Isadora's fifteen seconds of feeling proud of her efforts came to an abrupt end when the Heartless she thought she defeated seemingly rose from the dead. She hadn't noticed the misshapen pool of black begin to morph into the form of the shadowy being on the cold ground of the throne room when she grabbed her cape from the ground. The Heartless leapt towards her, arms once again stretching outwards towards her body with sharp black claws craving to break open her bare, translucent skin. If it had the intention of knocking her to the ground, it surely accomplished its task. The Neoshadow sent Isadora to the ground with a loud thud--its palms pressing into her chest as if it wanted her to shove her into the dimension from which it came. In that moment, her Keyblade was also knocked out of her hand and flung itself wildly across the ground. 

She momentarily blanked out from being so caught off guard. Her back had come in contact with the ground first, then her cranium, knocking the wind out of her while turning her vision black for a few seconds. The Neoshadow looked into her eyes with its small beady own, bringing its phalanges together into the shape of a dagger and lifted one of its arms slowly as the other flailed, not knowing where it wanted to place it on her body. When Isadora caught her breath, she angrily reached out for its free arm and grabbed it, squeezing hard with brute force. She had been focusing too much on that arm to not have time to react to the Neoshadow's claw that was now shaped like a dagger, it bringing it down slowly across her chest. Its fingers were sharp, breaking into her skin forcefully and creating three openings above her armor. Blood trickled down her clothing and met in a river that now flowed between her breasts and settled near her stomach. This pain wasn't like any pain Isadora had felt before. It was a strange type of pain--as if someone took some odd type of acid and poured it into her tissues. Isadora did not make a sound, though--no. She knew Axeus was still watching, and she was not about to be a disappointment to him like the woman who came staggering in before. 

Finally able to think clearly again, Isadora took the Neoshadow's weapon of an arm into another angry fist and shoved its arms above her face, glaring into its nonexistent soul through its yellow eyes. Her mind was now filling itself to the brim with rage, not wanting this [i]thing[/i] to make a fool out of her. Using every muscle in her toned body, she threw the Heartless a few feet to the side of her and she quickly jumped up to her feet, summoning her Plagued Apostle in her right hand, gripping it so tightly that her knuckles gleamed white. The Neoshadow, too, rose to its clumsy looking feet, already charging towards her in attempt to bring her down once more. 

The two opponents danced in battle for a few minutes, the Neoshadow now unable to lay an unnaturally long finger on her body. Isadora's chest shined from the blood that was still leaking out of her fresh wounds, but she ignored the odd pain. It burned, but her brain wasn't paying much attention to it. Her complete focus was defeating this Neoshadow--for good this time. Bored with this tango, Isadora spun around and leaped, the Heartless joining her in the air. With furrowed eyebrows, she connected her other hand to its neck when it was close enough and it squirmed like a worm fresh out of the soil. She fell to the ground with it, this time she being on top of it. She felt powerful, in control, and mighty. She brought her face close to its own and took her Keyblade, hovering it above its face. It couldn't move its legs because her own were pinning them down, and all it could do at this point was flail around its arms like whining lost child. She supposed it ran out of ideas now that the tables had turned. With a devilish grin, she brought it up quickly and brought it down into its skull just as fast, this time watching it dissolve into nothingness for good. A bit paranoid, she stared at the ground for a few moments just in case it decided to play another trick on her. As several seconds passed by, though, she mentally confirmed it was gone. She sighed a breath of both relief and uneasiness, hoping Axeus wouldn't be disappointed that she was careless and hadn't finished the job properly the first time around.

Pushing herself off the ground with tired arms, she stood up and glanced down at her chest, wincing slightly. The burning sensation had returned now that her mind was back on the world of Fallen Jungle. Although it stung, besides the wince, she tried her best to ignore the pain. A slight headache was also beginning to drill itself into the back of her head from her head colliding with the ground earlier. There was a good amount of blood that coated her chest, so she took the end of the inside of her black cape and did her best to wipe it away. However, with every wipe, new blood would trickle out. She closed her eyes tightly and re-opened them, choosing to simply ignore it for now and wait for it to heal on its own. Luckily, the slash wasn't too deep, so it should stop soon. At least this was the only battle wound she received, but would one wound be unacceptable for Axeus? She wondered this and lifted her eyes in his direction, unsure of his thoughts. She was upset with herself. She had to remind herself that she hadn't had any training prior to this experience, but still. She wanted to be perfect in his eyes like she was in Helena's. She didn't care about anyone else in this room. 

Her head pounded in pain in a rhythmic pace with her rapid heartbeat from the exhausting, yet exhilarating battle.