One Month Before the Games
"Oh?"
Indigo granted the mysterious, robed lightning mage a curious smile. With the arrival of Magni and Enma, it seemed, the whole guild was in the mood for promotions. Neither Harper nor Mercury had passed their tests against Arivaderci and Owen, respectively, but now it seemed a new challenger had appeared to attempt the A-rank. The receptionist swept up from her seat behind the entry chamber's desk and led Thor into the training hall to wait while she summoned an A-class wizard to perform her examination.
As it turned out, a certain Dullahan had just recently arrived from a hunting job and would be available for action. A few minutes after she'd left, Indigo returned with Xyster at her heels, and escorted her to the center of the room. "Arena Command: bracket draw!" Immediately, green lines of light snaked across the floor from the similarly-colored crystal braziers glowing on every cardinal wall. They formed into simply squares around Xyster and Thor before moving slightly, showing the fighters where to stand before the signal was given.
Thor had been full on training for the whole month and took several jobs to increase their skill to attempt the A-rank exam again. It was a big priority for Thor to become a A-rank since it would be shameful after having trained for all those years. Thor would even want to try and attempt S-rank if it was possible but knowing Thor already had difficulties with the A-rank battle it would be wise to hold onto that wish for the time being. Thor had already stepped up to Indigo to attempt the A-rank exam and was quickly accepted to do so. Thor was quite surprised it wasn't Hyun like last time but Xyster. Thor was fully prepared to fight Hyun this time but Thor didn't mind to fight another mage this time. Thor slightly smiled at the girl and waited for her to be ready to start this fight.
Thor slightly jumped when the green lines circled around their feet and immediately readied theirself to fight any moment. Thor calmed down a little knowing this wasn't any ability to hurt Thor and lessend the tension a little. Thor lightly sighed and waited for the signal to start the battle to Thor's next rank. Thor walked over to the spot Thor was suppose to stand and waited for Xyster to do the same.
Indigo winked. "Don't get too serious, you two. Have some fun! Starting...now!"
A bony index finger pointed Thor's way. Xyster's head was beneath her other arm, and already it bore a creepy smile. That toothy, immaculate grin stretched nearly from ear to ear, and carried with it a sinister omen. When Xyster spoke, her voice had changed slightly; it was not the usual, bright ditzy voice that most of her guildmates had become acclimated to. It bore a twinge subtly indicative of insanity. "Gonna have to hurt ya, love." The pointed hand became an upward palm, and in it materialized a scythe. Though of familiar shape, it was no farmers tool: its handle recalled images of a large spinal cord, and its blade could have easily been a giant's razor. More sinister still was its promise: the Harvester could not be summoned unless Xyster wished to cause harm.
She flourished the scythe once and then cut the empty air. Where the blade sliced, a splash of blackness appeared, as if the air itself bled ink. Immediately, a thin black aura began to emanate from Xyster's body, but without an incantation it was impossible to be certain what it did. Still sporting that unnerving grin, Xyster charged.
Thor stepped back a little at the quite creepy grin of Xyster. The whole idea of her head being under her arm creeped Thor out already. They were Dullahans if Thor recalled correctly, mostly spoken about in horror stories but this was the first time for Thor to see one. Thor unsurely readied themselves and heard the last few words of Xyster before their opponent summoned her scythe. The scythe had some weird vibe to it which creeped Thor out quite a bit. Thor wasn't sure if the scythe was poisoned or it was some kind of cool effect but Thor was sure they didn't want to find out.
Thor gulped before standing in a fighting pose and waited for Xyster to charge at them. It didn't take long before Xyster immediately came charging at them. Thor narrowed their eyes and began to strike back with "Lightning Ball" before immediatly casting "Lightning Body" Thor dashed away to the left before Xyster could come close enough to land a hit and casted another "Lightning Ball" Thor recalled something about Dullahans. If Thor was right they weren't actually alive but only half and to Thor's knowledge electricity didn't have any effect on the undead. Thor gulped another time and prayed their attacks would affect the girl.
Whether or not the electricity had any effect on Xyster remained to be seen, for as she advanced she swung her weapon and cut through the Lightning Ball, causing it to burst in a shower of sparks. That smile had yet to fade, now that its owner had seen Thor dodge. "Does dodging count as fleeing? Oh, oh, I think it does." Xyster's movement altered. Before she had been fairly speedy, but now her movement was downright unnatural. It was as if she had been filmed by a recorder lacrima, the footage fast-forwarded, and reimposed on the world. Now, Xyster wasn't just fast: she was accelerated. Instead of running toward Thor, she walked, scythe slung over her shoulder and head smiling as usual, but at a rate faster than she had previously been sprinting. "As a friend, let me give you some advice," she giggled. "The more you run, the faster I can follow. None can escape death. Oh, but don't worry, I won't kill you much."
She darted forward, practically teleporting, and stopped inches away from Thor's face.
Thor was surprised that Xyster could easily cut Thor's electricity in half and coward back a little knowing this. As Thor ran away from the girl it was soon noticed that the girl had something special going on with her movements. Somehow she could easily keep up with Thor their movement and quickly stood next to Thor in a matter of seconds. The comments the girl made sounded like she had some real confidence in herself. Thor widened their eyes as the girl quickly stood in front of her. Only a few inches was in between Thor and the girl. Luckily this wasn't that much of a downsider for Thor "Electrocute" Thor placed their hands on the girl her belly and emitted a high jolt of electricity out off their hands and quickly cast another spell to escape from anything else the girl could do "Lightning Ball Form" Thor's body started to emit a bright light and quickly Thor zapped around the girl to her back and returned to their original form. As soon as they orientated again Thor cast another spell "Discharge" A bright light left their body from their chest and floated over to the back of the girl at a normal pace. The ball of lightning would soon hit the girl with a large quantity of electricity.
Electrocute--as previous battles had indicated, one of Thor's most powerful spells. And yet, when used on Xyster, all that happened was that her black aura popped like a bubble. Xyster sighed in satisfaction, and tossed her head before catching it like a basketball. "No sell," she stated matter-of-factly, staring directly at Thor even though its body faced away from her. When Thor attempted a Discharge, Xyster rolled away at a normal rate. Evidently she couldn't use accelerated movement if she wasn't pursuing an opponent. With just a second before the Discharge hit her, Xyster flourished her scythe again, creating a new black aura, then slashed at the orb of lightning. This time, rather than just bursting, the lightning arced along the Dullahan's body. She winced slightly but did not stop smiling. Without saying a word, she reeled back before flinging her scythe like a huge, whirling boomerang. Her aim wasn't perfect, and she would have likely missed if Harvester didn't correct itself to fly straight toward Thor.
It was already pretty obvious Lightning magic didn't work against the Dullahan and it was to be expected Xyster would deflect Thor's spell with rather ease. Thor didn't look excited about the whole fact that Thor's magic didn't work. It would mean other ways would be needed to defeat this girl. The only thing that did surprise Thor was that the girl had a lot more trouble moving away from the Discharge than following behind Thor. Thor had to test how the girl her magic worked. The black aura around the girl made Thor curious to. It seemed the arua would help her to deflect the Lightning Thor emitted. Deep in thought Thor was caught off guard by the giant scythe flying at Thor's small framed body. Thor quickly raised both their hands "Force Field" however it didn't seem like it was enough to stop the scythe flying at them. Thor had to act quick otherwise it would be two Thor's in only a matter of seconds "Electrokinetic Wing Manifestation" a bright light emitted from under the back of Thor's cloak before multiple strokes of lightning bursted through the back of their cloak. In the month that Thor had been training some new ways of using their magic were learned. Quickly the wings helped the force field with it's defence and arched before Thor to stop the scythe from hitting Thor. Thor stretched their wings wide in the air.
Undeterred, the Harvester pressed onward. It met Thor's defense in a shower of sparks, revolving and cutting into the Force Field. As the electric shield sustained more and more damage, more power was routed from Thor's wings, both gave out in a rupture of light. Fortunately, the Harvester's momentum gave out at the same moment, aided no doubt by the shockwave, and returned to its owner. With an air of calmness Xyster plucked her weapon from the air before leaping at Thor once more. She took a swing with her scythe, expecting Thor to attempt to dodge again and saving her strength for a second strike to finish her.
Thor stammered back from the scythe it's force and needed some time to pick themselves back up again to properly fight again. As soon as Thor was ready again the scythe quickly came flying at them again. It was to late to dodge so Thor received a full on hit from the large blade. Thor tried to hold in the shout from their mouth but the pain was unbearable. Thor burst out in yelling from the pain and gave a sharp and serious look at Xyster. While Xyster was occupied with holding the scythe on the same place Thor reached out in front of them for the girl and grabbed onto their shirt in the chest area. Thor pulled Xyster towards themselves just a little bit more and casted another "Discharge" from their hands. The compact ball of lightning immediately crashed into Xyster her ribcage which wouldn't do much to the girl since she still had her black aura up. When the Discharge touched Xyster could immediately feel the high electric aura Thor was constantly emitting. Thor had enough of the scythe stuck in the side of their body and tried kicking the handle of the scythe away to get the blade out of their body. Thor released a big yell from their mouth again and covered the wound with the hand from the other side of her body. As soon as Thor settled down again Thor pumped a lot more electricity into their blades again to make them useful again. The wings didn't do much for Thor except for fighting, defensive or quicker flying purposes. Thor jumped off the ground and quickly flew over to Xyster. Their wings closed in a little as Thor started spinning in a corkscrew maneuver. It didn't take long before Thor speeded up a whole lot and hit Xyster in the stomach with their head.
Xyster couldn't decide what surprised her more: Thor taking a hit that the Dullahan hadn't meant, or Thor grabbing her chest. "Hey!" Either way, her protective aura popped from her opponent's Discharge, and the next thing Xyster knew she was sailing through the air with Thor's head in her solar plexus. Xyster's head nearly split in half as her mouth opened, ready to deliver a crushing bite, but instead of pain, laughter issued forth. She couldn't help it. A moment later, Xyster slammed into a support column with a crunch, and Thor sprang away. The Dullahan groaned as she slid to the ground, but didn't look too hurt. Her head rolled along the ground until it was right next to Thor, lying on its side. "Well," she said, still somehow in a good mood. "I've never been groped in mid-battle before, but it looks like it worked. That's vital experience I'll need for the Games, I expect. Ack...I don't really feel like fighting anymore. Congrats, hoodie...you're A-rank now. Hey, you might even get into the games. Check out with Tsubano to get healed up."
As Thor landed on the ground again Thor still wasn't it any good mood and was about to grab the head from Xyster of the ground to smash it in the ceiling before she regained her complete conscious again. Thor shook their head questioning why they felt so aggressive just now and looked at their own hands that were half filled with their own blood that was gushing out of their own arm. Yet Thor didn't feel much pain from the wound that they had got from the scythe. Thor shook their head once more before hearing the head alone talk. It was rather creepy seeing a head without a body feeling so lively but that was something to get use to. Thor negated their own magic in their right arm and carefully picked up their head to retrieved it to their own body. Thor gave a blush that was barely seeable through the shadow overlapping their face but Thor still looked away while writing a apology note to the girl "Very sorry for the groping..." As Thor arrived at the girl her body Thor just simply gave the head back after waiting for one of the arms to grab the head. Thor gave a slight smile at the girl and made a small bow as thanks for the fight. Thor looked around a few seconds as to see where Tsubano was at and walked over to them to get a good heal. Thor's magic couldn't heal these big wounds all that much so some help would definitely be useful.
