Darkline

{The Defeat of the Third}

Through many attempts after a solemn swear of assurance, Sora still couldn't even put a dent on Gierfeed's impervious defense. The worry of victory that had entered Gierfreed's mind early on in the fight vanished, what was left was his thoughts of nothing but winning. He was very much cocky, but to him, how could he not be?

"I guess I'll play around with you a bit," Gierfreed teases Sora.

He raises his right hand to Sora, who kept slashing his sword away at the barrier. With just the pluck of his finger, Sora is forcefully pushed back by a great pressure of the wind. He manages to keep his feet planted on the ground, sliding back while the dust beneath his feet shrouded over him. Sora uses the cloud of dust as a smokescreen to give himself some time to think.

"Damn, what the hell am I gonna do now?"

He stabs his sword into the ground.

"I can't break his barrier, and I can't ask for Elizabeth to lend a hand since she's out cold..."

"Having a hard time seeing with all of that debris?"

Again, Gierfreed plucked his finger, sending off a burst of wind to blow the dust away from around Sora.

"Son of a—"

"Mind your tongue, you're in God's temple,"

"Go to Hell!"

Behind Gierfreed, Sora notices Elizabeth starting to regain her consciousness. He couldn't let Gierfreed find out, so he thought of a brilliant plan: to stall until Elizabeth gets back on her feet.

"Hey, let me ask you something..."

"Oh? Lost your fighting spirit?"

"No way, I just want to know a little bit more about your abilities,"

"What kind of fool do you take me for?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I tell you my ability and then you find a way around it, is that what you wanted?"

"Worth a shot, I don't mind taking a guess though,"

"I have no time to sit here and play twenty questions with you, a new dawn awaits,"

Sora tries to rush at Gierfreed while his guard seemed to be down. He holds his sword off to the side, ready to make a clean swipe through his body. Gierfreed, however, waves his hand, sending another force of wind over Sora that propels him backwards into the ground.

Elizabeth could finally stand again but was too sluggish to pull off any of her abilities on Gierfreed. Her power hadn't fully returned yet, but she would do what she could and tried to form a golden arrow with the bow that she made out of the energy of light. She watched as Sora was tormented with forceful pushes of the wind caused by Gierfreed. The more that Gierfreed pressured his energy down onto Sora, the more Sora would be squeezed into the ground.

A blurry vision halted Elizabeth from firing her arrow, yet she tries her best to push through it and fire her arrow of light at Gierfreed. The sound of the arrow whistling in the wind alerted the last brother to turn around and see the danger in front of him.

Just in the nick of time, however, he leans his head over to the left as the arrow scrapes against his cheek. He grunts at the slight tear in his skin and feels the blood leaking down from his face. Allowing Elizabeth to get a surprise on him was very maddening to him, considering how much of a low leveled fighter she was compared to him.

"How could I be damaged by somebody so weak!?"

Sora sat up from the crater he was buried in, dusting down the pebbles from his attire. He notices that Elizabeth had done minuscule damage to Gierfreed, but was confused on how she managed to slip past his barrier.