"Soone stop this!" a spectator shouted.
"This isn’t a match anymore. It’s a massacre!"
Anna felt as if she would pass out.
"You want power, don’t you?" A deep, familiar guttural voice spoke to her. It wasn’t from the outside. It ca from within her.
Her eyes darted around.
No one spoke.
Just that voice. The sa one that once whispered those horrifying words...
"KILL THE HUMAN!!!."
Anna trembled. She knew that voice very well.
The branches kept coming, striking and tearing at her flesh. Her speed was fading. Her reactions dulled. The rot crawled across her arms and legs like living death.
"I’ll give you power,"
"Show your rage! Show you want to defeat this girl! She’s nothing compared to what you can do!" The voice pressed.
"Shut up..." Anna rasped, swaying on her feet.
"Show Asher how strong you are. Show him you deserve to stand by his side."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" she scread.
But in her outburst, she let her guard down.
WHACK!
A branch slamd into her temple.
Her hearing scrrreeeeeeched.
Her vision went white.
Stars spun before her eyes as her body was thrown away effortlessly, crashing into the ground.
She didn’t move.
The crowd was dead silent.
Even the comntators were frozen.
"She’s... she’s not getting up..."
Lorraine stood tall, the branches of her summon swirling like a hydra ready to strike again.
"Just give up already!!" Lorraine snapped, voice venomous. "If you stand again, I won’t promise you’ll live through my next attack!"
The other students—those still waiting to compete for their matches—began murmuring amongst themselves that they wouldn’t compete in any matches anymore. If they would be up against Lorraine and that thing of hers. Even Brian threw in the towel. Only Asher and Adrian remained, standing tensely.
Seraphina rose from her royal seat, hand raised, ready to order soone to stop the match before things got out of hand.
But before she could stop the match, sothing else was going on in Anna’s head.
"If you don’t show your strength," the demon said inside her head, "Asher will go for Lorraine instead. He likes strong won... rember that kiss at the mixer? They could do it again... and again... and again..."
"They’ll laugh behind your back. He’ll dump you like you ant nothing."
"Do you want that?"
Anna’s blood boiled as she rembered when Asher and Lorraine kissed. Sure, it was just part of the ga back then, but visualizing them doing that again and again made her heart ache with rage.
The arena vanished in a red haze of anger and humiliation.
No.
She couldn’t let that happen.
She clenched her fists.
"Y-Yes..." she whispered, trembling. "I want power..."
"Then take it," the voice replied, grinning in the void.
Power surged.
Raw, untad magic exploded through her veins like fire. Draegonoth had given her so of his spells, implanting them directly into her brain. Her muscles stopped trembling. Her vision sharpened.
The crowd gasped.
"Wait—what’s happening to her?!"
"She’s... she’s getting up?!"
"Wasn’t she almost dead a second ago?!"
Anna rose slowly, eyes half-lidded, her once trembling body now pulsing with energy. The aura from her fight with Cammy returned, swirling like a storm around her limbs.
She raised her hand.
A spell ca to her lips—one she’d never learned, but she just knew it.
Ignis Rexus
A massive fireball materialized, roaring to life before her palm.
The arena erupted in shouts.
"She’s a healer!!"
"How’s she using fire magic?!"
"That’s Tier 3 elental conjuring!"
With a cold glare, Anna hurled the fireball straight at Lorraine.
The Verdant Dread responded, branches shielding its summoner. The flas engulfed it, crackling and roaring as the wood caught fire. But then—
SPLOOSH.
From its open veins, the creature released more of that dark, muddy sap. It flowed like cursed blood, smothering the flas and dragging them down into thick, bubbling ooze.
Lorraine flinched, stepping back for the first ti.
Anna wasn’t done.
A lot new other spells swirled inside her mind, gifted by the voice that now coiled like a serpent in her soul.
The demon inside her had only shared a fraction of his power, yet it was enough. He grinned from the shadows, knowing full well:
A human given power never stops at one taste.
She had made her deal.
And he would make her crave more.
As Anna stood amidst the dying firelight, breathing heavily, the crowd no longer saw a helpless healer. They saw soone who would actually stand a chance against Lorraine.
But amongst the crowd,Rose flinched, sensing the familiar aura of Draegonth swirling around Anna! If that bastard took over, she was more than ready to slice Anna’s neck clean off. But she kept her composure. Asher was as restless as well. This power.... where did Anna get it?
"WHAT A COBACK! SHE’S UP! AGAINST ALL ODDS, THE WORST OF THE REMBRANDTS IS BACK ON HER FEET—and she’s not the sa girl we saw monts ago!"
The ground cracked beneath Anna’s feet as her newfound power surged through her. Her aura made her hair fly like it was being blown by a blower.
Lorraine’s confident grin faltered as she felt Anna’s aura make her knees weak. Suddenly, Anna slamd her palms together and a red rune circle appeared at her feet and shot upward like a column of light. Her hands moved almost on their own as another spell manifested.
"Infernal Root Surge!!" she muttered coldly.
In an instant, burning roots—twisted with fire and brimstone—erupted from the arena floor, clashing violently with Lorraine’s own vines. A clash of nature and corrupted fla. The Verland Dread hissed and screeched as Anna’s burning roots consud it, twisting and burning it like paper, overwhelming Lorraine’s defense. She leapt back, barely avoiding a blast that turned the ground behind her into scorched glass.
"Incredible!! We’ve got a healer throwing out high-tier elental spells like it’s nothing!" The comntator shouted.
Not only was the public shocked... even Ivy didn’t know her daughter was this powerful.
Lorraine scread in frustration as she forced her summon to wobble it’s way up to fight again. But the poor thing couldn’t do anything anymore. Fire was it’s weakness, being a tree monster.
"Ti to end this!!" Anna muttered.
In one smooth motion, she spun and unleashed another spell: "Fla Crescent Blade!"— a searing arc of fire that cleaved through the Verland Dread summon, striking the beast in its core. The impact exploded, throwing debris and flas high into the air. The crowd scread in awe.
Lorraine shielded her face. When the smoke cleared... the beast was down—charred, unmoving.
Anna now stood at the center of the arena, surrounded by flas, panting. Her skin was bruised, blood dripped from her temple, but she smiled.
"There’s no doubt about it now... That girl made a deal with sothing far beyond human. The real fight is no longer between Anna and Lorraine... it’s between Anna and what she’s becoming." The Duke thought to himself as he watched the fight intently.
From the stands, Asher stood frozen. He wanted to cheer—but sothing about her aura made him tremble. He wasn’t sure if that was even still Anna anymore.
He raised a hand and called on to her. "Anna!!!!!!!!!!"
She took a few deep breaths....then glanced his way with a smile on her face before she felt her whole body fail, unable to move from using power too strong for her fragile body. She dropped to the floor, leaving only Lorraine standing.
TBC
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