Poppy yanked the shaft of her spear upward, and directly into the chin of her mother.
The creature hissed, and recoiled.
Jumping back as far as she could, she looked down at her abdomen.
The wound looked terrible, especially because of the fact that her flesh had been torn open by a blade that was not only curved, but almost as long as the girl's figure.
She had a moment of panic.
What could she possibly do if she was going to bleed out before she could even land a killing blow on the beast.
"Damnit all..."
She cursed, glancing over at the towering fury of flames in the distance.
It seemed that Chase and his father were truly battling at the peak of their current abilities.
Poppy grit her teeth, and clenched her abdomen.
She was not going to be outdone by a stray, and also her target.
Lifting the spear just in time, a loud ring echoed through the air as the two weapons clashed.
Her body had started to go numb, but she didn't care anymore.
Summoning all of her available Axis energy, she was able to bypass the crescent blade completely.
She was now standing on the other side of her mother, all thanks to her Axis affinity.
The ability to become intangible... Had been not only a gift to the girl but a curse as well.
She was completely useless in most raw physical fights, up until she had finally learned how to use the ability in bursts.
In fact, the affinity had been one of her greatest fears throughout her childhood after she had nearly suffocated underneath the central palace's kitchen floor.
Thankfully, Heaven's Reach was suited exactly for such an affinity.
The spear was neither tangible, nor intangible. It simply existed in-between the realms of physicality.
Which helped when she drove the diamond-shaped tip directly into the back of her mother.
"Mother... You have forgotten the most vital part of this fight."
She said, coughing up blood from the inhuman burst of her ability.
The sound of flesh tearing, was the only thing that could be heard for a multitude of moments.
Until her mother's head began to unnaturally twist around the base of her neck, in order to look her bastard child in the eyes.
"Have I?"
Then all hell broke loose.
A thousand mimics had descended on the girl at once.
Remembering all of the terrible training she had to endure throughout her childhood, she ripped the blade out of her mother's back.
Lowering herself into her natural stance, she shut her eyes.
The pain of her abdomen had already faded, and her core wept from the pain of the terrible Axis burst.
Then she lashed out with both of her hands grasped loosely over the ivory shaft of Heaven's Reach.
She began to step once to the right, then swiftly to the left.
And then a lunge forward, and another step back.
She had begun to dance.
The tip of her spear ripping and tearing through the soon to be corpses of the monsters that surrounded her.
Not a single one of their terrible claws had been able to bypass the dance of the heart.
Blood, both red and green scattered throughout the air of the crimson battlefield, clouding the area in a ruby haze that smelled of rotting flesh.
Her eyes remained shut, as she prayed to the twelve pantheons, the false and the true, and even the lesser gods.
She couldn't die, not here and not now.
Then a single motion had caught her off guard, as a strong source of power entered the radius of her dance.
For a moment she had hoped that it was Chase, coming to help her fight off her demon.
Then she had to react even faster than before.
Opening her eyes just in time, she swung the tip of her spear upward.
A greenish-black hand flew upwards, and another shot forward past Heaven's Reach.
Then as quick as she could, her leg shot forward.
She had luckily freed the sheath of her onyx dagger that had been strapped to her ankle.
But now the dagger was flying forward toward the monster that was pretending to be her own terrible mother.
A terrible weeping hiss was all that sounded for a short moment.
Then her mother returned the favor, slicing one of Poppy's wrist far faster than she could have ever reacted.
Their eyes met briefly, and Poppy couldn't help but flinch in the presence of the woman who had made her life a living hell.
She remembered how her adoptive father: Zen had always acted sort of kind when she was around, and never actually treated her any different from his other children.
But her own flesh and blood mother never acted that way, as if Poppy had always been some sort of mistake that was never meant to happen.
She remembered the times that she had been locked in her room during parties, or when she would be smacked across the face just for asking about attending a real school.
Poppy's hand shot forward, and a surge of light emanated from her palm.
She had always hated using her mother's lineage for fighting, it was truly a cruel and deceptive tactic.
The ability to blind your enemy permanently was terrible, and should have never been giving to a girl who just wanted to be a normal child.
She had ruined her only friend's life when she was little on accident.
Poppy let out a scream as she grabbed the face of her mother, while pouring all of her energy into the very ability she had sworn to never use again.
Her mother screamed and hissed, until she went silent.
In fact, everything had gone silent.
The thick fog that covered the crimson lands had gotten worst.
Then everything went dark, and her body was no longer hers for a moment.
When she opened her eyes, she was greeted with the grand staircase located in the central halls of The Phoenix Academy.
Her heart skipped a beat, as she looked around at the beautiful architecture.
The wound on her abdomen had vanished, and she was wearing an elegant ruby colored dress.
She had entirely forgotten about the terrible events that had taken place only minutes ago...