Iris gritted her teeth, preparing herself for the fight Bellona threw her in. She looked around her in the empty road beyond the gate and tried to plan a course of action. She knew she would have to draw on her strength to fight Bellona, yet she was unsure just what Bellona was capable of or how far the apparent furious Templarian would go. Iris lowered herself into a fighting stance and the air around her skin began to hum and crackle with energy.

“Too slow!” Bellona howled as she launched forward, breaking the ground under her feet. Iris could barely raise her sword in time as Bellona’s hammer came sideways, catching Iris’s sword and sending the mortal sideways and to the ground.

Iris groaned as she held her sore arm, shaking from the impact. Before Iris could correct herself, she saw Bellona run towards her again and prepare to bring the hammer down on Iris’s head. Before the hammer could make contact, Iris knelt backwards as the hammer struck the ground and broke the earth. Iris lifted her arm just in time to block a kick from Bellona as she wrapped her arm around the Templarian’s leg and rolled under her.

Bellona was caught off balance and as Iris made the manoeuvre she was knocked to the ground with Iris right behind her and Bellona’s back exposed. As Iris rose to her feet and lifted her sword, Bellona growled and twisted around as a gold shield unfolded from the gauntlet of her free hand, catching the mighty Helion as the air cracked with energy as the sword collided.

Bellona quickly lifted the hammer and struck it against her shield, releasing a powerful ear-piercing shockwave that sent Iris backwards. With breathing room, Bellona twisted her hammer and the weapon made strange sounds as the metalwork folded back into the shape of a sword.

Iris corrected herself but before she could prepare herself, Bellona was already on her and bashed her with the mighty shield, turning Iris’s vision white and knocking the air out of her lungs. Already exhausted, she hit the ground while trying to focus. As she rolled over she saw Bellona raise her sword to cut Iris down.

Bellona watched as before her sword could cut Iris down, she disappeared into a bolt of lightning and reappeared several paces away, sending out a deafening thunderclap and lighting the grass on fire with blue flames.

“That’s a neat trick, that magic of yours,” Bellona admired under her breath.

“What the hell is this all about?” Iris called out while trying to get back up onto her feet.

“You attacked the king,” Bellona growled while lifting her sword onto her shoulders. “As Lord Commander of the King’s Watch, I can’t let that go.”

Iris scoffed as she could feel how much of a bad liar Bellona was. “What is this really about? Is this about me and Arylos?”

“Now why would I care about any of that compared to what you have done?” Bellona growled as her shield folded back up into her gauntlet.

“Then stop it with the games and talk to me like an adult,” Iris growled in return while lowering her sword.

“Fine then,” Bellona sighed while rolling her eyes. She twisted the handle on her sword and the blade broke apart into various parts that all flew apart while tethered by a chain. “You almost made me break my promise!” the Templarian howled as she brought the transforming weapon down and the metal parts lashed out like a whip.

Iris caught the metal flail just in time as it struck her sword, knocking it out of her hand as parts of the flail grazed her skin and left small cuts. Iris turned and watched her sword land far away from her. Iris reached out her bruised hand, still stinging from the pain as Bellona brought the flail back around.

Iris heard the weapon in the air and rolled forward out of the way and sprinted for her sword. The mortal girl felt her lungs burn as she ran away, trying to stay away from the deadly weapon. She came to the sword and slid to the ground as she picked it back up and turned back to Bellona right as the flail was making another lashing motion. Iris lurched to the side as her body took the form of lightning once more, moving her out of the way of the flail without time slowing down around her.

Iris looked down at her hand as she realised that she teleported without thinking about it, finding a new level of her strength. She didn’t have long to admire it as Bellona’s flail moved even faster than normal and nearly struck Iris as she ran out of the way.

I have to get closer, this flail of hers is going to kill me, Iris strategised. She clenched her fist and ran forwards, feeling the air hum around her. As she blinked, thunder sounded around her as she saw that she was now closer to Bellona than before, closing the distance.

Bellona snarled and pulled back on her flail and the chained weapon returned to her and began reforming the sword. Iris continued running closer as Bellona thrusted the sword and it folded into a long spear. Iris stopped just before the spear fully formed and Bellona jumped into the air and tried to skewer Iris with the tip of the spear.

Iris ducked out of the way and with an opening she set her sword burning with white flames as she struck Bellona’s breastplate, the sword bouncing off of the Templarian metal but leaving a dent in it and knocking the wind out of Bellona. Bellona coughed and kicked Iris away and pulled her spear back as it began to fold back into the sword.

Hold on, Iris suddenly realised. Why not her hammer? That would be better at this range.

Iris lifted her sword and Bellona’s fully formed sword started to unfold again. Bellona made a spinning motion and brought the hammer to the side but Iris moved out of the way just in time and made a strike for Bellona’s exposed leg, cutting the skin and causing Bellona to grunt as blood spilled.

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Iris accepted her miracle before moving away to get out of range, still considering how to move next. Wait a minute, she went to the sword first, why? She thought to herself while planning her next move.

Bellona slowly turned around and shook the annoying pain from her mind. She then twisted the hilt of her hammer as it folded back into a sword before slowly turning back into a spear.

Wait! That’s it! Iris realised as a plan hit her. She can only change from certain weapons to others. The sword must be a common point to change into all weapons. So to make another weapon, she has to turn it back into a sword first!

Iris had her plan. She waited until Bellona ran forward with her spear before calling on her strength. Instinctively, Iris found herself teleported backwards. As expected, Iris watched Bellona turn the spear over and it folded back into a sword before quickly breaking back apart into the dangerous flail.

Iris smiled as she watched Bellona come down with the flail. Iris drew on her strength again as time froze around her and she ran towards Bellona, moving out of the way of the flail. As she came closer, Iris raised her sword up and prepared to strike the frozen Templarian. Yet before her sword could make contact, a strange barrier blocked the sword and sent energy up Iris’s arms, making her muscles clench and wrack her with incredible pain.

Iris pulled the sword away and released her hold on her strength and time quickly resumed. Bellona turned around and struck Iris across the face and followed up with a spinning strike from her flail that Iris barely stopped before the tail of the chained whip snaked around and cut across Iris’s back.

Iris groaned and moved out of the way while wiping blood from her lip and feeling the burn of the cuts on her back. “What the hell was that?” she whispered under her breath.

“You’re not the first Jumper I’ve fought, Iris,” Bellona teased as her flail folded back into a sword. “Warping is rare even amongst Templarians, but easily stoppable provided you know how.”

“What do you mean?” Iris groaned while massaging her still sore arms.

“A little enchantment called ‘Thorns’,” Bellona explained with a wave of her hand. As she did, glowing purple thorned tendrils snaked around her body like wild serpents. “It’s simple but powerful; it deflects energy back to the source. Warping is always unique but yours is based on lightning as energy..”

“So it deflects my own power back to me,” Iris realised while cursing herself. Bellona is good.

“Little thing about us Templarians; we perfected the art of war,” Bellona boasted while lifting her sword onto her shoulders. “Lightning is just energy and can be redirected. I figured you would use that to stab me in the back.”

“Kh’so,” Iris cursed under her breath in her native tongue. She gripped her sword tight and bathed her body in flames as her hair slowly turned silver and her eyes turned blue. “You can’t prepare for everything,” she taunted in a growling voice.

“Actually against you, I can,” Bellona taunted in return, putting weight back on her injured leg. Iris watched as the cut in the Templarian’s leg slowly healed over to form a dull scar.

Iris quickly leapt back up to her feet just as Bellona’s sword began to unfold back into the flail. Iris ran backwards to get away but Bellona lashed out with the horrid weapon.

Iris felt her body make the mistake before her mind could correct it. As she watched the flail come to her, she lifted her free arm to instinctively cover her face. Iris’s instincts kicked in as she watched in near slow motion as the bladed flail caught on her arm and began to wrap around it. Iris realised her mistake and pulled her arm away but the blades dug into her skin like barbs and refused to let her go.

Bellona smiled and pulled on the flail. Iris felt nothing as she watched the bladed weapon rapidly and violently lash at her arm, shredding her skin and muscle nearly to the bone. The blinding pain didn’t set in until the flail was pulled free from her and Iris dropped her sword, clutching her destroyed arm and falling to her knees.

Iris felt the blood pool on her armour as everything about her arm hurt and burned. The exposed muscle and torn sinew was annihilated and each twitch sent a brilliant pain running through her. She howled as all she could do was hold her injured arm, frozen in place by the pain and the realisation of what happened.

Bellona’s expression broke a little as she saw Iris cry out in pain, a part of her heart going out for the mortal girl. She pulled at the flail and it reconstructed her sword as she walked towards Iris. She felt angry for injuring her like this, but she knew it had to be done.

The worst part was that she knew Arylos had to be aware of this, and more importantly will not take kindly to Bellona injuring Iris like this. She wouldn’t be surprised if Arylos was always passively watching Iris when she went out to work the Watch. This chance to vent her anger could quickly backfire.

But more importantly, she was disappointed in Iris; she needed to do this.

Bellona came up to the injured girl and lowered her sword, instinctively reaching for a pouch on her belt and feeling the magic of the stones inside. Yet it was on Iris to accept Bellona’s help.

“Stand up and fight,” Bellona instructed in a stern voice. “You’re a Templarian; losing our arms does not stop us. Heal your wound and cut me down.”

“You know I can’t,” Iris whispered between pained gasps.

“Then what are you; a weak Kaiyumian or a divine Templarian?” Bellona responded, keeping her voice level. “You have to make that choice and that time is coming very quickly for you. Who are you going to be; Nashonaru or Rhamiel?”

Rhamiel. The name rang through Iris’s mind like a deafening bell and she could feel the muscles and skin of her ruined arm twist in response. The name sung with her like a chorus that she had never felt before. As if by instinct, Iris reached out for her sword with her intact arm and swung for Bellona’s legs, only to be stopped by the Templarian dropping her sword down to block the strike.

“Rhamiel it is then,” Bellona commented with a sigh.

Iris roared as her vision slowly turned red and her head swam in foreign emotions. White and blue flames licked her body as she slowly rose to her feet as her broken arm dangled. Bellona raised her sword in response and watched as Iris’s sundered arm began to move and the muscle and skin began to reform, stitching itself back together in pure Templarian fashion until her arm was whole once more.

“You wanted war,” Iris growled in an inhuman voice. “I am the war; I alone.”

Bellona smirked and readied herself. “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that before,” she commented, happy to be fighting another of the proud Templarian race.