Hala's tails were furiously whipping back and forth in a similar manner to the blue flame pillars on either side of her. She bared her teeth at Chris in a foxlike manner that made her appear feral. Sensing that she would strike soon, Chris took the knowledge Abraxios had given him and on the fly came up with a spell he liked to call 'Shadow Body'. He'd never used shadow magic before but with what he learned it felt almost like second nature. A black sludge like substance emerged from beneath Chris and it started covering him from toe to head in shadow. As it reached the peak of its climb at the top of his head, tail, and arms it would keep going. Coming off of him in drops like reverse rain until dissipating into nothing. The shadows covered every inch of him, tail and all, was covered in shadow and where his eyes were the shadows lightened to grey then white. His intention with Shadow Body was more of a defensive strategy, but from what he'd learned he knew he had to try to end the fight fast because it ate away at a persons magic like crazy. Especially when it does its job and protects him from attacks, which was a major downside.
Hala extended her hands towards him in a thrusting motion and a gout of flame shot towards him. He dodged to her right and tried to charge her, only for one of her pillars to vanish into the ground. Confused he looked around himself and noticed a small ring of blue fire and his instincts flashed a warning at him. His foot was in the air so he couldn't dodge in time and right when he thought he was about to be cooked his tail slammed into the ground instinctively launching him into the sky. The flame pillar shot up as he ascended and lightly singed the bottom of his shoe as he was carried away from Hala. He landed miraculously on his feet and even managed to stay up right after he landed.
'Having a tail is surprisingly awesome. But staying focused, it looks like she's using the pillars to defend herself while she attacks from a distance. Wow aren't I brilliant! I have basic deduction abilities!'
Shaking his head to refocus he tries again charging straight for her and once again one of her pillars responded to his approach. Before it had a chance to fully leave her side Chris jumped into the air, gathering three separate orbs of shadow magic as he went. As he ascended the orbs took on three needle like shapes and he propelled them towards Hala. She sees them and immediately raises her arms creating a swirling flame disc that the needles fly into and vaporize. The attack over she changed the center of the spiraling disc into the tip of a spear that raced towards Chris's chest while he was still air borne. Before the fire spear collided with him he felt an alien presence in his mind and heard a voice that sent chills to his bones.
'Well aren't you brilliant.'
Chris would've shivered as he felt Abraxios made himself comfortable in his mind but he was the very opposite of cold as the spear hit him dead on. The explosive force of the blow sends him flying backward through the air. This time he wasn't as fortunate to land on his feet and his back and tail ate the ground hard. He was just on the edge of the outer circle and the shadows on his chest were starting to reform after being blasted apart.
'Tell me what you did wrong.'
'I don't know I tried to fight an experienced magic user?!'
He felt Abraxios' irritation like a dreaded worry weighing heavily on his mind.
'Do not vent your frustrations on me. I am not your friend and will not tolerate it. Now despite how you act you're no idiot, what did you do wrong.'
He thought on how to respond as he sat up. The conversation with Abraxios, since it was all a communication of thought, occurred near instantly.
'The jump was a mistake. I might've dodged the pillar but it left me open.'
'Very open, until you make a new mistake and I add wings to your growing retinue of limbs air combat is not for you. You have no way of dodging midair and it's just a dumb idea to begin with. Now try again, by the end of this fight I want you to have at least scratched her. If you can even manage that.'
Gritting his teeth he fully stood up and tried to come up with a new tactic.
However Hala gave him no time to think as she waved one of her arms and a wave of blue fire came rolling towards him. He panic dodges and nearly gets a full body singeing as the wave passes him by. Standing up he starts running around the circumference of the circle towards Hala. She begins rapid firing fireballs at him through repeated punching actions and he has to duck and jump them as he runs.
'Jeez! What happened to be calm and collected!'
He thought to himself and to his surprise Abraxios responded.
'She is calm, calm in her intent to physically harm you.'
'You're still here!?'
He felt his displeasure again.
'I will not warn you a third time. I brought you here and I can take you from here.'
Choosing to shut up he focuesd his attention once again to Hala and decided it was about time to retaliate as he'd closed enough distance. He swept his hand upward and a bunch of shadow spikes shot from the ground where he waved his hand towards Hala. She was forced to dodge aside which temporarily removed her pillars.
'She can only use those when she's stationary!'
'Good you're not hopeless.'
Again choosing silence Chris slides his left foot sideways towards Hala and a waist high wave of shadow shot towards her completely unavoidable. Instead of jumping as Chris had hoped she would though she slashed her arm vertically as the wave neared her. Cutting through it with flames and causing it to completely miss her.
'Darn it all she has a brain! Not at all like her sister!'
Off on the sidelines Victoria suddenly sneezed and grew very irritated with Chris at the same time. Meanwhile Hala formed five flaming javelins above her and launched them one at a time at Chris forcing him to dodge each one separately instead of all at once. Chris was starting to feel fatigued from the drain of his dodging and using so much magic. He hadn't gotten used to the toll it took on his body because he'd never used it in such large amounts before. He was determined however to land at least one hit on Hala. Gathering what little energy he had left he charged her once again, as he grew near the pillars reacted once again and began to target him. As they sunk into the ground he put as much force as he could into his next step, and suddenly remembered he was stronger than before. He shot forward as the pillars appeared where he was and he accidentally ended up full on tackling Hala. Deciding to continue as if that was his plan, he rolled off her as soon as they hit the ground and he had shadow magic cover the entire surface of her body. He turned around and stood up hoping he had trapped her as he watched the wriggling mass of shadows that he knew she was trapped inside. His hope didn't last long though as the shadows started swelling with the color blue visible just beneath the surface. Chris huffed a tired sigh and didn't even brace himself as the shadow trap exploded apart in blue flame and knocked him back a couple feet. Hala was standing over where the trap had been, coated from head to tail in blue flames. If he hadn't known any better he would've thought she was a spirit of some kind. She looked back at him and calmly waved an arm at him. A slash of blue flame shot towards him and he was so tired he didn't even try to dodge, his shadow body had started falling apart as she had emerged and was relatively intact when Hala had stood. So she hadn't noticed it was falling apart until the attack was on its way she tried to stop it but she was to late. By the time it reached him his shadow body was completely gone and the blow struck him full force meeting no resistance except his skin. He was knocked back several feet and landed on his back. He lay completely motionless and heard two pairs of running feet as the fox sisters came to check on him. He tiredly closed his eyes as they approached and he saw them hovering over him.
"That's another shirt gone."
He said as his eyes closed and he fell asleep, defeated.