Metal met wood as Shix and Krista collided once more, both women were anxious to test their ability against an opponent of similar skill, so they wasted little time. Shix took the offensive first, owing to the fact that she had the advantage of being able to near instantly ko Krista if she got a hold on her.

Strike after strike, parry after parry, Shix just couldn’t land a deciding hit on her opponent. In fact, it was Krista who took the opportunity to poke the holes in her opponent’s offense. It didn’t take long for Shix to realize her enemy had her beat when it came to sword fighting, to her immense frustration.

Then Shix saw a chance, Krista stepped too far forward while going for a downward strike, leaving herself open to be grabbed. With no hesitation, she lunched to grab Krista, but that was just what Krista was hoping for, “Fierce!”

The griffin tackled Shix to the floor and pinned both the girls arm to the floor looking over her triumphantly. Krista was quick to support bringing her blade close to Shix’s neck.

She was going to order Shix to yield until she heard Phive call out from afar, “Speedy!” Something charged her from behind, the scarecrow doll that she had all but forgotten. The doll faced her again and charged, but Krista had seen this thing attack before and was more than ready to cut it in half, “Well there goes Speedy.”

Shix, immediately, got back on her feet and was breathing heavily, “Took you long enough.”

“We both know if I got involved, you would have gotten pissy, plus saving you cost Speedy, it’s going to take me a whole day to repair him!” complained Phive.

“Okay fine, I owe you one,” relented Shix.

“Plus, while I was observing you two fight, I learned a few things, and I have a little theory,” Phive commented, “You’re untethered aren’t you?”

Shix gasped and the roaring crowd only got louder, “No way she’s untethered!”

“Then why hasn’t she used any wattiez?” retorted Phive, “She has a winged griffin, she’s either blessed with riches or strength, there’s no way she could be untethered!”

Krista didn’t like how fast he came to this conclusion; most people would have gone through a bunch of different possibilities before landed there. Not only that, but he sounded so sure of himself. Was it just really good intuition, or is it because he’s affiliated with Raven, another untethered and knows a lot about them? Either option wasn’t particularly good for her.

“First Raven and now this girl, Krisha was it?” Shix said, “Does being untethered just mean you’re one tough S.O.B? Doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you though, you’ve already proved I can’t do that. Phive, take some more energy, we’re using Bits.”

His face immediately lit up, “Raven’s right there, are you sure about this?”

“Well, because of a certain somebody, we only have five minutes more to take her down, so yes, we’re doing this.”

“Well don’t mind if I do,” Phive said as he grabbed a hold of Shix’s arm. Shix’s aura started to rapidly deplete until hers reached a size even smaller than Amelia’s, “Bits!”

The massive doll stood from its crouching position and took its place behind Phive and Shix. From here Krista was able to get a good look at it. Slightly smaller than Derek, it had relatively human characteristics. That is except its body, was a patchwork of colors, black, purple, green, blue, magenta, and its face which belonged to an ursa. There didn’t seem to be any actual rhyme or reason to strange colors and head, they were probably just the materials available to Phive at the time.

“ This should be fun,” thought Krista as she readied her blade, “Bring it!”

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Shix jumped on top of Bits’s shoulder and pointed her wooden blade at Krista, “You got it!”

Bits lumbered forward with a speed befitting something of that size. A bit of a disappointment considering the speeds Derek had displayed before. In fact, it didn’t seem like Bits had any of the benefits that Derek had as he continually walked towards Krista, not even caring when she lobbed off the shoulder carrying Shix.

Shix jumped off Bits’s arm before the attack could also hit her, striking at Krista from above. With all of Shix’s weight behind her, Krista buckled under the attack. Shix wasn’t going to let this chance slip by as she continued to press her attack. Luckily, Fierce was able to trip Shix with one of her wings before biting on her arm, forcing her to release her wooden sword.

“You little!” cried Shix as she fell to her back.

Bits lunged to her rescue, stopping her fall. Unfortunately, Bits lost its other arm and a leg for its efforts as Krista slashed off the arm and Fierce tore off a leg, sending the giant tumbling. For extra careful measure, Krista also took the liberty of cutting Bits’s head off.

With him incapacitated, Krista could put her focus back on Shix alongside Fierce, “Ready for the last round?”

In a rage, Shix lunged at Krista. A desperate bit to try and get a hold of her. It would have been easy enough for Krista to slice her unarmed opponent, but she was better than that. Instead, she would dodge to the side and her with the butt of the blade, a more fitting end to this enjoyable brawl. Only as she tried, she felt something holding her in place, Bits’s arm!

“Should’ve watched your feet,” said Shix as she constricted herself behind Krista, getting her in a chokehold.

“…off…me” squeaked Krista, but she could already feel herself quickly losing all her strength. Even if Shix didn’t have to ability to sap her strength, the chokehold would have been more than enough to knock her unconscious. Even Fierce wasn’t going to be off any help at this point as the bits of Bits moved around individually, harassing the young griffin.

“With only seconds left too?” Shix teased, “Oh well, better luck next… better luck next… what the?”

From behind, Krista could feel Shix’s grip loosen, enough to catch her breath, but it didn’t let go. Actually, Krista felt Shix actively trying to pull away from her, but she was unable too.

“Your eyes!” realized Krista. They were pitch black, just like that time with Damien.

Shix was violently struggling to get off of Krista, yet her arms refused to unclasp themselves from around her neck, “Let go! What are you even doing, I thought she was untethered?! Phi-” Then she collapsed.

“Shix!” Phive angrily yelled. His face turned to a deep shade of red as he clasped his fist, “Una!”

Another doll slinked from the shadows, one that looked like a girl. A human woman, probably in her twenties with long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a warm freckled face.

“Una, atta-” Phive slumped over and the doll followed suit, as a shadowy figure held him from his hip after having struck him on the back of the neck. The roaring crowd went silent as the unexpected attacker instantly defeated one of the new champions.

“Ten minutes have past, this is your win Chief Rathina,” Raven said looking quite frustrated, “I’m afraid that I’ll have to report this to Dante. Krista, if you would, could you carry Shix?”

“Y-Yeah, sure…” Krista said unsure of herself. She took another look at Una, probably the most unassuming out of all the dolls Phive had used but also the one that left her with the most unease, “What about the dolls, do we just leave them there.”

“They’ll follow,” he simply said. As if hearing his command, the dolls came to life, slowly marching behind Raven and Phive, including Bits who was still in pieces.

As Krista lifted Shix she noticed something underneath her, a weapon, a black dagger there. Just like before, a weapon was created. She took it and placed it in her pouch, she’d have to have a talk with Damien about this later.

“There we have it everyone, this is my- our win!” Rathina cried through the silence, “Why not give some applauses for out new champion, Krisha!”

Congratulations and cheers came from the crowd once more, “Good job!”

“I was really getting tired of those jerks beating everyone down!”

“That was awesome, when will we be able to see you again?”

“Chief Rathina, do you remember your promise to me?!” shouted Krista over the crowd.

“But of course, if it’s in my power to give, it’s yours!” shouted Rathina magnanimously.

“Then, I’d like you to come to Shining Twilight’s meeting, and I want you forget about having Phive and Shix as your bodyguards.