Chapter 11

Zephalia dashed towards Arestasia. Rosette quickly changed to her sword form. Arestasia swiftly parried the incoming strike from the witch. She then spun around and slammed the hilt of her sword into the witch's back, causing her to stumble forward in pain. Zephalia turned around and slashed at Arestasia repeatedly. Arestasia dodged each swing and then Back flipped to gain some distance. 

"Sinister Missile!"

Zephalia lunged her hand forward and blasted a ball of dark energy that struck Arestasia, causing her to stumble backwards. Zephalia quickly came closer. Arestasia began to strike repeatedly and the witch did the same. They parried each other's attacks as they exchanged hits. Rosette quickly extended to its whip form. Arestasia swung the bladed whip at Zephalia but she dodged it by jumping high into the air. 

"Demon's Mourn!" she chanted. 

She swung her sword at Arestasia, firing many long black needles with one swing. Arestasia jumped to get away from the needles but one ended up stabbing her in the leg, causing her to fall over, she quickly pulled it out and swung her whip at the airborne witch. Rosette wrapped around her ankle. Arestasia then swung the blade towards the wall, making the witch crash into it. 

"I swear, you're no different from another girl I know."

Zephalia slowly got up and ran towards Arestasia while releasing a terrifying battle cry.  

"Something doesn't go your way." 

Arestasia swung her whip upward, slicing the witch's torso. Blood ascended into the air. 

"You become blind with anger." 

Arestasia spun around and kicked Zephalia in the stomach, causing her to fall backwards. 

"So much to the point that you can hardly fight effectively." 

Zephalia quickly got up, dashed towards Arestasia and slashed at her horizontally. Arestasia bent backward, planted her hands on the ground and back flipped, kicking Zephalia in the chin.

"You can't accept things by how they are."

Rosette wrapped around the witch's legs, digging into her skin. Zephalia yelled in pain. 

"And you don't want to fix it, you just want to continue to give people a hard time with your s**t!"

Arestasia swung the sword towards the wall, throwing the witch into the same spot. 

"And end up getting thrown to the wall twice..." 

Arestasia shrugged. Zephalia got up again. 

"You shut your mouth! I won't be toyed with by you!" she yelled.

"Fine..." 

Rosette broke apart. The blade pieces began to spiral around Arestasia, covered her in purple electricity.  

"I'll let you be the first opponent to fall victim to the power of Soul Energy!" 

Arestasia pointed the sword hilt into the air. The purple electricity began to stack on the hilt, becoming a giant sword of electricity. 

"Dance Rosette!" 

The blade of electricity flared in different directions. It suddenly went straight for the witch. Zephalia quickly held out her hand.

"Shield of Despair!"

Her shadow rose from the ground and lifted to block the incoming attack. The shadow suddenly shattered and the electricity blasted her into the wall, electrocuting her at the same time. The force eventually caused an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Arestasia's sword was back to normal. Zephalia lied there by the wall, dead. 

"Better yet, thrown to the three times... It was bound to happen to her anyway..."

The ice that Dawnni and Lupin was encased in had shattered. 

"Are you guys alright?"  

Dawnni and Lupin looked confused. 

"I believe so." Dawnni replied. 

"Yeah, I feel fine." Lupin added. 

"Ares, your hurt!" Dawnni exclaimed. 

Arestasia looked at her leg and noticed it bleeding. 

"Let me help you." 

Dawnni healed her leg. Suddenly a pillar of green light appeared in the middle of the room. The team ran towards the pillar and grabbed the crystal that soon appeared. The team then disappeared with a green flash and reappeared in the middle of a village. The village houses were all made of logs instead of gray bricks. There were torches mounted beside the doors. There was no one outside but the inside of the houses were lit. 

"What village is this Dawnni?" Arestasia asked. 

Dawnni pulled out the map. 

"Looks like we're in Dirakta Village." 

"The village of lost souls..." a red spirit said nearby. 

The team was startled. 

"The village of souls?" Dawnni asked. 

"Indeed sir! Hi, the name's Vire. Let's just cut to the chase, I know why you're here and trust me, you wont get very far without my help. I'll give you the ability to see a monster's weak point as well as give you excellent aim." 

"Oh! How useful!" 

"Yes, but it takes a very large amount of magic energy so I advise you to not use it often." 

"Understood. So what's the trial?" 

"There's no trial." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah, If you made it this far, that must mean that you and your teammates have taken down Zephalia and her pet. It takes some real courage to face that giant ugly thing. The witch loves that abomination so taking that thing down must've really messed with her head." 

Vire chuckled and then flew into Dawnni's gauntlet. 

"Hey boys, I don't know about y'all, but I need some sleep." Arestasia said. 

"There's an inn right over there." Lupin said as he pointed at the village house with a sign saying, "Inn". 

"Let's get some rest."

The team walked towards the inn and opened the door. The building was full of drunk men sitting at the tables, chatting among themselves. The team walked over to the bartender. He had a semi-bald head with a large black mustache.

"What can I do yer for?" the bartender asked.

"We need a room please." Dawnni stated.

The bartender mischievously looked at Dawnni and Lupin and then looked at Arestasia.

"Oh ho ho! I see!"

The bartender winked. Dawnni and Lupin had a confused look on their faces but Arestasia caught the hint right away. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled.

"Heh heh...You don't have to tell me nothing. Just don't make too much noise."

Arestasia slapped the bartender. Angered, the bartender grabbed her wrist.

"Listen missy, you watch where you swing that hand o' yers!"

The bartender pulled her to the counter with great force.

"Or I'll be the one who breaks it!"
Lupin quickly drew his blade and put it against the bartender's neck. The other guys got up and stared. Dawnni used his weapon transmutation and pointed a white sword towards them.

"So now it decides to give me an actual sword..." Dawnni thought.

"Let her go before I let your head go." Lupin said.

The bartender released Arestasia's wrist and started laughing. The other guys joined in on the laughter.

"I like you kids! You kids got spunk! I'll tell you what; the room is no charge if you can finish a test the next day."

"What's the test?" Dawnni asked as the sword faded away.

"I need y'all to go to the Faded Woods and grab some Benben seeds. I'm tired of going out there to get the leaves for my brew so I'd rather just make my own plants. You know what they look like?"

"Yes, I do." Dawnni replied.

"That's all?" Lupin asked.

"That's all."

"Okay, sounds easy enough." Arestasia said.

"Good, here's a key, the rooms are upstairs."

The bartender handed them a key and the team went upstairs.

"Why would you send them there man?" a man said. "You have plenty of Benben plants out back."

"Nobody puts a blade in my face and gets away with it. The Lich in the forest should take care of them. We're just about due to give him our offering anyway."

Him and the rest of the people laughed and continued to talk among themselves.