Release

As the tips of Caira's fingers touched her lance, sparks shot out from the ground where the lance's tip was buried. It all happened so fast, yet seemed like it was all in slow motion. But not Caira was about to reveal the true extent of the power she had been suppressing all along.

"Enuma Elis!"

A few moments prior:

Sheppard sprinted through the streets, trying his hardest to sense the Chayil from Caira and Valentine. His eyes darted from left to right as he tried to remember where Calden told him to go.

Present:

Bolts of silver lightning shot out from the lance, blasting Valentine and Alya away. Long silver blades of grass began growing from every surface.

"What the fuck?! How is she this strong?!" Valentine yelled.

"She's one of the eight sisters, although she's the weakest that doesn't mean she's inherently weak in general." Alya replied. She hopped back on her feet and reached for her sword, but it had been completely destroyed. Valentine tried to get up but the wound was getting more painful by the second. He gritted his teeth as a sharp searing pain shot through his right side.

"I can't believe you actually put me into such a corner. Between you being a useless twig and that girl over there being a first year, I must say I am impressed. But now the games are over. Welcome, to my Prairie of Blades." Caira smirked.

The Prairie of Blades: A Domain type Enuma Elis. Domains create a region in which the user has increased power, speed, and Chayil, on top of a form of control over the said area. Prairie of Blades creates what appears to be silver grass. However, said silver grass can be turned into weapons and manipulated at the will of the user.

Caira swiped her hand upward and a giant tentacle made up of the silver grass sprung up from the ground. It shot toward Valentine who was sitting, helpless, on the ground. Alya darted in front of Valentine and grabbed the snake-like amalgamation. Valentine sat there, frozen, overwhelmed, and in pain. Unable to process everything.

"How the hell did you do that?" He grunted.

"Talisman, I'll explain later." Alya crowed back. She shot out her hand and opened it wide facing Caira.

"All or nothing I guess." Alya muttered. A bright light formed in her hand and it shot out straight at Caira. What appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands of blades spiraled up toward the light to try and stop it. But it just burned through moving at incomprehensible speeds. Only on the second to last barrier did it stop, releasing a massive explosion that shredded apart most of the silver grass in the area. The smoke cleared and Caira stood there hunched over, covered in burns.

"You bitch! What a cheap shot, burns are for pussies! Play fair or I'll just end-"

"Shut the fuck up. God your complaining is annoying." Alya interrupted.

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME YOU-"

*WHAM!*

Alya's knee smashed into Caira's face, sending her flying backward.

"What part of 'shut the fuck up' didn't register, dumbass." Said Alya. She began pummeling Caira, drilling her fists into the wall.

"Alya behind you!" Valentine shouted. Twelve massive blades of grass, larger than cars shot toward her. Alya's eyes widened as she tried ducking out of the way. She evaded all but one, which struck her in the shoulder. She let out a cry of pain that echoed across the field. Alya looked up clutching her shoulder which was now gushing blood.

"I'll deal with you later." Caira scoffed at Alya. "Sorry Val, your time's up. Honestly, you need to stop dragging people into your problems. Had you just come on your own no one would've been hurt other than you. Now your brother and two friends are probably dead, and that girl over there won't last much longer once I'm finished with you. To be honest, this is all your fault." Caira said coldly. Valentine looked in disbelief.

"Elof, Issan, Wade, Alya. I'm sorry. You I should have known better." He thought to himself. Caira lunged toward Valentine with her hand now covered in blades. She pushed her arm forward to jam it into Valentine's face when a bright golden glow appeared on her right.

*BAM!*

"You're a petty mother fucker to pick on the weak." Alya fumed.

Caira's face was caught in the palm of Alya. A bright glow came from her palm. Her face began to melt, turning into a golden substance. Valentine looked in shock, and so did Alya. Caira tried to scream but she had almost completely turned into the golden fluid-like substance. At the same time, the substance began to flow into her like a ghost. Before anyone could say anything, Caira had vanished and the golden ghostly substance had merged with Alya. The Enuma Elis broke apart and vanished along with Caira. Alya stood there stunned.

"I- that- that wasn't supposed to..." Alya stuttered, lost for words.

"That... *huff*... was an Enuma Elis." Sheppard beamed.

"Sheppard! What the hell- wait no sorry, I'm so so sorry for going behind your back. I should've-"

"It's fine Val, I'm just glad you're okay." Sheppard interrupted. "As for you young lady, it seems you just awakened your Enuma Elis. Although I can't say I'm totally surprised given the circumstances." He continued.

"What happened to her though?! What was all the golden stuff and also I feel so weird now and-"

"Good lord you kids can talk. It's fine, I have an idea of what that was but we'll confirm it when you get back to school." Sheppard told Alya. He walked over to Valentine and put his arm over his shoulder, helping him walk back to safety.

"Hey, so where ya from?" Valentine asked Alya.

"I'm from the Central Academy. But since my dad works at your school, I'm there a decent amount." She responded.

"Oh, really? That's nice. If you don't mind me asking, who's your dad?" Continued Valentine.

"Dr. Faulknor." Alya replied. Valentine was stunned but quickly his attention was taken away by someone calling his name.

"VAL!" Elof yelled.

"Holy fuck what happened?! We got caught under the rubble when the building collapsed and by the time we got out, there was a barrier between us and you." Wade chimed in.

"Yeah we couldn't break it down, me and Wade tried our hardest. Wait where's Caira and who's the new girl?" Issan said. Valentine's face froze, and reality finally hit. The adrenaline had kept him from realizing what had just transpired. He broke down into tears.

"She's gone, but she fucking deserved it. She was a fucking traitor. She was just using me, it was probably to get information. If she was planning on killing me, she would have a long time ago." Valentine stammered.

"You're right, I don't think she was planning on killing you, she needed information, and your Halo. When she went to stab you in the back it was supposed to go through the right side of your chest, correct?" Sheppard inquired.

"Y-yeah. why?" Valentine asked.

"In humans, that's where the Halo is, at least normally. Once you learn to control your body and soul more, you can move it. But my guess is she was trying to steal your Halo." Sheppard told Valentine.

"But why?" Questioned Valentine.

"The more people who know that, the more dangerous. So I can't say." responded Sheppard. Everyone walked back to the hotel and the medical staff rushed to get Valentine and Alya's wounds treated.

"Hey, I'm sorry you got dragged into all this because of me." Valentine told Alya.

"It's not your fault, you didn't know nor should you have known." Alya responded.

"Yeah, I guess so. But in hindsight-"

"Exactly, it's hindsight. You seem like you're bright but everyone makes mistakes so don't beat yourself up about one mistake. Alya reassured him. "The important thing is that everyone is ok. Except for her of course... I need to talk to my dad about what actually happened. But I will say I felt surprisingly good after the fight." She went on.

"VAL! Holy shit I'm glad you're okay dude, you looked really messed up when you came in. I'm sosososososo sorry that we left you man." Calden gushed.

"It's okay man, I'm fine now. Besides Sheppard told me you're the one who sent him in our direction, so thank you." Valentine said. A few hours passed and Valentine went to his room. It was late, nearly three in the morning. He sat there and finally put his head down. Then his phone buzzed. He looked at it and it was a message from an unknown number.

"Heyo, it's Alya. Wanna hang out tmrw? My class is staying here as well, Might be fun¯\_(ツ)_/¯" The text read.

"Sure thing, me and my buddies will be down in the meeting hall at like 11, talk to ya tmrw. Gn" He texted back.

"See ya tmrw, Gn" She replied. He closed his eyes, and for the first time in months, had a good dream. He and his buddies were sitting on the beach, the sun was setting over the open ocean which was sparkling. He turned his head to see someone walking toward him. It was a girl but the sun was washing out all of her features. Before she got close enough to see, he woke to the sound of knocks on his door. He groggily got up to see who it was. Issan, Wade, and Elof had already left.

He opened it and he stood there in shock.

"Good morning!" A woman's voice beamed.