"Cinder has a Core Mask?" Sera asked in shock.
"I had no idea," Max said, also a little surprised.
Next to them, Jack Larison, also known as Battery, placed a sucker into his mouth. "You two are both Squires, so I'm not shocked you're both surprised to see that. Cinder is one of the many members of our group that come from other lands. Myth is quite kind and is one of the few guilds that let them all in."
"Didn't you get mad at someone from Mordheim?" Max asked cocking his head to the side. "You beat up that Davi guy and stuff?"
Jack's eye twitched. "That was because of his armor and the feeling of his mana."
Sera glanced back at the screen, watching as Cinder began to easily weave in and out of Olem's reach, pelting him with fire and ice. "She's strong. Really strong." The maid hummed. "Despite having all that power, you still haven't been able to find Ashley, though…"
Jack just sighed. "We're doing everything we can. We want her back. We won't stand for a group taking one of our people. Trust me."
Max hummed and casually watched the fights. "Cinder will obviously win. Especially now that she busted that dope-ass mask out, but what about the other fight?" His eyes trailed to the second half of the street, where his fellow Squire Ash was battling a woman in a witch outfit. "I wonder if Ash can win?"
At the location of the blue crystal, Ash fired a barrage of arrows at Olivia, but she reacted to them and either dodged them or used her knife to slice them out of the air. Mana began to coat her legs, and she boosted herself toward Ash at super speeds, but Ash was able to react and use a spell to get away.
"Row Wind Barrier!" The wind formed a shield in front of him right as she swung her knife down, and it deflected the attack. "Row Wind Eagle!" From beneath him, the wind swirled and twisted, turning into a large bird that lifted him into the air, giving him the high ground. He used his newfound advantage to fire another barrage of arrows down onto the battlefield, firing them faster and faster.
Olivia did her best to block and dodge a few with her knife, but one of the arrows jammed into her shoulder and knocked her off her feet. She rolled across the ground, avoiding the rest that trailed behind her, impaling the area. Thinking fast, she slid behind one of the trees in the forest and breathed heavily, getting a moment to think.
"Haru, dammit." Olivia cursed and ripped the arrow out of her shoulder, ignoring the pain. Already, her healing factor was kicking in, slowly mending the flesh. "Great. Just freaking great. What do I do now?"
She had assumed Miranda would be able to defeat Ash. Turns out she was wrong, which was really bad for her since Miranda was a lot stronger than her, and if Ash beat Miranda, then that meant he could likely beat her.
Her only saving grace was that he was slightly injured. He no doubt used a few spells and took some hits from Miranda, so Ash wasn't fighting her at full power. At the same time, neither was she. She already used Polymorph, which meant once it wore off, she'd be out of the fight since she already used three spells in her base form and used up all her mana. Her current form hadn't used any spells, luckily, but that meant she would have to win in just three moves, all before her time limit ran out.
To make matters worse, she also had to do this before Olem lost to Cinder. Her side and Cinder's side no longer had any Ho's, which meant they needed to beat someone in order to unlock a new Ho and win the game.
At this point, it had turned into a battle of endurance, and she didn't have the stamina for it.
Olivia took another calming breath and then tilted her head just in time as an arrow slammed into the tree behind her. Ash came flying around the corner on his giant bird and already had a shot lined up. Her eyes met his, and she deflected the next arrow that came her way with her cursed knife.
"Sit still," Ash ordered, and he began to shoot at her once more.
"Nah, I'm good," Olivia called out, now running for her life. She weaved in between the trees, using them along with her cloak to mask where she was, making it harder for Ash to hit her. That worked up until he got tired of her dodges and decided to deal with the forest.
"Vil Wind Slicer!" A thick blade of wind launched from his bow, and Olivia let out a loud yelp as all the trees around her began to fall down, being sliced in two. She dodged the lumber and rolled, but now with no cover, one of Ash's arrows struck her in the calf.
Olivia let out a scream of pain and cursed. "You fucker!"
"Language," Ash taunted. "Come on, useless Olivia. Fight back. You're making this way too easy."
"Don't get cocky." Olivia hissed.
"Why not?" Ash's smirk didn't fade. "Row Wind Bolt!" He launched the spell through his bow and narrowly missed Olivia, who used her cloak and forced mana into it to turn it solid to block the strike. The article of clothing moved as if it were alive and slapped out, striking the wind spell, but most of it exploded in the process, stripping Olivia of over half her cloak. "No offense, but you haven't really done anything to give me any confidence," Ash called down.
Olivia's glare just grew, as did his smile. This was going all according to plan.
He wasn't dumb. He knew that calling Olivia useless now wasn't really correct. She had become a Knight, even if she was just a weak one, and most likely could go toe-to-toe with tons of strong foes. In fact, a lot of people had been talking about Phoenix Flight ever since the Daisy Town incident, so he knew better than anyone that Olivia had improved and grown, becoming someone worthy of praise.
She was still once his rival, though, and for that reason alone, he couldn't afford to let her beat him. He'd never be able to go on with his life if he lost to the girl he had always bullied and made fun of. He had to keep his number one spot and show why he was better, and so he kept mocking her, hoping she'd get pissed off and make a mistake or two for him to exploit.
In fact, his entire way of fighting was all built around beating her. Olivia's weaknesses were obvious. Being stuck with three spells only was always going to be something that held her back, no matter how clever or strong she became. He picked a bow for two main reasons.
The first was that Olivia was actually pretty skilled in melee combat. She was aggressive and reckless, and so facing her when she had those knives or scythes wasn't something he wanted to do. That meant it would be better to stick in the back where she couldn't use her weapons. Since she only had three spells, she couldn't just waste them casting shields on herself like other mages could, which meant she'd have to manually dodge, and it'd only be a matter of time until she either grew tired or slipped up, and one of his arrows would land. Another issue she would have would be beating him from a distance. Any other mage could blast him with tons of spells, but Olivia could only use three Bolts to try and beat him, meaning she needed perfect shots.
These factors alone were the main reason he decided to take up archery and create a fighting style built around blasting from a distance. Especially since he learned quickly that he sucked with a sword or other weapons.
The other reason he wanted to use a bow, though, was because of Sieg. The lightning mage was exceptionally powerful, even surpassing Davi, and Ash wanted that kind of power, so he unconsciously began to use a bow simply because Sieg used one.
It was very fitting that a bow happened to be the worst weapon Olivia could face.
Up in the sky, he could use barriers and blast her all he wanted while she became weaker and weaker. There was nothing she could do!
Olivia took a deep breath and drew her wand. She held her knife in one hand and her wand in the other.
"Going to try and fire a bolt at me?" Ash yelled down. "You're pretty dumb if so, because we both know I'll block it."
Olivia ignored him and used a spell. "Row Blood Scythe."
Ash began to laugh. Louder and louder he stood upon his bird, floating above the forest, and glared down at her. "Your scythe? You pulled your scythe out? Why? You must know that it can't reach me?"
"Come down here and fight me." Olivia pointed her scythe up at Ash.
He just laughed harder. "No."
"Scared?"
Ash frowned, and his eye twitched. "That won't work. I'm not a dumbass. I won't come down and engage you in a melee."
"Chicken says what?"
"That won't work," Ash growled. "Stop it."
Olivia just shrugged. "Okay. I'll just come to you then."
"What?" Olivia suddenly let go of her scythe, and before it could fully drop, it halted in the air. She then casually sat down on the handle, and it rapidly lifted into the air, heading right for him. "What!" Feeling a bit of panic, Ash's bird began to fly up, but Olivia chased after him with her flying scythe. "How?" Ash demanded. "How can you fly?"
"Every witch needs her broom." Olivia smiled. "Mine just happens to be a cool-looking scythe. Besides, it's my mana; I can control it however I want."
"No!" Ash shook his head and got up higher. "That's wrong!"
Making a construct was already hard, but making one that defied logic like how she was doing? It shouldn't be possible, and yet it was. Casting spells through other spells wasn't something most mages could do. Merlin had to create a Vow to gain perfect control over his spells, and yet Olivia was doing things he could do all without even stepping foot into the realm of Vows and Enchantments. Davi wasn't the only prodigy.
It was like Olivia was meant to fly. A snake that could take to the air.
A dragon.
Ash pulled an arrow back and fired it, but now that she was in the air, Olivia was moving several times faster than she had been on the ground. No longer did she have to worry about dodging left or right; now she flew in all directions, moving out of the path of the arrows with far more ease. Olivia raised her wand and pointed it toward Ash. "Row Blood Bolt!"
Ash held his hand out. "Row Wind Barrier!" The shield formed in front of him, ready to block the Blood Bolt, but the attack never came. No spell was actually used by Olivia, and instead, she sped up and tossed her knife! It flew through the air and rammed into the neck of his bird, beheading it and causing the construct to shatter and fall.
Ash yelled as he plummeted, but his fear soon turned to rage, and he twisted himself around midair. "Vil Wind Spear!"
The attack formed along his bow string, the air twisting into a jagged lance of mana that blasted out with high speed. Olivia had been flying down toward him, but her eyes widened when she saw the attack, and she twisted off her scythe and grabbed it, swinging down on the spear. Unfortunately for her, Ash's spell had been used at the level of Vil, and so the sheer power that was held within it was able to easily beat her scythe.
The tip of the weapon was blasted clean off, and Olivia felt a horrible pain, and the spear kept going and pierced right through the left side of her shoulder, tearing an entire chunk out of it. She nearly blacked out but forced herself to stay awake. Right as she was about to hit the ground, what was left of her scythe came to a jerking stop, slowing her fall down and allowing her to land on the balls of her feet.
Ash wasn't as lucky. He could have probably softened his blow if he had more time, but the spell he used took a lot of energy, and the force of firing the attack propelled him down so fast he didn't have time to reinforce his body. He smashed into the forest floor with enough force to shatter most of his ribs, and all of his backside turned dark from a nasty bruise.
Both Ash and Olivia remained on the ground, Olivia clutching her injured shoulder, covered in arrow wounds, while Ash faded in and out of consciousness, brought on by the broken bones and a concussion he now had.
Both of them picked themselves back up and stood on wobbling feet. Their eyes met, and they both glared at each other, but then also smiled.
"When did you get a spell like that?" Olivia questioned.
"When did you learn to fly?" Ash shrugged, and weakly he pulled out another arrow and cocked it.
"I guess we both worked hard."
"I guess we did." Ash fired.
Olivia threw her destroyed scythe, the handle working like a makeshift spear. The knocked Ash's arrow out of the way and nearly hit him, but he stepped out of the way. He was about to fire on her again but then screamed in pain as the scythe flew back and jammed into his side. Olivia then ran forward and raised her hand up, catching the cursed knife she had thrown earlier. She stabbed out at Ash with the blade, and he barely deflected with his bow.
Ash kicked up with his foot and jammed it into Olivia's stomach, causing her to gasp, but she didn't stop, and with the hand that wasn't holding the knife, she grabbed the scythe handle and twisted, ripping it out of him. Ash screamed in pain and swung his bow, smashing it into her face, and knocked her hat off.
Olivia saw stars, and her vision faded in and out. For a moment, she was brought back to her childhood. She saw all the time she had spent with Ash. All the moments they dueled, and she lost. How bad she'd always feel, and how it made her view herself as useless. Her teeth then gritted, and she stabbed her scythe handle right into Ash's leg.
Ash screamed again, but was cut off when Olivia then headbutted him, ramming her skull into his nose, breaking it even further. Ash nearly threw up as everything began to spin. For a moment, he was brought back to his childhood. How inferior he felt around people like Bruno. How much he hated the hand life had dealt him. How he could never accept that a useless blood mage was making better use of her life despite being in the same situation as him?
Ash's eyes narrowed, and he balled his hand into a fist, then jammed it straight into Olivia's chest. A spark of white and black spilled out as his mana condensed and changed, and much to the shock of everyone watching, Ash performed a Mana Strike! He successfully reversed the flow of mana back into chaotic energy, causing space to compress around his fist, dealing a devastating strike.
The force of the attack sent Olivia flying back, and her ribs shattered as she rolled across the ground.
At the same exact moment, a new Super Ho spawned in and began to slowly walk toward the enemy crystal, prepared to destroy the crystal. Pink or blue? Which side was it on?
It took everything she had, but Olivia fought through the pain and stood back up. "You can thank Davi for that last strike," Ash announced, and his arm was still smoking. "After seeing that weird move he used earlier, I kept trying to copy it, but this was as close as I could get. Also, now that you're far away again, I've decided to finish this match." Ash pulled an arrow back and took aim. "I win."
Olivia spat out a broken tooth and grinned. "We'll see about that."
Both of them placed the last of their mana into the next spell.
"Vil Wind Spear!"
"Vil Blood Cerberus!"
Blood and wind… Red and green… Spear and hound…
Two forces clashed.
A young Ash looked down at a young Olivia. A girl who was so weak. He couldn't help but offer her a hand, and yet she rejected him. She didn't want his help. She wanted to get strong all on her own. He was rejected. And so he grew to hate her.
A young Olivia remained on the ground after losing to a young Ash. The boy who had so easily beaten her mockingly offered a hand to her, but she didn't take it. She'd grow to become strong and surpass him. That was a promise.
That was how the two of them met.
The forest crumbled and shattered as the two massive spells slammed into each other. Fire ignited the air, and both of them screamed at one another as they placed their all into the attacks.
There could be only one winner.
One of the attacks started to fade out and was engulfed by the other. At the same time, the newly spawned Ho reached the crystal, and with a swing of its sword, it shattered it.
Storming the Castle came to an end.
One of the sides won, and the other side lost.
***
Meanwhile, outside the city, within the land of frozen time, space began to twist and distort as a figure stepped into the dungeon.
"Adam knows not of what he talks about. He is a fool. One who will not seek a quick win. I will." Rage's fist compressed into a fist, and the horse-man gave a wicked grin with a mouth full of bloody teeth. "I don't care who they belong to. I'll slaughter the seven and save the universe."
"Yes, Master Rage." Huli dropped to her knee, appearing next to one of the elite eight that were going to slaughter the wicked seven. "We're here to serve."
Farkiss also appeared and bowed. "Please. Use us as you wish."
Rage stared around the dead land. "Strange. I hear a voice." His eyes darted up. "It sounds familiar." His nose flared. "I smell something. Something foul. Someone is plotting."
Meanwhile, back in the arena, up in the queen's box, she sat alone, as Sunny escorted her daughter to the bathroom. The queen's smile did not falter as she watched the games. "How long have you been here?"
From behind her chair, High leaned down. "Forgive me. I know it is a bit personal, appearing to you like this, but I have something I think you should know."
"Yes? What is it?"
"Someone has just entered the dungeon," High whispered to her. "A person I'm very familiar with from days long past."
"Oh?"
"Yes. I believe I can get them to help us."
"Help with what?" The queen raised an eyebrow.
"You know exactly what I mean." High chuckled. "Help with our little sun issue."
The quill began to write, and somewhere far, far away, Adam smiled.