B6C8/9

"RARGHH!" I slashed into Salem's back with all my might. There was a mighty crash when my sword struck, followed by an angry shriek and a flash of white light. The sword in my hand exploded, showering me with shards even as the force lifted me up and tossed me aside. I slammed into the ground and rolled away.

[...]

Pain.

My teeth grit together instinctively and I glared down, at the fist buried in my side, just past my armour and up into my kidney. It felt like I'd been sucker-punched by Nora. I choked out a breath, slumping slightly.

"Strength is in context," the Mage said softly, gently. "I may be a Mage, but even with a low Strength growth rate, if I am high enough level, I can be as strong as a Knight." The way she spoke was like she was imparting wisdom to a small child.

[...]

My eyes snapped open as I felt ice creep over my wrist and hand, the one she'd caught and squeezed tightly. My fingers wanted to snap open and drop the dagger, but I couldn't. Mt entire limb was freezing over.

"I really am sorry," she said. "I can't control myself. I can only follow his instructions. I'll try to make it painless."

By freezing me alive and then shattering me into pieces. Panic rushed through me as the ice reached my elbow. I could no longer move anything beyond it – nor feel it. My other fist buried itself in her stomach, but Willow simply grunted once and ignored it. Meanwhile, the ice reached my shoulder, close enough to my face that I could feel my cheek burn. My blood felt cold, too, my entire body shutting down.

[...]

Feeling was slow to come back, and when it did it was pure agony, coursing up and down my arm. The skin was blackened in places, especially my fingers.

No weapon and my right hand now so damaged I struggled to open and close my hand. I could, but it was clumsy and slow. No dextrous work for me, let alone wielding a weapon. I had to pass the dagger into my left hand, and nearly cried out when the act of prying the hilt from the palm of my hand caused my skin to stretch and tear. A little blood oozed from the wound.

[...]

Willow summoned a sculpture of ice between us and detonated it outward. Shards cut through my skin and clothing, the rest pelting off my armour with little clink-clink sounds. I pushed through it, one arm covering my eyes as I lashed out blindly in her general direction, and then reached out with my free hand a second later.

[...]

My arm came around and I yelled as I hurled the dagger with all my strength.

It slammed into the middle of Salem's back.

There was a shriek from her, followed by a sound like thunder as white light cascaded out over the entire arena, just like it had when I attacked her last. It poured out, brighter than the sun, and I was flung back a second time, crashing to the floor as Salem shrieked in pain and fury. Much like Crocea Mors, the knife exploded into tiny fragments.

[...]

A wave of black crashed into me.

"DECEIVER!"

Salem's voice boomed like thunder. Felt like it, too, as my body was slammed down into the ground, pinned under a wave of what looked like black light, but felt as solid as rock. Her face was twisted, not in joy at Weiss' grief, nor Watts' agonised betrayal, but fury. Rage. All of it aimed at me.

I struggled to breathe.

"Stop!" Blake cried.

"SILENCE!" Salem barked. All sound was snuffed out. "KNEEL."

Everyone collapsed instantly. Even Weiss, despite that she was already on hands and knees. She fell atop Willow and Watts, crying uncontrollably. My attention was torn back to Salem as the force crashed into me, the command demanding I kneel. Curl up. Die.

T-Three Levels.

Still, the Exp came.

My eyes flickered fitfully.

"Deceiver," she hissed. "I will crush you like the worm you are. Too long have I waited. I have allowed your trespass because you amused me. But to strike at me twice, once when I was distracted? To wound me two times? Yours is an existence I have tolerated." She sneered down on me. "No longer. There will not be a third time."

My vision began to black out. My chest was being crushed, my entire body, and I couldn't draw breath into my lungs. I was going to suffocate before she squashed me like a bug. My free hand flailed toward the mass of black, plunging into it, for all the good it did. It wasn't her arm, more a mass of demonic energy.

The Exp from Willow continued to pour into me.

F-Four… Levels….

Something inside me moved. Shifted. Information crashed into my skull, into my very soul. My eyes flashed bright blue, as did my hand, lodged inside of the black mass crushing me. I felt a rush of heat, of force, of something more. My fingers closed around something in the darkness, something familiar. My amulet. Her amulet.

My lips formed words I'd never uttered. Shouted them.

"Purify!"

Light exploded in front of me. It pushed me down, but it also let me breathe – tearing away the dark energy that threatened to crush us all.