Her eyes widened upon realization, that the creature's voice was vaguely familiar. The man's voice was layered under the secondary wails of a tortured soul and a mindless monotonous drone. But yet, it was no doubt, him. There was no other, who had called her "milady" thus far. He had been the first one to help her flight from Divinity's Reach what seemed like decades ago. Without his help, she would have easily died at the hands of the decaying undead of Zhaitan. Without him, she wouldn't have been able to find her family's records and prevent the fall of Lion's Arch. But he also had disappeared long ago. He was surely dead wasn't he? They had been separated, but this couldn't possibly be him. There was no way.
She wasn't fast enough as he struck, catching her off guard from a slew of unrestrained emotions and memories that flooded her mind. Her responses, magic and instincts were sluggish and as she tried to throw herself to the side, the force of his crystalline deformed fists caught the side of her ribs and threw her across off of the wall.
She hit the ground with a sickening thud and felt the air driven right out of her lungs. She had no time to recover as he, or it, lunged towards her brandishing a great and vicious battle halberd. She still couldn't see its face, nor its eyes but without a doubt, it was not here to talk. Despite her initial hesitation from hearing his voice, seeing him in such a deformed grotesque state, unable to understand what he had to have gone through, she knew it meant her harm. It was here to kill her.
Every battle began with the question of life or death. No battle should be fought out of jest. And she had to pick up her composure, or it would mean her demise.
Its heavy crystal armored body was much larger than her and as it drew closer, high above her, it seemed to slow down, as Reina gathered her focus and energy. She pushed aside her thoughts and her emotions, as she had been taught. She silenced her mind and emptied her body of tension. Every limb relaxed and gave way to instinct. She would not think. Purely react and act, letting her body and the sixth sense of battle become her mind.
As always, time seemed to slow, and the spear drew closer aimed straight for her head. The creature's figure painted a dark shadow across her slight form and the ground around her. Seeing her still body, and steady waiting eyes, the creature's mouth seemed to crack into a grin, sharp amethyst teeth sneering. Its heavy mass finally landed directly on top of her - but at the last possible second, she disappeared in a blaze of purple light, blinding its sight for a second. All that was left were butterflies.
There was a great roar that left its lips as it spun around, searching, hunting for its prey. The crystal spikes protruding from its back and shoulders glowed a frustrated pink. "Reina!" Its voice was steeped with poison.
But in the chamber there was not a trace of the girl, as if she had never existed. It scanned the floor levels, desperately looking up and down the walls for a sign of her billowing golden robes or white armor. But there was nothing.
"Come out, Reina!" The voice was no less angry. The voice was no less hungry. It only seemed to repeat what it once knew, nothing but an automated repetition. "Come, I won't hurt you. I'll help you."
There was no response. There was only silence. "Join me. Join us. I've gained power. Join us." It sputtered and stopped for there was another flash of purple light, a different hue that shone brighter than its crystals. Then it howled in pain, shaking the walls with its scream.
It wasn't the girl however. There was only a translucent pale white ghost of a figure, standing its ground before the creature, holding a phantasmic greatsword. It had managed to land a flurry of strikes against the creatures side suddenly, glancing off its thick hide and black grey armor that mutated from its skin. Nevertheless, it chipped off a chunk of the exoskeletal armor, marking the first significant blow of the battle. But there was no pause for the creature as an illusionary sword from the shadows spiralled towards its back.
It spun around, surprisingly agile, and a clawed hand caught the blade by the hilt, tossing the sword aside like a toothpick. With the source of the attack now in sight, the creature leapt forward without hesitation, sharp teeth snarling, bounding steps as quick as a dire wolf, covering much ground. As it lifted its weapon high ready to strike, the mesmer too, hadn't waited to be discovered; she was just as fast, and threw herself forward across the chamber with all her strength and only left behind a cloud of violet particles. A sudden flash of purple appeared in her hands before they collided - she had drawn her greatsword.
For a split second, there was silence as the two figures met suspended in mid-air. Then, the ear-splitting clash of blade upon blade, arcanic energies against magical force, erupted throughout the room, as powerful as their flares of purple light, blow by blow, as metal matched crystal, desperate to shatter one another. No doubt the creature was much larger than her, with greater strength, but she was not a weak woman. Though she struggled to match its crystalline blows, empowered by the Branded Dragon, each strike pushing her and her sword backwards, she was quicker.
She nimbly dodged swing after swing, ducking beneath its spear, letting gravity do its work and pull her towards the ground, before leaping back up over the creatures swipe for her midsection. She countered with her own blows, more quick jabs than swings, occasionally running up higher on the walls for a little distance. Then she would twist around and let loose an arc of condensed energy that attempted to pierce through her enemy's armor. Yet, it kept up with evading her beams and stayed close at range with her, climbing the heights to higher ledges and platforms just as easily. Her speed was not enough to gain the upper hand. She would need a few more tricks.
But just as she thought that and swung her blade, she was swiftly matched with an armored forearm lighting up with a conjured shield. The block sent her flying backwards and she had to opt for a few backflips off of the walls and pillars to reduce the momentum of its counterblow. She had nearly forgotten the former human had been a guardian. Surely, it could still perform the same feats. This was different from slaying a beast.
It no longer withheld its abilities and for a while, the Branded guardian held the aggression with mightier swings and quicker strikes, keeping the mesmer stumbling backwards along the ledges from his fury. Each strike began to flare with bright blue flames that jumped at the girl, threatening to consume her. There was no heat from the flames but rather, it was fire that seared not flesh but her heart. Memories began to well up in her eyes again, and her spirit ached and screamed in agony. A second was all it took for her to lose her footing, suddenly air beneath her foot and she slipped off the ledge with a surprised cry. Without her knowing, they had managed to ascend the spiralling gravity defying ledges towards the ceiling, halfway up the chamber.
But now she was plunging down towards the ground, at horrifying speeds, air pressing against her, hair streaming in her face. She happened to be still looking up to see the creature leap after her, obviously caring less about imminent impact. In its right hand its weapon was reformed as a curved vicious blade as it caught up with its heavier mass. While she would hit the ground in seconds, it felt like minutes with her heightened and magically enhanced senses and motions. This might be the perfect opportunity to turn the tide around.
Next
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It is assumed the time line is much further along in the novel when heroes/heroines of the story have fully awakened/trained abilities
XD
