Isn't failure the same as pain?

Elaine was standing in a storm with knife as whirlwinds. Inside that flurry of knife attacks, it felt suffocating, sense of space seemed lost, and no path was in sight. How many backward steps did she make? It was as if she was carried away, pushed by a force, unable to claim proper footing to the ground. Elaine was looking at the cause of that storm straight in the eyes. A tanned woman with white hair and gray colored eyes, tattoos covering her entire body. Inscriptions, which granted her power.

Elaine couldn't see her path, the road to victory. Did a path even exist?

Lifting her large wooden wand, Elaine pointed it towards her opponent. Jolts of electricity sparkled and crackled around the gemstone. Before thunder strike came out, Vienna had dodged Elaine's aim by ducking to her right and when the thunder strike was shot, the target was gone. Vienna swung her left leg; and as Elaine was expecting the left kick, Vienna stopped midway and threw a right kick instead and Elaine received the kick with her left arm. Being hit by a strong kick, Elaine was flung away a few meters.

Not being able to read Vienna's feints, Elaine had decided to change her strategy and clad herself wholly with protective magic made of wind and thunder. However, because of that, she was unable to fully block Vienna's attacks and had to receive an amount of damage when her hit connected. At least that was better than being hit with no defense at all.

Her left arm felt dead, it felt numb. Perhaps a few bones were broken because of that kick. Not giving up, Elaine quickly regained herself and stood up. She didn't even have the time to check and see how her left arm was doing. All she could do was try to feel the damage. From that, she could tell that her left arm was dead. Either temporarily or forever. Regardless, Vienna rushed to her and again Elaine was swallowed by the storm of knife attacks.

Did a path to victory even exist? It was hard to believe in such road when she couldn't see it in that storm. However, a part of Elaine, something inside her was telling her; that although she couldn't see the path, it exist. Whether it did exist or not, there was only one way for her to find out. First, she needed to reclaim her footing. Step her feet hard to the ground and state that she was over with being carried away, that she was there to stay and fight back.

To do that, Elaine lifted her right arm which was holding her large wooden wand. She pointed at Vienna and electricity was forming at the end of her wand. Vienna dodged to her right before the thunder was shot, but Elaine never planned to go through with the attack in the first place. She had seen it a few times and she decided to use it for herself, a feint. Able to see where Vienna was dodging, Elaine used the strength which was still in her to jump to the opposite direction to her dodge. Gaining space.

Space was established between Elaine and Vienna. Something which Elaine needed to work hard to gain. Why was it so important? With that space, there was distance, and with distance between them, Elaine gained time. Precious time, leisure for her to use magic. Elaine smiled, she wanted to celebrate but she wasn't wasting her hard-earned chance.

Elaine could've gone with offensive magic, but not knowing the extent of the durability granted to her opponent by the Extinct Formulae Magic, Elaine decided to take another approach. More often than not, dealing damage wasn't the only way to attack, there were other methods. With earth magic, Elaine pointed at the ground, which Vienna was stepping foot on, with her wand and soften it. Vienna's foot sunk to the ground and Elaine quickly hardened it, making her stuck.

Of course, with her monstrous strength, the tanned woman wouldn't have any problem to unstuck herself. However, she needed time to do that and it was Elaine's turn to not give her opponent a chance. Right now, at this particular moment, Elaine was the person in control of the battle. She pointed her wand at Vienna who was trying to unstuck herself and unleashed a thunder strike. Not being able to get out in time, finally, the thunder strike hits.

What Elaine had in mind with the thunder strike, wasn't to give her opponent damage. There was a reason why Vienna kept dodging the thunder strike instead of frontally tackling it, because thunder had a special characteristic: it can paralyze its target. That was what Elaine was aiming for when she used thunder magic, to paralyze Vienna's movement.

Seeing that her enemy was paralyzed and was still stuck, Elaine chanted her magic. She had explained to Freya that there were 3 ways to conjure magic: imagination, chanting, or both; and that Elaine preferred to use both. In actuality, chanting magic was done to stimulate the user's imagination, thus they were all more or less the same. Elaine imagined symbols for Formulae Magic and recited the symbols. Not knowing how good Vienna's defense was, Elaine decided to play it safe by using sealing magic.

Symbols started to appear and float around her in circles. As Elaine finished her chanting, the symbols flew towards Vienna and it stuck to her body. When it did, Vienna fell backwards to the ground due to the sudden weakness. Unlike the sealing magic which Dunnford was a victim of, Elaine's sealing magic didn't fix Vienna's position solid, rather, it made her weak and unable to move even with Extinct Formulae Magic backing her up.

Looking at her powerless enemy, Elaine made a fist with her right hand and smiled joyfully. She finally got herself the redemption she wanted. No more nightmares for her at night. No more will Ray's saying echo in her mind: that magic was useless. She, a magician who was inexperienced in battle, had proven her worth. She was happy.

Not wanting to be drunk on victory, she shook her head and reminded herself of the situation. Ray should be fighting the other Extinct Formulae Magic user and Dunnford would still be fixed solid because of the sealing magic he was inflicted with. As for Ray, Elaine couldn't care less if he needed help, because she wasn't willing to lend him a hand. Dunnford on the other hand, she was more than willing to help, since she had troubled him in a few ways and was indebted to him for lifting her mood up when she had lost.

As Elaine was about to leave Vienna; since she didn't have any more business with her, she heard a crack. Alerted by that sound, Elaine turned back and clad herself with protective magic. Well-made protective magic this time as she had the time and leisure. However, she only saw the fallen Vienna. Was she hearing things?

Again she could hear the sound of something cracking. What was it? Elaine noticed a slight movement.

Vienna who was supposed to be unable to move, clawed the ground with her hand, that was what made the cracking sound. Slowly yet surely, she lifted herself and was getting herself upright. How was it possible? Elaine stood still, dumbstruck by what she was seeing. A part inside her was telling her, that whatever was happening was dangerous. Elaine's fear, which was suppressed by her rage, resurfaced. A fear which was like a prey facing a predator.

As Vienna stood up, Elaine noticed that there was sparkling electricity surrounding her body. Looking at that obvious hint, Elaine understood what was happening at that moment. Her opponent was able to use thunder magic and was pushing her body beyond its limits with it. But that's suicide! Elaine thought, as using thunder magic to surpass human limits comes with a toll to the body. Usually people would use such magic with consideration, but seeing how Vienna was able to stand despite the sealing magic, she must be pushing herself beyond her limit.

With sheer force, Vienna managed to stand upright. Temporary monstrous strength at the cost of diminishing her own life.

Vienna's eyes which were gray were now bloodshot red and tears of blood flowed down her cheeks from both eyes. She spread her arms, like a wild beast which was trying to present herself in a threatening manner. The thunder magic robbed her mind as she was incapable of speech and roared aloud. The roar was loud and deafening enough that it shook the building they were in and made the air felt heavy. The building appeared weak and was almost collapsing against the roar.

I'm in trouble, Elaine couldn't help but think so.