A Contest Of Strength VII

"You leave me no choice then." Ammine took a deep breath and chanted, "Let my blood be the price. Let my body be the catalyst. Let my magic be the offering. In exchange, lend me your power." The space around her turned dark and her skin turned into something that looked like black scales. It started from her arms and quickly spread to her entire body until every last inch of her skin was replaced by this new black armor.

When the crowd saw Ammine transform, they let out a loud cheer. She was getting serious. Kies didn't need to hear the crowd's cheering to understand that. This fight was going to get a lot harder.

Kies canceled his vortex once he saw that Ammine was no longer being dragged in by it. The winds pulled and pulled with all their might but were unable to make her move even a millimeter from where she was standing.

Ammine slowly walked towards Kies. The ground cracked with every step she took. Since Kies had no idea what the black armor did, he shot a few blasts of wind at Ammine to test it out. Ammine didn't bother dodging or blocking the attacks. The winds did nothing to her, they just dispersed upon contact with her armor.

"Winds, gather, form, and pierce." Kies tried hitting Ammine with a Wind Javelin to see what would happen. Just like before, the winds dispersed when they hit her, doing nothing whatsoever. Moving up, Kies decided to cast the next strongest spell he had which was Wind Cannon. "Winds, heed my call and serve my will. Clear a path for me this instant." The winds howled as they rushed to his hands.

Kies fired the concentrated ball of wind at Ammine, expecting her to dodge it. But contrary to what Kies thought she would do, she stood still and took the attack. The attack caused her to take a step back, but nothing more than that. Ammine brushed it off like it was nothing and continued walking slowly to Kies. It was pretty clear to Kies that none of his spells would be able to penetrate Ammine's armor. She was practically a walking juggernaut, but it wasn't without any disadvantages. From the looks of it, she couldn't move around fast anymore.

Kies thought about using a hit and run tactic where he would attack her with a spell and then distance himself away from her, but it probably wouldn't work. He was already low on magic power and he could only use a few more spells. He didn't even know if Ammine's armor required any magic to sustain, so that idea was out of the book.

'Ah screw it.' Kies shot another Wind Cannon at Ammine which only stopped her for a second just like last time. He shot it a third and a fourth time with the same results. He was almost out of magic at this point and couldn't fire it a fifth time. Despite taking all his Wind Cannons head-on, Ammine sustained no damage. There wasn't even a small crack or dent on it. He really wondered why she didn't use the armor back in the forest during the fight with the Bone Whistler. She was practically invincible. But maybe...

An idea popped into Kies mind and he immediately started to figure out how to execute it. None of the spells Haro taught him would work against Ammine, so he will create a new spell himself. "Winds, heed my call and serve my will." The winds gathered in Kies' hands, roaring ferociously. Instead of completing the second half of the chant with one of the spells that Haro taught him, Kies tried to think up a new sentence that would help him accomplish what he wanted.

Kies wasn't sure if this would work, but nothing else looked like it would break Ammine's armor, so he gave it a shot. Kies tried to find the right words for the chant and once he thought up something that sounded like it might work, he shouted it out. "Pierce through the clouds and take to the skies above." Kies remembered back then when they were leaving the forest, there was a giant hole in the sky like something had pierced or torn through it. He took inspiration from that to create this new chant for a new spell.

The winds in Kies' hands shifted restlessly and he thought that his self-improvised spell wouldn't work, but to his surprise, the winds shifted around until they took the form of a lance. Kies felt a sudden drop in his magic power and almost fell over, but caught himself and looked at Ammine. There was only one thing left to do.

Kies sprinted as fast as he could towards Ammine. His Wind's Blessing was already gone, but for some reason, his speed was still just as quick as when he had the spell active. The only explanation he could think of for that was that the wind lance was somehow enhancing his speed.

Ammine watched as Kies charged towards her. She took one glance at the lance in his hand and immediately brought her arms up to guard against the attack. Kies' wind lance collided with Ammine's armor and the two were at a deadlock for a few seconds before the wind lance suddenly exploded. The burst of wind sent both of them tumbling back.

Kies managed to roll back onto his feet and he quickly looked around for Ammine. He found her on the other side of the ring already on her feet as well. Ammine brought her arms up and watched as the scales where Kies' attack had hit fell off, hitting the ground with clinks.

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