The Extra Wants Control

A sleek suit of dark metal materialized around her, clinging to her skin and highlighting her emerging curves with ruthless efficiency.

Neveah\'s crimson gaze flickered. "Hmmm," he mumbled, barely above a whisper. "Shouldn\'t let her finish transforming."

Before the last word left his lips, Neveah lunged forward with inhuman speed. He raised his ice spear, its tip swirling with a chilling black energy that mirrored Topaz\'s corrupted aura. A dark bolt of energy erupted from the spearhead, aimed at the center of Topaz\'s transformation.

But Topaz was no longer the girl he\'d fought moments ago. With a snap of her wrist, a transparent shield materialized in front of her, deflecting the dark bolt with a resounding clang. Neveah\'s eyebrow shot up in surprise. A shield spell – not something he\'d anticipated.

The transformation complete, Topaz hovered menacingly in the air. A chilling aura pulsed from her, warping the very air around her. Suddenly, the tomb floor shimmered as dozens of weapons materialized seemingly out of thin air – swords, spears, daggers – all gleaming with an dark-golden light and humming with a restrained energy.

With a graceful leap, Topaz landed amongst the arsenal, her movements far more fluid and powerful than any she\'d demonstrated before. She snatched a shimmering dagger, its hilt perfectly fitting her hand, and vanished in a blur of motion.

Neveah reacted in time. A wall of frost materialized around him a split second before a black-tipped dagger materialized an inch from his face. The small ice shield barely fist sized and thin took on the pressure from the attack.

Neveah looked at her eyes. "Fast," he muttered, conjuring another small ice barrier. The barrier blocked Topaz\'s next strike – a vicious downward thrust aimed at his head.

The tomb chamber echoed with the clang of steel and the hiss of displaced air. Topaz, a whirlwind of black fire and fury, lashed out with her dagger. Fueled by the dark energy coursing through her, she fought like a woman possessed, her movements a blur of desperate rage. Yet, for all her ferocity, Neveah remained a storm she couldn\'t quite breach.

Neveah danced around her attacks, a deadly choreographer within the confines of the tomb. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a wave of gravity crashing down on Topaz, momentarily pinning her to the stone floor. He used this window to snatch the dagger from her grasp, flinging it across the chamber where it embedded itself with unnatural force into the wall.

He also effectively used Topaz\'s own formed weapons against her. He used telekenesis to manipulate the blades sending them towards her.

Undeterred, Topaz erupted from the ground, fueled by the dark power. A whirlwind of wind materialized around her, propelling her towards Neveah with blinding speed simultaneously blowing away the attack.

He countered with a burst of ice, creating a shimmering barrier that shattered under the impact. The wind whipped around him, disorienting him momentarily, granting Topaz the opening she craved. Her fist, encased in a gauntlet of dark metal, slammed into his chest, but again she was stopped by an almost invincible barrier of ice. He then gave her a blow sending her crashing into a wall.

Dust billowed as she emerged from the debris, spitting a mouthful of crimson. Pain gnawed at her side, but she ignored it, focusing on the threat before her.

Neveah with a snarl, he unleashed a wave of icy energy, engulfing the entire chamber in a swirling blizzard. The temperature plummeted, and Topaz was momentarily obscured by the swirling snow.

A searing blade, forged from a darkness that defied the ice, sliced through the blizzard. Topaz, her eyes burning with a cold, eerie light, materialized before him, a storm of wind swirling around her dark metal armor.

Neveah, his crimson gaze unwavering, conjured a small, sturdy shield just in time to block the downward slash of her blade. The force of the impact sent tremors through the air generating a gust of wind.

The fight had become a brutal ballet of offense and defense. Neveah, with his mastery of gravity and ice, could control the battlefield, deflecting attacks and hindering Topaz\'s movements. But he didn\'t land a decisive blow. She felt Neveah was slowly winning, gaining momentum. Topaz, fueled by rage and the dark power, was relentless.

Her wind manipulation granted her an unmatched agility, and her metal-manipulated weapons seemed like trash to his ice attacks.

And she felt it Neveah was playing with her. While she was risking everything this vampire was playing, toying with her.

A small smile played on Neveah\'s lips as he watched Topaz stumble back, her dark metallic armor dulling and the fire in her eyes flickering. "Can she not just manipulate one type of metal?" he mused, dodging a clumsy swipe of her dagger. "So with training, she can manipulate stronger metal types?

Interesting." He capitalized on her waning energy, delivering a swift blow that sent her crashing into the wall.

The once imposing warrior was reduced to a whimpering mess, fear finally piercing through the dark haze.

Her golden mane, once ablaze with black fire, reverted to its natural state, framing tear-streaked cheeks as she pleaded in fear, "Don\'t come closer!" The aura that crackled around her moments ago was now diminishing fast, her dark metal armor a lifeless shell clinging to her exhausted form was cracking and breaking.

The terrifying warrior had become nothing but a frightened child, her white eyes now laced with golden pupils, the remnants of the transformation.

Twenty-nine minutes of brutal combat had taken its toll. Neveah inched towards her, his shadow stretching across her form becoming bigger as he got near. Fear choked Topaz as those cold, crimson eyes bore into her. Backed against the cold stone wall, she could retreat no further.

"Don\'t…" her voice cracked, tears streaming down her face, a mixture of exhaustion and terror. The stress of the transformation, the sheer brutality of the fight, it had all been too much. Just as Neveah reached her, her eyes slowly closed, succumbing to unconsciousness.

Neveah sighed, a hint of frustration in his crimson gaze. He was just about to secure her when a deafening boom echoed through the tomb, shaking the very foundations. Dust rained down from the ceiling, and cobwebs danced in the dim light.

"Now what?" he muttered, annoyance lacing his voice.

*************

Sometime ago

A hush had fallen over the makeshift campsite carved into the tomb chamber. The \'adventurers\' and Azrael\'s group, slept soundly within their earth-mage-crafted tents, well some of them were sleeping.

There was no need for guards to patrol the halls – the trials themselves regulated the flow of challenges, offering a brief resting perion between each encounter. Unless you actively sought them out the same way Azrael\'s group did at first looking for a quick way out.

Also no rewards were even given after each test too.

Azrael, however, remained restless within the confines of his tent, separated from Vera by a thin canvas wall. He tossed and turned, the events of the day replaying in his mind. The frustration gnawed at him – venturing deeper into the tomb only to face another ambiguous challenge. Was there a point to this? A way to win?

He wanted to talk to someone and who\'s better than Vera.

At Vera\'s tent. Hesitantly, he peeked through the fabric – Vera slept soundly, bathed in the faint, magical glow emanating from the nearby crystals.

With a sigh, Azrael decided against disturbing her sleep. Stepping out of his own tent, he sought a breath of fresh air – even the stale air of the tomb felt preferable to the restlessness churning in his stomach. He wandered further into the chamber, the echoing silence amplifying the soft crunch of his boots on the cold stone floor.

Suddenly, a hushed conversation, barely a whisper, drifted through the tomb\'s labyrinthine halls.

"Sir, is this really okay?" a voice, younger and laced with a hint of doubt, questioned. "If we do something against the academy students, we might be hunted."

A harsh chuckle filled the air. "We are bandits, kid," another rasped. "Hunted is practically our middle name. But this job… this can change everything. A fat payday, enough to disappear, start a new life. Think of it as the last score, one giant heist."

The leader, a gruff middle-aged man with streaks of grey in his otherwise handsome features, silently watched as he though. "If this succeeds, I can finally go home. No more looking over my shoulder. It has to succeed." Clenching his fists.

"Okay," another mumbled, a hint of worry lingering in his voice. "But what about that kid we snatched? Do you think he\'s here too?"

The leader scoffed. "If this plan works, we\'ll be rich beyond our dreams. That kid won\'t matter anymore. Just some fool who crossed the wrong path. He isn\'t even worth what we have planned."

A chilling grin spread across the face of another man. "But first, the dragon. The young blue one, right? She\'s alone now and should be a great first target."

"Boss, if she\'s gonna die anyway," the man continued, his eyes gleaming with a sickening desire, "can we have some fun with her? Maybe the other female students too? And that high and mighty blue dragon. Breaking her spirit would be… stimulating." He licked his lips.

Azrael listening was disgusted.

The leader sighed, a flicker of contempt crossing his face. "Fine. Have your fun, but keep it discreet. We don\'t need any unwanted attention right now." Disgust flickered in his eyes.

"Filthy bastards," he thought. "But I need to keep them satisfied."

"Alright, enough chatter," the leader boomed, his voice regaining its gruff authority. "Get into character. We need to pull this off before the trials are over and suspicion falls on us."

"What?" Said Azrael he was surprised as he felt a hand on his shoulder.