Unity watched as Crow dropped back down, bleary eyes and tumbling dust obscuring the boy’s form from his vision. He felt a stab of worry at the sight of blonde hair disappearing amid pulverised mortar, then a cauterising rush of fury.

Worrying over a damned natural because he can’t think a charge through before making it, fucking typical.

The undead moved on the fallen boy, a sudden, casual lethargy to its motion. Peculiar. It wasn’t like one of the reanimated to be so leisurely when destroying an opponent, they were of a sort to kill like executioners, not play like cats.

His mind was too addled for the curiosity, and he tucked it away to be explored later. Forcing himself to stand.

Unity’s body was reluctant to obey. It cried in pain with every inch, throbbed with misery even while obeying. Screamed with the urge to relax and drop limp to the ground regardles of his input. It took all he had to rise at all, and the effort left him unable to take even a single step once he did.

A tremble seized him, leaving him to stare with impotent muscles and chattering teeth as the enemy raised its blade to bring down on Crow. Fear birthed the shaking; stemming itself from the knowledge that healing magic and transportation would do little to save a contestant whose skull or spine were run through. Death would claim them long before the Sieve’s medics.

It took Unity a moment to realise he felt shaking stem from more than just himself, glancing down at the slate wrapped across him.

Perfect timing. He thought, dimly. There’s no better moment for a no-name mystic to charge in and get themselves crushed along with us.

Cursing the world, the Sieve, himself and, above all, Crow, he charged.

Gem felt the thrill of Cutaris moments before she struck the ground, her bones holding strong against the impact as she rolled- turning her fall to a run.

The wind died instantly, stifled as her speed halved, then quartered. It still brought a grin to her as she took off, barely even glancing at the spire before disappearing into its open doors.

She sprinted halfway down the stone stairs, then slowed to a walk for the latter part- returning to her run only as light shining from ahead revealed the obfuscated path to be free of obstructions.

In moments she was upon the source, climbing quickly through the jagged gap marring a wall, fighting back the elation stirring within her at the sounds of battle from the other side.

Gem fell from the breach, chips of stone torn from the passage to drop with her. She was up in an instant, staring ahead and taking in the sight before her.

The dark skinned girl Karma had introduced her to stood in one corner, eyes wide and hands splayed as magic leaked from them. Her gaze was locked on a towering figure in black armour, standing over two slumped figures. A boy and a girl, both of golden blonde hair.

Even were it not for her slate’s sudden silence identifying her teammates, Gem would have found little trouble in deciding which was the enemy.

She brought her palms together, feeling Cutaris coil inside her like smoke dragging behind a wind. The energy was life itself, bringing an ecstatic gasp to her lips as she directed it- so wonderful that Gem couldn’t help but hold the power for a moment longer once it was mustered.

The towering figure raised a blade blacker than night as it came within reach of the slumped boy, snapping Gem from her stupor and urging her to act. She loosed the magic, aiming low and true.

It brought a smile to her face as the bolt of luminous, cyan power erupted against her target’s back with heat and force both.

Gem was running by the time the flash died enough to reveal her foe. The armoured giant was unsteady, staggering and assailed by a boy she almost failed to recognise. Almost.

Unity Eden’s black hair was greyed by dust and slick with sweat, yet its red streak was unmissable as he moved towards the enemy with hands clutched tight about blistering magic. His body was compacted and crouched, steps rapid and measured.

The giant barely warded him off, sending him to roll away with a blind sword swing. A close thing, as far as Gem could tell. She knew not what the boy’s power would do, but there was enough magic in his fingers for her to guess at the effect's magnitude.

Before Eden had even finished tumbling, she was upon the enemy. It seemed a blur.

Excitement pulled her eyes wide as the dark sword whistled around, clutched in an arm turning faster by far than she’d have expected. Gem avoided it by throwing herself down into a dive, catching a boot to the gut for her trouble.

She retched, stumbled and righted herself barely in time to duck the weapon’s return stroke. The monster closed in, raising a towering shield like a bludgeon before Gem halted it by releasing her stockpiled magic from both hands.

Precious moments came from the counter, and she put them to use by scrambling back. It was a mistake she realised only when the enemy rushed after her, shrinking the space regardless.

Get in close when the enemy is armed. Karma had told her. Turn their weapon’s reach against them. Stupid.

Before she could pay for her blunder, a flash of gold and grey caught the torchlight behind the giant. Gem stared as a grime-smeared face appeared over the enemy’s head, legs locking around the neck and armpit, holding its sword-hand still and outstretched.

Crow felt the undead shift beneath him, its great bulk shaking like a branch snagged by wind.

He held himself steady, closing his legs tight about it for grip and digging fingers deep into the joint of its neck. The undead’s movements turned to thrashes, but he held himself still. Crow’s punches rained with his free hand, landing hard and rapid against the unshielded mask of its face.

Metal screeched as bone throbbed. He ignored both, making of his thoughts a singular edge to plunge deep in the enemy.

A sudden wind at his back warned him of the monster’s run before he felt it. Crow punched heedless of the motion, ignoring it as he had everything else. The breeze was soon replaced by the wall, squeezing his breath away as the undead crushed him between stone and metal.

Unity swore he felt his guts shift as he ran, every step bringing with it a new ripple of pain to tighten his body and rob it of speed. The sight of Crow falling from behind the undead spurred him on, barely proving a match for the jostling deep in his stomach’s pit.

If I have organ damage I’m going to fucking kill whoever added this piece of shit as a target.

His fury proved weaker than the pain, no more than a candle against a flood. Unity held his breath, let the frigid waters wash over him and fought through the numbing of his flesh and muscle.

One step at a time. This pathetic, wretched body is mine. Mine. It will obey me.

He’d barely taken another when a flash of silver and white streaked past him, breathing new life into his fury.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

And here she comes to save the day. Just fucking perfect.

Gem ran as the boy fell, her feet beating the ground like a drum and casting her forth as a crossbow would its bolt. Magic leapt to her hands just as she neared it, detonating against the tower shield and spitting white-hot sparks to sear the ground.

The sword darted out with a predictable speed and foreseeable aim, rattling as Gem slapped it to one side before closing in on its wielder. Its shield came next, meeting Gem’s shoulder with a painful, jarring thud and forcing her a step back.

She remained on her feet, magic already writhing back to her hands. Thoughts already snapping back to her enemy. When it moved in she mirrored the motion.

Just as Karma had instructed.

Neither blade nor shield had any room to work, rendering the monster’s great strength useless. Gem reached down for one of the its legs, ensnaring it as she pushed with a shoulder to break the monster’s balance.

It might have uprooted a tree, yet the giant was barely even staggered.

Gem released her hold, throwing herself to one side as the sword came down. She caught the sight of its angled tip meeting the ground, a half-hand of blade disappearing amid splitting stone before the weapon stopped.

She scrambled to her feet as the undead tore it free, breaking a retreat.

Magic flashed from Gem’s hands, splashing against her enemy’s breastplate and turning the black metal red with heat. The giant seemed not even to notice; charging onwards without an instant’s pause.

The wind screamed as if horrified at the sword’s descent.

It slashed through air as Gem sidestepped, then sent her almost to the ground by whipping around faster than she’d expected. There was no time to right herself before the shield lashed out like a battering ram, emptying her lungs and blurring her eyes.

Gem hit the floor , sliding until something snagged her clothing before rolling five more yards to a stop. Lumbering footsteps brought the enemy atop her before she could scramble to a stand, leaving no time for action. Barely time enough for a thought.

I’m supposed to win.

The black sword didn’t glint or shine as it raised to scrape the ceiling. Made no more sound than it had refraction. As dead as the monster that held it.

Yet the weapon never fell.

With a maddening cry, a boy lunged forth from the corner of Gem’s eye. His clothing was torn and scuffed, flesh bruised and pale. Every three of his steps took him as far as two of Gem’s, half from the pain clearly threading them, half from the weakness of his legs.

He seemed akin to a hero from the tales of old, leaping in to the fray. Gem had just enough time to recognise him as Unity Eden before he landed atop one of the armoured figure’s shoulders.

A red flash burned the air for a moment, accompanied by the screeching of metal and popping of boiled moisture. The sight made Gem wince, obfuscating her enemy for a single instant.

When her sight cleared she saw the boy rolling as he dropped from its shoulder, straightening into a sprint as he landed and taking off with barely a moment’s hesitation. The monster turned after him, motion angling one shoulder into Gem’s line of sight.

She saw grey marring the pristine black of its armour; edging a warped and buckled plate that seemed to have caught a meteor.

Gem marvelled at the damage, recalling vividly how her own magic had rebound from the metal. Whatever Eden had done, he’d done it well.

The knowledge birthed anger to spice her blood.

A single step was all the monster got before Gem was on her feet, hands outstretched once more and building yet another mass of power. She let it loose as the giant turned, grinning while the jet of molten cyan magic detonated against her target’s face with a blast so satisfying it threatened to make her giggle like a child.

She stifled the emotion, stepping back as she funnelled more of her magic reserves to burn and coil- readying another projectile before the heat of her first had disappeared.

Something struck the monster before she could release it; too fast to leave her eyes with anything but its colouration. The blue blur broke into shrapnel, barely fazing the monster but bringing Gem the moment she needed to hurl her second blast.

A boy threw himself at the giant just as Gem’s magic met its armour, his shoulder crunching into the enemy’s side with a speed and force that astounded even her.

It twisted, yet he’d ducked back from its blade before the weapon was even halfway to his throat.

Behind the beast, between it and Gem, the air contorted- splitting into an ovular, crimson ring. A girl erupted from it like ash spat free of a volcano, slashing a kick into the turned back of the enemy before leaping away to disappear back through the magical gate.

Stop. Gem found herself urging, voice loud in her own thoughts. I’m supposed to destroy it. Me alone.

The mystics paid no heed to her silent protests.

She watched as the blonde boy fought, retreating with a mechanical calm she’d seen exceeded by few others. He evaded each attack with barely a pause between their start, reactions so flawlessly sharp they seemed to border on precognizence.

In spite of his evasive prowess, Gem saw the sword grow nearer with every strike. She stared, finding herself unable to so much as move as she waited in horror for the inevitable.

Then another red-rimmed oval appeared, this time to the right of the creature.

The blonde girl landed another kick, giving the giant pause enough for the boy to strike with his own as she retreated again. Almost before Gem knew what was happening, the boy was falling back from another flurry of blows- seemingly as far away as he’d ever been before.

Perfect teamwork. She realised, staring in awe. What length of experience was needed for this?

Their synchronicity threatened to leave Gem still and inert in her amazement. She forced herself to move, to act, rushing into motion as she watched the sword flicker nearer and nearer the boy’s throat.

Magic writhed and thrashed in her grip, fighting for freedom even as she charged the monster. The collision was just a moment after Gem let the energy fly.

Crow felt the air stroke him as he ducked under the undead’s blow; thick, scarred metal making a serviceable fan as it passed overhead. He lunged while it hissed by, lancing his enemy with a fist and grinning as the metal of its plate groaned moreso than his knuckles at the impact.

A flash seared his eyes, casting the great figure in shadow as a sea of light burned around it. The sight shocked Crow into a near fatal inactivity as its blade came back around.

Leaping back he saw curling smoke rise from the enemy’s back. Astra lunged from another gate, and a grin sprouted across his lips as the enemy swung for her more sluggishly than he’d yet seen.

His sister evaded the monster’s shield by twice the margin Crow had its sword, disappearing back into her gate before the swing had even finished. He closed after her without hesitation.

Strike, dodge, strike, dodge. Crow and Astra beat out a constant and unerring rhythm against the metalled limbs of their enemy. Sporadic interruptions came from afar, be it by the hand of the black skinned girl or the newcomer Crow’s eyes had been too preoccupied to yet seek out.

Even with the foe’s swiftness stripped away by the wear of battle, he found himself unable to look away from it. Scrutinising every motion, every shuddering reaction, to gauge what remained of its strength.

Another of his blows left steel buckled where it had been flat, then Astra robbed the lumbering brute of its balance as he darted back from reach. Crow saw his chance.

Light burned again, turning the room pale and blue as an arcane glare melted shadow and smothered firelight. He was moving before the hissing sparks of magical residue had even reached the floor

Astra barely had time to feel the ground under her heel before she saw Crow charge in.

For a moment she stared, silenced and stilled by the sight before her- mind whirring through a hundred possibilities, reaching a conclusion only when her brother was nearly upon his target.

He’s insane. She realised, hurling her magic forth and trying to peel back the curtains of reality as fast as they would yield.

It was a thousand times too slow.

The blade moved as a black blur, carried at a suddenly hightened speed with an abruptly redoubled strength. It hissed through the air just for a moment, then disappeared behind the undead’s bulk as its arc ended.

Crow seemed to follow; body flying with a sudden twist at the sword’s kiss. Astra saw flecking red tint the air for a moment before he landed, rolling limply into the far wall with a sickening speed.

She didn’t move. Sound died in the world, colour perished. All became nought to her, save Crow’s body. Unmoving, limbs splayed outwards and face turned down as blood streamed from parted lips to wet his chest.

Then the monster was moving for Astra, and the luxury of concern for her brother was stripped away.

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Circa 1,195 I.E.