Episode 111 A Falling Angel’s Vain Hope

Tears begin to steam down Ivy’s cheeks. “Because I love you, Kunai, I shall defeat you here and now!” She forms another Holy Arrow in her hands, and points it at Kunai’s heart.

In the blink of an eye, Kunai disappears from view, reappearing right next to Ivy. He swings his sword, intending to knock Ivy unconscious. However, Ivy stays one step ahead of him, teleporting behind his back and letting the tip of her Holy Arrow come to a rest on his back.

Before she can fire, though, Kunai ruthlessly grabs her wrist, and sends her scrambling down the hill. In the meantime, the arrow skates off into the air, unintentionally released by Ivy as she is sent tumbling.

‘Damn,’ she curses, recovering just in time, ‘I guess I’ll need a direct hit to stop him. But the only way I’m gonna do that is if I somehow freeze him long enough for me to get an attack off!’

“Please leave,” Kunai suddenly hisses from behind Ivy’s back. He swings the blunt end of his enormous sword at her, throwing her aside like a rock.

Ivy stumbles and rolls again, coming to a stop at the bottom of the hill. She wipes blood and dirt off her face, and forces herself back up. ‘After both using Soul Potions, neither Kunai nor I should have any mana left. It should also be putting a strain on his physical strength as well, especially since he just fought Ryuu…

‘Okay! I have the advantage here!’

At that moment, Kunai pounces yet again on Ivy. He swings his sword, but this time, she dodges, and quickly spins around to swipe at his face with her staff.

Ivy immediately bounces backwards after the collision, in order to make more room for herself. Kunai stands startled for a moment, watching Ivy with newfound surprise. “What was—”

Kunai freezes for a second, and then jumps out of the way as Ivy charges another Holy Arrow. However, before she even finishes casting it, the Holy Arrow gives a faint whine of protest, and dissipates into the air.

“Damn it!” Ivy curses under her breath. “The Soul Potion definitely wasn’t meant for mages to use!”

As she speaks, Kunai comes right at her again, with a stronger intent to hurt this time. Ivy dodges the move once more, and teleports behind a large stone.

She peers out from behind the rock, as Kunai begins to walk steadily towards her. Immediately, Ivy reaches into her bag and takes out a potion bottle filled with a bluish liquid. She uncorks it, and swallows all the liquid inside without a second thought.

As she finishes the last drop, the stone shatters into millions of pieces, the result of a forceful blow from Kunai’s sword. Kunai emerges from the other side, holding his sword loftily in the air. He gives Ivy a dark and impatient glare.

However, even Kunai is caught off guard, as he finds himself confronted with a Holy Arrow right in the face. He smiles wryly, closing his eyes to the bright white light. “So,” he says slowly, “you used that to buy time in order to recover your mana?”

“Yes,” Ivy smiles in reply, “and to cast this!” Ivy relinquishes her Holy Arrow, and instead, enters a casting stance.

A black seal envelops the area around Ivy. Kunai’s eyes widen at the sight of the spell. He turns, aiming to run, but the black magic engulfs him. When it finally disappears, Ivy finds herself staring at a harmless Blue Snail.

“Gotcha!” Ivy howls, reaching deep into the pocket of her robe and taking out another Soul Potion. She gulps down the liquid instantaneously, and forms a Holy Arrow once again.

“This time, I’ve got you, Kunai!” Ivy shouts, aiming her arrow straight at the Blue Snail.

But just as Ivy releases the arrow, the Blue Snail morphs back into Kunai, who blocks the direct attack with a swing of his sword. The wind created by the collision of the two attacks creates a ripple so strong that it rushes out towards Ivy, nearly throwing her off her feet.

As she regains her balance, Ivy finds Kunai completely unharmed, standing haughtily before her. “It seems that your spell ran out of time,” Kunai says slyly. But a serious tone returns to his voice, as he watches Ivy quiver in the cold wind. “But, where did you learn such a spell? And from whom?

“And even more importantly…where did you acquire those Soul Potions?”

“I’ll never tell you!” Ivy cries vehemently, forming, and failing, to cast another Holy Arrow. She curses under her breath.

“Very well,” Kunai replies. With lightning speed, he dashes towards Ivy, intending to knock her off her feet with his sword. But halfway along, Kunai collides into a wall.

Something sharp tears into his shoulder, almost near his throat, as Kunai looks up in total surprise. Rill’s face swims in the cold air above him, a cold look in his brown eyes.

Kunai darts backwards, and pulls the Tobi out of his shoulder, throwing it to the ground with disdain. A cold trickle of blood runs down from his wound and stains his clothes.

“This will be the end, Kunai,” Rill says, his voice shaking slightly despite his attempts to exude confidence. “I’m going to stop you right here—”

“Wait, Rill.” Rill turns around, almost surprised to hear the commanding tone in Ivy’s voice.

Ivy stands firmly straight up, grasping the silvery light of a Holy Arrow in her hands. “Thank you for all that you have done for me,” Ivy says softly, “but this is enough, Rill. You’ve done enough. That’s why, please, let me finish this myself.”

“Let you finish this yourself?” Rill repeats, as if not understanding Ivy’s words. Upon closer inspection, he realizes that tears are silently running down from Ivy’s gentle black eyes. He lowers his claw.

At that same instant, Kunai charges. Rill turns, but barely even raises his weapon to defend himself when Kunai cuts straight through him, splitting his shoulder apart. Rill falls to the ground, knocked almost immediately unconscious.

“RIIILLLLLLLL!” Ivy screams, her tears flying everywhere as she watches Rill bleed to death.

Instantly, Ivy pulls out her last Soul Potion, and drains it in one gulp. But even before the last drop leaves the container, Ivy freezes, dropping the potion bottle. It falls to the ground, shattering into thousands of pieces.

Ivy collapses to her knees, but not from a blow by Kunai. Her eyes begin to glow bright yellow, and her pupils dilate into a bright, crimson red.

Kunai watches silently as the transformation in front of him takes place. The back of Ivy’s robes are shredded as a pair of black wings emerge, wings not unlike those of an angel’s. Ivy’s teeth sharpen into long sabers, as her skin glows with a frighteningly black tinge.

“The effects of drinking too many Soul Potions,” Kunai explains the phenomenon aloud. He watches expressionlessly as Ivy grapples with the Paradox attempting to take over her body. “Such a foolish thing to do, consuming so many in such a short amount of time.”

Ivy kneels down at the ground, her heart pounding endlessly. Tears continue to run down from her largely unchanged face, though her body rapidly presses onward with the mutation.

‘He’s right…Kunai’s right! Zack warned me about this, but I didn’t listen to him…so this is what happens when you use too many Soul Potions all at once!’

Kunai raises his sword against Ivy, with the intent to kill for the first time. “I must put a stop to this beast before it destroys us all.”

Kunai takes a step forward, but doesn’t take another. He turns around, and sees Rill holding onto his right ankle from behind. He glares at the bloody mess that is Rill.

“You’re in the way,” Kunai snarls mercilessly. With one swift move, Kunai kicks Rill right in the chest, sending him flying off into the distance. Faraway, Rill crashes into the ground and lays there, like a dead body.

However, the momentary obstruction gives Ivy just enough time to gather herself, and she rises to her feet at last, still holding on to her Holy Arrow.

“Crap!”

Kunai’s eyes widen, but there is not enough time for him to do anything else. Tears streaming down her face, Ivy fires the arrow, straight into Kunai’s heart.