“Are you ready?” Jensen gave a big smile. He had already fought for the day, doing all ten levels with ease. He was excited to see what would happen as one other child managed all ten as well.
“Very.” Auna smiled.
“Last but not least the orphan champion is stepping into the arena. Jensen Pearl, her best friend, has defeated all ten rounds. As well as a boy named Samie the slum rat!” The announcer was irritating her. He was the same man from last year. Now he had a stronger magic shield and a projection device. He was so close she couldn’t fully block him out.
The monsters were similar this year. It started with a pack of slimes, which had a few metal ones mixed in. She cut, sliced, and kicked the slimes to break their cores. She broke her sword on the final slime, a strong metal one.
“Oh no! She has broken her sword! The once long sword is now closer to a short sword. Whatever will she do!” The announcer was being overly dramatic as Auna visibly grimaced.
The next monsters were goblins of red skin. Fire starters as their skin was crackling with sparks. It seemed the king had picked unique and difficult monsters for her again. He passed it off last year as her being the last in line needed a harder challenge. This was because some would accuse her of being able to study the fights before to better equip herself.
“Fuck you!” Auna screamed as her mantle was burned by the stupid goblin. She kicked the private parts of it. Once the goblin hit their knees, she drove her broken sword deeply through the back of its neck.
“Wow. How vulgar! Of course, expected of our Orphan Champion! Though the slum rat champion might be competing for vulgarness!” The announcer was nearly foaming at the mouth.
The next round of a single kobold was too easy for her, a quick stab to his heart ended it. The skeletons were more of an issue, she did have a type of holy magic. The announcer assumed it was from a holy class due to the church interest in her. She smiled wickedly as they were very off. It was her light holy magic from her slave job.
Next was a single monster rat it flung its tail around knocking her off her feet a few times. She had to use her wings to avoid it. She thought for a moment it was too easy to get through the levels. She had watched many children only make it to the fifth level, and she had easily got here. Quickly thought she remembered most children did not have the stats and levels she had gathered. Even her maniac Chloe only made it to level six.
“What the fuck!” Auna rolled to the side to avoid acid spit from a small bear.
“Oh no she may be on the rocks! Who else but our king could find a rare acid bear!” The announcer looked too happy to watch her struggle. Using her earth and water magic she turned the arena into mud. She had more than enough mana to do such large-scale things. She no longer cared if people questioned her. The bear got stuck in the mud and died as she cut the head off.
“The arena cleaners are struggling in the mud!” The announcer laughed showing Auna laughing as well. “Even the savage child can laugh! Would you look at that folks!”
A giant spider was next. It shot sticky webs that lit on fire, fire being a common trait this year. She sacrificed her mantle completely to the fire webs. She used her water magic to drown the spider to which the announcer was a little horrified.
A small bull looking monster rammed his horn deeply into her arm. She winced in pain throwing her legs around its neck. Now she was stuck on the bull as it swung her around like a rag doll.
“She is impaled on the baby minotaur! What is she doing?” The announcer got closer to her. “Is she carving something into the other horn?” He asked as he tried to see but could not get too close to the rampaging creature. “She is! With her nails! Look at the blood!”
Auna was breaking her nails as she painfully kept herself impaled on the baby minotaur to steady herself. She was doing this to inscribe the runic word explosion onto the horn. She would have less than twenty seconds after she infused it with magic. Unlike her runic stones protecting her home, these runes needed to be powered externally.
“What now?” The announcer saw her free herself from the minotaur and literally run away as fast as she could.
“Run away announcer!” Auna yelled as she ran. The announcer was not a fool. He backed up quickly. Careful to keep the projection object on the minotaur.
A thunderous boom was heard less than twenty seconds later. The arena shook as the barriers protecting the spectators were splattered with blood, organs, and bone.
“Wow. The minotaur exploded.” The announcer whispered as the dust settled. He flew over to the small girl standing covered in warm blood. The light rain doing nothing to clean her. “What did you do!” The announcer asked.
“I used runic magic, a word, explode. Cool, eh?” Auna beamed with pride as the announcer seemed to be in shock at her answer. It was possible he didn’t expect an answer or he didn’t expect that answer. Possibly both.
“How interesting, such a young girl using runic magic in battle. I heard even high-class mages have trouble creating runes on the spot like that. Most prefer to create them before entering battle.” The announcer explained to the crowd as the cleaners tried their best to tidy the arena.
A naga was released into the arena, almost immediately it started spitting out snakes. They were of all different colours and types. Auna danced around the snakes as she threw magic at the main naga. Her ankles were being bitten which made her a bit woozy. Kicking she shook the snakes off her. After a few minutes her patience was done. The naga threw more snakes at her face, she caught them one by one. Holding all three wiggling snakes she bit the heads off, spitting them to the ground with their lifeless bodies. This move stunned even the naga. Auna drove her sword into the eye socket of the naga, killing it, while it was stunned.
“That was so unexpected even the monster was stunned in fear of the girl!” The announcer got the crowd roaring again.
Next a small plant was brought to the center of the arena. At first it confused both Auna and the announcer. The announcer rattling off random monsters it could be. He landed on treant, just before the tree grew rapidly into a scary monster. The tree had a mouth that was endless, branches sweeping the entire arena, and razor-sharp leaves that fell as it moved.
“H-How?” Auna stuttered out as she fled the leaves. The tree was now much taller than the highest seat in the arena. She did not know how to fight such a thing. The other groups had similar monsters to hers, just less at once or weaker. The last groups had to fight small moving stick like beings.
“Wow a mother treant! They are rather common treant variants that require special magic to relocate. Usually, they are fairly calm in nature unless you enter their den. It appears the arena is now her den though! This could be the undoing of our orphan champion! How will she kill such a beast?” The announcers’ words gave understanding to Auna.
Using basic fire magic Auna started setting the entire tree on fire. It did little damage to the reinforced monster. It seemed to have either evolved from such a weakness or her fire magic was just too weak. Next, she used ice magic to freeze places the fire was not making any damage, hoping it would slow it down.
After an hour of this tactic, she knew she would not win. She pulled out another leaf from her hair, cutting her hand. She decided to do something very stupid. She activated her woodworking and craftsmanship skills. These skills helped her identify soft spots in wood, the grains, and shape it into anything she wanted. She began hacking at the tree from all angles, she was so focused, so unhearing. She only stopped when her skills deactivated, which meant she was done.
“It’s so beautiful.” Auna whispered, she stood in burning ash of the mother treant. In front of her was a wooden girl with hair of silver leaves. The girl moved weakly with confusion on her new face. She twisted her head looking around, green liquid fell from her eyes as she looked at the fire. Her mouth opened and closed weak sounds coming out. At her chest was a big silver gem with thin branches keeping it in place. She touched it and sighed.
“The mother treant doesn’t seem able to regenerate. I wonder what skill could do that?” The announcer got closer. “The core of the monster is exposed; it should be an easy win now!”
The silver girl looked frightened of the mans’ words turning to look at Auna. Her eyes were deep black spots with dim light shining through periodically. The girl tried to speak again, and failed. Do not kill this creature, it is frightened can’t you see that? Mr. Voice spoke. For once giving her a strong direction, not alerting her, not suggesting vaguely. Mr. Voice was pushing her down a different path, one that seemed to be gentler than the path of madness.
“No, I will not harm you. I will call you, Rowan.” As Auna spoke her taming skill activated, enveloping both of them in a silver glow. It was obvious to everyone watching she had tamed the creature. Quickly Auna looked at her skills. Her age and stats were surprising. Her luck being so low was due to her curse. The curse wasn’t very detailed just that she had been created and forgotten. It explained that she was created to protect a garden, which was abandoned by all the residents after the creator went mad. Her blessing was basically a curse, it said she would be reborn in the garden with all of her stats intact. Her luck would decrease by one each time though. As a forgotten creature it would have been horrible to have to keep coming back to an empty home.
Name
Rowan
Master
A, Jade
Gender
Female
Basic Monster information
Species
Tree of life
Class
Spirit
Age
4,000 years 0 months
Status Points
Health
2,000
Mana
6,000
Physical Strength
12,000
Mental Strength
200
Intelligence
400
Agility
50
Luck
14
Skills
Command
Cultivation
Treant birthing
Nature magic
Silver blade attack
Wind magic
Seed propagation
Water magic
Blessings
Eternal cycle
Curses
Forgotten child of the creator
“Well done! As in previous years taming the monster counts as a victory! Can you send it here for now?” The king smiled motioning for Rowan to come to him.
“Go stand by the king up there, I will pick you up when I am done. Do not attack, or do anything other than stand by him. Understood?” Auna looked to Rowan.
“Yes master!” Rowan croaked out before heading to the king.
“What a smart Treant!” The king waited for Rowan to climb the stands to his spot. She used her tree limbs to scale it quickly. As she was doing this Jensen and the boy named Sambor were brought into the arena. The cleaners were making quick work cleaning it.
“Hi.” Auna smiled taking the cloth Jensen handed her. She wiped some of the blood from her face.
“Hi my moon.” Jensen laughed pulling sticks, bone, and silver leaves from her hair.
“Hello.” Sambor gave a nod to them both. “Sorry for being so close I was told to stand here.”
“Don’t say such a thing. You did a great job.” Jensen pulled the boy in-between them. “Don’t mind the title the announcer gave you. He gives us all stupid titles.” Jensen laughed as the boy tried to move away.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Now, I have brought you three here as you all have impressed me. As a special treat I want to offer you all a chance to fight a special monster. The catch will be you’ll have to share. Do you accept?” The king was petting Rowan, as if her hair was not razor-sharp.
“What do you say my moon? Shall all three of us fight together?” Jensen asked quietly.
“Sure, it should be fun. Sambor, right? Do you want to work alongside us? If not, I am willing to allow you to do it alone. It is your first time I don’t want to take that away from you.” Auna looked at the boy a year younger than them.
“How kind to offer such a chance to the slum rat!” the announcer was thrown to the ground by Jensen. He had thrown his shield at the guy so many times today Auna lost count.
“Stop that already!” The announcer lost his temper.
“Don’t be rude to the kid.” Jensen was glaring holding his shield in position to knock the man down again.
“Stop it. Give me your answer.” The king said sounding amused.
“Let’s do it together.” Sambor said.
“We wish to fight together.” Auna asserted loudly to the king.
“Very well.” The king waved his hand, now littered with small cuts.
“Oh fuck.” Jensen growled. A huge troll with green and blue bumpy skin was released into the arena. They were known for magic, and physical resistance. They were also very tall, with a rancid smell. This one carried a huge club in his hand.
“Take the left!” Auna yelled. They had been fighting for another hour. Auna was out of mana, she had spent so much on the taming and fights. Jensen was keeping the thing tied down with magic and his shield. Sambor was stabbing it with his daggers, and using fire magic. “This is bullshit, I’m ending this shit.” Auna muttered.
“What a bold claim, it might be time to bow out.” The announcer was rattling on about the hopelessness of the situation. He had claimed multiple times that the only known ways to kill a troll was to overwhelm it, or to feed it explosive rune stones. Auna had no magic left to make the stones.
“What are you doing!” Jensen called out at the same time as the announcer.
Auna had created a big gash in the leg of the troll. Before the skin could heal over, she crawled inside of it. Like a bug under the skin, she pushed her way towards the body. The troll tried to hit her, she moved too quickly. Jensen also was distracting it with Sambor to keep it from fully focusing on her. They all watched her reach the chest. The Troll had thrown itself on the ground, back first. It was clawing at its chest, with the boys slashing the arms over and over. Soon it stopped moving, Auna burst from the chest holding a warm heart in her two hands.
“We have killed the troll.” She yelled, then howled loudly. Not even the announcer said a word as the three left the arena.
“As savage as ever, I see.” Beckett smiled as he greeted Auna.
“Why do you say that?” Auna asked taking the towel he handed her, wiping blood from her face.
“You bit the head off of three different snakes today.” Beckett laughed. “That is savage.”
“Well, it was not fair that the giant snake was spitting out little minions, I got a bit frustrated.” Auna shrugged sheepishly.
“Yeah, I can’t believe you got to fight the special monster again! That was a troll. A troll Auna! You crawled inside of a troll. You really can’t tell me you are not savage.” Beckett laughed looking at her. “You smell very bad. I heard the king said us older kids are being given our prize first. Most likely for you three to clean up. So, hurry up.”
“I shall.” Auna nodded as Jensen also gave a nod pulling the boy with him.
“Now I shall give the prize to the winner of this year.” The king spoke loudly as everyone whispered who it could be. Auna, Sambor, and Jensen had been left last. No one else had even defeated ten levels of this arena. Still third and second place had already been given away to a few fourteen-year-olds.
“Come up, A, Jade, Jensen Pearl, and Sambor. You are all first-place winners. I could not decide between you three. You all showed courage, strength, viscousness, and cleverness. You all deserve to be honored as champions!” The king continued his speech as they came to the stage. They were all given a plaque.
“You will each get a book of advance magic. Would you like to select who gets what one?” The king looked to the three.
“Sambor, which one would benefit you most?” Auna asked.
“Wind.” Sambor said after a pause. Auna knew immediately it was a lie. The boy might have thought she had asked to steal it from him.
“Are you sure? Learning a new magic from an advance book might be too difficult, you should get one that you already have the basic magic for at least.” Auna gave a warm smile.
“Fire then, please.” Sambor blushed a bit, obviously not comfortable talking with people.
“Sambor will take fire, I will take Wind, and Jensen will take the water book.” Auna told the king, Jensen gave a nod.
“Then it shall be as such.” The king gave each one a book. When he gave Auna hers she passed out. The book had been heavy, her body exhausted. The blackness welcomed her. The king had her rushed to the doctor.
“My head hurts a bit.” Auna groaned as she got up. Again, the king was watching over her and Jensen. “Thank you for protecting my modesty.” Auna smirked at the king who cracked a smile.
“I couldn’t help it the doctor would not allow the duke to watch over you. Apparently, my word alone can prevent your modest reputation from being ruined. How are you feeling?” The king put his papers down.
“I can fight.” Auna assured him.
“Good. I want to fill you in on what happened.” The king motioned for her to follow him.
Auna slipped out of Jensens’ arms, removed Rowans’ leg from her body, and jumped down to the floor. She took the kings’ hand to allow him to lead her.
“Rowan is a very powerful monster, take care to hide her so others don’t know.” The king started to which Auna nodded. She knew what he meant. “Now that boy Sambor, Duke Pearl is going to take him home. He said he won’t sponsor him for school though. Instead, he wants him as an apprentice to the knights in his land. He said you had asked him, as you are close to him, he could not say no. This kept other nobles from trying to take him. I know you did not ask him. However, I don’t know how you are doing it.” The king paused.
“Doing what my king?” Auna asked.
“There was a ship of tied-up slave traders a year ago now. It was said a group of children did it. No one believed them of course, who would? I did though because it was near the great monster forest. The forest everyone claims you spent years living in, the one rumors say you vacation in. How are you caring for and hiding so many people in the forest? It must be dangerous, they could die.” The king gave her a glare.
“Hypothetically if I was a part of tying them up, and setting them adrift. Why do you think I am caring for them? Or that they are in the forest?” Auna asked with a smirk as the guard groaned in the shadows. It was obvious the guard was frustrated that she had admitted it.
“There is no way my information network would miss moving hundreds of people through the kingdom.” The king pushed.
“There are ways to move large amounts of people without anyone seeing.” Auna was careful not to lie, she was sure other lie detecting skills existed.
“I suppose there are. What ways could a small child have though? The Duke Pearl doesn’t hang around the capital often, and is rarely this far out.” The king paused.
“I would not be able to hypothetically move so many people myself. I don’t know about other children though. Or adults, everyone has secrets you know.” Auna got up, heading toward the building. “I should get ready for today.”
“Well, this is a bit easier this year.” Seth huffed as he stretched in the few seconds they were given between levels. It had been hours for them, fighting level after level. They had defeated wolves, slimes, fire lizards, crazed stags, magic fire goblins that numbered nearly thirty, creepy spiders, three big rats, five orcs, crazed gnomes, and finally they were fighting a creature with a lions’ body and snakes for a tail. It was taller than them, faster as well.
“We did train our fighting formations a lot.” Meredith laughed as Seth let out a groan. He could remember the cruel training. Auna had made them train in weird conditions. Sometimes she had them blindfolded, other times she made them fight with only one hand free. It was all in the name of preparing them for anything.
“Yes, we did.” Seth gave another groan as a rock hit his shield. Using a skill, he put up a small magic shield, protecting Meredith from debris.
“Looks like they nearly got this.” Meredith sighed, as they took down the lion. The only ones not howling were herself, the twins, and Seth.
“Do y’all have to be party poopers? Howl with us, it is so gratifying.” Chloe laughed at their grimaces. “Nobles.” She shook her head going back to howling.
“Settle down.” The king once again sounding amused settled them. Rowan was sat on his lap nibbling on candy, it couldn’t have been good for her. “I would like to offer the team run by A, Jade and the team run by Rick Flipper to participate in the special monster fight. It seems like next year I must get stronger monsters wouldn’t you say so?” The king fed the announcers' excitement which fed the audience to cheer.
Rick came walking up with his team. They were all fourteen, their last year to do this event. They had been among the fighters in the morning, they only reached level eight. They may not win the event, but that doesn’t decide who the king allows to fight extra fights. They all looked cheerful and friendly as they walked up. They all avoided Chloe and Auna going directly to Seth.
“Master Jade, pleasure. Shall our teams work together?” Rick smiled putting out his hand.
“Master Flipper, pleasure. I am not sure you will have to talk to Auna.” Seth shook his hand, then stepped out of the way to show Auna.
“Miss Jade. Pleasure.” Ricks' smile faltered slightly.
“Call me Auna. I do not wish to be associated with the Jade name. Now, do you wish to fight beside my team? If not I’m open to kicking your ass so you can’t fight.” Auna showed her teeth getting up close to the taller boy. “What do you say Rick?”
“Oh, do you hear that! The little savage is ready to throw down with the noble boy disrespecting her authority! That is what he gets for trying to ignore her leadership. What a disrespect to such a strong leader! Was he not watching their fight!” The announcer was screaming right beside Rick causing Auna to laugh hard. Rick was holding his ears.
“Fine, I’m sorry just stop yelling in my ears!” Rick grimaced as he yelled. The announcer didn’t move though, he really seemed to enjoy causing discomfort.
“My fire, would you please?” Auna asked Jensen, who understood what she meant.
“Of course, my moon.” Jensen quickly advanced on the still rambling announcer knocking him to he ground, he put his shield on the mans’ magic shield. Then sat down leaning back, effectively holding the screaming announcer in place.
“Better Rick?” Auna smirked.
“Fine, thank you. We would be happy to fight by you and your team.” Rick smiled. He looked to the king.
“My king, we would like to fight as a team.” Auna gave a deep, and proper bow. It was off to see, she was covered in blood and bits of monster.
“My king, we would like to fight as a team.” Rick Flipper gave a bow as well, grinning like a fool. The girl had caught his attention.
“Very well. Will the Orphan Champion call the Pearl boy back?” The king gave a wave to the still complaining announcer.
“Jensen come here.” Auna put her hand out for his.
“Okay~” Jensen bounced up taking her hand. He twirled her around a few times as they giggled. He then settled with a serious face, his shield pointed to the arena entrance for monsters.
“In formation six adjusted.” Auna gave a soft call. This caused Meredith the back up with Seth, she pulled the two casters from the other team with her. Seth pulled the girl he saw protecting the back line during their fight. Chloe and the triplet boys quickly ran to flank the group. Chloe pulled a poor boy by his heavy chest plate with her. The poor boy gave a shout for another to follow.
Auna pulled Rick to the front center with her. Jensen stood beside her while Rick called for his remaining people to scatter with the twins. They like the twins were more glass canons than anything else. Rick did have someone with a smaller shield and short sword stand beside them.
As the monster was brought in there was five people slowly moving along the edge of the arena waiting for a chance to deal sneaky damage. The back line was three casters and two guardians. There was Auna and Rick standing out front ready to charge. A great shielder, Jensen, was to Auna’s side. A medium shield user was to Ricks side. Flanking the tighter formation on Ricks' side was Chloe and her new friends. The triplets were to Jensens’ side. They would work as extra protection for the back line, and reinforcements for the front line.
“I can’t say the formation is bad. It makes good use of our talent. Thought that maniac pulling him by the chest plate was a bit cruel.” Rick laughed lightly. “Though I am not sure a great shielder is very useful, you can’t move as fast as us. Shouldn’t he at least be in front of us as a tank?”
“Nah, he is my shield, and I his. We work best in tandem. His speed is just fine. I am more worried your team does not have any proper tanker, and even more worried no one with speed enough to defend.” Auna gave a shrug. “Try to make sure no one on his team dies.” She looked at Jensen.
“Do I have to? I would rather prioritize our team.” Jensen sighed at the look Auna gave. “I will try my best, but I will protect our kin first. I will not prioritize a rude boy.”
“That is all I ask.” Auna cracked her neck.
“Wow, what a tense conversation! I wonder what will happen!” The announcer was floating near Rick. Rick seemed to be more annoyed by the announcer than even Jensen was.
“What the f-” Rick was cut off as a lich with a small hoard of undead creatures. There must have been twenty.
“Backline! Pull in closer together! Move as a unit! Do not cast any spells until we get the liches' attention!” Auna yelled to the back line.
“What are you doing!” Rick roared.
“Liches are smart, they attack the support line first. We must pull his attention before they cast. If they cast first, we will be forced to scatter them.” Auna charged forward.
“Do as she said!” Rick followed her.
“Wow, smart boy to follow advice! Smarter girl to know better!” The announcer gave a wink.
“A LICH IS REDICULOUS!” Rick shouted in frustration. “They are known to kill C rank adventures. We are only E at most!”
“Stop complaining and focus, or you will die!” Auna yelled back to him.
They had been fighting for only a half hour. Their casters were mowing down the underlings. It was obvious the lich was a low level, a recently awakened monster. The young ones usually needed at least C rank parties to fight them. There were two parties here though. They would be able to take it down.
“How are you guys doing?” Rick turned around to check on the back line. It was a big mistake as he turned back around a heavy claw of an undead bear came crashing down. He winced bracing as best he could. The hit never connected though, instead a sound of bone on metal rang out. At the same time a scream of anguish came from the great shielder. He was not hurt though; he was looking at Auna.
“My moon!” Jensen cried. The girls' body lay limp in the dirt to the side of the arena. The bears’ claw was stuck in his shield. “Why are you so stupid! Why did you have to leave yourself open to a death blow! Do you not have a team signal for the back line, when they need help? Look what you have done.” Jensen whispered the last part as he nearly fell to his knees. “I am her shield, I failed to stay by her side.
“Jensen, pull your shit together. We are still in a death battle!” A voice from one of the triplets rang through.
“Yes.” Jensen whispered. He dropped his shield, which took the bear down with it. It was a heavy shield, much too heavy for a small boy. He ripped the very head off of the bear.
“I’m sorry.” Rick looked in horror to the unmoving girl. Then back to the unhinged boy screaming, crying, and laughing as he tore the creatures apart with his teeth and hands.
“Don’t say sorry, fight for your life. You know the rules of the arena there is no backing down, no fleeing. You live or you die.” A triplet put his hand on the shoulder of Rick. “Jensen is ready to follow his moon. If you are not, get your head back in it. Do not worry about the back line we are second in command; we will handle it.”
“Are you okay?” The announcer came floating to the girl after the rest of the teams got refocused on the fight. They were right, no one would save them. If it had been in the ten levels the king would stop it, but this was a bonus round. It was a death battle. Everyone knew it.
“….” Auna was breathing, her head spinning out of control. She was dizzy. She had used her magic to cushion her fall, she still hit hard. She had sent Jensen to Rick as soon as Mr. Voice told her he would die. What an idiot. Now she could not see right, her thoughts hurt.
“Daddy?” Auna asked looking at the announcer. He reminded her of a past father, he was kind to her. She had loved him deeply. Until he sold her to the church. It had been an awful life after that, she had hated him for many years. She learnt years later he had been sick from the plague, selling her to save her. He had thought she would grow big and strong.
“Oh child.” The announcer lost his annoying voice for a second. He even made to reach for her before pulling back. “You can just stay here, your second in command is handling it. Just rest.”
“I will grow big and strong. I will not let the pain push me down.” Auna spoke as she cried blood. Her nose was oozing it by now. Slowly she stood coughing more blood. “Ah, a punctured lung.”
“All the more reason to allow the others to fight. They only have the lich left. Rest.” The announcer tried again. He seemed like he cared. “Thank you for sending Jensen to save my nephew, now take my advice do not fight any longer.” The announcer then left to announce the fight.
You are not going to stay put, are you? Mr. Voice asked. I can’t Auna thought, Jensen had lost control. I am as much his shield as he is mine. What can you do in your state? Mr. Voice sobered her up. What I can. Auna smiled softly. On her team she and Jensen were the only ones with holy magic. With Jensen in this condition, he would not be focused enough to use it. Auna couldn’t yell, her equipment was dropped. Her wing broken.
“Focus.” Auna said breathing deeply, she needed to use holy magic. It required a clear mind, and focus. The pain in her body made that difficult. Slowly though she managed to bring it to the front. She had made sure to not use too much magic today. She had her caster behind her, she didn’t need it.
“Jensen!” A triplet yelled for his brother. “Disengage please!” He had been trying to get the boy to pull back. The lich was too strong they needed him to calm down. They need his holy magic. It had been thirty minutes since Jensen began his unhinged fighting.
The worst case happened soon after. Jensen was going to be dealt a death blow, he did not have his shield though. The entire team stopped, knowing none of them would be able to save him. As the lich came down with his bone staff a brilliant warm, yellow-white light covered the entire arena. As their eyes adjusted, they saw Auna standing off to the side. A soft smile on her face as she limped over to Jensen. He had fallen to his knees exhausted with a goofy smile on his face.
“My moon.” Jensen sighed deeply. The lich seemed to be stuck in time slowly disintegrating into the ether. Everyone was watching breath held.
“Will she be able to keep up the holy shield long enough to kill the lich?” The announcer almost whispered to keep from breaking the tense atmosphere.
Auna put her hand on Jensens’ head. “My friend, my fire, my path blazer. I will be your shield. I will protect you as you have me. So, rest now.” As she spoke Jensen was lulled to sleep. He fell to the ground softly. Auna then looked to the lich. “Sorry, I know that must be painful. Please forgive me.” She then walked to Rick.
“How dare you poke fun at my shield, then rely on him to save you. Learn to be better than that.” Auna shook her head. She was wheezing as she spoke, blood running down her face.
“I’m sorry.” Rick bowed deeply to her.
Auna sighed as best as she could. Turning back to look at the lich one last time. “Rest peacefully now.” With a wave of her hand, her holy magic condensed to the lich tearing it to little pieces. Then she fell to the ground, exhausted. The light slowly faded from her body. The arena cleaners came running, with a healer.