A few days later,
"Good everyone is here," Najenda said looking at Night Raid and detailed "We will be splitting into two groups. One group is designated to head East while the other is assigned to go South. We have been able to make it seem that I'm heading Eastward while Akame is going West. From my estimation, Esdeath would probably go East because of me while Kurome would go South due to Akame. Sinbad, Sheele and Bulat will head East to deal with Esdeath. The rest of us will take care of Kurome. Any questions?"
Everyone was silent and Najenda nodded her head and said "Good luck Sinbad, Sheele and Bulat. Let's set off then."
"Yes!" Night Raid shouted with vigour and determination. Sinbad teleported the other group South and he, Sheele and Bulat went East.
"From my assumptions, Esdeath would bring along Run and the user of Balzac," Sinbad told them as they lying in wait for their prey.
"I'll take care of Run. His Mastema is a nuisance if not dealt with promptly. However, it's true strength, the ability of flight is now a profound weakness in my eyes." Bulat declared.
"I'll leave it to you then Bulat. That leaves you with Balzac Sheele. We don't have enough information on him but I expect you to whitewash him easily." Sinbad said looking at Sheele.
"Okay, Sinbad." Sheele nodded her head cutely which made Sinbad stroke her head. She giggled while Bulat laughed.
That was when the sounds of galloping could be heard ever creeping closer to the trio. Their expressions shifted as they gallantly stood in the path in wait. Three incoming horses came to halt as dust covered their faces. The dust cloud cleared and in front of the three were Esdeath alongside two others.
One was a young man with fair blond hair and golden eyes. He wore a white robe on top of a black shirt and pants with a brown belt, a feather pin behind his ear and a collar-like accessory on his neck. The other was a skeletal-like man in rags with a mask covering his face which was the Teigu: Balzac.
"Looks like we were misled," Esdeath said as she smirked looking across to Sinbad.
"Looks like fate has truly brought us together again, my Ice Queen," Sinbad said with his arms crossed.
"You should be cursing fate as this might be the last time you may see me again, my High King," Esdeath replied.
"With these eyes of mine fate is always on my side," Sinbad announced.
"Enough games, let's fight," Esdeath said getting straight to the point.
"And that's why I love you." Sinbad smiled as flashes of luminant blue lightning crackled around his body.
"Incursio!" Bulat shouted as the apparition of a blue-scaled draconic creature loomed over Bulat. It roared causing a gale of wind to shoot out. The draconic creature bathed Bulat in blue light before he was revealed in an Azure version of the Incursio armour.
The Jaegars were shocked by Bulat's appearance or specifically Incursio's. They knew that Incursio had the ability to evolve but to this extent was suspicious enough. That was when they were surprised once again when Sheele took of Ecstase off of her back. The blade of Ecstase was jet black like an abyss void of any light. They now knew they couldn't underestimate them.
Bulat and Sheele vanished from their spots as did Run and the Balzac user leaving just Sinbad and Esdeath. There was a large gap between the two of them but because they were Sinbad and Esdeatn the distance was practically negligible.
Sinbad and Esdeath stared dead into each other's eyes. The air was getting so tense that an ordinary person would suffocate under the pressure. The breeze drifted by onto the battlefield carrying a single green leaf. The two's gazes shifted onto it for a moment before looking at one another. The leaf swayed like it didn't have a care in the world. It descended gradually and made time seem like it was getting slower and slower. The leaf spun in the air and did a somersault like a professional gymnast and shot to the ground. It hit the ground and silence filled the air, until...
"Hagelsprung!" Esdeath shouted as she stomped her boot on the ground and a giant pillar of ice appeared beneath her feet. It then shot towards Sinbad at an alarming speed carrying her.
Esdeath unsheathed her rapier as she approached Sinbad with hell in her eyes yet a devilish excitement gleaming within them. She quickly arrived in front of Sinbad and slashed viciously at his chest.
Sinbad reacted in a split second and took out his sword from its scabbard. His sword illuminated in divine lightning as he hacked at Esdeath's rapier. They collided resulting in a massive explosion like new year's fireworks. Lightning shot through Esdeath's arm but her ice quickly negated it. However, the force of his attack blasted Esdeath away like a cannonball.
She smashed into the rocky canyon wall and shattered it. She was catapulted metres inside the wall coughing up a mouthful of blood. She wiped her mouth of blood and smiled in euphoria.
'This is it!' She thought masochistically enjoying the pain she experienced.
"Is that all you got?" Sinbad asked smirking.
"We're just getting started." She retorted and catapulted towards Sinbad.
Esdeath placed the base of her palms together and thrust out without warning then millions of icicles manifested above Esdeath. She released a short shout and within a moment, rows of icicles like harpoons pointing towards their vulnerable prey bombarded towards Sinbad.
Sinbad silently stared down on the rain of icicles and waved his arm gracefully. His glimmered white and a mythical eye appeared on his palm. Mysterious ripples inconspicuously surged out into the space in front of Sinbad. Esdeath felt the faint frost emitting from Sinbad's palm. That was when the icicles that were just about to pierce his body like meat on a skewer froze in mid-air.
Esdeath was stunned and confused before she figured out what had just occurred. Sinbad slowed down the molecules in the air till they solidified. She turned to Sinbad who was nowhere to be found.
"Esdeath, you surely could do better than that, can't you?" A voice sounded into Esdeath's ears.
She pivoted around and saw Sinbad standing there smiling casually metres away from her. Esdeath's face went grim but a fierce fire burned in her eyes. She threw her arm outwards and a tsunami of ice devasted its way to Sinbad. Sinbad smirked and punched ferociously. Before even the tsunami reached Sinbad a storm gale ripped and shattered the torrent of ice into shards.
Esdeath was gone but Sinbad heard a howling roar from above that shook his eardrums. His head looked upwards and Sinbad couldn't help be in awe. A twenty foot being covered in sparkling crystal ice with wings that could block out the sun was carrying a beautiful figure on top of it. It was truly a fantasy. Snow descended as Esdeath and her dragon mount swooped downwards towards Sinbad.
'She's riding a fucking ice dragon!' Sinbad exclaimed in his head and shuddered in excitement.
"Eissturm!" Esdeath shouted as the dragon breathed out a blistering ice storm that covered the landscape in an icy tundra.
"Kaze no Kabe." A wind wall erected in front of Sinbad and fought off the blizzard. The two elements struggled against each other. Then unknowingly a shard of ice bypassed the wind wall and cut Sinbad's cheek.
A drop of blood trickled down his face as his finger wiped the blood. His Saiyan blood was boiling in response and Sinbad smiled in glee. He unsheathed his sword once again and pointed it at the incoming dragon.
"Bararaq Rerugan." Immediately, a streak of blue heavenly lightning tore through the icy tundra and in a millisecond a thunderous boom reverberated in the icy tundra. The winter wonderland was set ablaze from the lightning's destructive power and molten heat.
Sinbad sensed that Esdeath was still alive but was gone. That was when an icy blade pierced through his chest. He grabbed the icy blade with a shaking hand and let out a barely audible laugh.
"You only amounted to this much, huh Sinbad?" Esdeath sighed as she whispered into his ear.
"If it's meant to be it's meant to be," Sinbad said coughing a mouthful of blood.
"You made me use my trump card Mahapadma, you could consider yourself worthy but it was not enough. You disappoint me, Sinbad I thought you were more than that..." Esdeath said as her voice trailed into the wind while a teardrop cascaded against her pale white cheek.
She reminisced their time together, she would describe them as the happiest moments in her life. No one had ever made her heart move the way he did. No one had ever made her miss someone the way he did. But her thoughts froze when his voice rang clear...
"Well, if that's your trump card I'm disappointed..." Sinbad said as his body dissipated into millions of tiny particles. Esdeath gasped and searched frantically for Sinbad. She heard the sound of cracking as she looked at the space in front of her fissure and burst into fragments of darkness.
She found herself still in the wall from earlier. She was utterly lost. Her brain couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
"Was that an illusion?" Esdeath took a deep breath in realisation. Sinbad could've finished this fight way sooner but he had been tormenting her. Something she had done to others. She had never experienced it before.
"Yes, it was my dear Ice Queen." Esdeath snapped back to life and looked at the man in front of her.
"What was that?" Esdeath questioned getting out from the hole wanting to know the answer.
"It's just some simple magic that manipulates one's feelings and turns it into reality. I call it Fura's Purgatory. It's truly fearsome given the fact that one's feelings are burning so high during combat that they're highly susceptible to succumbing to the illusion." Sinbad explained like it was an everyday matter.
Meanwhile, Esdeath became fearful and recognised the fatality his magic had. In a battle where emotions run high especially when you're placed in an underdog position like she was, anyone was bound to fall to the same fate she did.
"Looks like I underestimated you, my High King," Esdeath said gazing at the unfathomable man in front of her. She continued on to say "But I won't give in."
"Now that's how I like it," Sinbad smiled.
They rushed at each other and engaged in a bout of close combat. Lightning and frost razed and covered the canyon. On the other hand, Run was struggling against Bulat.
Bulat was firing off lightning blasts from his fists completely rendering Run's long-range attacks useless. Everything he had done so far was futile. Run's puny white feathers could't bare to withstand with the violent destruction from Bulat's lightning blasts. Bulat noticed that Run was slowly running of time. Mastema gives the ability to fly for a limited amount of time which Bulat had been using to his advantage not exerting himself only making Run expend energy.
"Bararaq Tanin," Bulat said and Incursio transformed into an azure dragon, plated in deep blue scales. Draconic wings burst out from Bulat's back. Run was shocked and knew he was in big trouble now. His only hope was retreating back to Esdeath to request for support or having Balzac finish up with Sheele so he and Balzac could double team, Bulat. Nonetheless, those two options were out of the equation and his only resort left was fleeing away.
He had no choice and flew off speedily. But he had greatly underestimated Bulat's speed because as soon as he bolted off Bulat was in full pursuit. Furthermore, considering the reality that Run was significantly fatigued trying to avoid Bulat's violent lightning blasts that really taxed him out. Bulat appeared in front of Run and Run knew he had to fight out of this one.
They engaged in close combat and it wasn't even a fight. Bulat kept on pummeling Run's slender figure like a punching bag with no mercy. Then Bulat threw down a horrific hammer punch clutching both his hands together and slamming down causing Run to plummet into the ground like Icarus the boy that flew too close to the sun. Yet the reasons for their demise gravely contrasted. Run was planted within the ground unmoving.
Bulat landed slowly beside Run and took off his Teigu: Mastema off of his back. Bulat shook his head and felt he could've been friends with Run if they weren't enemies. That's what he got from Run's aura. Bulat stopped thinking needlessly and shot towards Sheele's location.
What he saw was to be expected. Around Sheele, was a barren and desolate land like a graveyard. The ground was colourless and withered like a decrepit old man skin on his last breath. The Teigu Balzac what used to be a mask had now become wood shavings. The user of Balzac who he called himself Balzac was nothing but grey and black bone ashes.
"Sheele I see that you're finished already," Bulat said deactivating Incursio.
"It wasn't that hard. He was weak," Sheele replied.
"I wonder how Sinbad is doing?" Bulat said patiently waiting for the outcome of the battle which decided the fate of the entire country.