The figure dragging Farn and Aurelie stopped suddenly. Due to the fact that the only way they had been dragged by a hand around their mouths, and had no other attachment to the figure, they went flying, landing a few feet away from the man.

“What, no smug riddles this time?” A smug voice asked. Aurelie twitched. She knew that voice.

“Gradas Meir?” Farn asked, sitting up.

Gradas smirked. “That’s right. I’ve returned, and as an Elemental Apprentice this time. I’ll finish what I started, right after I take care of you, little miss faker.”

“This is between us, Meir. Why is Farn here?” Aurelie asked.

“Because, once I’ve killed you, I think I’ll kill him and show his pathetic dead body to Kadaras Lejus.” Gradas sneered.

Aurelie smirked. “Or is it that you were afraid that I would be able to beat you, and brought him along to handicap me?”

Gradas’ features twisted and he moved to attack as Aurelie had expected. She immediately took out her gun, waiting for his approach… and then, next to her, Farn went flying. She whipped around, watching as Farn crashed into a tree and lay there, motionless. She could still see his chest rising and falling, but the rhythm was erratic. She wasn’t sure how much longer he would stay alive. Shock filled her. If that was the damage from a single strike, then she knew she was in big trouble. Her grip on the gun tightened, and she turned back around slowly.

Gradas was still smiling smugly at her, waiting for her to scream. Instead, she raised the same black metal object she had used to announce her presence. Then it emitted the exact same loud, ear shattering noise. Then he felt something slam into his chest.

Aurelie watched as Gradas staggered backwards, and then straightened, rubbing the spot in which she had shot him. They were both shocked. Aurelie was amazed at the fact that although she had just shot him, he was relatively unhurt. Gradas was incredulous at the fact that the girl who he had deemed as powerless in front of his new strength could actually cause him pain. She was far more dangerous than he had originally judged her to be. She needed to be killed. Now.

Sensing the shift in Gradas’ mood, Aurelie shot him again. She wasn’t expecting this one to do any major damage, but hoped it would slow him down. Not waiting to see if the bullet did it’s intended job, she dashed into the forest.

Dodging tree branches and roots as she ran through the foliage at full speed, Aurelie couldn’t find any signs of Gradas following her. Ducking behind a tree, she calmed her breathing and heart rate, blending in with the forest and erasing her presence. Her mind whirled. Gradas was an Elemental Apprentice. The first thing she needed to do to even consider taking him down was find out what element he controlled. She thought back to when he attacked Farn. Aurelie had felt something then. Wind. Gradas controlled the air. Her mind immediately provided a list of the traits of an Air Elemental.

Fast Specialize in hidden sneak attacks Can hide easily but are hard to hide from

There was no way he didn’t know where she was. Her speed couldn’t match his own, even before he broke though. Added to his now heightened senses, and the characteristics of an Air Elemental, she knew that he knew where she was. There could only be one possible reason as to why he hadn’t shown himself, and that was to toy with her. He wanted to see her panic, flounder about as she wondered where he was. So, instead, she just sat down and raised her awareness levels as far as they could go.

It was only due to this that she could partially dodge the first attack, when it came. But that slight hit still had enough strength to send her flying. She smashed into a tree, and she both felt and heard a few ribs crunch. She immediately raised her gun and tried to recover enough to attack back, or at least defend herself.

But it was no use. Gradas hit her again before she could even begin to recover. She went flying again, crashing through a tree, and smacking into the one behind it. She wasn’t even able to register the pain from her newest injuries before she was sent flying again. She was helpless, unable to do anything as she was tossed all over the forest, completely at Gradas’ mercy.

Finally, she ended up in the very same place she had run from. She could see Farn out of the corner of her eye, still passed out against the tree. It felt as though the majority of the bones in her body were broken, and she had lost at least a quarter of the total amount of blood in her body, in her opinion. Gradas stood above her, smug. He didn’t even have a scratch on him, she noted with a scowl.

‘I refuse to die without at least putting a scratch on him.’ She vowed to herself. Then Gradas got on top of her, put his hands around her neck, and squeezed.

She gasped, clawing at his hands, helplessness welling up within her. What could she do? Her gun didn’t harm him, so there was no way her knives would do anything. His skin was like diamond, he likely couldn’t even feel her nails, they were inflicting so little damage. She felt tears begin to form. Was there really nothing she could do?

She wracked her brain for something, anything, that would help her now.

If you imbue your Spiritual Energy into your weapon, the weapon is upgraded… and your attacks become fiercer.

Farn’s words from when she first went to the library rang in her head. She had put her gun away during Gradas’ previous attacks, afraid she would either lose it or shoot herself, but now she took it back out. She ignored her pain, her fear, and her anger, centering herself. She relaxed her body, closing her eyes, focussing on the last two bullets in the gun, imbuing them with her Spirit Energy.

The first shot hit the center of Gradas’ forehead, penetrating his skin and cracking his skull before losing energy and dropping onto Aurelie’s stomach. Gradas screamed, rearing up and letting go of Aurelie’s neck. She drew a shaky breath, lowering her arms and taking aim again. The gun had a powerful recoil now that she had imbued it with her energy. She had nearly let go of it after the previous shot.

The second bullet hit the exact same spot that the first had, penetrating the skull and the brain. Gradas stiffened, and then fell backwards. Aurelie put away her gun, and lay there. It was over. Gradas was dead. She was so tired, and everything hurt. Surely no one would mind if she rested.

‘No! As cliche as this warning is, if you rest now, you’ll die!’ A small voice said.

‘Shut up.’ Aurelie snapped at it. ‘A little sleep never hurt anyone. Besides, I don’t have much of a choice in the matter’

She felt her strength ebbing out of her, along with her blood. She had multiple broken bones and lacerations all over her body.

She sighed to herself. ‘Great, after all that, I’m still gonna die.’

And then everything went black.