The Arkians VS Illya

--Lia's Perspective--

As soon as I could enter, I was inside The First Trial, and my daggers were ready.

The blue clouds that transitioned us from world to world disappeared and we were granted the full vision of the world around us... this made-up world.

My daggers slid upon Illya's weaponry and pushed her back, away from the girl frozen in ice standing in front of me.

"EO! One right here!" I screamed out.

Eo jumped in right behind me and cracked the ground underneath her feet, looking everywhere she could.

"Shit... Dani! Faith! Attend to Alexia and Belle and make sure they don't die!" Eo shouted out.

Dani ran in, sliding while dropping her weapon, and lifted Boo out of a weird mess on the ground.

I turned back toward Illya, as she held her arm, covered in blood, and panted heavily.

"I knew you had a plan... I should've killed you as soon as possible, Belle." Illya muttered.

"I think you've done enough killing," I told her.

Standing in the face of somebody this powerful was scary, especially when I couldn't wield strands as efficiently as Dani, or Sky, or even her. To Illya, I'm just a normal person... but it didn't matter.

Duty called for me, and I'm here to save Sky and stop Illya, whatever it takes.

Lily ran up beside me with both of her daggers as well and we both fixated on Illya.

"Don't be intimidated, she's obviously not invincible," Lily said. I nodded and smiled. We both knew what to do next.

Our charge began. Lily ran with both of her daggers behind her back and threw both of them at Illya. Illya flicked them away like it was nothing and Lily, with the support of my hands, jumped up higher than usual, and recalled them back.

They scraped Illya's cheeks on the way back to her hands, and she front-flipped, putting an X-Pattern on Illya's chest before I came in.

I stuck the dagger into her side, flipped over her saber, and cut through the bottom of her jaw and almost through the tip of her nose as well. As my attack landed, I landed on the ground, kicking out her ankles, and attempting to push my daggers into her stomach as well.

"Don't go in alone!" Moon shouted out. She jumped in where we messed up and started thrusting a thin saber in her hand toward Illya's face. It was easily pushed off like it was nothing and Illya grabbed Moon's throat.

Moon summoned a dagger, cut Illya's forearm, and threw it into her knee, which caused her to collapse.

From the sidelines, both Charlie, Mandi, and Alex came in, all to slash at Illya, and kick her in the side of the head to push her onto the ground.

Illya summoned two strands, grabbed Charlie and Alex, and swung them around in a large circle, which cleared everybody from her position.

After that, she made eye contact with me specifically and put her hands together.

"INCARNATION MODE! ENGAGE!" She screamed out.

Her body instantly regenerated and all around her body, golden strands started to latch to her skin and push their color through her veins. Illya looked a lot different... but she still had a straight face.

"I believe this would be a fair match. Show me what you have, ARKIANS!" Illya shouted out.

From absolutely nothing, Golden Sabers shot out of Illya's wrists and she grabbed onto them tightly, while closing the distance to Dani in a fraction of a second.

Dani refused to engage, grabbing onto the girl named Boo, backflipping with Boo in her arms, and then sliding on the ground as Eo came in, slamming a golden saber of her own into Illya.

"You didn't kill me here, did you?" Eo asked Illya.

Ren, Rin, and Ellios came in next, all throwing their sabers at Illya in specific parts of her body. Ren and Rin went for her shoulders, and Ellios slid in-between Illya's legs, cutting out her knees. When she dropped, I wasn't sure what rattled my head, but I'm pretty sure it was an upper-cutting punch from Fudo.

"Incarnation Mode... you really are The Deity." He mumbled.

Illya was launched about fifty feet from the original location of the punch, but she still landed on her feet and acted as if nothing happened.

I was watching the fight for one second, and then I lost track of Illya as her body vanished into smoke.

"What do you say... we thin out the crowd?" I heard a voice whisper across my ears from behind and it sent chills up my spine.

I turned as soon as possible to see a golden saber heading straight for my throat.

If that hits... I would die instantly!

I let my body fall backward and watched the tip barely scrape my neck when a hand grabbed onto the saber and stopped it completely.

I healed my neck as fast as humanely possible and saw the smoke clear, revealing Alatus with a suit of armor over her chest and right arm. She looked at Illya with a dead look in her pitch-black eyes.

"Are you afraid, Deity?" Alatus asked Illya.

"You are much more afraid than I am," Illya responded.

At that same speed, Alatus's arm popped off of her body in a messy slash, and Illya was behind her, with her saber cocked back behind her head. She was going to kill Alatus!

I jumped in and threw my dagger at Illya's face, and used the other one to block the saber from killing her.

The saber cut straight through my dagger, right through my arm, and halfway through my body, launching me back about sixty feet from the fight as well.

I bounced off the ground and eventually landed with blood spilling everywhere.

Holy shit... that hit would've killed me if I couldn't heal with strands.

I rose my right hand up and focused on healing... but nothing was happening...

No... you're kidding, right?

"Lia, are you alright?" Xavier bent down to ask me. I didn't know he was still in the back.

"I... can't heal..." I muttered to him.

"That's Illya's Incarnation Mode. I'll explain later, but that's her ultimate form. We pushed her to the brink. It's okay, Lia. Your body in the real world is still safe, but this one... it doesn't have much longer." Eo told me.

I nodded, pushing myself back up on my feet, and looking at Illya.

"Then, I'll use everything I can here," I said.

With my dagger in hand, and enough clothing wrapped around my stomach to prevent any blood from spilling, I ran back in toward Illya again.

Ellie, Moon, Noboki, and Amera had all been fighting her in the meantime as everybody takes time to regenerate. Why was I the only one who couldn't? I did receive a pretty powerful hit...

I ran in toward Illya, leaving all fear behind. I had two bodies, and this one was already on its way out.