Shiro grit his teeth, clenching the sword tightly in his palm before he lunged forward swinging his arm at Zari who blocked him with ease. Shiro tried to strike again but she easily deflected it, causing it to sail past her and hit the wall behind her, embedding itself deep inside it.
"Where did a fucking wall come from?!" Shiro shouted.
Shiro cursed in frustration and pulled his sword back, preparing to attack again but suddenly Zari disappeared and reappeared at his side. Before Shiro could even react she grabbed him by the throat lifting him into the air before dropping him to the ground once more.
'I can't lose,' he thought determinedly as he got onto his feet and lunged at her again swinging the sword at her but once again she vanished just in time. 'Damn this damn creature!'
Zari reappeared behind him. "I have had enough of this," Zari said before grabbing Shiro's waist pulling him back and throwing him against the wall. Before Shiro could recover Zari had disappeared again and appeared behind him this time delivering a kick to his torso knocking the wind out of him. He coughed harshly as he tried to breathe.
"I told you not to provoke me," Zari warned as she appeared in front of him, striking his shoulder with her staff sending him sprawling to the ground. "What are you doing here?" She questioned as she glared at him.
"Lance deserves his life back!" Shiro yelled desperately.
"That doesn't concern you!" Zari shouted.
"As someone who has been a slave for years…I will seek his freedom…" Shiro yelled, raising his voice, struggling to stand up.
"Your feelings are worthless to me, Shiro," Zari said as she raised the staff high above her head and brought it down upon Shiro bringing him to his knees.
"No you don't understand! You separated us because you didn't want me infect his mind, but I was wrong!" Shiro exclaimed.
Zari raised her eyebrow at his statement confused as to why he wanted to talk about such things. Shiro readied his blade and charged at her once again.
[What are you talking about?]
"It has to stop. We can save him together," Shiro pleaded reaching for Zari.
Zari dodged out of his grasp and sent a blast of flames directly at him which he jumped out of the way avoiding the brunt of the explosion. Shiro looked around him for the next possible opening and noticed Zari's expression darken. There was no doubt in his mind she was furious.
"I don't care what you need from me!" Zari hissed angrily charging towards him.
"I'm sorry, but I won't be allowing you to leave here!" Shiro said, blocking an incoming blow.
Zari attempted another attack but Shiro jumped back and avoided the blow.
"I'll destroy you too!" She growled enraged at him.
"Do what you please," Shiro responded with an angry expression. "But know this, we have to keep fighting. If you let go you'll never get to him."
Zari froze momentarily, realising what he meant.
[I have made my decision.] Zari spoke quietly. "You may stay here but you must obey my orders or face punishment." She raised her staff pointing the tip of it towards him. "You will not survive." With that she disappeared from his view.
Shiro turned around to see Zari floating in the middle of the room, surrounded by tendrils of fire. The tentacles formed around him were moving at an unnatural speed, dragging him closer to Zari and forcing him to the ground. One by one they wrapped themselves around his legs preventing him from moving.
"You will pay for this insolent child!"
Zari's eyes widened in shock and fury as she glared hatefully at Shiro.
"You dare to threaten me?!" She roared.
"I'm not threatening you," Shiro replied calmly. "I'm telling you the truth. You're going to have to kill me to get to Lance."
A sinister smile appeared on Zari's face. "He is so much stronger now, he will not be easy to take down. I will take my revenge, however. And this time I will be the one to make sure your death is painful… Very painful."
Zari began swirling around him, unleashing a flurry of attacks. Shiro leapt aside barely able to defend himself from one attack after another before falling back into a defensive position. He tried to keep her focus on him but his movements were becoming increasingly sluggish and his stamina dwindling quickly.
He felt something tug at his feet making him stumble forwards, almost stumbling to the ground. Shiro glanced down to realize that it was Lance using what little of his strength left to grab his ankle and pull him back.
"Lance!" Shiro shouted kneeling down beside him, grasping his hand. He lifted his other one up and placed it over his chest in a weak attempt to stop the blood from flowing. "Zari..." Lance managed to say between pained gasps.
"Don't worry about Zari for now, allow me to finish," Shiro reassured him. He closed his eyes and focused all the remaining energy he had left to call upon Zari, trying to get her to move away from him. When he opened them once more she was gone again.
chains crawled around both Lance and Shiro binding their arms, legs, and chests leaving them completely helpless as they struggled to lift the chains off.
"Fitting as both of you are owned by someone!" She laughed.
Shiro continued struggling against the chains as he glared at Zari who floated above the both of them. She smirked as he continued to struggle against the chains unable to do anything other than watch as Zari took pleasure watching him suffer.
"It's sad really..." Zari mused. "After everything that you two have been through, it's still just words from a child like you that brings us pain. But it seems fate isn't willing to change its plan."
Zari snapped her fingers releasing the chains and watched as Shiro crashed against the floor. Her laughter filled the entire chamber.
"So it ends here," Zari chuckled. "I got new orders from the higher up...Shiro you are a handful."