Chapter XIII: The Snow Crow vs The Black Wolf – From Easy to Wrath – Part II

As Zazzera announced the start of normal mode, her clone [Wrath] stepped forward, a fierce scowl on her face. She cracked her knuckles as she glared at Alexandra.

"I'll take care of this one," [Wrath] growled, her eyes flashing with anger.

Zazzera nodded, stepping back to watch as [Wrath] charged forward, her fists raised. Alexandra quickly dodged out of the way, her grimoire glowing as she summoned a controlled explosion of wind to knock [Wrath] off balance.

"Seven," Zazzera noted.

Alexandra gritted her teeth at Zazzera's calm demeanor. However, she knew the latter had a big advantage in the confrontation and that was endurance.

Simply put, Alexandra only used one code too, the one Zazzera called [Wolf's Breath] – though this isn't its name. It allows Alexandra to manipulate wind to some extent – direction, speed, and vibration namely – and is a powerful and destructive ability. However, it has limited uses.

Once Alexandra says [I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house in], her nails become black indicating a single use of her ability. The main form is [straw house] which she can use silently and consume one nail, the more powerful and destructive version is called [stick house] and use 3 nails, the last is [stone house] which uses all her remaining nails for a potentially devastating effect even for herself.

While this wind manipulation ability is powerful, its limited uses and difficulty to activate in combat makes it virtually useless against a fast opponent like Zazzera or [Wrath]. That is because Alexandra has to say a whole sentence audibly and without interruption for it to activate. 

Needless to say, Zazzera would never allow her to do that, which is why she was counting every remaining nail. As soon as Alexandra would use the last, Zazzera would probably make a one-hit kill move and the fight would be over.

The worst is that, Alexandra could hardly find a worse opponent than [Wrath]. While she was happy clones like [Lust] or [Pride] or even [Gluttony] weren't called alongside her, she still found that [Wrath] was the worst one she could fight. [Wrath] was the short tempered version of Zazzera, and she had the physical strength of seven people (Zazzera) by herself. 

Quick, agile, powerful… a skilled soldier specialist of hand to hand combat with unrelenting fighting spirit.

However, she HAD a weakness and that was her endurance. Physically, she still was Zazzera and she would get tired even more quickly than the original because of her enhanced strength. 

Simply put, the strategy against her was to…

"(Evade as long as possible!)"

Alexandra used another gust of wind to push her back, but [Wrath] was undeterred. She quickly regained her footing and charged forward again, her fists raining down on Alexandra's guard. The sound of her punches echoed through the arena, each one striking with incredible force.

Alexandra struggled to keep up with [Wrath]'s speed and strength, her dagger barely managing to block each blow. She was forced to retreat, summoning two more controlled explosions of wind to keep [Wrath] at bay.

"Four," Zazzera commented, still watching from the sidelines.

Alexandra frowned again, but this time a smile drew itself on her face. Her hands hurt from parrying [Wrath]'s attacks a few times without protecting herself with wind. She couldn't hold her dagger anymore and by now, it was already too bent to be useful. Also, she started to be physically tired, but so was [Wrath]!

The clone was already sweating like a glassblowers arse, totally wetting her shirt as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Let me take over," Zazzera said, finally stepping forward.

[Wrath] clicked her tongue and stepped back to catch her breath. Zazzera raised her rapier, her eyes locked on Alexandra.

"I hope you're ready for hard mode," she said, her voice low and dangerous.

Alexandra smirked. "Bring it on," she replied.

Zazzera charged forward, her rapier flashing in the light. Alexandra met her attack with what looked like a punch but ended as a powerful wind spear.

But Zazzera was prepared. She was faster and more agile than before, her movements were lightning quick as she dodged Alexandra's attack and prepared to land a decisive blow. Her rapier glinted in the light as it pierced through Alexandra's guard, striking her in the shoulder.

Alexandra stumbled backwards, clutching at her wound. Zazzera stepped forward, with a slightly surprised expression.

"You could have blocked that. What is wrong? Have you decided to become my dog yet?" she inquired. 

"Well, I only have three use left," Alexandra said, her voice strained. "Better use them when I REALLY am in danger."

"... Dogs who bark the loudest don't bite, they say. Your barking is quite loud in my opinion."

"Find another dog then," Alexandra teased. 

"Actually, I like stupid dogs that are all barks and no bites," the other replied, readying herself again. 

"7…" mumbled Alexandra.

"Hm?"

"74!!!" she yelled. 

Without even turning her head, Zazzera parried a dagger aimed at her head. It was the old woman who threw it at Alexandra's signal.

"Hey!!! What was that about?!!" [Wrath] yelled, raising her fist toward the woman who took a step back in panic.

"Don't touch it, [Wrath]." Zazzera ordered.

"But Boss!!!"

"That is okay. Don't spoil your energy and time on that doll. Besides, that was probably just a diversion," she theorized staring intensely at Alexandra. 

Alexandra smiled.

"Was it, I wonder?" she said moving one of her fingers.

"BOSS!!! BEHIND YA!!!" Zazzera heard [Wrath] yell.

Her eyes wide open, Zazzera turned around only to see… nothing at all…

"No boss, in front of you," she then heard Alexandra say but this time, she didn't have the time to turn around. 

"[Stone house]!!!"

A wind explosion sent both Alexandra and Zazzera flying at opposite sides of the arena. Both fell hard on the ground gravely wounded.

Alexandra ears rang with sharp noise and she coughed blood. Her body wasn't responding properly and, looking at her denuded right arm state, she understood it was broken even though the pain hadn't reached her yet. 

But she smiled. She knew she had won the fight.

"Milady!!!" yelled 74 as she ran toward Alexandra to help her.

One of the hidden uses of her ability included mimicking sounds she already heard. That could be anything from a siren to a human voice. She could also control the area into which a noise could be heard as long as the target was less than 2 m away. Thanks to that, she created a sound mimicking [Wrath]'s voice and made Zazzera the only one who could hear it. That way, she could unleash [Stone House] with her two remaining nails and deal a lot of damage at once.

However, she didn't want to kill Zazzera  so she deflected part of the explosion to herself while generating a barrier to avoid too much damage. Well, she still broke her arm in the process and Zazzera's life was probably in danger, but that was the best she could do. 

"[Pain, Pain, Go Away]!", said 74 as she applied a sort of adhesive paper with those words marked on it.

It was the first health equipment called the [Pain, Pain, Go Away] stitch. Applied on the body, it didn't actually heal, but calmed the pain. For good measure, 74 put 3 of them on Alexandra's right arm. She couldn't hear well whatever 74 was trying to tell her as she helped her to get up, but that probably wasn't important. Probably a congratulation or something like that. 

"(Who knew that this girl cautiousness and the fact I hid this ability from her for so long would actually be enough to take her down?)" Alexandra thought before a vision of horror froze her in place.

"—S!!! BO—!!!"

[Wrath] was still moving. She was supporting Zazzera's back who was still lying on the ground, gravely injured too, but still conscious. 

"(What is this girl?!! A monster?!!)"

Zazzera was indeed injured and incapable of moving a finger, but still very conscious as her black eyes stared at Alexandra. There was blood coming from her mouth, ears and nose, and part of the uniform around chest had been torn apart, but there was something in her eyes that said she wouldn't give up. 

"W,[Wrath]..." she called, painfully.

"Don't try to talk!!! You must see—" [Wrath] protested, seeming to drop her delinquent-like speech pattern. 

"I… I want to… win…"

"Huh?! But…"

[Wrath] stopped as she felt her original's hand tightly holding her shirt. 

"I… I want… to win… You… You understand me… don't you? I can't lose… I can't let her…"

As Zazzera struggled to finish her sentence between little coughs and breath difficulties, [Wrath] gritted her teeth. Because she originated from this person, she was able to perfectly understand her motivations, even the most obscure ones. That's why she was angry – if she tried to force her to stop just to preserve her life, Zazzera would come to loathe her. 

No, she would loathe herself just like before…

"(There is no way I will let that happen!!! Our meeting wasn't a pointless incident!!!)"

As Alexandra stumbled backwards, clutching at her wound, [Wrath] stood up, holding  Zazzera on her back. Her red eyes burned with fiery determination as she smiled, her sharp teeth at full display.

"[Sloth]!!! Get here, dimwit!!!" she yelled.

[Sloth] who has been sleeping the whole time slowly rolled over her arms stretched. 

"(I don't like this. How much longer will it take, for Grimm's sake?!!)", Alexandra thought to herself. "Hey! Get away quickly!" she ordered.

"But milady—"

"Get away!!!"

The old woman twitched and ran away from Alexandra while the latter recited her spell again. 

"[I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house in]..."

This time, only four of her nails turned black. Looking at her left hand, Alexandra sighed. That was to be expected – using bibliomancy wasn't without cost. 

Each code used would use a lot of the caster's brain processing power. Young bibliomancers could even faint from the use of a single one due to the strain. The longer a bibliomancer fought, the more sugar she needed for her brain.

Earlier, Alexandra used all her ten nails and her brain was too tired to work properly. At her best, she could use 25 nails, but with all the calories she burned running around and fighting, it was now limited to 14 it seemed. The reason why she sighed was because she couldn't believe she even reached that many uses on the actual conditions, even though, at the same time, she realized it wasn't much. Her only comfort was in the fact that Zazzera must be as tired as her, and wouldn't be able to maintain her clones for too long.

Maybe…

On Zazzera's side, the three had formed a tacit agreement.

"Can we start now, Boss?" [Wrath] whispered.

Zazzera followed the old woman with her half-closed eyes and once she was far enough from Alexandra, she replied.

"... 1…"

[Wrath] grabbed [Sloth]'s forearm.

"[Sloth]!!! Ya weight 1kg!!!" she yelled.

After that, she threw [Sloth] in the sky like she was nothing but a light rock. Alexandra was bewildered at first, but she soon realized [Wrath] was running to her while yelling.

Alexandra hesitated. If she didn't use her ability properly, she might kill Zazzera. She had to settle with [Straw House] and evade until Zazzera lost consciousness. On the paper, it seemed simple, but her body wasn't in a good state. She had to block with wind and hope that the fight would end before she was totally incapacitated. 

"... 100…" Zazzera mumbled. 

"At yer command!!!" [Wrath] nodded before lunging forward to hit Alexandra with her knee.

"(Easy)," Alexandra thought as she generated a powerful burst of wind throwing [Wrath] and Zazzera back. However, rather than looking annoyed as usual, [Wrath] seemed strangely happy.

"[Sloth]!!! Ya're a stone weighing 100 kg!!!" she yelled.

"Oookay~," a voice whistled.

Alexandra quickly raised her eyes and saw [Sloth] falling at not even a meter beside her head. Reflexively, Alexandra used an upward gust of wind to deviate slightly her trajectory, but while she did so, [Wrath] ran to her and used the opening to kick Alexandra in the stomach and send her flying. The girl violently crashed on the ground, coughing up blood.

As [Sloth] stomped the ground with her fall, [Wrath] stood proudly, her leg up as she nagged. 

"If hard was too easy for ya, how about we crank up the things a bit, eh?"

[Wrath]'s eyes suddenly widened. 

"Hey, dimwit!!! What is called the mode harder than hard?!!"

[Sloth] who seemed as rigid as a statue turned her tired eyes to [Wrath]. 

"Don't know, don't care~," she softly chirped. 

[Wrath]'s eyes narrowed. Well, she wouldn't have asked to begin with. 

"Heh, I have an idea then!" she said, holding up [Sloth] by one of her legs.

She then proudly turned to Alexandra who still couldn't move on the ground. 

"How about we call this, the [Wrath] mode?!!"