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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=E3485D][b]Location:[/b][/color] Ifrise Forest, Sovereignty of Dryadalis[/right][/sub][/color][hr]
[color=E3485D]“I’m fine.”[/color] Pythia managed as she winced.

Malum magicks were the most unpredictable and versatile of any other element. Overuse came with a lot of consequences, especially if someone was mentally or emotionally compromised. The other elements had their drawback in similar states, but none were as toxic as malum. 

It almost made the red-haired girl wonder why Sol invented such an element and bestowed it upon people and flora alike. Her mentor had called it the [i]cursed element[/i] and every single time she had been hit by a malum magi she wondered if it was superstition or truth. The air was dense and tasted of rot, the energy itself when it touched your skin felt like it was trying to twist your bones and muscles out of place, and worst of all was in a liquid or static form it felt equally as gross, like laying in a tub of worms. How did it feel to be born with such an element?

Pythia did not know nor care, all she knew her body had been surging with pain and that she felt gross. The viscous, goo-like malum matter was still on the sleeve of her longcoat and Pythia gripped the cloths seams as strong as she could with her other arm before she tore it off outright before tossing it a few feet away from her.

[color=E3485D]“Sol, I hate Malum magi.”[/color] She grumbled as she attempted to get to her feet, her grip on her sword’s sheath even tighter than before. [color=E3485D]“Such an abhorrent magic.”[/color]

She may have not showed it but the blonde inquisitor was not one she was unthankful to. Sure, there had been a miscalculation in the fight but all of them were used to fighting alone give-or-take and strategic problems were going to arise. At the very least she could tell Lazulin and Pagonia had cornered the insane magi after it had gone after Clara in a snap decision. It was probably good that everyone hadn’t huddled together. This was not to say the fight in the woods had left her or anyone else unscratched. Most of them, save for Lazulin, had been coaxing some kind of injury. Though given the advanced age that Etoile seemed to be, the teenager wondered how she was handling hers. 

[color=E3485D]“What about you? You aren’t going to bleed out after this, are you?”[/color] She chuckled smugly, though such a release from her stoic attitude was brief.

Her eyes still on the scene with the magi Pythia moved to touch her now exposed forearm with her free hand. The explosion of malum energy hadn’t left any burns or scars, but she felt it in her arm like a virus. She was sore and numb, if she were to use that arm for combat she would not be at full strength. That wasn’t even counting how exhausted she had been due to using a lot of her energy to save Zestasia earlier or the amount of fulgur blasts she had tried to use against the magi. She wasn’t completely done and exhausted, but she no longer had the vigor she had when she jumped off of the barge to seek out the magi. Had she gone alone she may have died. This magi, as young as she was, was way stronger than she was.

Such a thought made the red-haired girl angry. She had trained so hard and she wasn’t on this random, insane magi’s level. How was she going to get her vengeance against far more dangerous inquisitors if this was the case? She ran her tongue against one of her canines in contemplation. She needed to focus; she needed to train more. She had been slacking. 

[color=E3485D]“Well, if you are able to walk that's all I care about.”[/color] She remarked to Etoile, adding onto her previous statement, her smug smirk gone from her lips.
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