Okay, so this part may or may not be a little confusing. I'd like feedback on what you guys think about this chapter and I'll work to improve it. I chose to do a third person omniscient, so lots of head popping. Meaning that I switch the perspectives, in third person, quite a bit. Anyways, I just thought that I'd try it sooner rather than later. I'd like opinions on whether it's good or not, or if it's too confusing. Opinions on the fight too please.

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Just before the wave of fire roasted them, Rainen tackled Francis down and threw up a barrier, shielding them both from the flames.

Maria's eyes shimmered as the fire wrapped around the barrier but did not break it. Her defeat at the auction brought her great shame. Although she used her poisoned dagger, she still lost. Whenever she thought back to it her face would break out into a frown. To her, any fire mage would, and should, be a walk in the park. Losing to a fire mage, even after using her dagger, made her frustrated.

Ever since then she began training harder with the other members of Krestfall, especially Yalsal and Undor. They had been in a two versus one situation and they had lost. Yalsal came out with a horribly mangled hand and kept it covered during all times, a mark on his pride.

Through Maria's training, her special ability, the ability to "eat" fire and spit it back out, evolved. Being the youngest, it was the most likely to happen to her since her abilities were not fully developed yet. The growth of a mage differs from each person, the mana they have will constantly grow with them but it's the most noticeable in the young.

Maria's ability now allowed her to either, eat the fire attack and use it to refill some of her mana, relaunch the fire spell the same way it was, or, spit it back out stronger. In Maria's eyes, there was no rhyme or reason for her to use the second option, the first was certainly useful and she'd use it at times but still preferred the third.

Telian's eyes glazed over the scene, not a single muscle in his body moved as he stood there. His wing stretched itself and steadily swung back and forth like a bird's in flight, as if happy it were free from the constraints of the barrel.

"Francis." Rainen held up his left hand to block some of the sound from reaching the Krestfall member's ears. "Don't use fire attacks on the girl. You know what happens. If you can take the angel I can handle the girl."

Francis didn't respond right away, instead he turned his head to gaze at the single breath of fire that bombarded them. Francis' words caught in his mouth, fighting an angel, even a fallen one like Telian would be a hard feat, surely fighting the red headed girl would be easier. But as the fire still continued to slam against the barrier he wondered if he would be able to win.

Almost choking on his words he managed to spit out, "Y-yeah. I've got it."

Despite being a half elf and a member of the Twelve, he didn't have confidence in his combat skills. His main role involved disguising and infiltrating enemy groups and the underground. Gathering information was his forte. Under the intense pressure of Maria's ability he didn't have much faith that he'd be able to win, being a fire mage he felt like he'd have no chance.

Unbeknownst to him, Rainen also had an affinity with fire. In their short time together, he had not seen the magic of Rainen even once. During Rainen's fight against Henry, Francis was far too busy to pay any attention to it.

Rainen stood up as the flames started to fade. He let two knives drop into his hands, he rolled them around in the palm of his hands with his thumbs. The thought had just occurred to him, his right bracer would be holding one less knife than the other. This was because he had stored the knife that his dear sister, Aisha, had bought for him in his bracer.

Not wanting to part with the special gift and wary of any possible pickpockets, he made room for the stylishly embroidered weapon.

His focused switched back to the opponents in front of him. Knowing that they'd attack the moment that his barrier went down, he waited for Francis to get on his feet first.

"Ready?" Rainen asked.

"Yeah." Francis pulled out a wand from his belt. "Ready."

Before Rainen dropped the barrier, he threw both knives, timing it perfectly so that the barrier went down the moment the knives flew past.

Sticking out her arms Maria shielded herself. Telian arced his right arm upwards, like a cat about to squish a mouse, and, while swinging down on his prey, forced both Rainen and Francis to their knees.

Francis instantly threw up a barrier, blocking the spell that came flying at them from Maria.

"Was that his ability?" Francis yelled over the spell.

"Probably!" Rainen responded while putting his hand on his knee. "I'm going in."

He appeared behind Maria, poised to strike.

Once again Rainen was forced to his knees by Telian, stopping his attack.

Maria quickly twisted her body, sending her leg flying at Rainen's face. Throwing his hands up to catch it, Rainen spun, fully dropping to the ground pulling Maria with him.

"[Greater Lightning Bolt]!" the stream of bright electricity shot out from Francis' hand and blew Telian back. "I'll handle him over there!" he screamed.

Rainen grunted in response. He sent mana into his hands which began to emit flames. Maria opened her mouth, taking in a deep breath. The fire channeling into his hands were now Maria's snack. At the height of her breath Rainen let go of her leg and rolled to the side, letting himself hide behind his barrier.

Inside, Rainen glanced around the room, quickly switching to another object of interest but not before he could mentally confirm every item he looked at. His breathing was strangely calm, the beat of his heart had not changed much, matching almost the same rhythm as it would while jogging.

The fire banging on his barrier seemed as if it had been doing so for over a minute. The new knives, recently dropped into his hands, felt cold and rough. The vibrations of the kick still rung through his hands. His nostrils flared as he took in a breath, the smell that reached his nose reminded him more of blood or steel than cold stone.

Seeing the flames fade, with one great push and all the pressure on one leg, he closed the distance between him and Maria, sending her back with a well placed nose punch. He shook his hand as if he had taken some damage.

"B-bastard!" Maria clutched her bloody nose while whispering a spell under her breath. The pain slowly died.

Two knives flew at her, Maria slipped her own blade out of its sheathe and knocked them away. Each one sliding to a different corner of the room.

Quick steps came towards her.

She tossed her arms up in an x to protect herself. A kick sent her sprawling to the ground.

It took less than a second for Rainen to fully bring out his staff. With even greater speed he brought it down on her. Maria pushed herself out of the way, the staff landed just short of where she was.

Placing her hand on the ground she screamed, "[Mud Wall]!"

She let out a sigh of relief as the distance between them grew once more. Higher and higher into the air she flew, the mud wall gave her four meters over Rainen.

He, with a slight kick, flipped the staff around and put the palm of his hand at one end, channeling mana into it.

In one, concentrated strike, the mud wall crumbled.

Maria leaped off the collapsing structure, landing on her feet a little ways away. The breaths she took were hard and raspy, her energy wasn't necessarily drained, in fact, she didn't feel tired at all. The problem were all the close calls and hits she took. The punch to the face made her legs feel weak, the kick to her chest knocked her breath out of her, the staff slamming onto the ground made her realize just how close she was to being defeated.

She kept her eyes trained on the man in front of her. Before she came, she had thought that with her improved ability, added with her training over the months, she'd certainly be able to beat him. Her careful gaze kept falling onto his staff. she wondered where he was able to store all these weapons. To her, it made no sense, she was certain that his ability was to teleport, not to allow weapons to materialize out of thin air.

With a step and thrust, Rainen attacked Maria.

She reacted to his quick movements, taking a step back.

A dull pain permeated from her right shoulder where the staff just hit. She grabbed hold of it, refusing to let go.

Maria grinned as the weapon changed into chains, she was expecting this.

However, Maria had not seen the movement of Rainen's arms before the transformation. Unbeknownst to her, although she had an idea from the fight before, any part of the staff could turn into chains without affecting the rest. Before her half of the staff became a jumble of connected steel links, Rainen had turned his into chains first. He lifted the end up with his left and pushed down with his right, Maria was unable to budge him.

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With a twist of his body, he garnered enough force to lift Maria, who was still holding onto the chains, and throw her across the room.

Her fall into the barrels didn't do much to cushion the impact. On her side, she forced herself to stand again, another series of pains rattled her back. As she watched the vigilante in front of her approach, she took great interest in the light in his eyes, one she didn't quite see during the auction.

Maria silently cursed at the person in black. Unlike last time, now he absolutely used no spells at all. How would she be able to live up to her name if she had no fire to eat?

Once again, backing away, Maria put her hand up.

"[Greater Fireball]!"

The thought flashed through Rainen's mind to create a barrier but with the opening he saw, he teleported instead.

Appearing before the unaware Maria, his now reformed staff made a loud smack as it hit her squarely in the stomach.

"GUH!"

Maria lurched forward and another hit landed on her back, sending her to the floor.

Refusing to lose so early, Maria placed her hands on the ground and spun her body, fire came flying out from her legs.

He danced away, ducking and weaving under each thin strip of heat.

Maria glared at him. He was watching her, she could tell by that light in his eyes. He especially paid close attention to the dagger that she held loosely in her hands. With one hand over her stomach, Maria thought about using the new technique she had been practicing. Feeling the pain coursing through her body, and unimpressed by the damage she had dealt to him so far, she slipped her knife into its sheathe.

Rainen made no move as Maria placed her hands on the ground, and started spinning around like a top. The fire started from her legs, then slowly began to envelop her in a blazing bright red ball.

Rainen's eyes grew wider as he observed the technique. He carefully went up to it and attempted to take a jab with his staff. As if being repelled by a shield, his attack merely bounced off, causing no harm or even a disturbance to the girl inside.

He found himself leaning backwards as a fireball shot out from the sphere of fire.

It flew into the ceiling where it dissipated into nothingness.

As more fireballs flew at him, he did his best to dodge all of them, there were too many. A few grazed him, leaving slight burns onto his arms. Understanding that the staff wasn't a good weapon for repelling the endless wave, he retracted the long pole, instead switching it out for the knife his sister had gotten him.

Over the last few weeks, Rainen finally chose to use it in a sparring match against Henry. Both actually used their knives. In that bout, he figured out just why it was so expensive, other than the decorations on it.

"[Enchantment: Barrier]!"

Expending little to no mana, he created a far stronger mana shield around himself than before. With one hand holding the knife, he gave himself some time to think.

He crouched down and put his hand on the floor. "[Earth Pillar]!"

The earth under Maria rose, her spinning was interrupted and the flames around her died. He teleported and with a mana charged fist, prepared to launch Maria back to the ground, this time, unconscious.

"[Greater Lightning Bolt]!"

As if struck by the gods, the bolt of lightning threw him onto the ground, smoke coming from his body like it would a roasted pig.

Telian was the one who launched the attack. His fight with Francis had not ended yet but seeing the peril that his partner was in he decided to lend a hand.

"Maria!" he screamed. "Finish him!"

Maria lept off from the pillar and shot fireballs at Rainen.

"Barrier!" Francis desperately threw out his hands, creating a yellow dome around Rainen.

The fireballs were unable to break the barrier.

Maria drew her dagger and broke into a run.

"[Light-"

Francis was interrupted by Telian's kick.

As Maria reached him, she broke through the barrier and aimed the knife at his heart and lunged.

Maria felt like she was blindsided by a horse.

Her head rattled and she fell onto the ground, this time, unconscious.

Rainen had played dead, waiting for the moment he knew would come. Just before she pierced his heart, he launched his mana charged fist into her chin, knocking her out.

He glanced at her delicate fingers which only one, had a ring on. Taking it off, he stood up and cast the paralysis spell which he had learned from Henry.

Seeing his ally fall before his eyes, Telian fell into a panic as he thought that the man in black was going to kill her. His mind became goo as he searched through his brain for a spell to use at this range. He needed one that wouldn't miss, he needed one that would distract the vigilante, he needed one that he could cast instantly.

"[Holy Judgement]!"

A circle appeared under Rainen, and light rose from the edges of the circle as if trapping him inside. It stopped growing once it hit the ceiling, there was not a single opening. The inside grew brighter, a very white light instead of the surrounding circle's yellow sheen.

"GUUUUUUWWAAAAAH!"

Telian watched, stunned by the spell's effectiveness. Being an angel, even a fallen one, his light, or holy, attribute would and should be much stronger than that of an adventurer or even some priests. Yet, he never expected that much damage to be done, especially to a human.

In fact, the spell was most effective against undead... and demons.

Francis took advantage of Telian's loss of focus, and cast the only dark attribute spell he knew.

"[Dark Sphere]!"

Telian's body convulsed, he fell onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

Francis let out another one.

Telian flew back like a thrown doll, angels were the weakest against dark attribute magic.

Francis did his best to try to get to his ally but his head spun. Fighting the angel was no easy task, over the course of the battle, Francis had gotten heavily injured. His less than trained muscles ached, the pain in his body refused to go away. For every attack he was able to land against the angel, he'd take two, regardless of whether they were as effective or not, he was worn down by them.

Francis counted himself lucky that he was able to get those last few spells off. If it wasn't for the Thirteenth taking down the girl with red hair, he felt sure that he would've lost. Francis' hand shakily placed itself on his chest and started to glow green.

He was trying to heal himself but a weariness fell over him. He struggled to stay awake, the exhaustion finally won out, putting him on his back.

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Rainen blinked a few times as he groggily got to his feet. He wondered to himself about the sight that laid before him. Three people were laying on the floor, all without making a single movement.

He wasn't sure who won.

Crouching down he lifted Maria's ring off the ground and used paralyze on her. He walked over to Telian, stumbling a few times but ultimately returning to a normal gait. He did the same to the angel as he had done to Maria, slipped the ring off and stunned him.

"Francis?" he called out to his ally.

Rainen rushed over to his comrade and felt for a pulse. He let out a deep breath upon feeling the rhythmic beat of his heart. He found himself calmed by the realization that his ally had not died. Rainen refused to sit around though. The wounds, the cuts and openings that Francis had would be fatal if left alone.

Some were small like getting one's finger cut by paper. Others were big, as big as gashes left over from a dagger or knife dragging too far down.

Rainen had his arms hover just over Francis, green light came from his hands and the lighter wounds started closing. Sweat beat down Rainen's forehead as he did his best. Healing magic wasn't what he was good at. Out of all the spells for healing he had learned, most were for himself, not for others.

After doing what he could, Rainen wrapped Francis' larger wounds in cloth. He got it from tearing off the shirt of the angel. After all, he didn't feel like it would be decent for him to do it to his own clothes that his master gave him. Francis' were too tattered, and he obviously couldn't do it to Maria.

Finishing the treatment, Rainen rolled Francis over onto his side.

He was about to rest himself until a message came.

I'm in trouble. Need help right away.