BLYTHE VS ESCARLATE: THE BEST BATTLE EVER

The battle had begun, and as the troops of the seers went forth, Escarlate was right near the front of them once more. Recovered from her previous battle, she had sped into the fight with the ferocity of a raging dragon, massacaring various troops of Danarium with few strikes of her brutal weapon.

She was like a demon on the battlefield, and wherever she went, a bloodbath followed. Most Magi went off to deal with others, but for the first long minutes of the battle, she was inspiring fear and terror in the hearts of any man who came upon her path, no matter whether friend nor foe.

It was a wisp of magic that caught her attention, and a burst of ice that drew her eyes over to another scene of complete and utter massacre, a hooded woman was making work of the soldiers of the seers. It seemed like she would be a rather powerful opponent.

That was the thoughts Escarlate carried until the hood gave way for just long enough for her to make out the features of Blythe Materis, the woman who once was her best friend. The woman who treated her like a sister.

The woman who abandonned her...

Small spark of red, depraved magic appeared around her body as the beast of war let out a roar of anger. The sin magic was suppressed for just a moment as the brutally enraged woman took her blade to her side and surged forth, slicing through various soldiers, some ending with a brutalized body, others ending with their bodies seperated from their legs all together until finally she came into range to draw her attention.

It came in the form of a deadly spin-slash which cut through the air, sending a shockwave that started as wind cuting towards the powerful magi that quickly ignited into a flaming wave that scorched the ground.

Only a brief moment after the battlefield was ignited, the spawn of wrath let out a loud roar.

"BLYTHE MATERIS!!" Her words echoed through the battlefield, shaking lesser men to their very bones by the pure hate that her tone could inspire. The berserker made haste towards the woman she had chosen to be her foe, no matter how she would have it.

"Raise your blade towards me, and face your fate! Your life ends here and now!" Her words were rather straight foreward.

Her voice, perhaps, was shrouded from her helmet, but Sanguine sat upon her side, and her height could not decieve.

The woman that stood before Blythe was the husk of Helena Scarlett.
(Escarlate)
The only thing Blythe had left was the sword she weilded. Rage and hatred and fury and wrath pulsed through her body and she welcomed it. Bloodletter whispered urges in her ear, pushing her forward, pushing her closer and closer to the monster she had desperately avoided to become for all of these years.

Avenge the lost. They took your husband from you. They took Helena from you. They took September from you. They took everything from you. They are the ruin of your life. You have nothing left but the blade in your hands, so see it rip through their bodies like you have dreamt of. Tear them to pieces. They are butter and your blade is the knife. Show them who you are. Prove to them Danarium is not a force to be reckoned with...

She was trembling with pure rage as she made work of the soldiers. Her blade tore through them with ease. Some found their necks slit by the winds that tore around her like a storm, others found her blade ripped through their armor, through their chest. The merciful being Blythe once was was replaced by something alien, full of wrath and pure hatred for the enemies she fought.

Then the ground caught fire. She heard the screams and cries of her comrades behind her, and when she whirled around, the hood obscuring her face fell down to her shoulders. Her dead eyes came to rest on the hulking figure when it roared her name.

For a moment she stood there, the raw mana that surrounded her flickering in the aftermath of Escarlate's shockwave. Her expression twisted into something unreadable, a mixture of wrath and pain and the grief she had been fighting with for her near sixty years on this damned planet.

The whispers that Bloodletter graced in her ear erupted into roars of fury and she found herself trembling under the weight of the pure wrath that surged through her.

She was too weak to survive. You fled and she didn't. You made a promise to kill her. Do it. See your blade through her chest, let your winds shred her to pieces. Take your fury and unleash it upon her. Fulfill your promise. END HER.

With a deep intake of breath, her lips curled back and parted into a scream, a roar that could only match the volume of Helena.

"HELENA SCARLET!!"
(Blythe Materis)
The fire flickered and faded away shortly after they embraced the battlefield, leaving the ground scorched, but safe. Her aura of rage pushed so hard to explode outwards, but she contained it until she knew she would need to grace the battle with it.

Instead, what came forth were licks of fire that began to bite the air about her body, shrouding her in an aura of deadly flames that would bring nothing but pain. They would empower her strength and scorch the battlefield in her wake.

Her eyes glinted under her helmet as the new hero of the crimson dawn turned to meet her challenge, someone who she knew would be able to meet her challenge. Though Helena never bested Blythe in combat, Escarlate could. She knew she could.

She lifted her blade towards the Materis warrior, staring her down with eyes that were akin to the fire that covered her.

"Helena Scarlett stands no longer. I am Escarlate, wielder of the God of War, and your final opponent!" She spoke her final words before surging forth to meet the woman's blade with her own, aiming to give nothing short of fatal, devestating strikes.
(Escarlate)
The mana that surged around Blythe erupted outwards, growing with her rage. The wind around her was littered with frost. Both hands moved to wrap around the hilt of Bloodletter in preperation for what she knew was to come.

Her voice was shaky with excitement and anger, slick with hatred and hoarse from screaming.

"If you are no longer Helena Scarlett, then you're going to die. I made my promise."

With that, she charged forward to meet Escarlate's blade.
(Blythe Materis)

ESCARLATE WON ROUND 1

The battlefield quaked and trembled under the combined might of the super powerful warriors. Escarlate's might was surely enough to tear any non-magi to shreds in single strikes, and her blade went straight alongside that might, being one of the heaviest and most powerful weapons in the land.

To contrast, Blythe was fast, far faster than the sin of Wrath. For every one strike Escarlate made, Blythe made five or six more. They had force behind them, already more than any normal human could muster and then some, empoewred by her energy magic.

...But when it came together, Escarlate's might was simply far more than anyone could withstand for long, and her high talent in battle pushed that even further. The first bout of what would surely be an extremely long battle ended when the titan stepped to the side of one of the Hero's strikes before swiftly dashing in with a horrifying blow with the flat of her blade, aimed for Blythe's midsection.

With the force that the blade possessed, it would likely be enough to send Blythe a fair distance away, but it would be nothing that someone couldn't stand up from. Escarlate lowered her blade for a moment, panting heavily. It was a draining fight, far moreso than Raphael, than Angus and Idella, this was the accumilation of everything she had worked towards, and it was only just beginning.

It was a brief respite, though, as the blade was raised once more towards the skilled warrior who faced her. "I know you have more in you than that, Blythe Materis!" She called out.

"STAND AND FIGHT!"
(Escarlate)
The blow crippled Blythe. She was sent flying backwards with a frustrated cry, tumbling against the ground. Frost followed her path but as soon as she skidded to a halt she hopped to her feet, aided by a powerful burst of wind.

The wind around her was now swirling at a dangerous velocity as she cried out, charging forward with a boost of resurgence. With her blade raised, she aimed to land a crippling blow to the mana circuit on Escarlate's shoulder.

"DON'T THINK YOU'RE GOING TO WIN, SCARLETT!"
(Blythe Materis)

BLYTHE WON ROUND 2

With unmatched vigor Blythe charged, lips parted in a roar. Her swings were lightning fast, air particles parting to make for less wind resistance against the flat of her blade. The mana that erupted from her worked against Escarlate, conflicting with the beast's own to block its flow, if only for a few seconds.

Each strike left frost on Escarlate's armor, creeping across and slowing her down. Ice budded from Blythe's footsteps and the wind around her enemy worked against her, churning furiously to keep her from moving. Everything Blythe did worked to keep Helena in place, leaving her open for her barrage of furious strikes.

With a cry of fury she brought her blade down upon Escarlate's shoulder with enough raw force to throw her off balance.

"I'm not going to make this easy for you! NOT LIKE THE OTHERS!"
(Blythe Materis)
The battle raged on, and slowly, Escarlate was slowed down as a result of every magical srike Blythe landed, the frost slowing her down eventually to the point where she could hardly move, which was when Blythe got the chance to finish the bout, her blow sending Escarlate back a fair few feet before she caught herself upon her blade.

Sweat was beginning to accumilate beneath her helmet, mixing in with the blood that was beginning to cover her body. She took just a few second to breath before unhinging herself from the soil, the earth parting and making way as she released her blade from its hold.

She couldn't hold anything back, but perhaps, like a predator, she enjoyed playing with her food. The aura of sin magic bit and whispered, asking - begging to be released, but she let it mix in with the whispers of Durrendal that echoed in her mind, the flames intensifying about her body.

Mana began to pour through her being, far more intensely than they previously had, imbeuing everything that she held. Her speed, her strength, her fortitude, it all advanced to some degree as she let out another powerful roar.

"THIS BATTLEFIELD IS MINE, YOU MEET YOUR END HERE!"
(Escarlate)

BLYTHE WON ROUND 3

"NOTHING IS YOURS! WHEN YOU MEET YOUR DEATH, YOU OWN NOTHING."

Blythe's voice shook with fury as she struck time and time again, each blow growing more and more powerful. She widdled away at Escarlate as she fought, brashly daring to move directly into the brunt of her attacks... anything to land her blows.

As she attacked she spoke to the woman, dancing around the battlefield with a strange confidence. Wrath pulsed through her but her words were steady at first.

"Do you remember when we were out here in the praries with the campfire, talking and sharing stories and drinking mead? Do you remember when I told you about September and you picked me up and flew me back to Frostvale to make me tell him?"

Her voice steadily grew in volume, and as she moved on, her expression was twisting with pain and grief and the wrath she tried to suppress. Her strikes grew stronger and stronger, her slows and strikes enough to overwhelm Escarlate.

"Do you remember when we trained in Nostvale? When I won because you had those weights on? Do you remember when we got drunk and I think fell asleep in the kids beds?"

She made a powerful, horizontal swing towards Escarlate's midsection, enough to send her off her feet.

"Do you remember the night after Raphael died? Do you remember when I was on your back and you flew us around? Do you remember what happened, Helena? DO YOU REMEMBER WHO YOU USED TO BE?"
(Blythe Materis)
The words burned into Escarlate's mind. They were pointless, and irritating. She knew. She remembered it all. But that was not who she was anymore. That was Helena Scarlett. That was a weak, shadow of true might. A coward. Someone who deserved her fate.

"I remember it all, Materis!" As they fought, they dueled with words as well as blades, and with each strike, she found herself getting weaker. It was when she was sent back that she knew that there was nothing she could hold back anymore. Her true power had to be released. There was no longer an alternative.

And so, the fires crackled and sputtered out, the final sparks falling into the soil and lightly scorching the grass further.

"BUT I AM NO LONGER THE WOMAN THAT YOU REMEMBER, HELENA DIED THE NIGHT THAT YOU ABANDONED HER TO HER FATE!"

The faintest whispers of sin echoed around her as a depraved aura of rage and power. "I AM ESCARALTE, I AM THE SPAWN OF ANGER, THE CHILD OF WRATH."

"I AM THE PHOENIX, RISEN IN THE ASHES OF A WOMAN THAT KNEW NOTHING BUT WEAKNESS"

"I"

"AM"

"ASCENDED!"

And at that moment, the aura of wrath bursted out, a twisted, powerful aura of red and anger, almost akin to that of Blythe's energy, but evil, corrupted. The sin magic imbued her with far more might than she had before and with it in hand, she prepared to battle!
(Escarlate)

ESCARLATE WINS ROUND 4

The depraved aura followed behind each and every one of Helena's steps, with every strike, the aura seemed to flare and roar with power as her blows would hit with an ungodly power that would leave anyone else trembling with fear and pain.

The ground shattered and small craters formed whenever her blade struck land. There was no relenting, and no quarter spared by the mighty woman, who gave words as she struck forth.

"There is no END to my power! I am a god amongst men, the holder of the most might in this land, I am the messanger of Ryujin, a holder of unsightly power! There are none that can face me and live, and you are just a single chain in my fate!"

With a shoulder check, she sent Blythe back a short distance before allowing a large, overhead slash to crash into the earth, splitting the land and sending a divide towards her. It would stop short, but rocks erupted into the land, one gripped by the powerful woman and sent forth, crashing and shattering against her foe.

"I AM ESCARLATE, THE BRINGER OF THE CRIMSON DAWN THAT YOU SO DESPERATELY CLING TO! I WILL BATHE THE WORLD IN BLOOD, AND LET IT FALL INTO THE ATMOS IN WHICH IT BELONGS"

"I WILL DESTROY IT ALL!"
(Escarlate)
Blythe let out a cry as she was sent scuttling backwards, when she was struck by the rocks that Escarlate's rift created. The pure wrath, the power the woman she once radiated was terrifying.

This wasn't Helena. No inch of the woman she once knew as her best friend remained, and when this struck Blythe, unrelenting rage erupted in her. Bloodletter ached for Escarlate's ruin, and from this point on, that is all Blythe aimed for.

"You are sin, depraved, disgusting, FILTH! You are the reason I stand here today! You are the ruin of my life! YOU TOOK THEM ALL FROM ME! I HAVE NOTHING LEFT!"

She regained her footing and charged forward, spewing an endless chain of names, some alive, most the dead or departed. They all resided inside her, chanting alongside the voice of wrath for Helena's ruin. The whispers that haunted Blythe, the ghosts of the path, had erutped into screams.

"OLIVER! AYDEN! ALDREN! OURIEL! REVAN! KATYA! AMY! ARSA! ZANFIEL! ALASTAIR! HELGAAD! ANGUS! MARCELLO! RAPHAEL! HELENA! JERICHO! SEPTEMBER! CESARE!"

It continued on and on, an endless scream of the lost or those doomed to be...
(Blythe Materis)

BLYTHE WINS ROUND 5

"FILTH! DEPRAVED! THE SOURCE OF THE PLAGUE! DISGUSTING! THE RUIN OF OUR WORLD, THE BANE OF PEACE! THE SPAWN OF AZRAEL, HATRED AND ALL THINGS SINFUL! I WILL END YOU!"

Blythe's screams were unleashed upon Helena with a burst of renewed fervor and hatred. Her stream of names continued in a murmur as she fought, bringing her blade down upon Escarlate's figure time and time again with relentless speed.

With a vertical swing she brought down and earthshattering blow on Escarlate's shoulder. It was enough to send her to her knees, fueled with mana-blocking energy, ice, wind, raw muscle and the wrath of a warrior suffering from loss.

"Have you never felt happiness, love? Have you never felt the peace and content of a life without war, without fighting? You are destroying that! You are taking away from the ones you used to love, from your friends and your family, from your daughter! YOU ARE TAKING ALL GOOD THINGS AWAY FROM THIS WORLD BY YOUR MERE EXISTANCE AND FOR THAT I WILL BE YOUR RUIN, ESCARLATE!"
(Blythe Materis)
The speed became hard for the raging woman to keep up with, and time and time against the terrifying blade sailed over the woman until finally, the round was marked a loss, and she was sent back, skidding and using her her heavy armor to slow herself down as she caught herself.

"YOU ARE A COWARD IF YOU THINK THAT WAR WILL EVER END. THIS COUNTRY BEGAN, AND WAS RAISED IN WAR, IN BLOOD, AND SO IS HOW IT WILL END!" She proclaimed. She lifted her blade once more, pointing it towards her foe as, slowly, it began to ignite. It was a fiery display, and the blade was extremely hot. It was almost to the point where one could feel burns starting to form on their skin just by standing near it.

"I AM A MESSANGER, I AM THE ONE WHO WILL LEAD THIS LAND TO ITS FATE. THIS DIRTY DISGUSTING LAND. AND WHEN I FALL, IT WILL BE MY DAUGHTER WHO WILL FINISH MY WORK. SHE WILL NOT FEAR, AND WILL NOT FALL."

"BUT TO YOU, BLYTHE MATERIS..."

"NEITHER SHALL I!!"
(Escarlate)

ESCARLATE WINS ROUND 6



HALFWAY POINT. I WENT AND GOT SOME WATER AND TOOK A WALK AROUND THE BLOCK BECAUSE THIS SHIT WAS WAY TOO EPIC.

The ground was growing smaller and smaller as more of the battlefield was rendered unsuitable for use. Craters, scorched ground, pillars of rock, frozen land and more. This was clearly a battle that edged on to one of the grandest that would seize the land today, with a vast time gone by, and neither warrior showing any signs of stopping at any time soon.

Few words escaped escaped Escarlate in this bout, but the ones that did were forboding and intimidating.

"Behold! The absolute pinnacle of might! There is none that this land possesses that can meet my power, and you are no exception! You are the first of many, Blythe Materis!" She proclaimed.

The round was ended when Blythe made the slightest misstep. Capatalizing upon the smallest mistake, Helena stomped upon the ground, a pillar of stone erupting from the ground, and the powerful woman stepped in, throwing a powerful punch that connected with the quick woman, sending her surging backwards.

She stabbed her blade into the ground, panting. This was starting to meet the peak of even her abilities, and she could barely go on anymore, but she would not stop. She would keep going until she was the victor. There was nothing else she could do at this point.
(Escarlate)
When Escarlate's fist connected with Blythe she stumbled back with a grunt, taking a moment to right herself. Her legs screamed for relief but adrenaline soon numbed the fatigue. She was going to fight until there was nothing left to fight against.

"Escarlate, you may think that you will win this, but you have met your match! I am the one who will be your ruin! I am the one to end you! I am the ancestor of Alastair Materis, and I will live up to his name! I have outgrown his shadow and soon you will learn how!"

She raised her sword up again, grimacing as she charged back into the fray.

"I will end you!"
(Blythe Materis)

BLYTHE WINS ROUND 7

"I WILL END YOU!" she repeated as her blade connected with Escarlate's form, ripping through the aura of wrath that encompassed her to deliver a barrage of deadly, swift strikes against her.

The woman fought back but Blythe beared it. She wasn't afraid to get hit and it showed. Blood ran down her figure, down her face and her arms and her midsection, tears in her armor leaving her more vulnerable than ever.

Then it hit her ears. The sound of a surrender on Danarium's part - Anariel's sound magic, commanding the troops to fall back. It filled Blythe with grief and rage and hatred. She would not surrender! She was not a coward!

With hope that the surrender would catch Escarlate off guard. Wind erupted outwards from Blythe's feet as she stomped, a large, powerful gust that matched the power of a master magi. It was enough to send the beast of war stumbling backwards, off her feet.

"Do you think I am going to surrender, Escarlate? No! I will fight until I can fight no more, I will fight until it is you or I laying on the ground, lifeless! This is not between Danarium and Nostvale, this is between you and me! Fight!"
(Blythe Materis)
Even with the command for surrender, Helena didn't for a second falter. One might've wondered whether she even heard it, but the masterful blast of wind magic was still enough to send the wrathspawn a fair bit back, before she fixed her stance and glared her down.

"If you surrendered, you would die with your back turned. I accept no cowardice. This is until one of us fall, and there shall be no other way." She growled.

That was when idle members of the seers moved in to attempt to assist Helena in defeating Blythe.

She let out a small growl that transcended into a loud, rage inspiring roar. "THIS FIGHT IS MINE ALONE!" Her voice echoed through the battlefield as she turned, slicing at the air, a wave of fire sending a handful of non-magi warriors to their grave as the others fled.

"THIS IS OUR FIGHT!" She concluded, her eyes centering on Blythe once more, when something that was likely unexpected happened.

Wisps of darkness would move to shroud Blythe's vision, as the trademark ability of a journeyman illusion mage was casted, Blythe, briefly robbed of her sight as the hulking master of war flew into the battlefield, preparing to fight with all she had!
(Escarlate)

ESCARLATE WINS ROUND 8

The moment Blythe's sight was lost, the hulking warrior rushed in, a handful or brutal strikes were landed before her sight was returned to her. By that time, the battle was practically spelled out, with Escarlate brutally beginning an unrelenting assault.

Blythe's speed allowed her a fair few strikes on Escarlate, but the round was ended when Escarlate began to swing towards Blythe. It was slow, predictable, and it would have been easily avoided, but when it hit....

It went right through her body, as the illusion of Escarlate faded away. With a high powered, intense burst of speed, Escarlate had faded to Blythe's back, a powerful, upwards swing witht he flat of her blade would send Blythe sprawling a fair distance away as escarlate, once more, took moments to recover.

"You are strong, and brave, Blythe Materis. I can never rob you of it. But you face a fight of which there can be no victory for you. This will be the end."
(Escarlate)
Blythe stumbled and struggled to keep her footing when the light was robbed from her eyes, when illusion magic bended her sight. Was this it? What she dead? No.

She could feel the pain from Escarlate's blows pulsing through her body. She tried to punch and swing in the direction the pain came from but nary a scratch was made on the woman.

A blow to the back sent her flying back and she hit the through with a thud. Her sight had been regained and finally the pain and ache of the battle was starting to set in.

But she had to win. She had to do it for Helena.

Wordlessly she rose, fixating her single eye on Escarlate. She rose her blade and regained her footing before a murmur escaped her mouth...

"I don't take compliments from beasts like you."

With that, she charged. She had to win.
(Blythe Materis)

ESCARLATE WINS ROUND 9

The illusion magic persisted, robbing Blythe of her sight once more. However, Blythe had apparently grown more resistant to it, or more prepared to deal with it, as Escarlate left that round with many more wounds upon her person. However, as they fought Escarlate was shaping up to be the winner of the bout.

They had covered quite the distance in their fighting, and there were even a few trees nearby. As Escarlate fought back and forth, they slowly neared a few trees, mostly small ones, and very small in number, but she did something that was likely entirely unexpected, and possible a small bit terrifying.

She smashed her foot into the ground with a massive amount of force, slaming her sword deep into the ground at the same time. A pillar of stone emerged from beneath a tree, and in a swift movement, Helena dashed towards it, grabbing it in two of her hands with a small struggle, turned and smashed Blythe in the side with it before letting it go and having it fly off into the distance.

Though it wouldn't be fatal, being hit by a tree would likely hurt a lot and send Blythe a fair distance away, giving Escarlate a short chance to take hold of her sword once more and pull it from the ground, preparing for when Blythe would return. She took a chance to admire her work while she did.
(Escarlate)
Blythe couldn't do much with her vision gone. She stumbled around aimlessly, sometimes swinging when she could. The most she did was run. If she kept her distance, Escarlate couldn't hit her, and when she regained her sight she could rebound, right?

That didn't save her from getting hit by a tree. The trunk struck her in the side and Blythe let out a pained cry. She was sent tumbling onto her side, flying a small distance before skidding to a stop.

Pain had overcome the majority of the wrath she felt. It pulsed through her body violently and and heavily. She was feeling weak from blood loss and weaker from losing. The thought that Escarlate might win sent panic jolting through Blythe's body.

Her cheeks weren't just wet with blood as she lay there struggling to recover. She had to get up. She couldn't fail Helena. She couldn't fail the promise she made. She couldn't fail everyone in Frostvale. If she lost, she was putting them in danger. She was making them hurt.

The thought made her heart drop into her stomach.

When she rose, she dragged a bloody sleeve across her cheek to wipe the tears before grabbing hold of the hilt of Bloodletter. Turning her teary-eyed gaze upon Escarlate, she frowned.

"I hope you can forgive me."

With that, she rose her sword and prepared to charge once more, this time halfheartedly. She was prepared for whatever Escarlate had in store for her.
(Blythe Materis)

BLYTHE WINS ROUND 10

The panic was setting in. Her arms and legs were shaking. She felt it spread through her chest, filling her lungs with anxiety and negativity. She had to gasp to breathe, sometimes she had to yawn. She hadn't felt this in years. For some reason, Blythe found it scary.

She was afraid to die.

Not because she was scared to leave anything behind but because the other side was a mystery. What was in the void? Would she simply die, become no more? Or would she finally see them all again? Would she be able to hold her husband again or would she fade into nothing?

She wasn't sure if she wanted either right now. She had to live. She couldn't die by the blade of her best friend. She couldn't be another Stena, another tragedy to be mourned. This wasn't a noble death. This was pitiful.

She barely met Escarlate's swings, struggling to keep herself righted. Her breath was ragged and labored, worn by anxiety and panic and age. She looked scared, hurt, pitiful, but it was the most alive she had felt in months.

"Can you do it? Are you in there?" she gasped between breaths. "Helena, can you forgive me for not delivering you to your grave as I promised?"

Her confidence had worn away and she felt tiny and small compared to Escarlate's powerful blows. It took all of her will to deflect the woman's slashes, to subside the rage and violence that Bloodletter urged only because she couldn't muster the strength to please it.

The tears were still flowing when a gust of powerful wind was sent in Escarlate's direction, aiming to send her a few feet away from Blythe so she could get a moment to recover.

She repeated herself, struggling to meet the beast's gaze beneath it's helmet.

"Can you forgive me?"
(Blythe Materis)
The powerful wind served only to set the beast at bay for the briefest of moments.

She, in contrast, had no fear. Not because she desired death, not because she didn't harbor a deep, ingrained and underlying fear of dying and what would come after, but because she had it built into her that she wouldn't die. She was a god on this battlefield, and none other could match her.

The words had practically fallen upon deaf ears at this point, Escarlate not speaking back to the magi as she tried to use her words. It was only when she prepared for what was inevitabely drawing to the final round that she spoke.

"Why do you speak? Does it quell your fears? Does it make you feel any better of your impending fate?" She asked.

"Perhaps you'd like to know what Helena's final moments were like."

There was a pause as she stepped back raising her blade.

"They were dark. She was afraid. She wanted to cry, but she didn't have the strength to do it. All she could hear were the whispers of a corrupted and damned blade as they fed her the truth. As she finally realized what this land was, and what it needed, that was when she died."

"That was when I was born"

"And in such darkness is how this world will end." Were her final words before she lifted her blade once more. "I will do you honor. I will let you see your end." She spoke, and in this fight, there was no blinding of illusion. The beat of war would allow Blythe to see it to the very end.

Perhaps it would be the final mercy she possessed.
(Escarlate)

BLYTHE WINS ROUND 11

"I won't let you kill me, Helena."

She spoke quietly as she swung towards the woman, mustering some of the last strength she had.

"I won't be another Stena. If I die so will you. We've been in this together before, and today, we're reliving the past." She took in a sharp breath and swung again, her sword clattering against Escarlate's dented armor, leaving frost across the surface. "You aren't dead. Not yet. You're in there somewhere, I know."

"I didn't mean to do this to you, and I'm going to fix my mistake."

With a mana-empowered swing, she brought her sword down upon Escarlate one more time. It contained her remaining strength, swiftened by wind and her natural agility. Air erupted from the blow, a shockwave strong enough to send the beast off of her feet.

"I'm going to cleanse this world of you, even if I have to do it by taking you down with me."
(Blythe Materis)
Escarlate was surprised.

She was put on her last leg.

She was going to die.

Her eyes filled with fear and anger from beneath her helmet as her breath drew ragged. Her teeth were bore, and sh let out a loud, pained roar. She was going to die, but she wasn't going to do it alone, so help her god.

There was nothing she would hold back. She wouldn't put any mercy, nor honor. Her time was up. Ophelia would take it from here, but first, she had to finish what she had started.

"My death will fix nothing. This land will burn, even if it's not by my hand." She stated, pointing her blade foreward, the ground began to tremble beneath her as she took just a few steps back, preparing for the final round.

"But before this land can burn, so will you. You will join me in death, Blythe Materis, even if it is my very last action in life."
(Escarlate)

HELENA WINS ROUND 12
6/6 TIE
G
FUCKING
G

It had been...who knows how long since the battle had started, but it was finally drawing to its end. Escarlate was fighting with a slight degree of despair. She wouldn't live to meet the end of her goal, but surely, someone else would do it for her...

But even still, she fought, and slowly, she began to push an advantage. When Blythe looked as if she was about to push an advantage, a pillar of rock erupted from beneath Escarlate, using it as a springboard to vault backwards, she landed with a small thud, ripping her helmet off with one hand to clear her eyes as much as she could, even though they were blurred with sweat and blood. Her hair barely reacted, the locks practically glued to her head and neck.

By this time, Blythe would likely be recovered, but this was her last chance, taking her blade to her side, she let out one last indignant roar before surging forth, her blade aimed to strike what would be a lethal and fatal strike if it hit.
(Escarlate)
It had been ages since the fight had started and everything was screaming for relief. Blythe had to stop some time. It had been Kraus knows how long since she had fought a battle of this length.

They were an even match. Blythe fought with equal ferocity as Escarlate, and each had their advantages and disadvantages. Their swords met countless times. Blythe's speed had given her an advantage, but there was no way she could meet Escarlate's raw strength.

When Escarlate put a distance between the two by making a catapult out of rock, Blythe took the chance. Lowering her sword next to her, she charged through the battlefield, aiming to make the last, strike, a fatal one to end what was their endless battle.

Her blade tore through Escarlate's side as aimed, but something wasn't right.. Unbelievable pain pulsed through her as she stumbled to a stop, letting out a weak cry...

Her opponent had done the same to her.
(Blythe Materis)
Helena couldn't even muster the strength to let out a cry of pain. But she knew that she was done. But, by the blood that marked her blade, it seemed as if her opponent would be meeting the same fate.

There was just one last thing for her to do....

She had little strength left, but what she did have left, she used to press her blade against the ground. She struggled to get it through, but with help of her earth magic, she seperated the ground, and then locked it around the blade, leaving the blade hilt deep, firmly rooted into the ground and stuck to the point that it would take someone of great might to retrieve it.

Using the last of her Mana resserves, she pushed the ground up, leaving it a small hill between the two warriors with the blade jutting out, like the sword in the stone.

She could feel her vision fading at this point, a mixture of pain, over-exertion, blood loss, and then some. She could feel her life fading at the seems.

Her hand slowly went down to the wound, feeling the deep cut in her armor and then skin and pulling her hand away to look at the blood that marked it.

She let out a groan of pain before turning, her eyes going to the sky.

"This....Isn't...Over." She spoke, her crimson-tinted green eyes not losing their ferocity until the very end.

...Or perhaps, that might have been the case for others. But as the depraved, sick aura faded from the woman, and her last breath left her body, the crimson left her irises, the colour returning to the green sheen it used to, her expression, for the briefest moment, turning to that of shock, of fear, and of realization.

Escarlate had died.

And perhaps, for the briefest, most fleeting of seconds, Helena Scarlett lived again.

But that didn't last long.

On the eve of the war, both Escarlate and Helena Scarlett breathed their last, both dying as they were born.

Escarlate, in a fit of rage, and anger.

Helena Scarlett. A brave Drakanite, ready to face death to the end.

Happy.
(Escarlate)
Blythe hit the ground with a thud.

Her sword clattered beside her and the rage left. Adrenaline was fading and the pain was starting to set in. Her gray gaze soaked in the grass, all she could see. It was turning cirmson. Was that her blood?

The energy around the woman faded. Her mana was near gone and instinct told her to preserve what she had left, but deep inside, she knew it wouldn't matter. Her gaze rested on the nothing that was in front of her, on the grass.

How she would have liked to see someone better in her dying moments. Perhaps Helena, perhaps one of her friends. Was September alive? Would she see him in the afterlife, if anyone at all? The thought was an innocent curiosity. Her mind had stopped racing and things were slowing down, getting simpler.

Was Helgaad waiting on her? Was her grandfather? Her brother? Who else would she join on the other side? Only time would tell, and as the seconds ticked past, Blythe felt things growing dark.

She wanted desperately to speak but there were no words, caught in her throat like she was trying to strike a match that was soaking wet. She wanted to say goodbye but she had no medium of communication, not anymore.

Sixty years Blythe had spent in this strange, wonderful thing called life. She had felt everything there was to feel time and time again, and for once, she began to appreciate it. A hint of a smile tugged at her lips. Peace was starting to wrap around her, encompassing her in a blanket of warmth and closure.

The swirl of emotions inside her had calmed, all mixing together into equilibrium.

She was happy.
(Blythe Materis)