55: Creative Transformations

55: Creative Transformations

The moment the countdown ended, both sides launched into battle. The five graduate students moved in two groups. Ashe and Isolde moved together while Scarlet, Orion, and Thalia moved together. The pair stayed back for defense while the trio moved forward to attack. Leaping out past the fortress of bone fortifications, the three sent forward a combination of attacks to stay within the rules Angelica had set.

Orion blasted forward a cone of fire, enveloping Thalia—who took the chance to mutate herself into having fire-resistance. Thalia, while in the flames, first shielded Scarlet before stabbing a hand through her torso. The resulting blood that rushed out of scarlet got carried away by the flames and began dissolving the ice and dirt armaments they came in contact with.

Thalia, now, pulled her arm back, letting her regeneration take over to regrow the hand she had lost within Scarlet.

On the other side of the pitch, the seven current students split up into three teams. Albion, Conrad, and Titus sat back. Electra and Ryker advanced together on the left while Nyssa and Celeste advanced on the right.

“Careful to not get pincered,” Orion kept an eye on the two groups pushing up the sides of the floor. “Let’s back off a bit and take care of one of the groups.”

“The younger ones then,” Thalia laughed as she planted a foot into the ground before leaping to the side towards Celeste and Nyssa. “Sorry, you two.”

Raising her arms, Celeste took to the skies as the star engine in her heart fired to life. Her hair and eyes changed colors as she sent a warning shot towards Thalia. “Nyssa, we can’t seriously attack unless we do a combination one. So, which one are you thinking of? I’ll match whatever transformation you make.”

Nyssa, transforming into a bird to follow Celeste upward, dodged another attack from Orion and Scarlet as they tried to buy some time for Ryker and Electra to move into a better position. She dove, she swooped, and she twirled in the air while trying to analyze the patterns of her opponents.

What to use... what to use?

“Because we’re just a little more skilled with dodging those types of attacks,” Orion laughed after overhearing Nyssa’s murmur. As he threw a punch, a sun-like giant appeared behind them, then mirrored his movements. Its punch missed Nyssa who had escaped back into the fortress. It, instead, hit the ground with a sizzling sound, slicing through Albion’s ice like a hot knife through butter.

Albion, half-covered—and half made of—ice by now, waved his one free hand to create an ice slide for Nyssa to land on and reach Titus and Conrad with. His other hand, now gone as half his body had disappeared into the ice throne, indistinguishable. It did, however, allow him channel his power outward into repairing the damaged castle exterior. Staring upward into the sky, the still visible half of Albion’s face made eye contact with Orion. “You’re an insect playing in a god’s domain.”

“Talk your trash! Nothing though, withstands the furnace of my heat,” Orion roared from the air as a huge smile appeared on his face. Unable to act without Thalia or Scarlet—having just done a solo warning strike—he floated in the air as Thalia soared up to join him while Scarlet skated across the ice.

“Titus!” Conrad shouted as he caught Nyssa. “Is the bow ready yet?”

“Yessir,” Titus kept his eyes closed, focusing on melding the roaring flames around him. His hands swept outward as the flames rushed inward. In the span of a second, the flames turned silvery-white as his expression tensed. Grabbing the center, he tossed the still forming bow to Conrad. “The bow of artemis!”

Conrad caught the bow while putting Nyssa down. A searing sensation erupted in his palm as Titus finished the bow’s creation. He grit his teeth and clenched down harder before reaching down to pluck an arrow from the back of Nyssa’s arrow porcupine. Crouching downward, blue circles appeared around his eye.

[Calculating trajectory]

[Trajectory correction]

Conrad’s body moved on its own before he let the arrow loose.

Seconds later, the arrow punched into Thalia’s abdomen and engulfed her in a ball of silver flames.