Spirit of the Woods

Full Potential

Full Potential

Lungmen Underground

Firewatch's body brimmed with energy as she faced Frostnova. Her friend has unleashed overwhelming ice arts, and it was time to even the odds. Stretching and moving her arms, an aura of warmth replaced the icy feeling from earlier. It wasn't in her mind either, as the ice covering her skin turned to water and dripped off. She opened and closed her fist. "I haven't leveraged this skill to this extent for a while. No matter," the powered elafian injected her blade with the present origium particles, "I wonder, Yelena... do you what I'm going to do?"

Frostnova said nothing. Instead, she summoned a haze of ice and snow to isolate them and a large part of the room.

A cloud of snow covered Jacob's view as he watched worryingly, "What are you doing, Sofia?" He remembered seeing Firewatch in this state multiple times, but not like this. The aura she was producing was, to say the least... dark. "You're going to harm yourself!"

"Doing my job protecting you, Doctor. Besides, taking her on alone is the best for everyone." Firewatch swung Kaze across her chest, its length igniting into a light-consuming dark. "What I'm about to do wouldn't be healthy to those around me."

With those last words, Firewatch's voice was muffled by the ever-increasing wall of snow flying around her. Turning to her opponent, Frostnova was observing the newly black sword. "Using my own origium against me?," Frostnova quipped, "I never seen Kaze turn the dark before. Did you learn something new?"

The blade twirled in its owner's hand before resting on Firewatch's shoulder. "You could say that." Kaze, being an originium blade, was able to absorb particles to empower its attacks and arts. However, it could only hold a finite amount before triggering a chain reaction and exploding, just like an oripathy victim. Firewatch was always wary of this limit, but now she disregarded this fact and empowered it to its breaking point, unleashing Kaze's full potential. She pointed Kaze at Frostnova. "Enough explanations. Only one of us is leaving alive from this. I only have one thing to ask."

Her friend pointed her own blade at her. "And what is it?"

Firewatch took a breath, "If I fall here... don't hurt the Doctor."

Frostnova was surprised. She wanted her to spare the commander who help kill her comrades! She wanted to deny it, but when she looked into her friend's glowing eyes, she realized something. Firewatch's eyes held a soft look even though they were on the brink of battle. She cared about him. Frostnova thought for a second before acquiescing. "Fine, but the rest are on the table."

"Fine by me. What about you?"

Frostnova shook her head. "I'm dying, Sofia. But if I die by your hands, I want you to bring father something to remember me by." Firewatch understood what she meant and nodded her head. "Now that we have our wills stated and given, I think it's time."

The icy wind blew past the faces of the friends, now enemies, and held their weapons in front of them. Firewatch let out a small smile, "Za wolność naszą i Waszą"

"Za wolność naszą i Waszą" Frostnova repeated. And with that, all friendly intentions were severed.

Firewatch moved first, dashing forward and sheathing her blade. In the split second, she reached Frostnova and pulled out Kaze, aiming for the rabbit's throat. Moving her hand in time, Frostnova intercepted the attack with her ice sword. As the two weapons struck, it was clear something was different from before. Before, Kaze was unable to leave a dent in the ice of Frostnova's sword, not even a scratch. But now... Kaze's black edge was buried a couple of millimeters in. Firewatch ginned at the result and immediately pressed her attack. Pulling off, she unleashed a flurry of attacks at Frostnova, always hitting the same spot on the blocking blade. The cautus knew what she was trying to achieve but could not riposte because of the frequency of attacks. Determining the damage was enough, Firewatch threw her strength into her next attack, impacting the opposing sword and splitting it in half. Her blade nearly cut Frostnova's eyes out as the impact from the attack sent the captain crashing across the ground.