APHOTIC EVASION

by Twisted Eternal Wolvetta

Swerving from left to right, Mai deftly evaded the tail of blades which skimmed the air to and fro, razors brushing millimeters from her skin. The HiME was floating feet above the ground, suspended by the spinning magatama which wound around her wrists and ankles, sparks of fire severing from the rings, green tomoe ornaments rattling.

The feat was masterful, spinning her slender form to just curve herself to the side, the extendable, yellow blade twisting in on itself after her, inches from wrapping around her body. She dodged downwards, throwing her weight into the floor as the blades clanged together above her head.

Although her weight wasn't much, the intensity of the magatama ignited, whipping against the stone slabs of Garderobe Academy and scarring them an angry black, much alike to her uniform.

"This school is no longer yours, Archmeister! Give in!"

A volley of blades were simply thrown back at her, forcing her to hurdle backwards, tearing her arms upwards and overlapping her forearms, a fiery shield barring her torso from the stabbing point of the first blade.

"Otome lose more power if they bleed out. I've cut you," Mai spoke, esoteric in nature, pausing her movement, only lowering her arms by a fraction to look up into bloody-crimson eyes, slowly unflexing her fists, form moving with her gasps for breath.

The meister halted also, swiftly swiping the blood from her element as she did so, irises directing momentarily to Mai's upper-arm, the black blazer sliced open, a gash against the skin bubbling away sickly, closing the wound.

A frown briefly marred her features, but the otome filtered it away with a well placed mask, standing tall, disregarding the smouldered wound binding around her left shoulder, the thick material of her robe scorched away partially in that area.

Shizuru rotated the handle of her blades, the yellow element clanking as she flipped it around, facing the clean side towards the dark HiME. "You are correct. But it only takes a syringe to repower," she smiled a gesture of a woo, though her eyes remained stern, dangerous.

She slid her thumb along the smooth scarlet of her weapon's handle, the toughened but flexible wrapping worn down by years worth of anxiety. "Please, let us continue, dark HiME."

"Eh?" Mai tilted her head but didn't proceed with an answer and instead leapt up into the sky, splaying out her arms to level herself out properly, but immediately guided them back to her torso, guarding herself from the Archmeister; ever floating, never sinking.

With the barrage of fire she propelled at the otome, it was explosive, and in its own right both expressive with a depressive sorrow, the heat of orange and yellow melding with the padding of her fingertips and thumbs, flares licking and snaking around her, vaulting off from the HiME to upstart a smouldering hurricane.

The sheer intensity was terrifying yet controlled with an iron fist, the windows of classrooms reflecting its rage until they smashed not a moment later. The scalding heat clashing with the cool surroundings of that winter's night, fire ripping through the air so forcefully that the storm rumbled, microsecond flashes of lightning tearing out from the withering bluster.

"I'm not letting anymore of them die!" Mai roared.

Yet with a fleeting pause, time stilled.

An echo lingering within the sky around them.

Then right at that moment the Harmonium played.

The destructive instrument having been willed.

There was a detestable motion sickness as the two were thrown backwards and up into the sky, Mai further up still, the very existence around them tearing, seams to other dimensions threading open harshly. Empowered beams of white heat struck through the dimensional gates, and through the scream of the scorching storm Mai could've swore she could hear an organ ring out.

Each equal in touchdown, the thirteen beams of light slammed down, shattering against the grounds of the academy, debris flying haphazard. Strangely there was a sense of liberated glory about it all, the HiME losing sight of the otome and the ear-splitting fury enshrouding her entirely. Mai's very existence, like a single clout to the back of the head symbolising her millisecond of life within this universe.

She couldn't avoid the dark.

For the light had already engulfed her.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

This is my upload for a particular "prompt challenge" in the FanFic forum Upon Open Wings for all fandoms and pairings that was founded by Sombereyes.

The prompt I chose was: "Write a pairing using these 8 words. Esoteric, Woo, Detestable, Liberated, Masterful, Expressive, Upstart, and Clout."