Greed:
I continued to walk away as Jo spoke to me. The Valley's citizens, though they were not frozen, might as well have been with the look they all wore on their faces. Even Belle and Alice's were of utter shock. They had heard she was strong, but this… this was beyond their expectations.
The rest of the crew had glints in their eyes. Marveling more at the shouting silence of the audience throughout the colosseum. Code looked hardly impressed; mainly because he already knew what she was capable of. Though he couldn't help a smirk. It was like a one-up to the naysayers.
It was at this time that Star, Brand, and Ophelia yelled with the entirety of their lungs, "WAY TO GO, JOJO! JO! ANNIE!" they said, each shouting a different name out to her.
A rippling happened all over the colosseum, and then, as if it happened all at once, the crowd erupted.
Jo sighed to it all. Unamused, even as the cheers of the audience could have given her another piercing in her jewelry-filled ears. She twirled around with a swing and pivot of her foot and began to sashay to where I was.
The popsicle in her mouth, which had been full at the beginning of the match, was now finished. So, she took it and lowered it near the ice grounds she had created, forming a new popsicle in a different shade than the blue she had been sucking on earlier.
She seemed to have a spring in her step as she made her way nearer to me, completely in her own world now… why hadn't the announcer declared her the winner yet? Did she accidentally freeze him as well?
As she continued on her path, I darted my eyes to Daz, and he saw me standing here within the hallway. It was faint, but it was all I needed to get the hint. He shook his head ever so slowly…
My eyes widened, and I whipped back to face Jo; my face like that of panic, "Jo! Turn around!"
As her popsicle had completed forming, she heard my voice but couldn't react in time to look up at me. Instead, she looked at the reflection of her popsicle and saw…
Like instinct, her emerald eyes darted behind her to where Polaris had once been standing. He had gone from his spot and was now inches away from her with a speared hand.
She saw it just in time and dodged backward with the help of her tail whipping the ground. Her Mary Janes dragged on the ice as she landed feet away. And when she stood up, Polaris was standing before her where he had attempted to strike.
He breathed out with icy cold air, "What a fantastic attack!" he shouted. "I did not see that coming. I briefed your record before the Tournament, but I did not expect your magical prowess to be of this caliber!"—he straightened himself and became tall once more—"I will not underestimate you again, nor will I let you do that again," he said almost ominously as his aura once more rippled the air.
Right then, a volley of air blasts shot out at Jo. She dodged each one, first with a duck and then a flip to her right, then a smack from her tail once more to propel her upward and back down, and then forming an ice wall to her left that she slid on, positioned atop it now, backward facing; all in quick succession of each blast of air.
Polaris threw his palms behind him and used the air pressure to jet him toward her ice wall, shattering it upon impact. Jo jumped to avoid it, but Polaris disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind her in the air. She reacted but could do nothing to counter as he slammed a sharp elbow onto her back.
She flailed and collided brutally onto the ice field.
"Jo!" I yelled as my voice became muffled by the shouts and cheers of the audience.
But he was not done.
In the air, Polaris raised both his hands, floating above where Jo had crash-landed.
"I'm not done yet!" he yelled. And when the air pressure had thickened above him, he chanted,
"Pressurewave Magic: Shinra Force!"
The condensed air pressure turned into a large disk as he hauled it down to her.
The blast shattered the ice fields and cratered the ground all around them. The grassy plains now looked like hills of dirt with only patches of grass at the blast's wake.
Polaris landed a few feet away, looking weary of another sudden freezing—as he should.
Icy smoke protruded from the ground as we all waited in anticipation. And the crowd was silent, not knowing what to expect.
My face was anything but relaxed as I observed the battleground, and sweat trailed down the side of my head. Not many opponents that faced Jo were able to fight back after being frozen like that… I supposed we should have seen that coming. Especially with an opponent who was once a Captain of a Valley Guild.
Pressurewave magic… it obviously had something to do with air, but how was he able to escape from being frozen? Could he control the temperature of the air as well?
"Damn it, Nyx, if there were a time you should not be sleeping, this is it…" I said like I was talking to myself.
"I'm not…" a high-pitched ethereal voice said to me.
I was startled by its presence. Apparently, I couldn't sense Spirit Gods either…
"Nyx! What the hell! Why aren't you in there with Jo!?"
"Don't yell at me! Jo was the one who told me to stay behind," it said.
"Jo!?" I questioned, "How? And when? I didn't witness this conversation."
"We can speak telepathically, Keeper, I thought you knew all this? Some leader you are!"
"Some Spirit God you are! Go in there and help her!"
"Would you calm down! By the Keeper, you are so overprotective. She can handle herself just fine, you know."
It was right, but still…
"Besides, she wanted to save me for later. You can only use the power of a Spirit God once during the Valley Tournament," Nyx reminded. "Not that I would particularly be of any use to her, but to any case…"
"I don't remember that rule at all. Are you sure you didn't just make that up cause you didn't want to fight?"
"Keeper, it's like YOU'RE the one that's always sleeping, not me," he said as his top-heavy gaterdragon skull head lowered and his little body, which resembled a floating stuffed toy, sulked. "It was in the Valley Tournament pamphlet that they sent out days before today… don't tell me you…"
I groaned as it said this because I never check the mail…
"Such a responsible Acting Captain you are… I'm sure Code read it too, so don't worry."
I looked at Nyx disinterestedly and focused back on Jo, waiting for her to emerge from that smoking crater. I was definitely overreacting.
"You should stop that bad habit," Nyx said as he joined me; both of us looking out onto the arena now. "She's not a child anymore, you know. Sure, eighteen is just a number, but it's a mark as an adult, nonetheless. So, you should treat her as such."
For once this talking plushie was speaking some sense.
"And anyway, it was I who needed her… not the other way around."
I glanced at Nyx, and it looked like it was spacing out.
***
**Three years ago. Sky jurisdiction**
"I'm out for the day!" a young girl about the age of fifteen said as she exited the small cottage on a hill.
"Bye! Same time tomorrow! Don't forget!" another female voice shouted from inside.
"Yeah, yeah…" the young girl said nonchalantly.
She was wearing a uniform of some kind. White button-up and high-waisted pleated skirt with black sheer tights and white high-top sneakers. As the door behind her closed, she whipped something large away from it before it shut. It was thick and green like the tail of a dragon, and it belonged to her.
As she ran down the stone-built stairs and over to her bicycle, she patted her skirt down. It was quite often that her large tail would lift her skirt up; it seemed to have a mind of its own at times.
She then threw a leg over her bicycle, and she was off.
Riding through the small town made of metal, steam, and stone, her route often took her past a small, calm river, which she often stared blankly at as the long trail took her over a bridge leading to the edge of town—and then past that, her destination.
In the distance, she saw airships taking off and hover vehicles setting out to the main Sky Kingdom for business or trade. They flew off into the sunset, and some flew in as she still admired the beauty of this quiet town through her lazy, emerald eyes.
She was extremely carefree, perhaps to a fault. Often, her sisters would gripe at her to smile more or to stop looking so gloomy—the wind might blow, and your face will stay that way forever—she would remember them say often.
Maybe it's too late for that… the wind has already blown a long time ago… She thought, spacing out into the orange sky with a half-finished orange popsicle in her mouth.
Before she knew it, she had run over something on her bicycle; thudding twice from both wheels as she wobbled to stay up and then eventually stop, "Whoa-whoa!"
When she came to a halt, she looked back at where the thudding had happened. She biked this way countless times. What could possibly be in the middle of the road?
As her eyes met it, they widened at the thing on the ground.
Through the reflection in her eyes, it looked to be a small child… no… it had to be smaller. Something like a stuffed toy would have been a better description.
Its head resembled a gaterdragon's skull, and it had small wings on its stout body—entirely the color light blue.
What is that? She thought as she scooted closer on her bicycle. Whatever it was, it didn't appear to be conscious…
She grabbed a nearby stick and poked it a couple of times, but still no movement… she did it again, and then again… until…
"WOULD YOU STOP POKING ME!!" it yelled, still lying on the ground face up.
The young girl squealed, startled that it actually spoke.
"What… what are you?" she asked it.
"I'm a fucking Spirit God! Haven't you ever seen a Spirit God before!?" it shouted.
The look on the young girl's face was of total disinterest, "Nope. Never heard it. Spirit… what again? Is that supposed to be important?"
"How in the world do you not know what a Spirit God is! We are mighty, powerful beings from the heavens! People from all over scour the world just to get a sliver of our attention—a sliver of our power! We were blessed by the Keeper an abundance of mana and powerful magic that can bring a Kingdom to its knees!"
"Right… so why are you on the ground?"
"BECAUSE I'M INJURED! AND YOU JUST RAN OVER ME LIKE IT'S NOTHING!"
The young girl scratched her head and closed her eyes, thinking whether she should help the thing or just leave it.
"Ugh… fine." She said as she hopped off her bicycle.
She reached down to grab the Spirit God and then moved it to the side of the road. Seconds later, she hopped back onto her bicycle and strode off. "Kay. See ya…"
"WAIT! WHAT THE— YOU'RE JUST GONNA LEAVE ME HERE!?"
"I moved you so no one will run over you again!" she shouted as her bicycle whizzed.
The thing didn't say anything back. All she heard after were sobs in the distance behind her. When she heard it, her eyes closed and furrowed, and she let out a sigh, stopping her bicycle abruptly—yards away from it now…
As the thing cried quietly to itself, it heard the ticking of her bicycle when she neared once again.
"Come on…" she said, "my sisters own a church just outside this town. That's where I'm heading. One of them knows healing magic… maybe she can help you out…" looking away as she said it.
The little Spirit God wiped its tears and thanked her profusely afterward.
"Kay, okay… Are all you Spirit Gods like this?" she asked rhetorically as she put the thing in her little front basket, and they both strode off as the sun continued to set.
***
**Present. Valley Tournament**
"And that was it. She healed me, and I've been forever indebted to her." Nyx finished anticlimactically.
"Wait, that was it? That was the lamest story ever. Where's the rest of it?" I asked adamantly.
"This is what happens when you never ask about your subordinates' pasts. This is also something you should have already known!" Nyx lectured. "But anyway… I stopped there, because it seems she's getting back up now…"
When Nyx said that I whipped my head back to the ring. The smoke was still pluming, but it was fading now. And when I looked closer, I saw Jo's silhouette standing from within.
"So," Polaris spoke, "you're also tougher than you look…"
When Jo rose within, she was hunched over, and her eyes glowed a brighter emerald, piercing through the smoke. She said nothing and simply pulsed her aura, freezing the ground once more, back into that icy field from earlier.
It reached Polaris in a matter of seconds, roaring—if ice could roar. The wave was so intense that spiked ice glaciers crystallized toward the end of the wide-ranging cast, grazing the inner nullifying shield around them.
However, unlike the first time, Polaris did not freeze. He remained as he was, and that same aura emanated from him—the ice around him melting like that aura had not been aura at all, but rather—
"Heat," I said.
"Precisely," Nyx replied. "His magic lets him control air pressure. So much so that he can even manipulate the temperature. Air pressure changes as temperature changes—in his case, though, he is achieving this effect through an opposite method. Usually only by applying heat can one increase air pressure, but he is pulling the heat to him instead. By condensing the air pressure around him, he creates an aura that attracts and takes the form of heat, letting him then harness it at will and then increase his air pressure automatically afterward. I bet he could do this with cold too, if he wished, but since Jo is freezing the field at an extremely rapid rate, his air pressure can't keep up with the sudden change, rendering him unable to adapt. If he tried, he would just freeze like he did at the beginning of the match. In other words, he has to stay hot. Or else he loses."
"So, all Jo has to do is overpower him." It seemed an obvious confirmation.
"To put it bluntly… yes," Nyx confirmed.
Right then, Jo dashed toward Polaris. She let the ice guide her as it protruded from the soles of her feet. When she reached him, he raised a hand in the air and struck down, shattering the frost in front of him. She pivoted and used the ice to move her to the other side of him on his right—her left.
When she arrived, she stretched out her hand, and a giant ice sword formed over it. She dashed forward with the side of the blade already in the path where Polaris stood. Forcing it onto him.
As the blade was about to make contact, it first passed through his heated aura, melting as it pushed past. The melted blade swung past him without ever making contact. But Jo reformed the blade from the other side and slashed again and again. Over and over from different angles, but it had all been futile… so it seemed…
Right then, Polaris felt frostbite on his cheek, and his eyes darted to it. She's getting past? He seemed to think as he saw the frozen patch. Little did he know that with each swing of her frozen blade, though it was melting each time before making contact, each time it reformed, it had reformed bigger and denser—slowly but surely overpowering his based heat.
If he did not do anything soon, and remained at the level of heat he already was, her strike might eventually… make contact.
He tried to dodge at this time, but as Jo was throwing another strike, her ice sword was so large that even with the distance Polaris cleared, the sword would still reach him. And this time, it did.
The sound of the frozen blade was that of glaciers crashing, partially freezing Polaris once again.
He stumbled and fell to the ground as his left side had been entirely encased.
Jo reformed her sword again, stalking Polaris, who was now her prey. Her face was almost expressionless—that cold, deadly calm enveloped her, becoming farmed aura.
"Not bad, 1st Ace…" Polaris said as he turned up the heat, manipulating his air pressure. When he did, his left side melted, and he struck up onto his feet. "I will play your game too…" he said as they both bolted to each other, clashing like two auras that refused to join. Like two positives, or two negatives never touching and clashing repeatedly.
Each strike from Jo, more cold and more powerful than the last. But Polaris was meeting her where she was each time now, adjusting his heat with each attempted contact she made.
Slowly against the walls, the ice crept closer and closer up, climbing onto Daz's inner barrier. Though it was canceling Jo's magic out, more ice would just follow after. The barrier would hold… for now, but if this match prolonged, even his barrier would stand no chance against Jo's constant freeze—becoming ever more endlessly cold.
The grass from the Plains before us had long since gone. It was pure ice, and the air was freezing where we stood. Each clash between Jo and Polaris would cause the ice to spread further out. If it hadn't been for the double barriers over the arena, the first row, if not the second and third rows of the audience, would have been caught in the frozen scape.
"As you can see," Nyx said to me, "she never needed me in the first place."