Pristine's Story

If there was one thing Pristine dread, it was large crowds. She could feel all their emotions and it was like a bombardment. In this one instance it was a good thing Pristine's heart was shattered and ice cold because in this way, she refused to let emotions override her shields. It was a pain being an empathic, but she had been born with this ability thanks to her dragon. Speaking of which, the light dragon's soul that dwell within Pristine was the reason why she was here, competing in some stupid tournament. Rarely the Light dragon gave her any orders, but when she did, Pristine always reluctantly went along because she trusted the dragon. After all, if it wasn't for her, Pristine wouldn't be here. She hated how her life had turned out but knew she had a duty to perform and that was to eventually find all the dragon soul wielders.

When Pristine arrived at the tournament, she could instantly sense the abilities of those around her, even some of the ones she was meant to find. She could already sense the one she honestly didn't want to see again, but knew she had to. It was Sikes, the Dark Dragon soul wielder. She only got a hint of it, but she could sense him anywhere if he was close enough. Thinking about him brought old memories that made the pieces of her heart hurt. Quickly she push such thoughts away. Now was not the time to think such things.

The young lady didn't stand out in the crowd. She was wearing a dull colored cloak with a hood on that covered her from head-to-toe. She was sitting in the middle of the crowd, her colorless eyes already scanning the crowd. She could feel her symbol warm up and new one of the wielders were close. Until she found one of them, she would keep silent and vigilant.

Sikes didn't look back, but he could sense that there were Dragon Soul Wielders behind him from the faint sensation from the mark on his neck. One sensation felt far to familiar as he looked surprised, about to turn around to look to see who it was. But a following announcement was declared just before he did, stopping him along.

"It's set ladies and gentlemen! We now have out match ups!" Sikes looked forward, looking at the man on the fighting grounds with the board now fully set up. We will now begin with our first fight of the day! The contestants: Sikes and Pristine, please come down to the fighting grounds!" Sikes's eyes widened as he jolts back to easily find her among the people that have entered the balcony. Seeing her, he silently mutters to himself, "...Pristine..." The Dark Dragon could feel it, the turmoil within him in knowing that he had come across her and now has to fight her of all people at that start of the tournament. Not saying a word, he calms himself down as he gives off a sigh before heading to the door, making his way ahead to the fighting grounds.

As he walked on, the announcer goes ahead and speaks about the ones fighting as they wait for them to come down. "These two combatants come from far away, Sikes, a Dark Force Wielder who, get this, doesn't fight with a weapon. That's right folks, a man who his best weapon is his body itself! Who is he up against? Pristine, a Light Force Wielder who's main choice of weapon is a staff. Opposite forces and from out of town, maybe these two are from the same home!" Hearing that last remark, Sikes grits his teeth, that fact that what he said was in fact true. But deep down, he didn't want this. If anything else, he wanted to help Pristine. After all it was his sister that caused all that suffering.

Stepping into the middle of the field, he turns around to wait for Pristine to come forward to the spot in front of him.

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Cecile sighed softly as others came onto the balcony, on the outside, she appeared serene and collected. On the inside, she was battling two different sensations. One, being the thousands of emotions buzzing around her, threatening to crush her under their weight, the other being the symbol on her upper thigh growing increasingly hotter. As she leaned against the wall, allowing the cool stone to chill her hot skin, her violet eyes scanned the others slowly. None of them seemed to be looking about, or paying attention to their fellow contestants, but Rae had her eyes roaming them all in turn, sizing them up, taking in the emotions of some of them, and gently prodding at their minds with her own, testing their mental strength.

A familiar feverish feeling slid over Raven's skin, causing her to shiver as a cold sweat slipped it's way down her spine. Not now, she thought frantically to herself, as she watched the shadows before her ripple. No one else on the balcony could see the spirit standing before her, but there it was, shivering into painful focus. Father? She thought to it, gripping her sides to hide her hands from shaking. She'd seen a million ghosts and spirits, but never before had they been someone she'd known. Some just wandered the streets in clear view all the time, while others appeared before her like this, causing her to feel feverish, searing heat and frigid cold at the same time. Silently, her father pointed across the arena to the place the king sat.

Sure enough, there sat her mother, beside the king, along with her two older brothers. She was his half-sister, making Vix the king's niece. But that was a life she'd left in the dust long ago. A life she couldn't even imagine anymore. Still, it hurt like a stab to her heart to see them standing there together, and something inside her told her that she should be over there, next to her brothers and their lovely wives. She remembered wrestling and sword fighting with her brothers as a child. They'd always been supportive of her independence, and, even though her mother had not, Vix knew she'd only meant well, wanting a good, comfortable life for her daughter. Rae had to swallow hard to keep a straight face on, and she was glad when the announcer spoke up, drawing her attention away from her former life, and back into her current one. Scat. She told her fathers spirit, and he dissipated into the air, and before she tuned her ears back into reality, Vixen had a brief thought about the irony that her mother had always down-graded Rae for her independence and strength, and yet, there she was, sitting proudly alone with no husband at her side, an independent widow.

"It's set ladies and gentlemen! We now have our match ups!" Raven turned her violet eyes on the announcer, leaning into the shadow as she watched. Shadows seemed to comfort her for some reason, calming her nerves, and stilling the rush of emotion around her ever so slightly. "We will now begin with our first fight of the day! The contestants: Sikes and Pristine, please come down to the fighting grounds!"

Vixen's eyes turned to the two who'd been called. They looked nervous, wait, no, scratch that, they felt nervous, but there was also something else there, under the nerves. Rae narrowed her eyes as she struggled to pinpoint it. "These two combatants come from far away, Sikes, a Dark Force Wielder who, get this, doesn't fight with a weapon. That's right folks, a man who his best weapon is his body itself! Who is he up against? Pristine, a Light Force Wielder who's main choice of weapon is a staff. Opposite forces and from out of town, maybe these two are from the same home!" That was it! Recognition. They knew each other! Though... Raven caught resentment as well. They weren't very happy to be there together apparently.

Rae turned her eyes on the boy, then the girl, and suddenly, she was hit with a splash of recognization as well. She'd seen these two. She was a vagabond, a nomad, traveling where she pleased, and she'd lived with both of their tribes for a short time. Not long, and before the "accident", which she'd only heard rumors of after she'd left, but it had been the first time in her life that she'd looked at someone and not tried to calculate their dollar worth, or what she could steal from them. That had been why she'd left. The strong sense of "home" had freaked her out, so she'd taken off.

Seeing these two here, together, was strange. She wasn't sure she'd ever said a single word to either of them, but she'd seen their faces, and, just like seeing her mother and brothers, it was like entering a dream. A different life. She rubbed the back of her neck, pinpointing the exits with her eyes. This tournament was turning out to be more than she could handle, and the fever symptoms of seeing her father's spirit were only just beginning to fade.

Shivir was there, crouched against the balcony railing fighting with the headache and hangover, this city was one of the places he traveled for no reason and never stayed long enough to know the name of the streets, providence brought him right in time of the tournament so everyone was in a festive mood, the same festive atmosphere that made him did something stupid while he was drunk: register as a participant for the Power Wielder tournament.

Of course he had the possibility and the intention to quit, at least until he saw one of the prizes reserved for the winner, apart from the ridiculous things as money and fame was the opportunity to meeting face to face with the king, the same bastard who stupidly waved to the idiots that cheered him, the same damned man that sent the Seekers to recruit him and ended up killing his wife, even if his hate didn't bound him to a blind search of revenge he wouldn't waste the opportunity that the tournament presented.

The announcer introduced the first fighters: a boy and a girl, Shivir stood and looked at the arena, the boy had the appearance of a martial artist or maybe a brawler, the girl instead was more along the lines of indirect attacks perhaps was more focused on the use of her element to confirm it he just have to see them fight, for now the only thing that was certain was that they were quite skilled, half of those in the balcony were small fry and the biggest threat is was with the king, The Commander Fang.

The mark on his back began to bother him at moments which never happened before and had him quite intrigued, he tried to touch it but slipped and almost fell off the balcony, so he was there hanging with his right hand while the left held his scythe wrapped in cloth, despite being uncomfortable that might be a good place to watch the fight so he made no effort to return to the balcony.

Pristine listened as the first contestants were up and gritted her teach. This was meeting she knew would happen and honestly wished it never would happen. A small part of her didn't want to fight Sikes. However, her intense anger was starting to rise and she refused to unleash it. Now was not the time to lose it. If she had to face the man she once had feelings for, than so be it. Locking away her feelings she did her best to burry them. Instead of taking the stairs down though, she leaps into the air and using her flight ability, she lands in the middle of the ring. Pristine only did this because she was impatient and wanted to get this fight over with.

However, the one thing she didn't count on was looking and seeing Sikes for the first time in years. D--n it! She could feel the pieces of her stone heart tremble at the sight of him. Why did he have to get even more handsome? While her emotions were all over the place on this inside, on the outside, her eyes pierced right through the dark haired man. If looks could killed, Sikes would be nothing but rubble at the moment. This was also because Pristine detested his kind now for not only the murder of her brother, but her whole family and clan.

Stop it Pristine! He's just as innocent as you are. the light dragon said.

Pristine ignored her voice though and concentrated on Sikes. She had her staff at her side, but she also had twin daggers underneath her cloak, which were hidden from view. The dragon symbol on her lower back was also warming up. Gone was the young vibrant girl and in her place was a stone cold woman who'd seen too much.

Sikes looked back at Pristine as she eagerly leaped onto the battle grounds. He could see it in her eyes, her rage for him building up. The announcer began to talk as Sikes looked back at Pristine with an almost depressed look on his face.

"My my! Looks like Pristine is more eager then ever to start the match! Let's get this match underway!" With that said, the announcer darted off to get out of the fighting grounds as soon as possible. As he ran off, Sikes let's out a low sigh and glances down to the ground. "...I know you hate me...and I don't blame you for that..my clan...my family...brought you more suffering then what someone should experience in their life." Still glancing down, he clenches his fist. "I wont ask for forgiveness cause I don't feel I deserve any. But I do want to ask for one thing...." He then looks up with determined eyes, "..that you let me track down my sister...and make her pay for what she did to both our clans. After that...you can do what you want with me..I wont fight back once I finish my goal."

Once saying what he wanted to say, he slides one of his feet back, moving into a fighting position. "But right now...we have to keep this issue between us and off this field. There are other Wielders around here...and we have to let them see what it is that they wield within them." He hints to her what it is that he wanted to do as a dark aura suddenly forms over his fists, looking back at her with a mix of both determination and suffering.

"Speaking your thoughts to her seemed to have helped out you mood problem." The Dark Dragon speaks to him, giving off a slight chuckle. Sikes replies to him in his head, "I made her suffer...talking is the least I can do."

Pristine wasn't counting on his words having an affect on her, but they did and she couldn't help but remember that day when her life was torn apart. The only physical reaction of this was one small tear managing to escape her eye and trickle down her cheek. Refusing to wipe her face, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He intended to kill his own sister? Is that what he meant? Depsite the great evil his sister did, the thought did trouble her.

Clearing her head, she nodded at his last statement. Despite all that happened, both of them still had a job to do. They had to reunite with the others and this fight should help make them aware of what they could achieve. There was just one thing that could go wrong. This tournament. Something didn't feel right about it.

It could be a trap, she told Sikes telepathically.

However, she would not hold back and could feel the Light dragon's worry for her and Sikes too. Darn, this wasn't the time for any vulnerability. Sikes was already a great fighter even brother that disaster and was probably even better now. Not wanting to keep standing there. Pristine removed her cloak for she knew it could be a problem. Her white hair was braided and her twin knives could be seen strapped to her thighs. Positing herself in attack position, as a light aura appear along her. She would attack when the time was right.

He nodded at what Pristine told him in his mind as he awaited for the sound of the beginning of the fight. Once the announcer stepped out of the fighting grounds, a bell was rung.

"FIGHT!"

At those words, Sikes launched himself forward, hands coated with a dark aura as started off with a combo attack. Sending in a left hook with his darkened fist, he follows with a right one, finishing with straight forward punch at Pristine. Every movement of his arms would leave behind a trail of a mist-like shadows.

Up upon the balcony where King Ryuu sat along with his knights, he watched the fight intensely, looking for something within the fighting as he carefully kept his eyes on every movement that was being done.

Watching over the fighting, but in a different sense, the Dark Dragon examined the one that held his Soul. Sensing a bit of holding back on Sikes part, feeling the trouble that he was having with having Pristine as his first opponent.

Pristine was ready for him and moved at the last possible second. She already knew he was holding back and wondered why. It was probably because he knew it would be best not to go all out in case something happened. It never occurred to her he was holding back because he cared for her. Still, she would take slight advantage of this, but not too much for she too wouldn't show all her cards. When Sikes aimed a punch at her, Pristine leaped over him and in midair, made a sweep of her staff, which let out a bit of light magic towards the shadows Sikes had created. Pristine had a feeling those shadows were the main attack, not his fist attacks.

When she landed, it was a good ways from the shadow trails, which were being attacked by her light magic. With another arm movement, she sent the bits of light magic after Sikes and moved instantly with it. During this whole time, she kept her icy veneer out, but inside she was in turmoil. A part of herself hated herself for doing this to Sikes. This was her! The light dragon could feel her agony and sought to comfort Pristine.

The constant noise was very new to him, something he'd never heard before. Nowaki couldn't really understand why so many people would gather together just so they could have the opportunity to make so much noise. He stood only a little ways away from the large stone structure that was the arena the tournament was being held in. He was all clothed in white with a scarf wrapped around his neck, his unusual appearance getting quite a few glances. His pure white hair and amethyst eyes, along with his attire, didn't exactly 'blend in' and he stuck out more than one should, but the boy didn't seem to notice it at all. He could hear the cheering get louder and slowly started to wonder why they people were making so much noise just for the sake of making noise. Then again, maybe the noise wasn't such a bad thing. Sometimes shouting or yelling could help people relieve stress, but he'd never once yelled, nor raised his voice in any way. He couldn't ever remember being stressed either, but he wasn't really sure what being stressed would even feel like.

He decided to find out why the people inside the large structure were shouting so, spotting a door that led into the building, he walked over and entered. The door shut behind him and he realized there was only one other person inside, sitting behind a large desk. Nowaki stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say to him, when after a couple of minutes the man finally let out an impatient sigh and looked over to where Nowaki stood in front of the door.

"You got a question er something or are you just going to stand there?"

Nowaki stood still for a few more seconds before walking up to the desk. He turned his head to one side, then to the other, his eyes scanning the room. "Why are the people so loud?" He asked finally, looking back at the man who returned the boys question with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, the tournament. The first round is about to start. Don't you know what that is?" Nowaki shook his head and the man looked at him as if he'd come from another planet.

"You know..the tournament where Force Wielder's battle it out for the prize? Ring any bells?"

"What is a Force Wielder?"

The man nearly fell out of his chair. "You're kidding me! Those guys who can control elements! Tons of em' join the tournament every year. Is there something wrong with your head?"

Come to think of it, Nowaki remembered he'd been called one before, and not very long ago either, but he never really thought about it. "I want to sign up." He said blankly, but the man just stared at the white-haired boy with a disbelieving expression. After a moment, the man let out a frustrated sigh and pulled up the slip with all the names of the contestants. "You kids get on my nerves. Alright what's your name?"[b]

"Nowaki."

[b]"....last name, too.."

"Kimiyui..." He paused a moment. This would be the time where the man was supposed to introduce himself as well, and Nowaki was suppose to say something as well. After the man wrote down Nowaki's name, he realized the boy hadn't moved from his spot in front of the desk. "Well? Go on up!" Nowaki was slightly confused, looking to the back of the room where there were a flight of stairs, then looking back at the man. "Nice to meet you." He said before walking to the back of the room, not noticing the man shaking his head with another sigh.

He climbed the stairs, the sound of cheering and the voice of a man being louder than all the rest. As Nowaki reached the top, he suddenly felt a slightly throb come from the mark on his neck and a small sensation of warmth swept over him. This was very unusual to him, since his body was always so cold. He ignored it, walking up to the balcony where a few others were watching to stare down at the arena where two people had just begun to fight. Nowaki watched blankly, wondering if that's what the man meant by 'battling for the prize'. He watched for a few more moments until he turned away to find somewhere to sit down in the balcony. He walked back to a vacant corner and sat down on one of the stone benches that was surprisingly empty. He stuck his hands into his pockets and stared at the ground, awaiting the time he'd go down into the arena.

Now that he knew exactly what he'd signed up for, one would think he'd feel nervous, since he'd never really been in any kind of combat before. But, as usual, he was as calm as usual and didn't even put a lot of thought into what to do when his turn came up. He was a little curious as to what the prize would be though, since he never bothered to ask.

Sikes managed to avoid the attack that were aimed to his shadows, avoiding any hits on himself. When the next attack came toward him, he swung his arm upward, his hand open as he the shadow gave a sort of form of claws, "slashing" upward as her and her light attacks came toward him. The light attack would get deflected at the equal amount of strength in the opposite attacks as he stopped the movement of his hand to not hit her. Looking right at her, he gave an almost sad expression. "Pain....the negativity of pain and agony...it's coming strong from you." He says to her as he remained still for a bit. "It's probably hard..but we have to bare with it. We're the only ones that know of the dragons...so only we can make the others realize what they hold."

With saying that, he leaps back, extending his arms at each side. "If it's painful to you too, then let's try and finish it as soon as possible. Show those others the power of a dragon" He tells her as he begins to breath in deeply. There was only one art that belonged to the dragons that involved taking in a deep breath. The traditional attack all dragons were known for, their Breaths.

Once he gave her enough time to ready hers, he let's out a massive exhale, letting out the attack Dark Dragon Breath. Releasing a black flame like darkness from his mouth as it erupts in her direction.

Pristine gritted her teeth when she heard Sikes's words. She didn't need him to tell her what her duty was. She also briefly forgotten that he could sense anything negative about someone. It looked like he could still read her well. Still he never did find out the scope of her feelings when she was more innocent, but that was probably because if he did he probably thought it was 'puppy love' or a crush at best. It was too late for that now. Pushing thoughts out of her head, Pristine listened as he suggested they end it now. For once she agreed with him.

As she watched Sikes take a deep breath, she thought he was crazy to do such an act, but went along with his plan. Calming herself down, Pristine took a show deep breath too and felt the power rise within her. Closing her eyes, she could feel the energies churning as she exhaled her Light Dragon breath. Unlike Sikes's flame, this one was white fire and it head right towards the black flame.

((Oblivian, I'll let you decide what kind of effect this will have.))

At the impact of both of attacks, Dark and Light Dragon Breaths, a powerful shock wave emitted from where the two forces collided, knocking up dust from off the ground as it blows outward, clouding the view of both fighters.

Up on the balcony, King Ryuu sat in awe as he witness the display of power. Commander Fang peers over to his king, noticing his reaction as he moves in closer to him. "It appears as your enjoying the fight, your majesty?" He asks, believing that the king was eyeing the next invites into his forces, having been seeking more powerful Force Wielders as of late. But once he asked that, the King's expression changed as it becomes a serious glare at where the two fighters stood. "Commander Fang...gather your men." Surprised by the sudden change in his king, he replies in confusion, "What's wrong, my lord?" Keeping his eyes on the field below, King Ryuu then spoke in a stern tone.

"Those two...are a threat to my Kingdom...arrest them. It is also believed that others like them are among the competitors. If anyone tries to help them, toss them into jail as well."

Back down on the battle field, Sikes struggles to look through the picked up dust to try and see if Pristine was still standing or not. But at the moment he was able to see, he also caught sight of several armed Royal Knights surround the two of them. "What the..?" He mutters as he looks at the armored knights all around them as Commander Fang himself walks from the battle field entrance. "You two...your under arrest." Sikes couldn't understand what was going on as he protested, "Arrest? For what?!"

Keeping a serious look, the Commander replies, "King Ryuu has seen your powers, and has judged you and your monster kind as a threat." Right then, Sikes noticed something, "Monster kind?...Does he mean..the dragons? How does he know?" But before he could give it much thought, the knights moved in, pushing Sikes and Pristine close to one another. "Damn it..."

What happened next wasn't a huge surprise for Pristine. When the guards closed in around them and one said they were being arrested, Pristine complied. While she still had plenty of energy to attack, she knew in this kind of situation, it was best not to act yet. Still, she was mildly taken aback when she overhead what Sikes and the one soldier said. Dragons? How did the king know about their dragons. Only those of the Light and Dragon clans knew about the Dragon souls, so how could the king, an outsider, know about them. Did that mean . . . one of their clansman was still alive and aligned with King Ryuu? But who? She knew that none of her tribe would have done such a thing. She had heard bad things about the king and even from here, she could feel bad energy from the King's area of the arena.

As Pristine tried to figure out who it could be, she could feel Sikes being pushed right next to her. She also felt her symbol burn a bit. That could only mean one of the others were close. Damn, this was not good! It would do if the others got caught now too. She wished she could warn the person.

Don't panic Pristine. Wait for the right moment, her dragon said.

Pristine nodded and stayed quiet.

Ayla watched with an open mouth. What had just happened? Events had quickly spiraled out of control in the arena. She had lost interest in the battle that was commencing beneath her, instead preferring to stare out her future opponents, a smirk on her lips as she cocked an eyebrow when they caught her eye. But even she couldn't have miss what happened down below. A flicker of light caught the corner of her eye and upon turning her head she was faced with a sight that clutched at her heart. Both the warriors were expelling a flame-like substance. The female's was light in colour, whilst the male's was dark. Almost at once a sharp burning pain exploded over her left collarbone. Wincing, she was damned if she'd remove her eyes from the battle to check her mark. Instead, she kept her eyes trained on them both, leaning over the barrier to get a closer look.

Then all hell broke loose.

Guards rushed into the arena and arrested the pair. In that second, Ayla knew she had to move. There was no staying here. But before she could even turn and head for the stairs, a pounding of feet echoed around the balcony. Swearing under her breath, she backed up a few steps as guards rushed onto the balcony and began arresting everyone in sight. An almost feral snarl escaped her lips, as one made a bee-line for her. He was a portly fellow, a protruding belly threatening to burst his tunic. There was little hair on his head and he had a nasty sneer on his face as he licked his lips, hungrily.

"You, m'lovely, are under arrest by the Kings' orders." Quickly, he bounded forwards and snatched up her wrists.

"Get your filthy hands off me." She hissed in a dangerous voice. Ayla pulled to be free, but it was for show. Instead, she focused on her core of her very being. Heat. She needed heat. So, accessing her inner temperature, she whacked it up. Slowly it began to ascend, her skin growing warm to touch. But the guard didn't notice. Not at first. Not until her skin seemingly burst into flames, though her appearance nor facial expression changed. With a yelp the guard released her, looking down at his red and blistered hands. A satisfied smirk highlighted Ayla's face for an instant, before she had taken off. Dodging around the battling pairs, she made for the stairs, guards shouting behind her. They were chasing her now, but their armor slowed them.

She had just reached the top of the stairs when a figure rose from their depths. Skidding to a stop, she saw what was coming before she could react. He doused her with a bucket of freezing water, before seizing her around the waist and lifting her over his shoulder. Now she kicked and bucked and bit and tore at his flesh. Nothing seemed to faze her. Eventually she fell still. Perhaps it was better this way.

"I've got her." She heard him say to the remaining guards. Demieno was defeated and she accepted that willingly.

When the two Wielder's unique attacks met one another, an explosion of power radiated, and Silvia could feel it. So did Fernis, who was growling. As the smoke cleared, and Silvia was one of those who could see through the smokescreen fairly well without waiting for it to subside. What she saw was both the fighters now back to back, surrounded by the King's knights. Silvia raised her eyebrows in surprise.

'Is this what human-held tournaments are like?' she thought to herself, as she looked at the other balconies, seeing the knights capturing, or attempting to capture, the other participants of the tournament, 'How...odd. The Ancient Bears would definitely scoff at the interference as lowly...maybe this was just something humans did?'

"Barbaric wom-!" a knight was approaching Silvia with his sword and shield at the ready, no doubt to capture her as well. But he must not have expected Fernis, because the knight gaped in shock at the sheer size of the humongous mammal, who had lowered its head to peer at the knight before opening its mouth and roaring straight into the knight's pale face.Who knows just how many a damned soul had been taken through the jaws of this wolf, a legend honored and feared throughout Silvia's village.

"R-r-r-reinforce-ce-cements!!" the knight yelled at the top of his lungs with as manliness as he could to hide his fearful squeaky voice, dashing back as fast as his liquefied legs could take him. Silvia looked down the hallway, partly shocked and partly amused. But seeing Fernis growling and in an agitated stance, she clambered on top of it and Fernis leaped down from the balcony into the arena. At first Fernis was confused, but ready to attack, turning in the spot, not knowing what to do.

"Fernis!" she pointed towards the two fighters, before her left shoulder suddenly began to burn painfully. Fernis almost stopped its dash when Silvia cried out, caught by surprise. However, Silvia kept a hand on Fernis, transmitting her thoughts through their bond. A quick recovery, Fernis thundered towards the two fighters as tremendous speed. Many of the knights that surrounded the two heard the stomping and turned around, only to see a large wolf running towards them with a girl riding it. Some quickly scrambled out of the way, some held their ground and tried to stop Fernis, but failed, being knocked out of the way by Fernis's headbutts and claws, Silvia's broken great sword, still wrapped in its protective cloth. They weren't aiming to kill. They were only aiming to maim out of commission. Fernis stopped beside the Dark Force Wielder and the Light Force Wielder.

"GET ON!" she yelled, stretching a hand out towards the girl, then looked at the guy. "BOTH OF YOU!"

As the knights began recovering, Silvia knew her move was a bad one, especially if the knights meant hostility. But somewhere inside her, somehow, was telling her that she couldn't leave these two behind. Silvia's shoulder began to hurt again, gradually becoming more painful. She winced, and almost pulled her hand back, but she kept the hand out, though it was trembling as she resisted the pain.

Fernis growled as the knights starting closing in on them...

Nowaki sat quietly with his eyes lazily starring at the wall to his left, doing a fine job at keeping to himself. He could hear the cheers and shouting from the audience as the two Force Wielders below fought with each other, but he didn't pay very much attention. That was until there came the sudden sound of screaming cheers that were much louder than the original ones and a small jolt of pain picked his neck. He stood from where he was sitting and walked to the edge of the balcony just in time to see the end of the extraordinary attack that came from both wielders. He'd never seen such flames before, but he didn't wear any kind of surprise on his face. The boy hadn't seen a lot of things, but it was still interesting to watch. He felt a slight rush of heat pour over him, most of it coming from the mark on his neck, and he reached up to touch the area of the scarf that was covering the mark. He was curious as to why he suddenly felt so strange, but he just couldn't come up with an answer.

When the attack finished, the two opponents were quickly surrounded by what Nowaki could tell were soldiers, similar to the ones he'd encounter in his hometown. Only after a few moments, men wearing the same uniforms as the ones down below began to file into the balcony and push the other contestants into a group the best they could. Nowaki turned around, his amethyst eyes narrowing slightly as he listened to the resistance of the contestants, he even watched one woman run out with a few of the soldiers chasing after her. A faint shower began to fall onto the city, and with Nowaki being on the edge he could feel the droplets land and sink into the cloth on his shoulders. After a few seconds he hands wrap tightly around his wrists and he was forced to straighten up.

"You're under arrest by the direct order of the King."

It was a some-what tall man with an intimidating stance and facial features, clearly serious about his job. Nowaki's felt his heart lurch as a feeling he hadn't felt for a long time swept over him; a feeling he didn't like. He was scared. "No, let go!" He managed to yelp as he made an attempt to pull his wrists free, but the man had a firm grip. "Quite struggling!" The man demanded with a threatening tone that Nowaki barely noticed. He was starting to shake, his heart was pounding, he couldn't be held still like this any longer. "I said, let go!", he shouted as he yanked himself forward, bumping into a couple of people. There was the sudden sound of what seemed to be the sound of glass cracking and the ground around Nowaki laced itself heavily with ice, along with the soldiers hands and feet and there wasn't a doubt that he received instant frost bite. Even a few of the raindrops that managed to fall by during that moment turned into slush. The man soldier made a second attempt to grab the boys wrist; a mistake. "Leave me alone!" He said, his voice as raspy as usual as he stepped forward and rammed his right side into the man. Withing seconds the soldiers body had been completely frozen and laced with ice and the impact from Nowaki pushing into him caused the body to hit the edge of the balcony, tip over, and crash into pieces below.