The Phoenix's Maiden

Fight

Amber’s Point of View

I watched Arthur regain his ground and I prepared myself because the battle is just starting between us. I know that I need to hold back just like what he is doing so we can both avoid fatally wounding each other, because this is just a spar.

Killing each other is really out of the option, but with the looks of the situation right now, I think it will be hard for us both on avoiding that situation, because our minds are both concentrated on the battle, and all that we think is our next move.

I should give more attention to him because with my level as of now, I can’t quickly react to his insane speed. That’s so crazy that that he disappears almost instantly, and I cannot follow him and the only thing that I can do right now is to guess where he is attacking, but I only succeeded once by luring him to while sacrificing my body.

The damage I dealt to him earlier does not look so serious, that’s why he can still move this fast and that is still problematic to me, but I will let my armor burn hotter as it does not affect me, I wonder if this has a limit, if it has then this is the best time to test my limits and how far I can go with the extent of my abilities.

“Bird Cage,” an attack proof move that I used to contain the Gerarda for a little while, I think that if I surround myself with this and do some smoke screens then I can attack him, and surprise him. I quickly generate a fireball with my hand and I threw it above me and used my pyro kinesis to rip it apar and form a cage that will contain me and hopefully will prevent him from attacking me.

After that, I created some fireballs that will extinguish quickly and will generate a thick smoke within the area, and I created a mask to prevent myself inhaling those smoke and will help me with my vision. I dropped two smoke bombs and as I expected it produced thick smoke that will disrupt his vision.

I am not entirely sure, if this bird cage of mine can stop him so I tore down the cage and I ran away outside the smoke, and I didn’t use a rocket boost, because that will just help Arthur to know my location because of the brightness of my flames.

I felt a gust of wind around me, oh a smart move, NO, I am just a fool for thinking that he will be acting like the Gerarda back in the garden of eden. So, he is using his sword to disintegrate the smoke, I need to adapt in this situation, that was a poor thinking for me.

I saw the smoke dances by the swing of his sword and soon that will completely fade away and with just a glimpse of me, he will strike me with his full speed and that is not ideal. It’s okay if I lose in this battle right now, but I want to lose trying my best.

Right now, I still have the strength to defend myself. I need to think faster, before the smoke disintegrates completely. Oh, an idea popped into mind, should I try to make wings, like a phoenix that has the ability to fly through the sky. I wonder if my ancestors can do that too.

In the legends and myths back in the human world, the phoenix was described as a bird with flames, at least that was the illustration in the books that I have read. I only know that the royal family where I came from looks like me, but I don’t have any information the generation that came before them.

I wonder if it is a bird too, enough wondering! Then I tried producing flames from my back but...

Come out! Flames, please I need you right now, don’t fail me now. Aghhh! Later on, I felt a warmth in my back and I looked behind me and I saw the fire is about to erupt. That’s it blooms like a flower, and we will prevail.

“That’s a bold move,” I heard Arthur and my whole attention was stolen by him, and I was shocked when I saw him successfully disintegrating the smoke. No, I have no time to try this move now. “Doing that in the middle of the battle, means that you are confident,” he added. No, I’m not but I need to put some into it so I can have the chance to successfully do it.

I wore my fire armor again to brace myself as I saw him charging up for yet another attack that he will execute to defeat me. I crossed both my arms to defend my myself from that attack and I saw the water spirals yet again over his sword.

“Aqua Excalibur: Constellation Cassiopeia,” I felt the tremble on the ground as I am also charging for an attack that will defend myself from that powerful attack of his, better to be safe than never, right?

“Ultimate move,” I am quickly channeling a lot of auras from my whole body into one point and I can feel my knees shaking as this move is too great and that will exhaust me after this, and I assume that the same thing will happen to Arthur. Then this is the best situation possible for the both of us to determine who is more powerful without harming each other.

The perseverance of the both us, will determine who is the winner.

“Flowing”

“Great”

“Water”

“Fire”

“s***h!”

“Wall of Fire!” just instantly the accumulated aura in my hands bursts out in my hands that created a large wall of thick blazing flames and that had a strain on my body and I felt it. Arthur disappeared again from his location, but I made sure that the wall of flames surrounds me to avoid any blind spot.

I saw a trail of water around me but outside the walls and just later on, an explosion happened and it happened when his Excalibur and my flames clashed creating thick smoke because of the fire being extinguished by his water, and his water being evaporated by my flames at the same time.

The feeling right now is like, we are literally clashing swords with one another, and we are pushing each other and neither one of us is giving up. I braced my legs to give my one final push and after this then I’ll know who will win.

It’s either me or him, the fates will decide on the victor, but I myself is being weakened by constantly producing great amount of flames constantly to defend myself. Now I knew his point of impact, time to execute my final push.

“Aqua Excalibur: Constellation Sagittarius: Water Bomb!”

“Ultimate Move: Fire Beam!” I absorbed the flames that I produced earlier and I shoot it in one focused direction, abandoning range but it will greatly add more damage in the destruction factor and the speed of the attack will catch him off guard.

I saw a great ball of water that collided with my fire beam and just like what happened earlier, this turned out to be a battle of strength again. We had the same idea that led us to this situation. My knees are falling apart and anytime soon, I will fall.

“Great job,” I whispered before losing consciousness yet again, and I felt my whole body dropped on the ground after I heard an explosion, as the darkness eats me.

.               .               .               .               .

“Hey!” I heard a feminine voice while my cheeks are constantly being pinched, and I felt my head aches. “She is moving!” she shouted and I identified the voice. It was Mirana’s. I heard multiple mystics walked into the room at the same time.

“Say sorry,” I heard the goddess saying something to whoever it was.

“O- okay,” that was Arthur’s. My eyelids are still heavy and I am trying my best to open my eyes right now.

As soon as I opened my eyes, the light crawled inside it that blinded me for a couple of seconds. I used my hands, to cover my eyes from the lights. I remembered what happened before I passed out and prepared myself to be lectured by the goddess because she said that I am supposed to rest when I challenged Arthur in a duel.

When my eyes acclimated on the brightness inside the room, I opened my eyes and saw them circling around me and their eyes are all on me right now and that makes me uncomfortable.

“How long I was out?” I asked them since I knew that I passed out again because of aura overuse.

“Just an hour ago,” Mirana answered my question and she never fails to surprise me. I expected it to be days and now I will just learn from her that the fight just happened just an hour ago. That means the goddess’s disappointment towards me right now is still fresh and that struck fear in my heart.

I slowly look to her and the coldness in her eyes right now sends shivers towards my spine and I can feel how much of disappointment that she has inside her chest. I wanted to say sorry immediately towards her but my mouth is frozen in fear of hearing something horrible from her.

I look towards Arthur and I saw him looking so sorry, but he shouldn’t be because I am the one who challenged him in a spar, if I remember the whole situation correctly. I forgot about it briefly because of how intense the whole situation is back then.

I am sorry goddess Amaterasu.

-The Phoenix’s Maiden-