“What… What are you so scared of?”

  It didn't make any sense. None of it made any sense! Kendrick knew what he felt when his fist hit Kirin's jaw, the way her head rocked back and her body went limp. She should've been unconscious!

  She should've, but she wasn't. And now she was calling him scared? Again? How did she have enough gall to even consider such a thing again!

  But here he was, rage filled his body when she stood up. That idiotic girl was clearly in pain, yet she stood without any issue. She faced him, her eyes narrowed into some vile form of pity as if she stood upon a moral high ground over him.

  “Shut. Up.” Kendrick hissed through clenched teeth. His hands clenched down into tight fists, balling with his barely restrained rage. He couldn’t lose here, losing wasn’t an option—Not with Mother watching.

  “But… why?” Kirin asked again, her eyes curved into a sorrow filled worry. “I—I don’t understand this… there’s so much to see, I—There’s so many colors… they all look painful.” Kirin began rambling, her eyes growing distant and foggy in a strange way.

  Kendrick did feel unsettled when he saw that. Not in a fearful way, but more like something was just profoundly wrong with the girl before him. What colors was this psychotic girl talking about?

  “Just shut up and give up already!” Kendrick shouted before he jumped in. He felt it when she blacked out, their auras had untangled from within one another. The earth obeyed him, unmoving to all but his indomitable will. He launched forwards, pushing all of the mana he could into his legs.

  Kendrick could feel his muscles swelling for an instant, reinforcing his limbs for an explosive burst of speed forwards that brought him towards Kirin. Pillars of rock followed his blur of a fist upwards from directly behind the girl—Both strikes were going to meet in a pincer, striking her broken ribs and exposed back at the same time.

  Yet, before Kendrick could even speak—Before he could even think—Kirin was gone. His fist collided with his own spell, sending a wave of scattered stone into the walls.

  “What?...” Kendrick wondered aloud, his head whipping around to try and find Kirin.

  HIs eyes locked onto a flash of silvery white light a dozen or so feet to his side. In an instant, and seemingly without any sound, Kirin had moved with a flash of silvery light. Even she looked confused for a moment as she landed, her head turning rapidly so as to regain her bearings.

  “Tsk.” Kendrick scoffed. He didn’t have time to waste, not when so many were watching him. He dug his boots into the ground and lunged, the earth itself, the very arena that they stood in; they all belonged to him. He would be certain to make sure that Kirin knew that.

  Before Kirin could move he flexed his hands, raising the earth up around her in a slightly enclosing dome. It was a strain to move it that quickly, but he needed it to keep up. He charged headfirst into the dome, screaming with all his might while stones rose up and landed almost gently onto his fists.

  Rearing back he turned and threw a strike. Yet he hit nothing, his fists struck open air while a hard jolt leapt into his back.

  He pivoted hard, his fists swinging and ready to crush Kirin’s skull. Yet once again she was gone in an instant, leaving not even a faint trail for him to follow. His eyes flitted across the room, searching desperately for something he couldn’t see, someone he couldn’t hear.

  “Boo.” Kendrick heard the whisper from his side, causing his head to snap in the direction. The earth followed his limbs, coming up in a tight spiral around his form that should have caught even a retreating Kirin in the side.

  Yet he felt nothing impacting his magical strike, there was no resistance trying to press against his magic for even the barest of moments—Kirin was just gone, again.

  Kendrick’s eyes flicked around the arena, searching like a madman for the girl. She had no right to be standing. She shouldn’t be standing, but she was. She was stronger now, faster than even during that damned race.

  “Why are you so scared?” Those words repeated in his head again. He was painfully aware of how hard his heart was pounding, anxiety flowing hand in hand with worry until he locked eyes with Kirin once more.

  Lightning licked at her body like a hungry predator, leaping from her skin and clothes down to the ground in furious arcs of incandescent colors. She was floating just a few inches off of the ground, her hands extended to her sides as she landed with incredible, gentle grace.

  Her white hair flowed like the broiling white clouds of a storm, her eyes however stood steadfast against that grace. Twin pools of blood, sharpened to a degree that left Kendrick wondering if she hadn’t managed to ascend into a higher stage of magic.

  Every part of her gave off an aura like a nascent archmage, Kendrick could feel it, he knew just what he stood against. But, just because he knew it didn’t mean he could accept it.

  “Just what the hell are you?” Kendrick hissed out through clenched teeth. He flexed his hand, shifting into a heavy stance as his greatsword fell lightly into his grip from within a hidden ring dangling around his neck.

  “What am I?” Kirin parroted, tilting her head with innocent confusion. She gently raised a hand towards her chin, contemplating an answer for several seconds before sighing. “I’m me, that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?” Kirin asked, her gaze turning away from the glass-covered ceiling and down to Kendrick.

  “You’re nothing more than a heathen’s daughter.” Kendrick growled out, digging his heels into the sand underfoot as he did so.

  “If that’s what you see me as, then that’s what I am to you,” Kirin said with a shrug. “Sure, I’m the daughter of Alexander Vulender…” She trailed off, a slight, torn expression growing on her face before she took in a deep breath. The next words she spoke out were filled with conviction, declared to the world as a challenge for all of them to hear.

  “I’m the daughter of Alexander Vulender. But I’m also the daughter of Lady Empyrean, Hibiscus Berna.” Kirin spoke loud enough for her voice to project across the arena. An oppressive silence was cast from her words, one that hung like a guillotine above the heads of the stadium.

  “You’d dare lay claim to a dead family, with nothing to even back you?!” Kendrick shouted in disbelief.

  “I have all the proof I need,” Kirin answered with a soft smile. “But that’ll come after I beat you.” Kirin was gone in a flash of light when she finished speaking—Just to reappear just in front of Kendrick, her halberd back in hand and moving through a heavy overhead swing.

  Kirin was certainly moving slower now that she had a weapon in hand, slow enough that Kendrick was able to see her. But that was a trade off which had her blow landing with enough force to shove Kendrick back with a grunt.

  He hissed out through clenched teeth, fighting desperately to keep a hold of the axehead of her halberd on the flat of his blade. But when Kirin blitzed backwards in a streak of furious red light, she came back around to his side in an instant with a sort of malignant green tone.

  Kendrick turned and met the blow, better prepared for it this time as he turned the tip of his blade down. The earth surged up, meeting his blade and holding it in place even through the ferocious power of Kirin’s swing.

  An almighty chime of metals colliding echoed through the arena floor, emphasized further by the flash of hundreds of colors from the strike. It was like every church bell in the nation rang out at once.

  Kirin took a half step back, clearly dazed from the sound—Kendrick meanwhile took a step in. His blade tearing itself free from the stone underfoot and twirling forwards into a poised thrust. He shifted his entire body into the strike, the end of his blade was aimed precisely for the girl's neck. He was inches, a heartbeat away from landing the strike, then Kirin moved.

  She spun hard as the daze left her body. The haft of her halberd came up, parrying into the side of Kendrick’s outstretched blade with enough force to shove him off balance. He wasn’t prepared for such a blow, he completely fell into it. Meaning that when Kirin turned and jabbed the butt of her halberd into his chest the force was redoubled.

  Kendrick stepped back quickly, one hand leaving his blade to cover his bruised chest while he tried desperately to suck in a breath. He looked up, his eyes widening for a moment when he saw Kirin.

  She was about three feet in the air, a bar of what looked like pure electricity to her side. It took all he could do to lean his head slightly away, his free arm raising all too slowly to block the impact.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Kirin kicked off of the support, turning and slamming her knee across. For just a moment, Kendrick’s world turned white.

  —

  I landed on the ground around the same time Kendrick caught himself. His open palms slammed into the sand, stopping his head from impacting while his blade was discarded off to his side.

  My breaths came out fast and heavy, nearly as fast as my heart was racing in my chest. Every second thousands of colors raced across my vision, every second my heart seemed to pump a hundred times. My body ached from the strain, my limbs felt like they were on fire—About to burst even from the pressure.

  Then there was my head. I had a roaring headache so all encompassing I was rather surprised I could even stand. Even still, I felt energized in a way I never had before.

  Tens of thousands of colors raced through my vision, each and every one demanding my attention. Pain, fear, anger, hate—So many feelings raced in and out of my body that it felt almost like an amalgam of neutrality, an emotionless feeling built upon the excess of indulgence.

  I wanted so desperately to just ignore it, to ignore the itching urge to laugh and scream, to cry and shout in pain all at the same time. It was too much, too many things were happening. I needed this fight to end already! But, Kendrick was still up, he was still trying to push himself to stand.

  “Won’t you just give up already?” I wanted to plead it, I wanted desperately to just beg Kendrick to end the fight. But my tone couldn’t come out as anything but measured neutrality.

  “No way…” Kendrick coughed out as he pulled his legs up under himself. “You’ll have to do better than that.” Kendrick hissed through gritted teeth, his hands fishing for his blade which he found quickly enough.

  The second his grip landed on the handle he shot to his feet with a burst of earth beneath him. Stone raised underneath his feet, enhancing his speed as he went for a wild swing aimed at my head.

  I was forced to shift backwards, energy flooding pain through my body as I practically teleported away. I could barely even register how quickly I was moving—Only the thousands of unique, static colors in the air gave me even the vaguest sense of how far or fast I was moving.

  Kendrick slowed down, huffing to regain his breath while he stared at me with fury in his eyes. All I could do was stare back, my eyes filled with nothing but this macabre neutrality. Even still, I tightened my hands around my halberd, readying myself.

  I could see the colors of Kendrick’s magic, the blue, anxious fear with green tones of worry and red fury. They all intermingled with the world around him in intense ways, altering the natural background flow of the mana around him—His presence was seeping into the earth, marking what he was doing well in advance for me to react.

  “Hah!” Kendrick shouted, leaping forwards as the entire arena began to rumble. Instantly thousands of sharpened stone spikes lunged out of the ground, pointing upwards at jagged angles while the central third of the arena was raised into a circular podium.

  Kendrick was pushing all of his mana through his body as soon as he shifted the arena, redoubling his speed in an effort to catch up with mine.

  Even still however, I shifted around his charge. His opening swing clashed with where I had been while I brought the shaft of my halberd up and across into his gut. But, to his credit Kendrick took the hit without issue, forcing me to retreat quickly before he could grab a hold of my weapon.

  He turned quickly, his blade flourished into a second strike that came across and down towards my weapon. I quickly took it away, letting the halberd disappear into my ring before reappearing in my opposite hand as I turned in for a thrust.

  Kendrick brought his blade up and across, handily blocking the strike from my halberd and stopping my momentum in place. Once again I let it disappear, pulsing mana through my body as I did so this time.

  I leapt across and around, the world blurring for an instant before I snapped a punch into Kendrick’s low side. Incandescent bolts of electricity leapt from my arm into his body, sending visible jolts of pain into his skin that sent him staggering back a step.

  I stepped in even as he moved back. My fist flashing in with thunder on my arms—Every strike I landed left Kendrick’s limbs twitching, yet he still remained standing. Despite my efforts he even fought through enough to get an arm up, stone covering the limb as he surprised me with a low strike into my ribs.

  His blow sent me rolling across the platform all the way to the edge when I finally stopped. My body was so quickly approaching its limits, every part of it was threatening to give out. I felt ready to explode!

  Mana was flooding my veins when I stood. Every pulse of my heart sent more and more into my limbs, charging my body until it threatened to unleash it all whether I wanted it to be let out or not.

  “Kirin… I’m so sorry… But, I hope that one day you’ll understand.” My mothers words echoed painfully in my ears, as if begging me for something.

  Colors completely blocked my vision. Reds, blacks, greens, blues, yellows and oranges. There were just too many, too many ideas, too many feelings—Thousands of them screamed at me for attention, they all screamed and demanded I listen! But I couldn’t, there was just too much, too many things, too many ideas!

  Just when I thought they were going to reach a crescendo, a peak of which I couldn’t return, a beacon let itself be known within the ocean of torment.

  A deep, black sphere. So calm sat before me, just before my gaze. I didn’t even hesitate to reach out towards it, grasping in vain for something I could barely perceive.

  “Show the world those colors only we can see.”

  My eyes snapped open again, widening when I saw what lay before me.

  Thousands of bolts of lightning arced out of my hand, each one a different color of fury that landed on or around Kendrick. Most of them had missed him entirely. But more than that, my eyes landed on the concerned figure of Carmine and the black void that surrounded her.

  She was quite literally absorbing the mana straight from my spell, dispersing it into some inky blackness that I couldn’t quite perceive which surrounded her. I didn’t quite know when she got here, but she stood here now, standing between me and Kendrick.

  The clack of steel reached my ears next. Kendrick’s blade had dropped from his hands, clattering loudly against the ground as he stared at the destruction.

  Nearly the entire arena before me had been flattened down again. Even the platform we stood on has been crushed only a mere foot in front of me, leaving three islands for each of us to stand on.

  Smoke and dust filled the arena, slowly being chased out by the natural flow of air. A flow that was only enhanced by the screaming cheers when Kendrick fell to his knees, his head hanging low.

  “I… Yield…” He forced the words out. And, as if those words were a command, I felt my own body finally give in to the screaming pain and exhaustion.

  Before I could hit the ground however, Carmine moved in. She caught me effortlessly, a soft smile covering her face.

  “You’re insane, Kirin,” Carmine said with a chuckle.

  “You’re a bad influence…” I groaned in response, thoroughly regretting my choice in speaking.

  “Absolutely astounding!” The Announcer called out across the arena, his jovial voice being met by far more energy now. “The underdog Kirin Vulender has claimed victory from the jaws of defeat! And in the process she has bestowed us the sight of some of the most impressive magic I have ever seen!” He laughed even as he spoke, his voice lost somewhere between anxiety and adrenaline.

  “Think you can stand?” Carmine asked gently.

  “Not a chance.” My body was screaming at me even as I lay in Carmine’s arms, held gently as she crouched and stared down at me.

  “You did well, Kirin. You can tell me about what that was later—Until then, let’s go get you somewhere to rest.” As if on cue with her words, when Carmine finished speaking a pair of stretchers were brought out. Kendrick handily refused his stretcher while Carmine helped rest me down onto mine.

  Even before we were out of the arena floor I felt my eyes growing heavy. Every shuttering blink of my eyes felt like it might be the last until I woke up from a pain filled rest. It was only when I saw the smiling faces of Tulip and Panna as we passed that I felt myself giving in a little more. Warm colors surrounded both of them—Ones I couldn’t quite make out, but they felt reassuring.

  “So… I won?” I asked without direction, my gaze hovering on the ceiling as we moved. Tulip must’ve started following, as she answered.

  “Indeed you did. Lady Empyrean,” Tulip spoke my new title with a tone that clearly painted a grin on her face. “Now, which family name do you want to keep?” Tulip asked quickly, clearly seeing my heavy lidded eyes.

  “Which one?… Can’t I have both of them?” I asked weakly, my exhausted mind trying its best to keep up with the conversation.

  “Mmm… You could, but it’d be a little awkward,” Tulip said, before sighing. “But if that’s what you want.” She added quickly.

  “It is…” I muttered through a yawn.

  “Then, I suppose from now on—At least officially speaking—You are Lady Empyrean, Kirin Vulender von Berna.” Tulip’s words were the last thing I heard before sleep gracefully took me away, allowing my mind to drift off into a deep, restful slumber.

  Far to the North, in the lands where snow never melted, a red haired woman walked hurriedly through the halls of the frigid keep. Her heels clicked against the frozen tiles, echoing her steps as she searched frantically for someone.

  “Where is she…” The red haired woman muttered aloud.They were on a time constraint! This was not the time for her to be going through one of her episodes.

  “R-R-Right here…” A timid voice sputtered out from a corner just ahead of the red haired woman. Quickly enough, the red haired woman let her gaze grow softer, letting it take in her dearest childhood friend.

  “Tassia?” The red haired woman asked gently. Before her was the figure of what appeared to be nothing more than a peculiar suit of armor decorating the halls like any of the dozens of others behind her.

  “Y-Y-Yes…” Tassia replied shakily. She always was such a timid thing—But now was hardly the time for the woman to complain about it. “Wh-What did… What did you need, your majesty?” Tassia asked softly, still not leaving her illusionary hiding spot.

  “It’s time to go. Father heard of the plans and tried to get the convoy to leave early.” The red haired woman spoke quickly, pleadingly almost.

  “Already? We weren’t supposed to leave for another two months—” Tassia sounded even more anxious now, if that was even possible.

  “I know, it’s only going to be the two of us because of it. But we have to make this move—We have to get help. Otherwise all of Galvina is as good as dead…” With a heavy sigh the red haired woman turned. “Come on, we need to get moving now if we want to catch up to the Envoys. And please, stop calling me ‘Your Majesty,’ you know I hate that Tass.” The red haired woman glanced back, smiling softly when she saw her dearest friend quickly pulling a mask and hood over her face.

  “A-Alright… Miss Verdant…” Tassia spoke weakly, her gaze turned downwards. “L-Let’s go then.” Tassia added in an attempt to sound confident. While it was only an attempt, it still brought a smile to Verdant’s face. The first smile she’d had in months and probably the last one she’d have for many more months.

  Far off in a land painted by neon skies, a figure sat upon a throne. Their horns and wings framing the edges of a prismatic like opulent decorations. They remained utterly still, unmoving for all but a simple smile and words spoken so softly that no one could hear them.

  “So… There will finally be a sixth, hm?”

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