Blood and Lightning

The thin air of the cavern tensed as Rex stood opposing the two siblings. His expression shifted from his usual playful demeanor as he readied himself for the coming assault. Despite his change of expression, he still stood proud and prepared for anything that he may face. The tides were turned against him, yet his resolve refused to waver in the face of the challenge before him. While Kross dragged the knocked-out thief off the battlefield, Rex waited patiently.

Nessa instinctively paused as she noticed something off with the situation. Mair however held no hesitation in his approach. His pace quickened as he drew closer on his target, ignoring the pain across his whole body. Mair saw an opening in Rex's defenses and acted on it as soon as he could. His steel pike pierced through the air, closing in on the demiserpus.

The scene slowed in Mair's head as he watched Rex raise his copper blade weakly to defend himself. His venomous eyes seemed to pose more of a threat than the pathetic blade and unstable form that Rex held. Mair saw the result about to play out in his head clearly. There was no doubt in his mind that he would break through his opponent's guard.

But Mair was mistaken.

Confusion set in Mair's mind as his pike whiffed far past his target. The momentum of his failed lunge shot him far out of his preferred range and landed him directly at Rex's side. Questions raced through Mair's mind. His aim was thrown off so far, and Rex had never even parried his attack. No answers to his questions had crossed his mind by the time Rex countered with a swift knee to Mair's gut.

"Is that all you can manage?" Rex remarked with his usual smug attitude as Mair dropped to his knees, clutching at his abdomen and leaving his weapon at Rex's feet. "I expected some level of resistance, but this is just pathetic." He raised his sword up as a blinding flash of white light enveloped the blade for only a moment.

"Mair!" Nessa called out with a shriek of fear and worry for her brother, running forward to intercept in any way possible. But there was no room for intervention as Rex's judgement was soundly delivered. The flat side of Rex's bright blade slammed against his downed target. The moment of impact delivered a thunderous shock wave as the light left the blade as quickly as it came. The thunder wave hit Mair point blank at his shoulder, ripping the leather armor pad sewn into his uniform to shreds as he was hurled halfway to the cavern wall.

Mair collapsed to the cold ground as Nessa rushed to his side. "Mair, get up! Are you alright?" She lifted his head and shoulders up and peered at his now revealed and bruised left arm. Her brother coughed a bit before adjusting to the wave of pain he felt.

"Don't move too much, I'll heal you, just please don't hurt yourself." Nessa panicked as she fumbled for her wand and mustered whatever she could to start the consumptive healing spells she knew.

"D-Don't." Mair trembled over his words through his coarse and broken voice. "You waste too much energy when you try to heal. I'll be fine." Mair turned his attention over to Rex, who stood proud with the hilt of his copper sword twirled effortlessly between his fingers like some sort of trick. "I don't want to say it but there's nothing I can do. He had some way of throwing off my attack without any effort." Mair looked up at his sister with a confident and pure smile. "I believe you can do this. If there's anyone that can beat him, it's you sis."

Nessa's throat tightened and her words were choked behind walls of held back tears. She wrapped her brother in a hug and mouthed out an apology behind his back. She struggled to find the strength to do so, but she ended up safely sitting him up against the cavern wall to recover.

"Don't tell me you're planning on fighting me alone. I've seen your sorry excuse for casting back at the trials, and I know full well you don't stand a chance." Rex laughed off his insults as he lodged his blade in the loose dirt beneath him, "C'mon Nessie, you can't actually believe your petty flukes can stand up to a real mage." He raised his arms up in a shrug as sparks ran up his arms to the tips of his fingers.

Nessa stepped away from her brother to approach Rex, she didn't have anything to say to him as she slipped her wand out of her sleeve and tightened her grip on it. A glimmer of crimson and violet energy wrapped around her hand as Nessa raised the wand up in a swiping motion. A flurry of thin magical needles darted out of the afterimage of her movements. Rex ripped his blade out of the ground in response. The sparks on his hands traveled up the conductive metal of his blade, heightening the strength of the electrical energy traveling through his body. With his fangs bared, Rex slashed into the air, unleashing a bolt of lightning out from his sword that streaked through the air to consume the magical darts.

All in one moment, the bolt faded out of the air with Nessa's magic having been completely nullified from its might. Nessa took a deep breath to ignore the wracking pain of her casting arm.

"I don't understand your obsession with us Rex," Nessa spoke up from her voluntary silence, "You're clearly skilled enough that you can help those in need. Yet you're here trying to drag down others to benefit yourself. You must have some personal vendetta against me, don't you?"

The sparks dimmed down over Rex's sword as he lowered his guard. "I guess it is something like that. There is a reason why I decided you were the prime target for this little rivalry." Rex's electric aura strengthened as he grew more heated. "When I witnessed your trials, the trials you should have failed just like I failed several times over, I grew furious at the director's decision. Then I found out you were invited by Krisofft, and I knew exactly what was going on. You and your brother were only accepted out of pity! You never truly belonged as an adventurer, and your presence as one stands as an insult to all those who've gone through turmoil just to have a place within the guild."

Nessa's grip trembled as Rex explained himself. "Enough!" She interrupted him, choking back tears. Nessa took his words to heart, as it was much what she believed herself. A gloom set over her, but it was quickly dispersed as she looked to Rex with fire in her eyes.

"You may be right. Maybe I'm not all made out to be an adventurer. I'm not as talented as you or many others in my position." Nessa turned over to her brother briefly. "Despite all of this, I've been given this chance to prove my worth. I'm going to use this opportunity to prove you and everyone who doubts me wrong!"

"You're persistent, if anything." Rex shook his head in disappointment as his lightning magic traveled back into his copper blade. "We'll see how long that persistence lasts!" Rex's smirk was lit up by the linking chains of lightning that danced across his sword. He waved it before him as it acted like a conductor to the electricity under his control. With the target set, the lightning bolts shot out towards Nessa with unerring accuracy.

Nessa responded as quickly as she could to put up a barrier between herself and the incoming lightning. Her wand twirled in front of her to bring forth a spherical shield that enveloped her. The bolt was halted in its tracks as it crashed against Nessa's barrier, but it cracked under the force of the elemental magic, barely managing to remain in one piece.

Rex prepared another bolt to break through the shield while Nessa was left panicking through her tome for an answer to her conundrum. She found herself flipping to pages at a frantic pace, ripping out pages seemingly at random. By the time Rex's next attack was unleashed, Nessa held her wand out ready for it to hit her shield.

The consuming bolt of lightning darted towards her, her wrist twisted as a violet fog wrapped her arm and encompassed the incoming lightning. Nessa put all her effort into steering the aim of the bolt with her spell, but her efforts were met with minimal impact as the lightning bolt struck at her shield, leaving it at a near breaking point. The barrier flickered in and out of reality as Nessa's breathing became heavy.

"You're running low on mana already, huh?" Rex remarked as he let sparks dance across his body to show off. "I didn't think you could be any worse than my expectations." He laughed while preparing one final bolt to shatter Nessa's defenses. Rex swung his blade once more, letting loose the lightning bolt that careened towards Nessa. One final gambit was left in Nessa's grasp as the crimson light returned to her hand and wrist. With a violent whipping of her wand, a scarlet energy wrapped around the near formless lightning to steer it out of its directed path.

Nessa's efforts were narrowly rewarded as the main bolt was thrown off its trajectory to crash into the dirt, throwing up a cloud of dust that enveloped the battlefield. Despite her success, much of the lightning still crashed into her shield enough to break through and strike at her. The remainder of the bolt struck at her shoulder while the dust cloud washed over Nessa all in one moment.

Nessa scrambled for stability as she was surrounded in the cloud of debris. She clutched at her burned and scarred shoulder after the electricity burned through that sleeve of her uniform. Breathing heavily, she stumbled over to where she had dropped her tome after the lightning hit her. She looked at the page it had fallen on, and considered her options. She knew the spell it was opened up to was above her skill level, but despite that, she still brought her wand out to make an attempt. Nessa hesitantly tore pages out of her tome and put a handful of them hidden away in her clothing just before she attempted the spell.

Nessa waved her wand in a hypnotic lull as violet mana gathered around the ground in front of her tome. The mana slowly rose into physical form, but it eventually dissipated as Nessa lost focus and dropped the spell. Nessa felt like her stomach had turned over and that her senses dulled as the mana in her body rejected the spell. Despite the sickening reaction, Nessa made another attempt, and managed to push through until the mana bubbled into a cohesive shape.

Meanwhile, Rex was left alone as he lost sight of his target amongst the debris, he scoffed in annoyance and scanned for movements from Nessa obscured by the debris.

"Consider me mildly impressed. You were able to deflect the majority of my lightning. But with what did hit you, there's no way you got far." Rex laughed to himself as he aimed his sword at the dust cloud.

As the dust cloud slowly parted, Rex could see a faint silhouette of Nessa with what seemed to be her tome at her feet. "It's time we end this!" Rex declared his victory as a thunderous bolt shot out from his blade dead set on Nessa's position. The dust cloud parted as the air was ripped apart by Rex's elemental magic, revealing the truth to him at the last second.

The silhouette was nothing more than an illusion spell of a humanoid shape. The lightning bolt shot through it as it faded into expended mana, scattered with the dust. Rex's thoughts raced as he saw Nessa's tome still remained on the ground despite the illusion having been dispelled.

"Behind you, Rex!" Eve called out to him, snapping him out of his confusion. He whipped his attention around to find Nessa with her wand in one hand and two arrows in the other.

Nessa's glare dug into Rex's soul. She wasted no time in making her next move. Her magic wrapped the arrows in her hand as they launched from her grasp. The arrows, enveloped in crimson and violet light, soared out towards Rex, who held his ground with his blade prepared at his side. With a gentle movement of his copper blade, Rex dimmed his electrical magic to a magnetic force as to turn the arrows up into the air.

The arrows did as Rex planned, fighting through Nessa's magic to deflect into the air above Rex as they flung themselves towards the ceiling of the cavern. Yet he left himself open, allowing the tides of the battle to turn.

A trio of Nessa's magical bolts struck Rex's sword hand and wrist with no warning to him. Rex cursed at himself as he realized the arrows were only meant to be distractions from Nessa's actual attack. The bolts burnt his hand and stung him with the unbearable discomfort of unwanted mana flowing under his skin. His grip on his weapon was easily lost as the light weapon flung out of his hand and landed several meters behind him.

Rex barely held off from staggering to the ground as he held his hands out to Nessa. Lightning formed at his fingers as a wild fury of sparks and bolts was let loose in Nessa's direction. Nessa fumbled for one of the torn pages of her tome. With the right page in hand, her wand and hand became wrapped in a whirlwind. She rushed forward, dodging the now inaccurate electricity as the bolts darted aimlessly without Rex's sword to conduct them effectively.

Nessa closed the distance between herself and Rex, weaving between his electricity to slash the swirling winds of her wand against him like a rapier. Rex was pushed to the defensive, utilizing acrobatic maneuvers and using the magic of his electrical aura to deflect the cutting winds while he tried to back himself over to his sword.

Rex's plan was made all too clear to Nessa. With a spin of her wrist, she whipped her wand to the ground. The wind spell curved behind Rex and slashed at the back of his leg as he backed directly into the attack. Rex stumbled off balance momentarily before responding with a thunderous burst from his hands that knocked Nessa away momentarily. His thoughts raced a mile a minute as he considered his options. He ran a hand across his calf and looked at the blood that smeared across it. Rex knew he couldn't rush over to his sword in this state, Nessa would just catch up to him easily.

Ideas and strategies swirled through his head as he decided on his plan of action just before Nessa got back up on her feet. Rex spread his arms wide and reached out to the air around him. His hands trembled and radiated faint sparks as soon after his deflected arrows flung into each of his hands. Rex smirked with glee as his electricity scorched the wooden shaft of the arrows and flowed into the metal tips. He wielded the arrows as twin daggers even as they burned at his palms.

Rex charged forward with the sparks of the arrows clashing against the wind magic Nessa waved through her wand. They danced with the threat of harm surrounding every one of their swift and elegant movements. Though Nessa might not have had the martial prowess of her opponent, Rex's injury more than made up for her inexperience in close combat.

Soon enough, Rex gained the upper hand with a sudden kick to her casting arm that knocked Nessa's wand out of her hand, forcing her to recoil and ease the pain of her aching wrist. Rex backed away and held the two arrows pointed out towards his sword. The arrows trembled with magnetic tension as the iron hilt of his blade slowly shifted it off the ground. Nessa recovered from the pain as quickly as she could to reach out toward her fallen wand with one hand while the other pulled out a sheet of her tome out from beneath her collar. The wand was wrapped in a violet and crimson fog and leapt back to Nessa's grasp as quickly as it was disarmed.

While Nessa rearmed herself, Rex had regained his sword as it flung itself back into his grasp. He dropped the arrows and prepared to engage with his weapon in hand. Rex rushed out towards Nessa with his sword radiating with electricity once more. Nessa clenched the page of her tome in her fist as she acted on her plan. As Rex swung his sparking sword down at Nessa, she raised her wand in defense. The slashing winds barely held back the pure force that Rex put into his swing. Eventually, her wand was shattered into pieces as Rex's sword cleaved through and planted itself into the ground in front of them.

Nessa acted as quickly as she could, tracing her fingers over the symbols on the crumbled tome sheet before grasping her hand directly over Rex's copper blade. She felt the blade cut into her hand with blood leaving her palm. Without any more hesitation and to Rex's confusion, Nessa casted the spell from her tome as a pink light continuously washed over Rex's sword.

With a shove from Rex, Nessa was pushed away from her grasp as he drew his blade out of the ground to inspect the spell affecting his sword. The truth dawned on him all too late as he tried to toss the blade away, only for it to break apart and burst into a mana induced explosive burst.

Nessa had stumbled back from Rex's shove and watched as her spell succeeded, with a dark red cloud of expended mana left from the violent explosion. Nessa panicked to grab more of her tome's sheets while keeping an eye on Rex. Her vision was only slightly obscured as she saw him stumbling back with what remained of his sword's hilt still tight in his grasp. His serpent eyes glared out at Nessa with bloodlust as he wasted no time in repaying the damage done to him.

Rex whipped the broken hilt over his head with lightning drawing further and further into it until it was left to its absolute limit. He threw the charged projectile at alarming speeds directly towards Nessa, who had little time to react to Rex's impromptu attack. Time seemed to slow around Nessa as she crossed her arms to defend herself, calling forth whatever magical barrier she could muster. Despite her efforts, the barrier she casted was easily shattered by the force of Rex's discarded and charged hilt as it caved in directly towards Nessa.

The hilt shattered onto the barrier, yet the damage had already been done. Nessa's barrier shot back into her like shards of glass, carving into her arms as she held them back from piercing her body. The force of the attack sent her skidding back. She was left out of breath with blood pouring from the wounds decorating her arms. Nessa struggled to remain standing, but she stood tall and proud of her resilience regardless.

"I can't lose now," Rex muttered under his breath as he wiped away some blood from his face, "I can't lose now that I've crawled my way to this point in my life. Everything I've fought and bled for, it all resides on my actions here and now. I can't return to nothing. I refuse to let this all go!" Rex concluded by clasping his hands together and slowly tearing them away from each other. Static sparks transferred between his two hands as he seemed to fight himself in just trying to pull his hands apart. Soon, an orb of electrical magic formed in the space between his hands, slowly charging from Rex's struggles.

Nessa silently observed as Rex prepared his final gambit, but she was left with nothing. Her wand was destroyed and the remnants of her torn tome pages were scattered in scorched ash and memory, all while blood flowing from her arms dripped slowly at her feet.

"I agree with you," Nessa croaked out in response, leaving Rex with a grimace painted across his gritted fangs, "I can't go back to the life I lived before either. There's nothing left for me there. I wouldn't wish that fate upon anyone, to have to step back from their dreams."

"Shut up!" Rex interrupted in disgust, "Don't you dare pretend to know the hell I've gone through!" The spell Rex was preparing reached its boiling point as he aimed it out towards Nessa. "I'm ending this here and now. Nessa, if you value your life, then surrender!"

Nessa simply remained silent and waited for Rex to unleash his attack. He hesitated as the massive orb of lightning trembled within his grasp. Without the strength to hold it back any longer, Rex unleashed the last of his magic in one final bolt. The lightning took a form like a cannonball as it was launched out towards Nessa without any mercy.

Nessa was left with no options before her. Despite the incoming attack, all she could think of was the feeling in her arms. She expected pain unlike anything before, and yet all that remained was relief. The aching pain that terrorized Nessa's casting arm was gone as blood ran down like a scarlet waterfall down her mauve skin. In her darkest moments, Nessa knew it wasn't her mind that carried her out of danger, but her body acting on its own. It was all she could rely on at this moment, so Nessa held her arms out and braced for the impact of Rex's attack.

The lightning approached with a blinding light that left Nessa alone in her own world for a moment, surrounded by nothing but endless white and the blood that fell from her. Nessa's eyes shut as she called forth whatever she could from the deepest points of her body and soul to defend herself. A crimson aura surrounded her like a devastating blaze, fueled by her spilled blood like oil fed to bouts of hellfire. Nessa's outstretched arms harnessed the full extent of her inner strength, taking the full impact of Rex's lightning as it was held back from completely washing over Nessa.

Nessa miraculously held the lightning in place, even as it traveled through her in short bursts. It threatened to electrocute her if not for the aura surrounding her that stopped much of the damage from reaching her body. Though she was not spared from the pain of the lightning coursing under her skin and through her veins as she struggled to hold it back in time for the attack to be nullified. Her body nearly buckled under the searing pain she felt. In only a matter of time, she knew she would let go and let the lightning consume her.

She had prepared to let her body take over for her, yet deep down Nessa knew it wouldn't be enough. Her mind kicked back into action as she recalled what she had to do. Memories of her brother flashed through Nessa's mind as she gave everything she had not just to defend herself but to forge a future for him that she knew he deserved. Nessa's eyes broke open with blinding fury as she called forth everything she had to heave the orb of lightning over her head, pouring her crimson aura with the last of her violet magic into the lightning above her.

The scene slowly played back onto Nessa's eyes as she was seemingly freed from the blinding purgatory she was trapped in. She looked out to Rex, who stood with a vacant expression of disbelief painted plainly across his face. With the blood coating her arms granting her strength, Nessa dragged the lightning back down and deflected the attack back at Rex with everything she had.

The lightning orb that Rex had launched out at Nessa was now sent soaring back to him, breaking him out of the trance of disbelief he was in. A confident smirk danced its way across his fanged smile as he held his hands out in preparation. He knew that he could simply control his own lightning to whatever desire he held without going through the ordeal Nessa had put herself through. Rex dropped his hands down in an attempt to ground the orb of lightning to nullify it completely, yet his plan backfired as he realized the true intent of Nessa's deflection.

The lightning that Rex forced into the ground was but a layer surrounding the true attack that was hidden beneath the surface. Beneath the lightning was the remainder of Nessa's magic and energy that she poured within the orb, masking it as a mere deflection. Rex was left panicked as he formed a barrier over himself as a last ditch defense before the attack crashed into him.

The impact was immediately met with a deafening burst of mana that washed over the entire cavern clearing, even momentarily radiating into the star crystals above. By the time the dust and debris cleared, Rex was left on his knees with the shattered remnants of a barrier wrapped around him. Nessa's heart was left nearly beating out of her chest as she slowly limped her way over to Rex with an empty gaze in her eyes and a tinge of mana swirling around her bloody hand.

"Rex!" Eve called out in fear as both her and Kross tried to intervene.

"Don't you dare!" Rex lashed out even from his downed position, "Both of you! Get out of here, leave the thief and head back to the guild!" He concluded and looked to Nessa who was still approaching him with magic prepared in her casting hand.

Kross hesitantly held back Eve from rushing out to Rex's side. A pained expression was clear on his scaled face as he watched Nessa stand over Rex.

"What are you waiting for, Nessie?" Rex growled under his breath, "If you're gonna finish it, then go right ahead." He said with a half-hearted bloody smirk, unwavering even as Nessa raised her hand in line with Rex's face, magic still flowing through her hand and wrist. Rex closed his eyes and prepared for death.

All he was met with was a relieving warm pulse through his body. Rex hesitated to open his eyes. He eventually did, and found that Nessa brought her bloody hand back to her side right after healing him, the crimson aura of her magic fading away after she had healed him.

"What?" He managed to cough up as he dragged himself back to his feet, stumbling like a drunkard, "What's wrong with you!?"

"I told you already," Nessa spoke aloud while she walked over to her brother in the corner of the clearing, "I had no plans to continue a cycle of hate and jealousy, and that I sympathized with your desire not to fail those around you," She spoke without looking at Rex and instead healed her brother and helped him up to his feet, "Don't interpret this as forgiveness, because I certainly don't forgive you for how you treated me or my brother. But I know that you did all of this not for yourself, but to keep moving forward with your friends there with you."

As Nessa spoke, Rex felt a hand on his shoulder as Kross stepped to his side. Kross helped Rex up from his crooked posture while Eve stood behind the both of them with a smile on her face.

"I trust if you bring the thief over back to Viiest, we can all take the credit for this mission. That way, no one gets left behind." Nessa looked back with a smile on her face.

"We can agree with that, Nessa." Kross responded for his leader, who was left speechless with his eyes drawn to the ground.

"Good, see you there." Nessa and Mair both walked side by side out of the clearing towards Viiest.

As their footsteps slowly echoed out of earshot, Rex's team was left silent with each other until Rex finally spoke up. "You heard her, grab the thief and let's move out." Both Kross and Eve complied and went to pick up the unconscious thief, leaving Rex alone at the center for the clearing for a moment. Rex remained silent as he sorted through thoughts in his own head. He pulled his Hidden Star pin off his shoulder and stared down the badge. Rex flashed a genuine smile before putting it back into place with pride.