Deception Leads To Death (Open to One)

Leona's Silver Blade spell had managed to hit Medeia and as a result she managed to draw blood from her adversary. It was not nearly enough blood, but it was a good start. However, Medeia was not going to let the Wizard Saint hit her without retaliation and that retaliation did not take long to happen. The dark-haired Warlord suddenly produced a whip and lashed out with it, aiming for the Wizard Saint. The whip made a sound that made Leona feel uneasy and caused her to show her discomfort for the briefest of moments, but Leona did not give any ground.

What did Medeia think she was, a lion tamer?

Maybe she was one because the whip hit Leona squarely in the midsection before the blonde could even think of dodging the weapon. That sluggish reaction was a combination of the speed-reducing effect she was under and being surprised by the audacity of a whip being used against her. By failing to at least try to dodge the attack the Wizard Saint had just proven once again why she was not the Wizard Saint of Intelligence. She felt a burning sensation where the whip had made contact and moved her left hand over it, then clenched her teeth.

If Medeia thought a whip was enough to defeat Leona, she was mistaken.

Leona went over what spells she had already used and tried to come up with something sort of new to use against Medeia. Normally if she could not come up with a spell to use she would use a technique instead, but being airborne took away her more powerful techniques like Tornado Kick and Meteor Jump Kick since they required her to jump in order to use them. That was a loss she would have to accept in exchange for being able to take the fight to Medeia because there was almost no way Leona could have fought the Warlord while staying on the ground. Since she was unable to use techniques she would have to fall back on her spells.

Leona raised her right hand and aimed it at Medeia, opening it and aligning it so that her palm faced the enemy. She then channeled silver magic into her palm and when the spell was ready thrust her right palm outward, firing her Air Pressure spell at the Warlord. Medeia would see the spell manifest as a visible and silver horizontal column of compressed air.

The Air Pressure spell moved in a straight line, so it could be dodged if Medeia was fast enough. A strong enough defensive spell could also stop it in its tracks. Leona had two spells that were stronger than Air Pressure, but they would likely destroy a good chunk of Hargeon Town if used, so she would have to pull her punches to keep from destroying the town she was trying to protect. However, the Warlord seemed to be escalating the amount of force she was using with each hit Leona landed on her. The Wizard Saint had taken to the sky with the intent of hurting Medeia enough to force the latter to the ground, but that did not seem like it was going to happen any time soon, not even after using Wind Bullet, Hurricane Punch, and Silver Blade, three of Leona's strongest spells and techniques.

Just how much could Medeia take?


[Post Word Count: 562]
[Leona's Word Count: 26,684]
[Total Word Count: 51,884]

Spells Used:

Taming her fellow Guild Mistress with a whip was rather an amusing thought and if the witch had been in a more jovial mood, she might have made a quip about it. As it was, she merely smiled for a moment thinly, as she watched her attack score a direct hit across her enemies torso. It would definitely leave a mark and the burning effect of the spell would no doubt hamper the blonde for quite some time. Deciding not to deactivate the whip just yet, she would magically attach it to her belt, in case she would need it again. There were many other spells in her repertoire of course and she did not wish to continue to use the same ones repeatedly. Despite that wish though, she mused that it may end up being a necessity if Leona ended up being as sturdy as she appeared.

Soon enough, Medeia detected her opponent using her abilities again and the Warlord soon felt another blast of significant air pressure heading in her direction. Again, she could have tried to simply use her defensive armour to shield herself but after her previous failure attempting that, the dark haired woman was feeling a tad reluctant about attempting it again so soon. So, she would instead fly up, evading the blast and allowing it to travel onwards below her. Whether Leona’s spell hit another target or caused mass damage was irrelevant to the witch and would provide nothing but amusement to her. Her movement speed was still a little sluggish due to the blonde’s previous spell but Medeia was slowly beginning to recover and even with the debuff, she was still rather swift to say the least.

Attempting to use her current position to her advantage, she would summon power into her wings and unleash a blast of holy light down towards Leona. It was a powerful spell indeed and would not only cause severe burns once again if the spell hit but would deal a great deal of damage to the dock as well. The kid gloves were well and truly off with the angel making the most of every sensation that was stimulating her frame. Her mind was becoming consumed by rage and a desire for revenge that caused her heart to rage. Leona would regret defeating Armina, as so many other powerful mages had done in the past. Kensho and Nita had put up stout defences against Warlord but in the end, the result had been the same. It would be identical here, even if Medeia had to tap into far more of her magical power in order to do so. Yet, she had no issue with it. Her stores of magical power were immense and it had been so long since she had been pushed to anywhere near her limits, that the thought was actually a rather pleasing one. To be able to go all out would be a wonderful experience and to claim Leona as a trophy at the end of it would be an even greater one.

(510 Words)
(25910 Med WC)
(52394 TWC)

Leona felt the burn from the whip attack and again clutched the affected area with her left hand. It did not really do anything to solve the problem... it was more a psychological bandage than anything. While the hit was painful, it was not going to stop Leona from continuing to fight Medeia. The blonde was the Wizard Saint of Courage and she was supposed to stand her ground no matter what came her way.

The Wizard Saint watched as Medeia avoided the Air Pressure spell with a quick burst of speed that moved the latter out of the spell's path. Once the Warlord was safely out of Air Pressure's path she quickly prepared and cast a counterattack using her wings; the attack came in the form of an impressive light blast. For once Leona was on the ball and lost altitude to avoid the blast by deliberately letting herself drop for a short distance. Once she had successfully dodged the attack Leona quickly flapped her wings to stop her descent, stopping herself with an abrupt halt that could clue Medeia in that the blonde was still a novice when it came to flying with wings. Leona was learning how to fly with wings, but the learning process was a painful one thanks to Medeia.

What Leona lacked in style she made up for in determination as she began diagonally ascending to Medeia's level so that the Warlord did not hold the high ground. She looked down and saw the town below her, causing her stomach to turn and making her right hand tremble a little. If Medeia was observant she could easily see the Wizard Saint's anxiety about being at a high altitude without Winged Lion to suppress her acrophobia. After managing to control her fear for the time being she reached Medeia's altitude level and stopped about six meters away, then turned and faced her adversary.

Flapping her wings to keep steady in the air, Leona reached for the holster containing her Scout Laser Pistol and drew the weapon, holding it in her right hand. She was going to use its Armor-Piercing Shot ability to try and deal a little more damage to the Dark Mage. Besides, if Medeia wanted to use weapons, Leona had no reservations about using her own.

She took aim at the Warlord and steadied her right hand, which was a little unsteady from a combination of the burning pain she was feeling from previous attacks and the anxiety from being so high in the air. The barrel of the weapon glowed red and when it was ready Leona fired an Armor-Piercing Shot at Medeia's torso in an attempt to hit the Warlord's center mass. The latter would see the shot as a red bolt of light heading right for her.

Despite trying to steady her hand before the shot Leona was still a little shaky due to the aforementioned factors, so the shot might miss. It could also be dodged or defended against using strong enough countermeasures. The Armor-Piercing Shot was far from Leona's strongest attack, but it was still an attack. Her plan was to keep pressure on Medeia until she could come up with a better plan to defeat the Warlord, preferably one that did not involve causing a lot of collateral damage.

[Post Word Count: 552]
[Leona's Word Count: 27,236]
[Total Word Count: 52,946]

Weapon Abilities Used:

Her opponent was confident enough in the air to be able to evade Medeia’s next spell although the witch was certain that she was apprehension in the gaze of her foe. There was something beneath the surface that was stopping the blonde from fighting at her full potential still and the dark mage could not help but start to ponder if it was something to do with their aerial acrobatics. Her fellow Guild Mistress did not seem to be entirely comfortable in the air and the angel was more than willing to begin to exploit that particular weakness now. She desired to find any faults in her opponent's form and would enjoy every moment that was spent in her treading all over them. If the neutral mage had an issue with heights then Medeia would quite happily manipulate that if at all possible although she was rather amused that her opponent would try and fight her in the air despite that potential weakness. Saying that, Leona had already proven that she was a little lacking in the brain department so perhaps Medeia should not have been all that surprised.

Before then though, Leona was once again on the attack, drawing a pistol and lining up a shot. The dark mage was familiar with guns and as her movement speed continued to return, she was able to descend fast enough to evade the bullet, causing it to strike and cause a rather large dent in a nearby building. Clearly, the attack had quite some stopping power and Medeia would not underestimate being struck by another of her opponents' attacks. She could feel the intent behind the attack as well, knowing that Leona had well and truly thrown off the shackles that had been holding her back. She meant business, that was for certain, as did the angel.

Tapping into her powers of fire once again, Medeia would create a javelin of fire and hurl it towards her opponent from below. The spell was average on the scale but it could still stun if it made contact with Leona, as well as deal decent damage. She aimed for the wounded midsection of her foe, desiring to strike at that particular weak point, now that it had been exploited. Had it been earlier in the fight, the slayer may have made a quip about Leona showing off her skin but they had unfortunately passed that particular point.

The javelin was, however, just a part of her attack and while her projectile was in flight, Medeia would draw her whip again and crack it towards Leona’s legs, attempting to wrap it around the blonde’s limbs. The thought of taking her foe on a tour of the town by air was rather amusing and given her opponents apparent fear, it would be a memorable encounter for them both if successful, not to mention that seeing Leona bound was a thought that certainly was appealing to the dark haired woman, even as she angry as she was with her.

(503 Words)
(26413 Med WC)
(53449 Total WC)

Leona felt her midsection and noticed that her outfit had been effectively destroyed at the midriff, exposing it to her enemy. Whether that was deliberate or not was up in the air, but she was not happy with the result. Not helping matters was the burning sensation she was experiencing from a few of Medeia's previous attacks that had hit her in the midsection. Leona put her left hand over her midsection for a few moments, then looked down to face Medeia.

While Leona had been lamenting the state of her outfit Medeia had not been idle. She had maneuvered below the blonde and had cast a flaming javelin at the Wizard Saint as her next attack. Leona had learned how to fly enough to dodge attacks, albeit in a clumsy manner that made it obvious to anyone watching that she was not an expert. She moved herself to the right just enough to dodge the projectile and then dropped for a short distance before flapping her wings to steady herself as she aimed down at Medeia with her laser pistol.

Leona was aiming down at her enemy and was visibly clenching her teeth in anger at the dark-haired mage. She wanted to defeat the Warlord and she wanted to do it fast before the latter could win a prolonged fight. The best way to win would be to just stop holding back and use Silver Tempest or Razor Tornado now and ask for forgiveness later, but she could not bring herself to do that. She would be destroying people's homes and lives just like she had indirectly done at the Ishgar Symposium. Too many people had already suffered because of her stupidity and she did not need to add to that count.

The blonde finally held her right hand steady while aiming the pistol at the Warlord and held her right hand steady as she prepared to fire. She had finally steadied herself completely and was about to fire when she felt something wrap around her legs, an act which caused her right hand to jerk far right from the surprise and fire a single red pistol shot that went far wide of Medeia and to the ground below. Leona looked down in visible surprise and saw that the whip from earlier was now around her legs.

What was the meaning of this?

Was Medeia going to try and destroy her skirt too or was something even worse about to happen?

Leona did not waste too much time panicking. She remained fairly calm and tried to focus on finding a way to free herself before it was too late. She began flapping her wings and trying to fly upward to exert enough force to escape Medeia's grasp. The Wizard Saint was not sure if that would work, but she would try. She was not going to let the Warlord win if she could help it.

[Post Word Count: 486]
[Leona's Word Count: 27,722]
[Total Word Count: 53,935]

A smile crossed the features of the witch as her whip wrapped around the legs of her opponent, binding the blonde’s muscular lower limbs. It was not an innocent expression though and her eyes were burning with a combination of both anger and lust. The power of her emotions would begin to radiate from her, giving off a powerful aura of heat that could be felt around her. It was not an attack, simply a sign that the angel was becoming fully invested in the fight and allowing her emotions to come to the surface. The calm and serene mask that she so often wore was well and truly gone, as the Warlord’s power came to the surface. It was so rare that she allowed herself to become overwhelmed but Leona had shed the blood of her maid and there was no chance that she could keep her composure after that. There was a great deal that she wished to do to her blonde haired foe, both subtle and gross, violent and carnal. Medeia wanted this Guild Mistress helpless at her feet where she belonged.

The witch soon felt a pull on her whip, with Leona doing her utmost to fly away from the dark mage's rather unpleasant snaring device. Medeia was rather amused by the fact, given that her opponent seemed a little anxious and uncomfortable when it came to flight altogether. Was trying to climb truly the best action in escaping the angel? At first, she pondered the idea of perhaps flying up towards her foe and trying to wrap her up in the whip completely but another thought soon crossed her mind. Focusing on her spell briefly, she would start to try and retract it, which would by extension pull Leona in towards her. There was no guarantee it would work and her foe was powerful enough to do something about it but Medeia cared little. Just seeing her target wrapped up was sending pleasurable shivers down her spine. There was just something about seeing other women in bonds that caused her heart to race. It had begun when she had first fused with Priya and ever since then, it had only grown in intensity.

She could have thrown in another attack then while trying to reel her opponent in but Medeia had an alternative in mind. There was something that she desired and seeing Leona’s bare midsection was only causing that sensation to grow. Anger may have been an element that her magic gave her dominion over but she was not known as the Warlord Of Anger. There was another impulse that pushed her onwards and it was briefly taking control. Her foe was beautiful, whether she was aware of it or not and Medeia found it difficult to truly despise someone of her own gender fully, regardless of what they had done. For the moment, she wanted Leona up against her and if the Silver Wolf mage could not escape her then she may end up far closer than she would most likely want.

(509 Words)
(26922 Med WC)
(54444 TWC)

While trying to avoid being reeled in Leona looked down at Medeia and did not like the strange look on the latter's face. Leona was used to looks that conveyed anger or ambition from people who wanted her dead because she was a Wizard Saint and her death at their hands would boost their reputation, because she was the target they had picked to try and rob, because they had been hired to kill her in exchange for a sizable monetary reward, or some other reason. However, the look on the Warlord's face conveyed something else entirely.

It looked like the dark-haired mage did not care about a reputation boost or some other reward. Rather, Medeia likely had something else on her mind. Leona did not want to find out what that "something else" was, so she looked away from Medeia and focused on trying to get free of the whip before she was pulled in by the Warlord. Flying straight up was not going to do the trick... she had tried that from the start and she had not gained any altitude, instead only maintaining where she was at. She would need to force Medeia to let her go.

Leona considered using Steel Flechettes to try and hit the Warlord with a spread of projectiles, but at the angle she was currently at the dispersion of the spread might be too much for her to make a hit on the target. Leona might be able to make a shot with her laser pistol, but she was not sure whether to try for another Armor-Piercing Shot or use a Charge Shot to try and free herself from her predicament. No matter what she used the Wizard Saint was likely going to get only one shot at this.

The Wizard Saint stopped flapping her wings so hard and flapped only enough to maintain altitude and distance, then looked down at Medeia and maneuvered to the point she was facing the target at as close to a 45-degree angle as she could manage; despite being far from ideal the new angle gave her a slightly better shot. She aimed her laser pistol directly at the Dark Mage while steadying her right hand. She had the pain from the burning sensation and the motions that accompanied the struggle to keep from being reeled in throwing her off, but she was doing her best to cope with those problems. Once her right hand was as steady as it was going to get she prepared and fired another Armor-Piercing Shot aimed at Medeia's torso. The Warlord would see the shot as a red beam of light heading for her.

Leona's shot might miss because of the conditions affecting her aim. It might also miss because Medeia might be able to notice the beam of red light and dodge it in time. It could also be defended against if Medeia had a strong enough defense set up.

Leona hoped that if her shot hit it would be powerful enough to "convince" the Warlord to let her go. However, Medeia looked determined to pull Leona in for whatever she had planned for the blonde. That kind of determination would likely be hard to shake and a special pistol shot might not be enough to do the job.

[Post Word Count: 550]
[Leona's Word Count: 28,272]
[Total Word Count: 54,994]

Weapon Abilities Used:

The lustful look that had crept onto the Warlord’s face remained and the thought of simply beating Leona to a pulp was being tossed aside in favour of something else. The blonde most definitely needed to pay for attacking Armina as she had but the honest truth was that Medeia had never been the type who desired to truly kill her fellow women. It was so much simpler with men, as she had no issue with simply killing them without much thought and yet, that was not the case for those of the fairer gender. There had been moments where she wanted to destroy her fellow Guild Mistress but now, she was returning to type which meant a change of tactics. Her anger and rage, while still powerful and churning within her, were forced under her control, where they belonged. In a way, she was rather annoyed with herself for having briefly allowed them to take command of her and briefly chided herself mentally.

Reeling Leona in was a rather difficult proposition and soon enough, the blonde was aiming another pistol shot in her direction from above. There was that familiar red light, a sign that the attack was coming, before the blast was charging down towards her. Time was rather short and she already knew that Leona’s pistol attacks could penetrate her shield, so instead the witch would swiftly dodge out of the way, gracefully using her wings to allow her to evade the attack. Flying was oh so natural for her and came as easy as breathing to her, which was something that she had already realised that Leona did not share. Her foe was competent in the air rather than graceful and that fact was what caused the Warlord to make a rather peculiar move.

Gripping on to her whip with both hands, she would suddenly fly upwards, using her formidable strength in an attempt to drag her opponent around by her legs. The idea was simply to try and stir up the hesitation that she had noticed in her foe. If Leona was unable to break her bonds or find a way to escape then she would be going on quite the ride, being flown around by her legs by the amused witch, that smile still fixed across her features. Humiliation was something that Medeia greatly enjoyed inflicting on others and she was fairly certain that dragging Leona around would cause just that. An effective way of showing just how useless and helpless that a Wizard Saint truly was when facing their dark equivalent although if her experiences had shown anything, it was that even placing the two in the same bracket was ridiculous. She had proven the superiority of her title before and would do so again now.

It was only then that she decided to speak for the first time in what might seem like an age, her voice failing to hide the lust and amusement that was stimulating her so strongly. “You are as clumsy in the air as you are on the ground, Leona. Tell me, are you the same way with your girlfriend when you are with her?”


(527 Words)
(27449 Med WC)
(55521 TWC)

Leona watched as her Armor-Piercing Shot missed the Warlord, who had dodged it in a display of aerial agility that made the blonde look flat-footed. Or flat-winged. Whatever. At any rate the shot missed and Medeia began to move towards Leona, a move which surprised the blonde. She thought that the Dark Mage would keep her distance and wait for Leona to tire before making her move, but that was not the case.

Whether Medeia knew it or not that was a clever move to make because it took away some of the Wizard Saint's options. While she was in the air Leona could not use her stronger techniques like Tornado Kick, Meteor Jump Kick, or Sky Hammer because she could not jump or plant a foot on the ground to prepare an ax kick. As a result Leona was limited to punches only.

That disturbing look was still plastered on Medeia's face as she moved towards her target. Leona heard Medeia ask a question in a playful manner and that was the first time in awhile that the Warlord had been so jovial. If she had to guess Leona suspected that Medeia only acted that way when she had the upper hand or believed that she had the upper hand. The Wizard Saint was going to show the Warlord that victory would not be a matter of making playful remarks and trying to get close to her.

Regardless of whether the Warlord had the upper hand or not, the question caused Leona to visibly blush. That would undoubtedly add fuel to the fire, but the reaction had happened before Leona could exert enough self-control to prevent it. It was too late to do anything about it now.

"That's none of your business!" Leona shouted at the would-be personal space invader. Repeating the same tactic from last time, Leona maneuvered in the air and placed herself at as close to a 45-degree angle as she could get, then aimed the Scout Laser Pistol at Medeia and held down the trigger. The barrel glowed bright orange as she prepared a special shot and when it was ready Leona released the trigger, firing the Charge Shot at Medeia's torso. Medeia would see this attack as a bright orange bolt of light.

Leona was at an angle that was less than ideal, her acrophobia was threatening to get the better of her, and Medeia was moving pretty fast, so the Charge Shot might miss because of those factors. A strong enough defense could stop it in its tracks. Leona was not sure if the Charge Shot would hit, but she was not going to let that uncertainty stop her from fighting the Warlord.

[Post Word Count: 450]
[Leona's Word Count: 28,722]
[Total Word Count: 55,971]

Weapon Abilities Used:

A laugh escaped the dark mage after Leona answered her, a look of amusement once again crossing Medeia’s face. The answer to her question was written all over the blonde’s features, her cheeks tinted with redness. She had expected such a response and the smugness in her chuckle would be a clear sign of that to her opponent. The Warlord believed that she had a pretty good read on the powerful Wizard Saint by now and Medeia was more than willing to exploit in anyway possible by now although honestly, that was not difficult to do. The woman’s shields were well and truly gone after Medeia’s previous attacks on her psyche and she truly did appear to be a sitting duck to them now. The Silver Wolf mage was unravelling before her, which was quite a pleasurable experience for the dark haired mage.

She would have responded to Leona’s snappy retort but her opponent was already lining up her next shot, an orange coloured hue soon coming from the tip of the blonde’s pistol. Medeia was in no way fearful of the weapon at this point and rather than move away, she continued to fly upwards towards Leona instead, using her wings to gracefully evade the latest attack, resulting in it careering towards the ground instead to scar the landscape. Medeia could not help but wonder what such a shot would do to a normal person.

It might have looked as though she was going to attack Leona from below but what Medeia actually did was fly straight past the blonde although the dark mage did get awfully close to the Wizard Saint as she passed, enough that at another point, they would have been in arms reach of each other. She sought higher air space and with the whip still in her hand, the witch would continue to rise upwards, pulling hard on her weapon in order to try and drag her opponent along with her. By now, she was greatly suspicious when it came to Leona’s reluctance to fly and now was the time to try and make the most of it. There was the chance that her foe would free herself but if she could not, then the blonde would be getting a lovely view of Hargeon.

It was then that she resumed her verbal toying, enjoying the simple pleasure that came from prodding at Leona’s crumbling psyche. “I can just imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes. Having to patiently wait while you stumble and bumble over your words, trying to put together a simple sentence when she asks you how you feel. I bet hearing your confession must have been about as painful for her as having her face scraped across broken glass.”

If what she had discovered about Leona so far had proven anything to the witch, it was that speaking was not her forte, especially when it came to anything regarding emotion. It truly did seem as though the blonde was stunted in that regard, which was both rather pathetic and yet curious at the same time. Just what had happened in Leona’s past to have caused her to develop such a hard shell? She would not get an answer from the woman, Medeia knew that but it aroused her interest nonetheless. Perhaps once she had Leona bound and at her mercy, the Warlord could get those answers then through other methods?

(573 Words)
(28002 Med WC)
(56544 TWC)

Leona heard Medeia's jab at her about her inability to express her emotions and clenched her teeth. She was really getting tired of Medeia's nonsense and it showed because anger began to slip through again. That banter only reinforced Leona's hypothesis that the Warlord only talked like that when she felt she had the advantage... and in a way the Warlord did hold the advantage here. She was able to fly with grace and agility to easily dodge Leona's pistol shots while the Wizard Saint flitted about clumsily and was able to dodge only through crude means such as deliberately letting herself drop to lose altitude.

"What makes you think I'm gonna tell you that?" Leona asked Medeia. She aimed for Medeia using both hands while flapping her wings just enough to keep herself steady, then tried to aim ahead of the target. She raised her arms at a 35-degree angle fired a normal shot since she did not have enough time to prepare a special one. Leona watched as the shot went wide of the mark and Medeia zoomed by without slowing down.

"Great." Leona muttered to herself as Medeia flew too high for her to even begin to try and line up a shot and lowered her arms. Perhaps she had relied too much on her pistol and should have used her magic to try and land a hit on the elusive Warlord. Maybe she should have tried to close in on Medeia and use her Silver Longsword to try and hit her enemy. When she glanced down at the ground below and spotted the whip still wrapped around her legs the gears in her head began to turn.

Why had Medeia flown up and past her instead of flying towards her to try and wrap her up?

Leona continued to look down at her legs as she began to form another hypothesis.

Medeia had likely been bantering with Leona to distract her while she made her move, deliberately winding the blonde up so that she would not notice what was going on.

If that was the case Leona had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, but she did not have much time to feel embarrassment because her embarrassment was beginning to be replaced with a growing sense of dread. She looked at her legs and then looked up. It was at that moment she finally realized what was going to happen and the apprehension began to show on her face, but it was way too late to prevent it.

She was about to get turned upside-down!

To make matters worse Medeia was about to get immediate and visible confirmation of Leona's fear of heights. The blonde was so deeply afraid of heights that she was not going to be able to disguise her fear once she was turned upside-down. Once the Warlord got incontrovertible evidence of Leona's acrophobia word might spread about it, but the Wizard Saint would have to worry about that later because soon she would have bigger problems than a possible blow to her reputation.

[Post Word Count: 512]
[Leona's Word Count: 29,234]
[Total Word Count: 57,056]

Considering how accurate Leona had been with her pistol so far, Medeia was rather surprised by just how far the blonde missed with her latest shot. It gave the dark mage a slight ego boost, not that she ever needed that and she smiled slightly as she flew upwards, knowing exactly what would happen. Since her fellow Guild Mistress had been unable to free herself from the whip, there would be only one result and as she gained speed and gave the whip a violent tug, it would become taut, resulting in her opponent more than likely finding herself upside down, much to the angel’s amusement. There was something about Leona’s movements and body language which had given her a hunch regarding her foe’s unease in the air and now was the perfect time to make the most of it.

Of course, being the cool headed and considerate woman that she was, the Warlord had no intention of embarrassing her opponent in front of the pathetic masses and would instead just spook her a little, right?

Wrong.

Instead, the witch would instead start to fly off towards the centre of town, using her underrated speed in order to haul her opponent along with her. She had every intention of presenting Leona, battered clothing and all, to every man, woman and child who looked up. Medeia adored humiliation and in truth, she preferred it to violence and barbarism. Physical wounds would heal but mental ones were far more damaging, a fact that the angel knew better than most. To force an opponent to live in shame was a far more fitting punishment than to simply kill them in her opinion. Life was more cruel than death, after all.

As Medeia flew, she took that moment to call back to her opponent, remembering what she had said previously. “I do not need you to tell me anything, Leona, as the fact that you do not even try to argue is an answer in itself. I can imagine it now, you know, your lovely girlfriend opening her heart to you, only to receive a blank and emotionless confession from you. You are an incredibly cold woman and that is coming from someone who has met quite a few in her time. I wonder if that stems from your past perhaps? Tell me, is your mother the same? I find that nine times out of ten, a dark and unhappy history is the reason for an individual to be as miserable as you."

Noticing that they were reaching a rather populated area of the town, Medeia would open her mouth and start to sing, sending magical waves down towards the ground and forcing the people to look up, staring directly at the blonde haired Wizard Saint. With the simplest force of will, the angel would convince them all to begin laughing at her opponent, mocking laughter that could normally be heard at a talent show when someone had made a complete mess of their act. It was merely another attempt at annoying her opponent, amusing the witch. She had to admit that her wounded shoulder was bothering a bit though and soon enough, the witch would have to find a moment to heal.

(539 Words)
(28541 Med WC)
(57595 TWC)

The moment Leona went upside-down she entered a state of uncontrolled panic. She screamed loudly and nearly dropped the pistol in her hand. She had just enough control to take her finger away from the trigger so that she did not accidentally fire a shot, but she did not have enough control and focus to begin to aim at Medeia to try to free herself. She screamed again as she began to be pulled along by the Warlord, who had likely picked up on the blonde's obvious distress. Leona was in such distress that she could not think of a witty retort to Medeia's question... or any kind of retort, really.

Being turned upside-down in a high place was a nightmare come to life for Leona, who had been in that same situation when she was eight years old. Leonidas had managed to catch her by the ankle just in time to prevent a fatal fall, but the memory of being upside-down and looking at the ground below was an indelible one. That incident was the source of her acrophobia and her fear had now been exposed in a way that she could not possibly hide.

Leona's heart rate was through the roof and her stomach was doing flips. Her hands were shaking and she could not think straight enough to fight back: she was still in the grip of panic when she saw a gathering of Hargeon Town's citizens below. The panic at her predicament was momentarily sidelined by a thought.

Why were they not making an effort to get away from the fighting?

The panic soon asserted itself again as she was pulled sideways over the spectators. When she was directly over them she felt a wave of embarrassment that was so intense it felt like a punch to her head. Her midriff was exposed and her skirt was flapping about as she was being pulled along. Leona was thankful she had worn black bike shorts underneath the skirt, so she was spared additional insult to injury. She heard Medeia begin to sing and moments later the people below began to laugh at the sight above them.

Leona's face turned bright red and she felt a new wave of embarrassment wash over her. This was so humiliating. The Wizard Saint was so flustered that she was unable to do anything to free herself yet. However, the people laughing at her plight made Leona angry and that anger was starting to force her fear aside. Soon the adrenaline would take over and with that burst of aggressive energy she would try to free herself, then try to exact revenge on the Warlord for publicly humiliating her.

Leona would try those things... if the adrenaline did not take control of her first. It might have been just her, but it seemed like the more she denied feelings of anger the stronger they became until she finally gave in to them. When she finally gave in she experienced a surge of confidence that gave her the feeling she could take on anyone, but her ability to think straight tended to take a nosedive and that was dangerous when going up against an intelligent opponent like Medeia. The Warlord had played the Wizard Saint like a kazoo a few times already and had seized an advantage because of her skill at detecting and exploiting Leona's weaknesses.

However, Leona was getting too angry to think straight. Right now she wanted to punish Medeia and that motive was giving her what she needed to temporarily sideline her fear of heights and her embarrassment. As she was being dragged along Leona's left hand clenched into a fist, a not-so-subtle sign that she was about to make her move.

[Post Word Count: 624]
[Leona's Word Count: 29,858]
[Total Word Count: 58,219]

Her mind control spell would not last long on the public but that was not of great concern to the Warlord. They were playing their part wonderfully by mocking her opponent and Medeia took a great amount of satisfaction from hearing Leona’s screams. Those screams were exactly the same as how Armina’s had been at the moment of her defeat at the hands of the blonde and the dark mage was more than pleased with how her revenge for her fallen maid was panning out. Fear was such a delightful emotion and to be able to break through Leona’s cold exterior and expose it to the world was incredibly pleasurable for Medeia. To see such a proud woman be dragged, quite literally, from her perch brought the witch so much amusement. She hoped that Leona would remember this day for the rest of her life and that it would rankle with her forever. There was one inescapable fact though, Medeia would not let the matter end here. Her fellow Guild Mistress had made the grave error of injuring the one closest to her and the Warlord would focus her retribution not only upon Leona but those she cared for. All those who bore the mark of Silver Wolf would become a target.

Deciding to fly a little lower in order for the people below to get an even closer look at her victim, Medeia would briefly focus her powers on her wounded shoulder, taking the time to use her blood slayer magic in order to begin to seal the wound. As she had shown previously, her healing skills were fair and although it was not her greatest asset, the angel knew enough to heal wounds. She would feel a cooling sensation as the magic went about its work, repairing the damage steadily. It certainly made dragging Leona easier, so much so that she was prepared to change the positioning after a short time.

The angel would change trajectory and fly upwards for a few seconds, meaning that Leona would again be dangling beneath her by her legs, the witch’s whip still holding them firmly. She then started to rock from side to side, making the blonde woman below her move like a pendulum on an old grandfather clock, much to the pleasure of herself and no doubt the annoyance of her foe. Below them, the Hargeon natives would continue to mock the Wizard Saint and just a couple of them would go a step further, picking up clods of dried mud and hurling them at Leona’s rocking form.

“Anyone happen to have an iLac on them?” The angel asked menacingly, sending a particular thought into the minds of those under her control.

The result of her question was quickly discovered as some of the young boys and girls rummaged around in their pockets, drawing out an array of different coloured devices, all of which were raised in Leona’s direction.

“I know that smiling is not your forte but make an effort for your beloved public, Leona, they are just dying to take a picture of you.”

Was there a hint of a threat behind her words there? Perhaps but like most things with the angel, it was difficult to tell fact from fiction.

(543 Words)
(29084 Med WC)
(58762 TWC)

Leona was hating every second of what was going on here. Medeia had changed the way she was moving the blonde about and the new way was making the Wizard Saint feel the familiar sensations of stomach turning and heart rate increasing by the second as she tried to fight off the new sensation of dizziness that was threatening to take hold. As if that were not enough the crowd below saw fit to add insult to injury by throwing projectiles made of mud at her. It was safe to say that she wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

The Wizard Saint was growing angrier about her predicament with each passing second. Medeia was clearly having fun here, so much fun that she asked the audience below for iLacs. To Leona's chagrin there were plenty to be had as audience members eagerly produced them and readied them to take a shot of the blonde in a humiliating situation.

Why was this happening to her?

Medeia's taunt about the public gave Leona the push she needed to finally make her move. Leona did not issue a clever one-liner as she flapped her wings to pull away from the Warlord and steady herself. Her range was limited by the whip wrapped around her legs, but she did not need to go very far. She just needed to get enough distance to put herself parallel to the Warlord before she took her shot.

When she got the desired distance and angle Leona flapped her wings to stay steady and steadied her shaking hands long enough to aim the Scout Laser Pistol in a two-handed grip. She was not going to waste time with fancy trick shots that might miss... she was not here to entertain the crowd with feats of marksmanship or an exchange of witty banter with her enemy. She wanted to get out of Medeia's grasp and get herself in a better position to fight back.

The blonde held the Scout Laser Pistol in both hands and readied an Armor-Piercing Shot. The pistol's barrel glowed red and when the shot was ready Leona fired it at Medeia's torso. Leona was still under the effects of fear, adrenaline, and encroaching dizziness from being moved back and forth while upside down, so she chose the shot that was easiest for her to try to make and that shot was one aimed at the Warlord's center mass.

Leona had a lot working against her when she took the shot and it might miss because of those factors. Medeia might also have been expecting a counterattack and might react quickly enough to dodge the shot. However, if the blonde managed to free herself that would be a satisfying blow struck against the showboating Warlord, who seemed to believe that victory was already hers. If Leona got free she would still have a tough fight ahead of her, but it was a lot easier to fight when she was not being dangled upside-down.

[Post Word Count: 502]
[Leona's Word Count: 30,360]
[Total Word Count: 59,264]

Weapon Abilities Used:

It appeared that Leona had managed to at least get over her panic enough to return to action and Medeia had to admit that she was a tad unhappy about that. To see her opponent in such a frightened state had been such entertaining viewing for the witch although at least she knew now of another way to hurt the blonde on a mental and emotional level. The longer the fight wore on, the more holes that were appearing in Leona’s defences. Once her foe’s cold exterior had been broken, it was wide open for an attack of a mental sort. Honestly, it was a perfect situation for the dark mage, who enjoyed toying with her opponents more than anything else. Medeia would draw out the torment for as long as she could, each jab another small dose of revenge for Leona having interfered with her affairs. The blonde's screaming was still in her ears and she did sorely wish to hear them again but for the time being, it seemed that would have to wait. For the tide of battle had turned once more and Medeia knew that she had to be on her toes, even though she did still have her whip around her enemies legs.

Leona’s pistol was aimed at her once more and without any further thought, Medeia would fly upwards, evading the shot but unfortunately leaving the cord of her whip in the firing line. The bullet would go straight through her weapon, causing it to turn a lovely shade of bright purple, before disappearing into nothingness. It was a better result than getting shot herself, of course but the angel was not all that pleased nonetheless. She had quite enjoyed seeing her opponent wrapped up and it was bound to be a pain for her to repeat the process. Medeia had other abilities to repeat the feat but she knew that Leona would most definitely be on guard now against such techniques.

Her mind control on the public would cease at that point as well, resulting in the locals suddenly realising just what they were in the middle of. Some screamed, some ran and a few stupid people actually tried to take pictures with their held out iLac’s. Considering what she had ordered them to do before, it might have seemed odd that the witch would take offence to it when she was the target but it was the gender of the photo takers that caused her to look down upon them, her expression changing.

They were men.

That one realisation was enough for Medeia to raise her hand and unleash a sand tornado, which would not only surround her form but cause immense damage to anyone in her near vicinity without exception. Not only would it deal heavy damage to Leona if she did not evade it but would more than likely eliminate any local caught in the attack. Could the blonde put aside her growing hatred in order to help those in need or would she try to attack the witch directly and give in to her darker impulses?

(517 Words)
(29601 Med WC)
(59781 TWC)

Leona's Armor-Piercing Shot had not hit what she had intended it to hit. She had been aiming for Medeia but had hit the Warlord's whip instead, freeing her in a fashion that was straight out of an action movie. Leona could not help but to grin a little at that small victory, which was a shot in the arm for the beleaguered Wizard Saint. However, her small victory was not going to last long once Medeia decided on another way to attack the blonde.

Leona noticed that the crowd that had gathered below was finally starting to realize the gravity of the situation and began dispersing quickly, all save for a few individuals who were actually standing there and taking pictures. Leona's disbelief turned to horror when Medeia cast a spell that manifested in the form of a sand tornado. That horror increased when she realized that the photo-taking people were going to be right in the middle of it.

Leona's magic did not have anything that could be used to protect the people or negate the spell her enemy had cast. She was caught by surprise and thus did not have time to call in summons to help her save more people. She was going to be able to save one person and one person only. The Wizard Saint had a tough choice to make and very little time in which to do it.

Did she go after Medeia or did she save one of the people below?

Leona clenched her teeth and put away her Scout Laser Pistol, then dove towards the storm at a steep angle.

Her stomach was churning, her heart rate was way up, and she desperately wanted to pull out of the dive so that she did not slam into the ground or expose herself to her greatest fear for even longer than she already had to, but she needed to save someone from Medeia's spell. When she got to the center of it she leveled out, reached out with her arms, and grabbed the closest person she could reach, who happened to be a blond-haired young man in his early twenties wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Leona closed her eyes for a moment to keep the flood of negative emotions at bay as she flew straight away from the tornado, trying her best to ignore what was going on behind her.

Out of all the people she could have saved she saved a young man.

He would likely live, but the other people would die. She could not save him and set him on the ground far away from the tornado, then zoom back in time to save anyone else. As much as Leona hated that outcome it was an unpleasant reality... she could not always save everyone.

Did she do that because he was the closest person she could reach in time or was it luck of the draw?

Leona did not know and she did not have the time or inclination to think it through. She had saved the one person she could and she would have to be satisfied with that. Medeia would answer for this. Whether she would answer for it today or much later, the Warlord would answer for it.

[Post Word Count: 544]
[Leona's Word Count: 30,904]
[Total Word Count: 60,325]

By the time her sandstorm disappeared, there was not all that much left of the men who had been unable to escape its wrath. It had been an attack that had been cast with all of Medeia’s power and that could only lead to death. The area around her would be little more than sand, a new and unusual feature in the middle of the still standing town. At first, the witch did nothing but simply glance down at the remains of the males, anger pulsing through her veins at a mile a minute. They would most certainly not be doing that again and as she gazed down, the desire to destroy the entire town briefly crossed her mind. It would not be the first time that she had caused mass destruction over the slightest of things, as the people of Fiore had found out before. Still, killing humans only satiated her desires so much and it was not the be all and end all for her. There were more enjoyable ways of unleashing her emotions.

With that in mind, the angel would follow Leona, her slayer senses allowing her to keep a read on where the gliding blonde was heading. The dark mage was certainly not finished with her just yet and she now had another event to throw in the Wizard Saint’s face, not that she needed another. There were more and more holes appearing in Leona’s defences and the Warlord was quite enjoying probing at them. Her opponent had been so impenetrable at the start and now she appeared to be almost ragged, her head in the completely wrong headspace for a fight. It amused Medeia greatly.

It appeared that Leona had managed to save one of the pathetic men though, a realisation that irritated the dark mage somewhat but on the other hand, it gave her another way of menacing her opponent. The blonde may have saved him from Medeia’s initial attack but the witch had a long memory and revenge was oh so natural to her. She would find the fool again and make the short remainder of his life a truly horrifying experience. Of course, that would spread to his family too although if perhaps he had a sister, then things might be different for her.

“Where are you going?” The purple haired witch called, her voice as whimsical as ever. “You are not going to be able to fight properly while carrying that wretch. Put him down and I will find him later.”

That was not a request nor a threat. It was a promise and one that she fully intended to keep.

After a moment to let it sink in, she would resume. “I suppose that you will use the fact that you saved him as an excuse for allowing all the other people to die, hmm? Maybe you should just admit that you are not cut out for this heroic lark, Leona, you end up doing more harm than good. Give it up.”

(502 Words)
(30103 Med WC)
(60827 TWC)

Leona ignored Medeia's taunting as she flew away from the tornado with the one person she had managed to save. She knew that it was yet another cheap shot aimed at her, but that cheap shot hit a sore point of the Wizard Saint's. She wished that she had had more time to summon the Harpy Sisters to help her fly three more people to safety, but she did not have the time and had to act quickly to save the young man she managed to get to in time. Leona was having to exert a serious effort to keep calm in the face of Medeia's flagrant provocation.

Leona silently set the young man down far away from the tornado and watched him flee for somewhere unknown without a word, then flapped her wings and began to regain altitude. She was going to continue the fight with the Warlord, who was making a second taunt focused on Leona's competence as a hero. Again Medeia was poking at one of Leona's sore points, but the former seemed to be confident that getting the Wizard Saint angry would not affect the outcome of the fight. Leona continued to gain altitude and kept her mouth shut.

Once the Wizard Saint reached Medeia's altitude she finally deigned to respond to the latter's taunting.

"I know that you'd love for me to give up and let you have your way with the innocent people of the world, but you won't be able to get rid of me that easily." Leona told Medeia. It was true that Leona had suffered an enormous personal setback after the Ishgar Symposium and that setback had made her entertain the idea of stepping down as a Wizard Saint more than once. It was also true that Leona had questioned whether she was really a hero or just a pretender. She had never come up with a satisfactory answer to that question and this fight was not going to grant her a sudden epiphany that healed her mental scars and strengthened her resolve now and forever. Finding an answer would take time and effort, but at the moment she needed to focus on the present.

Having given her response to Medeia's jab at her status as a hero, Leona did not say anything else. Instead she looked at Medeia and tried to plan her next move. She had already used the Scout Laser Pistol quite a bit, so the Warlord was wise to that trick. Using the Silver Longsword would bring Leona considerable satisfaction in taking the fight to her enemy, but she was not ready to take that risk yet. She might eventually have to get in close quarters with Medeia, but Leona would rather postpone that for a little bit longer.

Instead Leona would try her Wind Bullet spell. It did not have quite the punch she needed to seriously hurt the Warlord, but she was going to use it to try and pressure Medeia into making mistakes that could set her up for something else. Leona raised and pointed her right index finger towards the Warlord, then channeled silver magic onto the tip of the digit. Once the spell was ready Leona fired the silver marble of wind magic at Medeia's torso.

If it hit the Wizard Saint was not counting on Wind Bullet to seriously hurt Medeia. Instead she was trying to push her enemy into making a mistake that could possibly be punished. The Wind Bullet could be dodged or defended against with strong enough protection, but at this point it did not matter too much because the blonde was trying to think on her feet and set her enemy up for a bigger spell or make an opening to close in for a close-range attack. Maybe it was way too late to try and get clever and Medeia was already anticipating a trick from Leona, but the blonde had to try something beyond "shoot at Medeia with a laser pistol", "cast a spell at Medeia", or "sit back and engage in pointless banter with Medeia."


[Post Word Count: 680]
[Leona's Word Count: 31,584]
[Total Word Count: 61,507]

Spells Used:

“I would settle for simply having my way with you instead.” Medeia replied, the look in her eye briefly revealing her rather more carnal side once again. It was half spoken in jest but the Warlord would be lying if she said that there was not some truth there. Leona was thrumming with power at this point and her emotional state was actually appealing to the witch in a way. It was rare that she came up against someone who was able to overcome their fear of her and instead let it turn into anger. Of course, anger was probably worse when facing the angel, as Medeia could manipulate that far more easily but it was an attractive emotion in her eyes too. Even now, she was still trying to poke and prod at her opponents psyche, attacking from any and all angles that she could think of. “I confess that a part of me wishes to know what it is that keeps bringing your girlfriend back to you.” A chuckle escaped her then, a slightly dirty laugh that gave away her lustful thoughts.

Leona was soon enough on the attack again though and Medeia was familiar with her opponent's combat style by now to recognise the hand gesture. Sure enough, a marble sized bullet was soon flying towards her and Medeia would raise her hand in order to summon a fire shield in order to defend herself. The two spells would meet in a blaze of flame, before both spells would end up vanishing, equal to one another in strength. There was no penetration, so Medeia’s immense amount of spell durability would be enough alone to stop it. Still, she would not underestimate her opponent too much and that was why the angel did not wait to counter attack.

No sooner had the two spells clashed, the angel would use her powers of sand to teleport, appearing fairly close behind her foe and launching one of her own. It would just look like a purple blob of energy at first but soon grew into a large net like structure which swiftly darted towards the Wizard Saint. Medeia did not need to explain what would happen if it made contact but such was the heat of the material, it would cause a burn, as well as bind her foe if it struck. After seeing Leona with her legs wrapped up, the dark mage had to admit that it was an image that she had enjoyed seeing and was eager to see such a scenario again. Oh, she had humiliated her foe a great deal already but Medeia was not quite satisfied just yet. No, she desired to completely break her opponent and believed that she was well on her way to doing so. How many more jibes and humiliating situations would it take for the blonde to crumble? The Warlord was oh so eager to find out. By the battle's end, she would have her answer and with any luck, Leona helpless at her feet.

(506 Words)
(30609 Med WC)
(62013 TWC)

Leona heard Medeia's retort and showed visible discomfort at the idea on both her face and her body, involuntarily shuddering for a moment. Leona was so uncomfortable that she could not think of a response to the follow-up question that had been put to her. The blonde had reason to suspect that this time the Warlord was not saying something just to get a rise out of her... she suspected that Medeia really would enjoy that sort of thing if she could make it happen. Obviously Leona did not want that to happen, so she needed to either win this fight or force a draw.

When she got over the surprise of her opponent's retort she noticed that her spell had been stopped cold. Her opponent then swiftly disappeared from view before Leona could attack again. Leona had seen the Warlord pull a disappearing act before and turned around. Medeia had reappeared not too far from the Wizard Saint and had cast a spell that eventually manifested as a net. In between the whip and the net Leona was starting to believe that the Warlord fancied herself a lion tamer. All that was missing was the latter waving a chair at Leona.

Leona dropped to avoid the net, flaring out her wings so that she did not drop like a stone. If Medeia looked she could see that the blonde was still not used to flying without riding on Winged Lion's back, so the motion was jerky like a puppet on strings moving about. However, it worked because Leona was able to somewhat control her descent, which was proof that the Wizard Saint could learn on the fly, so to speak.

As it stood Leona barely avoided catching a faceful of net, which was good for her because she needed to stay mobile. After narrowly avoiding the attempt to ensnare her Leona was going to attack, but she was not going to use a distance spell because Medeia had seen most of them already. The Wizard Saint was going to close in for a Mach Straight or sword attack on the Warlord. Leona flapped her wings a few times to build up enough power to propel herself towards her enemy, a gesture that could serve as a hint as to what was coming if Medeia was paying attention. When enough power was built up Leona flapped her wings in a single mighty flap and propelled herself upward and diagonally towards the Warlord.

When she got within striking distance Leona drew her right fist back and channeled silver magic into it. Once it was ready she used her Mach Straight technique to throw a punch aimed at the Warlord's face. Doing that was risky because regardless of whether it hit or missed using the technique would leave her dangerously close to her enemy, who could retaliate in any number of ways. Since the Mach Straight traveled in a straight line along a predictable trajectory Medeia could either dodge the punch with her speed or endure it with her uncanny toughness.

Leona was taking a big risk in getting close to her enemy, but her ranged spells were not cutting it and she had to do something to try and change how the fight was going.

[Post Word Count: 544]
[Leona's Word Count: 32,128]
[Total Word Count: 62,577]

Techniques Used:

It was all too easy for Medeia to fluster her opponent at this stage and a smile crossed the Warlord’s face. In a way, Leona actually reminded her of Nita who became equally as flustered whenever the dark haired witch made such a comment towards her. In Errings Rising, most of the women that she knew were familiar with her way of speaking and many were just as likely to flirt in return, if not go further. It would be wrong to say that the guild was her personal love nest or anything like that but the Guild Mistress did occasionally take liberties with members who were willing. Those outside of her influence though were oh so innocent and it amused the powerful mage greatly. That was part of the reason why she put herself in situations such as she was in now and she was always able to eventually manage to get a rise of some kind from her opponents, as humans liked to say.

Medeia was intrigued by Leona’s sudden change of tactic, as the blonde Saint decided to fly in close with a kind of punching technique. It appeared to be rather formidable and the angel had already learned not to underestimate her foe too much. There was a fire to her dance partner that the dark mage somewhat admired and few ever came at her with quite so much vigour. The only downside was that it had taken so long for Medeia to drag out of her. Yet, the witch was curious as to just how far Leona would go in order to defeat her and so already she was beginning to formulate her next attack on those few who were still in the area but for now, she had an attack to deal with.

Rather than dodge or shield from the strike, Medeia instead intercepted it with a punch of her own, her right fist surrounding itself with flame just before it made contact with Leona’s. The contact would send flames everywhere although as far as the dark mage was concerned, they were of no harm to her, being unaffected by her own magic. There was significant force behind the blonde’s punch though and Medeia was under no illusion that it would deal great damage to those unprepared for it. Truth be told, she was not all that fond of close combat and while she was proficient enough, it was not what she particularly enjoyed.

That was why the angel decided to forgo an attack and instead try something else, namely attempting to wrap her left arm around Leona’s waist and pull her in for a kiss. For many, it would seem like a terrible move given how strong the blonde was but for Medeia, that meant so little to her. She could tank Leona’s hits and fight on but more importantly than that, if her tactic was successful, then perhaps she could put her opponent off from fighting at close quarters again. It was a risk but a calculated one. Plus, it would no doubt only infuriate and embarrass Leona more if it worked, which was always nice.

(524 Words)
(31333 Med WC)
(63101 TWC)

Leona's Mach Straight was met with a fire-infused punch from Medeia and when the two punches met fire was sent flying around. Leona saw the right shoulder of her outfit threaten to catch fire and she quickly patted it out with her left hand, but a small hole the size of a dime had been burned into it. That was exactly what Leona needed right now... more outfit damage. The midsection of her outfit was already gone and she did not need to lose any more of it.

At least the small flame had not landed on her chest.

After saving her outfit from further damage for the time being Leona was tempted to make a sarcastic remark but stopped herself. The last time she had she had made a sarcastic remark Armina had answered with complete honesty, so that attempt at being witty had backfired. Leona kept her mouth shut and focused on trying to anticipate what her enemy was going to do next. She was anticipating another fire-based punch or another attempt to immobilize her with the net spell, but she was not sure how much she could anticipate Medeia since the latter had proven to be unpredictable.

True to form Medeia made a bold and unexpected move in the form of actually closing in on Leona. The Warlord was reaching out for the blonde and her left hand was going towards the blonde's hip. Medeia's facial expression was also... amorous. Leona's face showed visible dismay as she guessed at what Medeia was trying to do and the former quickly used her wings to fly up and away from the Warlord before she was grabbed and pulled in.

Not content to only fly up and out of reach, Leona used her wings to fly upwards and forward for a few flaps, then descended diagonally until she was a short distance behind the Warlord. There she stopped and quickly spun around, almost losing altitude due to her inexperience with winged flight and thus lacking the coordination to complete the turn without falling. Once she had turned to face her enemy and was stabilized Leona raised her right hand and prepared and fired an Air Pressure spell at the Warlord.

The visible silver horizontal column of compressed air traveled on a straight trajectory and did not have homing ability, so if Medeia was fast enough she could avoid it. If she could not dodge it she could also endure it with strong enough defensive countermeasures. Leona was falling back on her ranged spells because she was more than a little flustered by Medeia's audacious move and it showed on the blonde's face. Leona was so flustered that she was reacting entirely on instinct, which was to keep her distance and use a ranged spell to try and retaliate.

[Post Word Count: 468]
[Leona's Word Count: 32,596]
[Total Word Count: 63,569]

Spells Used:

A laugh escaped the witch as Leona desperately avoided her outstretched arm and flew away to safety. She had expected that in truth and the amused look on her face would make that all too evident. The blonde was such a prude, which only made her reactions all the more entertaining for the dark haired Warlord. It was obvious by now that Leona had rarely come up against such a casual woman in that regard as herself and it did give the witch a moment of thought about just how on Earthland Leona managed to get a girlfriend in the first place. Surely if she was a lesbian then she would be used to the attention of other women? It was a bit of a riddle and one that Medeia did wish to figure out the answer to although the odds of getting anything out of Leona were slim to none. Still, despite her foe's usually stoic nature, the angel had been able to get to her verbally more than once. Perhaps her fellow Guild Mistress was new to the idea of becoming infatuated with someone in her own locker room, so to speak? Was Leona naive when it came to such things? It was an intriguing hypothesis and one she dwelled on as her opponent flew off.

Rather than fight verbally, Leona once again decided to instead use her magic to speak for her, unleashing a powerful blast of air pressure that came hurtling towards the lustful witch. It was a tad faster than she had expected and a rather unladylike grunt escaped her as the spell hit home, knocking her backwards in the air a fair bit and making quite the mess of her rather extravagant dress. Waves of pain began to flood through her body and as she glanced down, there was blood dripping from her midsection. An annoyance to be sure but it did arouse the blood lust that lay within the Warlord, her powers of blood seeming to churn because of it. Blood was one of her elements and although she rarely used it for offence, she was more than capable of it.

“This dress was not easy to come by.” She uttered in a rather unusual tone, seemingly casual but containing just a touch of anger as well. A subtle sign that the rage was beginning to build up once more but for the moment, it was barely on the scale, irritation and nothing more. “I suppose that since you are so eager to give me an eyeful though, it is only fair that I return the favour.” It was both a jibe at Leona’s battered clothing and an attempt at flirting at the same time, continuing to try and fluster her as deeply as the angelic being could.

Only then would she cast a spell of her own, tapping into her abilities and releasing a wave of blood that swiftly travelled towards her foe. It was not an overly powerful ability and Leona could no doubt avoid it but hitting her target was not the aim. While Leona was busy with it, Medeia would tap into her magic a second time, using the power of her own spilled blood to empower her spell damage, as well as give her some health and mana regeneration. The spell would cause her body to shimmer in a crimson colour but it was a subtle red and would not appear overly threatening.

(575 Words)
(31908 Med WC)
(64144 TWC)

Leona was only mildly surprised that the only thing her Air Pressure spell did was mess up Medeia's dress. She was a little more surprised that Medeia was upset about it and said words to that effect. Considering how flirtatious the Warlord was and how she liked to see Leona's bare midsection the Wizard Saint thought she would not have been bothered by such a minor inconvenience. Then again Medeia seemed like the sort who was fine with violence as long as she was inflicting it, not receiving it.

Leona let the first remark about the Warlord's dress pass without comment. The second comment was utter nonsense that did not deserve a response. Leona was not one to show off her body to just anyone, especially not a Warlord. Despite her best effort not to show signs of being flustered about the second comment the blonde visibly blushed for a moment as she tried to focus on the fight again. The Wizard Saint should not have done that because that would only encourage Medeia to make more comments of that nature, but she could not help herself.

When Leona finally focused again she was having a hard time deciding whether to close in immediately or go for a distance attack, then close in and use another close-range technique. Medeia did not wait for the blonde to decide and fired a wave of what appeared to be blood at the Wizard Saint. Leona repeated the technique of controlling her descent by flaring her wings out as she dropped to avoid the spell, doing it a little more smoothly this time but still looking like a puppet on strings when she came to an abrupt stop and her legs swung back and forth for a moment.

Once the wave passed harmlessly overhead Leona gave a mighty flap of her wings and rocketed upward, stopping at Medeia's level and then flapping her wings to remain steady. Once she was steady Leona extended her right hand outward with her fingers open and the palm pointing towards Medeia. The Wizard Saint was going to use one of Tempest Avian's abilities for her next attack.

She aimed carefully and fired a Hurricane Shot at Medeia, which manifested as a green ball of wind magic speeding towards Medeia's torso. It traveled in a straight line, so it could be dodged. It could also be blocked by a strong enough defensive shield. Leona was not banking on it winning the fight for her, but she hoped that the surprise of it would be enough to buy her a bit of time to plan her approach on Medeia for more close-range combat.

Leona was likely not going to win a spell duel with Medeia, especially since the latter was not concerned about property damage or killing innocent people. Therefore she needed to get close and use either her techniques or her Silver Longsword to attack the Warlord. However, Medeia was likely not going to just let the Wizard Saint fly up to her and stay in her face. The Warlord likely had plans in case someone decided to try that and Leona needed to be careful when going toe-to-toe with her.

[Post Word Count: 532]
[Leona's Word Count: 33,128]
[Total Word Count: 64,676]

Summon Abilities Used: