At the outskirts of the abandoned building, when Yoshino's training with Rudabaugh had only a few minutes before it ended.
"Darkspawn types?" Yoshino asked Rudabaugh in tired breaths. The toll her training with Rudabaugh had on her body was hard to ignore.
Rudabaugh nodded. "Yes. Me and Henry figured since we still have some time until our training ends, I figured we could go over real quick on the...categorizations." Rudabaugh said to himself unsurely before shrugging. "That's the word Ambrosius had come up with. But Henry personally thinks the word Type sounds better." Rudabaugh glanced to the side. "And I'm sort of inclined to agree with it."
"Ok, so...what are these types?" Yoshino asked to get the conversation back on topic.
"Right, so, from what Ambrosius told us, darkspawns are mainly divided between scout, warrior, and mage." After a small pause, her professor elaborated. "Of course, each with their own sub-categories. But right now, at least, they are not important."
Rudabaugh raised his left hand before sticking the index finger up. "Let's start with the easiest one to explain right now, the scout type." He raised his right hand and placed it on his chest. "For the sake of the explanation, imagine I'm Henry. As Henry, I would be considered a scout darkspawn. Meaning, that I may be good at things like tracking, infiltration, and assassination. But, in compensation, I am not as good in a straightforward fight like warriors such as Youya or Ooinn, or not as magically inclined like mages such as Ambrosius."
Yoshino slowly nodded in understanding. "I see...could you elaborate more on what it means to be a mage type? I mean, I think I can get the gist of the warrior type pretty well. But aren't we all using magic in some way, shape, or form to fight? What makes Uncle Ambrosius and others like him so different from everyone else?"
"Hmm, if I had to pick one word...I think it would be understanding."
Yoshino tilted her head to the side. "Understanding?"
"Yes, I don't know the exact intricacies of it, ask your Uncle Ambrosius for that. But I DO know that their use of magic is, objectively, an entire level above warrior and scout types." Rudabaugh explained.
Yoshino grew a frown on her expression. "So, would you say they are the strongest, professor?"
Rudabaugh crossed his arms in thought. "I wouldn't say they are necessarily the strongest...but they are the trickiest. Certainly not the type you would want to be ambushed by or ambush without a plan B, C, and D in case you can't deal with them quickly."
Yoshino slowly nodded. "I see...hopefully, I won't need to fight one anytime soon."
Back to the present, Yoshino cursed under her breath as it seemed she had jinxed herself. The darkspawn in front of her didn't fit Rudabaugh's description of what Yoshino imagined a scout type or even a warrior to be. Which only left...
Yoshino was snapped out of her thoughts by Mukarramma's voice. "My turn," She said, picking up one of the five cards in her hand. Let's start with a warm-up! I call forth a prodigy of the arcane arts, The Magician!" After Mukarramma dramatically declared that, the card she chose disappeared, and soon, a summoning circle materialized on the floor between Mukarramma and Yoshino.
Yoshino's eyes widened as she witnessed a young man with a serene expression, in white robes, emanating purity and clarity, and a red cloak, symbolizing the energy and power he wielded, reinforced by the white wand he carried in his right hand. Around his waist, he wore a sash which on close inspection looked like a serpent biting its tail.
Four objects floated in the air around the man: a chalice, a sword, and another wand, but unlike the one the mage wielded, this one was purple.
"Anyway, I activate The Magician's ability! When he's called into the field, he can choose to cast a spell on you from one of four elemental schools of magic by using one of the objects floating around him as a catalyst. Now, The Magician, choose the wand and wield the power of flames, [Halaqat Al-Nar]!" Mukarramma declared as she did a dramatic pose before pointing at her opponents.
The purple wand glowed a bright red hue, soon becoming a magical orb of energy before said energy went for The Magician's wand.
Yoshino and everybody else watched with bated breath as they prepared to move out of the way the moment an attack was thrown at them. Come on, come on, what are you planning?
Once all of the orb of energy was absorbed in its entirety, The Magician waved his wand around in a circle before pointing his wand at Yoshino and her group. Suddenly, fire burst forth from the floor around them, and before they knew it, they were now trapped inside with the enemy. Everyone's movement is now limited to a small space compared to what they had to work with.
Dammit, was this their plan all along? To trap us so we wouldn't be able to dodge its attacks?! When Yoshino looked at The Magician again, she couldn't help but feel intimidated by how his calm smile contrasted with the flames around him.
Thankfully, Nozomi and Rudabaugh's presence as she glanced at them helped Yoshino to calm herself down before she lost her cool for good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nozomi watched as Mukarramma continued with her turn, the latter unbothered by the wall of fire surrounding her. "Now with that out of the way, I prepare two cards in reverse and end my turn."
After a second after they said that, Mukarramma's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I almost forgot! These flames aren't just for decoration." Mukarramma unnerved Nozomi by squinting their eyes and directing a smirk in her direction, or at least, the closest thing to a smirk she could manage when accounting for the limitations of her wooden face. "Every time that I end my turn without declaring an attack with The Magician, I can choose a target to be burned by his arcane fire!"
After she said that, Mukarramma stopped to stare at Nozomi, the latter reflexively raising her guard so she would be ready against whatever Mukarramma was planning.
Silver-white eyes stared at red-crimson for what felt like an eternity until Nozomi noticed Mukarramma's eyes had not-so-subtly moved away from her. Hmm? Nozomi reflexively turned to where Mukarramma was looking. Where's she...
Nozomi's eyes widened as she realized Mukarramma's real target, her legs soon bolting toward Rea. Rea had only been able to mutter a "Wha-" before Nozomi pushed her with enough force that when Rea was on the ground she was a couple of meters away from Nozomi and only a meter and a half away from the flames of the fiery arena.
As Nozomi turned to face Mukarramma mid-push, they saw the creepy doll now had an uncanny, stretchy smile that realistically shouldn't be possible with how they looked to have been built out of wood instead of any flexible material, which sent chills down Nozomi's spine. Mukarramma's smile silently told Nozomi that they had played into their hand.
Before Nozomi knew it, her vision replaced Mukarramma with a bright flash of light, immediately followed by darkness and overwhelming, agonizing, searing pain that originated in her face.
Soon, a shriek of pain that risked deafening everyone came from Nozomi. Reflexively reaching for her mask, Nozomi soon felt her hands burning when they passed by the mask's eyeholes.
She couldn't hear the screams of horror and distress from everyone around her as she fell on the floor and rolled on the floor in pain and confusion at what happened. Whenever someone tried to reach for her, Nozomi would reflexively lash out at them. Her thoughts during this moment were a jumbled, chaotic mess.
But just as quick as it started, the burning suddenly ended. It took a couple of minutes for Nozomi to stop screaming, more from exhaustion than actually realizing the burning had indeed ended, the lingering searing pain left around her face did not help. Upon discovering the darkness wasn't gone yet, her breathing became tired and the rest of her body trembled in fear. "W-where's everyone? W-why is everything so dark?!" Nozomi shouted to anyone who could hear her as she tried to feel around her surroundings.
Nozomi felt like crying right then and there, but for some reason that evaded her, no tears came out, or at least, she didn't feel any wetness from her eyes which made her want to cry even more. Why...why can't I cry?! What's going on?
"Nozomi!" Yoshino called, trying to reach Nozomi now that the latter had calmed down enough that she wasn't rolling around on the floor anymore.
"Yoshino?" Nozomi asked as she felt the hand of someone she could only assume to be her best friend on her shoulder. Their touch calmed Nozomi's breathing enough so she stopped panicking. "I-I can't see anything, m-my face hurts, what happened?!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nozomi didn't get an immediate answer from Yoshino, the latter had now a better look at how damaged Nozomi's mask had become around where the eyehole's edges were and noticed the lack of glimmer of white light that usually came from her eyes when transformed. The implications of it hit Yoshino with a wave of dread. "Nozomi..."
"Yes?" Nozomi asked, slightly afraid of why Yoshino had such an unnerved tone in her voice.
After a chilling stretch of silence, Yoshino gulped down. "I'm...going to need you to remove your mask, please."
There was a small pause, but thankfully for Yoshino, Nozomi didn't question why Yoshino asked that and soon complied with a weak nod.
After Nozomi touched the kanji engraved on her mask, allowing it to be taken off, Yoshino's eyes soon grew wide in utter horror as she stared, jaw hanging, at the void that currently was Nozomi's eyesockets. Whatever was that fire from The Magician had completely vaporized Nozomi's eyes, leaving no trace of their existence.
Yoshino would've kept staring at the all-consuming abyss that Nozomi's eyesockets had become if the latter's voice hadn't pulled the former away from said abyss. "Yoshino?"
Blinking a couple of times, Yoshino immediately turned to Seiza. "S-seiza!" She nervously stuttered when calling the puppy.
Seiza, whose mind also had completely stopped upon seeing the lack of eyes on Nozomi, snapped out of it and immediately went to try to heal Nozomi.
But just when he was about to do it, Mukarramma finally spoke up again. "Reversed card activate, The Emperor Reversed!" Mukarramma declared.
What!? Yoshino turned to Mukarramma and waited with apprehension for something to happen...but nothing did.
What did she just do? Yoshino searched her surroundings for what Mukarramma had just done when her gaze landed on Seiza whose expression grew increasingly frustrated the more time passed without his signature green glow that was his healing magic. "W-why can't I heal anymore!?" Seiza yelled, his expression grew into panic.
"That would be because of me."
Everyone but Nozomi turned their attention to Mukarramma who looked like she knew something they didn't. When Mukarramma figured she had their undivided attention, she elaborated. "The Emperor Reversed's effect allows me to choose one decree from a list. And the decree I picked was the Decree of Healing! While on activated, no healing coming from either party is permitted! Sorry, but I'm afraid I will be the last thing your friend will ever see~"
"W-wait, WHAT?!" Nozomi exclaimed in disbelief, her erratic breathing and trembling returning in full force as reality hit her like a train.
Yoshino grabbed her best friend's shoulders to try to stop her trembling. "Hey, HEY, Nozomi, don't panic, okay? Focus on me. I'm here. We're going to find a way to fix this. Just...please don't panic."
Yoshino internally breathed as Nozomi gave a weak nod after closing and opening her mouth a few times. It will have to do. Yoshino thought before turning to glare at Mukarramma.
Mukarramma frowned slightly at Yoshino at the look the latter gave the former. As if this wasn't the first time she saw something like it. "It's your turn now," Mukarramma stated coldly before adding. "Make it count."