Ch 31: Half Blood, All Power

Mythra confronts Giselle, Alastor's right hand. She is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and determined not to shame her Lord. Yet armed with her Grimoire and her pride, Mythra will bow to none.

            Riding her broom like a surfboard, her Elementum Orbis surrounding her, Mythra soared up level with Giselle and withdrew the Grimoire of the Spellweaver from her clothes. Holding it before her, the pages magically turned to the one she had wanted, and Mythra’s violet eye glowed as she silently read a spell from it from it with inhuman speed, repeating in her head, “Anima Gemino!” Her wand formed in her other hand, yet her Elementum Orbis remained despite the fact she now possessed both an Anima Weapon and a Grand Anima Weapon at the same time. Smirking confidently, Mythra called out, “Well then, since Scott took down Douglas, that means you’ll be the first one of Alastor’s goon squad I take on solo since the old days! You’d better be ready to show me what the new generation of Revenants is really made of!” Gathering a mass of EDE into her normal hand, Giselle formed a long sword with three red gems studded in its guard. Glaring at Mythra, Giselle shouted, “Once again you are mistaken. I am no Revenant. The Corrupted EDE you sensed was no doubt a residual trace from the anomalies my Lord entrusts me with. My power… IS MY OWN!” Channeling EDE into her demonic arm, Giselle raised it at Mythra and fired another of her powerful lightning beams. Raising her wand quickly, Mythra’s Elementum Orbis gathered around its tip, and a beam made of a combination of arcane and elemental power shot out to challenge the lightning beam. They proved to be of equal power, and they both exploded after struggling with each other a moment. Under the cover of the explosion, Mythra’s violet eye glowed as she looked at the words in the pages of the grimoire. Flying through the smoke at Mythra, Giselle swung her sword with lightning speed.

            As her blade passed right through Mythra’s body, distorting Mythra as though she had been made of mist, Giselle exclaimed in realization, “An illusion?!” From above, Mythra called out, “Naturally!” Another beam of arcane and elemental energy came down on Giselle, carrying her to the ground where it exploded violently in a seven colored blast. As the dust cleared though, Giselle stood in a crater with her demonic hand held up, smoke rising from its open palm. Staring down in disbelief, Mythra thought, “She stopped it with her hand?!” Glaring up at Mythra, Giselle muttered, “Her attacks are strong…” Flying into the air again, Giselle soared above Mythra and channeled EDE into her sword. Raising it into the air, Giselle shouted, “Awaken, Gladius!” Upon hearing this word, Mythra thought to herself, “Gladius? Could it be that Gladius?” She quickly snapped to her senses as Giselle shouted, “Storm of Steel!” One of the gems upon the hilt of Giselle’s sword cracked as an enormous white hole seemed to open in the sky behind Giselle. As the half demonfolk grinned wickedly, hundreds of swords rained out of the opening at Mythra. Mythra quickly turned and flew to evade, however the swords seemed to be guided by unseen forces to pursue her. Hastily flipping through the pages of her grimoire, Mythra aimed her wand behind her back. Forming one after another behind her, dozens of three dimensional squares made of arcane energy appeared in the path of the swords like a magical obstacle course. Crashing into them one after another, many of the pursuing swords became stuck or seemed to lose their target upon striking the squares. However some made it through and continued to pursue Mythra, and seeing she was flying towards the city, Giselle joined her swords in the chase, shouting, “You won’t escape!”

            Flying into the skies over the sales district, Mythra began sailing between the towering skyscrapers, shaking off the last of the swords by forcing them to sail into the sides of the buildings. Looking back at the damage she’d caused, Mythra muttered, “Jeez, I hope Alexander doesn’t find out about that! You know what they say, desperate times…” As she soared past another building, Mythra barely avoided as suddenly a beam of lightning shot out at her. Quickly she returned fire with the beams of her Elementum Orbis, and she and Giselle soared across the sky shooting at one another. Avoiding another lightning beam, Mythra looked back as it collided with one of the skyscrapers and thought, “D****t, this is getting bad…” Then Mythra snapped back to attention as Giselle closed the distance while she was distracted, but it was too late to evade. Before Mythra could move, Giselle’s demonic hand reached out and took hold of her throat. As Mythra struggled in her grip, Giselle said, “A true warrior should not be distracted by those who are too weak to defend themselves!” With great strength Giselle hurled her into the side of a skyscraper, sending her crashing straight through the solid stone wall. Taking aim with her demonic arm, Giselle fired a lightning beam into the skyscraper and blew it in half horizontally. All the floors above where Mythra had crashed into the building fell down onto the streets below as the citizens of Daemonholm fled in panic. Looking down at the destroyed building, waiting for the smoke to clear, as it finally did Giselle was quite surprised to see Mythra standing on what was now the highest floor of the building with her wand and grimoire in hand, quickly reading an advanced spell. Mythra snapped the grimoire shut and multi layered rune barriers formed around her body, quickly becoming invisible to the eye. As her Elementum Orbis gathered around her, Mythra smirked.

            Raising her demonic hand again, Giselle shouted, “You’re mine Spellweaver! I’ll put you out of your misery!” From her palm Giselle unleashed a barrage of lightning orbs, and as they rained down on her, Mythra disappeared again in a catastrophic explosion of crackling electricity. Yet dozens of star shaped masses of arcane energy began to form in the sky all around the ruined building, and as the dust from the last attack settled, Mythra stood unharmed. Unable to believe her eyes, Giselle exclaimed, “What?! That should have destroyed you!” Flipping the page of her grimoire nonchalantly, in a matter of fact voice, Mythra said, “I used an advanced elemental spell, a multi layer elemental rune barrier. Attacks of that level of strength won’t be enough to break through!” Mythra secretly thought to herself, “Though if I take too many hits like that the barrier will eventually start to break…” Glaring at Mythra, Giselle shouted, “You think so little of my strength that you believe a simple barrier will stop me?!” 

Pointing her wand at Giselle, Mythra’s violet eye glowed as she glanced at the page of the grimoire, and the stars of arcane energy all flew through the air and gathered together at the tip of Mythra’s wand. Magical power crackling around her, Mythra shouted, “Talk is cheap! Try blocking my Ultimate Arcanum!” A massive beam of arcane power shot out at Giselle, who quickly raised her demonic arm in front of her and caught it with her open hand. Struggling against the beam, Giselle grit her teeth and muttered, “Power… More… Power!” Mythra saw red lightning crackling around Giselle’s demonic arm just as her beam detonated, and thought to herself, “Red lightning? Is there demonic magic stored within that arm of hers?” The aftermath of the blast cleared, and as Giselle became visible again, Mythra heard her call out, “Do not take me lightly Spellweaver!” Channeling EDE into her sword, Giselle swung it in the air and a red line of lightning shot from the blade and sliced the ruins of the building Mythra stood upon in half. The building teetering over beneath her feet, Mythra quickly read another spell from her grimoire.

            Mythra disappeared as the building collapsed, and as Giselle looked around she spotted Mythra floating in the skies on her broom once more. Heaving a sigh of relief, Mythra muttered, “It’s so nice to have all my spells back! Now then my precious grimoire, how do I take this psychopath?” The pages turned and Mythra smirked. Flying at Mythra, Giselle fired a beam of demonically enhanced red lightning at her and readied her sword. Evading the beam and stuffing the grimoire in her clothes, as Giselle lunged at her with a slash of her sword, Mythra jumped off the side of her broom and grabbed hold of it with her free hand. Giselle’s sword met only air, and as she brought herself to a halt she looked back as Mythra mounted her broom again and took off, a light green rune circle forming at the tail of her broom and generating a burst of wind to give her a speed boost. Chasing after Mythra, Giselle dodged seven colored beams and fired beams of red lightning after her. As she flew, Mythra read a combination spell from the grimoire. Turning in the air, Mythra called her black crystal before her and it generated a stationary absorbtion field that devoured another of Giselle’s red lightning bolts, and then she gathered her six other crystals into triangle formations, pairing them up in two groups of three. One group on each side of her, they glowed as their rune circles formed and merged. As the absorbtion field faded, Mythra said, “Rapid fire, Magic Mix Barrage!” 

Firing in quick succession, multiple bursts of the tri elements shot out at Giselle. As her opponent evaded and began to bob and weave in the air, Mythra chased after her and added another spell to the barrage, shooting stars of arcane power from her wand in a cone. Swerving away from her fire yet again, Giselle channeled EDE into her demonic arm and formed it into a spinning disk of red lightning. Spinning in the air, she flung the disk at Mythra powerfully, and it split into four spinning lightning disks. Narrowly avoiding them, as they sailed past Mythra glanced back and saw them turn in the air to come back at her again. Dodging another red lightning beam from Giselle, Mythra flew towards another tall building with the lightning disks in hot pursuit, and flying so close it seemed she would crash, she quickly pulled up. The disks were not as maneuverable, and collided with the side of the building with a crash, tearing into it and exploding violently. 

Flying up high above the building, Mythra leveled out and looked around for her opponent, and barely avoided a beam of red lightning from directly below. Flying up in the beam’s wake, with great speed Giselle flew up level with Mythra and launched a punch charged with red lightning from her demonic arm. Taking the full brunt of the attack, one of Mythra’s barrier layers shattered and she was knocked from her broom. Watching Mythra hurtle towards the ground, Giselle grinned wickedly and quietly said, “Farewell, Spellweaver…” Flipping through the pages of her grimoire as she fell, Mythra’s violet eye glowed as she read another spell. Disappearing in a flash of arcane magic, Mythra reappeared above Giselle. Using the momentum of the fall to her advantage, Mythra formed a red rune circle at her foot as she struck at the surprised Giselle with a falling kick. Landing her foot in Giselle’s face, the red rune circle exploded in a fiery blast and Giselle fell from the sky.

            Righting herself just as she was about to strike the ground, Giselle let out a cry of rage. The blade of her sword shattered, and the fragments floated in the air a moment before becoming a mass of EDE and reforming into a more twisted and demonic looking blade. Having remounted her broom, as Mythra hovered cautiously above Giselle, she could sense her strength had grown even greater. Quietly, Giselle said, “As to be expected of the master of the magic powers granted by the Devia Lotus. A magic caster who can cast EDE empowered spells simply by thought. Combined with the Grimoire of the Spellweaver and the speed reading abilities you developed on your own, you are truly a force to be reckoned with…” The red glow in her left eye seemed to intensify as she formed a ball of red energy in her demonic hand and said, “But my Grand Anima Weapon, Gladius Collapsam, grants me more power than even you can handle!” Gritting her teeth, Mythra thought, “Gladius Collapsam, Sword of the Fallen One. A Grand Anima Weapon that feeds on its owner’s pain and anger. But that was Lord Nerlat’s weapon…” 

Shooting the red ball of energy straight up into the air, Giselle shouted, “Let all be witness to my power!” Exploding in the air above Daemonholm, the clouds turned red. Quickly the wind began to blow as an unnatural storm formed, and soon the city was beset by strikes of red lightning. Looking around at the catastrophic events unfolding, Mythra shouted at Giselle, “Hey! Quit dragging innocent people into this!” Raising Gladius Collapsam, as it crackled with white lightning now, Giselle laughed a moment. Looking up at Mythra, Giselle said, “Innocent? There is no such thing as an ‘innocent’ person! There are only those who have yet to wrong me! You’re becoming weak Spellweaver, spending your days together with your so called friends! Have you forgotten the painful, lonely existence of a half breed?! I know you haven’t, it’s something you can NEVER forget!” Clenching the handle of her sword tightly, Giselle shouted, “You and I are the same Spellweaver! We have sought out and found ancient powers to take our revenge! I know your past! You of all people should understand why this world must accept the Second Truth!” A shadow fell over Mythra’s face as silence hung in the air. Then, with quiet anger in her voice, Mythra said, “Don’t you dare compare me to you, b***h…” Giselle’s face twisted in fury as Mythra shouted, “Someone pathetic enough to take out her problems on the entire world is nothing but a stupid, selfish child!”

            Giselle raised her demonic arm and began unleashing a storm of red lightning orbs at Mythra. Teleporting behind Giselle, Mythra raised her wand and the crystals of Elementum Orbis gathered around it. Glancing back at Mythra, Giselle disappeared in a flash of white lightning, and as she rematerialized behind Mythra, she struck with her sword. White lightning crackling between them as the blade struck, Giselle’s attack shattered another layer of Mythra’s barrier. Sent spinning through the air on her broom by the strike, as Mythra stabilized herself she saw white lightning coming at her. As it reached her, Giselle appeared from it with another red lightning charged punch that shattered yet another of Mythra’s barriers, knocked her off her broom, and sent her bouncing across the street. Struggling to her feet, Mythra muttered, “Not good. I won’t be able to land a spell like this, not to mention I’ve lost pretty much all of my barrier…” Suddenly Giselle came down on her out of nowhere with another swing of her sword, and ducking aside Mythra lashed out with a kick. Giselle evaded, and swung again, but quickly Mythra dodged and jumped back as she called the crystals of her Elementum Orbis, shouting, “Ultimate Element: Glacial Wall!” The crystals of Elementum Orbis all turned blue, and as a blue rune circle quickly formed, a solid barrier of ice formed between them. Giselle struck her sword against the barrier with all her demonic strength, and just as she was about to start flipping through her grimoire, Mythra noticed another of the gems in the guard of Gladius Collapsam suddenly shattered. Staring at the shattered gem in realization, Mythra thought, “Of course! The sword isn’t her original Anima Weapon! She replaced her own through abnormal means, but that means…!”

            Smashing through Mythra’s ice barrier with her demonic strength and lunging forth, Giselle grabbed Mythra by the neck and hoisted her up. As she struggled in Giselle’s grasp, the half demonfolk gloated, “So who would you say is pathetic now Spellweaver?!” With a weak laugh, Mythra gasped, “I still have to say you are… You claim your power is your own, but everything you have was just taken from someone else… wasn’t it?” Eyes wide, Giselle swung Mythra around and hurled her into the side of a building so hard that cracks ran through its wall, shouting, “SO WHAT?!” Walking over to Mythra as she started to get up off the ground, Giselle screamed, “I HAD NOTHING! NO FAMILY, NO HOME, NOT EVEN MY OWN NAME!” Clenching her eyes shut, Giselle muttered, “All because of my blood…” Smirking, in response to Giselle’s tantrum, Mythra simply said, “If you think you’re gaining my sympathy, you can forget it. I don’t know what you did to get that sword, or that arm of yours for that matter, but I do know one thing! I won’t lose to someone who can’t do anything without relying on powers she didn’t earn herself!” Red lightning crackled around Giselle’s arm as she raised it and shouted, “YOU’LL REGRET THOSE WORDS SPELLWEAVER!” 

Diving aside as an unbelievably powerful beam of red lightning obliterated the building right behind her, Mythra rolled to her feet and slapped a hand onto the surface of the street. As a dark green rune circle appeared, large stone spikes burst from the ground at an angle at Giselle, and the crazed half demonfolk’s eyes went wide as one stabbed her through the stomach. Raising her wand, Mythra quickly read from her grimoire. Stars of arcane energy formed all around Giselle, and collapsing in on her they exploded violently. With a final touch, Mythra raised her wand again, and summoning the crystals of Elementum Orbis before it, she fired a combined beam of elemental and arcane energy. For a moment Mythra thought she might have done it, but then Giselle called out, “Curse you… You won’t be rid of me so easily!” Gritting her teeth in frustration, Mythra turned and fled as enormous disks of red lightning shot out of the smoke at her. As she lowered her demonic arm and pulled a stone spike out of her stomach, Giselle panted as she struggled to pursue Mythra despite the pain, muttering to herself, “I won’t lose! I will not shame myself and Lord Alastor in such a manner!”

            Ducking into an alleyway just as the disks of lightning went sailing past, carving scars in the asphalt as they continued down the street, Mythra muttered, “D****t! No matter what I throw at her, she just comes back for more! And with that white lightning whatever it is, she’ll catch up to me before I read a spell!” Rushing down the alley, halfway through she paused a moment to catch her breath. Struggling to come up with a plan, Mythra thought, “Her demonic arm has to have some form of ward or barrier enchanted on it. I have to hit her with something so powerful that even that damned thing can’t withstand it!” Sensing a surge of EDE from above all of the sudden, she rushed to get out of the alley as a beam of red lightning rained from the sky. Explosions erupting in the alley behind her, Mythra had barely reached the street before she quickly took a step back, just in time as Giselle flew down and slammed her demonic fist into the ground. Looking up at Mythra, Giselle said, “Running away?! Have you finally run out of clever ways to make a fool of me Spellweaver?!” 

Ducking as Giselle rose and swung her sword to cut off her head, unleashing a red line of lightning that sliced through the buildings behind her, Mythra raised her hand and created a light green rune circle that expelled a blast of wind, blowing Giselle away. Mythra quickly went fleeing down the street, but Giselle in her white lightning form quickly caught up, and appearing in front of Mythra she slammed her demonic fist into Mythra’s face. The almost nonexistent remnants of her barrier was all that kept her from being killed right there. Bouncing across the pavement, Mythra finally came to a halt, battered and bruised. Walking over to her, Giselle said, “In the end, your spells were no match for the strength I have accumulated!” As Giselle raised her sword to strike, Mythra said, “I’d stop using power you can’t properly control if I were you. You’ll only destroy yourself in the end…” Giselle’s eye twitched as she said, “This from someone who is about to die at the very hands of the power they speak of?! Just hurry up and DIE!” Suddenly the third gem in Giselle’s sword cracked and the blade shattered. Turning her attention to the shattered sword, Giselle exclaimed in disbelief, “What?! No!” Raising her wand with a smug grin, Mythra said, “Too bad for you!”