Sindri gave a small grin of amusement at the outcry from Lily, obviously she had tried to set up a merry dance with him beforehand but had been outmaneuvered by the foxy Ikari. 

[i]Tough luck little princess...[/i] he mused smugly.

He had recognised the individual he had been assigned, occasionally he had spotted her in his more Fae centric classes and he was pretty sure she had something to do with lightning or somesuch. Regardless it didn’t really matter, the battlefield awaited and he wanted to test this Fae’s mettle.

Downing the last of his coffee, then crushing and discarding the cup, he glided off to the location he had been assigned. the area was a little rough and hilly, but not something that caused him too much trouble. Once he reached the peak of the mound he was currently standing on, he turned back to look for his assigned ‘playmate’. 

Mana was having a light jog in the direction of the field, after she finished asking one of the instructors a couple of questions she had for him. After that, finding the field took a few minutes for her, and she headed there in a steady pace, but not too fast, to ensure she doesn’t feel exhausted before she even arrived at the field.

Upon reaching it, she saw it was a slightly hilly field. Nothing that she couldn’t handle, but she wondered who her opponent was. His name sounded familiar, most likely from one of the classes, but she didn’t quite remember who he was. After moving to stand on a hill across from 
where Sindri was, Mana looked at him for a second “Alright then. I’m Melina, but call me Mana. I hate being called Melina. I guess you’re Sindri, right? Want to go ahead and start?” She asked him in a loud voice, to ensure he hears her properly.

Sindri eyed up his opponent with a bemused smile stretching across his face from cheek to cheek, “Well aren’t you an interesting one, If I wasn’t up to date on Academy policy I’d say they’d dropped recruitment age by a good four years, and the blue hair! you must attract a lot of attention with that, given that its natural.” His eyes almost popped out their sockets, and his grin reached cheshire proportions, “You must have such insecurities… oh this is just going to be marvelous!” he rubbed his hands together with glee, slowly rising into the air as he did so “We shall begin, little Madoka.”

As he rose up into the air, his skin began to peel away like old paint, and his eyes took on a radioactive green glow, in a voice as hollow as a demon he spoke through rows of translucent teeth, “Playtime has begun!”.

Hearing the way he spoke about how she appeared young and how her natural blue hair brings her attention made Mana lower her sight to the ground. He was correct about that, but he was slightly mistaken about the insecurities part. She already knew very well that no matter where she went and who she will encounter, there was a big chance of hearing that and being judged by it. She let out a deep breath before beginning to focus.

Not hearing his last remark about calling Madoka, Mana’s appearance would begin to change. Her arms would become wings with hands and her ponytail would suddenly raise a bit. Her eyes became more like that of a bird and a couple of small wings appeared where her ears used to be at. She then looked at Sindri before focusing carefully on her hands “I guess we have started.” She said before bringing her hands together very quickly, sending a very strong burst of wind and lightning in his direction. The wind would be strong enough to make trees fall out of their place and the lightning would go in different directions. 

As the lightning barrage launched itself towards him Sindri countered with an exertion of his own raw force, blasting a line in front of him free of its power and protecting himself from its raw fury. Despite this, a few glancing blows struck him, punching his changing form backwards a few feet in the air. As the last of his human form left him, the ghoulish visage of him became apparent, and eyes once jovial met his opponent in a look of utter malice. “Oh you’ll have to do better than that little birdie girl…” he snarled “enjoy this…” 

With an explosion of magic his green wings erupted from his back and raised an arm in her direction, “lets see how your concentration holds out now...” he grinned, as the first dulling mandibles of power began their assault on his opponents mind, “...and to improve the fun! I think there is too little of me here today! Enjoy.” With that he erupted into doppelgangers, perhaps twelve in all flitting through the air, each going in different directions.

Increasing the power of his manipulations, he began one of his most amusing tricks, beginning the ringing of disorientation and nausea with his attack.

Suddenly seeing twelve of Sindri made it fairly easy to narrow down what kind of magic Sindri had, and the sudden ringing and slight nausea that came afterwards allowed Mana to understand that she was dealing with someone who could mess around with her mind. With ease too, so it appeared. Ignoring the feeling of the nausea as much as she could, she looked around at all of the different Sindri that begun going in different directions.

Mana focused on both her arms, and lightning would appear to be gathering in them before she took off into the air, much to her dislike, in order to be in the same height as Sindri, and then spun on the spot as she shot the lightning out of her arms, shooting several lightning bolts all around, trying to get rid of as many of the Sindri’s as possible.

The swarm scattered as the Thunderbird took to the air and began blasting away indiscriminately, one unfortunate ‘ganger was not quick enough and swiftly disintegrated into blackened ash, becoming immaterial and becoming nothingness on the breeze. They all turned to look at her in amusement and collectively spoke.

“Missed me!”

They spun away cackling as the true Sindri led them on a merry chase, intensifying the previous assault with his own whisperings and temptations, he doubted they’d do anything now, but they were distracting and eventually they might make her submit. Rising out of the swarm at blinding speed, Sindri, aimed a forceful punch to the back of Mana’s head before diving and rising into the swarm once again.

Hearing all of them tell her that she missed him was certainly irritating, but she didn’t want to let him get on her nerves, so as she started to think on what to do next, Mana suddenly felt herself be struck at the back of her head, which made her slightly fall down, but she managed to stop herself midair. Moving to properly land on the ground, she looked up at all of the Sindri’s that were flying around. Along with the feeling of the nausea and the constant disorienting ringing, she thought that he couldn’t have made it any more obvious that he was trying to make her lose her focus and just attack until she gives up.

“Interesting power you have, Sand-ri. Let me guess, you usually bore all of the people you fight to death.” She said in a teasing tone, trying to return the favor he was giving her. She then kept her eyes opens and her arms started having lightning gather in them making it clear that she was waiting to see his reaction and attack accordingly.

“Only the ones I consider of no consequence little bird, and you are nothing more than carrion to me. However, perhaps I should spice up my attack somewhat? How about improving the scenery!” The Sindri’s all collectively grinned, a nightmarish swarm of degraded angels making mockery of her. 

All raising a collective arm in the air, the swarm twisted it into a clawed fist of too many fingers, “Lets lighten things up shall we?”.

Suddenly the currents of air changed, the ground began to thrum with potency. Around her the grass and shrubbery was quickly reduced to ash and marsh, her boots sinking into an ever softening ground as he did so. “And given your so chipper, lets give you a nice headache, to ground you in reality a little more.”

The clawed fist erupted before her as they spun around her, circling like sharks. The low ache in her mind would soon erupt into a mind numbing thrum, as if a heart were hammering inside her brain.

Above them dark clouds began to form, blocking out the sun and darkening the arena, “There little bird!” the Sindri’s proclaimed as they erupted like a flock of starlings, “what do you think of my redecorating?”

“Its very interesting. Shame none of it is real. It may feel very real and appear very real, but I know it isnt. So, if you won’t mind, I’ll try and make my own move now, alright?” She said, her eye slightly twitching due to all of the new additions that made it obvious she won’t be able to properly focus on attacking him directly. So she only had one other option.

Raising both her hands up, she shot several lightning bolts into the sky and vanish into them. Not long after, more clouds appeared in the sky, other than the ones that appeared when the area changed. The clouds would begin to roar and soon enough they would send out what appeared to be even stronger lightning bolts out of them, reaching all the way to the ground around Mana. She moved to close her eyes and breathe deeply while trying to have more lightning in her arms, hoping she will be able to surprise him enough. 

“Where does reality begin and dreams end little bird? I wonder what you dream in the night? perhaps those dark treacherous thoughts of your brethren, oh! You can deny them, but I know you’re nothing more than a blue haired traitor. I bet the Academy has eyes on you constantly.” Sindri broke into a raucous laugh and spun away in a loose mob “and now you’re trying to fry me! How droll!”

With a sudden break the Sindri’s fell to earth like stones, disappearing into the quickly forming marsh and then rising once more in organised formation, heading straight toward her, “Lets put this little bird in a cage shall we?”they said in unison as they each reached out a clawed hand, as if to carve her eyes out. 

Hearing the voices speak in unison made Mana aim both her hand to the ground before using all her force against it, knowing that the lightning will not go any further than the spot she was at, but the lightning would give her a massive speed and height boost, allowing her to get up high before beginning to fly in circles, using her bird eyes to be able to properly see if Sindri will try and approach her. 

Mana breathed heavily, as it was hard to maintain control of her powers with all the little mental effects Sindri put on her. She tried to think about a way out of it. What could possibly make him decide to give up on his own accord, due to the fact that it appeared as if he is enjoying every moment of thinking that he is tormenting someone like this. Then she thought about a possible way.

“Keep going Send-ri. The more you do this, the more I’ll be able to handle later on. So this is actually good for me! You are like my own personal trainer right now! I should find the real you and give you a hug of gratitude!” She shouted to him.

“How delicious, the little bird has spirit! If I had my way I would be invoking your nightmares right now, a pity the academy is so stringent on me… still I wish I could crush your wings little bird, and have my figments feed on the entrails.” The flock spun and twisted towards her like a malign swarm of bats coursing past her, suddenly a rogue taloned finger caught her face, carving a thin line of blood across it.

“As for my illusions Ms Mana, I assure you, they are very much real.” The swarm spun upwards into the air, amassing themselves in the darkened glory of the clouds. Around her, the feeling of tension calmed…

the calm before the storm.

Feeling the finger carve the line of blood across her face made her eye twitch. Where did the finger come from, she wondered. Sindri kept claiming that the illusions were real, but he kept missing such little details. In any electronic machine she had seen, they always paid full attention, to ensure all the pieces are properly placed in their spot and that none are missing. Obviously Sindri didn’t quite mind about the little details.

She suddenly allowed herself to drop towards the ground with great speed, nearly reaching the ground, but stopping just before it and then landing on it properly. She moved to kneel and looked up at the many Sindri [i]Hmm… He keeps talking about taking away my wings, but he doesn’t do it.[/i] 

“Is it possible that you have a bit of respect towards people who can fly, much like you? Because you said you want to take away my wings several time, and I’m sure that even without reaching the strongest power you have that you could’ve done it.” Mana said in a loud voice. She wondered if he had already understood what she was trying to do or not.

“Are you baiting me?” the voice from the clouds sounded incredulous, “Ha-ha-ha! Oh, thats just magnificent” The clouds suddenly erupted in a swarm of dozens of Sindri’s increased to an even greater number than before, “You want me to take those wings of your’s? Then I shall oblige”.

With that the Swarm plummeted towards her, seeking to mob her as they fell down upon her. The lead Sindri grinned “Lets begin with the left!” and spun towards her at a breakneck speed, hands outstretched.

Smiling as she saw the Sindri’s head right at her, Mana looked at them with the smile before moving her hands with high speed, sending out another powerful burst of wind and lightning bolts directly at the swarm that was approaching her with very high speed. Due to their speed and direction, it was near impossible for them to dodge the incredible burst of wind, and if the lightning would catch one of them, it would start chaining between several of them before dying out. 

She then let out a sigh before moving to lay on the ground. If she didn’t manage to take them all out, then she most likely lost. If she had, then there was a good chance that she won, but she still couldn’t be sure due to the fact her opponent was using illusions, which meant that even if it appeared that she won, it could be the complete opposite.

With a inhuman howl the lightning whipped between the swarm of Sindri’s, and in an explosive show of light they erupted from within as Mana landed, not one making a strike before being hit. All that was left was ash in the air, and a whispering wind.

“it seems you missed a detail” a voice suddenly whispered in her ear as a foot smashed into the side of her head from her right, as Sindri rose from his prone position he had taken since the swarm had flown down. “I wasn’t in the sky” he grunted, flipping away as the current shocked his system, flipping him into the murkiness of the marsh in evident pain.

[i]Damn bird has current running through her! better watch out next time.[/i]

Mana rolled a bit on the ground before forcing herself into a stop and seeing Sindri fly up. Raising her hand and aiming in his general direction, Mana figured she had nothing more to lose “You are very tough. Thats a good trait to have. I wish I was as tough as you.” She said before focusing as much as she could on her arm, and then shooting a single, rather large lightning bolt in Sindri’s direction, which would come at him with high speed. She figured that if the lightning won’t hit him, then the lightning could once again trigger one of the storm clouds that were still high above them and send another, surprise lightning bolt at Sindri. 

Mana then moved to place her hand on her head, feeling how all of the effect were beginning to be too much for her.

“Toughness has nothing to do with it little bird, but it does seem that I underestimated you a mite.” came the response, he flattened himself to the ground as the first shot launched itself overhead, but the response from the sky’s proved harder to miss. Launching himself to the side he barely missed the booming blast as it struck the ground, singing his hair as he did so. His nostrils were filled with Ozone and the smell of burnt hair. 

“Its a pity I won’t repeat it.” he growled as he began working on his attack again, His enemy has been in the air longer than him and had likely exhausted herself blasting his illusions. With another twist of the screw he intensified the mental assault, now the thrum became as if two church bells were beating themselves inside his opponents head, the voices now screaming at her in hatred “SUBMIT”, repeating over and over with an ever greater allure. 

“Just lie down and submit!” they howled “submit to his glory!”

“Are you getting tired little bird? That last shot was abysmal.” he cackled, hatred coursing through his voice as a fog began to rise from the ground, making the area murkier and murkier as he retreated into the darkness, “You’ll give in soon, and then your mind will be my plaything...”

“I’m not a bird. I dislike flying. You forced me into flying, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it one bit.” She muttered, as she just barely heard his voice with the loud voices in her head and it felt like there were church bells in her head “I’m not a bird.” She muttered again before removing her hand from her head and pointing both of them towards the sky.

“I’m not a bird. I’m lightning.” She said and shot out two, rather weak looking lightning bolts aimed at the sky. One had just barely missed a storm cloud, but the other one managed to hit it, making it let out another lightning bolt in Mana’s direction, which was stronger than what she had sent.

“You are a bird my dear” replied a whisper, coursing through the mist indeterminately “A little chicken, flapping her wings to try and get into the air, how cute… or perhaps you are a little blue Dodo…” 

The marsh suddenly trembled around her, forms rising from it, horrible distorted forms of men and women, rotted from within, flesh in tatters from the marsh. They moaned and dragged themselves towards her, distorted figures which looked ever so real… 

One lone one emerged before her from the marsh, dragging itself up and biting into her foot with rotten teeth. 

A dark form emerged from a pillar of flame before her, a form little more than a silhouette of a man, an unnaturally tall man.

“And if you are lightning my dear” came the voice again, deep and sonorous, “I am fire.” 

With a roar, a sudden eruption of flames sped towards her as if someone had lit up a stockpile of gasoline beneath the marsh, throwing her backwards with the force of it.

As she begun heading backwards, she felt the lightning hit her leg, so she forced her hand to point at the last spot she had seen Sindri at, making the lightning move and use her body as an arrow before heading in that direction. She then landed on the ground, feeling rather weak now and figuring that she should surrender after this.

With another blast of force, the blow only managed to glance of Sindri, but it still ran spasms up his arm, causing him to curse with pain. He retreated into the mist again, becoming a shadow of a shadow. 

“Feeling tired? have a rest, the ground should be inviting beneath you...” he shouted. at this the ground beneath her feet solidified, becoming verdant and lush, a small patch of sky opened and the sunlight beat down her from the little hole.

The voices in her head encouraged her, whispered of the necessity of sleep, of submission and surrender, “Sleep.. Sleep…”

Already he had managed to circle around her, crouching in the mist to the right, swiftly he sent distractions from the left, movement of the corpses towards her.

[i]With a little luck the glamour should take effect…[/i]

With her eyes closed, Mana took a deep breath before speaking “I surrender, but not because any of your silly tricks. I surrender because I would’ve taken this chance to try and retreat, to recover and plan new strategies against you, now that I have more knowledge on what your capabilities are.” She said before staying there, and telepathically calling for a mythic to come and help her recover.

She was met with a barking laugh at this, suddenly Sindri ended his magic, the marsh and the figures disappeared, as well as the ringing of her head and the whispering. “You would have failed my friend” he grinned “I could make you believe you had been walking for years in there if I wanted to, You were failing against my assault, you’d have no time to form a strategy, you’d be my puppet.”

He raised his hand in a mildly bemused smile, “You can’t blast your way through my illusions Mana” he finalised, “lightning won’t make them disappear or make your mind reject my whispers. Blunt force will always fail against trickery”

“Still!” he exclaimed happily, “You did well out there Mana, didn’t rise to my bait, I admire that in a person, even if your are quite possibly an illusion yourself in this miserable world. You weren’t too shoddy with the bolts either! some of those really hurt you know Haha!” with this he gave her a small nudge at this with his elbow. 

“Shall we go then?” he gestured with a long hand and a cheshire grin, “I am sure the Mythic will be here shortly.”

Seeing that everything went away and her head felt a lot better now, Mana moved to a sitting position and smiled at him “I’m glad you think that. All those Illusions of yours, especially the one that had scratched me across the face, were very realistic. I didn’t even see what Sindri did that to me and thought for a second it was a flying finger.” She said before slowly standing up.

“I already called for the Mythic to come here. You can go ahead and start walking there, I need another minute to let my legs recover more properly.” She said and did small steps on the spot “You will definitely be a challenge to anyone who comes your way, and a very scary one too.” She said before grinning back at him.

Sindri shrugged, “fair enough, I think I’ll take a breather too however, let the mythic take the hike. I am pretty sure it was Sindri seven that did that, I can make them semi-corporeal with a fair bit of extra effort. As for the scares… well I can go deeper, in the field I’d be digging into people’s minds realistically, I can drag out their worst nightmares like a carnival display. It usually works a treat… at least that last time I tried it” he shook his head “I never saw Frank again after that....” 

Crossing his legs he began to hover midair as he waited, soon enough a dark shape came loping across the field towards them “I think thats our trainer arrived.” He mused, still sitting relaxed nearby, “Until next time?”

“Until next time Sindri. But don’t be stranger and say hey from time to time.” Mana said with a smile at the trainer approached her to begin ensuring she was in a good condition to head back “And that’s one scary power you have there…” She muttered to herself, hoping he would never use it on her. After the trainer told her that she was good to go, she went to Sindri and offered him her hand “I’ll see you around.” She said with a smile.

He gave it a firm shake, his long fingers enclosing it like a small vice, before breaking off and hovering away languidly “Ta-ta now!” he shouted back distractedly, and then sped off as fast as he could across the field.

Nodding to herself, Mana begun making her way back to where they received their instructions, wanting to see what will be the next thing they will be doing today, and enjoying the fact she met a new person that she has come to respect.