Auror and Banshee stared at the woman in disgust and anger. She was so small and frail, that she'd gone unnoticed for so long. They had paid her no heed— treating her as mere dirt in the background, yet why was she suddenly making so much noise? And with those markings as well? Their eyes bulged with incomprehension, the titan of a man heaved, forcing Sharazz back as he stepped toward Priscilla.
''Who are you?'' He asked coldly, snarling almost as he viewed the woman with murderous fury. ''How do you have the marks of divinity?''
''Tell me now! Before I have to force it out of you.'' He hissed, his spittle coating the sand ahead of him.
Priscilla, however, ignored his ravings; she merely focused on her surroundings. She could see the surprise on Sharazz's face, the concern on Hallie's, and even a shred of awe in Jensen's expression. As the power swelled inside her and that familiar sensation coursed through her body, she couldn't help but think. 'Why have I been so passive, truly?' Her indecisiveness up until now was so inherently unreasonable. The events of the past weighed on her subconscious mind; no matter how much she breathed the air of a new world and freedom, she still felt suffocated deep down. But the time for change had come. ''If the world wants to see me as a witch, then so be it. I'll be the most wicked witch any have seen before.'' She muttered to herself indecipherably.
''Woman, answer me!'' Auror screamed, his muscular figure flaring as the sand quaked beneath his feet. ''Why do you wear the markings of divinity?''
''How does someone so puny resonate with the old world and gain their blessing?'' He roared unwillingly, ''We've followed Divine Divala for so long... yet we've barely touched upon his grace. SO WHY!?'' His teeth creaked terrible as he ground them together.
Sharazz spoke up, looking at Auror with unconcealed disgust. ''I told you Divala is nothing more than a demon and a traitor, you've put too much faith in him and turned yourself into a monster. He will never encroach upon this world in the same way the Divines can.''
''ENOUGH!'' He yelled with annoyance; he thrust his greatsword slashing down toward Sharazz, sending a piercing force aimed at her. The woman was about to dodge when Priscilla waved her hand, sending the sand swirling toward the impact and blocking his attack with ease.
''Weren't you talking to me? Did all those pustules rot your brain?'' Priscilla questioned coldly as the sand swirled around her, forming almost a cloak that blanketed her. The souls of Parthia's people sang soft-spoken songs in the wind as they rejoiced in her taking action— finally the woman was acting upon all of their wishes. Her inaction had already hurt those who first accepted her in this new life; she would fight now, for them and— herself.
As Priscilla gazed at the large monstrous man, she found herself clenching her fist and slamming it down toward him. The sand answered her call, forming a golem-like fist that slammed into Auror with such force that it threw him back, tumbling violently across the sand. Like a cannon, he brought destruction to his troops as his body pulverized countless of the little demons in his path.
''Accursed woman!'' He roared as he rotated his body in the air, planting his feet firmly into the ground. In front, the grains of sand rippled as they slid into the craterous remains formed by his collisions. His muscles rippled violently as he slammed his greatsword down into the sand, letting it separate from his hand as he charged toward the woman unarmed. He was like a fierce beast rampaging through the sandy wilderness; relying solely on his durable body, he held nothing back as he stormed toward Priscilla, eager to pummel the woman into pieces and tear her limb from limb.
He was far too foolish, however. Now that she was embracing this side of her; the one marked by the divine power that slumbered in the depths of purgatory, he was but a beast, not unlike any other she'd battled before in Rin's manifestations. Her eyes glowed with crimson fury as she slammed her hand into his fist. The crowd watched with widened eyes, expecting the small woman to blow away from the force, to shatter into countless pieces and writhe in pain, yet it was Auror himself who found himself ricocheting off her. His body bouncing ceaselessly, out of control— like a kite without its string.
''I won't let you run rampant, demon.'' Priscilla uttered coldly. ''Your kind... cannot exist. You'll always try and take from me, that which I deem important, won't you?'' The marks around her body illuminated with majesty as she hovered high into the air, the sand swirling beneath her feet like a cyclone of infinite power. She lurched her arms upward, causing spikes of condensed sand to jut from the ground, impaling toward Auror repeatedly, striking his body with unholy penetrative force.
''This cannot be!'' Auror spoke through clenched teeth. ''It's impossible! You're merely a puny witch, we are the faithful ones!''
''WE SERVED HIM LOYALLY. BROUGHT RUIN TO NATIONS AND EMPIRE'S. FLOWED RIVERS OF BLOOD FOR HIS SAKE, SO WHY!?'' He roared unwillingly, his flesh bubbling— enlarging; his pustulant growth-like face flattened and grew in repetition. Until he managed to somehow look far more monstrous than he had already been.
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Just as Priscilla embodied the light that is creation's warmth, the motherly embrace of all that is good. Auror embodied darkness and destruction personified by Divala. It would be unfit to call him a mindless monster— but in a way, he was far worse. A monster born of man, one with the coherency to understand, yet the eagerness to destroy nonetheless.
Priscilla huffed, the weight of her power consumed her energy rapidly; the boundary between her and the connection may have expanded forcefully, but it was only a temporary burst of vitality, one that she wasn't capable of knowing how long it would last.
She continued to resonate with the souls at large; using them to bridge the gap between her and the markings etched in her soul as she attacked Auror relentlessly. If she had to turn into a monster to help the people she cared for, then so be it. The wind and sand surged; Auror struggled to keep up with her, his bulking size became nothing but a brick for her to cut into piece by piece; the attacks battered him endlessly, stirring nothing but annoyance and anger in his body.
Auror slammed the earth with his fist, launching sand into a cone around him, obstructing Priscilla's vision momentarily and ducking out of the way, he shifted into her blind spot as he lunged his leg and sent a kick at her. Sand swirled around her with a mind of its own, trying to protect her the same way the golems protected Sharazz, but the grains were too slow and futile against Auror's surprise attack. His foot connected with Priscilla's ribs, causing her to bounce violently, heaving as she crashed into the earth. Blood flowed from several lacerations that covered her body, but she struggled to pick herself up.
Auror cackled victoriously, his smugness and arrogance thundering across the battlefield. But he was too naive and too foolish, thinking that a surprise attack alone would be enough to stop Priscilla. No matter how much the blood flowed, she would pick herself up again. The man foolishly grinned, however. ''Are you done acting smug, woman? I earned the right to be Divala's A, the one that rules the vanguard. The A for Arrogance, I am Auror! It doesn't matter if you've been marked by divinity; you'll never stop me,'' he snarled arrogantly as he took heavy steps toward Priscilla, fully intending to finish her off.
The woman spat out blood as her piercing blue eyes focused on the monstrous titan of a man. She pushed herself back up, thinking back to the times she had spent with Rin; she had to harness everything she learned and use it well against this arrogant beast. She pushed her weary body up, slapping her hand against the sand and howling as a sea of flames erupted around her, and surged— embracing Auror in their grasp. She then kicked off the earth, lifting herself into the air as the wind and flame swirled around her body. Arching her back, she clawed downward with fury, causing the fire to lash out and erupt against Auror's flesh— an everlasting inferno that one can never escape from.
She thrust herself into a frenzied mentality, putting herself in the heart of the monster she thought the world would consider her to be. Whether the people would see the good or the bad, she couldn't care anymore, for she was the only one who could put the beast down once and for all. The sand and flames merged into a violent storm— glass surged toward him, an unstoppable storm that brought ruin to its path. He slammed his growth-infested fists toward the attack futilely as the molten shards merely wrapped around his limbs, cutting without end.
Auror grinned profusely, with blood pouring out of his body— top to bottom. ''You're truly one wicked witch, a monster not unlike me.'' He laughed hysterically, his bloodshot eyes wriggling with malice before the man drooped and fell on his back, seemingly lifeless.
Priscilla sat down, gasping for air, feeling haggard as she felt the flickering beat of her heart slowing and the boundary that kept the powers she wielded at bay strengthening. 'Shit, there's still one more,' she thought as she scanned the battlefield. Banshee stood afar with her blackened, scaly arms crossed in front of her protruding chest. Her face a pictured wide-lipped grin that showcased all her jagged teeth and coiled venomous tongue.
''Woah! How scary! What's a monster like you ogling an innocent girl like me for?'' Banshee mocked with exaggeration in her voice. ''Please, oh please! Don't hurt me; I'm just a poor, helpless maiden...'' she giggled, her voice echoing ominously from her throat.
''Hey, hey, hey! Darling, oh darling, why aren't you taking up? You're not that tired yet?'' She asked, her voice mesmerizingly potent as it rang across the desert. The hundreds of creatures that remained began to screech as they ran frantically toward Auror's body; they began to blow themselves into bits as their blood and gore fell upon his lifeless corpse. The earth pulsed, quaking tremendously as his flesh began to beat akin to a living heart, the blood, and gore meshed with the man, turning him into a fleshy pale that engorged itself until it towered over even the golems that Sharazz summoned previously. His hulking size blanketed the sand in shadow as he roared; any semblance of intellect vanishing as he turned into a hungering mass of pure wanton destruction.
Seeing his changes, Sharazz howled, chanting a series of unintelligible syllables in response; the sand swirled around her as she pulled forth every drop of essence she had within her to wield the power of her people, she brought forth one towering golem that brimmed with vitality. It was a towering heap of sand that caused the desert to become a barren wasteland as the craggy rocks beneath the sand peered out from every inch of the ground. Despite everything it still sat smaller than Auror's mutated form, but despite it Sharazz gazed down toward Priscilla with a smile. ''Come on, Princess. Are you gonna keep relaxing? You're not tired yet, are you now?'' She giggled playfully despite the intense circumstances surrounding them.
Priscilla couldn't help but laugh at the woman's lack of seriousness; yes, this was how it should be. She felt the warmth again, reminiscent of the first time she interacted with Rin. Sharazz didn't look at her like a freak; she remained warm and kind to her. This was what she should fight for— why she returned from the clutches of death. Not for an act of simple revenge, not to wander meaninglessly across the land with no friend or family to call her own. She had to make something for herself, to find a place where she can truly belong.
She smiled charmingly back at Sharazz. ''I'm not as old as you to be tired!'' She joked, eyeing the woman's charming features. ''Let's end this creature and go get some grub, I'm starved!'' Her eyes began to glow with a thunderous violet that lit the sky ablaze, as the two women set their sights on the monstrous Auror, the one who calls himself Arrogance.