Manami Fuyu and Shiro Hime
Manami wasn't too sure what just happened there. James had avoided her attack, as she thought he would, however the next moment she found herself blinded. She hadn't expected it at all, which in hindsight was rather silly. All holy users had at least one blinding spell, so Manami should've been aware of it but she had neglected it. Now her eyesight was the price, at least temporarily.
Shiro on the other hand had been expecting it, just not then. She managed to shield her eyes from the majority of the light but all it meant now was that everything was a blur.
Managing to put her scythe up in time to block his attack, she took a couple of steps back from the force of his attack. A brief struggle ensued as Shiro's sight returned to normal quicker than Manami's, due to Shiro having been somewhat prepared for it, but only in time to see his shield centimetres from her face.
A loud *ding* now resounded as Shiro fell backwards, only just catching herself in time to stop herself from falling flat on her buttocks. Once again her vision swam slightly as the shield bash had dazed her.
Meanwhile the still half-blinded Manami found her leg being taken out from underneath her by something, obviously the shield but she can't see it, and falling backwards. She felt herself caught by the front of her shirt by someone and went to thank Shiro, but her vision returned only to find James with blue glowing eyes.
There was something about them...a powerful presence and image. She couldn't quite place it, but it didn't take her long to realise it before visions flooded her mind. Powerful visions filled with just as powerful unknown emotions.
Fear, pain, anger, hatred, frustration, happiness, regret. All sorts of emotions were carried within these visions as everyone she killed, willingly or not, flew through her mind.
Screaming in pain, she dropped to the ground holding her head in agony as conflicting emotions waged on in her head...the visions just wouldn't stop. They kept flashing from the various evil men she had killed, to the innocent civilians caught in the crosshairs (whether accidentally or indirectly were killed by her actions) back to the children who were sacrificed.
She didn't hear a single word James said as she appeared to be quite distressed and in a lot of pain. Not from James spell, however that had indirectly caused this pain. It was something of the more sinister nature.
"No...I...I didn't..." Manami mumbled before grimacing once more as another wave of pain washed over her.
A collab fight between Shiro Hime and James Hunt
Upon recovering from the shield bash, Shiro looked up to find Manami down on the ground clutching her head and seeing to be in agony.
Shiro acted quickly now as she appeared beside James, to his left to be precise, and now swung her scythe with menace, power and speed which only a master of the scythe could bring to the table.
However she also had kept about two metres between them, so as to stay out of reach of James weapon.
James saw the motion from the corner of his left eye and reacted, his shield coming up and deflecting the blade away. Using the now stuck blade against her, James closed with Shiro, bringing his sword up in a hip-to-shoulder slice from right to left. Following that, he would spin around and back hand her with his shield if she was still close enough or force her to dodge further back, allowing him to attack with a quick series of thrusts he dubbed the Holy Hand, as his magic was imbued into each one to make them strike faster.
Abandoning her scythe for now, Shiro activated her enhancement magic so that she could dodge the hip to shoulder slash before disappearing. This mean whatever James did now would simply hit thin air. Reappearing behind James almost immediately after she disappeared, she bent down and picked her scythe back up before aiming a low slash to sweep his feet out from underneath him, or cleave them off. That would work too.
For the first time in the entire fight, James did something that gave away the nature of his armor as he not only back-flipped over the scythe, but over Shiro as well, landing at a crouch and using his shield to sweep her legs out from under her followed by using his shield again to knock the wind out of her. If she dogged, then he'd instead use the wave of Holy energy again, which would ideally blast her off her feet and back several feet.
Shiro was taken by surprise by his leap, she would admit that. By the looks of the armor, it obviously wasn't normal armor. Really it should've been obvious from the outset since she was fighting a fellow mage, but she wasn't too sure what would've set it apart. However it seemed to be some form of weight enchantment?
Shiro cursed in her mind regardless. She couldn't stop her swing in time, meaning she couldn't teleport out of the way. However she quickly improvised by angling her scythe into the ground with her enhanced strength. Meaning that the impact lifted her off of the ground and tumbling away from James.
She recovered in time to block most of the Holy energy wave however the force from it still made her lose ground. She left drag marks in the ground before she finally managed to stop it a few feet from where she started. However her scythe had blocked her vision of James during the block.
When she lowered her scythe, she'd find James already within the ideal range for a sword, striking with a quick series of thrusts and slashes before blasting at her with a disc of holy energy. He'd follow it up with an upper cut pommel strike to try and knock her off balance and then use Holy Might, a spell that increased the size of his sword to ridiculous proportions, but also upped his durability briefly during it. He'd swing the sword downwards in a heavy vertical slash that would leave a shallow gash in the ground itself before the weapon returned to normal size and he'd bring his shield up to block the counter attack.
Shiro didn't have much time to react, however she did manage to enhance her own durability to the point where the barrage of slashes and thrusts which James unleashed upon her has done a lot less damage, leaving only minor cuts and scratches where more seriously injuries might've occurred. The disc slammed into her gut but she gritted her teeth and endured the lessened pain before feeling the pommel connect with her chin, making her tumble backwards and almost drop her scythe in the process.
But she managed to recover in time to disappeared just before the sword came crashing down on her. Whether James saw her disappear or not remained unclear, however with the dust cloud created by his strike Shiro decided to strike.
Appearing just above him, she drove the handle of her scythe down between his shield and his body before going to deliver a kick straight to the side of his head. Her plan was to kick him as far as possible and test his grip on his shield, if it was loose he would simply be sent flying and would lose the shield.
If it was as strong as she planned, then the whole idea here was to put as much strain on his shoulder as possible by jamming his shield in one place and sending him in another direction.
If it all went to plan, then Shiro would prepare for the counter attack she knew would follow.
"Wrong move, miss." James ducked down at the same time he let go of his shield, allowing it to drop down towards the ground as the kick swung over his head instead. Catching his shield, he does a sweep kick on the scythe, knocking it free of the ground and brings his swordless fist, which he'd sheathed as he ducked, into Shiro's gut and throws her back.
"I wouldn't suggest kicking an armored helmet, that would hurt you far more than it would me."Shiro felt her scythe being kicked out from underneath her and reacted quickly to the punch, grabbing his arm as it connected with her gut. The attack was actually rather painful since Shiro had taken a few blows to the area now, but with her enhance durability she easily withstood it as she hit the ground, still holding James arm.
Now she aimed to use her surprising amount of strength, which had been enhanced greatly by her magic the longer the fight had gone on, to try and slam/sling him into the ground beside her. With his shield in the other hand, she needn't worry about him drawing his sword.
Of course his shield could be a nuisance, but even if he hit her with it she still would've been through with her almost slinging action.
"Pains means little to me Paladin. You hurt Manami-sama, my only goal is to return the favor. By any means."Shiro would be surprised to find that James had adjusted his stance when she hadn't let go of his fist and was now a lot more difficult to sling than she thought.
"She suffers only because something is not right with her. It was not my intention." James then grabs one her wrists and throws his body around, putting the scythe wielder in an arm bar not easily escaped, even with her enhanced strength. And the more she struggled, the more strain she could feel in her elbow and shoulder.
"Surrender. There is no need for this violence to continue." Depending on what she did, he would roll away and come up to his feet, drawing his sword in the same motion.
Shiro kicked out in a vain attempt to get him to let go of her wrist, but her kick harmlessly bounced off of his armor and she now found herself in a rather strong arm bar. She struggled for a few seconds but the strain on her shoulder and elbow made her quickly reconsider that pointless strategy as she simply went limp for a moment.
"Liar. All men of the cloth are." Was the only response James got from Shiro and it was only a soft mumble. Why should she believe a man who was her enemy? He stood between Manami and her goal, so it was Shiro's job to remove him.
She began to channel more strength into her locked arm as closed her eyes in concentration for a brief moment. Before James could realise what she had planned she wrenched her arm free of his grip and also rolled away, however she seemed to be in pain.
"Surrender is not an option. Capture is not an option. Death before being allowed to be captured. Georgie's orders." Shiro responded as she seemed to be holding her shoulder.
James remained tense.
"Paladins are men of the Holy Steel. We all trust a clergyman about as far as we can throw them. And death is no release from a Paladin's justice. For the last time, surrender peacefully."Mai Butcher, Jess Butcher and Ethel Storm
Before Shiro could respond to James, she quickly found herself back tracking from a beam of ice that left a path of frost behind of it. Having narrowly dodged it with only some of her clothes being frozen she only ended up backtracking into a wall before rolling away when electricity now slammed into where she was.
Mai clicked her tongue in annoyance as she aimed once more at Shiro.
"It's no use trying to talk with this one Mr...Paladin? She ain't one for bargaining." Mai and Jess had their respective guns pointed towards Shiro now as Shiro seemed rather...irritated by their presence.
Not afraid, not angry, but irritated. Obviously irritated.
Ethel meanwhile nodded towards Verrick as the other two went ahead to confront Shiro.
"Verrick just stay behind Ethel." Ethel responded before quickly making her way over to where Manami lay writhing in agony. If they captured Manami, then Shiro would surely back down....
