[Team Four]
Gravel crunched from beneath Aaron's boots as he slid backward across the asphalt, his heels carving two sharp lines into the lonely service road as the dregs of purple flames danced around him.
For miles, the only sound that could be heard was the snap of flames and the ragged, synchronized breaths of the three sorcerers locked in a dance too fast for the untrained eye to follow.
To anyone who may have been watching, the scene would've looked like something straight out of a movie. The entire area was covered in scorch marks and broken trees, and Aaron's car had been reduced to a flaming pile of melted metal thanks to one of his previous attacks. And in the middle of it all, the trio was still going at each other as if their very lives depended on it.
However, what really stood out amidst all of the chaos was Valerie herself….
Despite the fact that her vest and half of her top had been burned off in the initial skirmish, the tall blonde didn't look any worse for wear. In fact, she looked perfectly fine despite taking a direct attack from Aaron only a few minutes ago. And that mostly had to do with the new skill that she had recently perfected.
Right now, the entirety of Valerie's body was glowing beneath the dim streetlights in a way that few would be able to truly appreciate. Her skin now carried a bright orange hue to it, and every muscle on her exposed arms glistened with raw power. The kind of power that took a considerable amount of effort to achieve.
Total Armament truly was something special.
In simple terms, it was the next stage of the body reinforcement spell. One that allowed the woman to imbue her every muscle with a thin layer of pure mana, similar to that of a second skin. So much so that it caused her very skin to change color as a result. Thanks to this new technique of hers, Valerie was damn near invincible when it came to physical attacks. And the fact that her already substantial amount of fire resistance was now upgraded to a new level made her the perfect opponent for someone like Aaron.
Granted, the tall blonde knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long, maybe fifteen minutes at the absolute most. But thanks to her considerable reserve of mana, and no small amount of willpower, she knew that such a window would be perfectly manageable.
"Hey, watch out!" Ayako shouted just before Aaron let off another attack.
In an instant, a wall of purple flames blanketed the area directly in front of Valerie, but the woman managed to dodge out of the way just in time to avoid taking another direct hit. Even her reaction time had improved thanks to her new technique. Why that was, she had no clue, but she certainly wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Before Aaron could fire off another attack, Valerie burst from the lingering smoke of the previous one like a bat out of hell, her fist sheathed in orange mana.
Somehow, Aaron was able to catch the blow on his forearm, but the immediate pain that he felt from the impact was enough to throw him off for a split second. And the following shockwave, which was enough to bend the weeds and burnt grass on the side of the road, certainly didn't help things either.
"You DPA agents…" Aaron spat, twisting Valerie's arm and trying to drag her off balance. "Never know when to give up!"
From ten yards back, Ayako Watanabe raised one hand. And a ball of mana-infused water shimmered between her fingers, drawn in from the air's thin humidity. "Valerie! On your right!"
Valerie pivoted away from her opponent just in time for Ayako's warning to matter, but Aaron's boot lashed out in a blaze of heat just in time to meet the oncoming stream of pressurized water right in the middle. Valerie instinctively shielded her face with her forearm, the flame flaring brighter around her skin as she absorbed the impact. And immediately after, she countered with a spinning kick aimed at the man's ribs, but Aaron ducked under it and slammed both palms into the ground.
"Hell Spiral!"
A column of purple fire roared upward in a molten geyser just beneath her.
Ayako snapped her arm forward in response. Followed by a crescent of compressed water that hissed through the air and carved a gap in the inferno, giving Valerie room to leap off to the side.
The world lit up in purples and blues. Fire and water. Rage and precision.
Aaron rose from the flames, breathing hard but still as calm as ever. "Two-on-one, and this is the best you can do?"
Valerie wiped soot from her cheek with the back of her hand, stance low, eyes still locked onto her opponent. "Cute confidence for someone pinned on a back road with no escape."
"Pinned?" Aaron's smirk widened. "You're barely keeping up."
He then lunged.
Valerie met him head-on, and their fists collided with a sound like that of an erupting furnace.
For a second, they were nothing more than silhouettes against a wall of flames. Aaron's technique was sharp and ruthless. Each strike was economical, and each dodge was a taunt. But Valerie pushed hard, her speed matching his blow for blow, but sweat glistened on her brow; she was starting to feel the strain from her technique.
This wasn't like the last time the two of them traded blows back at the fundraiser. Not even close. This time, Valerie had been prepared. And all those weeks of hard work leading up to this battle were starting to show. But even so, this was still a relatively even fight.
Ayako saw it, too. And she had no intention of letting their opponent get the upper hand. The 'water magic' user extended both arms out before summoning a sphere of water that hovered above her head like a small moon. "Valerie! Drop!"
Without hesitation, Valerie threw herself to the pavement, and Ayako hurled the sphere at Aaron with blinding speed. The magical creation exploded on impact against Aaron's mana barrier, sending him skidding across the road in a spray of embers and mist.
He recovered from that quickly, too quickly. Flame rolled off him in waves, hotter than before.
Ayako clicked her teeth. 'He's feeding on the heat he's creating. Is he getting stronger?'
Valerie rushed the man before he could fully regroup. Their clash now was faster, almost a blur. Aaron's strikes came sharper, more confident. But he knew good and well that he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. Even with his impressive level of control over his 'fire magic', he was using more of his mana than he would've liked. He needed to be more efficient with his powers. Otherwise, he risked running out of juice.
"Hey, I have a question!" Valerie suddenly declared after putting a bit of distance between her and her opponent. Something that momentarily threw off both Aaron and Ayako with how random it was.
'What the hell is she doing?' Ayako looked at her partner in confusion. Was this some weird attempt to buy her some extra time?
"What?" The usually stoic teen replied as the flames still danced off of his now-exposed arms.
"Are we related?" The tall blonde then asked. "You have my family's special 'fire magic', but we haven't been able to find anything on you to confirm it."
Aaron paused for a moment as his mind flashed back to the night of his parents' death. Images of a smoldering house, burnt trees, and three masked women with high ponytails suddenly came flooding into his mind.
He still remembered every detail of that dreadful day. How his father held off their attackers as he, his sister, and their mother ran into the forest to escape. How his mother used her body to shield Hannah from a beam of orange mana just in time to save her life. How the two of them ran as fast as they could, while the woman who gave birth to them used every last bit of her power to keep them safe before the rest of the forest went up in flames.
He remembered all of it.
Every last detail.
"Why don't you ask that bitch you call a grandmother to tell you? I'm sure that she has all the details." The young man replied as even more flames began to surge all over his arms.
"Is that why you hate my family so much?" Valeie then said. "Cyrus mentioned something about it while that sister of yours was holding him hostage."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much. After all…neither of you two aren't going to live long enough to ever find out! Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
Aaron followed up those words with yet another torrent of flames aimed at the two agents. However, Ayako was fast enough to respond to this with an attack of her own to match his.
"Hydro-Buster!"
The two attacks met in the middle with such ferocity that the entire area suddenly became engulfed in a thick layer of steam that completely blocked out their collective vision. Fortunately for Valerie and Ayako, they didn't need to see their opponent to know where he was. They could sense him moving toward the edge of the road.
"You're not getting away!" The tall blonde shouted before pulling out one of her new tomahawks from the strap on the back of her waist and sprinting in the raven-haied teen's general direction. She then did something that even Ayako couldn't help but find to be a bit impressive.
Before she took her next step, Valerie leaped into the air and channeled some of her mana into the soles of her feet at the same time she activated her flying enchantment. The second she was a few feet off of the ground, for the first time during this fight, the tall blonde used her magical attribute to force a heavy burst of flames out of the soles of her feet and used that momentum to propel herself toward her opponent at a rapid pace.
This was the result of all of that training she had been doing at the twins' house while Cyrus was still being held captive by Frost. It was a neat little innovation that Evan had thought up to help her with her lack of control over her new skill. Thanks to special boots Elizabeth had made for her, ones with ventilated soles that were strong enough to withstand the heat of her flames, she was able to fly through the air without much issue.
It was the same principle that plane engines used when it came to flying through the air at high speeds. One that allowed her to move through the air for a short time while in use. It had something to do with applying the basics of thrust and explosive force, or whatever the hell Evan tried to explain to her before she zoned out halfway through the conversation. Either way, it was exactly what the young woman needed in order to finally be able to use her flying enchantment without too many problems.
Despite the newly created fog, Aaron was able to react to Valerie's display of skill just in time to put a mana barrier up in response. And not a moment too soon either. If he had been a moment slower, he would've taken the full force of the woman's axe blade to his shoulder. An axe blade that had actually managed to crack his mana barrier on impact.
Unfortunately for Aaron, his extra layer of protection didn't last long, seeing as it shattered immediately after that. But it did give the young man enough time to aim the palm of his hand in Valerie's direction before firing off a beam of orange mana that hit the woman directly in the face.
"Valerie!" Ayako shouted after seeing her partner get ragdolled through the air after taking the full force of Aaron's attack directly to the face. Fortunately for the blonde, her total armament was strong enough to allow her to tank the attack without any real damage.
"Shit!" Valerie said after picking herself up off the ground. Even with the extra layer of protection, it still hurt like all hell. She really needed to avoid something like that happening again.
'That didn't do any damage?' Aaron grimaced at the woman. 'What the hell? What spell is that?'
It was in that moment that Valerie decided this fight couldn't go on for that much longer. She could already feel herself losing her grip on her total armament, probably because of her trying to fly while still having it activated. So, she needed to handle Aaron as quickly as possible.
"How much more water can you make?" The tall blonde then said to her partner while still keeping her eyes on their opponent.
"A lot." Ayako replied with a grin. "Don't worry, I still have more than enough juice left in the tank."
Even with Aaron's flames lowering the overall humidity of the area, that wasn't going to be a problem for Ayako when it came to using her magic since she had such deep mana reserves. If she wanted to, the dark-skinned woman could produce enough to fill an Olympic-sized pool a few times over before she even started to feel winded.
"So what's the plan?"
"Just keep hitting him with a steady stream for as long as you can. As strong as you can make it. I can handle the rest."
"If you say so."
Despite all of the rumors regarding the blonde's intelligence, or lack thereof, Valerie had some pretty good battle instincts. So, if she had a plan for how to quickly handle their opponent, Ayako had no reason to argue against it.
After letting out a deep breath, Ayako began to pool some of her mana into her arms before slapping her hands together and firing off a pressurized stream of water towards Aaron. At the same time, Valerie began running towards the man with both tomahawks now in hand.
Aaron quickly sensed the oncoming attack and responded to it with yet another mana barrier. However, his defenses were quickly broken thanks to a double-strike from Valerie's weapons, which once again shattered the barrier upon impact.
The two 'fire magic' users then became fully engaged in a game of cat and mouse. One where Aaron did his best to weave out of the way of Valerie's attempted strikes, while also doing his best to avoid the stream of water that was now tracking him down with each step.
"Stop running, asshole!" Valerie shouted right before taking another big swing at the man.
'She's not trying to kill me.' Aaron surmized after dodging yet another blow from the woman. So far, all of his cousin's attacks haven't been aimed at any of his vital spots. Just his arms and legs. It was obvious that they were trying to take him alive if possible. 'Big mistake.'
After a few more dodges, Aaron finally found his window of opportunity. Valerie had left herself open in between her swings, and that was exactly what he needed to finally get the upper hand.
"Fire God's Roar!"
A huge stream of purple flames suddenly erupted from Aaron's mouth with enough speed and force to fully catch Valerie off guard. The attack was so powerful, in fact, that it not only caused the woman to drop her twin tomahawks but it also slightly burned both her hands.
"Motherfucker!" The tall blonde shouted right before delivering a kick right in the middle of Aaron's chest that threw him back a good ten feet.
"Valerie!" Ayako shouted.
"I'm fine!" The junior agent replied. Valerie then took a moment to inspect her hands to assess the damage. To be honest, she had received burns way worse than this throughout her life. But with the way that her hands now stung, she knew that she was going to have to get them healed as soon as possible. 'Yeah, those flames are no joke, huh?'
Despite the pain, Valerie knew that she couldn't let up on the attack. So, against her better judgment, the woman quickly got up and made a beeline straight for Aaron.
The raven-haired teen was quick to recover from the earlier kick and managed to put up his defense just fast enough to avoid getting punched right in the face.
From there, it was all fisticuffs….
Valerie and Aaron began trading blows like two seasoned boxers. Although the woman's strikes had more power behind them than her opponent's, Aaron's were quicker. But even so, neither of the two let up their assaults. Each blow was hitting their target, but the other did well to match it in kind. And with each passing second, Valerie could feel her control over her total armament slipping away.
Something was strange, though.
Something that Valerie couldn't quite put into words.
For some reason, the tall blonde began to feel the mana in her body begin to circulate even faster than it was before. Faster than it ever had before, actually. And as she and Aaron continued to swap hands with one another, Valerie couldn't help but feel something begin to well up inside of her. Like something that was begging to break free at any moment.
'Is she getting faster?' Aaron wondered, still trying to hold the woman off, while simultaneously dodging Ayako's annoyingly continuous water attack.
He had no clue as to what was going on right now, but Aaron knew that he needed to try to wrap things up quickly. The situation was starting to become a bit too precarious for his liking. Not only was he in a terrible matchup when it came to magical attributes and outnumbered, but this brute of a woman had apparently caught her second wind.
On top of that, he had already burned through half of his mana thanks to his needing to constantly maintain his body reinforcement while also using his magic.
The raven-haired teen quickly decided that he was going to use a large, area-of-effect spell to incapacitate the two sorcerers and make his escape. He really wasn't in the mood to do something like that since it would carve a significant chunk out of his remaining mana. But, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Just as the man was about to ignite his next spell, he felt a chill roll down his spine. A chill that Ayako felt at the exact same time.
"What the hell?" The 'water magic' user questioned the moment she felt a sudden shift in the air. A shift that was followed by the sound of…laughter?
Yes, laughter.
The kind of laughter that totally didn't fit the situation that they were in.
Laughter that was coming from Valerie, of all people.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The tall blonde practically shouted as she continued to rain blows down on her opponent with increasing levels of ferocity. "This is amazing!"
"What the fuck?" Aaron questioned.
"THIS! This is exactly what I've been waiting on! This is fucking amazing!"
Aaron briefly looked up, just for a moment, just long enough to catch a glimpse of the woman who was apparently reveling in their battle.
And what he saw genuinely shocked him….
Standing there, with a wicked smile on her face while still showering him with an onslaught of punches, was Valerie. Except she was different now. Way different than how she was before. Not only was the woman's mana now a lot more chaotic than it was a second ago, but the whites of the tall blonde's eyes were now completely black.
Blacker than even the coldest darkness he had ever seen before.
'What the fuck-'
*POW!*
Aaron didn't even get the chance to finish his thought before Valerie's fist collided with his face with enough force to cause both a small shockwave and send him flying backward on the ground toward the edge of the road.
"Oh come on! Don't tell that's all you got! Come on, get up! We're just getting started!" The now manic blonde shouted with a wide smile that displayed each and every one of her teeth.
-(o)-
[DPA Mobile Command Center]
"What the hell?" The Chief's assistant questioned while still watching the footage. "Hey, Zoe, are you seeing this?"
'Oh fuck!' Chief Chandler said to herself with a look of genuine shock plastered all over her face. She knew exactly what this was. And to say that she didn't like what she was looking at would be putting it mildly. 'Dammit, Theo was right after all. Valerie…she's one of them….'