A tense silence gripped the street, the air heavy with the scent of rain and anticipation.
Sieg was the first to break it, his voice unsteady, cycling between confusion, fear, and awe.
Sieg: "Wow… that was so awesome."
Aturia was startled at first, but quickly put her guard up.
Miki, however, was trembling slightly, filled with anxiety.
Green Phoenix let out a cocky laugh beneath his nose mask, the sound grating on Baka's nerves.
Phoenix: "Dark Magic, huh? That's troublesome. But you won't beat me just by absorbing my magic and magic energy."
They clashed swords several times before jumping back a few feet away from each other.
Lightning cracked across the sky, followed by a deafening boom of thunder. For a split second, the flash disrupted their vision and the thunder drowned out their surroundings.
When their senses recovered Phoenix was gone.
Baka: He's concealing his magic energy presence again, This is getting really irritating.
Lightning cracked across the sky again, followed by another deafening boom of thunder as Phoenix lunged toward Baka from behind.
Baka reacted and grabbed him by the neck with his left arm.
Baka: "What happened to your sword?"
Suddenly, another Phoenix appeared and grabbed Baka's right arm—the one holding his katana.
Then, another Phoenix appeared, holding an executioner's blade as he charged toward Baka. He delivered a powerful punch straight to Baka's stomach, sending him flying backward. Baka crashed through a fruit cart.
Phoenix: "You fool."
Aturia: "What the hell?... Why am I seeing three Phoenixes?"
Sieg: "Is this some kinda prank?"
Phoenix: "It's just my technique, Mist Magic: Mist Clones. It allows me to make two copies of myself."
Baka gritted his teeth, struggling to rise from the debris. He brushed the dust from his clothes, coughing lightly as he regained his footing.
The real Phoenix stood several feet away, his executioner's blade resting against his shoulder.
Phoenix slowly lowered his mask and inhaled deeply.
A thick mist began pouring from his mouth, rapidly spreading around Baka.
Baka's eyes narrowed.
Baka thought "Damn i dropped my katana."
The mist quickly surrounded him from every direction, forming a dense prison that obscured his surroundings.
Phoenix: "Mist Magic: Mist prison
The thick fog completely engulfed Baka, trapping him inside.
Phoenix: "You're caught. This special prison is impossible to escape. I'm the only one who can release it, as long as I keep pouring my magic energy into it. I'll settle you later. First, these kids. Then the old man. Then we'll all have a happy ending."
Two clones shimmered into existence around the team.
Phoenix: "You brats act big just because you've got worthless scrap-metal badges pretending to make you Magic Knights. A real Magic Knight has been between life and death countless times. Little scared brats like you can't be called Magic Knights."
The first clone lunged at Sieg, landing a gut punch, while the second clone delivered a vicious kick to the side of Aturia's head. Both of them crumpled to the ground in pain.
Miki: "Sieg! Aturia!"
Miki stretched forth her hands as a purple glow radiated from them, healing their injuries. Sieg and Aturia slowly stood back up.
Baka: "You three should take Iroh and run! You have no chance. As long as he's holding me here, he can't move far."
Aturia glared at him with annoyance.
Aturia: "Run away? You've got to be kidding. That option vanished the moment you got caught. Even if we ran without you, he'd hunt us down eventually. We'd all die."
Sieg: "In the end… our only choice to survive is rescuing you."
Miki: "Did you both notice that these clones are kinda slower than the real Phoenix?"
Aturia: "Yeah. Unlike the real Phoenix, these clones aren't that fast. We can still predict their movements."
Sieg: "And their punches are way weaker than the one the real Phoenix used to hit Captain Baka."
The first clone suddenly dashed toward Sieg.
Sieg braced himself as the clone threw a punch at his face.
He quickly leaned to the side, causing the punch to miss.
Sieg: "Too slow!" Fire Magic: Flash Fire Fist.
Sieg engulfed his hands in flames and swung his fist into the clone's stomach, knocking it backward.
The clone staggered but quickly regained its footing.
Aturia immediately noticed the second clone moving toward her.
Aturia: "Here we go."
The clone lunged forward with a punch.
Aturia stepped aside and slashed with one of her ice daggers.
The blade cut across the clone's arm, causing it to stumble.
Aturia: "Predictable."
The clone swung again.
Aturia ducked underneath the attack and kicked its leg.
The clone lost its balance for a moment.
Aturia immediately formed several small ice shards in her hand and launched them.
The shards struck the clone's body causing it to poof into mist.
Meanwhile, the first clone charged toward Sieg again.
Sieg grinned.
The clone threw another punch.
Sieg blocked it with both arms, but the impact still pushed him several feet backward.
Sieg: "Okay... still hurts."
The clone rushed him again.
Sieg: "I've always wanted to try this on a whim."
Aturia: "What are you—"
Suddenly flames ignited under Sieg feet. Before anyone could comprehend what he was doing.
BOOM!!!
Sieg took off like a human rocket, slamming his body straight into the clone.
CRASH!!!
Both of them went flying though the wall of a nearby building.
The clone poofed into the mist as well after taking significant damage.
Sieg layed unconscious among rubble.
As Aturia and Miki rushed over to check on him, Miki immediately healed wounds.
Miki "Are you alright Sieg."
Sieg "I think so."
Aturia " You can't just randomly blast fire from your feet!" You reckless idiot.
Sieg: "Why not? It works!'
Sieg grinned with a slight chuckle
Aturia "Now that we've defeated the clones all that's left is him.
They looked ahead of the street and saw Baka still trapped inside a Mist Prison, while the real Phoenix is maintaining it with his magic energy.
Phoenix: "You actually defeated my clones? Not bad."
The mist slowly began to clear around the area.
Sieg and Aturia stood side by side, their eyes fixed on the real Phoenix.
Phoenix rested his massive executioner blade against his shoulder. His other hand remained extended toward the prison, continuously pouring magic energy into it.
Aturia tightened her grip on her ice daggers.
Aturia: "Sieg, we take him together."
Sieg grinned.
Sieg: "Got it."
The two rushed forward.
Phoenix calmly watched them approach.
Aturia attacked first, swinging one of her ice daggers toward his chest.
Phoenix raised his executioner blade with one hand and blocked the attack.
CLANG!
Aturia's eyes widened.
Before she could react, Phoenix twisted his blade and knocked her dagger aside.
Sieg immediately rushed in from the opposite side, throwing a flaming punch toward Phoenix's face.
Phoenix ducked beneath it.
Sieg swung his other fist.
Phoenix stepped backward, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Aturia rushed in again.
She swept her dagger toward Phoenix's legs.
Phoenix jumped over the attack and brought his executioner blade down toward her.
Aturia quickly raised both daggers.
CLANG!
The impact forced her down onto one knee.
Sieg rushed toward Phoenix from behind.
Sieg: "Flash Fire Fist!"
Flames erupted from his fist as he swung.
Phoenix suddenly turned.
He caught Sieg's flaming fist with his free hand.
Sieg's eyes widened.
Phoenix: "Predictable."
Phoenix threw Sieg aside.
Sieg crashed into the ground and rolled several feet.
Aturia immediately launched several ice shards.
Phoenix swung his executioner blade.
The shards shattered against the massive blade.
Aturia: "He's still holding the prison with his other hand…"
Sieg slowly got back up.
Sieg: "And he's fighting both of us with one arm."
Phoenix looked at them through his nose mask.
Phoenix: "What's wrong? I thought you brats wanted to rescue your captain."
Sieg clenched his fists.
Aturia's expression hardened.
They charged again.
Aturia attacked from the front while Sieg moved around Phoenix's side.
Phoenix blocked Aturia's dagger with his executioner blade.
Sieg attacked from behind.
Phoenix ducked.
Sieg's fist passed over his head.
Phoenix kicked Sieg in the stomach, sending him backward.
Aturia immediately followed with another attack.
Phoenix parried it.
She attacked again.
He blocked.
Again.
He blocked.
Aturia gritted her teeth.
He's reading every move.
Sieg rushed back in.
Phoenix swung his executioner blade.
Sieg barely ducked underneath it.
The blade cut through the air above his head.
Sieg: "Whoa!"
Sieg tried to counterattack.
Phoenix caught his wrist.
Aturia immediately grabbed Phoenix's left arm holding the executioner blade and froze it in ice.
Phoenix: "You brat... What did you do to my left arm?"
Sieg freed his wrist from Phoenix grip, then grabbed him around the torso from behind preventing him from moving.
Phoenix tried to shake them off, but they clung on desperately.
Phoenix: "If you two are immobilizing me, then who's going to attack me? You kids really are stupid."
Aturia: "No, you're the stupid one because you really didn't think this through."
Sieg: "You were so occupied with us that you forgot we had a third teammate."
Phoenix: "But her magic is healing magic. She's not really good at close combat."
Aturia: "Maybe she isn't... but ranged attacks are also an option."
Sieg: "Miki now is your chance!!!"
Miki stood from afar as she had been watching the entire fight.
Miki unsheathed her dagger from its pouch, tightened her grip and threw it toward the defenseless Phoenix.
Miki: "It's over."
WHOOSH!
The blade zipped through the air.
Phoenix's eyes widened.
The dagger rapidly closed the distance.
Phoenix had no more room to maneuver. His left hand was being held frozen by Aturia, his right hand was busy maintaining the mist prison that held Baka in place and his body was immobilized by Sieg which prevented his movements.
Was it all really over?