"I'm going to enjoy killing you, I was told I didn't have to, but I want to now, putting a lady through this disgrace, is unacceptable." As Jagrette spoke I could see a green aura building up in the trees around me, she was getting ready to strike me down.
"Let's see you try." I said, getting ready to launch myself at her. I started conjuring more fire and lightning in the atmosphere, I wasn't going to let her heal, this was going to end with one of us dying right here.
"Ohh, I will, I will kill right here." Jagrette spoke in such a harsh tone, even now it made me shiver from head to toe. I think it's time to use the spell Veer and I came up with to defeat her.
I released the fire I had in the atmosphere and had it spread on the ground, forming a perimeter around us, making sure she couldn't get to the tree line, meaning it was only me and her inside the ring of fire.
To secure it, I added electricity into the fire, so that any acidic spell going toward it would be burned and zapped to dust. I spun my sword in my hand and got into a fighting stance. I wasn't able to hold this spell forever, so I needed to do as much damage as I could.
"Damn you!" Jagrette said angrily as tendrils rose from the ground and came at me. "I am going to kill you slowly!" I shot at her, inside the ring of fire I created, surrounding myself with an icy aura, ready to strike anyone down in an instant.
My blade came down on a tendril, cutting in half as it rose to protect her, then she gripped my wrist, sending acid into my body, I jumped up, kicked her in the chest, separating the two of us.
I swung my blade at her face, now unprotected, going in for the kill shot, but Jagrette released a loud screech. "Ahhhhhh!" Tendrils all around her formed, and shot at me, trying to grip my body, but I sent ice into them before they managed to do that.
I cut a tendril down, then another, then appeared before her again, swinging at a spot on her arm, surrounding my sword with electricity and fire, alongside the ice that was already there, and came down on her.
I felt my blade cut through the armor, and reach her flesh, and I kept on pushing down, putting all my force behind my attack, and that's when her arm was separated from her body, ending up on the ground before me.
"Ahhh, you bitch, you bitch!" Jagrette screamed as a reddish, greed blood game out of her, then tendrils began to come at me violently. I had to cut through some of them, some froze, but they just just kept on coming.
I dodged, cut through one, jumped as a hand reached for my ankle, spun and sliced through another that came from behind me. I kept on doing this, using up my mana in the process, but I couldn't allow them to reach me, or I would be in trouble.
In the process of me fending off for my life, Jagrette managed to heal the wound, making her now one arm down in this fight, but that did not matter, she was still a force to be scared of, for this exact reason.
I was still cutting down tendril after tendril, and it seemed like she could keep on going, but I knew I was unable to do that. The ground beneath me started to puddle, like water was forming, but it was not water, it was an acid of some sort.
I quickly moved out of the way, toward a tendril, sliced it in half, then activated "Static Void" shooting myself toward Jagrette, ignoring all of these tendrils. I swung my blade as time stopped at her head, and time resumed just as I got close to her.
She managed to step back just in time, but my blade didn't miss entirely, it sliced a gash in her armor on her chest. I kept on pushing her back into the fire, swinging, and ducking, or dodging as she threw attacks at me.
My blade connected with a tendril, then her fist connected with my ribs, the force made me spit up blood, but it was not anything too bad. I kept on my attack, swinging towards her throat, face, and chest, just trying anything to land a deciding blow.
This is when I realized, if I had Sylvie, this fight might have been over by now, she would have been able to help me defeat her much easier, but it didn't matter right now, I didn't have her, so I should not act like she is here.
A tendril lashed at my face, barely cutting it, but leaving an acidic mark on my cheek, I sliced it in half, making it fall to the ground, swung at the Retainer as she reached for my throat. My blade connected with nothing, but neither did she, we both diverted paths, not wanting to receive a fatal blow.
I brought the fire behind to her back, hoping to burn her, but as it was about to collide with her, she jumped into the air, and I was forced into stopping the attack, and sending the fire back to where it came from.
I didn't know how much longer I had with this ring of fire spell, but it was working, I just wasn't performing well enough. I sliced through a hand reach for my gut, then Jagrette vanished, appearing before me.
I swung at her core, trying to break it, and kill her at the same time, but all I hit was air.
A foot came up from Jagrette aimed for my side, knocking me backwards and sending a corrosive mana feeling into my body, making me go numb for a mere second. She kept on her attack, swinging her acidic fist at my face, I couldn't do much longer, I was about to run out of air from being too close to her.
I shot backwards using wind mana, took a giant deep breath, and then shot myself back to her, she didn't seem to mind as she stood still as I did this.
My sword came down on her with its icy aura, and connected with air, as she jumped to the side, swinging her fist towards my face as she brought tendrils to my back. I was getting close to my limit from using Realmheart and Static Void for so long, but I had to use it once again.
I activated "Static Void" needing to get out of the way, or I would be seriously injured by the attack she was sending at me.
Time resumed and I was away from her as the attacks she sent at me didn't hit, and I shot at her inner section, trying to cut her in two, my blade sliced through a tendril, then another, and I appeared before her, bring my sword into her chest.
Jagrette reached down and gripped my blade at its tip, sending an enormous amount of her mana into it, and I watched in sorrow as the part she was holding broke off, then spun and sent a kick into her, knocking her back, even closer to the fire.
We both were in bad conditions; she lost a lot of blood from when I cut her arm off and hit her in other areas. I didn't lose a lot of blood but have lost a lot of mana, which made this a fair fight.
I wonder how everyone is doing, I hope Veer is staying stable. He needs to learn to control his Will, I know it is corrupted and all, but if he wants to be a Lance, he needs to control it, or I am going to pull the plug on him.
I was also worried about Lance Aya, Veer told me that the Lances were not as strong as the Retainers. If Dicathen lost another Lance, we would be in great trouble. I don't know why, but Veer had faith in her, so I will too.
A tendril was about to strike my face, but I sliced it in half, and it was like time froze as the two of us stared at each other. "Damn you." She said harshly, but not as aggressively as before. "Just die, let me kill you, or I am going to kill your little beloved brother."
"If you think you can kill him, you are delirious." I spoke, knowing how strong Veer was, I knew he could take her down.
"You know they call you brother the Lance of Death? I bet you are proud, your little brother is better known than you at the moment, the one who took down a Retainer by himself, poor Uto." Jagrette was backing up, I think she was trying to get to a tree to heal up.
"You think I am a fool!" I said, ignoring the words that just came out of her mouth, activating "Static Void" again, maybe being the last time, I was able to use it, and appearing between her and the closest tree, with the fire behind me.
I swung my sword at her head, she blocked it with her arm, using mana to reinforce her, then sent a tendril towards my core. I saw the purple particles of aether telling me to use "Static Void" again, so I did, stopping time, and appearing behind her, letting her get closer to the tree line, but the fire was still in the way.
This dark aura appeared in the distance, somewhat underground, was it Veer? I didn't have time to think about it right now, I'll come back to it later.
I swung my blade with as much force as I could, aiming for her shoulder area, and it connected, leaving a large gash in her shoulder blade, and I released some of the ice mana I had on my sword, onto her shoulder.
"Ahh!" She screamed, then went to kick me, but I swatted her leg away from me using my broken sword, then rolled under a tendril, appearing in the way of the tree line.
'How are you doing?' Sylvie my bond asked me, she was probably just checking up on me to see if I needed her help or not, but seeing as she was the one asking, she must be doing well herself.
'Actually, not bad.' I told her with a sincere tone, making sure she didn't get worried. 'How about you? I can't sense Veer anymore, but I can feel the number of mages underground diminishing.' This was true, it was like everyone underground died in under fifteen minutes, which is almost impossible it feels like.
'Same.' Sylvie responded, feeling what I did. 'Arthur, if you can take her down, I'm in need of some help.' She needed my help now? Was she okay? I held back my emotions, not wanting her to feel them.
I was unable to respond because Jagrette was on me, trying to get to the tree to heal herself, which I was not going to allow. I swung at her, driving her back towards the middle of the ring, I was running low on mana, I have been using up mana consistently this whole fight, even with mana rotation, I was running low.
My sword cut through tendril after tendril as she made her way away from me, but I didn't allow that to happen. I shot toward her, turning her attention back to me, and away from the tree line.
Her hand came up, grabbing my wrist as I swung down on her, and she sent acidic mana into my wrist, making me drop Dawn's Ballad to the ground. I knew I could not swing my fist at her face, it would just burn me.
I quickly grabbed her arm and activated "Absolute Zero" and pushed it onto her, making her release her grip on me, and the two of us separated as I grabbed my sword in the process. I looked down at my body, I had marks all over it, not burn marks, but like a rash or scar, obviously, it was from her acid, but it looked different.
My heartbeat quickened as I sensed something, and that is when we both froze as the dark aura I felt before rose into the sky.
Jagrette and I both looked into the sky as Veer appeared, I could only see him because of my mana enhanced vision. "The brat has arrived!" Jagrette said, looking up at him as his skin began to transform, scales began to grow, runes appeared, and his hair turned red. "He truly is the devil..."
I felt my body start to relax as it got lighter, Veer must be using his blood healing on me, but how? He just fought over a hundred soldiers; shouldn't he be tired? I guess it does not matter, I have a fight to win.
I didn't need Veer worrying about me, I was his older brother, I was supposed to worry about him. "I would worry about me first!" I said as Veer vanished in the air, and I charged at the one armed Retainer, knowing that I could defeat her, all I needed was one more good strike.