The Red Hand

Chapter 262 – Shinlua v. Zephiria.

"Well darn." Kana slid one thousand yen out of her purse and put it in Mika's hand, the blue-haired girl having a smug face as she accepted the money. "I really thought Chloe had this one." She clicked her tongue.

{Stupid cat cost me money!} (Kana)

"Fu, Fu, Fu! Do not doubt my prediction ability!" Mika laughed as she was hugged by Yuzu and Suzu. "Superbia winning was obvious from the get-go!" The two had made a small bet about who would win, and Mika ended up coming out on top since she picked Superbia.

"What are you, Akagi 2.0?" Hishya rolled her eyes as she consoled her girlfriend.

"It was just a feeling." Mika winked.

"More like you tossed a coin." Yuzu giggled.

"Yeah, she had no clue who would win this, so don't let her fool you." Suzu laughed, revealing Mika's true method for making her choice.

"Oi! Shush!" Mika bopped them both on the head lightly. "Don't tell them my secret methods!"

{Don't spoil my fun!} (Mika)

"Mika, domestic violence isn't good." Naomi snorted. "Don't go abusing them like that."

"She who hit me with a shoe around a dozen times." Mika blew a raspberry as she mocked Naomi for her prior violence.

"That kind of domestic is both acceptable and encouraged!" Kana laughed as she watched Akagi give her commentary via a video screen. "Why is Onee-chan so annoyed? Chloe did really good against Superbia." She could tell that her sister was both proud of Chloe and upset with her at the same time as she spoke about the fight.

"Because if this was anything but a tournament, Chloe would be dead." Hishya answered while watching the screen.

"I mean, yeah but..." Kana figured that it was fine since this was just a friendly battle.

"Chloe is Akagi's one and only student." Hishya continued without turning her head. "Don't forget that our resident Demon Lord is quite protective of her people, especially those that she brought from FWO." This wasn't the first time she'd seen Akagi get irritated when Chloe was put into a life-threatening position, and she knew that the Demon wouldn't take well to it happening again. "I won't take the fact that Chloe nearly defeated Superbia in a direct fight away from the cat as that's quite the feat, but..." Hishya paused for a moment. "That kind of fighting was not what Chloe should've been doing, and yet she did."

{I'm sure that ending had Akagi anxious. To see Chloe get so easily goaded and then lose probably had a knot in her stomach as she imagined something like this happening for real.} (Hishya)

"I mean she did zip around in that Darkness." Kana commented as she pulled out some gum from her bag and popped it in her mouth. "That was pretty ninja-like."

{Not to mention that I've trained with Chloe enough and she's definitely no slouch in hand to hand combat.} (KAna)

"Yes, but the rest of it wasn't." Hishya shook her head as she continued listening to Akagi and Silfana give their thoughts. "Even with that amped-up Ability Boost, Chloe shouldn't have tried to fight Superbia on even ground. She's an assassin and should not try to do something like that if avoidable. Even Akagi tried to keep away from such open fights in FWO, and as she said earlier, her build was primarily focused on taking people out with surprise and only fighting head-on if it came down to it." She knew just how dangerous a hidden foe could be, and Akagi's lethality was augmented by her ability to surprise her foe.

"But what was she even supposed to do then?" Naomi asked. "She tried fighting in that Darkness and Superbia could still see her. I'm pretty sure in a tournament system like this her only real viable option was to face her head-on." She couldn't see another option.

"And that would be where you are wrong." Hishya shook her head before turning and looking at her. "You are correct that in such a scenario like this Rogues are generally at a disadvantage, but not to the point that her decisions here were the only course of action."She'd come up with a few alternatives after giving it a bit of thought and knew Chloe could've easily figured out something even faster than her.

"So what should she have done then?" Kana asked as she shared her gum with Mika.

"Easy. She should've kept that Darkness going and used that Supreme Ability Boost once she got an opportunity to hit Superbia for a knockout blow." Hishya answered as she sat down. "Chloe wasn't going to be able to clash with Superbia head-on, and so should've used her ability to remain unseen to her advantage and taken Superbia out with one swift strike. Her best option was to take Superbia out in such a way that the Oni never even knew what hit her since drawing things out like she did doomed her."

{That power-up from her gauntlets would definitely have given her the extra push to down Superbia in one hit if she'd gotten past her guard. Superbia might be fast, but even with Princess of Blood active, if she wasn't expecting that sudden boost, it probably would've worked.} (Hishya)

"But any discussion of what she should've done in hindsight is pointless." Hishya shrugged as Zephiria and Shinlua began walking to the center of the arena. "I'm sure Chloe is in for quite the tongue-lashing from Akagi once she sees her later, and there will probably be some harsh retraining in her near future."

{But still. That a former NPC could get so close to victory against a player like Superbia... It just goes to show how much work that cat puts in and how much effort Akagi expended into molding Chloe into the warrior she's become. At this point, it's only a matter of time before most of the returnees are outclassed by her people. After all, Chloe took down both Merkyul and Sabia at the same time, something that wouldn't've be easy for even me at that time.} (Hishya)

_____________________________________________________________________________

As Zephiria and Shinlua took their respective positions at the center of the arena, most of the onlookers had already assumed that this would be a short match, and there were even some betting that the Elf would be paste in a matter of minutes.

As likely the single most powerful spell caster out of the returnees, Zephiria's power eclipsed the Elf warrior's power by a significant margin. However, that didn't mean that she'd dropped her guard and wasn't taking this battle seriously.

"I must admit that I've been having more fun in this even than I'd expected." Shinlua smiled as the two stood across from one another. "Getting to test my ability against such amazing fighters brings me back to my days as an adventurer, so it's been fun." She'd traveled Enoris from North to South in the past and had fought all kinds of monsters and people during her journeys.

"I was never one for fights like this." Zephiria shrugged. "But I would be lying if this wasn't a bit fun." She winked. Her interest was more on the academic side of magic and magical power, though that didn't mean she had zero interest in seeing how it worked in combat.

{Though it would've been more fun had Elna not run her fucking mouth. Damn woman is lucky Akagi wouldn't let me have a bit of fun with her last night. It would've been so funny to 'play' with her.} (Zephiria)

"Just be warned that I'm pretty bad at holding back, and my magic is quite potent." Zephiria snapped her fingers and summoned a grimoire to her hand. "So if you want to back out now, then I'd understand."

"You wouldn't be the first magic caster that I've gone against." Shinlua drew her blade and spun it in her hand. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. So I won't be running for the hills just yet." She laughed.

"Then I look forward to our match!" Zephiria laughed as Kira took position between them.

"Are the contestants ready?" The half-dragon looked between them.

"You know it!" Zephiria winked.

"Indeed I am." Shinlua nodded.

"Then, begin!" Kira started the next match of the quarter-finals, and instantly Shinlua took the initiative, rocketing toward Zephiria at high speed. The Elf figured that her best option was to put pressure on her in a similar vein to how Elna did due to casters typically being poor martial combatants.

"Trying to pin me down?" Zephiria chuckled as she vanished the moment Shinlua's blade reached her. "Not a bad trick, but a predictable one nonetheless." She reappeared a few dozen feet away from the Elf, directly behind her and sent a few flame blasts at Shinlua, which were easily deflected.

"Your kind tends to do poorly when I get close, so it's my best option." Shinlua said as she adjusted her stance. She could cast spells herself but was nowhere near as adept or versatile as a proper mage, nor could she do anything as advanced or complex as Hishya, despite being a Magical Swordsmen. "And I've always managed to pin down slippery foes in the past, so don't count on your tricks keeping you at a safe distance forever!" As she said this, her form flickered, and in an instant, she appeared directly in front of Zephiria, surprising the mage but ultimately failing to hit her as she once again vanished with her teleportation spell.

"Ah-Hah! Now I get it!" Zephiria said from her new position behind the Elf. "I was struggling to figure out what class you fit in, but I can see it now." She nodded to herself, sure in her assessment.

{This is Elf isn't a Paladin. I'd thought it strange that she wasn't augmenting her blade with magic, and here I thought she was some kind of Holy Warrior based on her ties to that Sun Order thingy.} (Zephiria)

"It matters not if you understand what my abilities are." Shinlua flashed forward with her short-range teleportation ability again, only for the same exchange to happen. "I know well that casters can't use magic forever, so your ability to flee will eventually run out!"

"Do you really think I have so little magic that a basic teleport spell would put a strain on my reserves?" Zephiria laughed as she was chased around the arena. Each time Shinlua got close, she'd vanish and reappear nearby, and it was almost as if she was taunting the Elf since she wasn't unleashing much in the way of attack magic beyond basic fire spells to harass her.

After a few minutes of futilely chasing her opponent, Shinlua stepped back, seeing that her tactic was getting her nowhere, and decided to try something different. Sheathing her sword, the Elf reached into the sky and summoned a new weapon, one she was sure would give her the edge she needed to win.

"Come! Holy Bow, Day Break!" Shinlua reached out into the air above her, materializing a golden glowing longbow into her hand. It was nearly as large as she was, and it looked very heavy and powerful. As soon as she saw it Zephiria quickly got to analyzing it with her arcane eyes, and even she was impressed by the weapon's power.

"Neat bow." Zephiria commented as Shinlua drew back the drawstring, an arrow materializing within as she did.

"Its a very neat bow indeed. So just try and dodge this one!" Shinlua smirked as she aimed and let loose the arrow, aiming for Zephiria's heart.

"A bow is nice and all." Zephiria snapped her fingers and teleported, the arrow flying harmlessly through where she just was. "But you're going to run into the same problem as your sword." She smirked, confident that she couldn't be hit.

"Oh, am I?" Shinlua smiled as the arrow curved around and headed back toward Zephiria in a small arc.

"Aw shit..." Zephiria had seen something like this before and quickly moved to block the arrow with a shield spell. Her magical power was more than enough to stop the Elf's attack from penetrating her shield and damaging her, though the upon impact with the magical barrier, the arrow unleashed a massive explosion.

*BOOM!*

The explosion from the arrow momentarily blinded the crowd as light as bright as the Sun briefly flashed throughout the arena before dissipating and revealing an unharmed Zephiria, as well as a massive crater in the ground around where she stood.

"Well damn, that was a bit more powerful than I expected." Zephiria had a bit of sweat on her forehead as she imagined what kind of damage such an attack could've inflicted on her without the shield. "But I guess I should've known that a Ranger would have some pretty special arrows in their kit." She laughed briefly as she revealed Shinlua's 'Class.' Rangers were a martial class in FWO that was similar to a Paladin in that they mixed magic and weapons, but unlike Paladins, Rangers focused more on Nature magic and archery than divine power and big swords.

"Day Break is quite a unique item.” Shinlua explained a bit about her bow. “It was granted to me by Dawn Master Emphara not long before his passing." The Elf said as she readied another shot. "This bow is said to have the power to harness the full concentrated power of the Sun itself in the right hands." She smirked. "And well..." She let fly an arrow that split into a dozen different arrows. "I might be those right hands." She was chosen by the late Dawn Master specifically because she could bring out the Bow's full power, something that few had been able to do in the history of their order.

"That's a lot of arrows..." Zephiria began teleporting around in an attempt to avoid the barrage being sent toward her and even shot down a few with a few well placed flame attacks, but in the end, she was forced to take most of the arrows head-on with her shield.

*BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!*

Dozens of arrows started raining down on Zephiria, and it was quickly becoming apparent that the torrent wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

{Good, I've got her pinned.} (Shinlua)

"This is getting really annoying!" Zephiria growled as her shield was constantly pummeled by a never-ending number of arrows. Her magical power was enormous, but these attacks were nothing to scoff at, and given enough time she'd get in serious trouble. "Alright, fine! If you want to play this game, then I'll return the favor!" She held her hand over her grimoire and began chanting for a few moments before unleashing a spell. "Maximized Magical Burst, Sun Burst!"

Shinlua stopped her firing as she looked around the arena, waiting for whatever attack Zephiria had unleashed. At first, she saw nothing and briefly thought it was a bluff, but a moment later she saw a bright light in the sky above her and when she looked up the Elf was engulfed by a massive beam of light that burned her with both fire and radiant energy.

"Ahh!" Shinlua screamed in pain as Zephiria watched her spell do its work, a slightly sadistic smile forming on her lips.

"What was that about the full concentrated power of the sun?" Zephiria snickered as the beam stopped, revealing a singed, but still standing, Shinlua.

{Huh? She took damage but is in pretty good shape for eating an eighth-level spell. I suppose this will take a bit more effort that I originally thought, how annoying.} (Zephiria)

"A potent use of such power." Shinlua spit onto the ground beside her, a small amount of blood visible in her saliva. "But unfortunately for you, the Sun's power does not affect me." She grinned. "The Dawn Order is one dedicated to such a force, so it's only natural that it would not affect us."

{Though the fire portion of that spell hurt like hell...} (Shinlua)

"You know, now that you've said it, it seems kinda obvious in hindsight." Zephiria gave an embarrassed laugh, knowing that Shinlua's immunity should've been obvious.

"Then, shall we continue?" Shinlua drew back her bow once again. "I've got plenty more arrows to throw at you, so just tell me when you give up so that I can stop!" She opened fire once again, and the same annoying stalemate continued. Zephiria did have more powerful magic that she could unleash that would damage Shinlua and end things quickly, but she was afraid that such power would kill the Elf.

{The pains of being way too fucking powerful for your own good...} (Zephiria)

After taking more attacks, Zephiria began to get irritated. "Dammit, how many shots can that stupid thing do?!?" The Warlock grumbled as she was continually pummeled by an unending barrage of arrows. She briefly debated teleporting right on top of Shinlua in an effort to end the stalemate, only to ditch that idea once she realized that the Elf would be the one in the better position if that happened. "Stupid Sun Bow, why does she have such a powerful..." Suddenly Zephiria had a realization. "That Bow... It literally relies on the power of the Sun, doesn't it?" Zephiria said quietly to her self before focusing her attention on Shinlua's weapon, noticing that it was ever so slowly drawing in energy from the very Sunlight itself. "You son of a..." She clicked her tongue in frustration. Her failure to notice something so obvious from the onset made her angry with herself. "Well lucky for me, I've got a way to deal with that." Zephiria sighed as she flipped through her grimoire and began chanting again.

{Another attack?} Shinlua kept her eyes open for an incoming spell but saw nothing and grew wary about what the Warlock was going to do next.

"I'd better finish this quickly. That way she doesn't get the necessary time to finish her preperations." Shinlua pulled the string back even further for the next arrow, which grew to around five times the size of the normal ones. "Sun Spike!" She released the arrow, but just as she did, Zephiria finished her spell and unleashed her attack.

"Blackhole!" Zephiria's attack seemed to do nothing at first, but just as the arrow flew toward her, the entire stadium seemed to get darker, and the arrow veered off course and was sucked into a massive black ball that formed in the air above the arena.

"What?!?" Shinlua was flabbergasted. Sun Spike was the most powerful attack that Day Break could perform, so to see it disappear so easily was shocking. "What is that?!?" She could still see, but it was as if the entire world was covered in a reddish-black filter, and she assumed this to be the work of Zephiria's spell.

{It as if the very Sun has gone out...} (Shinlua)

"That would be the end of your little radiant attacks." Zephiria laughed as she lowered her shield. Seeing the opportunity, Shinlua attempted to fire more arrows but found that no matter how much she tried none would form. "Your bow is quite impressive and hell, I'd even go so far as to say that it rivals some of the crazy crap that Imp and Imperial have made during the last few years." She said as she slowly walked toward the Elf. "But the biggest downside that I see is that it requires an external power source, and while the Sun is quite a good one, it can easily be disrupted." As she got closer she pointed into the sky, indicating that the Sun was little more than a distorted red ball high above.

"That spell!" Shinlua could tell that all of the Sun's energy was being sucked into the massive, and slowly growing, ball of darkness that hovered overhead. "I never imagined that a single spell could do something like that." She clicked her tongue in irritation, not having anticipated being cut off from what was essentially her power source.

"Fun fact!" Zephiria stopped and smiled. "It doesn't just block out solar energy!" She waved her hand forward, and the ball of darkness slowly made its way toward Shinlua. "Don't worry, unlike what its name implies it's not actually a proper black hole. So you won't be torn to shreds from touching it." She put her finger to her chin and tilted her head. "Though I'll admit that it's going to hurt like hell though." She smiled sadistically.

"As if I'd let it touch me." Shinlua figured that such a slow-moving attack would be easy to dodge with her speed, but when she tried to move Zephiria cast another spell with her grimoire.

"Bindings of the Abyss." Zephiria's spell caused several ghostly blue chains to erupt from the ground around Shinlua, quickly grabbing her and stopping the Elf from moving. "This one is a personal favorite, only second to Geoffrey's Dance of Death. But I figured that making you dance like an idiot as you took mental damage would be a bit too embarrassing." She'd used that spell on a few people in the past and, while humorous, it was a truly horrific way to go.

{Being forced to dance to some very cringe music while dying isn't the way I'd want to go out.} (Zephiria)

"Ngh!" Shinlua struggled against the ghostly chains, which only wailed as she tried to get free. “Let me go!” No matter how hard she pulled the chains only seemed to get tighter, and eventually, she was forced to her knees.

"And before you get any ideas about teleporting. Prohibition." Zephiria snapped her book shut as she created an area around Shinlua which blocked all forms of teleportation.

{How can she keep this many powerful spells going at the same time?!? Did my attacks not have any effect on her mana pool?!?} (Shinlua)

"If you had such powerful magic, why did you not use it sooner?" Shinlua asked, still trying to break free from the chains that bound her.

"As a mage, one of the most common mistakes people make is blowing their proverbial load all at once." Zephiria stopped and sighed as she explained her reasoning. "I find it best to sit back, wait, and figure out what my opponent can and can't do then picking out a spell that debilitates them in one swift stroke." She pointed to the black ball, which was now hovering above Shinlua. "That one countered your Sun attacks, the chains keep you in place, and Prohibition blocks one type of magic that I choose. On their own, each isn't going to win me the fight, but once I figured out your fighting style and the general extent of your power, I put together a combination of spells that allowed me to end things." She had considered using Bindings of the Abyss earlier, but the problem was that it required an area devoid of sunlight to work properly. Blackhole's removal of Solar energy provided exactly what she needed, but it was slow and mana-intensive, which meant that it wasn't something she was going to cast willy-nilly, especially since there was always that chance that Shinlua could neutralize it in some unknown way.

{It was risky to use Blackhole in this situation. It's an incredibly powerful spell, but there was always a risk that her Bow would still function under its effects or that it wouldn't actually do what I wanted it to. Luckily for me, things worked out, but that could've easily gone sideways if I wasn't careful.} (Zephiria)

"So, do I need to drop this thing on you, or will you quit?" Zephiria asked. "I don't mind either way, but I can tell you from experience that it's not very fun to get hit with this thing." She likened it to having her entire body stretched and compressed in rapid succession.

"Considering I cannot move, nor can I fight back, I think I'll choose to surrender rather than allow you the pleasure of tormenting me." Shinlua sighed. The chains placed upon her were inflicting quite a bit of cold damage, and Zephiria could see the Elf start shaking vigorously as a result.

"Winner, Zephiria!" Kira called the match as Zephiria canceled her magic to prevent any undue harm.

"That was a good match." Zephiria helped Shinlua get up before casting a warming spell on her. "You were quite a bit more formidable than I expected, and I was actually starting to get worried there for a minute." She figured that Shinlua might've been able to win had the Elf played her cards right.

"I've experienced darkness that could blot out the Sun, but your spell..." Shinlua paused for a moment as she recalled the blackhole. "There was more to that, wasn't there?" She detected something much more than mere magic powering that spell.

Zephiria snickered. "Well, I might have channeled a bit of Akagi's power into that one just to make sure things worked." She winked.

{If just a tiny fraction of Akagi's power can give me such a bone-chilling feeling, I shudder to think what she could do with all of it.} (Shinlua)