an Ice Bolt, and a Thunderbolt. All four of those attacks though striking the shield at different times all managed to deal a lot of damage to Jane's personal aura due to her failing MP levels, and because of this, her concentration on the shield was already tearing apart at the seams. Having to try harder and harder just to keep it going, Jane gave it everything she got while Kira delivered the rest of her force.

Kira knew there had to be a limit, and tested that limit with every ounce of magical power from the single attack. Safely at a distance, Kira continued the combination with another Ice Bolt, followed by a Thunderbolt, and three Fire Bolts. That alone somehow managed to completely take down Jane's shield. Just as the shield failed, Jane nearly collapsed into the ground with it, afterwards taking the sudden rapid fire from the rest of Kira's Prism spell. Finally! The attacks were wearing Jane out too.

As Kira concentrated on which elemental figures to use up left, Jane had to endure its total hell. She was hit with no defense left on her, first by a stray Fire Bolt, then two different Thunderbolts consecutively, followed by two Ice Bolts, another Fire Bolt, and two more Thunderbolts. At the end of Kira's sequence, Jane was hurting pretty badly, but she felt like she was about to pass out even more. Her energy was so far down, that the process alone was its own distinct kind of pain. Stuck to the ground and barely able to stand, Jane took notice of her energy scope. Kira's wasn't doing so well either due to her used up energy on Prism, now turning red in color to indicate critical condition status.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/rFtyk9GV/S3-Jane-N-033.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/15YWppbq/S3-Kira-VT-001.png]

Despite her heavy loss in energy, Jane was still somewhat capable of movement, much more than Kira seemed to look right now in her slumping injured stance. At the very least, Jane needed just one more attack to end this. Putting the rest of her energy to a rather simple yet effective spell, a red glyphring formed around her arm. "Fire Bolt!" Jane's voice wasn't as powerful as before, but it got the job done, sending a homing projectile of fire towards Kira.

Acting fast, Kira fired an Electro-Ball projectile from her right hand, aiming for Jane's Fire Bolt. The two forces collided in mid-air shortly after, creating a small explosion and a lot of smoke that neutralized Jane's feckless attempt to attack from afar. "I'm taking you down with me!" Though she sounded angry, Kira was also incredibly weak, pushing herself just to speak as well as trying to use the rest of her magic. "Stonefall!" The spell required practically no magical energy from her reserves, and a large amount of large stone rock chunks began falling from the sky. The falling pieces were limited in effective strike radius to a very small space where Jane was confined to. After having a few rocks slam her upside the head, Jane ducked and rushed away from that radius while covering her head, taking minor damage in the process while partially dodging the whole attack. It was not difficult to evade the entire attack of Stonefall, as it was a weak spell after all.

But Kira wasn't finished with one mere attack. Using her magical reserves and her relentless combination to her advantage, Jane simply could not do anything to retaliate with no remaining magic in her reserves, and it would seem that Energy Cycle was of no use to Jane now either. Healing spells such as Solar Regen were not going to work with the sun already past the horizon, not that she learned how to invoke that one in particular. Darkness now consumed the entire skies above, granting Kira the perfect moment to wrap this battle up with Jane on a silver platter. As soon as this dome shield drops, she can easily use healing orbs long before Jane's pitiful friends try to intervene. She knew the entire time that it would have been quicker and easier to just launch Jane into the ocean without a fight, but what kind of fun would that be? "Earth Glave!" Just as Jane dodged the Stonefall attack, Kira's Earth Glave took effect, launching artificial rocks and dirt up from the ground even though there was nothing but cement to begin with.

With no way to dodge the attack or shield against it, Jane put her arms in front of her and braced herself. The shooting blunt pain of being slammed by an uplifting earth attack and then launched into the air crowded her nerves. Jane couldn't see the ground before she landed back on the hard cement, but the process alone hurt her with an intense pain down her spine. She felt much weaker now in every way that mattered. The sky was right above her face due to the position she was in, and from the looks of it, the battle was already over.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/28TsgbMk/S3-Jane-Red-003.png]

Taylor infused magical energy into her hands, and used that to pound her fists on the outer edge of the dome shield, getting Danny to attack it using air magic, but the shield was winning, reflecting their every attack regardless of power. Now that they could see Jane just lying there on the ground with Kira gloating over the way things were going, Taylor began to panic quickly. "No Jane! Get back up and beat her now!"

Due to the soundproof effects of the dome shield, Jane didn't hear a thing. No longer wanting to fight, Jane simply began to embrace the feeling of losing all of her senses. Then a sudden surge of electricity zapped her back awake. At first, Jane believed it to be a Lightning Strike attack sent to end her, but instead of feeling any worse, Jane felt inexplicably rejuvenated. It wasn't anywhere near a full recovery, and every part of her body hurt just as badly as it did before, but Jane felt pumped, as if something had just re-energized her. The unusual nearby noise and light bothered Jane, as it was a glowing light right next to her face.

"What the?!" Kira was about to finish Jane off, when an odd light covered Jane's entire right hand, now growing and forming into something unfamiliar detailed her eyes.

Jane pulled her right hand to her face, noticing the exact same symbol that was engraved to her hand any of the other times she invoked it before. The impressive thing is that the entire symbol was displaying itself in its usual holographic form right through the solid elastic fabric of her battle outfit and through the fingerless gloves. A circle with four tightly stretched ovals branching out in equidistant equal angles with an opening in the center, shining with an incredible radiance. This time instead of the planet looking mark with one oval, there were four of them, rotating on an invisible axis as if the holographic display were some sort of graphical screen. Jane could not believe it! Her symbol was activating on its own, revealing itself to a new witness and returning all of her energy to her in just seconds.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/sgdjDZKp/S3-Jane-N-034.png]

By the time Jane realized that she was getting one last chance to fight, she inhaled a powerful breath of air, and tried to jump back up from her back to her feet.

Kira's jaw dropped, as she was at a loss for words, but despite not understanding what was happening, Jane was making one thing clear right now. Getting back up meant there was more room for Kira to lose, and she would not have that. "Shadow Wave!" releasing the very last amount of her MP energy into a simple yet effective spell, Kira sent her Shadow Wave towards Jane from the ground in front of her.

Jane managed to stand back up and face Kira. The symbol on the top of her right hand was still illuminating brightly, its light almost too blinding to look at. The symbol design, color, everything was totally projecting through her suit too. Jane understood that at the very best of this situation, it didn't matter if Kira knew that Jane was marked or not. It mattered more to her that she can live, in order to complete her mission, defeat the champion, and restore the Outback to the way it was. One person's petty lust for vengeance isn't going to be enough reason to stop her, and since she is a criminal, who would believe Kira's story...? Shadow Wave? Jane noticed a moving wave on the ground heading straight for her. One hit would knock her out despite her restored energy, even though it wasn't easy to feel that right now. Still, the same rules apply to Kira. "I'll show you a Shadow Wave! Hah!" Jane expended a total of fifteen percent of her MP reserves, which is overkill on a low power level spell like Shadow Wave. Normally, overcharging a spell causes it to backfire or fail, but with the additional help from her radiating symbol, Jane managed to take all of that powerful Leray energy and create her own Shadow Wave on the ground in front of her, its effects amplifying her magic in total.

Jane's Shadow Waves were always slightly larger compared to the average after obtaining her symbol through the spell bomb, but this particular Shadow Wave topped every single one Jane has ever created so far, spanning outward and tall, about five times the normal size of a Shadow Wave and twenty feet long in full diameter. Shadow Waves are dark auras and are hard to see, but Jane's Shadow Wave was too big to miss, much too scary for Kira to possibly react her way out of this.

Just as the two opposing Shadow Waves collided into each other, the larger one predictably swallowed the smaller Shadow Wave without even losing any momentum. With Kira now standing as a deer in dangerous headlights, nothing she could do right now would have been a viable choice to evade the impending doom to her well-fought out battle. She tried to brace herself and block the scariest Shadow Wave she had ever seen in her life, but the very moment the first slashing impact cut into her upper thigh, that was it for her health.

Jane watched as the large Shadow Wave simply kept itself in place as it began to cut up Kira in multiple places even after the battle ended much quicker than that. After the slashes were over, the Shadow Wave exploded into its usual burst of energy. Though thanks to its wild size, that burst had Kira knocked back at least two meters even after she was down. The most awesome and most powerful Shadow Wave Jane has ever performed, all came out of this intense invocation of her own forbidden symbol... No wonder people are afraid of it.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/mgzmVPG6/S3-Kira-VT-002.png]

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Chapter Theme Shift: Silver Canyon [A] ~ Resonance of Fate / End of Eternity OST

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Just as the Siriean dome around her collapsed under the rules of one participant winning the battle, Jane's symbol projecting from the top of her hand disappeared too. The moment that happened, Jane felt incredibly weak again from the lowering stats. The sensation caused her to collapse to the ground, with just enough stamina left to break the fall with her arms, roll to her back, and remain awake. Luckily, Danny and Taylor were already on their way with healing orbs and all sorts of other things. It's a shame they didn't have enough power to literally destroy the Siriean dome. It's said that only the most powerful attacks in stray magic can do just that, but nobody has ever done such a deed before, so it must just be a false rumor. Siriean domes are specifically designed to be invulnerable to damage, and judging from how things went down, Kira must have used a special type of Siriean dome that wasn't a usual one, given that items were permitted in battle, while supply spheres were not. At least Kira was finally down, but even by Jane's standards, that match was much too close for comfort. Then again, Kira did cheat in the middle of battle by adding to her magic with an illegal item.

Taylor shoved one of her own healing orbs into the hands of Jane, handling her delicately. "Jane! I hope you're okay after that. You didn't have to agree to that fight."

Jane accepted the orb from Taylor, capable of conscious thought and some coordination, but her own stats were still so low, her body endangered by excessive damage. Jane slumped down and sat over her legs, resting her muscles while activating the orb in her hands. "Thanks Tay. I just need a minute to rest."

Jane, being an idiot to fairly battle a supposed killer is actually much like Jane in every way, but after this mess, this loner-shit stops now! "Next time that happens, we're helping you whether you like it or not. Anyway, as for this idiot, who was she?" Danny probed. "Didn't she say something about Patish or Patrissa - or something like that?"

Pausing to light up the healing orb and absorb its effects, Jane thought back to that dark night she had on Route 96. All she wanted to do then was rush into Lennith City, mostly to achieve a state of rest that had been denied her for so long. Patrissa was a fierce opponent, and despite her lack of manners, she made an interesting offer for the reward at the end. Just as soon as Jane defeated Patrissa, her entire gang popped out of the darkness to jump her. Jane was quite surprised that her friends had not picked up on some of the details. After all, Patrissa wasn't some ordinary stranger; her arrest made big news in Lennith.

"A remnant of Patrissa's pathetic forces," Jane summarized. "Kira managed to escape. According to what I picked up from bits and pieces other people judged, I defeated her entire force using Redemption. Without the dome to protect anyone else, it was a full area attack that caught everybody off guard. Though when I used Redemption, I put my own life in danger without realizing it, and ended up at Lennith medical the next time I woke. It happened on my way from Route 96."

"So that's why she wanted revenge." Taylor didn't praise herself for putting that mystery together. Jane basically dumbed it down for her, and so did Kira's fiery mood to destroy Jane in the fight. "Still, you could have pretended to give up just now, and let us help you." If one simply forfeits a match, the dome shield drops automatically, meaning Taylor and Danny could have saved Jane from all of that. Their entire help was actually at the mercy of Jane just as much as it was from Kira.

"You don't understand," Jane recalled. Finally with enough strength to stand up, Jane finished recovering from the fading light in the orb, her stats on the energy scope returned to normal and above their last highest level. Despite the intense battle, Jane was managing to heal the rest of her real time damage from Alpha Zero. "The Siriean dome Kira created was not the same as a Leray Siriean dome. Its properties were different."

Danny squinted his eyes in silence. So you felt that way too? Something defiantly wasn't right about that dome shield. It was darker than it was supposed to be. In a way, it resembled a Doom Shield ability, but even if Kira had cast the spell in secrecy, it still would not have explained how she was granted the ability to illegally call use for out-of-battle items. But then, what the hell was that thing if not a Siriean dome?

Jane continued her best explanation. "And the fact that she was even allowed to use a recovery item mid-battle proved that something was allowing her to negate some of the rules. If the fight were a normal one, that orb would have refused to light up in her hands no matter how much effort was put into it."

"I've never heard of anything like that before," Taylor drawled. "How could a random person create a Siriean dome that doesn't follow the standard rules for the Leray veil?"

Jane was still as confused about the matter as Taylor was. After regaining her energy and switching off her energy scope, she tried to set the idea into the air. "I don't know much more about that than you do. Kira didn't want to fight fair. She had top notch equipment, and a magic resistant cloak."

"It did look like a tough fight," Taylor called. "She nearly gave you a run for your money. For some woman to give you that much trouble..."

Jane kept in on her thoughts, but she focused on Kira as Taylor now was. For now, Kira was unconscious, laying on the floor without as much as a vital sign, but Jane knew better. Even with Kira's energy scope showing critical condition before the knock out, Jane didn't use any dark magic against her. She couldn't even if she wanted to, for Jane knew of no such abilities herself. Even Star of Darkness wouldn't count, since it doesn't bare the same effects despite having a similar energy signature. Kira would be just fine as soon as she wakes up, and with that being the case, Jane will be hunted again and again by this witch.

Without saying a word, Jane walked up to Kira's body, examining the sleeper. Even though Kira is an enemy, she looked so peaceful in this state. Her dark messy hair brushed up slightly from the low wind speeds on the bridge, her chest huffing oxygen with such little movement. Jane crouched down above the woman, reaching into her dark cloak for the one thing she would need. Jane felt awkward searching someone while they are forced to sleep like this, touching around their clothes to find the hidden pockets. After a few seconds, Jane felt the familiar texture of flimsy material, tugging the item to obtain it from Kira. After holding it up to her face, it was confirmed. This is Kira's official Leray wielding license. Kira's face was stamped on there with her identity, as well as her other current stats. Though comparing those stats to her actual skill level led Jane to believe that the card was never really updated, it only exists as an excuse to practice magic in the first place should she ever be questioned by an agent. And let's face it; Kira can't be twenty years old, more like twenty-three or twenty-four. Kira Sandreas | Age: 20 | Graduated facility: Private Sector | Last Ev. Score: 6 | Current Status: Advanced Leray wielder | Credits: 2100 Cr.

This information was still good enough to use against her. Jane tucked the license into her own pocket, hoping to use this. Kira cannot come after Jane if she is on the wanted list. All Jane had to do now was report Kira Sandreas to the agents in Eldora, who will then establish an APB on her. Kira will not be able to show her face in any town, which is where Jane will be soon enough. Danny and Taylor didn't know what she was up to, but it did not matter at this point. Jane turned around to her team members, with a new concern on her previous thoughts. "That time it wasn't myself who saved me."

"Huh?"

Jane didn't expect their confusion. "Didn't you see what happened? As soon as I thought I was done for, my symbol activated again. Only this time it was much brighter, showing the entire crest and its design right through the material in my suit."

"I didn't see that!" Taylor fretted. "Then again..." After remembering much of what the battlefield looked like, it made sense now why she may have missed it. "It wasn't easy to see anything from our perspective. That dome was blocking out a lot of natural light. Everything we saw was like peeking through deformed tinted glass."

Jane recalled the same perception from the battle. "Right. It did block out light, on both ends mind you, but Kira defiantly saw it. Hopefully she didn't understand what happened." Jane tried to clarify her own mentality, since she could not fully understand the mark either. "This wasn't a normal activation. It was different, much more powerful than before."

Danny stepped gently to his left and back again, pacing slightly to try and think about the meaning of Jane's mark. "Maybe there is more than one mode for it; like separate tiers on your marking that activate at different levels depending on the condition. You said before that you can control when it appears, but not every time. Maybe there is only a certain level of its power that you can decide whether to invoke or not."

"I just don't understand it at all." Jane had done so much research on symbols, but nothing was anything like her own. "The design isn't in any known database, and the activation can happen automatically, making it even more dangerous. Yet if the activation happens automatically, the crest is also that much more powerful and visible. Though the effects are somewhat the same, the triggers are not exactly consistent. I mean, how does this thing even exist on me? In what way is this thing on my hand burned into my profile? Status effect? Genetic mutation maybe?"

"Well that isn't your only problem."

Jane was just getting to that. Taylor had an excellent opinion. "Right. Whatever tier activated last time can reveal the entire symbol and its shape through my own suit, some sort of holographic penetration, possibly crossing entire dimensions just to reveal itself and trigger the effects. So how the hell do I hide that in the Eldora championship battles?"

Danny lowered his head and his expression. After a few moments of thought, he could not reply to the question. She certainly has a big dilemma. That thing shows up and hides all on its own. Jane sure is going to have much difficulty on that stance. How can a person legally fight in the Eldora championship if they are not allowed to battle in the first place? Jane will have no choice but to learn to control all of her tiers on her unusual symbol. Danny still wished he could have seen it just for the design. Jane revealed the crest to them once in Lennith City, but the visual memory was growing vague rapidly. If no amount of clothing can hide that symbol, then this may all be for nothing in the end. Was there really anything they could do for her?

Taylor noticed how much later the day grew. The sun was entirely invisible now, only the slight orange glow teasing behind the horizon in the west. The sky shaded itself to a dark blue color, as deep as the eye could see. With the clear weather on the side, Taylor could see all the way up to outer space from here, the few stars already twinkling in the night sky. There wasn't any sign of the moon or its light, edging her on that the cycle must already be at a new moon phase, but the sky getting darker was not the only pressing concern. "We should try to get going soon; it's getting late."

Danny nodded in disagreement, pointing to Kira with a cautious reminder. "Aren't we forgetting this little problem?"

Taylor already knew what the concern was about, and how to resolve their fears. Kira will eventually wake up soon. Even without the ability to use healing orbs on herself, passive regeneration will give her enough energy to move about and track them back down, possibly before ever reaching Eldora City. Kira said it herself; she wants nothing more than to kill Jane Venn, but as long as Taylor and Danny are around, it won't happen. "I'll handle it," she volunteered.

Taylor got to where Kira was sleeping, and examined the side rail just in front of her. It would be difficult to jump over this rail into the ocean, though surprisingly it was still possible. The rails were just sturdy metal bars with little thickness, giving civilians easy access to take in the entire view. At the same time, it gave Taylor a great idea. After picking out which horizontal bar to use for her experiment, Taylor picked up Kira by the arm, dragging her body over the rough pavement. The skidding sound of Kira's clothes being slid over a hard rough surface gave Taylor little concern, as there was no sympathy for Kira. After getting the unconscious woman as close to the edge as physically possible, Taylor positioned Kira so that she would be sitting straight up with her back leaned against the bars. Her sleeping face slumped down with her head, but it wasn't enough yet to create a balance problem. Taylor then took Kira's right arm and held her right wrist up against the bar she focused on. Holding Kira's wrist in place from the base of her elbow, Taylor concentrated on her unique spell. "Light Lock!" Taylor didn't yell loudly, just enough to get the spell right. She had to imagine the entire scene in her mind just to be successful at her new spell.

In front of everyone, Taylor's slight release of magical energy created a round tight disk of light that appeared to be much less smaller and bare than a glyphring. The disk of light energy locked itself between Kira's right wrist and the railing Taylor held it on, while Taylor was able to freely back away. Now noticing the intentions and the art behind such a skill, Jane was deeply amazed that anybody could just do that. Using only magical energy, Taylor literally handcuffed Kira's hand to the side railing of the bridge. The process seemed like it might be uncomfortable to the subject, but Kira would not be going anywhere for a while. Then again, where would the key hole be? "How did you..."

Jane wasn't able to ask her question completely, since she didn't understand where to begin. Taylor briefly explained where and how she acquired such knowledge. "Light Lock is a spell specifically for Leray agents, designed to arrest people with warrants. They're like hand cuffs, only the spell uses an energy disk made of magical light that is impenetrable to all damage. Only another spell can diffuse the barrier. They didn't teach me that though."

"Who taught you?"

Taylor found it ironic for once that Jane would be amazed by a spell that only Taylor knew. Danny knew the same spell, though he did not think to use them in this situation just now. "It happened shortly after the attack at Tilsit port. After the thieves managed to swipe some data from the storage under the lighthouse facility, we became acquainted with some of the Leray agents who caught up to the scene. I forget his name, but he was grateful that we at least offered to assist in whatever was going on, so he offered to teach me that skill for my own protection."

Agent Sarbone. Danny never forgot favors from people who have helped him and his friends. After helping clear up some details of the investigation linking to the Scarlet Cult, Agent Sarbone offered to teach Danny and Taylor both the Light Lock spell, certain that they would only use it for the right reasons. There must be a few things that could come of harm by abusing the spell itself, but he chose never to consider the thought in his mind.

After settling the reminder to himself, Danny continued where Taylor left off in the subject. "Agent Sarbone taught us the skill. It's basically used by agents to cuff their suspects and prevent their escape by any means. You can't crack the light disks. And when used on a person, even if it is only covering just one wrist, the Light Lock effect will passively prevent the subject from using any form of magical power, including dark magic. They weren't kind enough to give us the reverse spell, since that is apparently a trade secret, but the Light Lock spell only lasts for up to two hours. Kira will be stuck there when she wakes up, but after two hours from now, she will be set free. I don't think we'll be able to make it to Eldora and report her to the agents before she is able to escape."

Jane was vaguely reminded about the incident in which a petty thief in Fronas was captured with her own help, about a week before the crystal shard heist in the same town. The scene was somewhat familiar because she saw either Kain or Bella use Light Lock on the thief before hauling him away to prison, but she never remembered the name of the spell, nor did she fully witness its effects for more than a second of time. This right here is the same thing. And Taylor got enough respect at Tilsit to learn the ability restricted to agents? It's quite an impressive idea, and to think that for a moment ago, it appeared as if Taylor had the idea of tossing Kira over the bridge instead. Still, this Light Lock spell apparently has the drawback of lasting for only two hours of time. Jane pondered the thought. "So it only lasts for two hours huh? Well it's okay. Let her rot for that time." Jane held much of an attitude in her tone just to portray such hatred at her villain. It wasn't worth getting worked up over anymore, so Jane turned to face the direction they should be heading in. "We'll make way to Eldora, report her to the police anyway, and then get on with the rest of the mission."

"What about your symbol?"

Taylor had much reason for concern, but the problem alone belonged to Jane. "I'll figure that out on the way there. Let's hope we don't meet any more challengers. It's getting too late."

"I say," Danny interjected, "that we turn down challengers from here on out. I was able to see something in the distance when it was brighter. I think we are getting close to the city, but at the same time, we can't afford to take lengthy battles with a killer on the same route as us."

Jane sighed with much emotion to the idea. "Fine. If anyone challenges us, or even threatens us with anything, we turn them down and take the strikes for now." Despite the timer, Jane was still excited about battling, the adrenaline never truly leaving her system. Danny must already know that though, otherwise he would not have suggested a cool-down in the first place.

"Let's get going then." Danny led the way back to the bikes they set down before. While mounting back on the vehicles, Danny prepared himself to ride forwards, taking into account the changes is the air from the sunset. Already, the air had gotten much cooler despite a lack of speedy wind lately. Even his hair was beginning to rise on his arms and legs, though at least Taylor would be warm.