Snippet #2251785

Giving a loud roar, Tieria lunged forward, leveling her gigantic sword and stabbing directly at her opponent's torso, both hands on the hilt of her sword, forcing the giant blade forward with all her might. This time was different from the last time she had fought. With this strike, she made no attempt to turn the twin points of Caladbolg away from her enemy. No, quite the opposite, in fact. She plunged them straight towards her opponent's heart. This wasn't because she was angry, or because she felt like killing someone. No... it was because she knew that any less effort would in turn end in her own death.

Victory merely smiled, raising her newly created blade across his torso without even seeming to brace himself against the attack. And then, he did the seemingly impossible. With a flash of power and a tremendous shockwave... he simply turned aside the monstrously powerful thrust with a slight twitch of one hand. Crying out in anger, the Phoenix did not stumble, catching herself immediately and bringing herself back around with all her momentum, only to find her blade batted aside yet again by another casual, one-handed motion of the Ice Demon's comparatively tiny sword. Now Victor went on the offensive, continuing his motion and sliding his own weapon down the mammoth blade of Caladbolg, forcing the Phoenix to leap back, sliding across the iced over floor and spinning around in a full circle, twirling her own blade behind her and raising it just in time to deflect a second slash as her enemy bounded after her.

Sparks flashed into the air as the two weapons connected again and again, scattering clouds of lingering steam and powdery, broken ice in all directions with each blow. The Phoenix brought up her blade to deflect an overhead strike, only to have Victor hook his blade on the divide at the center of Caladbolg, somehow overcoming even the leverage bestowed by the giant weapon itself to wrench the blade out of the way, pivoting around at the same point to bring up his elbow beneath his opponent's defenses, slamming it hard into her gut and sending her flying into the air, bursting forth from the cloud of dust like a shot from a cannon. Flipping head over heels, she righted herself mid-flight, halting her chaotic upward spiral just in time to brace herself against the very ceiling and, with the force of a falling star, launch herself right back down at her adversary.

"Spark Wave!" She bellowed, raising her huge blade high overhead as an immense storm of crimson light took shape at the weapon's heart. Slashing downward, she released a cataclysmic swath of flames that spread across the entire arena. And yet, her blade struck nothing but empty air, for at that very instant, a wall of ice had taken shape across the entire barrier behind her, and, from its clouded surface, her opponent stepped forth unharmed, wiping a small stain of blood from his blade.

Tieria grimaced and instinctively clutched her shoulder, only realizing now that her enemy had somehow struck beneath her upraised weapon in the instant before she attacked, moving so fast that she hadn't even noticed he had struck her until the wound had actually started bleeding, a delayed spike of pain flaring through her mind. It was only a scratch, comparatively, but it was nonetheless a very painful one.

Spinning about, she turned to face her adversary, who merely continued to smirk self-assuredly, as he had done since the beginning of the battle. "Well, I see your training hasn't been in vain. Now, are you quite done?" He asked coldly, leveling his weapon into almost casually into a laissez-faire battle stance.

"Not hardly," The Phoenix replied, a determined fire burning in her eyes just as her own flames began to condense and rush up and down the blade of her sword, collapsing in upon the notch at the weapon's center. Power poured from every fiber of her being, concentrating down to a single point. For an instant, neither combatant moved, their eyes locking for a split second. In the next, several things happened at once. With a mutual roar, the two launched at each other at the same time, crossing the space between them in the blink of an eye.

"Dash Spark!" Tieria declared, flames streaming from Caladbolg's surface as she shot over the ground like a rocket, raising her blade with all her might and delivering a single blow. Victor gave a wordless cry as ice sprang into existence across the surface of his own weapon, a pale blue aura flickering to life around him to match the Phoenix's scarlet flames. With a tremendous explosion, the two clashed, streaking past each other in the very same moment as fire and ice collapsed upon themselves and burst outward in all directions. Another jolt of pain shot up from the young swordswoman's side, but Tieria only smiled... for the only blood she could see was the faint trail streaming from the edge of her sword, swiftly evaporating into a fine red mist as the weapon yet continued to heat up.

"What...?" Victor asked, sounding surprised as he raised a hand to his cheek, brushing a small trickle of crimson claret from his face and looking for the first time with shock on his own life's blood. "You... actually cut me...?" Disbelief in an instant turned to excitement as the Ice Demon slowly turned, a suddenly very eager smile breaking out across his face as his enthusiasm for the fight redoubled.

"You're damn skippy I did," Tieria replied, a similar smirk of almost psychotic amusement spreading across her expression as well. This was the first actual hit she'd landed on Victor, and with it, although it wasn't much, she had proved that he wasn't invincible. She had a chance. She could still win this! And so, she continued to smile, even as the frosty halo surrounding her adversary began to grow and expand in a way she knew all too well. This technique... she already could anticipate what was coming. This was the ability that had struck her down before, laying her low at the Ice Demon's feet. It was up to her now to overcome it. And so, even as innumerable blades, each more formidable than her own, began to take form amidst the icy light, Tieria's smile never once faltered. And even as Victor raised his own weapon, slowly pointing it at his target to direct the barrage she already knew was coming, all the Phoenix did was brace herself against the icy ground, her own flames rising to match the Demon's unspeakable power as best she could. The arena was suddenly deathly silent as the two intense magical powers at its center slowly condensed themselves, concentrating down to innumerable tiny points. Then, in the next moment... all of this power exploded at once as two voices shouted in unison.

"Armory of Ragnarok... FIRE!"
"Spark... BARRAGE!"

With these words, countless blades plunged down as a single wall, like all the armaments of an invisible legion striking as one. And, at the same time, a single blade danced brightly through the chilled white light, spreading a web of scarlet flames with each passing stroke. One strike, two strikes, three strikes, four.... the movements of that flashing blade blurred together into a single continuous hailstorm of attacks as, at the same time, the one wielding it leaped forward, dancing dangerously through the evil rain as flames scattered around her to clear a path. A dozen blows became a score, and that score became a hundred, which multiplied a hundredfold more as innumerable flaming arcs of power expanded around a single point as countless freezing blades scattered in all directions, shattered into dust by the force of the Phoenix's desperate charge, until at last the red-clad girl tore through the final curtain of incoming swords, and into free, open space, her sword raised high for a finishing blow. But her victory never came, for at that same instant, raising his sword along with a twin weapon before him, pointing both directly at the oncoming white-haired warrioress, Victor spoke but two words.

"Fenrir Gun."

At that second, there was an explosion of power unlike any other, as though an entire glacier had been made manifest and concentrated along a single line, cutting through the air in a frigid torrent of absolute magic that engulfed the Phoenix in an instant. Her flames dimmed and grew cold as the ice spread around her rapidly chilling blade, in and instant forcing her back across the slippery floor, taking back all the ground she had only just gained. At this rate, she realized, she'd be frozen solid, or perhaps crushed against the barrier. She had to break out, had to fight back...! Desperate now, she gathered all the power at her disposal, raised her sword high, and, channeling all her strength into his mighty blade, she struck downward into the earth.

"Ground... Spark..." She gasped, her voice drowned out by the howl of the frigid wind all around her as the deathly frost threatened to consume her. At that instant, a single flame took life at the heart of the chilled void, then grew. It grew and grew and began to expand until, in a single, mighty surge, it at last broke outward in all directions, scattering walls of ice and snow every which way as the heat returned to the Phoenix's body, and the will to win rekindled the determination in her heart.

"What's this?" Victor asked, watching with surprise as slowly, shaking the snow off her body as she did so, Tieria stood, tiredly but resolutely raising her blade before her to continue her fight. "Not only did you force me to summon multiple weapons, you actually managed to take a shot of my most powerful spell and stay standing? Just how much more powerful have you grown...?" The Ice Demon asked.

"You really want to know?" The Phoenix replied, a confident grin emerging on her features as a faint, flickering flame suddenly became evident, dancing across the surface of her body, and Victor realized for the first time why his enemy had been so hard pressed. She hadn't been weak. Rather, she'd been holding back the large part of her power in preparation for some kind of large spell. But what was she...? "Well, then you're in luck," She said, her hair beginning to rise upward and dance about upon an invisible current of unseen wind as the ice beneath her feet suddenly cracked and scattered. "Because you're about to find out firsthand!" As a wall of steam rose around her, a sudden tower of flames roared to life, reaching clear from the ground beneath her feet all the way to the ceiling above. As Tieria raised her sword over her head once more, she chanted the name of her spell of last resort, the power she planned to use to turn this battle around. Victor, surprised and curious to see what she was planning, made no effort to stop her, instead watching with silent astonishment as all of the flames surrounding his enemy began to collapse, and a single wing of pure, elemental fire spread from her her right shoulder upward towards the unseen sky, scattering all of the dust on the winds of a mighty gale.

"Seventh Sorcery - Phoenix of Princes," Tieria finished, sweeping her sword downward into a combat stance.

"So... this is your third spell?" Victor asked, a sudden tone of respect in his voice that hadn't been there before. "I'd heard you had perfected some sort of transformation, but I have to admit, it's more impressive than I had imagined. This must be how you got that title of yours, isn't it?"

"Naturally, but let me be frank. You haven't seen anything yet." Tieria smirked, and the Ice Demon only had barely enough time to register that she had planted her feet firmly before she was already moving. She struck like a lightning bolt, bursting across the distance between them almost instantaneously and slashing upward with her burning sword. A loud roar resounded throughout the arena as Victor raised his swords in a futile attempt to defend himself, crossing them in the path of the gigantic weapon only to have the force of the blow, even when broken by his defenses, actually pick him up and carry him into the air. Groaning with the sudden impact, the Ice Demon tried to right himself, summoning a giant lance of ice and launching it down towards the mighty firebird below.

"Oh, this is going to be good," Tieria chuckled, grinning as she braced herself, then, instead of attempting to dodge or block, leaped straight upwards, crossing her blade over her body and raising it before her. In the next instant, a storm of flames burst throughout the air, and with a tremendous crash, the frozen lance was split clean in two, and the Phoenix had burst forth from its core, her fires burning brighter than ever before as, too fast to even follow, she streaked past Victor, dealing two blows almost at the same instant.

"Knock, knock!" She said, slamming her giant blade into the Demon's crossed swords, shattering them into countless pieces with the incredible impact as, at the same time, she let go of her own weapon with her left hand, using the force of her own blow to spin around behind her target, raising her now free hand over her head, clenched into a mighty, burning fist, bringing down a bone-crushing punch to the top of his skull which sent him crashing down into the ground like a star falling from heaven, naught but a blur as he slammed down into the stone floor of the arena with enough force to not only shatter the ice covering it, but to leave a crater in the ground itself.

"It's pain!" She finished, pointing Caladbolg down towards the smoking hole in the arena floor. "Sword Flare!" With an ear-splitting howl, the flames licking the blade of the giant weapon suddenly collapsed down into a single orb, then tore forth, growing vastly in size as the projectile plummeted down toward its target, until it was as though a miniature sun was being thrown down at the helpless Ice Demon. In an instant, the giant ball of flames had reached the crater and filled it, a sea of flames raging throughout the hole where the enemy lay. And yet, Tieria knew victory wouldn't be so simple. A suspicion still lurked in the back of her mind, one that proved in the next instant to be correct when an object flashed across her peripheral vision from the right. She didn't even turn to face the attack she knew was coming, instead just sweeping out her burning wing and batting several icy swords out of the air before they could even reach her. Huh. Funny. She distinctly remembered his weapons being tougher than this. Oh, wait, she forgot. She'd turned her body into a conduit for pure elemental fire, essentially making herself into living, breathing magic. Even the Demon's enchanted blades hadn't yet attained that level. In short... she'd surpassed him, at long last, and she was about to prove it!

Turning to see where the attacks had come from as she slowly floated down toward the ground, she found her enemy standing, as she had expected, unharmed, clear across the arena from where her last attack had struck. So, he had escaped. His first spell's ability to teleport him made him very hard to pin down and eliminate. Even when he could no longer follow her movements, he would still be a bother to deal with considering his agility. But, with the ability to just create the ice he needed to use anywhere he wished to, she couldn't exactly stop him from using it... Ah, what a pain.

"My, my," Victor said, trying to regain the breath she'd knocked out of him. Judging by his stance, his physical reinforcement had managed to absorb most of the impact of her successful strike when she'd broken his weapons, but it looked like he hadn't fared so well at weathering the blade itself. She'd dealt a rather bloody across his chest, and he was clearly favoring the area. Perhaps she'd broken a rib or two? Maybe this would be easier than she had thought. "That was quite the attack. If I didn't know better... I'd say I was fighting a completely different person from the one I defeated so easily before."

"You are," Tieria replied. "Ever since you crushed me in our last battle, I focused on one thing and one thing alone: more power. I fired techniques until they were second nature to me, exhausting every last ounce of my energy in the process to increase my endurance. Bit by bit, my natural magical ability grew by being pushed to its limits. And then, I focused all of that newfound strength into one thing and one thing alone: my own body. This is the ultimate evolution of the physical enhancement magic I created when I made this sword, Victor. Even your countless blades can't compare to this spell's reinforcement power."

"So I see. But, then again, they don't have to," Victor replied, his old smirk returning.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, aren't you assuming something foolish? After all, Armory of Ragnarok isn't my only spell." Tieria grimaced, beginning to realize exactly what the Demon meant by that. "That's right... Look around you. Remember when I shot you with my Fenrir Gun? That attack wasn't intended to kill you. I meant for you to deflect it, in exactly the same manner as you did." He spread his arms, pointing to the arena surrounding them. Tieria's eyes widened. Every last inch of it, walls, ground, and even the ceiling... were all covered with ice, countless giant shards spread across the whole room by the scattering of the ice used in the Demon's third spell attack. The once level, open field now more resembled a crystalline maze, random walls and crevices like holes in a frozen ocean jutting up and down all across the battlefield. Using those... Victor could transport himself anywhere he felt like, at any time, from any angle!

"True. You may be faster and stronger than me now physically, but that'll only help you if I stay still. You're no closer to beating me than when you started!" A flash of white light lit up the air as he spoke, and, in the next instant, Victor was gone.

"Shit!" Tieria cursed, her eyes swiftly searching about in an attempt to spot the enemy in his next appearance. A flash of movement from the left alerted her just in time, and, bringing about her weapon, she intercepted an incoming lance of ice, sending it spiraling up into the air and away from her. But there was no sign of Victor. Then... it was a diversion? Realizing the danger she was in, she leaped upward just in time to avoid a vast storm of ice that tore through where she had just stood. Following this attack back to its source, she just had time to locate Victor before he terminated his Fenrir Gun and vanished into the icy mist.

Leveling out, Tieria swiftly began searching once again, only to be struck abruptly from behind by a slash from a bladed weapon, sending a spurt of scarlet blood streaming upward from her shoulder as she hurtled back down towards the ground, which abruptly turned its entire mass into blades of ice and began launching back up at her. Grimacing, Tieria rolled sideways, evading most of the incoming storm. But even with all her speed, she was unable to escape being slashed across the side by a passing blade.

Crashing down into the ground, Tieria landed in a kneeling position and tried to rise, only to find her enemy suddenly coming in from above, a wickedly curved blade of ice held high above his head. Raising her own blade to defend herself, she suddenly found her left arm feeling weak. Actually, she was barely able to move it at all...! Damnit! He must have severed something important with that last attack. There goes my arm, I guess, The Phoenix thought, grimacing as she nonetheless braced herself with her working arm, intercepting the incoming slash and turning it aside before sliding her own weapon up the sword's blade, using the Demon's own momentum to plant his blade uselessly in the ground while simultaneously countering. To her surprise, however, her blade cut through nothing but thin air. Damnit! She'd forgotten. His teleportation magic used contact with ice to warp him instantly. By stabbing his blade into the ground, she'd allowed him to escape!

"I told you. You're too slow," Victor hissed from behind her. Tieria's eyes widened in surprise as she tried to leap upward to evade the attack she thought was coming, only to feel a sudden surge of searing, unbelievable pain from her lower torso as, with a horrible squelching of flesh, she looked down to find an icy blade piercing clean through her lower left side. "It's over," Victor said, and, with those words, he drew back the blade from her, sweeping the blood off it as his enemy staggered weakly forward, planting her blade and then clutching her side as she fought back tears at the overwhelming, unbelievable pain. That was right... this was what it felt like to be impaled. She'd felt this sensation before, and at the hands of the same person. He'd driven blades through every one of her limbs over the course of their fight, and, although she hated to admit it, she had cried pathetically at the pain after the fight had ended. But she wouldn't give him the pleasure of seeing her tears. Not this time. Not again. No... this time, she would pay him back in full, somehow. She had to... reach him. Had to strike him down and win, to show him, to show herself that she wasn't weak anymore.

"Damn... you..." She hissed through gritted teeth as blood began streaming from her many wounds. To Victor's surprise, however, she didn't fall over then and there, but rather, slowly began to rise back to her feet, drawing forth her blade with her scarlet-stained hand and turning about to face him with fire in her eyes. "I'm... not fast enough... am I? Fine... I'll get faster... I'll keep on getting faster and stronger... As much power as it takes to beat you... I'll use whatever it takes!" She howled, flames once again beginning to spread across her sword, then over her entire body as she gave a vicious, guttural roar.

"What...? How the hell are you still even standing, let alone mustering all this power?! I broke your arm, drove a sword clean through your side! I've cut you enough times that you should have passed out by now from blood loss, if not have fainted outright from the pain! How are you still moving, damnit?!" Victor exclaimed, involuntarily stepping back as, to his disbelief, the power surrounding his enemy doubled as she continuously amplified her full strength through her sword, then absorbed it again and repeated the process. The flames around her were almost blinding to look at, now, and yet, even beyond their light, the Demon could see something, could see the answer to his questions.

Tieria's wounds were no longer bleeding.

"Those flames around your body..." He murmured. "You burned yourself to cauterize your own wounds?"

"Oh, I've done far more than cauterize them," Tieria hissed over the crackling of the fires. "Didn't you know...? When a phoenix immolates itself... it's reborn, brighter and stronger than ever before! You can take my flames as many times as you like, Victor. I'll just keep burning with more and more power until you're the one who can no longer stand!"

"That third spell of yours can heal your body in the middle of a battle...? Are you insane, Arcander? Trying to manipulate your own flesh while concentrating on fighting at the same time? Not to mention channeling so much magic through your body at once. If you keep going like this, you'll tear yourself apart if you don't go down the very first time I even hit you."

"This is all for the sake of defeating you," Tieria replied, smirking. "I already told you. I'll do whatever it takes to win! Now, then... Sixth Sorcery - Phoenix of Powers!"

"What...? You managed to create a spell with multiple transformations?!" Victor gasped, watching as a second wing slowly sprouted from the Phoenix's left shoulder, spreading along with the first as the flames around her condensed into her own body, surrounding her with a radiant red glow. Slowly, she raised her sword over her head, and her wings flared violently to life upward, feathers falling from their burning expanse and beginning to swirl around the giant weapon as a blinding crimson light expanded from the hilt all the way down the blade. Victor leaped backward, the searing heat of the flames forcing him to retreat.

"You know, Victor," Tieria said, smirking as she twirled her sword above her head, flipping it around backhanded. "There's a weak point in your strategy."

"What...?"

"You need your ice to move around, right?" Realization began to dawn on Victor as he realized exactly what his enemy was planning. But... she couldn't possibly intend to... She couldn't have the power to do something like ignite the entire arena in a single attack, could she?!

"You don't mean..." He gasped.

"Want to try creating ice when every single inch of your surroundings are on fire?!"

"You're insane! Like I'll just let you do that!" Victor cried, raising his sword and pointing it at his enemy as an icy aura took shape around him. He'd stop her, he'd freeze her solid before she could make her move! "Fenrir Gun!" He howled, launching a tremendous typhoon of ice at the Phoenix, only to watch in horror as it broke around her like waves upon a rock, evaporating before it even reached its target.

"You call that an attack? Hah. No, my friend. Allow me to educate you. THIS is what an attack looks like. GROUND SPARK!" With this bellow, she brought down her upraised blade with the force of eternal judgement, like the hammer of god smiting an insolent mortal below. The blade struck the ground and pierced straight through it, and, in the next instant, the world exploded in a single, vast wave of flames. Everything within the area was burning, from the floor to the ceiling, and even the formidable protective barrier began to strain under the sheer force of the widespread destruction raging across its entire surface. Those students who were watching the fight recoiled in surprise as the heat began to reach even them, and almost all of them began to make a hasty exodus from the grandstands, not wanting to remain in case the shield actually broke and they were all exposed to the full force of the Phoenix's tremendous attacks.

Victor cried out, raising his last sword before himself and flaring all of his power around him, trying in vain to fight back the firestorm that now threatened to completely engulf him. But even he, the mighty and famed Ice Demon, found his own strength paling in comparison to the vast power with which he was now faced. Such force, and such heat, over such a vast area. Tieria had been right, for as the flames finally cleared, he saw what he had feared. Every last scrap of his ice had been entirely and completely melted, evaporating instantly under the tremendous heat. In vain he tried to recreate it, but he already knew that it was of no use. The moment any of his magic took form, it was overwhelmed, consumed by the vicious, hellish inferno that blazed all around him.

The Phoenix smiled, and, raising her sword, pointed it at him. The flames around her roared to life one again, and began to dance along the weapon's blade. When her entire aura had been consumed by Caladbolg's heart, she moved on to her wings, spreading them before her as they rippled and faded into the weapon in her hands. Victor's eyes widened in horror as he realized exactly what was happening. Every last ounce of her power, the full force of her total prepared magic, was being channeled into one, final attack.

"Hey, Victor. Better make good use of that sword. It's the only one you've got," Tieria hissed. Victor looked down at the weapon in question, only to give a cry of helpless rage as it cracked and dribbled away into nothingness, the heat of his enemy's power overcoming even his strongest enchantments. He was helpless, disarmed, trapped by walls of flame on every side, unable to move, and his enemy had all the power she needed to finish him. The battle was over, and, he realized, he had lost.

"Oops. Guess I broke it," The Phoenix laughed. "What a shame. Ah, well. If you can't attack me anymore, there's really no point in prolonging this. 'I told you already. You're too slow.' And now... 'It's over.'" She gave another mocking chuckle, quoting his own words from a moment before just to rub in the fact of her victory.

"D-d-damn... you..." Victor hissed, but the words never left his throat. For, at that instant, the Phoenix called her final spell, the attack that would finally end the battle. Without a doubt, it would strike, and when it did, her victim would be helpless to stop it.

"Flare... FINALE!"

Victor cried out in vain, for even his screams were drowned out completely by the explosive roar of the Phoenix's spell as a giant, condensed beam of fire tore across the arena, consuming all in its path. When the flares in the heart of the stone chamber finally died down, there were only two things to be seen. Tieria standing, battered but victorious... and Victor lying at the center of a vast trench in the ground, half buried by ashes and rubble, charred, burnt, and completely unconscious.

.....

The Phoenix's victory was short lived.

"Damnit. Not you again." Tieria scowled, sizing up the group of three ice-users standing between her and the exit. She had expected they'd leave when their champion was beaten, cowed by her power, and yet, it seemed that they hadn't taken the hint. Or, more accurately, they knew exactly what sort of a state she was in. Actually, although she put on a brave face, she could hardly stand at this point. She'd put almost all of her strength into her finishing spell, and having to use her transformation had taken quite a toll on her body. Her left arm hung limply at her side, and her right could barely even lift her giant weapon at this point, upon which she was now propping herself.

"Oh, don't worry about us," The lead boy said, smiling sickeningly. "We just thought we'd congratulate you on beating such a well-known opponent. We have to admit, we didn't expect that."

"Considering you sent him to fight me, I'd think that was pretty obvious," Tieria replied coldly. "So... what were you hoping for? That he'd send me to the healers? If that was your aim, then you need to grow a clue. I don't put up with anyone who tries to take me down."

"Of course not. It would have been stupid to give you a chance to get your revenge on us," The boy replied slyly.

"So, you were hoping he'd 'accidentally' kill me? Or, better yet, that I'd tear my own body apart from the strain of fighting and save you and your friend Victor the trouble?"

"That's a little closer. If Victor had done the deed himself, he'd face expulsion, which would be good for us as fellow ice users. Without the old prodigy to overshadow us, we'd be able to gain reputations of our own. But, of course, we weren't counting on him doing something so careless. Why else would he only run you through the side where you don't have any vital organs, when he could just as easily have slit your throat or impaled your heart?" The boy stopped, and another picked up to continue the explanation.

"If you had ended up killing yourself, it would also work out in our favor. We'd be rid of you as an enemy, and we wouldn't be blamed for it. But, of course, we doubted this would happen, either."

"So what's your plan, then? Surely you don't intend to kill me yourselves, considering you've gone to all this trouble to dodge the blame," Tieria asked, not liking where this conversation was headed.

"How perceptive of you. No, although it would be easy to just end your life now considering the state you're in, we'd just be thrown out for it, and that's exactly the opposite of what we want. But, of course, we need to dispose of you somehow. Tell me, Tieria Arcander, do you know what happens when a student suffers severe injuries in an unauthorized sparring match? For example, so severe that they can no longer use magic?"

"What are you implying...?" She asked, sounding a little nervous. She knew exactly what happened in such a situation. The student would be healed, but then expelled for their carelessness and sent back to whatever home they came from. It was for that reason she'd been careful not to overly injure Victor, instead just burning him and breaking a few bones with pressure until he was unconscious. He'd been fun to fight, and she hadn't wanted to assist these three schemers by getting him out of their way, nor risk a punishment upon herself for injuring him thus.

"Well, let's say, hypothetically, that there was a student who needed to activate all of her spells by speaking. Say in in a certain, unsupervised battle with a higher level student, her tongue was carved out with a knife? And let's say this student had a summoned item that embodied all of her magical power, that, when destroyed, would release all that energy, making it very hard for her to recover the strength she once had. Such a student certainly wouldn't draw much pity from the instructors, especially considering the fact that she crushed one of the star pupils of the school, damaging his reputation a great deal after they worked so hard on helping him build it up from behind the scenes. The delinquent who ruined this role model's pride would certainly be expelled, using her inability to use magic anymore as a justification, wouldn't she? It wouldn't matter what tales she told trying to pass off her guilt onto a certain three other students. Nobody would have any reason to believe her, now would they?"

"So that's your plan..." Tieria stepped back, drawing her sword and leveling it in front of her in preparation to defend herself, even though she knew it was hopeless. She could thwart their plans partially by dismissing Caladbolg so they couldn't break it, but what then? She'd be completely vulnerable, unable to stop them from cutting her tongue out and doing whatever else they might feel like doing in the meantime. She had no choice but to keep the weapon drawn. In short, she was cornered. "But what's to stop this hypothetical student from coming back? It's not impossible to circumvent voice restrictions on spells, nor is it impossible to regain power once lost."

"Oh, but you won't have a chance to do that, Miss Arcander. Do you think I haven't done my research on the enemy I intend to eliminate?" He laughed coldly. "I know all about your family, and about you. It's almost laughable, really. To think that you're a pathetic failure and trying to hide it. But the best part is what your family does to those who shame their heritage. For someone of such noble blood to lose their potential for magic. Oh, I'm sure you'd be punished severely. Burning alive slowly over the course of a whole week, was it? To purify the shamed blood by the family's traditional flames, keeping the victim alive with magic all the while as everything from their feet all the way up to their head is slowly immolated, bit by bit? How primitive. But, it's convenient, no?"

"Damn you..." The Phoenix hissed, her eyes narrowing in absolute, furious rage as the three boys standing in front of her laughed cruelly. She tried to muster her flames, but found them weak, far too weak to save her. She was cornered, helpless... In this state, there was nothing she could do to save herself, and they all knew it. She was already... she was already dead.

"My, my, isn't that a little foolish?" The lead boy asked, taking a step forward. Tieria realized what he was doing far too late to stop him as a vicious-looking black icicle appeared in his hands, a weapon which he plunged toward her. Damnit, damnit, damnit, not good! The Phoenix thought frantically. If she didn't move her sword out of the way, that attack would break it for sure! But if she did, that icicle would be carving its way straight into her eye. This realization was, perhaps, what doomed her, for in her heart, she hesitated for just a moment to sacrifice her eye to save herself. And, in that moment... she lost her only chance to move Caladbolg out of the way. With a quiet crack that yet rang out through the silence, the icicle struck the blade of her sword... and shattered the weapon into four separate pieces.

An explosion of flames erupted from the broken blade, scattering fire in all directions and forcing the three assailants to jump back as Tieria staggered under the weight of the flames she was too weak to control. No... her power... all of her power was escaping! The strength she'd worked for years to attain was slipping away, vanishing into thin air. Desperate now to save herself from the fate she couldn't escape, she strained with all the mental strength available to her. Channeling her full will through the broken-off hilt of her sword, she snatched at all the flames she could reach, and sealed them away within the broken weapon. This power... it was pathetic compared to her former strength, but at least, maybe with this, she could somehow-

She cried out weakly in pain as she was suddenly caught by her hair and pulled back, lifted into the air painfully by one of her enemies, then hurled down upon the ground. Before she could even recover from the searing pain as all of her wounds began to reopen, she found herself caught firmly and held down, her mouth forced open as the boy standing above her drew forth a wicked looking knife and held it over his victim. She struggled in vain, unable to escape the hands that immobilized her. In that moment, as her consciousness faded and exhaustion overtook her, she found herself making a silent plea more humiliating and yet more earnest than any other words she'd ever thought or said before.

Help me... Someone... please... help me...

As her eyes closed, she knew deep down that this plea wouldn't be answered. This was it. Her life was over already, she just wasn't feeling the pain yet. She was already dead, even if her mind yet remained. It was hopeless. And yet, she couldn't help but notice something that, to her, seemed miraculous. The knife above her had stopped in its descent. The hands grasping her had suddenly weakened, as though distracted. A voice rang out from beyond her field of vision, speaking words she couldn't make out or understand. But, the meaning of all these things was clear to her as she faded into an unconscious stupor.

Her plea had been answered. Someone had come to save her. She was... alive?

(Whew. I'm glad I managed to keep this fight scene comparatively short. Most NPC 1v1 battles I write go to about 30 pages long. Fortunately, I managed to wrap things up in only 11 pages. Sorry to make it so long, guys. I think I was enjoying myself a little too much. XD Still, I hope you liked it!)