"Tell me, Ai, is there anything I missed that wasn't a failure?" Baron asked.
"I'm afraid I have no good news," Hachimura said. "Although ..." She paused.
"Yes?"
"A new girl arrived, she looked like she needed help so I --"
"This isn't a charity, Ai, we can't be helping everyone who walks in through our door. Have her leave immediately," Baron ordered.
"I would but she's been unconscious ever since."
"Great! You gave shelter to a wastoid."
"That's the thing, I don't think she is. There's something about her ... You'll have to see for yourself."
"I don't have the time. I'm headed to Leinheim to visit my employer."
Baron started walking out of the building when Hachimura spoke. "I should've led the team that day. Success would've seen us out of the shadows once and for all."
Baron snorts. "If I had trusted the guy's word I'd have gone there myself but I had a feeling it was going to be an ambush ..." Baron tilted his head sideways and opened his arms. "Clearly I wasn't wrong."
"What would you do to the employer?" Ai asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Maybe we will talk over some tea." Baron smiled and walked out of the building.
The vanilla blonde woman turned to a window. "I know you're there. Why don't you show yourself."
Hunter stepped out from the darkness. "I don't want any trouble," he said, opening his hand in a disarming manner.
"... You're Sasha's boyfriend aren't you?" She asked.
"I'm Hunter," the sprite replied.
"Sasha's not here," Hachimura said. "You should leave, this place isn't for men."
"I saw what happened to Sasha ... You just stood there and watched. You call yourselves sisters and yet you did nothing to help her," Hunter said.
"Choose your next words carefully," Hachimura warned.
Hunter started walking past the blue-eyed woman. "Where's the new girl? I'm getting her out of here before you include her in this madness," the sprite stated.
"I don't think so!"
Hachimura took out her sword and dashed at the sprite who bent backward, avoiding the attack. Hunter jumped backward and grabbed a sword from the sword rack. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Ai closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. The vanilla blonde was wearing a cape that swung forward and then backward as a small wind flew by. When she opened them again, the sprite could've sworn that they were ice blue for a fleeting moment. "Draw your sword."
The sprite pulled out the blade from its scabbard and tossed the sheath away. His hands tightened around the grip of the sword before he charged forward, closing the distance between himself and the young battlemage. Hunter jumped and spun twice in the air before striking the blue-eyed battlemage.
She dodged, masterfully avoiding the strike before swinging her blade at the sprite who did well to parry the attack.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
The sound of the two blades clashing reverberates throughout the empty warehouse as they both did well to cancel each other's attack but not enough to gain the upper hand.
Hunter aimed for Hachimura's hand, the blonde spun the sword, releasing it from her grip, and took a step back. Once the sprite's attack passed, and missed, she grabbed her sword which was still in the air, and charged forward, the sharp end of the sword pointing backward and the hilt pointing at the sprite.
Ai swung the blade forward, the sprite took a step back to avoid it but the strike caught him just below the eye and drew blood.
The cut didn't cause any reaction in the sprite, he swiftly swung his blade towards the battlemage's neck, forcing her to the duck.
From the squatting position, Hachimura launches herself into the air and somersaults. She swings her blade towards Hunter while airborne. The sprite leaned back, used his sword to parry, spun, and returned the attack to the vanilla blonde.
She parries before landing on her feet and tries to sweep the sprite. Hunter jumps but the battlemage anticipates his move, jumping after him and hitting him with a heel kick. He managed to get his elbow up in time but the impact still throws him several feet backwards.
Ai rushes forward, her right hand in which she wielded her sword, stretched backward, and the blade pointing upwards while the dark-haired boy struggles to find his footing.
Hunter rotated a bit but swiftly stamped his foot on the ground and launched himself forward. He raises the sword high and so does Hachimura, their swords meet in the middle with a huge clash!
Bits and chunks of metal fly everywhere as both their blades shatter but the mystics do not stop; they quickly move into each other's sides and attempt to strike each other with what is left of their sword - the hilt. Their hands collide and the hilt flies out of their hand.
Hunter throws a left and the battlemage tries to block with her right forearm, the punch proves too strong, and Hachimura is forced to use both hands to block it. The sprite clenches his right and throws a punch but once again, the vanilla blonde woman anticipates his move. She rotates and hits the sprite with her right elbow.
As the sprite goes up into the air, Ai forms an x with her hands, her palms facing her body. She then brings her hands up, keeping them in a linear line but a foot away from each other. She moves her hands in a circular but maintains the same distance between them, forming a frost energy ball and shooting it at the sprite.
As the sprite flies backward, the battlemage chases after him, her hands still surrounded with frost energy as she catches up and hits him with several punches and kicks before finally grabbing him by the face and planting him into the ground.
Ai exhales deeply but suddenly the ground begins to glow, she tries to react but there is an explosion before she does, the blast sending her several feet away. The battlemage plants her hand on the ground to stop herself from going any further back.
She looks up to see the sprite emerging from the explosion.
Hunter's teal green iris was now like a ball of fire and his dark hair was now a burning, orange flame. His body was now dark, like a silhouette, with several orange markings here and there on his body.
"Alright," the battlemage mumbled. Her hair turns ice blonde and her iris turns ice blue. The battlemage removes her cape and tosses it aside, bracing herself for the sprite's attack.
Hunter covers the distance between them, throwing a left hook at the ice blonde but the latter forms a large snowflake shield between them.
The dark mystic shifts swiftly, attacking the ice-blue-eyed woman from behind but runs into a similar resistance. The sprite goes high and tries an attack from above but the battlemage shoots the snowflake from her mouth, creating a large distance between herself and the sprite.
Hunter skates down the wall of snowflake, Hachimura forms a shield between them once more but the dark mystic forms a flame of fire around his palm and breaks through it before hitting the battlemage on the chest and sending her to the ground.
Her hair turns back to its normal vanilla blonde color and her ice blue iris reverts to its blue nature. She remains on the floor defeated so the sprite decides to turn to his normal form too.
Hunter's eyes turned teal green and his hair turned dark and fell to his shoulder. "Just so you know, I'll be coming for the other girls soon. Your cult has gone unchecked for too long." With that, the sprite walked away.
Ai sighs but sits up when she hears footsteps approaching her. She looked up to see one of her sisters. "What was that about?" The sister asked.
"What do you think?"
The girl frowned. "You held back a ton so I'm not too sure," she said.
"He wants to go against the master so I wanted to see if he had what it takes," Ai stated.
"And?" The girl asked. "Does he?"
...
Hunter walked into the next room in search of the new girl.
[Hunter, what was that last form you used?]
'That? I simply turned the energy around into combustion and then turned the heat into fire. I thought it would be the perfect counter for her ice-based powers.'
[Sprites shouldn't be able to do that. No one should be able to do that except for Yves who is the last fire breather.]
'You did say I was your descendant and you also said I was a dark mystic. Maybe Yves is also my ancestor and my dark mystic ability is the same as Yves''
[That's not possible, Yves can't have children.]
'Oh?'
Hunter pushes open a curtain separating him from the room the new girl is in. To the sprite's surprise, he was able to recognize her.
She had long red hair and stone blue skin. "What the --" he said surprised.
"Sof?"
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