Adriana burst through the doors of the Silver Palace, her chest heaving with exertion. She scanned the room, her eyes locking onto Dona, who was seated at a table nearby .
"Dona, what are you doing?" Adriana asked, striding over to her. "You should have told me when you were going out. I had to look all over for you."
Dona raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eye. " Your not my mom, Adriana. I don't need to check in with you."
" But you still should have told me." Adriana pressed.She caught sight of her father, the Duke, sitting opposite them. She bowed, a formal smile on her face.
"Good morning, Father."
The Duke chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Ah, Adriana, you don't need to be so formal with me. I'm your father, not some stuffy noble."
" You are a stuffy noble."Adriana sighed, a hint of exasperation in her voice.
"Father, someone has to maintain some level of dignity in this family. And it's not like the other dukes appreciate your...unconventional attitude towards formalities."
The Duke laughed, a deep, rumbling sound. "Ah, that's their loss. I'm the funnest guy in the family. They're just jealous."
Adriana shook her head, a wry smile on her face. "I'm sure that's it, Father."
Dona, who had been watching the exchange with interest too advantage to swipe a bowl that was Infront of the Duke. Adriana turned back to her.
Adriana's eyes narrowed. "Actually, Dona, I've been assigned to be your escort for the day. So, at least for today, let me know where you're going."
Dona raised an eyebrow, a sarcastic tone in her voice. "Oh, joy. I can barely contain my excitement."
Saleem and Adriana exchanged glances then sighed.
The Duke chuckled. Adriana shot her father a look, but he just winked at her. She sighed, resigned to a long and trying day.
**************
The air was electric with tension as Sid and Antoine faced off against Jack, Sol, Arin, and Jaro. The two groups clashed in a flurry of steel and magic, their battle raging across the streets of the city.
Sol stayed back and concentrated on evacuating the wounded from the area while Arin stood in front of him as support, firing arrows to cover Jack and Jaro who attacked Sid.
Sid, with his special ability TerraVerde , summoned a trio of golems to take on Jack. The golems, crafted from the earth itself, towered over Jack, their bodies a mass of rock and wood from the destroyed area. Jack, undaunted, charged forward, his double-edged sword flashing in the sunlight.
"Kin,you think your little plant magic can take me down?" Jack sneered. He slid under a swing from a golem his sword slicing through its arm.
Sid smiled, his eyes glinting with amusement. "You're no match for my Terra Verde, half breed scum" he said, his voice dripping with confidence.
"Golems, attack!"
The golems lurched forward, their bodies unfolding like living, breathing sculptures. Jack dodged and weaved, his sword flashing as he struck at the golems. But Sid's creations were relentless, their bodies reforming and adapting to Jack's attacks.
Meanwhile, Antoine faced off against Jaro Arin as backup. The two warriors were a formidable team, their movements fluid and coordinated. But Antoine was no pushover, his mirror magic ability allowing him to hold them off. Projections of mirrors appeared all around him and he used them as shields to block Jaro and Arin's combined efforts while reflecting sunlight as powerful blasts against them.
Antoine was very adept in the manipulation of his abilities and was able to evolve his skill to get the special ability Mirror Master.
A mirror appeared Infront of Arin and a hand shot out to grab her but she jumped back. A clone of Antoine appeared and began to attack her. This was the ability known as Magic Imagery.
This ability allows the user to create a temporary, sentient image of themselves within a mirror. This image, which appears as a perfect reflection of the user, can move independently and take actions on its own, effectively creating a "twin" of the user.
Arin fired arrow after arrow at Antoine, but he disappeared and the mirror fired a blast that knocked her back. More mirrors appeared and more copies of himself appeared. making it seem as though he was everywhere at once.
Arin and Jaro charged forward, their movements lightning-fast but their attacks phased through the clones. But Antoine created a blast that shot through the block destroying buildings and melting rock, sending them stumbling back.
" Hm,such a pathetic display will never be enough to take me down. Your just not beautiful enough." He said through all the clones.
Arin noticed that the clones all had a mirror fragment that followed their movements.
She looked at Jaro establishing a telepathic link and telling him her plan. He nodded and ran towards them.
" Oh,your determination to die is quite elegant." All the Antoine's said as Jaro jumped. They disappeared as all the mirror fragments pointed at him. Jaro immediately did a backflip changing direction in midair and landing on the nearest rooftop. He was the diversion. Arin then fired an arrow which hit a fragment breaking it before ricocheting to hit the others at an angle of 90 degrees.
The arrow broke all the fragments before hitting the original,the only one who didn't disappear when the beams were to be fired, cutting his ear.
Antoine touched the cut and looked at the blood on his fingers. His aura flared as he got angry.
" How dare you hit someone as beautiful as I ?!" He fumed.he prepare to blast them with sunlight but Sol jumped up behind him and landed a blow to the back of the neck sending him flying into the nearest building. This attack distracted Sid who was instantly immobilized by Jack's vines.
Sol tapped the tip of his foot on the ground. A flared of Arcana that tore down a building was his signal to attack. He took a step and vanished engaging Antoine. Jaro and Arin split up,Arin going to aid Sol and Jaro going to help Jack. Arin used her telepathy to establish a Mind Link between the four of them so they could coordinate attacks switching between the two Apostles at intervals.
As the battle raged on, the two groups clashed and receded, their movements pushing them deeper into the market district. Stalls and carts were overturned, their contents spilling out onto the streets. People screamed and ran, trying to get out of the way of the combatants. The two sets too turns,one attacking while the other took those in the immediate vicinity out of the way.
The fight was so intense that it began to cause the collapse of the surrounding buildings.
Antoine made a giant mirror and Sid enforced it with his golems. With a yell, Antoine fired a powerful beam of reflected light. The others jumped out of the way to evacuate the people on the way. Sol shot forward and kicked the blast,deflecting it upward although a few beam got split from the main beam and blasted the buildings on either side of him. As a result,the front of the Silver Palace was blown away, revealing the people inside like a doll house. Adriana stepped forward, her eyes flashing with authority.
"Everyone, evacuate the area!" she shouted, her voice carrying above the din of battle.
"We need to get the civilians to safety!"
Fin and Fiona came to hug Felix as the observed a fight so fast it could only be described as a clashing of light.
Dona continued eating, unconcerned about the chaos.
Adriana looked at the people left in what was left of the room. Her father, Dona,Saleem Felix and his siblings. The battle had moved some distance away so there was no need for them to evacuate.
She needed to end the conflict seeking to reduce damage while preventing Dona's interference.
" Aren't you going to stop her?" Saleem asked.
" Stop who? Adriana. You're talking like shell actually listen to me."
" Oh?"
" I once asked Kojo what his type of woman was." The Duke continued.
Dona ams Saleem looked at him questioningly.
"I thought he was one of those who took in anyone given the rate at which his harem is increasing. But as you can see ,all the people he's with are fully capable young ladies. My daughter is no exception. At first I was afraid and an overprotective father but now through events that have happened I can see that she's grown and has the potential to grow further. She's every bit of the one word Kojo said that day." He looked out at the city.
" Strong."
Jack and his group where outnumbered by the huge number of golems that surrounded them. Just the. A wave of cold washed over the entire area encasing the golems in a Glacier Formation
With that, Adriana charged forward, her ice sword flashing in the sunlight. Sid and Antoine exchanged a glance, then tuned to engage her.
Sid summoned a golem, while Antoine created images that made it seem as though he was attacking Adriana from multiple angles. Adriana raised her hands, and a blast of icy air shot out, freezing the golem in place. She then slamed her palm into the ground causing the glaciers shed made to change into vapor. This made Antoine's images to fade away.
Antoine, however, was more resilient, and he countered Adriana with a blast of light.
Adriana leapt to the side, avoiding the attack by mere inches. A golem grew out of the wall and punched her but it turned out that that was an ice clone. She appeared behind Antoine and swung her sword but he bowee to evade. Her blade however cut his long her. Antoine realized what she had done and touched the back of his head with a dumbfounded expression. Two hands shot out of the ground under her and clapped.She jumped out of the way though the shockwave knocked the breath out of her. Antoine angrily charged at her but she summoned a bolt of lightning to strike Antoine. He retaliated with a blast of refracted light and and explosion occurred when both attacks met, knocking both parties back.
Not letting the chance go,she charged forward, sword, and Antoine was forced to defend himself against her fierce onslaught. Sid, meanwhile formed an army of golems and directed them at the city Adrian was distracted giving Sid an opening to slap her away.
She received a telepathic message.Jack and his group went to deal with that while and Adriana handled the two Apostles for the time being. They'd come back once they dealt with all of them and help her. She agreed and they split up.
Antoine's aura flared up while Sid encased himself in a golem, only his upper body sticking out of its chest.
Adriana charged at them. Sheknew that she had to end the fight quickly, before her opponents could regain their footing.