[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/aRfAXko.png[/img][/center]
[hr]
[i][b]Metropolis - The Penultimate Battle[/b][/i]
[hr]

[color=fd5e53]”A shame that it has come to this.“[/color] Yalen rolled his sleeves tightly around his forearms, his eyes dead set on the apparition of Camille. He held his hand toward a fallen Rettanese warrior and magnetically pulled the guard’s longsword into his grasp. Assuming one of the basic forms taught to him by Colette, Yalen prepared to defend himself against the saint’s massive blade.  [color=fd5e53]"It feels wrong to fight someone my ancestor once called a comrade, but our respective beliefs have put us at odds. It is now up to Eshiran to decide who the righteous one is. Stand your ground."[/color]

[color=Gold]"I did not want to face a child..."[/color] Camille sighed, turning from Smoking Bandit to face Yalen. [color=Gold]"...but I was no different when I was your age. You follow the Quentic Faith, yet you side with the clear oppressors of the commonfolk. Surely you saw how they suffered in this city? How could you, willingly, support that?"[/color] Camille's shoulders dropped and she gave a sorrowful frown. [color=Gold]"Eshiran spare you, child, but I cannot fall here. The people need me."[/color] Her shoulders picked up and she assumed a battle stance.

Yalen wasted no more words. He pinched his fingers together and struck at Camille with an invisible assault, attempting to steal her eyesight by blocking certain chemical signals. When she stumbled back in confusion, he charged forward and struck at her with an overhead slash. It was a dirty trick, but when Yalen’s blade was caught in Camille’s hand, he knew that fighting fairly against a monster would be foolish.

[color=gold]”That was a good effort, but I do not need my eyes to follow your clumsy movements.“[/color] Camille stated with her eyes tightly shut. She shoved Yalen backwards and answered his strike with one of her own. When their swords clashed together, his arms and shoulders screamed with pain. It was like trying to block a dragon’s tail. He couldn’t hold it for more than a couple of seconds before he was forced to parry Camille’s greatsword to the side and retreat. 

The heroic shade refused to let him off easily. Camille rocketed forward and slammed down hard. Yalen was just barely able to roll away from the earth shattering blow. She was strong enough to break rocks with one swing, so getting hit even once would be the death of him. He desperately sought an opening that could be used to turn the tide with magic, but the knightess was disturbingly fast despite wielding a weapon taller than she was. Every time he managed to redirect one of her painfully heavy attacks, Camille was already chasing him with another. For several minutes the Quentics engaged in a duel of swords, though it was a duel in name only. Yalen was so pressed to survive Camille’s onslaught that he had no room to attempt a counter attack.

[color=gold]”Hold still!“[/color] Camille shouted. She opened her armored hand towards Yalen, surrounding him with a golden aura. His robes crackled with electricity as he was forced to his knees by powerful magnetic magic. Sweat dripped from the priest’s forehead as he struggled to resist the attraction spell, but even with command magic boosting his RAS, she had him outmatched in sheer mastery. His strength slowly failed him to the point where he couldn’t even hold his sword. After half a minute of resistance, Yalen was dragged face first onto the ground.

Camille tightened her grip as if she meant to destroy him, but after a few moments the magnetic force weakened a little so as not to crush him. [color=Gold]"Stay down!"[/color] She ordered, hoping that Yalen would comply. It would be unbearable to send a child so quickly to Eshiran's embrace.

[color=fd5e53]"Not... a... chance!"[/color] The moment Camille mercifully loosened her grip on him, Yalen closed his eyes and concentrated on the area beneath the saint's feet. Using his newfound strength he disintegrated the ground she stood on with a Touch of Doom, while at the same time attempting to reform the crude matter into a binding prison.

Camille was staggered by the sudden loss of footing, and as the pit grew larger she realized that Yalen was attempting to bury her alive, much like a silver haired witch from many centuries ago. With a kinetic leap she cleared the edge of the hole and beelined towards her adversary, prepared to knock him out and stop any further casting from occurring. When she was only a few feet away from her target, an earthen spire burst out of the ground and punched her in the chest plate, knocking the wind out of her and sending Camille hurtling back into the pit. Yalen filled her grave with compacted soil and stone, packing it as tightly as he could as a means of crushing her body. Maybe she didn’t want to kill, but he was ready to from the beginning. After all, he was only fighting a ghost.

Yalen could sense her life signs fading away and breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been bad if the fight continued for much longer. He was not suited for long battles, especially sword fights. He picked himself up off the ground and began walking away, ready to assist his comrades with their own battles, but he did not get far before he felt Camille swell with energy. Just as he turned around, an explosion erupted from underneath the earth, freeing the knightess from her prison. She emerged then, bathed in a yellow glow so intense that Yalen had to squint his eyes to look at her. Somehow, Camille had been returned to full health. 

[color=Gold]"Intended to kill. You truly are lost to whatever this world made you."[/color] She picked up her sword and swung, cutting at the air itself. Yalen was barely able to put up a stone barrier to protect himself before the shockwave hit, obliterating the crude wall and showering him with debris. Camille lunged forward, following her assault with a wide chop at Yalen’s right shoulder. Blinded and stunned by the previous attack, he had no time to avoid the lethal blow. Out of reflex, he put his arms up in a guard to protect his side, but he knew that if he really wanted to survive this he would need to use magic. Having lost his weapon in the scuffle, his only recourse now was to destroy hers. Yalen tugged at the bonds holding the greatsword’s molecules together, breaking them apart the instant before Camille cleaved him in two. 

Camille's blade came swinging down, but as it closed into Yalen's shoulder, the blade was ripped apart. Metal seemed to burn away into cinders until there was nothing left. Camille leapt back, leaving the smoldering remains of her sword behind. [color=Gold]"Such power… it truly makes me wonder what course the world has been set on, for the gods to grant children such gifts."[/color] She frowned, sulking a touch about her lost sword.

[color=fd5e53]"Let me show you another gift of mine. It is time you returned to the heavens where you belong."[/color] Yalen filled his lungs with air and exhaled, calming his boiling blood in preparation for his final gambit. He raised his right hand and extended his index finger, pointing directly between Saint Camille's eyes. [color=fd5e53]"SUBMIT."[/color]

Camille’s body seized up when her manas were forcibly taken away from her. There was confusion in her eyes as she attempted to retaliate, but no matter how hard she concentrated she found that the gift of magic no longer belonged to her. She was completely disarmed, and if it were any other opponent the fight might have been decided right there. However, Camille was still a hero of Oriflamme, and the sword maiden’s courage pushed her to keep fighting. With only her armored fists to protect her she charged forward, ready to beat Yalen to a bloody pulp. Though they were enemies, he felt a deep respect for her. If he were in her shoes he would have run away. 

[color=fd5e53]"I’m sorry but… if you wish to judge us for our actions, you should do so in Dami’s Chamber. Our mortal affairs are no longer any of your concern."[/color] Yalen's voice was tense with emotion. Causing harm to a legendary saint was a stomach churning experience, but he knew that this was for the best. Her pain would not last long. [color=fd5e53]"RUPTURE."[/color] Yalen commanded, using his knowledge of the human body to detonate Camille's manas inside her brain stem.

There wasn't a moment for her to understand that word before pain snapped in her head. Pinches turned into migraines as blood explosively leaked out of her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth... It was only a few moments, but it was enough for Camille to realize she was dying... no she was dead. The damage quickly turned her brain into a slurry, and with no brain to control it, the summoned being that called itself Camille dropped to the ground, her lifeless bloody face still looking out in agony. The struggle was over.