Chapter 104-Mary vs Echo, Part Two

"T-Tungsten…" Mary trembles as she watches the iron walls rise out of the ground around her, with tears forming at the edges of Mary's eyes.

"REMEMBER ME, MARY?!" A voice shouts, causing Mary to wince and cover her ears, "I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT YOU DID TO ME, MARY. DESPITE BEING YOUR ENEMY, YOU…YOU HEALED ME ONCE OUR FIGHT HAD ENDED, REFUSING TO LET ME DIE WHILE ALSO REFUSING ME THE STRENGTH TO FIGHT BACK. YOU'RE WISE…WISE, CRUEL, AND CARING."

Mary takes a deep breath in…then out.

Mary turns and turns to face her opponent, who already has his bladed-guitar drawn.

"I just have to focus on the enemy in front of me…" Mary whispers to herself, just barely able to hear her voice through her muffled ears, "I'll think about Tungsten later…"

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE-!" Echo booms as he strums his guitar, and sparks of purple energy burst and swirl around his body, "-THUNDER MELODY!"

Shockwaves of sound fly from Echo's guitar, blasting into Mary and sending her flying backwards, pinning Mary's back against the iron wall behind her.

"MY SOUND CHARGE ISN'T YOUR RUN-OF-THE-MILL SPELL!" Echo booms as he begins walking towards Mary, causing the force of his sound waves pinning Mary against the wall to intensify, and causing the girl to further wince in pain, "MY SOUND CHARGE DOESN'T DIRECTLY ATTACK MY OPPONENT. MY SOUND CHARGE AMPLIFIES SOUND ITSELF, USING THE CONCEPT ITSELF AS A WEAPON, THEREFORE BYPASSING ANY AND ALL DEFENSES!"

"Bl-Blood Charge-" Mary manages to croak out, but before Mary can finish casting her spell, Echo strums his guitar again.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: THUNDER MELODY!" He shouts.

Even more shockwaves of sound fly from Echo's guitar, blasting into Mary, and this time causing her to crash through the iron wall behind her, and land on the ground in the ruins.

Mary groans as she slowly begins to push herself up, but Echo doesn't let up.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: THUNDER MELODY!" Echo shouts as he strums his guitar one more time, sending even more shockwaves of sound flying towards Mary, which sends Mary flying backwards and throws her to the ground. Mary curls up in fetal position, and grunts in pain as she plugs up eherhr ears with her hands.

"Echo…must be so much stronger than last time…" Mary grunts, "His spells are so much louder than I remember…"

But upon realizing something, Mary's eyes widen.

"No…that's not it…" Mary says to herself, "Echo's spells themselves aren't louder, but rather…the sound of his spells is reverberating off of the iron walls, therefore strengthening it-!"

With a new confident glare on her face, Mary stands back up again and faces her opponent.

"SOMEONE'S READY FOR AN ENCORE," Echo smirks, "SHALL I PLAY YOU ANOTJER SONG?"

But without saying anything, Mary lifts both pointer fingers up, which are swirling with blood, then swiftly JAMS them into her ears, causing blood to squirt from them.

Echo recouls.

"SHATTERING YOUR EARDRUMS SO MY SPELLS CAN'T WORK ON YOU?" Echo booms, "SMART, AND I REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN JUST HEAL YOURSELF ANYWAY!"

But Mary does not reply to Echo, partially because she can't hear him, and partially because it doesn't matter, regardless. Instead, Mary simply resumes her Charge Stance, as bright red blood begins swirling around both of her hands.

"BLOOD CHARGE, LEVEL THREE: RAPIDS CLAW!" Mary shouts (screaming at the top of her lungs, due to the odd feeling of not being able to hear her own voice) as swipes both hands outwards, sending blades of blood shooting across from her, and knocking down two of Tungsten's iron walls.

Echo raises an eyebrow at Mary. "WHAT…ARE YOU DOING…?" He asks Mary.

Mary doesn't reply. Instead, she simply resumes her Charge Stance and shouts: "BLOOD CHARGE, LEVEL THREE: RAPIDS CLAW," then swipes her hand soutwards, firing off more blades of blood and using them to knock down more and more of Tungsten's iron walls, like dominos.

Echo's eyes widen.

"I SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" He booms, "CLEVER WITCH!"

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL TWO: EXPLOSIVE MELODY!" Echo shouts as he grips the holt of his bladed-guitar and lifts it high above his head, before SLAMMING it into the ground, causing shockwaves of sound to be sent exploding outwards.

Echo's shockwaves of sound blast into Mary, who winces, as she's sent flying backwards , slamming into the wall behind her.

"EVEN IF YOU CAN'T' HEAR MY SOUND, THE SHOCKWAVES CAN STILL EFFECT YA'!" Echo booms.

Mary grunts as the force of Echo's sockwaves continue to pin Mary against the wall behind her.

But then…a crack forms in the wall behind Mary due to the pressure of Echo's shockwaves of sounds forcing her against it, and then another crack and another until eventually, Mary's back shatters the wall behind her!

Mary falls to the ground in a cloud of dust.

"HOW'D YA' LIKE THAT?!" Echo cackles.

But then…as the dust settles, Echo's eyes widen, for all of the iron walls surrounding him and Mary…have been knocked down.

"THERE'S…NOTHING FOR YOUR SOUND SHOCKWAVES TO REVERBERATE AGAINST," MARY BOOMS AS SHE STANDS UP TO FACE HER OPPONENT.

MARY THEN PAUSES.

"UGH, I SOUND JUST LIKE YOU!" She exclaims.

"DAMMIT!" Echo shouts as he strums his guitar, "SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: THUNDER MELODY!"

Mary simply smirks as she resumes her Charge Stance, and bright red blood begins swirling around her right hand.

"BLOOD CHARGE, LEVEL THREE-" Mary booms as she takes a step forwards, towards Echo, "-RAPIDS TALON!"

With a battle cry, Mary slices her hand towards Echo, firing off a blade of blood from each finger which travels through the air towards Echo, eventually colliding with his shockwaves of sound. However, Mary's blades of blood are able to overpower Echo's shockwaves of sound, and Echo's eyes widen as he watches Mary's blades of blood draw ever closer, until eventually…they tear into Echo, causing him to yelp in pain as he collapse to the ground, silent, at last.

Not that he's dead, or anything, just…unconscious…

"I hope…"