The girls that were all looking at Amelia with worried expressions on their faces, can't help but now look at Kiara. All the girls that were crying up until now... Ina, Calli, Fauna... They put their hands on their cheeks when they notice that all of their tears have evaporated. Amelia is no exception. Even Kiara's own tears are gone. The rain which was caused by Fauna's tears also stops.  

Fauna:" My skin, throat and lips... It all feels so dry... Our tears along with the rain, it all melted... No, not only that, I can feel it... All the water in this city is slowly vanishing. " The girls around look at her as she spoke "So, this is what it's like when Kiara uses this form... I was treating both her and Mumei after their fight but, this is my first time seeing her like this..." when she finishes talking, the girls all look back at the flaming phoenix.  

---

The Ancient Ones look at Kiara with a smug facial expression as they open their mouth to speak.

AO:" Impressive. We can tell you are much stronger than before. But, will this form of yours be en-"

Kiara doesn't say a word, she lunges straight at The Ancient Ones and interrupts them mid sentence. She lifts her sword up and then swings it down towards them, The Ancient Ones block it with the side of their arm. The moment the flaming sword and the pitch black arm connect, a tsunami of flames erupts in all directions. Mumei quickly puts her hands out, and as the flames are about to reach her and Calli, they all bend and go around all of the girls.

The Ancient Ones' smug facial expression disappears, when they notice that not only their arm, but their entire body is slowly melting. Kiara cuts through their arm and puts a scar across their entire body. She lifts her sword again to go for another attack, but The Ancient Ones quickly back up and punch her away with one of her big fists, dragging her bird-like feet across the ground. While their right arm is still regenerating, they point it towards Kiara and open their mouth to speak.

AO:" Stand down, Takahashi Kiara." they say, as the rest of their body is slowly returning to normal.

Kiara:" What was that!?" she asks in a confused, yet angry tone.

AO:" We must admit, We have underestimated you. Your power is formidable and We shall respond to that power in kind... WITH OUR OWN BLADE!"

The Ancient Ones point their right arm towards the sky, which then turns pitch black. The girls all look up, as a hole rips open above The Ancient Ones, as if the sky itself was made out of glass. A black sword falls from the hole and lands and digs into the ground right in front of them.

Kiara:" They have a sword?!"

The Ancient Ones grab the sword by the hilt and slowly take it out of the ground. The sword was long and wide, and completely black. It had a skull shape on the middle of it's hilt. As they extract the sword from the ground, it flickers a red color. A red pentagram, along with multiple red lines appear on it, on both sides of the sword.

¹Note: The Ancient Ones are not actually holding an energy ball in this scene. The art was drawn months after I posted this chapter and I thought it would look cool so I told my artist to add that. But now I decided to put the art here as well, so people know exactly what they and their sword look like.

AO:(That Phoenix is much stronger than We anticipated. Just her being close to Us was melting Our entire body... But, even so, it does not matter. We will utterly destroy her.)

Mumei:" Remain calm, Kiara. I doubt they know how to use that sword, they were a book for who knows how long after all."

Kiara:" Mumei... You're right! I can do this... For Gura and Ame!"

For a moment, Kiara was worried and afraid but, Mumei's words motivated her and she remembered what she's fighting for.

AO:" You should be honored, Takahashi Kiara. That the likes of you are able to witness Our blade. We have only used it once before. "

Kiara:(Only once before huh, so Mumei was right! There's no way they're better than me at sword fighting!)

Upon hearing their statement, Kiara gets filled with confidence.

AO:" Now then... Let us do battle, Takanashi Ki-"

Kiara once again doesn't let them finish their sentence. Before they knew it, Kiara was already in front of them, she grabs them by their neck with her free right hand. She jumps up, leaving a small crater in the ground. With her wings flapping and a flame of trail following her, she flies up, far away from the girls.

Kiara:(Mumei is protecting everyone from my flames but, I should still make some distance between us... Especially now that they're using a sword too!)

After getting further enough away from the rest of the girls, Kiara lets go of The Ancient Ones and backs away from them. The front of their neck, where Kiara grabbed them, looks half melted but, it quickly returns to normal.

AO:" We see... So, you are afraid of burning up your friends, are you? Do not worry... WE WILL MAKE SURE TO KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM AFTER WE ARE DONE WITH YOU!"

They both start flying towards each other. They swing their swords and they clash. Upon connecting with Kiara's sword, The Ancient Ones' sword quickly melts and breaks. Kiara is confused by what just happened but, she keeps going with her sword and sends the Ancient Ones flying down into a building, destroying it completely. 

Kiara:(What?! No way!! Their sword broke... So easily... Was I worried for nothing? Or is there something more to this whole thing?)

Kiara was not the only one shocked by this, all the girls couldn't believe what just happened. Then The Ancient Ones come out of a portal forward of Kiara, while holding their broken sword and while still having a burn mark across their body.

AO:" 'How did their sword break so easily?' That is what you are wondering, is it not? As We have already said, We have only used this sword once before, that was a long time ago. Right now, it is still weak. But do not worry, it will get much stronger throughout this fight..."

Kiara:(Much stronger? But it's already broken... Unless!) her facial expression suddenly changes, as if she had figured something out. 

AO:" You have realized it, have you not? That is right, We can regrow our sword..." the pentagram on their broken sword flashes, before the blade grows back to normal "IN THE SAME WAY WE CAN REGENERATE OUR BODY!" they then regenerate the scar Kiara put on their body. 

Mumei:" Tch, I knew it was too good to be true..." 

The Ancient Ones fly towards Kiara, with purple energy surrounding their sword. They swing it towards her, she blocks it with her own sword and this time, things are different.

Kiara:(Their sword is stronger and isn't melting like before... But no, it's not just that.... The Ancient Ones aren't melting like before either!)

The Ancient Ones were pushing Kiara back and seemed to be getting the better of her, until she swung back with flames covering her sword. She pushes them away and their sword breaks once more. The Ancient Ones look completely unbothered by their sword breaking, they smile as their sword returns to how it once was.

Kiara:(Their sword... It took a lot more to break than last time. They did say it will get much stronger but, how exactly? Is it just by using it? Or does it get stronger every time it takes damage? Every time I break it, it will return stronger than before? Their body didn't melt like before either... Do they also get stronger... Every time they take damage!?)

AO:" What is wrong? You look like you had figured something out, TAKANASHI KIARA!"

Kiara:" AHH SHUT THE HELL UP!!" 

Kiara now flies towards them and attacks with her sword. The Ancient Ones blocked it with seemingly no effort.

AO:" You are losing your composure, Takanashi Kiara. We had thought you are already past that. Do you not wish to avenge your friends?" 

Although the reminder of her purpose should have calmed her down, the fact that The Ancient Ones are the one that said it, only makes her angrier. They were not trying to calm her down after all, they were mocking her and what they did to her friends.

Kiara, which before had a shocked expression, now clenches her teeth and furrows her eyebrows in anger. Not only her sword, but her wings, all get completely enveloped in flames. She slices off and completely melts their arm, which was holding the hilt of their sword. The blade starts to fall and Kiara quickly shoots a fireball from her right hand at the falling blade, destroying it completely. The Ancient Ones' face remains unchanged.

AO:" A foolish notion." they regenerate their arm and continue "Did you believe that by destroying our sword completely, We would be unable to bring it back?" They materialize their sword in their right hand, with the pentagram on it flashing. 

Kiara:(Dammit! So, even destroying it completely doesn't work?) 

The Ancient Ones lift their sword up, it starts to have a purple glow around it. They swing it down towards Kiara and it shoots out a purple slash of energy out of it. Kiara quickly does the same and shoots a flaming slash of energy back. The two collide, creating a huge explosion and then a cloud of smoke follows. Kiara swings her sword to get rid of the smoke but, upon doing so, she doesn't see her enemy anywhere. The Ancient Ones come out of a portal from behind her and swing their sword at her. She notices, quickly turns around and quickly blocks with her sword. As soon as the two connect, a slash of flames comes out of her sword, the tip of their sword breaks, along with the horns at the top of their head. 

Kiara lifts her sword for another swing but, The Ancient Ones back away and send dozens of tentacles from their back at her. They wrap themselves around her and as soon as they do, they melt away. They didn't expect them to hold her for long but, it was long enough for them to regrow their broken sword and horns. 

 Kiara moves in closer to attack but The Ancient Ones back away into a portal, which visibly annoys Kiara. 

Kiara:" YOU AND YOUR PORTALS! ARE YOU JUST AFRAID OF FIGHTING ME WITHOUT USING ANY TRICKS?!" Kiara yelled out, without knowing where The Ancient Ones would come out from.

They then come out from behind her far away with a smile on their face. 

AO:" FOOL! It is not fear! We are much faster than We were before, We no longer need the portals. There is nothing for Us to fear, you anger simply amuses Us!" 

Kiara:(Much faster than before? Does that mean they get stronger AND faster, upon taking damage?!)

The Ancient Ones fly towards Kiara at incredible speed, they attack her with a sideways slash. She ducks and barely dodges it, then hits them with one of her flaming wings, which sends them flying into a building. Then, The Ancient Ones start to think.

AO:(This is odd. She is not acting like she was before. Even if it was all an act before, she was still letting herself get hit and even pierced through her stomach, now she is dodging and blocking attacks a lot more...)

The Ancient Ones fly out of the building and look at Kiara with a smug look on their face, then open their mouth to speak. 

AO:" Takanashi Kiara, for someone who is immortal, you sure are fighting rather carefully right now, compared to how you were fighting before. Is there something you are hiding?" 

Kiara's eyes widen as she hears them speak. She has a shocked and at the same time, worried expression on her face.

Kiara:(No way, they figured it out, just cause I was blocking and dodging their attacks?! Ahh no, they're not supposed to find out already! Dammit! I need to end this quickly!)

Kiara, without replying to their question, rushes at them and attacks. Their swords clash and slide off of each other. They both back away and then close in on each other to attack again, all while moving incredibly fast. They do this over and over again. There's no talking anymore, they are just letting their blades do the talking.

---

The Council girls, along with Calli, can see the fight clearly. Although, a normal human like Ina... The only thing she can see are the colors of their energy colliding with each other. A mixture of orange and red, clashing with a mixture of purple and black. Then, Fauna opens her mouth to speak. 

Fauna:" Kiara... In order to use this form, she has to sacrifice her immortality. And after it runs out, she will lose her Phoenix powers."

Ina:" S-sacrifice her immortality?! But, didn't you say she already used it before?..."

Fauna:" Yes, she did. At first she thought those consequences were permanent but, it turned out that something her sword told her, to see if she would actually go through with it. And she did, just to beat Mumei. Then she found out it only lasts a year."

Ina:" A year... Wait, is that why Mumei cut her in half? She was checking if her immortality returned? Then, if it hadn't, she would've-"

Fauna:" Mumei knew it came back, she just wanted to do that I guess? They are teacher and student after all, they've known each other for a while. That was probably just something normal for them..."

Ina:" Yeah, I do remember Kiara saying that's something normal for them..." 

---

At the same time, while Mumei was still watching the fight, she decides to say something to Calli. 

Mumei:" You know Calli... I expected you to use this chance, while Amelia is unconscious, to do your job... You know, with Gura... But, it looks like you know now isn't the time for that..."

Calli, without shifting her sight from the fight, while hesitant, responds to Mumei.

Calli:" Yeah, about that... I can't send her to the underworld, even if I wanted to." 

Although Mumei was focused on the fight while she was talking, upon hearing this confusing statement, moves her head towards Calli.

Mumei:" You can't...? What do you mean by that?"

Calli:" I can't do it because... Her soul still hasn't left her body."

Mumei:" It hasn't left her body?... Is that normal?"

Calli:" Of course not, it usually happens not long after someone's death. But Gura... She died a while ago... And it's still there... "

Mumei looks back at Gura's dead body, to see if she really is dead. Her body, the fact that her heart isn't beating and the fact that she isn't breathing. By all means, Gura is dead right now. But somehow, her soul is still in that body of hers. She looks back at Calli and opens her mouth to speak, in a confused tone.

Mumei:" I don't understand... She's definitely... What are you trying to say Calli?? That she could come back to li-" 

Calli:" I'm not trying to say anything. I don't understand what's going on here either. That's why I didn't say anything earlier, I don't want to give anyone here false hope. So, don't say anything to anyone. And for the record... Her death... I didn't see it coming." 

Mumei's eyes widen upon hearing that and she lets out a gasp.

Mumei:" You didn't see it?! Were you trying to?"

Calli:" Yes, but not just hers, I was watching over all of you. I was skeptical if that plan would work so, just in case, I was watching to see if any of you would die. None of you did. I should have seen it coming but, I didn't."

Mumei:" Her soul is still in her body, and you couldn't foresee her death... It really sounds like she could come back... But how?... "

Calli:" I guess we'll just have to wait and see..."

---

The aerial dance of blades between Kiara and The Ancient Ones continued for a couple minutes. Neither of them were slowing down at all, in fact, they both kept getting faster and faster. Their swords would clash, again and again. The Ancient Ones' sword would no longer break, their body no longer melts near her. Kiara continued to dodge and block their attacks, The Ancient Ones just smiled upon seeing her doing so. 

AO:(Impressive, We expected her to be fatigued by now but, she is moving even faster than before. We think it is time to test our theory.)

The Ancient Ones were thinking, while the two blades were in collision. They then both back away, The Ancient Ones cover their blade in dark purple energy, while Kiara covers hers in her flames. They both fly towards each other and as soon as their swords clash, a huge explosion occurs. They both get pushed back by it, Kiara is now panting and seems tired.

AO:" Reaching your limit, are you, Phoenix?"

Kiara:" LIKE HELL I AM!" she yells out and starts closing in on them right away.

As she's flying closer to them, they disappear, leaving only gusts of wind behind them. They appear behind her but, as soon as she turns around, they're already gone. Similarly as to what Kronii did to them before, The Ancient Ones keep appearing and disappearing as soon as Kiara would look at them. They repeat this over and over again, until they see Kiara looking confused with her back turned against them. They rush at her and swing their sword towards her. At the last second, Kiara turns around and hits their sword with her own and sends them flying into a building. 

As Kiara starts moving towards the building, suddenly, a thin red laser gets shot towards her head. She moves her head to the side to dodge it but, it still lightly hits her. It grazes her cheek, as a tear of blood comes out of the wound on her cheek, the blood melts away almost instantly. The Ancient Ones appear, behind Kiara, far away.

Kiara:" Using cheap tricks like this, just to land a hit on me..." she says with her back turned towards them, then turns around to face them.

AO:" It is not a cheap trick, We simply conducted a little test." they say while looking at the wound on her cheek with a smile on her face. They then continue "NOW, ALLOW US TO CONDUCT ANOTHER TEST ON YOU!" 

They point the palm of their left hand towards her, and a pentagram appears in front of it. 

AO:" Sphere of Endless Despair." 

As the Ancient Ones said that, a huge black sphere surrounds Kiara. From the inside, she can't see anything, she can't even tell how big it is, it's just darkness, as far as the eye can see.

Kiara:(What is this? I can't see anything... ) 

She summons a fireball in her right arm, but she still can't see anything. She shoots it out, but as it travels, she still can't see anything around it. She starts flying forward but, seemingly out of nowhere, a red laser gets shot at the back of her head. She senses it, quickly turns around and gets rid of it with her sword. Another red laser gets fired at her from behind but she dodges it. Suddenly, dozens of red lasers are being fired at her from every possible direction. She dodges some, slices some with her sword but some she can't and they end up hitting her. After about a minute inside of that sphere, Kiara clenches her right fist and starts yelling. Her sword, her wings, her fist, her hair, her entire body gets enveloped in flames. As she continues to yell, the flames grow bigger and stronger until eventually, with a huge explosion of flames, she destroys the black sphere. 

A huge cloud of smoke has been created through the explosion. After she's freed herself, Kiara can be seen panting in exhaustion, with cuts all over her body. None of them are bleeding, her flames have stopped it but, her wounds are clearly visible. 

AO:(She has escaped it faster than We expected but, it is over now.) " We can see your wounds, Takanashi Kiara. Why do you not heal them? This now confirms our suspicions. You are no longer immor-" 

As they were about to say it, they notice Kiara is gone from their sight. She appears right in front of them and stabs them in the stomach.

Kiara:" Too bad, you found out too late." she said, while The Ancient Ones looked shocked.

Flames burst from the side of her sword, melting their right hand along with their sword, she then proceeds to swing her sword to the left and cut them straight in half. Both of their halves begin to fall to, while ignoring the bottom half she flies towards the top half. She lifts her sword up, with powerful flames covering it like never before, she swings it down and completely destroys the top half of their body. Their severed left hand and the bottom half of the body falls onto the ground and she lands behind them.

Mumei:" Is it over?..." she asked quietly, almost as if she was talking to herself. 

Kiara, while looking at what's left of The Ancient Ones, opens her mouth to speak.

Kiara:" That was for Gura and Ame, you fucker!... Now that I think about it, you said you used your sword only once before. If Amelia's theory is right, you fought the leader of the Council, you must've used it during that fight. In which you got turned into a book. The first time you used it, you lost and now you lost, after using it for the second time. What a joke. "

All of a sudden, The Ancient Ones' left arm moves and grabs Kiara by her neck, it drags her across the ground and then bashes her into a building. Kiara is shocked as she's being held by their hand alone, with its grip around her neck tightening. Their bottom half appears out of a portal in front of her, they then regenerate the rest of their body and connect with the hand holding her.

AO:" So, the great Detective has even figured that out... Quite impressive, although it is unforgivable! We will kill her as soon as we-" 

The Ancient Ones get punched away by a huge skeletal fist and crash into a building. As Kiara gets out of the building and starts coughing, she sees Calli in front of her.

Kiara:" Calli... I'm sorry... I destroyed their top half completely, I thought..." she was saying, in a sad and disappointed voice, until Calli interrupted her.

Calli:" Clearly, that wasn't enough... Are you still good to go?" 

Kiara instantly straightens herself and almost looks offended at that question.

Kiara:" Of course I am! I'm not going down until they're dead!" 

Calli:" I'm glad to hear that. By the way, Watson is back..."

Kiara smiles as she hears that but, the smile slowly disappears when she sees the look on Calli's face. As if she's not happy about her friend's return.

Kiara:" Really?! Ame is back? Is she okay? You don't look too happy about it..." she says and starts walking forward to look at Amelia.

Calli:" I wouldn't call her okay... But she's conscious now..." 

Kiara sees Amelia sitting on the ground with Gura's dead body still on her. Kronii was sitting the ground next to her, while Amelia's head was resting on her chest, Kronii's arms were wrapped around her, with Ina and Fauna sitting on the ground next to them. Kiara's eyes widen as she sees a crushed gun on the ground next to Amelia, and Kronii's short sword far away behind Amelia. As she realizes what that meant, she clenches her right fist so hard her palm starts bleeding but, her blood once again melts away. Her mouth starts to shake, a tear begins to fall from her eyes but, it instantly melts away. Calli puts her hand on her shoulder, when she sees Kiara's reaction.

Calli:" I know this is hard to look at but, please do your best to remain calm, Kiara. Don't get blinded by your rage. We're going to kill The Ancient Ones, I promise you."

Kiara:"... You have no idea how much I'm holding back right now..." she says as she releases her fist and both turn to The Ancient Ones in the building Calli punched them into.

To Be Continued...

 

---

I have a few things I want to say. First off, I apologize that this chapter took so long to come out compared to the others. As you can see, there's a lot of fighting in this chapter and I'm always insecure about writing fight scenes. I really wasn't sure how to write this one, especially with all the sword fighting. So, I started reading the Bleach Can't Fear Your Own World light novel for inspiration. I love Bleach and I always wanted to read the novels so I thought this would be a good time to do it. I read up until Chapter 8 and there was almost no fight scenes unfortunately so, I just gave up on it and decided to continue writing. In hindsight, I should have just attempted to write it first, just to see if I could do it, but oh well, too late. I'll still continue reading it, hopefully there'll be some epic fight scenes in it.
And originally, this whole thing was supposed to be the first half of chapter 5, the second half would be Bae's POV. But, since it already had 7k words and it's been a while since I posted the last chapter, I changed my mind. There's nothing really complicated in Bae's POV, like fight scenes so, it shouldn't take me long to finish it. I'm still not sure if it'll be 5.9 or just 6 but either way, I'll try to get it out as fast as possible! Thank you for your patience and for reading!! If you have any feedback to give me, about the fight scene, or anything else, I'd love to hear it! 

PS. Really wanted to post this chapter yesterday, since it was my birthday then but couldn't make it, rip!