Aizen stood firm, his boot connecting with the door in a powerful kick that sent it crashing open. He thrust his palm forward, an amethyst glow radiating as an energy barrier shimmered to life. The cloaked figure whirled around, her movements swift and precise, unleashing a barrage of golden spells that splattered harmlessly against Aien's barrier. The figure stood at the ready with radiant orbs of light glowing in her palm. Aizen refused to drop his guard. He hoped that the sudden attacks weren't loud enough to attract the corpses outside, but he still had a job to do nonetheless.
"State your business!" Aizen demanded, taking a step forward in the study. The female Druid's orbs of light flared brighter as she lifted her chin, her eyes widening with a predatory glint. Her stare bore into Aizen, a silent challenge as if daring him to make the next move. Aizen froze in his tracks. The Druid's eyes were now wide and gleaming with malevolence. Her head tilted slightly back, exuding an air of superiority as she looked down at him.
"I should ask you the same!" Growled a female figure. Keeping his barrier up, Aizen's muscles coiled as he readied his sword, every sense on high alert, his stance poised for swift action. Aizen noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes. Her garb was tattered; Aizen could see she wore leather armor beneath her cloak as he did but could not tell its condition. She must have been traveling for days with sleepless nights.
"A conduit?" she voiced with piqued interest, inspecting the blade, then noticed Aizen's rounded earlobes-
"Ah!" she smiled devilishly. "A Voidling? This deep in plagued lands? What a sight." Her words slithered from her lips, curling maliciously into a malevolent smile, making Aizen uneasy. Given the circumstances, the Druid seemed too calm.
"Surprised, are you? It's not every day I run into someone in the wilds of the plagued lands." Aizen stated, staring menacingly at the figure with a leering glare. The cloaked female moved back towards the window, her light orbs flaring, revealing her long, crimson-red, wirey hair scrunched up into bunches beneath her cloak. Aizen knew what she was doing. She was preparing an escape.
"I am here to retrieve a relic for this home's past proprietor," Aizen stated. The Druid stood firm, her eyes tracking Aizen's every move with keen interest, her posture unwavering. Aizen continued to raise his barrier as he slowly moved into the study and rounded the edge of the room. The Druid began rounding the room opposite Aizen, carefully keeping her distance with her light sorcery at the ready.
"How is it a Voidling such as you can cast defensive sorcery?" The Druid asked hesitantly.
"It looks like someone didn't pay attention to their history lessons," Aizen jested. "If you did, you would know exactly what I'm doing."
The Druid curled her lip. She had become frustrated with the Voidling's defiance of her. Aizen could tell the Druid was racking her brain for answers until she made a face as if coming to a profound realization.
"I see now." She said slowly, as if each syllable hung onto each breath, "You're using one of those ability stones! The aetherite!" The druid beamed wickedly and lowered her head, her brows furrowed, her eyes locked onto the Voidling. Aizen could feel her malicious intent intensifying.
Aizen's lips curved into a smug smile, "Indeed," he replied, his voice dripping with confidence.
Her lips curled into a sneer, "You think your puny stones can stand against the might of a Druid's power?" she hissed, her orbs blazing with a furious light. Aizen furrowed his brow in contempt, maintaining his smug smile.
The Druid's eyes narrowed to slits, her lips curling into a snarl. Her hands clenched into fists, trembling with barely suppressed rage. When she spoke, her voice was a low, dangerous growl, "Leave this place. The plagued lands have no ownership after two decades of desolation. Forget the proprietor," she urged.
Aizen replied, "Unfortunately, leaving is not an option for me. But you are more than welcome to go."
The Druid was angry and stared fiercely at Aizen, her orbs of light flickering and growing brighter. "Leave, Voidling! Or I will have to kill you myself," she threatened.
"Even stronger Druids than you have met their end by my hand," boasted Aizen. The Druid's laugh was sharp and mocking, but a flicker of surprise passed through her eyes. She turned her head slightly, the laugh turning into a disbelieving chuckle.
"Are you serious? You, a Voidling, defeating me, a Druid, in combat?" The Druid laughed hysterically. "You must have been dropped as a child. Do you still believe in fairy tales in this world of ruin?"
"Amused, are we?" Aizen heckled, his nostrils flaring and his eyes glaring. "You have no idea what I am capable of!" He growled.
The woman gritted her teeth, and Aizen could sense her bloodlust. Her eyes were fixed on him, examining his armor up and down.
He slowly circled the stale-smelling room, keeping his shield barrier raised opposite the Druid. Approaching the desk, he sheathed his blade and released a small puff of smoke from the scabbard. With his free hand, he opened the top left drawer of the desk and felt around inside while keeping an eye on the Druid. He felt the smooth exterior of the box the client had mentioned during their initial meeting. The box was not too heavy, and its contents did not weigh much either, except for a small item that clinked against the box's walls as he lifted it out of the drawer.
The Druid relaxed her posture and shifted her gaze from Aizen to the box. She reached out her hand and demanded, "Give me that box! I've been looking for it!"
Aizen inspected the box and looked back at the Druid, "This box..." he said, raising it up, "I guess it's yours then?" He shrugged, placed the box under his arm, and put it inside his pack. He secured the bag upon his back without lowering his shield barrier. All the while, the Druid stared at him with anger in her eyes, unable to intervene.
"You're lucky that you have that barrier. You're going to regret that! You can't stay here all day!" she growled, stepping closer.
"Let me guess, you're here to loot the place with your clairvoyance?" Aizen said, "The all-powerful Druid had a hard time pinpointing items, hmm?" Aizen mocked.
The Druid's jaws clenched, her teeth grinding as her glare intensified, burning with fury. "Give me that box!" she demanded again.
Aizen drew his white-hot blade again and shook his head, "I don't think so." He tried to move away from the desk to get to the door, but the Druid blocked his path, readying her light orbs once more.
"A three-story drop is enough to kill any Voidling!" she threatened, her anger turning to rage. Aizen sensed her intent to kill. Whatever was in the box was essential to her. However, she changed her demeanor in a flash, looking wide-eyed and innocent, placing her finger on her lips, "Dare to take a tumble, my dear?"
Aizen glanced at the window behind him and then back at the Druid. " It's a Good thing I'm not your average Voidling!" he sneered. Having had enough of the Druid, Aizen decided it was time to leave.
Without warning, Aizen used his palm to launch a barrier at the Druid, causing a heavy impact. The barrier's power was so strong that it shredded the door frame and knocked the Druid into the hallway. Aizen swiftly moved through the doorway after sliding across the desk. However, as he tried to rush past the fallen Druid, she kicked his feet out from under him. Aizen rolled down the hallway but quickly regained his footing, coming face-to-face with his enemy.
The Druid scrambled to her feet, her movements quick and fluid. With a furious yell, she thrust her hands forward, sending twin beams of scorching light hurtling toward Aizen. In a quick reflex, Aizen dodged the first beam and deflected the second with his blade. The Druid was furious and drew a dagger from beneath her cloak, then charged at Aizen down the hallway, screaming at the top of her lungs. With determination, Aizen lifted his sword and charged towards his opponent. Their blades clashed, producing bright sparks. The Druid's blade was as radiantly white-hot as Aizen's. Their movements were fast and precise, and as they fought up and down the hallway, their clashing swords sent sparks flying in every direction.
The two warriors' scorching blades effortlessly sliced through the house's walls, leaving scorch marks and burning holes in their wake. The flying sparks singed their cloaks, causing burn marks on the neglected walls. Finally, their blades met, and they pushed against each other in a tense standoff, with their weapons grinding against one another.
"Don't think you're special, Voidling!" the Druid cried maniacally as she leaned against Aizen's blade. Aizen scowled and pushed back, but the Druid didn't give up and used the momentum to jump back to the entryway of the study. Suddenly, a tremendous ball of light appeared between her palms, pushing against and condensing it. Then, she let loose the energy that shattered, taking the form of serpents. The serpents darted through the air directly toward Aizen. In a hurry, Aizen barrelled down the hallway towards the ruined stairwell, using the force stones to propel himself.
The serpents trailed behind Aizen at lightning speed as he vaulted into the stairless stairwell. He slid against the walls of the rotunda stairwell, narrowly escaping the barrage of light snakes for only a moment. Aizen used the force stones to create a barrier between himself and the wall for protection with one hand and the other to propel himself forward with enough speed to avoid the Druid's homing attack. The serpents hissed viciously as they struck the walls around him, igniting them into flames and casting dust and debris around him. He flew onto the second floor, landing with a roll, and fled down the hallway.
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The light serpents were homing in on him, rigidly snaking through the air. Aizen careened down the second-floor hallway, attempting to dodge the remaining serpents of light, but caught a glancing blow on the hip, leaving a searing burn on his left hip. Aizen spun around, groaning in pain, clasping his hip with his hand and feeling his charred skin that stung as he touched it.
The pain was sharp, and Aizen persisted with deep breaths. He heard the Druid's high-pitched laugh above him. He took a deep breath and directed his right palm upward, then released an acute wave of force energy into the ceiling, causing it to collapse.
As she fell through the third floor, she felt the Voidling's eyes upon her. He was quick and moved with deadly intent. He was upon her in seconds. His eyes were in front of hers in a flash while still midair. The Druid was caught in a moment of weakness and confusion. She felt like the Voidling was about to help her land gently on the ground. His arm even graced the small of her back before she caught the glimmer of his scorching blade aimed directly at her chest.
She snapped back, using a burst of light to blind and repel her from her enemy, blasting away, landing near the stairwell. She panicked, gasping for breath. She barely managed to dodge Aizen's lethal stab. The Druid was agitated. She never imagined a Voidling could wield such speed and power. Never in her years has she seen such a phenomenon.
Aizen stood firm. His eyes locked with the Druids. Smoke began to billow from the stairwell as the third floor was engulfed with flames from their duel. Aizen knew it would not be long before the entire house was in flames. He needed to end this conflict before he was trapped.
The Druid gripped her dagger tightly. The blade began to hum as it got brighter and brighter, absorbing her power. The Druid wavered between anger and fear. Aizen could feel it. The way she looked at him, Aizen could tell she was ambivalent.
The two stood in the second-floor hallway, waiting for the other to make their move. The upstairs was engulfed in a fiery frenzy now; Aizen could feel the tremendous flaring heat beat against his skin through the hole in the ceiling. Aizen heard the collapsing furniture and the shattering of windows and mirrors echoing above.
The hairs on Aizen's neck stood still. The corpses were likely headed to the house. It would not be long before those fiends took over the bottom floor. Aizen wracked his brain; he could not flee, or the Druid would follow him, and turning his back to her was no longer an option.
"I have a proposition," Aizen said, slightly lowering his guard. The Druid turned her head and squinted at the Voidling.
"What? Are you going to surrender?" She questioned impishly.
"Hardly," Aizen said with a weak smile. The Druid's lips curled, and she glared at Aizen with fury.
"Well? Out with it!" The Druid snarled. Aizen raised his head and eased his stance. He glanced out the nearby window and watched as corpse after corpse stumbled toward the mansion.
"I say we go our separate ways. Our duel may be attracting some unwanted company. I propose we end this."
"I propose you shut your mouth and hand over that box!"
"I cannot. I have a job to do."
"You lowly scavengers, always trying to help those pampered fools within their flimsy walls. All they do is whine, cry, and hide from the world, desperately clinging to what's left." The Druid shook with anger.
"That may be so..."
"You know it to be true." The Druid moved closer to the Voidling, "Those within the walls have grown soft. They would rather fight themselves than fight the dead. But we are different..." The flames above began to seep through the ceiling.
The tops of the walls were charring from the fire. Smoke flowed high along the ceilings, slowly filling the room. The adversaries paid no mind to the reek. Their eyes were locked on the other. The Druid dared not look away from the Voidling, still terrified from her falling encounter. She closed half the distance between the Voidling and herself, hoping to catch him with his guard down.
The Druid continued, "We have true power. We brave these wild lands for our own means. So what if you have a job to do? Why not take everything for yourself and leave that client of yours in the wind?"
"I see your point, and it's tempting. But even so, I cannot hand over this box."
The Druid paused her step. Her face wrinkled in anger. The flames along the walls were now down to the floor and creeping along the edges of the floor. The stairwell became impassable as it became a whirling tornado of flames and smoke descending to the floor below. Aizen heard the wails of the corpses and the smell of burning flesh from below.
Aizen had assumed the bottom floor was overrun with those monsters, but he did not find any satisfaction in confirming his assumption. The corpses were another obstacle he had to avoid. If his duel with the Druid were to continue, he needed to vacate the building before it collapsed on them both. The Druid opened her mouth to speak, but Aizen cut her off.
"I admit your skills are deft, but our duel has gone on long enough. Let's end this before the corpses show up...or worse." Aizen demanded.
The Druid screamed as she balled up a sizeable light charge and released it upon Aizen. Aizen barreled towards the woman, sliding beneath the spell, and pounced at the Druid, deflecting the Druid's blade. The ball of light zipped and crashed into the opposite end of the home.
Aizen had barely made a connecting blow to the Druid's midsection with a strike from his amethyst stone and his fist before a bright light blinded his vision. Aizen felt the deafening boom reverberate in his chest before the ear-piercing explosion completely erased the opposite end of the home. The shockwave was followed by an immense gust of wind that sent them flying down the hallway, through a door, and out a window.
They landed on the mansion's side yard, along with shards of wood, brick, glass, and other pieces of debris. The rest of the house collapsed in on itself, crushing the corpses under the weight of debris on the first floor. Aizen scrambled to his feet, but a sharp pain lanced through his side. He gasped, pressing a hand against the searing wound. Blood trickled through his fingers, the pain momentarily blinding him. His skin was burned by the Druid's light serpents, but luckily, it wasn't serious. Aizen quickly toughened up and prepared himself; other corpses in the area were already upon them. Aizen created a wide barrier with both hands and pushed it forward into the crowd of corpses. He began to run towards the mansion's front lawn and back toward town.
The corpses that were in the house wailed as they burned and struggled beneath the weight of the house's debris. Aizen then heard the Druid pursuing him. She screamed as she fired off light beam after light beam at Aizen and the surrounding corpses. Aizen ducked behind some overgrown bushes that erupted into flames and weaved about a courtyard of mossy statues that were instantly reduced to dust.
Aizen entered a clearing and quickly approached a wall. He glanced back at the Druid, who had entered a full sprint, and behind her was a horde of corpses also in pursuit. Aizen decided it was time to exit the property. He balled his fists and activated a zircon stone on both of his bracers, and with a hop, skip, and forceful thrust, the wall was blown to pieces by the manipulative earth stone, Aizen's favorite. He then ran through the gap in the wall and used his amethyst force stone to propel him up and onto a nearby roof.
When the Druid caught up to Aizen, he had already hopped onto the next rooftop. She screamed and hissed, stomping her feet in a fit of rage. Her heavy breathing made her more wicked than previously, her face covered in soot and her body covered in ash.
"Everything was fine before you showed up!" she growled. "You should have died when you fell for the bell alarm at the entrance, but of course, you're some battle-hardened scavenger- and a Voidling at that."
"So that was you with the bell?" Aizen asked quite inquisitively.
"Who else would it have been!?" the Druid cried angrily. Aizen smirked. Before the fight, he had figured out that the Druid had laid the trap. He thought it was clever despite its simplicity.
Her eyes were wide and obsessively focused on the Voidling. She exhaustingly laughed just slightly beneath her breath - "I'm sick of this game we play. I attack you, then you run, then you pick a fight. Then, suddenly, you want to talk it out like civil idiots."
Aizen looked upon the Druid. She had removed her hood, and her red hair flowed in the calm, breezy wind like the smoke of the burning home in the background. For a moment, the woman reminded Aizen of someone he knew long ago. That girl also had red hair, but it was obviously not the same person. He shook his head at the thought.
The sun shone down on the adversaries. Aizen knew he was at a disadvantage. The sun was unobstructed by any clouds; the Druid's power was likely enhanced by the sun's light. This worried Aizen; while his aetherite gems allow him to manipulate the elements, they are not a replacement for Druid sorcery. A Druid's power can be enriched depending on the environment if the conditions are met. A day like this one beneath the unobscured sun. . . Aizen readied himself.
The Druid smiled wickedly before leaping the gap between them and descending upon the Voidling. Their blades clashed, and sparks flew. Aizen recognized immediately that the Druid's speed had increased dramatically. The slices and thrusts of her blade were quick. Aizen focused on dodging a deflecting. He could not accurately defend the Druid's swift strikes. Slowly, the Voidling overwhelmed him, her speed increasing with each swing of her blade, so Aizen went on the offensive.
Aizen dodged a horizontal slice from the Druid, ducking low and sliding back, then he activated his zircon earth stone and pointed two fingers downward. Digging deep, sensing the composite of the earth below, and with a pull of his arm and directed with his two fingers at his enemy, Aizen summoned a rock pillar from the ground with immense speed. The pillar crashed through the floors below, bursting through the roof, striking the Druid in her mid-section and knocking her back, but not for long.
She was on her feet in a flash and fired homing light beams upon the Voidling. Aizen placed both hands on the roof and summoned a more sizeable pillar that rose up through the house directly beneath him, smashing through the roof and raising him up like a platform. Aizen leaped from the pillar at its apex, using its upward trajectory to propel him into the air. At the peak of his leap, he unleashed a barrage of force waves upon the Druid. He wreaked havoc upon the home, crushing it under the might of powerful force waves that billowed plumes and clouds of dust after each impact as the house was reduced to rubble.
Aizen was naive to think the barrage was enough to defeat his enemy. As he fell, a large cloud of smoke blocked his view. Aizen activated an opal stone on his belt, summoning an upward gust of wind that helped him glide down to a nearby roof, clear the cloud of dust, and was stunned to see that the Druid had disappeared.
'Where!' Aizen panicked, whipping his head around, looking for a sign of the Druid. Suddenly, light beams burst from all sides of the home below, soaring high. The beams twirled tightly on themselves and then scattered, arcing like an umbrella, turning downward, and speeding directly at Aizen. Aizen did not hesitate; with a burst of his amethyst force stone, he rocketed off the roof, leaping over several homes as the beams trailed behind him.
Aizen landed with a roll and kicked off with his foot as he dodged beam after beam, each heavily impacting the roof and lighting it ablaze. Aizen hopped down from the roof to ground level and dove through a nearby window. Aizen ran through the house, dodging the beams as they zipped by, missing their mark, and burst through the walls and ceiling, striking all surfaces that erupted immediately, detonating into sparks and wild, all-consuming flames.
Aizen dug deep with his free hand in a scooping motion, feeling the weight of the energy in his palm from the amethyst stone gathering into a bright sphere of surging purple energy; then, he hurled his hand forward at the home's wall. The surge of force energy flew from Aizen's palm and impacted the wall, causing it to explode into tiny shards of wooden debris, creating a large hole. On the other side were a pair of stumbling corpses who were shredded by the debris.
Aizen exited the hole and leaped up to the roof to escape the oncoming corpses on the street, thrashing about with their hands and feet, wailing as they attempted to cling onto Aizen. Landing on the roof, Aizen spun around and quickly deflected the final beam from his adversary. She stood on the roof of the building across from him. The fire from her attacks had started to rage, igniting nearby buildings into raging fires. It would not be long before the whole town was consumed in flames.