Rel – in a surprising show of athletic ability – performed several front flips towards Meimei, flailing at her with the swords of light that she held in her hands. Meimei deflected the attack with her staff before beginning a magical chant.

  “Gather spirits of the air, move forth at my enemy in rapid dissension [WIND BLADE]!”

  Blades of nearly invisible air cut towards Rel. However, even at close range, she was able to perceive the attacks, and sliced at the wind blades with her own blades of light. She jumped to the side and onto the wall, pushing off to gain extra momentum towards Meimei. Her blade of light came within a hair’s distance from slashing Meimei’s face. Meimei jumped back and reset her position away from Rel. However, Rel was quick to close the distance once again. The tip of the blade connected with Meimei’s skirt, slicing through the fabric. Meimei slammed her staff down and let out a quick explosion forcing Rel back.

  Meimei followed up with another magic spell, pushing her advantage.

  “Gather heat, form a heart of flame and attack my enemy [FIRE BALL]!”

  Meimei let lose a fireball at Rel. Fire Ball was a very basic magic attack, however, it would still easily be able to cause lethal damage to a person if it landed. Rel spun to the side of the stone hallway, avoiding the flaming ball which screamed her way.

  “Fae of the forests gather around me and grant protection [BARRIER]!”

  Meimei next cast a nature type barrier. She hoped it would give her time to cast a more powerful spell. Rel was easily able to guess Meimei’s strategy and immediately leapt at the barrier. The magical swords that Rel held ripped through the nature barrier. Meimei was slowly being pushed back further and further. Behind her a stone wall was closing in, she knew that if she were pinned against it, she would have no chance against Rel. Meimei was distracted for a moment, planning out her strategy. That moment of distraction gave Rel an opening. She lept low and to the side of Meimei, catching her off guard. Meimei spun her silver staff around, desperately trying to block Rel’s attack, but it was too late. Rel caught her in the thigh, slicing deep into it. Meimei let out a yelp of pain. The blade singed the skin, letting out a smell of burnt flesh. As Rel moved upwards from her low attack she followed up with a plunging strike at Meimei’s chest.

  Meimei was able to move her staff in the way, catching the tip of the blade. However, she was unable to fully deflect the blade. Rel’s blade made a sizzling sound as it jumped off of Meimei’s staff and into her shoulder. Meimei quickly rolled away from the blade, causing it to slice a piece of her should off as she slammed into the wall.

  “Rel, stop this!” Meimei cried out.

  “You’re still trying to keep this act up? Just stop,” Rel coldly responded.

  Meimei held her shoulder in pain. Her hand that was still gripping her staff was shaking from the pain and adrenaline.

  “[RUSH]!”

  Meimei chanted a quick cast spell which gave her a momentary burst of speed, she pushed past Rel and moved back into the center of the hallway. She knew she had to avoid the dead end at all costs.

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  “Repositioning won’t do you any good. You need to use your true power to defeat me,” Rel taunted.

  “When did you get so strong?” Meimei asked, panting.

  “I didn’t get strong. You are just weak in that form.”

  Rel crouched down and pushed off of the ground, diving at Meimei again. She was using the same move over and over again. If Meimei was stronger she could easily exploit such repetitive moves, however, there was simply nothing she could do against melee magic. She learned that much from sparring with Lily. Her only hope was to continue to stall Rel until someone came to help. Although she had been focused on the fight and had thus tuned it out, the sounds of screaming and explosions could still be heard from outside. There was a low chance of anyone randomly roaming a hallway in the academy while a massive Labyrinth Break was occurring outside.

  Rel once again aimed towards Meimei’s chest as she quickly moved in close with her dash attack. Meimei moved her staff in front of her to once again block the attack. Rel smirked and her sword of light disappeared. Rel instead grabbed Meimei’s staff and pushed it to the side before igniting a sword of light in her other hand. The sword extended instantly, directly into the right side of Meimei’s chest. Meimei let out of cough and attempted to move away and disengage from the fight. However, before she could, she felt another blade thrust through her back and directly into her heart. Meimei dropped her staff.

  “The heart is on this side, honey,” a female voice laced with malice hissed.

  A hooded figure had suddenly appeared behind Meimei and stabbed her with a purple dagger. Rel’s face betrayed an extreme annoyance at the interference. Meimei let out several chain-breathes, panicking.

  “Who are you?” Rel asked. Her voice filled with anger.

  “Just a member of the church doing her duty,” the women replied.

  While the two were talking Meimei stopped breathing for a moment. Rel looked towards Meimei, with a mix of emotions. The air changed and became stale. The hair stood up on Rel’s neck and the hooded women suddenly looked concerned. Meimei took in a breath and let out a sigh. She reached her right hand up and grabbed the sword of light that Rel still held into her chest. With her left hand she grabbed the dagger from behind.

  With one smooth motion she shattered both and, in a blur, swung around, pulverizing the hooded woman’s head and pushing Rel back. The hooded women instantly slumped down, dead. Meimei slowly turned to the side, and opened her eyes, staring directly into Rel’s eyes. Meimei’s eyes were no longer a sparkling blue but had turned a mix of crimson and yellow. The temperature in the hallway quickly dropped, causing Meimei’s hot breaths to become steam. Blood trickled down her head and horns slowly curled out of both sides of her head. Gore dripped from her fist and the wounds on her body closed.

  “So, you finally decided to be true to yourself, Mephistopheles?”

  “And how do you know that name?” Meimei asked, her voice echoing with an unusual bass.

  “The gods told me in my vision.”

  “How troublesome they can be.”

  Meimei took a single step towards Rel. The single step seemed to defy logic as it took her right in front of Rel, who had retreated far back.

  “[PURIFICATION]!”

  Rel let off an omni-directional light attack which slammed into Meimei, causing her to pause for a moment. Rel took the opportunity to back up further and began a special magical chant.

  “Gods, let your power flow through me so that I may slay your sworn enemy as you have commanded [DIVINE POWER]!”

  Rel’s veins – which had been hidden under her many scars – lit up with a divine light as the gods answered her prayers and granted her their divine favor.

  “The gods gave me one task, to stop the demon Mephistopheles.” Rel announced, taking up a crouched fighting position.

  “Is me being a demon so offensive? Have I ever wronged you or anyone else that you know?” Meimei’s question echoed.

  “You have always been very good to me. However, as a servant of the gods I will follow their orders,” Rel answered with fervent fanaticism.

  Meimei let out a sigh.

  “So be it.”

  Meimei held a frown on her face.