Trial Two~Bonds
Tobi slowed down and let Astrid off. He had brought them back to the ruins that she showed him not too long ago.
"Why here?" She questioned.
"I think that in order to clear your head, you need something to completely occupy your senses and I think I know just the thing."
Tobi climbed up the same path that they did not but two days ago. This time he led Astrid aside to the area he had explored a bit when he first arrived there. He took one of the hanging vines and swung it towards her. She caught it, her slim fingers running over the thick vine as she brought it closer to her. She looked at the vine for a moment before glancing over at Tobi with a peculiar expression.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tobi asked, hinting at his plans for their little afternoon adventure.
Astrid grinned. "Why, I believe I am indeed!"
The pair laughed as they leaped off the edge of the platform they were on. They swang from the vines, filling the air with their gleeful cheers. The two of them would land on the neighbouring trees before grabbing another vine and leaping down in an attempt to get gravity to pull them faster. Somewhere along the line, it seemed as though they had made it a little competition to see who could circle around the ruins like this the fastest. Gaining speed by the second, Astrid let herself go, just enjoying the wind in her hair and the illusion of flight which made her forget about her previous shackling thoughts and simply presented her with a freedom that she had almost forgotten about.
At that moment, she suddenly realized why her mother used to longingly look out the window and stare enviously at anything flying overhead. It was because she too had tasted the freedom of flight and could no longer reach for it again. Astrid began to slow down, allowing Tobi to zip past her. Astrid always tried to be like her mother. She admired her so much after all. Her little excursion to the ruins made something click in her head. Astrid had always thought that her mother naturally knew what the right thing to do was and thus, always took the right course of action, but that wasn't really the case. In her moment of realization, Astrid came to understand that it wasn't that her mother always knew what the right thing to do was, but rather that she had learned and gained enough experience to know what moves to play and when to play them in this game of life.
She came to a halt, Tobi already standing on the platform again. His victorious smile spent no time at all on his face as the first words out of her mouth when she landed were:
"I'm going to marry Cheng."
Tobi stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. For the first time since he had met her, she dawned a rather serious tone and while he hadn't known her for long, she was the first friend he made here. So he couldn't help but worry for her.
"Are you sure?" He asked warily.
She felt like she had to start somewhere and if this was the way she could begin taking her first steps into becoming a woman like her mother and being able to live up to the legacy of her brothers by fulfilling her role as the sole Princess of Solaria, then she was willing to do it.
"I'm sure. It's not like I dislike Cheng. He's handsome and strong and he seems like a very kind and genuine person so I feel like he'd take care of me. Plus...it would form an official alliance with the Summer Isle. I've overheard Adam and Kal, our court scientist and a friend of mom's, speaking of a possible war with Sindaria. If that comes to pass then the Summer Isle's aerial soldiers would come in great handy."
Astrid's words didn't do much to quell the doubt in Tobi's mind, but she seemed to be really thinking hard about it. So he decided to let her do what she felt was right and if somehow it turned out to be a bad decision, he would be right here to back her up. Astrid took another vine in her hand and tossed it to Tobi.
"Now how about we go for another spin?"
Tobi smiled. "I thought you'd never ask!"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Sin stood at the opposite end of the courtyard. He reached behind him and made the motion of having pulled out two duel pistols. When he did two pistols formed from the flames in his hands. He held up the Golden gun and smiled.
"Meet Freya..."
He held up the identical black gun.
"And Lux!"
The other gun was identical to the golden one with the exception of their colours being switched, the main body is black and the designs being golden. Nevertheless, it was clear that Sin was very fond of them.
Sin took his stance and pointed Freya at Nikiro."So do you wanna make the first move or shall I?" He taunted.
Nikiro shrugged. "It's your choice. Do what you must."
Nikiro shifted his stance, standing straight and held one hand out and the other behind his back."I'm ready."
Sin smirked deviously. "Alright then. Have it your way~"
Sin crouch down and then pushed himself forward at an alarming speed. He began to zigzag towards Nikiro firing off the pistol every time he stopped. When he was directly in front of Nikiro he fired Freya, who was in his right hand, directly at Nikiro's head. All the bullets Sin fired had compressed into Nikiro's telekinetic pulse. Nikiro smiled at Sin.
"You honestly thought you would just get away with shooting bullets at me? Honestly, I'm impressed with your skill."
Nikiro then snapped his fingers and blue daggers spawned in a circle around him. He then cast some towards Sin. Sin immediately put some distance between him and Nikiro, his wings sprouting from his back. He brought his wings in front of him. The scales on his wings shimmered under the sunlight as they hardened and each dagger that hit his wings fell to the ground with a clang. Sin spread his wings, very clearly amused.
"Nice try. But I'm afraid you're going to have to try harder than that. I'm not so easily beaten either you see!"
With that, he took to the skies. This time he raised the pistol in his left hand and waited for Nikiro to make his move. Realizing that his attack was too weak, Nikiro made the daggers disappear and he spawned psychokinetic swords into his hands. A blue glow shone from his sapphire eyes as an angelic halo and a pair of wings sprouted from his back. He leaped into the sky. In the wake of his powerful take-off was a cloud of dust and the cracked ground that the stood on. He caught up with Sin fairly quickly and managed to get in some good swings.
"They don't call me guardian angel for nothing you know."
Sin chuckled. As soon as Nikiro came within range he fired Lux which created a portal in front of him. Sin flew threw it just as Nikiro brought his swords down. Without a moment's hesitation, another portal opened up, this time behind Nikiro. Another product of Sin's second pistol, Lux no doubt. Without giving Nikiro time to think Sin fired Freya again. The bullet hit its mark this time, it embedded itself into Nikiro's shoulder and dissolved into the skin, leaving no trace that a bullet wound was ever there. Nikiro hissed in pain but it didn't last long so he shrugged it off, not thinking too much about it.
Sin emerged from the portal with a cocky grin. He flew higher, letting his pistols vanish. He raised his hand yet again, this time summoning another weapon entirely. A loud crack rang in the sky as a blazing whip formed from the fluttering shi.
"Oh, I understand. Then why don't I show you why they call me Solaria's inferno~"
Nikiro spotted the whip in Sin's hand.
"Say hello to my lovely Ash Weaver!" Sang Sin.
Nikiro's eyes were sharp and calculating. He gave the fiery whip a once over, watching Sin carefully to determine what his next move would be.
"Are you sure you're Solaria's inferno? Or—
As Nikiro was talking, he pushed Sin towards him with a psychokinetic barrier. As he did so, he formed a gauntlet around his arm and hand and punched Sin in the abdomen.
"-just some angry folder with a fancy toy?" He grinned, watching him fly back when the barrier was removed from behind him.
Sin expertly maneuvered in the air, steadying himself. The punch had definitely dazed him for a moment but didn't affect him for long physically as scales ran up his body and hardened just in time to prevent further damage. With another crack of the whip, Sin sent a Blizzard of flames dancing in the direction of Nikiro. Sin flapped his wings once and the power was enough to speed the rate at which the flames spread.
"I think I'll let my flames speak for themselves," he mused.
His eyes seemed to glow in an otherworldly flash for a moment. When it did, it rendered Nikiro unable to move.
"That bullet I shot into your shoulder wasn't just for show you know! They aren't regular bullets. They have my magic embedded in them. Once it makes contact and dissolves into your shi, it basically gives me control of your entire body!"
His smile was that of a victorious predator one who was utterly overjoyed that its prey fell into its trap. Sin moved his fingertips. With each movement, Nikiro's body swayed in the same direction.
"Now be a good boy and burn for me why don't you?"
The flames encircled Nikiro, as they approached Nikiro prepared himself to put up another barrier. The flawless command of his psychic adroitness enabled him to enact his barrier just as the flames engulfed him. When Sin dispersed his flames, he was fully expecting to see a battered and wared down Nikiro, yet he was met with an empty plume of smoke. He raised an eyebrow. Nikiro shouldn't have been able to move out of the way, not with that bullet keeping him under Sin's control. Yet he was nowhere to be found. Sin summoned Freya again, ready to fire another shot if it turned out that Nikiro really did miraculously break free from his grasp.
Unbeknownst to Sin, Nikiro now had him right where he wanted him. Nikiro used his telekinesis to pull Freya from his hand and send her plummeting to the ground. He figured that in order to rid himself of the magic that restricted him, he should just get rid of its source. From the height they were at, he figured that the pistol would shatter and that's exactly what it did. As the pistol smashed into the ground it broke. When it did, the magic on Nikiro broke as well, allowing him to move again.
Sin shrieked in horror. "FREYA!! MY PRECIOUS BABY!"
Taking advantage of his brief moment of displaced attention, Nikiro appeared behind Sin. Just as Sin realized what happened and turned to face Nikiro, Nikiro landed a fierce blow, sending Sin crashing into the balcony below them. Low laughter could be heard as Sin pushed himself up from the slight traces of rubble on the balcony.
"Not bad, not bad. I suppose I should stop playing around huh?" Sin rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles, wiping away the faint trace of blood at the corner of his lips.
Nikiro smiled. "Oh? You weren't being serious? I'm sure I wouldn't even notice the difference, what with your impulsive and incredibly predictable attacks," he teased.
Sin's eyes narrowed. His body began to take on a more draconic appearance. His scales began to cover more of his body, short horns emerged from his head and a long tail swung at his feet. Sin grinned, flashing his sharp fangs.
"Oh is that right? Well, then let's see how you handle this!"
Within the blink of an eye, Sin was in front of Nikiro. His movements seemed to be faster and now with his resilient scales covering most of his body, he resorted to precise, hard, body blows. Fortunately, Nikiro was more than proficient in martial arts and was able to block most of his blows whilst trying to land some of his own. For the briefest of moments, Sin moved away from Nikiro. With Sin's quicker and more ferocious attacks, Nikiro didn't have time to analyze his moves like before. So he decided to take a peek into Sin's mind. Just as Sin tried to smash his tail into Nikiro, Nikiro swiftly dodged.
Sin put even more distance between them, shooting Nikiro a confused glance. Nikiro simply grinned triumphantly, tapping a finger to his head.
"Oh did I forget to mention? I can read minds. I make your already predictable attacks look like child's play."
A laugh left Sin's lips. "Wooow. Well, it's one thing if you can see me coming, but I wonder how long you'd be able to withstand an attack of brute force?"
Sin took a deep breath, the glowing embers of heat began to rise in his stomach. It travelled up his abdomen and eventually into his throat. Catching on, Nikiro summoned his daggers once again, this time, however, there were more of them.
"You won't be able to touch me if my daggers get you first!"
Sin let go of his breath and a cyclone of fire hurdled towards Nikiro just as Nikiro unleashed the copious amount of blue ephemeral daggers.
Illya who had been taking an afternoon walk with Tekina spotted the commotion and shut it down immediately. She raised her hand and made a circular motion. The faded image of a clock appeared at her fingertips. Whatever she did make both of their attacks freeze before either one could collide with the other. The pair looked at each other in confusion. Sin glanced down only to go pale at the sight of his mother.
"ZUR-SIN SIRIUS OMAROSA, I SWEAR TO THE GODS IF YOU GET SO MUCH AS A SCRATCH ON THE PALACE WALLS YOUR HEAD WILL ROLL!!"
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