Blue Nexus #66 - Rivals

            Brenda rebounded off a barrier she placed up at the last second and managed to avoid another of Clarke’s attacks. The barrier she put up also softened the blow for the aged Colosseum, which had taken quite a beating. Whatever reinforcements had been put up over the years wouldn’t be enough.

            She watched as Oz and Rafael took their magnificent battle to the sky. Oz’s magic flared the six colors of the magic spectrum, while Rafael’s brilliant gold light shone everywhere. Brenda could hear people confused as to who was on whose side. Last they had likely heard, Rafael had just saved an entire town of people from some strange illness. Did he fight with Shindari, or this crazy red-witch lady?

            Brenda maintained flight and watched Clarke struggle with her inability to innately fly. Alien genetics came in handy once again. Clarke did place a platform under her and shoot toward Brenda, but it was a straight trajectory. Brenda waited until Clarke couldn’t slow down at all and placed a shield between them. She swayed as Clarke blasted through it, then reached out and punched Clarke straight in her jaw, sending her careening toward the ground.

            Clarke stopped but Brenda didn’t, trapping Clarke underneath a barrier to give her enough time to touch down and propel toward her. Clarke zapped away Brenda’s magic with her own, given her mastering of Shield magic, which could be used in far more offensive ways than a simple physical force, but didn’t see Brenda coming with another punch. She blocked it, this time Brenda only connecting with her elbow, but was still on the defensive.

            Brenda launched a series of attacks at Clarke that she’d learned in martial arts training with Phoenix. Clarke couldn’t keep up at all, and could hardly get a look at Brenda before she landed a jab right into her eye. Clarke howled and launched magic power around, trying to put a buffer between herself and Brenda. It bought her just enough time to leap away as Brenda continued her assault.

            They connected barriers on accident and repelled one another. Brenda launched another right at Clarke, aiming for her feet. Clarke leapt into the air, and Brenda couldn’t help the smile. Rookie mistake. Brenda pushed another barrier while putting a bit of a strain on her mind to form another square behind Clarke, without any hand gesture. Clarke dodged the first barrier and sensed the second one, having to turn around. Brenda took to the skies and kicked Clarke back into the Colosseum, though broke through the ground and Clarke crashed into the catacombs.

            The ground hushed as dust billowed all around them. Brenda carefully dropped down into the catacombs. Debris settled in, but that was all Brenda could hear. No footsteps, not even the sounds of the curious bystanders above. She tightened the grip on her power and readied herself, mentally, for an attack to come from any direction.

            She took one step, carefully, and dug her foot just a bit into the ground. She opened up her just-clenched fist but didn’t let a bit of magic out into her hand. It all remained just at the brink of exposure, ready to burst.

            “Well this is an interesting turn of events,” Clarke said.

            The hollowness of the catacombs allowed her voice to move through the ancient stone maze. Brenda didn’t even bother swiveling her head.

            Clarke said something again but Brenda ignored it. The two were playing a game of cat and mouse, but Brenda could tell, in just the few moments they’d been fighting, how Clarke would play this. She was aggressive, much like anyone she’d fought who desired some form of ultimate power. Right now, if she were smart, she’d be trying to figure out how to get at Brenda without the need to expose her magic.

            Clarke stood at a loss in two different ways, though. Her behavior, which Brenda definitely knew about, as well as her physical strength. No, one did not need to be superior in terms of raw power to sneak up and kill another, but Brenda was no average human, nor even an average mage. She could heal herself, and Clarke was physically weaker at this point in the battle. If she powered up, Brenda could pinpoint her.

            Although, it wasn’t entirely out of the question for Clarke to do so and draw Brenda out. She now fought with her boss, the man she intended to kill, right over their heads. If she wanted to impress him in any way, or show him the true extent of her power, she’d have to let go of it sometime. And until such time, she and Brenda stood in the catacombs beneath the great Coliseum and waited for the other to make a mistake.

            Brenda kept closer to the wall. While all of what she’d surmised was true, there was still the issue of a sneak attack. If Clarke were capable of masking her presence long enough, she could theoretically use a sudden burst of magic to attack Brenda. There would be one second, just one, where Brenda could counter. If she mistimed it she would be injured or killed, and worse, the structure would crumble and cause who-knows how much damage to the place, which put everyone at risk.

            But if Brenda were to leave the catacombs, Clarke could do that damage on her own unchecked. Brenda let out the smallest breath, not making a sound.

            The battle outside raged on, as she heard. Dust fell down around her like rain from the shockwaves of the Rafael and Oz’s battle. It sounded like little explosions off in the distance each time they connected blows.

            Another sound in the catacombs drew Brenda’s attention.

            A bright red light!

            Gotcha!

            Brenda readied herself again, keeping her magic poised…

            Wait…

            “Fool!” Clarke shouted.

            One.

            Brenda turned and the blast knocked them both back, rocking them through the catacombs. This time there was game and Clarke just pursued Brenda at top speed. Brenda burst through the original hole and Clarke followed, once again making that rookie mistake. Brenda slammed her with a magic platform, although this time Clarke saw it coming just before it hit.

            Brenda pursued, stopping just short of Clarke. She landed a punch to the shoulder, missing her jaw, and blocked one of Clarke’s errant punches.

            “You should stop now,” Brenda said. She could tell Clarke gave her all into her next attack, which was easily telegraphed, blocked, and effectively countered. Brenda cast Clarke to the side. “You’re not going to win.”
            “I have the power here,” Clarke said, and powered up a bit more. Brenda sighed.

            Clarke launched a wave of magic at Brenda, who blocked it and redirected it at the ground, obliterating the platform. Brenda leapt up and tackled Clarke away so they could have room to stand. Clarke shocked Brenda, and Brenda countered with swinging away Clarke’s arms and elbowing her in the chin, knocking her head up and exposing her to a direct punch. Clarke flew back, and rolled along the ground.

            “Maybe,” Brenda said. “But you don’t know how to fight.”

            “I don’t need to,” Clarke said. She glowered up at Brenda, and behind her aura, it almost seemed as if Clarke’s face began to…break?

            She came at Brenda again. Brenda blocked with a thick shield between the two, though Clarke’s magic eroded it and she got through, knocking Brenda in the side. She slid back to just before the hole. Clarke attacked downward this time, and Brenda caught the fist and flung Clarke to the ground before her.

            Clarke reached and grabbed Brenda’s arm, jabbing her fingernails into Brenda’s body and sending her magic coursing through her. Brenda shouted, then it turned to a strained groan as she surged her own power through and forced the two of them away. Brenda caught herself in the air and Clarke used the push-back as a means of getting back to her feet.

            “Yes, let’s stop while we’re having so much fun,” Clarke said.

            “Fun is a relative word,” Brenda said. She shook her head. “Clarke, something’s wrong with you.”
            “That’s not very nice.”

            “No, I mean, this fight is doing something to you.”
            Clarke stood up straight and let her aura intensify around her, drawing out more of her power. “I know. Maybe it’s the thrill, or maybe it’s just that I’ve absorbed some of your magic and it’s letting mine grow more and more. I think I’ll have another taste!”

            Brenda moved first, intercepting Clarke and completely halting her attack. She punched Clarke in the side, stunning her, then threw her up into the air, where she couldn’t fly.

            Clarke summoned a platform beneath her, and stood on it completely unbalanced. Brenda shattered the platform and shouldered Clarke away, through the air, and outside the grounds of the Coliseum. Brenda caught Clarke on a ramp, and she rolled down it, and didn’t get back up.

            Brenda touched down a few feet from her. Clarke’s aura had faded. Brenda sighed, but put her guard right back up when Clarke’s aura exploded all around her. She managed to get back to her feet.

             “Clarke, what’s happening to you?” Brenda asked between breaths.

             Clarke shuddered again, but ignored Brenda and threw herself into another barrage of attacks. Her magic was stronger, and much more wild. Brenda contained Clarke and beat her down with a few quick moves, sending her into the streets around the Coliseum. Clarke bounced right back up.

                Brenda let herself fall through the air toward Clarke, then, like a diver, spun her body around and aimed herself into an attack position. Clarke cast her magic and projected it at Brenda, but none of it was accurate enough to make a mark. Brenda dodged one as a means of bouncing off of it to propel herself, then caught Clarke in a sphere and landed gently on the ground.

                Clarke burst out of it in a fit of rage. Brenda caught her fist, punched her in the gut, then, still holding her hand, kneed her in the chest and knocked the wind out of her. Brenda flung Clarke to the side.

                Clarke struggled for breath. Brenda turned and held a small rounded barrier over Clarke, but not close enough to heal her.

                “Call it,” Brenda said. “End this, Clarke.”

                Clarke shouted and another wave of magic emitted from her. Red sparks flew around her. Clarke crushed Brenda’s barrier with a swing of her own magic and spun her legs to propel her into the air. Just as her feet touched the ground, in a quick move, Clarke punched forward, and a thick, dark red block shot at Brenda.

                She dodged and turned her arms behind her, catching the block in her own little ramp and sending it over her head and back toward Clarke with even more power. Clarke shouted and broke the magic. Brenda didn’t waste any time, and neither did Clarke. The two’s fists collided. Clarke bit her lip and put even more power into her fist. Brenda held her arm back, then thrust it forward. Clarke blocked with her own magic.

                The two were locked, unable to separate as their magic practically melded their hands together. Brenda tried to push forward but Clarke wouldn’t budge. Brenda tried not to look into Clarke’s face.

                It’d begun to almost deteriorate in a way she’d never seen. Clarke’s eyes glowed a brilliant red, even more so than before, but her face was cracking away, as if scales were coming off. In its place were bright spots of magic. Jagged lines appeared around her face like a shell about to burst. Even along her arm, the various markings of a Shield mage looked more like cracks and faults than they did real marks. And they all shined.

                Brenda pushed forward with all her strength and Clarke resisted. More of her skin cracked off and her body glowed even more. Clarke screamed and magic burst around both of them. Brenda swung her arm back and snapped the connection between she and Clarke. Clarke slammed Brenda with another block, then doubled down with a platform to Brenda’s face. Brenda stumbled back, and blocked Clarke’s next attack.

                It stung, and numbed her arm for a second. Clarke’s magic had become far more erractic, wild. Brenda took a step closer and it seemed as if she stepped into the ether of Shield magic. Clarke held her hand open, full of cracks and possibly bleeding, and launched three blocks and a large barrier at Brenda. Brenda leapt back as fast as she could, throwing up her own barrier. Clarke’s broke through. Brenda stopped, shifted her momentum, and blasted toward them.

                She slid under them on her own barrier, then came up, leapt into the air, and cast the platform at Clarke. Clarke dodged underneath it, and it was clear given the smirk on her face that she thought she had Brenda trapped under the air.

                Brenda yanked her arm toward herself and smacked Clarke from behind with the platform, then crushed her beneath the same one, only reinforced. Brenda let it deteriorate while she suspended in the air. Another roar from Clarke tensed Brenda up.

                Clarke rocketed into the sky, punching and kicking at Brenda with no control. Two punches landed, and both drew blood. Brenda dodged the final attack in the string of randomness and tried to land a cross into Clarke’s ribs, but two barriers appeared and shocked, and numbed, Brenda’s arm. Clarke kicked Brenda straight in the chest, then spun around and hit her with a hefty block of Shield magic.

                Brenda crashed into the ground in front of the Coliseum, bringing up tile and stone as she formed a small rut. Brenda rolled back and avoided another block from turning her into a magical pancake.

                She buffeted from a breeze behind her, coming from the force of power that was the three boys fighting, still, about a kilometer away. She sighed, trying to keep her focus on Clarke.

                The manic Shield mage’s power hadn’t grown since they were locked. She still shook and quaked, as if fit to burst, but at least Brenda had a proper gauge. She fell into a defensive stance while Clarke tried to collect herself.

            Clarke sprinted toward Brenda as fast as she could. Brenda dove to the side, but Clarke must’ve planned for it. She swept her arm out and two sharp-edged platforms sprang from the ground, slicing deep into Brenda’s arm. She bit down on her lip as she came to a sliding halt, and had to avoid another huge brick coming down on her head.

            The two exchanged magic blasts, almost sheer forces of energy. Each blocked the other perfectly. Brenda could feel her own magic reserves start to kick in, which both excited her and worried her. She had more in the tank, but could tell that Clarke had no control over her power and wouldn’t stop until she dropped dead.

            Brenda snapped the chain and caught Clarke in her own small barrier. Clarke broke free and sent Brenda’s magic right back at her even faster. Brenda blocked all but one, and a small shard of the barrier dug into her belly, springing blood. Brenda left it there.

            Clarke ran at her. Brenda drew forth the power of the shard, healing her wound and using some of that magic to punch Clarke straight across the face, right in the eye. Clarke leaned back, but still managed to win that little battle, as two blocks collided with either side of Brenda, blasting the air from her lungs.

            Clarke faltered back, but stopped herself and grabbed Brenda by the throat, squeezing tight. She held out her hand, and slowly brought a barrier toward Brenda. She locked Brenda’s feet and arms in place, and lowered the barrier around Brenda’s head. Clarke opened her other palm.

            Brenda focused as intently as she could behind Clarke, again, and the shocks from Clarke’s magic started to set in. Her own power began to drain, faster than it ever had before. Magic sparked behind Clarke. Brenda focused, straining her eyes and her mind. She could feel her body shaking from the pain, and it became possible to ignore. She screamed as tears streamed down her face.

            The smallest of cubes form behind Clarke, and Brenda shut her eyes as it came toward her. It knocked her in the back of the head, and the shocks stopped for just a second. Brenda yanked one arm out of the hold and blasted Clarke away.

            She slumped forward, practically hanging by the binds. Clarke rubbed the blood away from her bludgeoned face, and grinned at Brenda.

            “You honestly believed you were going to win this fight for a second there,” Clarke said. Her voice seemed to be coming in and out of reality as she spoke. She shook again. “You’re a fool. Nobody can defeat one of the Six Pillars of Magic. We are magic.”

            Brenda opened up her palm. The pain continued, but she felt something else happening in her hand as well. It rushed up her arm, slicing through as she gained more power.

            “Sure,” Brenda said. “I’m the fool here.”

            Clarke opened her mouth to speak but the barrier around Brenda’s arm dissipated. She burst her aura around her, shattering the barriers around her legs, and blasted Clarke with another barrier, this one much more red than before. Some of Clarke’s own magic, infused with Brenda’s, crashed against Clarke. She tried to parry it with an attack of her own, but in that second, Brenda moved.

            She disabled Clarke’s arm with a single chop, hearing the elbow break, then slammed her knee into Clarke’s back. Clarke’s entire body flailed, and Brenda blocked her magic outburst and crushed her with a cube.

            Clarke fell forward, onto both knees. Blood poured down her bowed face. Brenda touched down in front of her, and raised her chin. Clarke held her broken arm without a hint of regret.

            “Yield,” Brenda said. She held her hand out, and a sparking cube formed in her hand. She felt something strange on her hands. “Now.”
            “No,” Clarke said. “Now we continue into the afterlife!”

            Her aura formed around both of them and Clarke clamped Brenda’s arms. The aura intensified, as did the power within Clarke. Brenda realized it instantly. Clarke let out a scream and Brenda did the same.

            She returned the grip and shoved all her power through Clarke’s body. A surge of power shot out around them, like a shockwave. The Coliseum, and all the buildings near them, trembled.

            Brenda’s breathing quickened as she tried to regain herself. Clarke, wide-eyed and broken, let her arms drop.

            Brenda caught her breath and fell back, finally letting her legs get a rest. “You’re not…blowing yourself up…on my watch…bitch.”
            She couldn’t lay back. Clarke fell back.

            “I…”

            Brenda rolled over, pushing herself and trying her best to ignore her hand. “It’s over, Clarke. You can’t move. Your back is broken, your arm is broken, and you’ve run out of magic completely.”
            Something boomed through the sky overhead, and another body joined them. Oz slid to a halt, creating a rut with his own power, and let a blue-dark aura intensify around him. A golden blast forced him away, and a golden cloud formed around Clarke.

            Rafael stepped forward, looking over his shoulder at Oz, who remained ready. Brenda tried to scoot back, but Rafael held out is hand toward Brenda.

            “Even a weak mage could kill you now,” Rafael said. “I wonder how much effort I would need to lack to kill you as you are? You put on an entertaining show, my dear, and for that I congratulate you.”

            He looked down to Clarke, beaten, broken, bloody. He shook his head. “I suspected you would do a little better. Though I suppose you made more a display of it than a true battle.”

            “Master, please,” Clarke said. “Heal me. I’ll kill her, now, and prove my superiority.”

            “You need me to be superior?” he asked. “Odd. I thought I understood that you were superior to me.”
            “No, you heard wrong,” Clarke said.

            “And there it is,” Rafael said.

            He turned his arm and without flinching the spot where Clarke was exploded, though left little kick. Clarke vaporized just before Brenda. Oz shouted. Brenda couldn’t speak.  

            “I hate liars,” Rafael said. “Which is why I would never partake in the practice. That’s why it’s important you keep in mind my promise to you, Shindari. Join me and have all the power you’ll ever need. And remember my promise to them: Magus Forest will die.”
            He turned to Oz, who was prepping a major attack. Just before Oz could launch it, Rafael chuckled and vanished in another cloud of gold dust.

            Brenda fell back, unable to move not because of the wounds from the battle, but Rafael’s last words. Again. Damn that man.

            Oz sighed and approached Brenda, kneeling next to her and using his own Shield magic to heal her. Brenda examined him quickly. He took serious injuries as well, whereas Rafael appeared to have taken few.

            “Don’t take him lightly,” Oz said. “I could sense her full power, and it was just barely beneath him while he was merely testing me.” He pulled his hand away. “Your friends are strong, but however strong they are, he’ll match it and double it, I fear.”
            “And you?” Brenda asked.

            Oz shrugged. “I can do what I can. If he truly is to come to the forest, and I engage him in combat there, victory is assured.”
            Brenda managed to get to a knee. “Then that’s the play. Get Rafael to the forest, and we’ll crush him.”
            “There’s still the problem of the Six Pillars,” Oz said.

            “Once Rafael is gone then they won’t be too big of an issue,” Brenda said. She shut her eyes, and Clarke’s death replayed over and over. “Clarke was the strongest of all of them. If we play it smart, we’ll be able to defeat them.”

            “You’re suggesting we prioritize Rafael?” Oz asked.

            Brenda got to her feet. She examined her hand, with red lines cracking across it and a faint red glow coloring her hand.

            “He has bigger plans than just destroying Magus Forest,” Brenda said. “And he’ll go to whatever lengths to see them through.”

            She clenched her fist, and felt a small sting of magic power inside her. Clarke’s magic power, now hers, absorbed by the extent of a Shield mage’s strength. The same extent one need only go to find their breaking point.

Next time: Brenda helps out the recovery process in Rome, and can only hope this will win the public back to their side. Plus, with the new gain in power, she must meet with the Grand Elder to learn what limits she has, and what limits she can break in Blue Nexus #67 "Meaning of a Mage"!