Kira, eyes wide in disbelief, as she observed the line of six Nexarc students walking like lifeless corpses, much like the ones she had previously encountered. As she traced their path, she arrived at a chilling scene an old stone ground adorned with eerie symbols drawn in dark hues of blood.
In front of the line of entranced students stood a young woman, radiating an otherworldly allure. Jet-black hair cascaded down her shoulders, and her captivating violet eyes held an enigmatic spark. Adorned in elegantly tattered robes adorned with strange symbols, the woman commanded an unsettling presence.
"I've never seen her in the academy before." Kira whispered softly. As her brows furrowed 'But what is she doing?' she pondered, her curiosity tinged with growing concern.
The Nexarc students, still under the mysterious trance, approached the woman. With a sway of her hand, a dim blue glow emanated from her fingertips, touching the face of one Nexarc student. His eyes, previously filled over with white, returned to normal, and he woke in shock, scanning his surroundings.
"Morgana, what's going on?" the boy Nexarc asked in panic already knowing the woman.
Morgana wore a charming expression. "But, George, didn't you say you would protect me when..." she trailed off, fluttering her eyes.
The boy's George face, initially panicked, transformed into excitement, his eyes filled with adoration for Morgana. "Yes... yes, but what's happening with the other students?" he questioned eagerly.
Suddenly, the boy George felt something awry in his body, jolting him out of the trance. He sensed his blood and Nexus energy draining as his body started to wither. Confused, he looked down discovering blue glowing chains around his hands and feet. Looking up, he met Morgana's evil smile, realizing that something was profoundly wrong.
Behind him, the captured Nexarc students, also bound by glowing blue chains, trembled with fear as Morgana circled them like a predatory vulture closing in on its prey. Her black robe flowed ominously as she chanted unknown incantations in a long-forgotten language only she knew.
'I need to stop her,' Kira thought, 'but I also need to find a way to make her lose control of those Nexarc students.'
As each second passed, Morgana drew upon unknown energies permeating the forest, and a sickly green glow emanated from her eyes, casting an otherworldly light on her twisted, evil face.
Kira, without a solid plan but determined to intervene, rushed straight at Morgana, slipping down the dirt hill toward her and instantly catching Morgana's attention, causing her to stop her chants.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Morgana pointed at Kira, annoyed. 'I have important work to do,and your making it impossible.?' she thought
"Whatever you're doing, you need to stop right now," Kira demanded, making sure to stand outside the circle of weird blood symbols.
"Haha, what makes you think I will do that?" Morgana retorted.
Kira knew it wouldn't be easy, but she hadn't devised a plan yet. For now, it was best to try and get Morgana out of the symbol circle.
Approaching a Nexarc student standing outside the circle, Kira surprised Morgana. Instead of running away, Kira pushed one of the students, breaking the link between them and the others.
"Ahh...You won't disrupt my ritual!" Morgana shouted at Kira in anger.
Morgana swept her hand at the line of Nexarc students, and their eyes glowed dim blue as they all turned toward Kira.
"I hope you survive," Morgana said sarcastically, backing away.
All the Nexarc students dashed toward Kira. Some didn't use any elements, while only two had the power of shards and dust. Quickly taking out her Shadowstrider bow, Kira notched an arrow and aimed at the closest students.
'I need to try not to injure them too much, as they are not in their right minds but under her control,' Kira thought. 'Ah, this is getting annoying.'
Kira didn't like the idea of having to make sure she didn't hurt the nexarcs students because she rather use one arrow an quickly finish them but shouldn't cause it might cause problems for her latter and whatever happens after this she needed them alive to prove whats happening here.
Reluctantly releasing a normal arrow, it struck the closest student's leg, causing him to kneel in pain. He quickly got back up, limping toward Kira. She fired another arrow into his other leg, causing him to drop to the ground hitting they face, and falling unconscious. Kira repeated the process with precision, ensuring she incapacitated the students without causing them severe harm. It was a delicate balance between stopping the immediate threat and preserving their well-being for future revelations, but each arrow Kira released weighed on her conscience. She felt the sting of guilt with every incapacitated student.
With two normal students quickly immobilized by Kira's skillful maneuvers, she faced the challenge of dealing with the two Nexarc students with elemental powers. As she circled around, preparing to immobilize them, the dust Nexarc sent a cloud of dust flying toward her eyes.
Fortunately, Kira managed to avoid the dust reaching her eyes, but her vision became obscured. Having her need to squint to see through the dust, she suddenly saw barely through the cloud of dust a large crystal shard came hurtling towards her. With a last-second sidestep, she narrowly dodged the attack, but not without consequence a long slice on her shoulder left blood flowing, As the slice on her shoulder throbbed with each of her heartbeat.
Wincing at the injury, Kira swiftly retaliated by aiming an arrow through the dust toward the source of the crystal shard. Although she couldn't see the result, the sound of someone dropping to the ground suggested a successful hit. As the dust settled, it revealed the dust Nexarc still standing but the crystal shard Nexarc on the ground, arrows embedded in his stomach.
'Dammit... should've come up with a better idea.' Kira thought, frustrated with the situation. However, she refocused on the current task, quickly sending two arrows back-to-back into the dust Nexarc's legs. He dropped to the ground, incapacitated.
Morgana, looking over at Kira and the defeated Nexarc students, was clearly in disbelief, wondering how did she managed to do that?. Unbeknownst to Morgana, a shadow arrow had been sent by Kira a warning shot, but hearing the sound of the wrong wind coming toward her In the nick of time, she dodged the arrows by turning her head away.
"That's just a warning shot." Kira shouted in a threatening tone. "Now, can you tell me why you're doing this?"
Instead of answering, Morgana's body moved up and down as if she were breathing heavily. Kira tilted her head curiously, only for Morgana to suddenly cover her face with her hands.
"Ah, my face!" she exclaimed in shock. Morgana's head swung back up,"You ruined my face" she screamed almost sounding like a banshee. revealing the side of her face covered in black blood. It seemed she had been cut, but Kira thought she hadn't made contact with her, Kira looked through a space in her hand she noticed face had wrinkly skin.
'What's wrong with her face?' Kira wondered.
Morgana, still covering her face with one hand, swiped her other hand, causing a large amount of blue light to flash, and the ground started crumbling. In an instant, Kira turned to run, but as she stepped forward, she fell straight into the crumbling darkness, As she plunged into the darkness, the world around her dissolved into an abyss of uncertainty.
"Ahh!" Kira's scream echoed, sounding as if she was trapped inside a well.
Morgana walked to the edge of the crumbling ground. "Hopefully, while you're down there, you'll learn not to mess with certain people," she said happily. "Hope you do her some good."
With a wave of her hand, the ground began to slowly rebuild, leaving a small hole. Unconscious Nexarc students, unable to resist, had their life forces siphoned away, and blood flowed from their bodies into the air finally flowing into her fingertips. Morgana's laughter echoed like a haunting melody as she absorbed all the life from the Nexarc students, leaving only skeletons. Strangely, Morgana's previously dim blue eyes started to glow brighter with each life she absorbed, and the wrinkles on her face seemed to smooth out.
"Hehe!" Morgana's laughter sounded charming as she kicked all the Nexarc students' skeletons down the small hole that remained in the ground.