Alisa slowly opened her eyes. She felt the docks still shaking from the impact of the crash. The last thing that she'd remembered was seeing Vance dive to protect her. She turned her head up and saw that Vance was still over her but his gaze was on the crash sight.
She followed his gaze and her eyes went round. Hovering above a giant hole in the dock was the burning bird princess from earlier and she was holding something...or rather someone.
Even beaten, bruised, bloodied and burned. Alisa still recognized Francis Aeouli limply hanging from the princess's grasp. Alisa averted her gaze. She couldn't stand to see Francis in such a state. Even though, the woman had already showed her true colors.
She was still Alisa's idol.
"Stay down for now kid." Alisa heard Vance's voice whisper to her. She looked up as the man stood from the ground with fire in his eyes. "We'll take care of this!"
In one swift move Vance pulled a halberd off of his back. It even with the green flames painting everything in their color, the blue of the halberd's blue steel blade was evident. Alisa felt Vance's energy change when the weapon entered his hands.
He felt like a hardened warrior re-entering the battlefield for the first time in ages. His lips slightly quivered from excitement. His fingers twitched, ready to attack at any moment.
"SCRAAAWW!!" The firebird's horrifying cry resounded out. Alisa's eyes shot over to the bird where she saw a man clad in armor digging his blade into the monster's side. The bird swiped the man off with its wing but that one attack was just the beginning.
The fight had started.
Alisa felt a blast of wind as Vance vanished from his position. In an instant the man closed the distance. He reared his halberd back ready to unleash a powerful attack on the giant bird. His attack was intercepted by the princess as she flew over and kicked him.
Vance managed to use his halberd to block the blow taking no damage but he was still knocked back. The docks creaked as he slid over them and shook when he leapt back at the girl.
She had stopped him so he should return the favor!
The wind wooshed as Vance's halberd swung through the air trying to hit the girl. The princess gracefully dodged the attacks. She summoned flames to her hand and tossed it at Vance.
Vance didn't miss a beat as he pulled his halberd back and spun it to displace the flames. 'Don't know what that does but I definitely can't let it hit me!'
"You're right..." A voice called from behind Vance. He swing his halberd behind him to attack the new foe but the attack found no purchase. He turned, confused, how had he hit nothing? Green light shined in his eyes as he beheld the sight of his old comrade standing behind him.
"...You were always good at keeping yourself out of danger. Even if it killed me in the end!" Vance was distracted for only a moment before a powerful blow hit his back and sent him tumbling across the docks.
His body continued to roll until he felt something stop him. He looked up and saw none other than the comrade that he'd come with, Rasque Bizen. "Oh, I forgot that you were here." Vance admitted.
"Doesn't matter. All that's important is that we deal with that and get the students to safety." Vance nodded and jumped back up. Rasque inhaled deeply. Her Lis came to life as she started glowing in Alisa's eyes.
Alisa watched as the woman's Lis gathered around four orbs that were attached to her belt. The orbs shook as though they were resonating with the energy and detached from the belt. They floated around the woman slowly and passively but Rasque's face was anything but passive.
Her brows creased! Her gaze intensified! She and Vance met eyes then they both charged at there target. Alisa watched as Vance took the vanguard position. He jabbed his halberd out straight at the girl the swung outward. The girl dodged the first attack by moving to the side the flipped in the air to avoid the second.
At that moment, something glistened in the light and shot past Vance straight at the enemy. The girl remained calm as she quickly turned her body to the side making the attack miss her. That was not the end of it as the thing that she had avoided was now coming back at just as fast.
The girl's eyes narrowed as she moved to dodge the attack again when an attack from behind slammed against her armor. She winced as Vance's halberd carried her along before slamming her into the dock. She smashed through the planks and fell into the water.
"That's some strong armor that you have! What's it-"
"Stop talking to the enemy!" Rasque shouted as she pulled her orb back and switched to a different one. Rasque's movements slightly slowed as the air around her seemed to increase in weight. She stood before the hole that the girl had been thrown with her feet spread past her shoulders. One of the orbs floated before her as she waited.
The toxic princess flew out of the hole splashing water everywhere only to be smashed in the mask by a heavy orb. She splashed into the water beneath the docks. Instructor Bizen pulled her arm back and her orb returned to her side.
While the two ex-knights fought the human, the two actual knights were doing their best to fight off the bird. Their metal of their blades rang through the air as they clashed with the monster's talons.
The firebird waved its wing at the knights to push them back. The older knight grabbed hold of the wing and stabbed his blade into it. The blade bent without piercing the wing meaning now the older knight was just on the bird's wing.
The bird instantly took to the skies with the man hanging from his wing. "Sir!!" The younger knight called as his senior held onto the bird's wing for dear life. He held onto the feathers with one hand while continuously trying to pierce through the birds wing to no avail.
"Why! Won't! You! Just! Pierce! Through!!" The man's teeth grinded as his frustration increased. The bird met the man's eyes just before spinning like a drill in the air. The man gave up on stabbing the wing and instead focus on just not falling off as the bird spun faster and faster.
The bird spun through the clouds leaving a trail of flames. It pierced through clouds of smoke while soaring through the air. The smoke parted and the man screamed until the bird finally stopped. She was clearly dizzy from her own move.
It would be a great chance to capitalize had the man on board not also been dizzy. "You-gugh-you made th-this happen...bird." The knight's words slurred like he was drunk. His grip on the bird's wing loosened until it finally released and he began falling from the sky.
The man hurtled down to the ground rapidly. He was unable to steady himself and also currently unable to save himself. He mobilized his Lis to protect his body when he felt the wind begin to kick up around him.
His descent was slowed greatly for reasons he did not understand. He looked to the ground where he saw a scruffy looking child spinning as fast as she could on one leg like a ballerina. The wind seemed to be coming from her.
The dock gently depressed under the man's weight as his feet landed on the planks. Alisa slowly came to a stop. She almost fell over so she held her arms to the side to balance herself.
"Thanks kid." The man pat Alisa on the head and around for the monster. She had gone over to continue fighting his younger officer. He readied his blade and dashed back to the action.
Alisa watched as the fighting continued. As Vance and Rasque worked together to fight the winged girl and the two knights continued working together to take on the bird. There was even a moment where the bird and girl went back to back spun together to make a giant green flaming spiral and sprayed fire all across the battlefield.
It was quite the sight to behold. And Alisa did nothing except watch. 'Not like I could do anything if I did go in there. I couldn't even get myself to fight Francis Aeouli.' Alisa mood began to fall as she recalled the event from earlier but just before she started to spiral she realized something.
She looked back to the battlefield and analyzed the sight specifically the princess knight. Alisa's eyes narrowed as she looked for something...or rather someone.
"Where's Francis Aeouli?" At some point during the battle Francis disappeared and nobody noticed. In fact, someone else had gone missing a while ago that she'd only noticed now. "And where's Mo?!"
As the fight between the two groups continued to rage on Alisa found herself with a new personally assigned mission. She needed to find Mo and Francis. Her idol and the fish!
The Alchemist and...the fish.