Black Flame

Cries of admiration erupted from Class F's camp! Dahila's name was on every lip in admiration and in praise.

The less skillful ones watched in awe as Dahila's form emerged from the frost. She looked like a walking, breathing, live human glacier warped in ice. The frost that looked like wings before now had taken on the shape of a massive serpent wrapped around her.

The yellow skinned girl refused to be impressed. She thrust her slim waist and shook her head disappointedly at Dahila and said;

"You are a disgrace to mages all over the world. You call that fighting?" She scoffed; You're seriously lacking in real fighting talent!"

Dahila frowned. She wasn't used to people speaking to her this way. The other girl continued her savage verbal assault;

"You know, I just realized it now, but your entire foundation is on your family's abilities. If you were to lose your ice magic today, you will be nothing!"

The last four words stung Dahila like a bee sting, nobody knew just how insecure she was about her entire ability being rooted in her family's legacy. And yet, somehow, this stranger had deduced that from a single joust.

The vindictive Dahila wasn't about to let that slide. There and then, she resolved to teach the new girl a lesson. She would make her know that there was no such thing as 'if' in this world.

With her milky white eyes that made her look like an oracle, Dahila went on the attack. Every pair of eyes watched in awe as Dahila swift hand motions formed several foot long icicles.

About ten to twelve icicles shaped like drills took form. Without hesitating, Dahila shot them at the other girl with the intention of impaling her.

"Now I know that this girl truly has a death wish…" Dahila thought, "Everyone knows that fire is no match for ice. Especially my ice!"

Dahila watched as her icicles surged from her orbit towards the other girl with blinding speed. They were shaped like missiles and they moved in the same vein. The air temperature dropped drastically. Dahila's calculations were right.

Her icicles could easily penetrate any wall of fire or any defense for that matter. The only option the other girl had was to simply duck or be impaled. If she dodged, Dahila would be ready for her, if she chose not to, well…

But the other girl had a few tricks up her sleeve as well. She chuckled, and almost immediately, a disturbing sight appeared. The atrocious form of a giant black flame emerged like a shadow in 3D.

Everyone gasped as the black flame gobbled up all the missiles made of ice. Horrified, Dahila watched as her precious icicles melted in the strange black fire, completely destroying them even before they could reach her.

Cries of surprise erupted all around the playground as the students witnessed something they had never seen before- fire that could burn ice. It was an anomaly, even on a cosmic scale. Everyone's view on the strange new girl shifted dramatically. In that moment, one question was on every mind;

"Just who is this girl?"

Calista smiled from where she stood. She couldn't see Valarie, but she knew that she definitely had her by the balls now. Calista thought to herself as she relished their shock;

"This is just the beginning. They haven't even seen just how much damage this black flame can do!"

Valarie who had been monitoring the battle frowned as she pondered on the new development;

"Black Flame? Oh no, it can't possibly be!"

Valarie was one of the few people on the playground who fully understood the true power of the black flame. The other students in Class F didn't need to understand to know that it was a real problem. Just about every single student in Class F was in a state of confusion. They pondered aloud;

"Was that black fire?"

"Yeah dude! It frigging was!"

"Where did that come from?"

"Who knows? But that was incredibly awesome!"

"Is that even allowed?"

"I hope Dahlia is okay!"

There were mixed feelings, no doubt, but the battle was far from over.

Just about every single mind on the playground had been captivated by the strange Black Flame. But among the throng, there was no one more enthralled by the new development than Zavier Adam.

For the first time in a long time, doubt registered in Zavier's eyes. His dark countenance reflected the severity of the lethal weapon which the light skinned girl had so easily flaunted. Zavier couldn't afford to be in the dark.

After the Black flame receded, while a fresh wave of gossip washed over the other students, the young man took advantage of the chaos and inquired of the Multisystem in his mind;

"Multisystem?"

The response was automatic;

"Yes Mr. Adam."

"Could you give me a rundown of the mysterious Black Flame I just saw?"

The multisystem paused for a bit, and then offloaded the entire information into Zavier's mind.

"It is called Black Flame. It is a trans-dimensional fire that consumes every single form of matter. Its destruction is not limited to just matter, Black Flame can devour all forms of energy, including the elements.

Fire, water, ice. Metal, spiritual energy, and other special substances…"

While the multisystem briefed Zavier, Dahila on the other hand found herself on the unenviable end of a nasty surprise. As a student who lived and died on the hill of preparation, Dahila was presently living out her worst nightmare.

Frozen in astonishment, the ice queen was temporarily paralyzed with shock. Before now, Dahila was convinced that here was no flame in the entire universe that could burn her ice.

Her very perception of conventional reality had been altered by this revelation. Her confidence was rooted in the fact that her natural attribute negated other people's attribute. For the first time in her lifetime, the tables had been turned- this time it wasn't in her favor!

The rules of engagement had changed for the arrogant young mage. She was now the vulnerable one. This was not a feeling she loved at all.

But she was a resilient soul. Defeat had never been and could never be an option. She encouraged herself;

"Snap out of it Dahila! You can do this!"

She willed her mind to focus, and in a matter of time, she took control of her mind and summoned an impressive amount of mana. The mana surged through her being and condensed on her fingertips.

The atmosphere dropped below zero as her fingers traced invisible signs in the air. Cackling sounds of icicles forming filled the air as Dahila summoned something even more sinister than an ordinary ice crystal.

Slowly but steadily, all eyes remained fixated on the shape emerging. It grew bigger and bigger, rising like a diabolic omen in the air above Dahila. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it spread out its wings and the ice demon took the form of a frozen dragon with soulless eyes.

Students gasped as they backed away in fear at the sight of the thirty foot long dragon. It was so cold that people all around started to sneeze.

A bitter cold wind blew across the playground the intimidating dragon beat its wings. All around the playground, the unseemly sight and the ridiculously cold atmosphere had attracted the attention of some other students around.

All trooped towards the playground to watch the unfolding battle, including Nadia- Zavier's cousin. She edged closer to the scene and feasted her eyes longingly in the ensuing battle.

The dragon's serpentine tail coiled round Dahila while its towering frame rose majestically above, as though it was reaching for the clouds. Dahila looked like she had been taken over by something darker.

With her milky white eyes that made her look like she was in some kind of trance, she stretched forth her hand towards her opponent. Everyone was shaken by the intimidating spectacle. They had heard rumors of Dahila's family's ice dragon, but witnessing it live was like a dream come true.

Everyone turned towards the light skinned girl. In that moment, no one envied the yellow skinned girl who was about to be on the receiving end of one of Dahila's legendary attacks. But much to the chagrin of everyone, the facial expression of the yellow skinned girl in the revealing dress showed that she wasn't in the least way bothered!

It anything, she actually looked bored. In response to Dahila's monstrosity, the stranger simply flicked her hand. The abominable black flame surged forward with an unquestionable vengeful lust.

Everyone held their breath. For a minute, the only sound everyone could her was the roaring of the black flame and the screeching sound of Dahila's dragon.

Dahila was in battle mode, her senses were heightened so she could feel the oppressive power of the encroaching Black Flame.

It dawned on her with staggering suddenness that her ice dragon would be obliterated the moment it came in contact with the black flame. She immediately resolved to beat her opponent before that happened.

So, at the last minute, Dahila executed a dangerous maneuver. The twirled her fingers and altered the trajectory of the ice dragon. Instead of heading straight into the black flame, the enormous ice dragon boycotted the fire and instead surged forth with an incredible speed as charged it charged towards the yellow skinned girl who was now without any kind of defense.

It was a beautiful maneuver on Dahila's part.

The plan very nearly would have worked if not for one major oversight; the fact that the yellow skinned girl was also a quick thinker who was adept at reading situations with a godlike clarity.

The logical thing for her to do would have been to side step and recall back her black flame, but she ended up doing the unthinkable.

The confident grin on Dahila's face faded. She watched with horror as the yellow skinned girl charged straight ahead to meet the insanely large ice dragon head on.

An alarm bell went off faintly in the back of Dahila's mind, but she ignored it. She waited with greedy eyes as she anticipated the destruction of her adversary and along with it, the glory that came with victory…

The air, thick with tension, everyone looked on to see what would follow. Especially Valarie and Calista.

Because she had a front row seat, from Dahila's point of view, what happened next appeared to her like slow motion. As the yellow skinned girl lounged at the ice dragon, the red fan (which she had keenly hung on to all this while) turned into a glossy black katana with a sinister looking black blade.

But that wasn't the weirdest part. In slow purposeful movements, Dahila watched as she gracefully swung her katana in a full arc. She repeated this movement several times, and with each motion, new batches of crescent shaped black blades appeared in the air over her.

In that moment, Dahila knew that it was all over. The new girl furiously shot her katana in the direction of the ice dragon. As expected, what seemed like a thousand black blades descended on the ice dragon on all sides.

The very moment they made contact with the dragon, the mysterious power in the black swords poured into the ice dragon with a powerful surge of energy. It was all over in less than a second.

The ice dragon burst into a billion irreparable pieces, completely eviscerating it and along with every single trace of its existence.

The battle that had changed the landscape of the playground had ended in a very shocking way. The 'Black Flame' had devoured Dahila's ice dragon, and with the ice queen's defeat, the temperature returned back to its natural state.