Alice and Karen stepped through
the doors to the arena and into complete darkness. The door shut behind them
and they could feel the air swirling around them. There was a flash of light,
and when vision returned they found themselves in a similar cavern facing a
familiar foe.
“Just the two of you? You’d have been better off with the other insects
you call friends to act as meat shields. I don’t see what made you think you
could-”
Before Shadow King could finish,
Karen was in front of him and punched him hard in the chest before following up
with a knee to the chin and kicking him away with her foot.
“I
won’t allow you to insult my family without facing the consequences.”
Alice went to Karen with instant
movement and looked impressed.
“Didn’t
even let him finish his monologue. Maybe you won’t get in the way after all.”
“Stay
on guard Alice. Without the limitations from before his Magic Cancel is in full
effect.”
“You
think I didn’t play for that? Let’s take him down.”
Alice grinned and began chanting a
spell as Karen rushed to Shadow King, who had recovered.
“You’ll regret coming here!”
The Shadow called forth his
sinister sword of shadow and rushed to meet Karen. She produced her pactio card
and activated it.
“Adeat!”
Sword clashed with steel fan as
the two sent flurries of strikes at each other. Neither gave any ground until a
particularly strong hit from Karen staggered Shadow King.
“Iaculatio Grandinis (Hailstone Spear
Throw)!”
The Shadow looked up to spot a
seemingly endless amount of ice spears hovering in the air before jumping back
as two almost crashed into him from the left and right. Stepping to the right
to avoid Karen’s fan as it came crashing down, it was forced to slash three ice
spears that Alice sent down on him before blocking Karen’s next blow with its
arm. Shadow King stood its ground, but the ground beneath it wasn’t able to
withstand the force it was subjected too and began to crack.
What followed was a series of
clashes between the Shadow and Karen as it tried to create some distance. When
it got the chance, a flash of yellow washed over the Shadow as it knocked Karen
away with a burst of strength.
“Bels, do your job!”
With a wave of its hand, the
Shadow summoned Beldr, Belial, Jezebel and Belberith from the demon realm. The
four Bels looked fairly intimidating standing side by side, but Karen showed no
fear and in the blink of an eye, had hit each one with her fan.
“Go
back and wait for the real King of Bel to summon you.”
As quickly as they came, the Bels
were sent away through the power of Karen’s artefact, Ensis Excorsians. Shadow
King looked as if he expected this outcome might happen and used the brief
respite from Karen’s onslaught to transform into Navi form. Pointing his free
hand at Alice, it turned into a machine gun and shot a rapid volley of energy
bullets at her.
“Reflexio! (Ice Shield)”
A shield of ice formed around
Alice and protected her from the attack, the bullets ricocheting off
harmlessly. Karen brought the fight back to the Shadow as it jumped into the
air, dark energy coalescing at its sword hand.
“Earth Breaker!”
It brought down its sword to meet
Karen’s harisen and the force of the blow sent them both flying away from each
other. Not missing a beat, Alice sent the remainder of the ice spears at the
Shadow. It was impaled several times over as they converged on their target.
The spears soon evaporated as the Shadow turned itself into electricity and
back, looking extremely upset.
“Narmer!”
“Cleopatra!”
“Agneyi!”
The three Persona’s were summoned
and hovered over their respective user at the ready. Karen went back to where
Alice was and the two grasped hands.
“Ice so cold it burns. Fire as hot as the sun. Opposing elements unite and heed our call. Dual Onslaught!”
Agneyi and Cleopatra disappeared
and reappeared in front of Shadow King. The two Personas unleashed a volley of
their respective element at the Shadow before subjecting it to a barrage of
punches and kicks. Intense heat on one side and freezing cold on the other, the
Shadow’s body wasn’t allowed to adapt to one or the other as the elements were
melded perfectly so one wouldn’t overshadow the other. The Shadow Narmer did
its best to shield Shadow King, but the attacks were too much for it to guard
against.
“I
guess all that practice wasn’t for nothing after all.”
“Are
you going to practice with the others now that you see how useful this is?
“I’ll
think about it.”
Shadow King was half burnt, half
frozen solid, but completely enraged at the event transpiring before him. This
humiliation could not go unpunished. Closing its eyes for a moment, when they
opened its pupils were a deep shade of blue, signifying the activation of the
Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. In an instant, the Shadow had closed the gap
between it and the girls, aimed seventeen slashes from its blade at each of
them, and gotten behind them. Alice seemed no worse for wear, but Karen…
“Karen!”
Karen had lost her right arm and
was bleeding profusely from where it was cut.
“I’ll
heal you in just a sec-”
“Don’t
bother! Anything cut with those Mystic Eyes being used is gone for good. Just
freeze the area so I stop bleeding.”
Alice did as she was told as Karen
retrieved her harisen from her severed hand.
“So you managed to block most of my cuts? I guess you’re not complete
trash after all. But now that you’ve been, dis-armed,
I doubt you’ll be surviving the next one.”
“Try
moving your left arm before you start thinking you’ve won.”
The Shadow tried and to its shock,
could not move, or even feel its left arm. In the split second he attacked,
Karen not only defended against most of the attacks, but sprinkled a few of her
own in as a counter.
“I will end the both of you.”
“The
only thing that’s going to end is this fight. With you as the loser.”
“Let’s
finish this Alice.”
Karen and the Shadow engaged each
other once more and commenced their one-armed showdown. Even with her dominant
arm gone, Karen was still very much capable of keeping up with the Shadow. Fan
met sword in a dazzling display of martial prowess as neither wanted to give
the other an inch. Sea serpents of water and waves of electricity permeated
their clashes and left no room for mistakes as Karen pressed her strength
advantage to the fullest.
Alice was taking the time to
gather her chi and prepare for what would be the final strike. Activating her “hyper
mode”, the blonde mage donned a flashing pink aura and seemingly vanished from
where she stood. As Karen gained the upper hand against Shadow King.
“Karen
Style Sword Technique: Coiling Sea Serpent Slash!”
Although she was without a sword,
the water dragon still manifested itself and wrapped around Shadow King. With
what little time the technique would hold, Karen smacked the Shadow up with her
harisen and preformed an imitation Flash Sheath, striking it seventeen times in
an instant hard before Alice delivered the last strike.
“Take
this!”
Appearing in front of the still airborne
Shadow, she brought the bottoms of her palms together and spread her hands as
far apart as possible. A pink sphere of chi energy formed inside and with a
shout she unleashed an enormous wave chi at the Shadow. When the attack finally
ended, the Shadow was no more than wisps of familiar grey energy.
With the battle won, the arena was
awash in complete darkness again as it returned the two back to their states
before entering.
“I
didn’t expect you to be able to take him up close so easily. You probably could
have beaten him by yourself.”
“While
I could gain the advantage, it would never last long enough for me to win as I
am now. I’m still too weak to take King on and win if he decides not to hold
anything back. I need more training.”
“I
guess I do too then. I can’t let you lose an arm for my sake again. Thanks for
doing this with me. It would have been embarrassing to lose in front of the
others.”
“Alice-”
Before she could finish the two of
them found themselves outside of the arena again with everyone waiting
expectantly for them. Sora was the first to react to their arrival by jumping
onto Karen with a hug.
“That
was awesome Karen! I didn’t know how strong you could be when you got serious.”
She turned her attention to Alice and pulled her into the embrace. “And I didn’t know you knew a loophole to the Magic
Cancel ability. And that Persona combo you guys did? Even better than Leo and
Bruce’s.”
“Hey, we’re
right here you know?”
“I
have to admit it was most impressive. I wasn’t aware the two of you had such
synergy.”
“Have
you proven what you set out to prove to yourself Alice?”
“Yeah,
I guess so.”
“I
wonder who else we could fight in here. King’s fought a bunch of strong people
throughout his jumps.”
“They’re
either not worth fighting or out of your league mouse.”
“Try to
act mean when you’re not being glomped by Sora. You won’t lose the intimidation
factor that way.”
“Sh-shut
up lizard! And let go of me already bird brain.”
“Fine,
fine. But nobody else is going in there until after King stops by. We need to
have our new house feast since the arena’s complete. Any objections?”
With none given, Sora lead
everyone back to the house to prepare.
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