[h1][center][color=662d91]The Sorceress of the Valley[/color][/center][/h1]
[@Yankee][@Dark Cloud][@Dawnrider][@Lugubrious][@ZAVAZggg]
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[h3][center][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/center][/h3] 

[center][color=00aeef][b]Level 3[/b] [/color] - (27/30) + 1 [/center]

[center]Word Count:  [/center]

[center][color=00aeef]Location:[/color] Limsa Lominscuttle Town ~ The Bismarck Restaurant [/center]
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Link reared back his sword arm as the Cadet blocked Dark Link's kill stroke with an impromptu shield pulled from his satchel, stabbing forward but missing by inches as the shadow jumped back. Link leaped to his feet as the shadow came forward for another blow, but the Cadet hucked the shield right into the creatures chest. It mid air there was a flash of golden light and Link could only look on, dumbfounded, as some kind of doll clattered to the ground. All that remained of the dark imposter. 

Link wasn't the only one confused. Green Cia paused her relentless assault on Frog as she saw her great champion, a work of art crafted from the most potent darkness in her heroes heart, reduced to a mere childrens toy. What did it matter though? She would just have to make a new one. There was such guilt and shame in this version of her heroes hearts, more than enough material for a dozen such soldiers. She raised her scepter, ignoring the crippled frog in front of her too level it at Link. The shaft began to burn with dark power, of spear of evil forming that would call without the darkness that festered within. 

She never got the chance to fire it though. The Cadet pulled something else out of his bag of tricks and spores scattered throughout the restaurant. They stopped the bleeding on Link's back, mended the cut on Sephiroth's cheek, finished off what damage was left on Hat Kid that the honey comb hadn't taken care of, even soothed the pain of a few unlucky patrons that had been caught up in Cia's dark barrage. Most importantly, however, it made Frog well enough to fight. 

Green only had enough time to look back at him when he spoke before the knight launched himself at her, letting out a pained gasp as he drove his holy sword deep into her heart. For the second time today the Masamune tasted a sorceresse's blood. Her scepter fell from her hand, the darkness upon it sputtering out like a flame with no oxygen. She stumbled backwards. One step. Two. Then, miraculously, she took a step forward and reached out a grafting hand over the Frogs head to Link. He watched, unable to read her expression through the mask. Was she still that desperate to possess him, even now? Or was the gesture a plaintive plea for her hero to save her? 

He would never know. Like ash the sorceress dissolved, leaving behind only a Spirit that remained perched on the edge of Frog's blade.

Link didn't have time to pity her. On the other side of their table barricade things had begun exploding again. 

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At the same time Ace Cadet was bagging himself another sort of hunting trophy Sephiroth's plan was coming to fruition. He lunged out of the cloud of black smoke at a startled Purple. She only had enough time to bring her scepter down to try and parry the oncoming blow, but it was to swift. All she managed to do was avert an instant death as the blade slid into her stomach, this Masamune beating its counterpart across the restaurant by only a few seconds. She retched in pain, grabbing onto the blade with her free hand to try and keep it from biting deeper. If was difficult not to notice the surprising amount of power in that grip, or the fire that burned in the sorceresses crimson eyes. She clanged her scepter to the side of the blade, began to pull with her mutilated hand, and using her entire body as leverage attempted to drag the SOLDIER to the side into one of the dark land mine that still waited on the floor. Red saw what her counterpart was trying to do and stepped forward, raising her own scepter to brain Sephiroth with its spiked tip to make it easier. 

They might have gotten away with it if an unexpected familiar face hadn't come to Sephiroth's aide. Launching herself out from under the table, Nadia took the opportunity the two Cia's made by bunching up by spinning her legs into them. Red caught a kick in the side and was pushed back a bit, while Purple was was hit in the back with enough force to slide her up Sephiroth's blade all the way to hilt. She tried to reach out and grab the man by the coat, still set on dragging him into one of the mines, but then Hat Kid came down like the icy hammer of god. The floor shook from her impact, launching both Cia's up off the ground. This served to just further gut Purple, but still her hands grasped to hold him still. Hold him there. She wasn't looking at him, however, but staring over his shoulder. Smiling, like she had a secret.

She was looking at Red, who hadn't come down from where Hat Kid's small earthquake had knocked her. If fact, she was slowly rising even higher. There was a burst of power that anyone that had ever seen Linkle fight might find familiar, like a dam being broken as all the momentum of the battle flowed out. She laughed and raised her scepter to the sky, and suddenly the area under Sephiroth, Nadia, and Hat Kids feet were filled with dozens of those same dark mines Purple had created earlier. Dozen of them all around them, and they didn't wait to go off. They erupted like a sea of volcanos, sending burning pillars of dark magic high into the air with enough force to pop the canvas awning above them like a flimsy balloon. 

As Red descended down to the floor she knew that, no matter what, Purple would already be gone. She her used the very last of her strength to try and keep the man who had killed her in the epicenter of Red's Musou attack.

Behind her Blue used a nearby table to help her rise to her feet, take a deep breath, and forced magic to well up within her. A different surge of power rocked her body, one that only the Cadet might recognize, as Blue poured magic into her limbs as Linkle had done before she had fired her strongest attack at the Ender Dragon.