{Code Cancel}
The ice swords coming towards Seventeen dissipated into magia particles and disappeared. 'Damn it worked.', he thought.
The hall went quiet as everyone looked at what happened with shocked faces. "Did he just erase that attack?", Clare asked, breaking the silence.
"Is that even possible?", Robin asked.
"Code negation was only a theory. I can't believe I actually saw it.", Minerva said in a shocked voice.
On his seat, Zephyrus smiled, "A Code to cancel another Code. So this is what you were working on. Seventeen you bastard, you never cease to amaze me."
"No way. Ho....how?", Ruth stammered in shock.
"I would like to take a class about this but currently we're in a duel.", Seventeen smirked and snapped his fingers, {Fire Code: Ring of Fire}, and a huge circle of flames erupted around them.
"Let's continue.", Seventeen said and disappeared. Ruth sensed him and barely dodged a slash from her right. She summoned her ice swords and launched them at Seventeen.
Seventeen just smiled and knocked them away. Ruth directed the swords to his left but they just went straight and missed him. She gritted her teeth and jabbed the white sword in her hand forwards.
More ice swords formed and flew towards Seventeen who parried and dodged all of them with ease. Some of the swords weren't even responding.
'Why aren't they responding?', she thought when a drop of water fell on her face. She looked up and saw one of the newly formed swords surrounding her was melting.
Realization hit her like a slap in the face.
'The ring of fire!', she looked at the blazing flames surrounding the battlefield. Of course, the flames are melting her swords and making her lose control of them.
"You cunning fox.", she muttered and stamped her foot, {Ice Code: Frost Wave}, the ice quickly spread from her foot to the flames, instantly freezing them. Ice covered the floor of the practice hall.
Ruth was panting. She had used up a lot of magia and is also running out of time. Little patches of fog puffed out of her mouth with every breath.
"You figured it out.", Seventeen landed a few feet from her, smiling.
"Of course I did. Your flames can melt my ice. So you created the Ring of Fire as a countermeasure against my Dance of Swords. Clever", Ruth said between breaths.
Seventeen grinned, "Just as expected from a genius."
"Even an idiot could figure it out after some time. It was a simple tactic.", Ruth stated. Her knees suddenly buckled and a throbbing pain came on her back. She winced.
Seventeen's face became serious, 'It's probably the curse.', he thought.
(Better to finish it now, Seventeen)
'Yeah.'
"I think it's time we end this.", he said aloud. He gripped Nyx and vanished.
Before Ruth could even process what happened, a cold black blade rested an inch from her throat. "Checkmate.", Seventeen whispered in her ear and released his bloodlust.
Ruth couldn't move at all. She was paralyzed and couldn't think. Fear gripped her heart but she couldn't scream as the cold and ruthless feeling overwhelmed her.
She couldn't believe someone could go from carefree to releasing this much bloodlust in an instant.
"Alright. You win.", she whispered shakily. Seventeen removed the blade from her throat and she slumped to her knees.
Her previous Code was deactivated and the ice swords around her disappeared. Her hair turned back to its original auburn shade. She looked at Seventeen who came in front of her.
'Who is this person?', she thought and was surprised when he extended his hand to her.
"Huh?"
"Get up ice queen. The duel is over and so is our animosity. Like it or not, we are co-workers now.", Seventeen said.
"How can you say it in such a casual way?", Ruth asked hotly as she accepted his hand and got up.
Zephyrus wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. The bloodlust which Seventeen unleashed was tremendous.
But this bloodlust was actually inherited by Seventeen from Prime through his soul. 'What kind of a man were you Prime?', Zephyrus thought when suddenly he remembered that he was a mediator.
"Okay so. The winner of this duel is Seventeen!", he announced. The students cheered for their instructor. Zephyrus smiled when suddenly a chill ran down his spine. He looked at the two instructors.
At the same time, a sharp pain flared in Ruth's back. She cried out and fell to her knees. Her snowflake tattoo glowed blue. "Oh no.", her eyes widened.
"Get away from me!", she yelled.
No sooner had she said it when ice spikes shot out around her. "Oh shit.", Seventeen swore as he jumped to avoid getting impaled. He turned around to see a scary sight.
Ruth was on all fours and screaming in pain. The temperature dropped and ice spikes came out around her and went in all directions. He saw ice forming and spreading all around the hall.
When Seventeen tried to move, he found his feet encased in ice which was spreading upwards. He deactivated his thermal sensors so he didn't feel the cold. Seventeen activated Pheonix Cloak and melted the ice before it could cover him.
He heard yells and screams from the benches. The students!
Seventeen turned and saw Arthur intercepting and slicing the ice spikes coming towards him with a purple-tinged blade.
The others scrambled away from the incoming ice. A gust of wind blew away Robin as a spike erupted where he stood. He saw Zephyrus controlling the winds.
Seventeen heard the crackle of electricity and saw Ray and Damien destroying the spikes with lightning. Flare was destroying the ice with her flaming fists.
He suddenly heard a louder scream and saw to his horror an ice spike covered with blood protruding from Ruth's shoulder.
(The curse is getting worse)
Zephyrus landed beside him, "The students!", Seventeen yelled.
"They will be fine. I'm protecting them with my winds. Besides, we have a bigger problem. The curse activated very early. It shouldn't even activate in the first place.", Zephyrus said.
"How long was she able to hold it back?", Seventeen asked.
"Fifteen minutes."
"Our fight was only ten minutes. What the heck?", Seventeen said as the crackling of the ice became louder.
"Maybe it's because of magia depletion. She might've used more magia than she thought and in the end, there wasn't enough magia to hold back the curse!", Zephyrus answered.
"What can we do?", Seventeen asked.
"Usually the effects of the curse last for some time before losing power. But this is different. We might have no choice but to kill her.", Zephyrus answered with difficulty.
"Not an option. The curse might not shut down even after her death. I'm going to try what Prime suggested. I will use Code Cancel. You just contain the ice in this building", Seventeen replied.
"Sounds like a plan.", Zephyrus said and the winds swirled around him.
"Let's save your co-worker."
*******
Arthur almost lost an eye.
"Whoa!", he exclaimed as an ice spike came at his face. He quickly dodged and sliced it with Ghost, the blade making a hissing sound as it came in contact with the ice.
"I hate it when my visions become true.", he muttered.
Suddenly he saw another spike form behind Gray who was using her own ice attribute to destroy the spreading ice.
He leaped towards her and slashed the spike into two. Gray yelped and looked behind her and noticed the spike.
"Thank you!", she said. "Don't mention it.", Arthur replied. He heard a crackling noise and Ray landed beside him, shattering the ice. "This is going nowhere!", he yelled.
"Indeed.", Arthur replied and yelled, "Minerva!"
"I know!", Minerva yelled back. "Everyone! Get to that wall!", she pointed at a wall that was relatively unscathed by the ice.
All of them rushed to the wall, leaping over and destroying ice spikes that popped out everywhere. "Now what?", Robin asked as they reached the wall.
Minerva looked at Flare, "Flare. Ignite."
"Excuse me?"
Minerva sighed, "Use your flames. The flames of the Dragnia Family can hold back this ice."
"Oh. Alright.", Flare said and channeled her flames around her. She stood in front of the group and sure enough, the ice stopped spreading toward them.
"Nice. Now we have to wait for sir and the headmaster to sort things out.", Arthur said and hoped their instructor can stop this.
*******
Seventeen dodged another huge spike that almost skewered him. "This is starting to get annoying.", he muttered. He looked at Zephyrus who was preventing the ice from spreading beyond the practice hall with his winds.
'Prime. Did you locate the curse mark?', he asked.
(Yes Seventeen. The curse mark is behind Ruth's Core, in between the shoulder blades)
'How is she not running out of magia?', Seventeen asked as he sliced another spike in half.
(It seems like the mark is forcing her body to absorb massive amounts of magia. Forcing the body to do this suddenly is extremely painful)
'No wonder she screamed so hard.', he thought and swiftly made his way to Ruth. He found her surrounded by a tornado of ice shards spinning at a tremendous speed around her.
(A normal person will be shredded if they approach her. Even you might get some scratches. Be careful)
'I know.', Seventeen replied.
The whole practice hall was frozen except where Zephyrus stood and the students grouped. He saw Flare standing between the ice and the others with her flames.
"You're a real pain in the ass, ice queen.", he muttered and extended his left hand to the swirling ice tornado, {Code Cancel}, the ice shards dispersed.
Seventeen winced. Unlike other Codes where he can use the magia around him. Code Cancel requires magia from his Reserve in massive amounts.
Currently, he can use Code Cancel four times before his Reserve becomes exhausted. A normal warlock would die if they used Code Cancel even once.
Inside the tornado, he saw Ruth curled up on the floor. Bloodied ice spikes sprouted from her arms and legs and blood pooled around her. She wasn't screaming but he could hear her whimpering, "Not again. Please not again."
(Seems like she had some past trauma)
"Yeah", Seventeen replied. He knelt and softly touched her arm, "Hey ice queen, open your eyes.", he said softly. Ruth flinched and opened her eyes.
Seventeen saw only pain and fear in them.
He couldn't believe those were the same intelligent and fierce eyes he saw the previous day. Ruth opened her mouth, "Please kill me.", she pleaded in a trembling voice.
Another ice spike shot out of her shoulder and she screamed.
Seventeen shook his head, "No can do. I will not be able to enjoy my life if I kill a good person and also, death is not the only option. Even a genius like you should know that."
"There is no other option.", Ruth said weakly.
"There is, ice queen. Do you trust me?", Seventeen asked.
"No."
"Well, you should start trusting people more.", Seventeen assured and placed his palm between her shoulder blades, "This might sting.", he said and bent his ring finger inwards. He gathered his magia and exhaled.
{Code Cancel}
Ruth screamed again as the Code met the curse mark. The curse mark shattered with a burst of magia which blew away both the ice and Seventeen.
Ruth closed her eyes and collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
"Ow.", Seventeen tried to stand up but his knees buckled.
He used Code Cancel three times. He used up massive amounts of magia and he couldn't function properly without it.
He just sat down and sighed in relief.
"That went well"