by Harlon Banks
Soon enough, a vague distortion of etherial energy began to fume up with fiery pale haze from the direction she'd sensed that energy. This uncontrolled aether growing more and more unstable by the second as if it were a raging beast whom finally begun to shatter some of the shackles that contained it. First having felt Melissa' energy spiral out of control and exert a fearful chill across the area accompanied by her shrill screams for help. Now Jonath's aura was unleashed as well... His however, felt very distinctive from the Ylrah's though. So distinctively different that for a moment the thought of immediately cancelling this test to calm things down flashed across Min's psyche. While Melissa' energy felt as if it induced fear, despair and insanity just from being around it... Jonath's felt empty, distant, and cold despite its prominent pressure.
When the sudden burst of Kelgard's aura extended its own pressure all the way over to her from its release too. This soon accompanied by a visual of his and Jonath's aether clashing via rapid flares of pale and blood-red dancing with one another in the distance, Min just... couldn't believe it all. It brought both pride and fear to her face. That unsure smirk saying it all...
"These Nightborn are really something else this time around..." She muttered to herself, hands clenching as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. "No need to call it off just yet Min... You knew this would probably happen, at least for Melissa but..." she shook her head dismissing any concern. Turning to walk back over to sit on the large rock she'd been lounging on earlier. This was good, she was seeing now that both Melissa and Jonath had power that gave her confidence they could handle any danger. The only thing now that scratched at her mind was it they could control it... Well, that's why she picked Thrain and Kelgard as the ones to test those two, she supposed. Arms crossed over legs and slumped forward with bated breath, Min simply decided to wait.
"Show them what you two have... We can change the world with powers like this." She whispered.
Meanwhile...
Thrain deftly avoided large claws clad in darkness lashing out at him; these hooked shadows tearing into the tree behind him like razor blades, as if they were tangible blackness! A twisted looking monster of the deepest black, a living shade with no defining features whatsoever, attacking the man relentlessly. This formless entity only vaguely reminiscent of what Thrain could say was a tear right in the fabric of reality. How it shifted and writhed through the air towards him, making claws and jaws and blades from nothing but its inner blackness was anything but natural. An ominously soft swirling vortex noise coming from it as it painted its trail in temporary blackness. The way it moved and chased after him gave the impression that it were something more than just dark aspected aura... It was sentient, perhaps...
As he landed with a slide backwards till his rear braced against another tree, his sapphire eyes darted towards a cradled Melissa. She was hugging herself to the point it looked as if she were trying to squeeze the air out of her chest. Her head lowered, body visibly quivering and her aura wildly flailing about within her eyes like an unstable fire. Splotches of black began to bubble up all around the two and the immediate vicinity. Floating in mid-air or sticking to plants, rocks and even the ground itself the longer things dragged on. Her powers were getting more and more unstable, this was bad. Blood began to leak from her tear ducts, staining her cheeks as her hands bolted to grab her head again and another scream of fear pierced the air!
"Damn, she's going to go into shock and kill herself at this rate..." Thrain thought with high concern. Attention turning towards that etherial rift that dragged itself across the air in unnatural movement towards him again, three shadowy disembodied hands with hooked ends bolting forward to attack him again! Quick to react, the man drew spun his paintbrush through his hands before swiftly dodging the rush of shadows chasing him down like wolves. Having leaped up into the trees to try to obscure his person from view to no avail, those sinister creations hounding after him rather easily. Looking over his shoulder with annoyance when he saw them simply phase through any obstacles in their way, getting closer and closer to him as he needed to dodge and dance around the canopy foliage.
"Leave me ALONE!" Melissa tightly shut her eyes and screamed again in terror! Her curled up body releasing another wave of dark tinted aether than only seemed to empower the disembodied, large hands chasing Thrain. Having swelled up and become a bit more savage-looking, their palms tearing open revealing a void like maw as if planning to grab and then devour the man. He couldn't help but begin to feel as if this was all a bit more than what he'd planned to be dealing with. Turning to face the shades and beginning to play keep away with them all trying to grab him. A swing around a tree here, a leap down onto the ground there, a vault over an attack or two, he managed to keep his distance pretty good thanks to his supernatural physiology.
"Really hard to deal with that tear, your shadows attacking me and trying to get you under control all at the same time. Think you can ease up a bit!?" Thrain couldn't help but crack a joking plea in attempt to calm himself and keep his cool. He'd stopped trying to look directly at these hands coming after him some seconds ago. For every time he looked at them for more than a second or so he felt a building fear well up in him. He could only imagine what would happen if he had allowed himself to get caught.
After dodging the three savagely aggressive summons vying to harm him a little while longer, Thrain decided it was now or never. Landing from a backwards flip high into the upper levels of the forest again on a thick branch. He in less than a second managed to draw in intricate looking symbol across the air right in front of his crouched position. The glowing blue Jon setting itself ablaze in Thrain's energy. Thrain soon afterwards tossing his paintbrush into the air and clasping his hands together with a calculated, serious stare down at Melissa. Having managed to get all of her summons, the tear, and her in one direct line of sight due to his carefully planned game of tag he did earlier with her attacks. The shades began to lurch forwards at him from below, he wasn't going to get away!
"Holy!" Thrain said in incantation. That bright blue sigil in front of him immediately bursting like a bubble into a bright wave of heavenly blue that were blinding to the eyes. This wave of aether splashing down onto everything below. The shadows that attacked being destroyed by such an overwhelming showing of light energy and Melissa screaming again as her aura found itself violently sealed back within her eyes and body as it fled from such radiance. The black splotches that painted everywhere, the large shapeless rift that gave birth to all of those apparitions, Melissa aura that had begun permeating the land and slowly draining it like a vampiric plague, all of it vanished under the veil of energy from Thrain's spell.
When everything finally subsided, and that brilliant holy light dispersed, Melissa was leaned up against the tree, unconscious and silent. Bloody tears smearing her features as she looked a lot more peaceful. She was sleeping... The forest was quiet again... The wind and the shifting greenery taking ambience once more. Thrain hopping down from his vantage point with his paintbrush in hand, sighing relieved. That almost got out of hand...
"I can see now why you told me to go after Melissa, Min." He said to himself with calmness. Putting his tool away and carefully approaching Melissa, unsure of if his spell had the entire effect he'd hoped for. It was a good thing this happened when it did though, he supposed. He now could tell Min that, while Melissa was indeed capable of powerful things, she wasn't able to keep herself in line past a certain point. With powers as volatile as hers, that'd be a huge hindrance in real field work. He didn't want to risk it, even if he did want to give her a pass out of nicety. She needed some training with those eyes of hers.
"Well, you didn't pass Melissa. Sorry... your emotions have a bit too big of a grasp on your actions..." He said aloud despite only himself being able to actually process his words. Standing over her and resting his palm across her eyes, sensing one last time for any potential flux in her powers. When he were certain she wouldn't spring to life again an
d attack him, Thrain scooped her up in his arms princess style and backed away from the tree. Looking her unconscious form over once and then towards the dead greenery that had its life siphoned to fuel her powers. Shade Valley... Without a doubt she was a native.
"You really should have just went for the relic... You would have probably won by now if you didn't act on your own. Eh, I guess I can't talk... My partners a bit of a loner too." The purple-haired man chuckled amused, turning his attention to another vibrant wave of aura that blew over him from the east. The distant echoes of shock waves rippling through his ears now too. Kelgard and Jonath's fight picking up more and more traction as the time passed on. Tilting his head in slight thought wondering if he should go help Kelgard, Thrain just shook his head and smiled.
"Eh... Let him deal with that one. Time to go hand you over to Min. Guess we'll have to find a replacement for you in the mission though. Bah! I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." He eye rolled before walking away with Melissa.
She'd lost and fallen unconscious, disqualifying her from the future mission. All that was left was Jonath...
... ... ...
The air whistled, scythe tearing through it...
Kelgard kept his cool, quiet demeanor as he fluently avoided...
The trees screamed, their bark shredded apart leaving deep gashes in their bodies...
Jonath kept his relentless onslaught of scythe swings that carved a pathway towards Kelgard with inhuman speed and agility. His precision slowly improving as every attack seemed to correct the flaws of the previous one. His aggression pressuring Kelgard as the two engaged and moved through the dense forest. Jonath completely silent, eyes glowing with primordial energy while his gaze looked completely tranced over. It was as if his body were acting on instinct and instinct alone!
He swung underhanded with vicious intent, scythe blade slashing out the ground tossing up debris before it cut through air missing by a few centimeters, an air blast from the sheer force screeching past and slicing clean through the side of a tree... Kelgard despite barely dodging, looked none the worse for wear in both stamina or demeanor. In fact, he looked as if he weren't even trying. It even could be said that he were trying to calculate something behind all of that apathy to his crimson looks.
Kelgard poised himself after that dodge, left boot planted on earth and his right hand flexed open to lurch straight for Jonath's chest. Blood tinted aura trailing after his fingers, a brilliant streak of red swiping across the air when Jonath suddenly vanished in a flickering haze. Appearing again in a vicious spin towards Kelgard from afar that seemed nothing more than a high-speed blur of air. A whirring torrent of cutting force that left phantom aura trailing in its wake as it aimed to shred the man apart. Crossing his arms over his upper body and bracing himself with a subtle breath, an aura shield of deep red suddenly appeared between the two upon impact. This aura looking liquid like blood yet having extreme density to it. Having halted the amnesic's scythe after it had torn somewhat into the shielding with its blade.
Despite his insane speed, this bastard packed quite a punch Kelgard noted. Looking calmly at how that silver scythe still managed to carve into his protection, the tip of the blade halfway through it. Kelgard couldn't help but suddenly smirk, as if genuinely impressed all of a sudden at this turn of events.
"Well well..." He spoke low, his voice deep as a basin and smooth as velvet. "You gained a bit of bite since last time didn't you? Not too bad." He commended, his smirk subtle yet speaking a thousand words. This was actually started to get a little interesting. Another flare of his own energy, and Kelgard forcefully pulled his arms away from their guarded position causing his barrier to blow away and send Jonath backwards. The quiet Nightborn landing without a missed step on his feet, scythe primed again for another attack immediately afterwards. Those eyes of his, those crescent-shaped eyes... They discharged another streak of pale essence. Mystic gaze eerily fixated on the black-haired enemy in front of him. Didn't look like either were going to back down from this.
It was as if the entire point of this assignment was just tossed aside to the wind. This was a brawl now; both intended to win it too.
"Let's continue." Kelgard said, smirk gone and a more serious expression branding his face as he stomped his left foot forward with a slight crouch, arms tensed and slightly outstretched from his sides. The ground suddenly liquified, blood-red coloration taking over in a sudden blitz towards Jonath before crystallized blood spikes erupted upwards to skewer him. This attack happening within a few seconds, and large in scale. The entire vicinity in a cone before Kelgard now a sea of crystalline red, jagged spires that reached all the way up to the canopy tops, shredding everything in their path and painting red everywhere.
Jonath rushed ahead in a blur towards Kelgard's right, having avoided such a direct attack with speed and agility that at this point was all but unexpected by Kelgard. Good, the Blood King could pick up the pace then...
Scythe cocked back as he moved with bullet time speed, the air streaked with phantom energy as his scythe tore forward aimed right for the nape of Kelgard's neck. A definitive duck with speed of his own, Kelgard instantly forced a fist with the index and knuckle protruding out in trying to strike Jonath's heart immediately afterwards just like back during their first fight.
Jonath flickered like a ghost, and suddenly disappeared again without warning, leaving Kelgard to simply stop his attack before it even began and instantly spin-off his right foot for a roundhouse kick that met the reappearing from behind amnesic's face with a hard smack! The force of this supernatural blow sending the silver-haired Nightborn barreling backwards into a group of trees with a thundering crash! Birds and animals fleeing from the violence with haste as the forest became more and more damaged with every attack. To contend with such a speed, Kelgard had to have been on another level...
The air howled as waves of pressure and aura flared outwards in arcs as Jonath stood up again, completely unharmed from such a heavy blow. His scythe screaming with energy when it swiped away the dust and braced against his back again. Kelgard calmly turning to face him fully, hands moving to pockets and lightly craning his neck till it popped. That sea of crystallized blood reflecting red rays from the moonlight over the both of them.
Jonath swiped the air with a diagonal arc, blade glowing bright before a projectile wave of razor-sharp aether tore forward across the ground with sporadic movements. The amnesic flickering away like a ghost immediately afterwards for s high-speed follow-up. Kelgard in return, simply sneered, right hand pulled from pocket as he swiped underhanded upwards and a wall of bloody color appeared from nowhere to tank that energy attack. Upon contact the two opposing forces waged a war of attrition for mere moments, before Kelgard's counter won out and the two exploded into a sea of blood and pale energy across the vicinity, some of the bloody aether splashing on Kelgard like water before sizzling away.
Jonath attacked moments afterwards from the rear, scythe swung downwards in an arc the curved across the air as it missed, Kelgard having spun off his foot and dodged yet again as if he had some sixth sense reaction speed. Left hand bolted forwards to grab Jonath's face, only for the amnesic to avoid it by moving with the momentum of his missed swing and bring his trailing leg back around for a vicious kick aimed right for the neck! Immediately stopping his attack once he saw it would have failed, Kelgard used his forearm to guard against the kick before quickly pushing it away and again lurching forward to grab the man's skull. Snorting a bit when the amnesic vanished yet again like a ghost. Was that teleportation he were doing? No, couldn't be... There was a delay between when he disappeared and reappeared. However unlike with Melissa how Kelgard couldn't sense her at all when she disappeared, he could get a feel of where Jonath was if he'd focused a bit.
It was some strange form of high-speed movement... Like a danger sense that automatically pulled him away from danger and corrected his recovery for a swift counter attack. That would explain how the kid could dodge
such a well-timed counter just now, and why Kelgard hadn't already taken him down in one hit like last time. He was getting better... Still, that neat little trick of his wasn't full proof, yet at least.
Kelgard instantly snapped back up and spun to dart forward and grab Jonath's scythe on the part right under where the blade were fixated with his bare hand. That edged weapon stopping cold with Kelgard between it and Jonath, their eyes meeting only for a moment before immediately afterwards, Kelgard again tried to grab Jonath. It was a perfectly timed attack this time, there was no escape.
Jonath suddenly without warning yanked his scythe towards himself, that inner edge being slammed against Kelgard's upper back, cutting momentarily into the man and causing him to lose his balance before Jonath released his scythe, causing it to vanish...
And drove his elbow deep into the Blood King's chest right under the ribs, causing him to cough up some blood and sending the man flying backwards with high force into his own blood spikes with thundering force. The sound of crystals being obliterated and falling all over overtook the night air as they collapsed on top of him. Scythe appearing once again in his left hands grasp, braced against his backside, the calm amnesic tilted his head like a curious creature at the destruction he just caused. Crescent shaped pupils flaring in energy as glowing Melissaes pulsed, his glassy stare looking a bit more expressive for but a moment. The blood from Kelgard that stained a bit of his face and hair irritating him a bit, some of it having gotten on his eye.