Each time Rowan attacks her, Violet, who is limiting herself, responds by evading. With the minimal amount of movement needed, she places herself out of harm’s way. While it may sometimes seem like a close call because of how narrowly she avoids his blows, the truth is that there has yet to be an attack that even comes close to touching her. For some reason, however, she refuses to counter attack. Rowan, still invisible, yells out to her.

“What seems to be the problem? Are you so afraid that you’ve lost the ability to do anything but evade!?”

Violet’s face expresses palpable disgust in response, and she answers him. “The way you fight is obviously refined, you’ve probably been trained since young haven’t you? Unlike the girl from earlier, your attacks are much more complex and hard to read, I’ll give you that. Plus, your speed and power seem to have reached a level higher than that of your peers.”

Rowan laughs, stopping his assault for a moment. “Does something so evident even need to be mentioned? How could I ever be compared to that poor peasant?”

She scoffs, uncaring for his arrogance. “But that’s it unfortunately. If you hammer it enough times, even a dull nail will go in. It’d be more surprising if your basic swordsmanship was not at least decent after all this time. Because also unlike her, you have no creativity when it comes to using your [melody]. Once you’ve gone invisible, that’s all there is to it.”

Suddenly, the air ripples near Violet, and an unseen strike aims for her neck. Sadly for Rowan, Violet sees it coming clearly, and she has no intention to simply evade it this time. With one hand, she deflects his sharpsong to the side, or at least what I think to be his sharpsong, since I cannot see him. With the other, she forms a fist, and strikes Rowan, with incredible force, in an area that appears to be his stomach or his torso. In the next moment, Rowan reappears near one of the edges of the battle zone, clutching his stomach and attempting to prevent a stream of regurgitation from oozing out. The smug smile he had been wearing is no longer anywhere to be seen.

Violet wipes her fist, as if she had just killed a bug, and she speaks to him. “When your power spiked, I thought you’d show me something interesting, but I must say I’m sorely disappointed.”

She turns to look at Maestro Lauren. “Can we end this now? That should be enough teaching right? I even gave him advice.”

The Maestro’s face contorts in anger, clearly suggesting that she will not accept this result. Her fists clench, and she seems to be preparing to strike Violet’s head once again. Understanding of her situation, and perhaps reminded of the stinging pain that follows the Maestro’s outburst, Violet raises her hands in defeat. Disappointed, she lets out a loud sigh and returns to face Rowan. The Maestro slowly un-clenches her fists, but her seething anger has not yet fully settled.

Violet speaks a few words meant for Rowan. “... Are you alright? I’m fairly sure I didn't hit you that hard… Can you get up, pipsqueak?”

Replacing his prior confidence, evidently shattered by Violet’s overwhelming strength, Rowan now wears an expression of fury. He must have a difficult time coming to terms with the idea of such a small woman, who is a first stage just like him, defeating him so thoroughly. While maintaining his hand around his stomach, Rowan grinds his teeth and mutters a few sentences that I am unable to hear from where I stand. Then, his jaw performs the same strange motion I had noticed earlier, and his power spikes once more. His soul fluctuates, and grows brighter, showcasing a drastic increase in power. Rather than rivaling Violet’s own, the raw strength of his soul now outclasses hers. A mad grin finds itself on his face once more.

He stands straight, and speaks to Violet. “I feel amazing! Brace yourself, woman!”

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At a frightening speed, he rushes towards her, not even bothering to turn invisible. His power is now even higher than it was mere seconds ago. I look over to the Maestro, whose face shows something akin to confusion. Evidently, she fails to understand the transformation her student is undergoing. Tianna, seemingly confused as well, speaks to our teacher.

“M-maestro, something strange is happening. I-I think we should stop this…”

The Maestro, however, does not say anything in response. Her gaze is fixed onto the battlefield, as if she was looking for something. Violet, on her end, prepares to receive his blow, as she had done a dozen times before, but at the last second she decides to leap out of the way.

Rowan chuckles maliciously. “Have you finally learned to fear me? Will you now fight me seriously?”

A frown forms on Violet’s face. “... I don’t know what you did, but I’m not afraid of you in the slightest.”

Violet grins just as maliciously. “And I don’t plan on going back on my word pipsqueak! These two fists will be enough to take care of you!”

Judging from her countenance, it now seems as though Violet is finally starting to take this half-seriously. In a flash, she appears before Rowan, and attempts to strike him in the chest. Before her fist can make contact however, Rowan is able to twist his body to evade the blow, and counters with a kick to Violet’s right side. Her frail body is propelled by the force of the attack and she tumbles on the ground a few meters away from Rowan. Immediately, she rises to her feet, refusing to let this be the end of her. She then fixes her hair, and spits out a bit of blood.

“Something’s weird.” Ron says, sounding oddly serious.

“I know damnit, just let this play out, I’ll step in if it gets too dangerous!” The Maestro replies, agitate.

Violet raises her fists once again. With a crazed grin decorating her face, she jumps towards Rowan, and they exchange a salvo of blows. Rowan, wielding his sharpsong, and Violet using her fists, they both appear to be evenly matched in this face off. Neither of them wants to give the other any ground, or any opportunity to be caught off guard.

Due to the force of their clashes, the ground fissures every time their respective weapons come into contact. As the intensity of their battle increases, more wounds appear on Violet’s delicate skin, while Rowan, if we disregard his previous injuries, remains relatively unharmed.

While she is without a doubt more skilled, with Rowan’s sudden burst of power, and her lack of a real instrument, Violet is now undeniably at a disadvantage. Every time Rowan’s sharpsong grazes her skin, blood is drawn and a new incision adds itself to her alabaster body. Nonetheless, Violet does not appear to let this affect her, which leaves me in awe. To battle someone wielding an instrument with her bare hands is an incredible feat in and of itself, but at this rate, I do not think she will last much longer, especially if she insists on remaining this stubborn.

As the battle progresses, I notice Rowan’s eyes shine with an increasingly deranged hue, different from the one they generally exude. It is as if he was gradually becoming possessed by something. Plus, despite not receiving any further injuries, blood begins to leak from his nose, from his ears, and from his eyes with no clear reason as to why. Looking at him, I feel as though this is more than the battle merely taking a physical toll on his body. Regardless, he presses on, not giving Violet any breathing room. Eventually, the little girl finally manages to land a clean hit on Rowan, showcasing her superiority when it comes to martial skill. She narrowly evades one of his swings, and immediately responds with a bicycle kick which hits him square on the jaw. Rowan staggers for a few instants, and Violet takes advantage of this to chain her counter into a series of punches aimed for his temple, his liver, and finally a ravaging blow toward his solar plexus which brings him to his knees, gasping for air.

His eyes, now bloodshot, raise to gaze upon the triumphant Violet who has already started taunting him with her words.

“Are you finally ready to accept some advice or do you intend to keep attacking me mindlessly?” She asks him with a grin.

“I WON’T LOSE!”

Rowan crushes something between his teeth once more, making this the third time. His power spikes, but the increase is much lesser than the two previous times, and the stability of his soul seems to weaken even further. This increase in power is clearly not sustainable and if this is allowed to continue even further, someone is going to get severely hurt.

Understanding the severity of the situation, I want to ask once more of Maestro Lauren to put an end to this spar, but I am interrupted by Sylvia, who happened to be standing next to me. She whispers into my ear.

“Does that look in his eyes not remind you of someone, Alden?” She asks

Although I have no way to prove it at the moment, all that has happened until now reminds me of someone who is very difficult to forget. Taking into account the madness growing within Rowan’s eyes as well as his unusual, and unstable rise in power, there’s really only one person it could be. It is someone who I wish I could forget, but due to our invisible connection, that possibility is nothing less than far-fetched in the near future. Upon recalling that person, a shiver courses down my and cold sweat finds itself dripping from my face.

“Yes… It does.”

‘Soulweaver…What have you done….?’