Illya VS The New Seven (2)

I looked around the ground as it rose up to block my vision from everybody else. I listened carefully while keeping my eyes fixated on the ground beneath me... when I heard rock cracking.

Illya was attacking us individually.

I knew I couldn't let that slide, but I also couldn't change the scenery like everybody else. I'm just Belle, I couldn't even fight Famine alone... am I really cut out to be here?

Before I knew it, Illya's hand was clasped around my head and I was thrown into the upturned ground, smashing through it and falling to the floor in another box that she created.

I sprouted a sheet of ice underneath me and remembered the suggestion Dani had for me. I couldn't be sure it would work... but I have to try.

I put my hands together and concentrated, exploding a sheet of ice underneath my feet all around my position and pushing it through to other boxes that Illya was attacking my friends in.

Boo used her ability to regroup with me and she began to pant heavily as well. Boo didn't have too many uses of her ability left either... yet the fight has just begun. Illya's stamina is endless!

Alexia came smashing through the wall to our left and I caught her with a wall of ice that broke her momentum. Then, before we knew it, Mitra and Myth were thrown in as well.

Something in my head went off as I analyzed everybody. It was faint... but it was a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

I immediately looked up and the feeling satiated when I saw Illya with a huge boulder in her hands, getting ready to throw it down toward us.

"Alexia, create a dome!" I shouted out to her. Alexia listened quickly and made a dome of strands that tightened to block us from the boulder... however, the dome wasn't completely formed before the boulder interacted with us.

The dome was starting to bend, and instead of standing around waiting for a miracle, I summoned a pillar of ice right in the dead center of the boulder coming down on our heads.

The icy feeling in my hair was now up to my earlobes and climbing faster. It has never gotten this high before! I was reaching my limit too fast!

Yet... reaching my limit meant keeping everybody alive... and that's what it would take, so I couldn't hesitate. The pillar of ice held up strongly and the boulder fell off to the side. The dome dissipated and Alexia fell to the ground while panting and bleeding from her nose. I was getting drowsy from the ice, but I still couldn't stop... not now...

Eo finally entered the fight again and kicked Illya in the face in mid-air. The ground shifted again and a crater around our feet cleared and pushed away everything to the side. Then, Eo used that same axe kick to slam Illya into the ground right beside us, and pushed the ground out even more, almost leveling the arena once again. Her power was... insane...

Mitra and Myth ran in, using both of their abilities in unison with Eo to try and distract Illya, but Illya could attack them without even looking. She was prepared for the real threat, which was Eo, and countering the two of them with ease. This fight was becoming a battle of attrition, just like she said, and we stood no chance. We needed a trump card... something to push the battle in our favor.

I could use my SIM... but at this rate, I would die. I can't die, not yet. I have to assure my friends that Illya would die if I used it. I needed that... I needed to know that it would do something.

"System Ultimate Deflect!" Eo screamed out.

Illya's saber shot into the ground at frightening speed, digging up most of the dirt beneath us and even some more. Then, Illya shot into the ground right beside us.

Without missing a beat, Illya grabbed onto Mitra's head, slammed him into the ground, and flipped over his body. Before I could process how she did it, both of his legs were severed from his body, and his chest was pushed in from a kick I couldn't see.

Illya landed on the ground and Golden Strands rapidly replaced her missing arm and then tightened while vanishing into her arms.

"Don't... get... pushy... you will end up losing if you continue, Eo. I can pull you from System Annihilation if you just vow to kill Belle." Illya told her.

Eo stood still for a moment while gripping her sabers and staring at Illya's regenerated body.

"It's that feeling... that feeling you forgot about long ago. That feeling you got looking at Faith for the first time... or that feeling you got looking at Sky's name appear on that screen. After living so long in the darkness, you forgot what it was, and I can't blame you. You gave me the capacity to understand feelings, so you could share them with me. All this time, I couldn't figure out what you were talking about... but now, I get it. Do you know what I'm talking about, Illya?" Eo asked her.

"Don't go on a whole speech with me. I don't care." Illya told Eo.

"It's... Hope. When we broke our pact with Providia and Providence, and Ali lost her fight, and I never returned to your side, I felt something while looking at everybody again. It was hope. That same hope you felt finding Sky. That same hope you felt when you got to Sky again. It's that feeling, the one you explained to me long ago, that I couldn't figure out." Eo said. She took in a sharp breath and her hair covered her eyes.

"I won't ever be by your side again. Your reign is over... and I don't just know that, nor believe it... I have hope that it will be true. You gave me these feelings... you must reap what you sow. You should've never created me." Eo told Illya.