Brandon and Ulysee go flying from the contact of the attack. Ulysee travels further through the air, with Brandon hitting the ground first, on his back. His body is shown struggling from continuous jerks as the red visible lightning travels up and down his body. Ulysee sees this, having landed on her side and injured her leg. Ulysee is shown scrunching in pain as she struggles to move from her side.

  Ulysee replays what happened, in her head. She feels herself relive the moment as she once again feels herself being launched through the air. But it wasn’t by their oppressor. It was by Brandon. He took the brunt of the attack right before her eyes, as he sent her away with all his immediate strength.

  My leg is killing me. She notes to herself, looking down at her injured limb for a moment’s top. She quickly places her focus back on the struggling ally of hers.

  But if he hadn’t moved me away from him, I could have been in a much worse predicament. That’s the only reason I didn’t get struck.

  Amneal bypasses the immobilized Brandon, making his way to Ulysee. She quickly spots him and tries to get up, though the surge of pain is immediate and brings her back down. She wants to scream but holds it in.

  No, no, no. She notes to herself. This cannot be happening.

  Refusing to give up, she begins to crawl away. Amneal shows no rush to close the gap between them, instead, tormenting her with a steady paste.

  “I am sorry,” Amneal continues to walk towards her. He pauses shortly after, the apology showing meaning in his voice. However, he once again draws his bow, charging a crack of lightning that breaks through the space in the palm of his hand.

  “I’ll concentrate enough mana into this one attack – condensing the arrow enough that it will strike the direct spot I need it to hit. Your heart.”

  Ulysee looks back in moments of panic, continuing to crawl forward at a steady haste. Amneal continues to talk to her through the loud rain.

  “I’ll make your death as painless as possible. This attack should kill you on the spot.”

  Ulysee makes another effort to stand up, this time nearly getting up without any problem. Though she drops to the ground once again. Amneal prepares to release his attack.

  “NOW!”

  Brandon shouts through the rain at Ulysee, startling Amneal as his own arrow comes behind this stretching of his voice. The black flaming arrow travels with blue highlights of flames on the edges of it, making contact with Amneal just as he tries to turn around to face his previous opponent.

  There is a mid-sized explosion just as Ulysee listens to Brandon’s callout, rushing an enchantment out just as the impact of the explosion manages to reach her. Her body is lifted off the ground and into a nearby parked car.

  Placing a large dent against the car, Ulysee bounces off the car and lands back on the ground – her hands and stomach first. A radiating rainbow aura showcases itself around her body, protecting her from the impact of both the car and explosion in the nick of time. She feels safe for the moment.

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  The aura diminishes as she takes a moment to place her attention on the newly formed smoke cloud ahead of her – she can’t seem to see Brandon or the target anymore. However, the smoke fades and she can now see them both, with Brandon now standing up, face to face with the one that had been trying to kill her.

  “That damage was mid-tier at best,” Amneal points out to Brandon, seeming unfazed by attack. “You blew your only chance at winning this fight.”

  Brandon doesn’t say anything back. Instead, he tries to maintain his composure, while making a mental note to himself in the meantime.

  Damn. I knew the rain would hinder me. That last move was a charged attack, and that was only mid-tier damage? No way.

  The aura veil around Ulysee is completely gone at this point. Her defensive spell – one of the few beginner’s tricks that all witches learn, can only be used one more time by her. She stands by to see when that time will be.

  Her mind quickly shifts, and she decides to make another run for it. She makes one more attempt at getting up, this time being able to fight through the pain. She moves at a slower paste, using the line of parked cars as leverage to get further down the street. Amneal pays no mind to this.

  Locked in with Brandon, Amneal and Brandon both quickly draw their bows and take shots. A series of close ranged explosions go off, with the explosions quickly traveling throughout the area, before two rifts of energy ride upward a fourteen-floor building, side by side each other.

  Magic skating along the tall residential, more explosions go off as the two are seen shooting magic arrows at each other as they make a B line towards the sky.

  Brandon is the first to reach out without using an arrow, getting close enough to punch through the space between them with a straight shot. Amneal cocks his upper body and head back, avoiding the attack.

  Amneal retaliates with an elbow that knocks into Brandon’s chin, once again placing distance between the two. He then quickly aims his large bow at Brandon, letting off a quick shot that causes another explosion on the side of the building.

  A figure within a cloud of smoke is seen plummeting down the building, with Amneal coming out of the smoke on the opposite end, before diving off the building and racing back to the floor level of the street. Brandon fights against gravity, hitting the ground just in time as he manages to rotate back to his feet. The quickly fired shot from Amneal seemed to do bare minimum damage – enough to throw him off.

  The two are now at a standstill, as the rain begins to calm down. Neither of them attempts another attack as they both breathe in heavy bursts.

  “This battle could have been avoided.” Amneal speaks first. “You are trying to save a girl that you clearly don’t know – versus someone that I hold dearly.”

  “What the hell are you talking about,” Brandon makes his confusion obvious. “I’m not only trying to save this one girl, I’m trying to save our entire race. The future of witches is at stake.”

  “I care nothing about the future – only the present,” Amneal backfires. “And by killing the girl that you are allowing to get away, I will save the only thing in my future that I care about.”

  Amneal pauses for a moment, looking sharply into Brandon’s eyes from where he stands.

  “It is obvious that you have never had the life of someone you love on the line – watching them as they wither away in front of you.”

  His words startle Brandon.

  “I will kill that girl and collect her essence in order to save my lover…”

  “You’re wrong,” Brandon ignores Amneal’s recent remark.

  Brandon’s demeaner changes.

  “You have no idea what I have been through.”

  An image of Brandon’s lifeless grandfather resting on his bed comes to mind. He quickly pulls himself together before he can fully fall apart.

  “There is a better way to do this. To save the people we care about. We can simply…”

  “I know about the ritual.”

  Amneal cuts him off.

  “There’s no certainty that that it will work. Versus my method - I’ve seen it work.”