Vs Thana

“Oh fuck yes,” Thana cackled and got up. Rolling her shoulders, she took a few steps, “you know, not having my lungs punctured is a very nice feeling,” she said while binding the robe back together, “A very, very nice feeling indeed.”

John was barely listening to the maddened girl. He was on Rave’s side, she was coughing and breathing as best she could.

“I will get you out of here,” John promised in a whispering tone. Rave wanted to answer but her voice was nothing but a dried-out whisper. “Cute, but I need her, if she is gone you can leave,” Thana said and got into position to start the fight, “and I can’t wait anymore, need my fix of bloodshed, you have ten more seconds.”

“Ten,” the pale girl counted down, “nine.” John made his preparations as quickly as he could. “Eight.” ‘Undine, heal Jane,’ he instructed. “Seven.” ‘Mono, you give her all the mana she needs to do that.’ “Six.” Blood started to run from Thana’s fingernails and spread over her hands, defying gravity. “Five.” John jumped to his feet as Undine started spreading her mending slime over Rave’s wounds. The techno lover seemed a bit grossed out by the process. “Four.” Aclysia took position in front of John, raising Ashkandi. “Three.” Gnome prepared herself, Sylph and Salamander nodded at each other. “Two.” John sent a party invite to Rave. “ONE!”

Thana threw her left arm outwards; drops of blood flew towards John and his group, taking the form of thin needles. Aclysia blocked most of the projectiles with her body, Sylph and Salamander tried to block the rest but they failed and so they crashed into John’s shield and reduced it by a hundred points already.

The blood used for the attack didn’t just vanish however, instead it quickly made its way back to Thana. John had no intention of ending up on the receiving end of an endless ****, “Aclysia, Gnome!” John shouted and the two went to attack the much smaller girl in a melee engagement. Playfully Thana side-stepped Ashkandi. Aclysia couldn’t turn around the blade in time for Thana to stomp the blade into the ground, while leaning backwards under the punch Gnome had thrown. “Too slow~” she giggled, her blueish white hair shaking.

“Try me then!” Sylph said, being right next to the bloodmage’s head. With her Agility the tempest elemental was the only one that had a stat superior to Thana’s physical ones. She was only a slight bit faster, but she was still faster. Sylph sent a wave of electricity into Thana, pumping out all of her mana at once. The thunderstorm she created was a blinding flash in the otherwise dimly lit room.

Yet it only proved to amuse Thana, with wild laughter she grabbed Gnome’s arm above her, still extended in the earlier punch. She whirled around, jumping off Ashkandi, pulling the stone elemental around. A human sized living rock crashed into a wind fairy and sent both of them to the ground.

Thana was now in the air however and Aclysia as well as John saw the opportunity. The Artificial Guardian ripped her sword from the ground and quickly aimed a strike at the enemies’ chest, John prepared a Mana Ray. Their goal was to capture Thana, but they did not have the luxury of holding back.

Ashkandi was on collision course with the Thana’s upper torso, the blood mage hanging with her head downwards in the air. Seeing the blade coming for her, Thana grabbed it with both hands, the sharp edge cut deep into her palms, but that way she saved herself from the much more gruesome injury she would have sustained otherwise. She did not, however, anticipate the attack that hit her a mere second later as Mana Ray fired and burnt a hole into her robe as well as searing the flesh underneath.

Thana just continued to grin widely, and executed a kick to the side of Aclysia’s head, using her hands on Ashkandi for her stabilization. There was a cracking noise as the outer layer of Aclysia’s metal exterior broke open under the impact. “Ohhh?” Thana made a wondered exclamation, then pushed herself off of Aclysia and landed a few metres away on her feet.

Lichtenberg figures covered her face and likely most of her body, the fist sized hole in her robe revealed a third degree burn, and blood was violently gushing from her hands. This quickly changed. The Lichtenberg figures retracted, the burn on her side was covered by new smooth skin and the cuts in her hands closed, all within the blink of an eye.

“Fucking finally,” Thana laughed as she gathered her spilled blood in an orb that hovered above her left hand, “you dunces might actually be a bit more useful than the cocksucking rats I have murdered here before. You actually make me bleed!”

Gnome and Sylph got up, “S-sorry,” the stone elemental apologized to her sister. “Not your fault, but damn you are heavy!” she answered.

“I get the feeling you are not taking this seriously,” John said, trying to gain more time. “Because I am not,” Thana answered, in a good mood as the recent injuries prolonger her sapience, “I have no intent to actually kill you.” “Really?” John wondered. “Nope, I only want to be entertained until my body falls the fuck apart, however…” Thana mused, the orb in her hand shaped into a pointy spear tip, “…IF YOU DISAPPOINT ME YOU MIGHT DIE ANYWAY!”

She threw the spear at John, who quickly used Gnome to erect a barrier between himself and the projectile. The spear broke through without much of a problem, ripping a hole into the wall, and destroying almost all of John’s pre-emptive barrier. That wasn’t the worst of it, Thana appeared on top of the penetrated wall, having jumped up there and now using it as a plateau to get at John.

“Forgot about me?” Salamander asked as she appeared between the two of them. “WOULD NEVER FORGET YOU, BURNING BITCH!” Thana screamed and tried to bite the blaze elemental, an endeavour only hindered by Salamander quickly unleashing an inferno that robbed Thana of her sight. The teeth barely missed the fire spirit, who quickly took distance.

That attack might have confused Thana for a moment, but it didn’t stop her momentum. The manic girl landed in front of John, a trail of fire behind her, the robe reduced to burning tatters. Her skin was halfway recovered as she clawed at John. However, the Gamer was no longer defenceless in melee situations. ‘SYLPH!’ he screamed in his mind, the tempest elemental was the only one who could have been close enough already to help him. ‘Right here, John,’ came the quick answer.

A Mana Blade, conjured within the moment and sharpened by the power of the wind, struck at the unsuspecting Thana and cut her arm clean off. John breathed in relief, only to realize there was a second hand still free, now coming for his head.

A name was added to his interface, a body invaded his Mana Protection, a flash of light that set Thana off balance followed by a bolt of holy energy. “Don’t ya dare touch my boyfriend!” Rave stated and kicked the blinded and crippled Thana to the chest.

With her face completely burned away Thana could not react and was knocked several metres backwards, right into a waiting Aclysia who impaled her on Ashkandi, the blade sticking out of the blood mages chest.

“Jane, you are…!” John forgot the fight for a moment when his girlfriend stood at his side. She looked fine, the dark spots over her skin had disappeared and although her hair still was more grey than pink. Also, she was incredibly pissed, “Ya know, I go all heroic sacrifice for your ass,” she cursed, “and then you idiot just come back.” “Well, she did just promise that she wouldn’t kill me,” John defended himself, “also I am your idiot.” For a moment they completely forgot where they were when Rave and John pressed their lips together in a relieved kiss. “We will have a very thorough conversation later,” she promised, John opened his mouth in answer but got interrupted by a silent giggle.

Thana’s freshly regrown lips were parted in an insane smile, a body shaking laughter that slowly escalated into a cacophony of maddened amusement leaving them. “Hehehe…Hahahaa, AHAHAAHA, AHAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAA, grgrhaha, got to HAND it to you,” she joked waving her stump, “you are great entertainment, even if your sweet-ass attitude makes me want to puke.” She grabbed Ashkandi with her remaining arm; Her eyes opened again, the golden dots inside rotating so quickly they formed a seemingly gapless circle.

“Jane, listen, we need to run, she can’t follow us outside,” John whispered. Rave nodded, “okay, you lead the way,” she agreed. Undine and Mono also took position next to John. ‘Thanks for the bolt earlier,’ he told the newest member of the party. The holy energy had been the special attack from the spear Mono was holding. ‘I do what I do, master, but my mana is not regenerating as quickly as yours so please don’t rely too heavily on me,’ came the answer.

“Listen to you fuckers,” Thana spoke up, “being all hopeful and shit,” her body was almost completely healed now, “I think you could use some despair.” The arm that lay to John’s feet liquified into blood. The crimson tide crossed the distance to Thana in the blink of an eye. It restored her missing arm, which then grabbed Aclysia’s shoulder behind her. “You know how they say an eye for an eye? HOW ABOUT AN ARM FOR AN ARM?!” she shouted and pulled at Aclysia with such terrible and sudden strength that her shoulder was ripped from the Artificial Guardian's body.

Aclysia screamed, she actually screamed in pain, as Thana proceeded to grab her by the throat and then throw her over the head. She landed close to John who would have tried to catch her if she wasn’t made of pure metal. Instead she crashed, in obvious pain. About two fifths of her HP were gone, but her arm started to regrow already. She did, however, lose Ashkandi, as Thana had kept the blade in place with her other hand. Until now, that was, the blood mage removed the sword from her body by pulling it forwards, the hilt breaking an extra pair of ribs before she mindlessly tossed it away.

The true terror of this fight weren’t Thana’s stats, it was the fact that whatever they would do was ultimately useless. John’s eyes fixed the exit, ‘Unless we can get out.’ “Don’t even fucking try,” Thana warned with a head-shaking grin, “I will not let either of you escape, you are supposed to kill me,” she pointed at John, “and you are my hostage.” “I refuse to be a damsel in distress!” Rave shouted out and everyone prepared for combat.

Everyone but John and two of his elementals. John was currently emptying his entire mana pool, “Sorry, Thana, but I have a plan that is better than yours,” he said and crossed his arms. ‘Ready!’ a fiery voice filled his mind, ‘M-me too!’ a shy but steady one added. “Go!”

The floor cracked, four walls of dark stone rose from underneath, trapping Thana inside a small space. John had no illusions about the effectiveness of that alone; the blood mage would be able to punch her way out of it in mere moments. This is why he left Salamander in there with Thana. The hope was that several hundred points of mana would be strong enough to knock out Thana long enough for the group to make their escape.

The group got moving. Rave at the tip, Aclysia, holding her re-growing arm and longingly looking at Ashkandi, John and Mono at the rear. “What about them?” Rave asked, watching the elemental girls staying behind, “They are our safety net, I can make then incorporeal once we get out!” John explained. ‘Almost there!’ he thought.

With a scream of violent anger and terror Thana broke out of her prison. John caught only a glint of her before she appeared in front of the exit, then it started raining the rocks she had scattered. Thana was shaking all over her body, despite the nonchalant tone earlier tight spaces must have given her the creeps.

“Putting a holocaust survivor into an incineration chamber,” she growled, her power once again forcing John’s aura sight open as hers swelled to a drop of blood inside a calm ocean. “Congratulations,” four wings of blood, in appearance similar to a butterfly’s, spread behind her back as the oppressive **** of her existence choked the air right out of John’s lungs, “you done it, you seriously pissed me the fuck off.” Thana’s hands were shaking, her whole body was shaking. The insane smile had vanished from her face, unnatural veins spread over her skin and formed short claw-like aberrations at her fingertips as the ashen remains of her robes fell to the ground. “Now I will really try to kill you.

Bloodburn."