16 The Bloodening

After each team captain had drawn a tablet, all but one team left the arena floor and headed for the stands. For most students, this would be their first time fighting a Legend. All of them have seen legends through the barriers and in photos in their legend studies classes, but that was very different from standing face to face with one in combat.

The first team to fight a legend was Centra's.

"Kyrie please leave the fighting to your teammates. I'll tell you when I think it's alright for you to join in," Professor Olson instructed.

"I understand, sir. It's not the first time I've watched over a bloodening," Kyrie said, as he looked Professor Olson in the eye with a fierce military air.

Professor Olson smiled slightly at this. Of course, someone as experienced as Kyrie knew what to do in this situation. "Alright, I will be at the base of the stands watching over the fight. Do your best pups. When you're ready, insert the tablet into the pedestal in the center of the arena."

Kyrie walked with his teammates over to the pedestal and asked, "Do you want me to participate in a defensive capacity or do you want to try this alone?"

"Well, Professor Olson said to leave the fighting to us… so it's probably best if you don't help at all," Centra said. On the other hand, Kyrie had watched over this Blooding thing before and he probably wouldn't suggest something that would go against their Professors instructions. Either way, Centra had made her decision and planned to stick with it.

"Okay." Kyrie turned his back on his team, with a clenched jaw, and carefully selected a spot at the edge of the arena to monitor the fight. A bloodening was hard and watching over one was even harder.

DJ, Liza, and Jasper stood guard over Centra as she placed the tablet on the pedestal. The pedestal sunk into the arena floor and the gate on the far side from Kyrie opened. The team clutched their weapons tightly and took their battle stances as they gazed into the opening engulfed in darkness.

Screeech! Came from the opening followed by the form of a creature that was part woman and part bird. Its wings and arms molded into one and its feathers where a mix of crimson and black. The harpy's torso melted into the feather-covered form of a bird's chest, tail, and legs. Wicked Claws extended from the harpy's fingers ready to shred flesh, armor, and weak auras. The harpy's head was that of a woman, that of the viewer's ideal woman.

For Kyrie harpies always appeared as a girl with long red hair and orangish-gold eyes. He had never been sure why it happened, since he had never met such a girl, until recently. And he didn't find her to be the most appealing member of the team, though she was definitely a close second.

As was the case for most straight women, a harpy's face would be that of the woman they admire the most. In Liza's case it was her mother and in Centra's it was her Aunt Malisa.

For Jasper, the woman was a blond he knew quite well.

After DJ saw the harpy's face he smiled and gave Centra a kiss on the cheek. "Well, you definitely don't have to worry about not being my most appealing woman."

Centra smiled, laughed, and nudged DJ away a bit so she could have room to draw her bow.

The harpy stepped further out of the entryway and took to the air looking for food to steal. As the harpy left the ground Kyrie tensed further and wondered why his teammates hadn't attacked yet. Everyone knew a grounded or better yet soaked harpy, is less dangerous than one you let take to the air. With Centra's bow, she couldn't have that slow of a shot as to be unable to tear a hole through the harpy's wing, right?

The harpy screeched once before it spoke in a high-pitched voice, "There's no food! Why's there no food! I haven't eaten in forever!" Screech!

Jasper's eyes widened in shock as he said, "What?! Why don't we just feed her and let her go?"

Centra watched as the harpy flew as high as it could before it screeched as the tips of its wings clipped the top of the transparent barrier that separated the arena floor from the stands and the harpy from freedom. Centra spoke with an aching heart as the harpy briefly plunged towards the arena floor, "We… could give it some food and let it go right?"

DJ glanced at Jasper and Centra as he said, "I-I guess so-"

Liza looked at her teammates aghast and with two of her daggers in hand, she shouted, "What the hell are you cats talking about! It's a Legend! We have to kill it before it kills us!"

Jasper glared at Liza and shouted, "Just look at it! It's not hurting us, so we don't need to kill it you-"

Screech! 'You! If I take you back to Zeus in proper form, he will definitely praise me for my work!' the harpy thought as she dived.

Centra shouted, "Kyrie!" as she turned to look past Liza at their final teammate.

Liza ran towards Kyrie as a skrrreeek range through the arena and the harpy's claws met one of Taru's blades.

The harpy was quickly backpedaling its wings to get higher into the air. Liza's blade bit into and through the harpy's right leg as it made its escape.

"Shit!"

"SCREEEECH!" the harpy cried as it felt agony tear up its leg from where its now missing foot had been.

"You didn't have to do that!" Jasper shouted as he ground his teeth and started casting a spell.

"Screech!" The harpy dove for Liza.

Liza blocked the remaining clawed foot with one dagger and a swooping razor-sharp feathered wing with her other arm and dagger. As the harpy's wings made contact with Liza, her remaining aura flared to life and plummeted further.

Screech cried the harpy as it was flung away from Liza in a startled heap of feathers, claws, and hair. Kyrie had carefully hit the harpy with a bladeless side of Taru and sent it flying away from Liza and his other teammates.

"Sir, I'm going to protect Liza at this point," Kyrie said as he watched the harpy and placed himself between the harpy and a very shaken but unharmed Liza.

Jasper had finished casting his fire spell but watched in shock as nothing happened.

Kyrie clenched his teeth and forced himself to keep a loose stance. He needed to focus and would come back to the problems with this fight later.

"Good," Professor Olson said. Kyrie had addressed him and that was good. Most students from LegendSlayer clans thought they knew more than their teachers.

The harpy righted itself in the air as Centra released several arrows at it.

The harpy grinned. Then used its control of storm-winds to flip the arrows and launch them back at the people below.

DJ grimaced, he was too far away from Centra, now that he had moved close enough to help defend Liza.

And Centra couldn't get a good telekinetic grasp on the location of the whistling arrows. Arrows that could easily punch a hole through someone's aura, if it wasn't concentrated at the points of impact.

Something Centra couldn't do without knowing exactly where the arrows were heading.

Jasper cast a spell using the Valkine technique, but as such the ice-wall he constructed between the harpy's location and where he and Centra stood, was significantly weaker than if it had been cast properly.

The arrows burrowed their way through the ice and struck Jasper and Centra's auras. Their auras flared to life and cracked as DJ ran towards the harpy's location, his field of control rapidly enclosing on the harpy as he too used the wind to speed up his movements.

The harpy turned to face the form rapidly approaching it, the one who dared to control the wind in its presence.

As the harpy battled for control of the winds with DJ, who had nearly gotten within range of the harpy, the arrows lodged themselves into Centra and Jasper's bodies. Centra gasped for a wet breath that did not want to come. And Jasper, he rolled onto his unharmed left side to relieve some of the pain coming from his right side, arm, and leg.

Before Kyrie moved to finish off the harpy it was engulfed by the earth and gone.

DJ had finally gotten into range and used the wind to pull the harpy fully into his area of control, before having the arena ground consume it. And return to an eerily empty space.