?I canfeelit. I will not be able to do that a second time.
?Mavyn shakes her head and pushes herself up. Something, a force greater or higher, hitches. “You think this is pain?” she whispers. My soul trembles at it. “You don’t know burning.” I can feel Percius and Rovan and all the rest of those rebels who were on that eastern field who heard her before she wrote their fate bow to their terror. “But I’ll show you.”
?I expect a fate to be written, but instead she grabs her staff and attacks. Her movements faster than they were before and while she flinches when Percius touches her, purposefully trying to splay his hands over her flesh because he had to have understand the correlation, she gains the upper hand.
?They fight like they did on the field. Hit for hit, block for block. Percius having over two centuries of experience, and Mavyn. . . she fights as if she’s done so for longer than her nineteen years of existence.
?Using her weapon to a degree I’ve only heard stories about. A practice I’ve seen my father have, but he has said the art ofthis weapon and its uses were taught and passed down from his father and his before. All the way back to when the first in our line was created and trained with Syngenia the Blood Witch.
?Her confidence is palpable and definite power does not grow any larger as she uses pure technique and skill with her weapon to beat Percius just as bad as he had first done to her.
?How she moves. . . it’s captivating. Meditative in a sense with how serene she looks even as Percius continues to touch her skin. She moves with such fluidity and yet it’s hard to pinpoint her next step. She moves with the same feeling that red aura did during the Willow of Lore ceremony.
?Red aura that I have more than just an assumption was hers.
?The spirits did not just simply change their color.
?Percius struggles to keep up. Her speed only picks up as she wields a weapon I’ve trained with my entire life. Using and contorting her body to flow with the movements and force Percius back. Force theDeath Devilback.
?Her aura gets stronger as I can see this fight coming to a close but not with force or power. Nearly translucent red ribbons float around her. They follow her movements with so much. . .
?So much. . .
?Peace.
?Mavyn moves as if she’s dancing and her aura – because those ribbons and lines of red are her aura visible, an essence that shouldn’t be tangible – moves in sync.
?She no longer looks like she’s fighting with rage in an underground club with a body that should have been spent within the first minute. She doesn’t look like she’s burning.
?She has said before she is not a god.
?I doubt anyone would believe her if she tried saying it again.
?“Goddesses above,” Rovan whispers. It’s no longer a fight. It stopped being an actual fight the moment her aura shifted and she found whatever peace within her. It’s a story she’s telling. “I canseeher aura.”
?We should have known better.Ishould have known better. I had felt it on that battlefield. I have seen it time and time again. Her will exceeds every limit she should have. Her strength built from spirit instead of body.
?Mavyn ends the fight by using her staff to slam Percius’s head into the ground. He does not get up for a moment, but even as he does now it’s too late. The bells ring and Syphix screams to the building that the Death Devourer has won. The undefeated Varian Asier has been defeated.
?She twirls her staff as she stands and straightens. Her chest heaving but when I feel for it, I can sense her blood is flowing steadily and her heart beats at an even, slow pace.
?Everything within her should be racing, but it barely moves.
?Her control.
?Even while being pummeled and then fighting for a straight fifteen minutes, nothing within her fluctuates.
?Her eyes drift shut as she tips her head back. A slow exhale as Percius slowly stands. He’s bleeding from numerous cuts and bruises are already forming. His red eyes slightly glow from within as he watches my fated.
?When she opens her eyes she looks straight to me. And she smiles.
?A genuine, true smile. At me. For me. Then she turns to Percius and bows her head to him. He freezes at it along with the rest of us.
?“Thank you.” Her smile does not drop and she lightly chuckles before breathing in deep. “I have not done that in such a very long time.”
?Percius glances at me before narrowing his eyes at her and tilting his head. “Done what?”
?She looks breathtaking. Her eyes shining with such raw beauty and peace.
