"As the challenged, please choose the battlefield." Arrived at the usual line of the System.
"..." This time, Simbad was not as quick in choosing, watching Lia, clearly thinking about something. She calmly crossed her arms, watching him, waiting patiently. "Catacombs." After a ten-second pause, he spoke, and everything was plunged into darkness.
Lia, a bit apprehensive, flicked her wrist, producing a bright orange flame around her arm. She found herself in a dusty, dark corridor, surrounded by ancient, grey stone walls and a hard, cold floor. The air was stale and stuffy; looking back and forth, she couldn't see Simbad anywhere. Not that it meant he was not there, as she could not see more than ten meters ahead, even with her fire.
"Is it like this in an ancient dungeon?" She asked herself, starting to walk forward, keeping her senses as sharp as possible.
Her steps constantly reverberated around her, bouncing back and forth between the thick walls, giving them a weird echo. It was quickly evident they were in a maze, as the corridors were twisting and turning, splitting into multiple others, and Lia found herself lost very soon.
"Where am I? Where is he?" She groaned, raising her bracelet, summoning the map, which was completely blank. No matter what she tried to access, every function was blocked, making her furrow her brows. "Am I cut from the outside world?" She thought, and her sudden idea was correct.
When the others realized what had happened and tried to tune in, they were also blocked from it. The System simply returned a message that the current duel was blocked from spectating, and it only showed a counter with how many minutes had passed since it started. They were left completely in the dark, just like Lia. She was about to turn left at a juncture when her eyes twitched, and she ducked by reflex, rolling to the left corridor, watching as three arrows made out of light hit the walls, exploding like glass.
She didn't hesitate and gathered a giant, crimson fireball in her hands, throwing it out without looking, letting it explode and surge forward like a ferocious stampede. She was not about to run, but while the narrow corridor was filled with her fire, she stood back into the middle of the juncture, four magic circles appearing behind her. A second later, she was holding a huge, heavy-looking sniper rifle, looking down its scope.
"Gotcha…" She thought as the image was black and white for her, seeing through the rampaging fire, watching the outline of Simbad's body. The spell she was using was the same that she used against Yanura, and it was something that Reyra had developed.
When she pulled the trigger, her body accelerated beyond any speed she would normally be capable of, and she shot through her own flames, heading straight for Simbad's body. When she slowed down, capable of seeing where she really was, her body was surrounded by blue fire, and she was punching his face. When her fist made contact, the body of Simbad exploded into many fragments of light without providing any resistance.
"Tsk!" Lia clicked her tongue, rolling away, starting to run, knowing it was nothing but a clone. She didn't know if his real body was here or coming here, but she was not about to wait. Rushing, taking randomly picked turns in the dark corridor, she only slowed down when arriving at a smaller chamber housing many ancient stone coffins.
"..." She was panting a little, trying to regulate her breathing as she looked around, finding it weird and creepy. Especially when one of the coffins' lids trembled with a loud bang. Looking at it, it did it again and again… as if something wanted to get out of it. "What kind of place is this?" She asked, and Simbad's voice answered.
"Dungeons, ancient burial places like this are always home to the Undead." He came in from a different entrance, watching her calmly while his hands were surrounded by a golden light which he had to use immediately. The moment Lia heard his voice, she flung two fireballs at him, all burning in a deep, blue color.
Simbad responded by slashing out, and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows as Lia's fire froze over his mana, turning it solid, and he had to slam his hands against the wall to free it.
"Marvelous." He whispered, ignoring the fact that the trembling coffin opened up and an ancient human figure sat up in it. It emanated the same aura as an Undead, and its green eyes turned toward Lia with a snap.
She couldn't help but remember how it felt when she first saw an Undead. Her legs shook, but then she gulped, closing her eyes for a brief second, and when she reopened them, she stopped shaking.
"Oh?" Simbad watched, surprised. When he first met face-to-face with an Undead, he collapsed. He didn't know Lia's previous experiences regarding the dead, but seeing how she stopped herself from losing to fear, he couldn't help but approve of her efforts.
"I don't know what an Undead is doing here, but it doesn't matter!" She groaned as a magic circle appeared under her. One part of it was red, while the other was blue, mimicking her mismatched eyes. She shot out two fireballs, aiming the blue at Simbad while the red went directly for the Undead.
This time, Simbad was not about to interact with her spell directly; he dodged out of its way, watching as the red flames blasted the zombie in the chest. After it exploded, the fire engulfed its body, turning it into a torch. Still, even when it was on fire, it headed straight toward Lia, focused solely on her.
"Hmph!" She scoffed, summoning four new fireballs behind her back, shooting them out one by one until they managed to explode its body into gory pieces, sending it flying in every direction.
"Not bad. Even if it's nothing but an illusion, made up by the System." Simbad commented, turning up behind her, grabbing at Lia's neck from behind while his knee sunk into her spine, forcing her to the ground with a loud bang.
"Coward!" Lia groaned, pain mixing into her hoarse voice.
"Get used to it. Intelligent Undead use their simple-minded soldiers as cannon fodder. They would distract you with them while sneaking up on you and do it exactly like this." He said, raising his hand, forming a blade out of light around it, ready to stab Lia in the back.
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"You are a bad person!" Lia squirmed under him, trying to get free, surprising Simbad as she almost pushed him off.
"Goodbye." He answered simply, not trying to drag it out, stabbing down, only to pause at the last moment and use all of his speed to get as far as possible. Lia's body literally burst out with power, releasing her mana from every pore in the form of thick, blue flames, freezing everything around her. "Incredible…" Simbad exclaimed, his face showing pure admiration, not even trying to mask it.
Looking down, his hands were frozen, right up to his elbow, and even though he was constantly releasing his secondary element of fire, it was refusing to melt or break apart the ice. A few meters before him, Lia looked like she was stuck in the middle of a giant ice cube. Everything was frozen around her. Not just the ground, the coffins, the remains of the Undead body, but even the air itself. Simbad watched her slowly stand up inside it, looking around, a bit surprised at what she did. But it was no time to try and guess, and taking advantage of her situation, she summoned multiple bottles from which she quickly replenished her mana.
“An Amarin is an Amarin…” Simbad mouthed silently, breathing out pure light, slicing with it at his own hands, finally scraping off the ice alongside some of his flesh. "Her fire freezes my mana… never before I knew about something like this…." He smiled, moving his fingers vigorously, trying to restart the blood circulation in his hands. Lia was also surprised at the effect of the fire, but she quickly focused her attention and managed to manipulate her icy prison, turning it back into flames and dancing around her body. "Her skills improve while we fight… Should I stretch it out or…?" He thought hesitantly while his hands were already moving.
Simbad was letting strong, bright light come forth from his body, maintaining it constantly, blinding Lia, who had to close her eyes and turn away, making her forming attack miss its target. The blue flames lashed out like whips, freezing some of the other coffins and breaking them apart as if the heavy stone slabs were made out of glass. Now, the narrow, underground tomb was turning out to be in Lia's favor, as it became harder to dodge her flames that started to freeze the ground, spreading thin layers of ice everywhere.
"If this keeps up, she is going to freeze me to place…." Simbad thought with a smile hanging on his face.
He was surrounding his feet with thick mana, stomping with every step, breaking the ice before it could affect him. Yet every time he did, he also gave away his position, prompting Lia to send her blue fire towards him, chasing him in circles around the room they were in. If she couldn't look at the 'shining' Simbad, she used her hearing to locate him and kept herself to stay on the offense, not wanting to give up the advantage.
"I never thought I would be surprised by someone who is two tiers below me…." He spoke up, and Lia was moving her right hand, her eyes shut tightly, controlling her flames as if it was a living entity. With her left hand, she grabbed another mana potion from her bag, emptying it hurriedly.
"I'll get you." She said flatly, her voice just as cold as her fire.
"You won't. This is mildly inconvenient, yes, but not dangerous. Not for me."
"That is why you keep dodging and speaking instead of finishing me off?" Lia smirked, a bluish magic circle appearing behind her, spewing multiple, freezing fireballs into the air, bombarding him, trying to trap Simbad in place.
"No," Simbad spoke, and his voice, to Lia's horror, came straight from behind her. She wanted to dodge, but Simbad's foot was buried deep in her back, kicking her to the ground with a loud thud and groan, forcing Lia to spew out a mouthful of blood. He kicked him at the same spot, cracking her spine. "You lack experience. Olivia never let me go at my full speed. She laid down mines around her, preventing me from coming close without a chance to react. She knew I was faster and prepared for it." He explained calmly while he was holding her down. "And you are constantly out of mana… Drinking potions one after another…. It was stupid to challenge me. Tiers of magic are not something that can be taken lightly."
"Gh…" Lia groaned, trying to repeat what she had done before, but Simbad was right. Using her flames drained her of power way too quickly. The previous spell she had just used had already depleted most of her reserves, and she couldn't reach her holding bag to summon another mana potion.
"Have you ever watched a cat playing with her food?"
"Don't… try and… say you are… a cat… cats are… cute!" She struggled, trying to escape his grip, opening her eyes, realizing he had already retreated his blinding aura.
"You are still struggling!" Simbad sighed, "Just give up. Then you won't be hurt. Give up and retreat."
“I will… beat you…” Lia pushed against the ground, and to Simbad's surprise, she was close to standing up with him on her back.
"The raw strength of Lord Kawu…." He exclaimed under his breath, his eyes filled with admiration that Lia couldn't see at the moment. "I applaud your resilience, but stubbornness like this will only lead to the death of others. Or yours."
"What are you… on about?" She grimaced, slowly standing up, but then she heard him sigh, and a loud, crunching noise followed it. "Mh?" She blinked, not understanding why she was losing her balance and falling back to the ground. Then the pain arrived.
"Give up," Simbad repeated, back on her as Lia's left leg was bending unnaturally, her bone sticking out of her flesh, glittering in the light coming off Simbad's body.
"No…" Lia grimaced, holding back her tears and trying to push him off again.
"Haaah… My Master will be disappointed…." He whispered, stabbing forward with a finger, penetrating her left shoulder, nailing her to the ground. This time, Lia couldn't help but cry loudly, shedding tears, squirming below Simbad. "Give up. The System won't transport you out until it is a deadly blow. You have lost. Give. Up."
“I… won’t… give… up…” She wheezed between tears and snot on her face just to hear another deep sigh.
"Master was right…." Simbad murmured, stepping off from Lia and kicking her, flipping Lia to her back, standing above her wrecked body with a stretched-out hand. "If this were the outside world and I were an intelligent Undead, I would drag your body to the depths of the catacomb until you are brainwashed to be our slave. Then send you back up and ensure House Amarin falls apart from the inside." He said, looking into Lia's eyes before casting a spell, aiming to blow up her head.
Before his spell could land, Lia was gone, teleported to the outside. Simbad stood there, watching the empty space that was slowly distorting and disappearing. He took multiple, deep breaths, stopping his hand from shaking as he felt awful for hurting Lady Reyra's only daughter like this. By the time he was out, his face had hidden all these emotions, and he looked calmly at the faces greeting him.
"Don't!" Sion shouted, stopping them with all of he got, trying not to look at Simbad… afraid if he did so, he wouldn't be able to and jump on him with the rest. "He is part of the Disciplinary Committee! Attacking him could expel you!"
Simbad said nothing, watching the angry faces of Raufon, Keily, Ceiline, and even Stumpy was there, growling at him, not to mention all the Misfits who came here.
"You all can come and challenge me. I won't refuse." Simbad said, walking away, "But I won't hold back."
"Not now!" Sion shouted, speaking to Raufon, but it was really aimed at Simbad, "Let's go… Koa and Aurora have already brought her away… Just… go!" He grumbled, still freshly bandaged and feeling weak and worried because the state Lia came out was much worse than his.