Chapter 206: a Minor victory

Once Kat had heard Minor's plan, she was rather impressed. *This could actually work. As long as Minor can pull her part of the plan off we should be alright. I can do my end easily enough, but I was unaware Minor had so much influence over Major's dreams.*

Kat shrugged and prepared the fire, keeping it burning just above her palm. Once it was steady, and she was able to keep it going by feeding it a consistent stream of energy and compressing it down to keep that energy ready to move at any time. Kat nodded to Minor.

Minor nodded in turn, as their gazes moved back to the fight. During their planning not much had happened. Shizuka had gone in for a few more failed attacks, but they amounted to basically nothing.

Reverendi was starting to realise that something was up with his sword, or perhaps, he thought it was growing alongside him. Either way, with each failed attack, his grin got wider and wider, before finally. He made his first real move.

Reverendi shrunk his sword and charged, whirling it around between his two hands and around his back, trying to make it as hard to follow as possible. This of course, was simply wasted effort, as Shizuka's eyes were more than good enough to keep up.

Never the less, it did still put Shizuka on the back foot. Now that Reverendi was attacking she was concerned about his swords strange abilities, and summoned two sigils on either side of her with two rings to block his attack.

This is where the first part of Minor's plan came in. With a twist of Minor's hand the sigils flickered for a second, before reappearing with three rings instead. Shizuka didn't seem to notice the change and neither did Reverendi.

The same could not be said for the sword. Kat was using her full power of her vision to look at it closely. When the sigils flickered for a moment, the sword seemed to shudder for just a moment, but it made no other movements.

Just before Reverendi approached Shizuka, he forced energy into his boots. They lit up with a red glow, and he blasted off into the air. At the peak of his jump, he rapidly enlarged the sword to three times its natural size, before bringing it down

The force of the jump as well as the weight of the sword brought him crashing towards the ground, with Shizuka in the direct path. Without a hint of hesitation two pillars of ice exploded from the floor beneath her sigils

They reached up and collided with the sword, but there was a loud crack on impact as the ice wobbled. Reverendi activated his boots once again, to force his way through and the ice shattered. But that was not the end.

As the ice shattered Minor put her hand next to Kat's flame and caused it to vanish. It reappeared next to the broken ice, exploding once it had left Kat's direct control

Purple fire washed over Reverendi and the sword, which reacted faster than its master. Wrapping them both in a metallic ball, they dropped straight to the ground, covered in ice. The air was still, as Shizuka let out a large breath of cold air.

The sword, and its user were completed encased. Kat let out a sigh of relief, when a loud boom echoed from within. Everyone tensed hearing the sound and Kat trained her eyes on the cube.

Loud thuds, reverberated on after another. Shizuka was unsure what was the best course of action, and so raised a block of ice in front of her to act as a shield while she started to meditate behind it to recover her mana.

Kat frowned as she saw the cracks with her enhanced vision. She didn't have time to see Minor paling with each successive hit. *Dammit. I wish Shizuka had some big finishing move or something. She's just sitting there! I mean she is probably meditating but even still. If she had a way to finish them off now…*

With a final thud and a great crack the block of ice split in two revealing a cold and shaking Reverendi as well as his trusty sword seemingly no worse for wear. Kat narrowed her eyes, but noticed that the metal that had frozen to the ice was no longer attached to the sword. *Could it be? Is there less metal in it now?*

*Are we making progress?* Reverendi struggled to stand, planting his sword into the ground to keep himself moving. Shizuka had opened a single eye when she heard the last crack. Seeing his failure to stand, she shouted "You should give up. You are in no state to fight"

Reverendi nodded and went to speak, but the metal from the sword snaking up his arm and around his mouth. Reverendi's eyes widened in horror upon seeing this, while Shizuka frowned.

Kat and Minor looked uneasy "What is going on" asked Kat

"I don't know" said Minor "I can only guess the sword is preventing his forfeiture… but what reason could it have? He's exhausted, and Shizuka is rapidly rebuilding her mana supply. If the fight was close before, it would just be a slaughter now so why…"

Minor's eyes widened in horror "Wait. He can't breathe!"

"What?" Kat shouted narrowing her eyes and noticing that the mask did not just cover the mouth but the nose as well. "What does this mean?"

"I think… the Nightmare might be trying to kill him. Get Shizuka to lose because she broke that rule. I don't think this would actually work in the real world because it is clearly Reverendi's sword but… in this dream it might just be enough"

Kat frowned, and tried to think of solutions, but Shizuka was already moving. Seeing her opponent struggling to breathe she dashed forward striking at the metal with her ice blade. It clanged on contact but did not even cut the material.

"Kat" said Minor "Can you make it so your fire doesn't hurt things?"

Kat frowned "I mean… maybe I don't know? I haven't really tried… and I mean… ah" said Kat starting to panic slightly. *I haven't done something like this… I mean it sounds like I should be able to… but my fire is somewhat unwieldy… should I even try this?*

*But when am I ever going to get a better shot.* "I can try" said Kat finally with confidence she didn't feel.

Minor nodded "Do it"

Shizuka was frowning, as she summoned another sigil to attack the mask now covering Reverendi. Once again, Minor tweaked it to look like a third tier sigil as Kat summoned her fire. *Don't hurt a person. Don't hurt Reverendi. Just the Nightmare. Please Just the Nightmare.*

Kat focused her will on her fire. Trying to impress upon it the idea that it should only go after the Nightmare. She was still a bit worried. So when Minor reached over, and instead of placing her hand near Kat's fire, she placed it inside of it, Kat's heart leapt to her throat.

Her control over her fire slipped, and it reared up, blazing at twice the size. Kat started to worry, but glancing at Minor revealed a sight she would never forget. Minor had her arm coated in purple fire, but it was not icing even in the slightest.

Minor had a huge grin on her face as she looked at Kat "It feels warm like your calming aura" before turning to face the battlefield once again.

Shizuka shot off an icicle, straight at the gag still choking Reverendi. And Minor gripped her hand into a fist. Kat's fire looked like it was sucked inside, before it disappeared form Minor's view.

Kat's eyes however were locked on the fight, and she saw the moment her flame entered the icicle going for Reverendi's face. As it travelled the short distance it needed to reach the metal it exploded.

Purple fire went everywhere. Completed engulfing Reverendi. His sword screeched and let out an ear piecing sound as purple cracks started to run up its length. The cracks pulsed with purple light as they overtook the sword piece by piece, until it was more cracks then sword… before finally it shattered.

The moment it did so Reverendi fell over backwards. Collapsing onto the stadium. Kat felt her heart stop. *No! Was it not enough?*

But the next words assured her fears. "Victory to Princess Shizuka. Victory through Knockout"

Before the sound of the gong rang out once more and the scene faded to black.

Kat let out a long breath she didn't know she was holding and looked over at Minor. "Well, looks like we make a good team"

Minor smiled and nodded "It would seem so"