My arms tremble, the shell on them cracking as I try to get back on my feet- One comes for me, swirling with the potency of apatite-coloured magic. It sends me flying, the razor-sharp whirlwinds surrounding the limb end taking the air out of my lungs. I can barely cough anything out as I roll along the ground, dark pieces going away from me as my shell falls apart.
That lying shit comes back to me, that blond hair of his a crown for his sadistic smile. He kicks me about, throwing about all these little whirlwinds to shred me down further. The pair around his legs that let him skate being the most dangerous. One more roundhouse hits me, and I fly. Smashing into the wall with a blood splatter that is almost too on point with what I am... Like a bug on the window of a car.
I collapse onto my claws, growling away as I find the strength to get myself back on my feet. I stomp ahead, cracking the dry earth at least somewhat, and I rush ahead. My unstable footing makes me fall, and I throw myself ahead with all the strength I can, sliding along with claws reaching out. He hops over me and stabs down, driving his chosen whirlwind into me as that terrifying shade of green rips too close to my spine.
He cackles away, hoisting me by the gaps in one of my back plates, and he tosses me far, letting me roll again. I come to a stop and I shake my head, my swollen ears only able to pick up on one thing. The jeering of the crowd as I'm attacked over and over, again and again...
"No wonder the... No wonder the path was so empty. Everyone was brought on in, they're all in on the plan..." I go, staggering as the blood loss makes my vision er and blur. Yet, I can get it to focus as the pain in my back makes my stance awkward. I focus on that lone standout woman who's way too close. Rose'lhia... Treacherous... Treacherous-
The blond comes back, his backhand knocking me away to the next nearest wall. I flop away from it as my thoughts remind me of the lie I came into this arena with... This isn't some duel between two inexperienced students... It's not someone or anyone trying to help me learn. They just wanted me in a place where it's 'legal' to beat the shit out of someone.
It was all just a scheme set up by one of the most experienced students in the entire school... My eyes look up at that floating magic screen. That bragging board. Seigunfrei... That's what the crowd was chanting. Seigunfrei.
One of Exceptional House's best, no less. The very best one could argue if they wanted... He and his pack of thugs lulled me into a false sense of security... Using Rose'lhia as a means to help them. She helped them. The woman whose life I saved helps them... I saved her life many times, and she's helping them!?
They all came together to lull me into a false sense of security... I should've stayed paranoid about all of them. I should've backed away at the first chance, got away from all of them. And now they're using me... Using me to get meaningless fame! Fame as the one student who beat the shit out of a bug who can't even match him!
"You can still get up, Bug?" Seigunfrei laughs with all the cruelty he can manage as his showboating picks up. All the cheers go to him, and he's positively drowning in it all. A real attention seeker, alright...
"If you actually tried... Maybe I wouldn't be..." I struggle to tell him, my sneer almost too painful to even hold. I cough up blood, too much blood... And I can't even say I've been holding it back. Not intentionally.
I guess that's a good thing to learn in the future, actually. A worthy thing of note. Turns out, you can get quite violent in these magic training duels so long as you aren't trying to kill your opponent... And this is what that standard stretches to!?
I can only wish and assume he'll end up with criminal charges if he does make me see Undwote again... But I think he knows precisely what he needs to do. His lingering whirlwinds are breaking up, heading to me with burning precision. They stitch me up just a little each time, each bit a taunt about how long he can make this pain last.
No one's going to help me right now. My clothes are in tatters, and I'm struggling to stand, let alone not black out. It's only because of all this anger that I'm still blinking. An anger that's been boiling in me since I got here and it's boiling over in such quantities that I'm just one tiny thing from going berserk. And...
I seem to be getting that push I need to do so.
"So, Rose-*sweerui*, any plans tonight!?" he calls out, smirking on over at me the whole time as I find my anger... Going. Rose'lhia was already treacherous, leading me here and... She's got no problem letting someone call her by a social title she insisted I had earned...?
How long has this plan been going on...? How long has she been a part of the plan?- I blink. The whole time...
She's been acting funny and distant for a while now. Nearly as long as we've been here. She's been calling me 'Nin' rather than 'my love' or something like that for a while now. I turn up to her, finding her nowhere near my direction.
She won't even look at me after what she's done. All that mess back at the aelenvari caravan. All that nonsense about love and how much I've proven herself to her and all the stuff we talked about that stupidly named mountain...! She's only alive because of me several times now and... And... It was all a load of utter rubbish? An act to be as emotionally abusive and cruel as possible.
I feel cold. And I know its name. Anger, fury. Hate.
It doesn't feel like it, and I can't even find the willingness to voice it. There's no point... Instead, I run for him. I run as fast as my broken body can take me as my body focuses all of my magic without me really thinking about it. As fast as I can go.
The ground erupts, cratering and exploding with each stride as I scar it, hopefully forever. I charge with unrelenting fury and it finally comes out, a roar that reaches the Orbital-Halo itself. My right fist rearing back-
I miss, Seigunfrei reappearing as a smirking blur in the corner of my vision, another kick coming for me.
A body-wide numbness afflicts me, and I painfully peel from the arena wall again. All the gods above mocking me as I do so. My shell peels away, and that tugging gunk brings a chunk of wall down on me. Trapping me under rubble, I can't even shake the dust off of.
My vision wanes... Flickering open with too much time passing each time. People are moving too quickly... I'm blinking too slowly.
I struggle to look and I watch as Rose'lhia walks up to Seigunfrei. An energetic whip to her tail. Seigunfrei moves towards her, a smile no doubt on his lips as he seems to put them...
"Rose...?" I spit out in confusion as my vision goes black even with my eyes still being open. And I collapse, losing the ability to stay awake.