The Crown's Entrapment

Clara fought tooth and nail as she swung her bow at Pinra's very punchable face. The smug bastard kept on smirking at her, and she somehow managed to evade every single swipe that she tried to get her with.

"Is there something wrong, Lady Clara?" Pinra mockingly taunted her. "Surely you can hit someone right in front of you."

"Stop moving!"

It was both infuriating and embarrassing. Clara was never the best at melee. While she could perform decently if push came to shove, her real skill had always been in archery.

Despite this, she didn't care that she was fighting against someone clearly more skilled than her. What mattered most to her right now was to slug Pinra's face in with whatever weapon she had available to her. Whether it was her bow or her fists, she didn't care.

She really just wanted to bash her head in.

"Come on! You have to hit me someday!" Pinra cackled.

Clara roared as she dove forward. Swinging her bow, Pinra simply smirked at her once more as she deftly dodged and weaved, her body bending in ways that shouldn't be possible as if to mock her even more.

"Shut your mouth!"

With her anger and rage coalescing, a part of her knew that she had so unwittingly walked herself into a dangerous dance with the enemy.

Around her, she could hear the crowd cheering as the other battles raged on, all while she had Pinra all to herself. They clashed right in the middle of the arena, being seemingly ignored by everyone else since they all had their own battles to fight.

Not that Clara minded anyway. She wanted this b1tch all to herself.

"Any day now, Lady Clara!" Pinra playfully teased. "Look, I'll even put one hand behind my back just so you get a chance!"

Clara saw red as she lunged, completely uncaring that she had left herself wide open as she swung her bow in a wide arc.

"There it is!"

*THUD!*

"GUHK!"

The world almost dimmed for Clara as she felt the air in her lungs getting pushed out. Pinra had sucker-punched her right below her ribs, her claws digging deep into her flesh before she pulled her fist out with a flick of her wrist.

"That's what you deserve," Pinra scoffed. "You weren't even a challenge."

Clara staggered. Her body swayed, and the cheering crowd suddenly sounded so far away as she lazily looked around. Everything seemed so muted, her body suddenly feeling feverish as her wound throbbed far too painfully for it to just be a simple wound. She must've been poisoned. It was the only explanation.

"Y-You… Dirty fighter…" she growled, her strength quickly ebbing away from her.

The world moved like molasses with each beat of her heart. By the edges of her vision, she could barely see Bella rapidly making her way towards her, her friend's martial skill allowing her to fight through whatever minions Pinra threw at her. She didn't know what her friend had planned, but hopefully, she would succeed.

Of course, Clara didn't even get the chance to think about it as Bella appeared in front of her.

"Clara! Hold your breath!"

She did as she was asked. Her feet still wobbling, she watched as Bella pulled out what seemed to be a necklace and opened it. She then blew out whatever it contained right at Pinra, doing… something.

"W-What in the world?!"

Clara could only watch as Bella's attack continued. She didn't know if it was the poison doing its work, but she swore that she could see rainbows and specks of diamonds coming from her friend's necklace. Well, whatever it was, Pinra was clearly being affected by it.

"W-Wha- No! Get away from her! Don't hurt her! Please!"

Pinra began hallucinating, her eyes jaded over as she staggered forward. And the more Bella threw this magical dust at her, the stronger the effect became.

"Quickly!" Bella cried out. "I only have so much of this fairy dust on me! Put her down now!"

​ Weakly nodding, Clara forced her body to move, the poison making things hard for her as she pulled out an arrow from her quiver. Aiming down her sights, her vision blurred badly enough that she had to refocus and-

"E-Enough!"

Darkness…

…

…..

It took an entire second for Clara's vision to return to her. When she came to, Pinra had seemingly recovered, in her hands were motes of dark energies swirling at her command. Bella looked confused, her necklace now lying inert on the ground as she put up her guard.

"That was… the worst anyone has ever put me through…" Pinra growled, all semblance of joy and mockery leaving her tone. "You maggot!"

Clara could only watch as Pinra waved a darkness-stained hand towards Bella. A second later, a flash of dark lightning traveled through the ground, climbing up to Bella and shocking her.

"ARRGHH!!!!"

For five agonizing seconds, Bella shook. For five seconds, she screamed.

One second later, she fell to the ground unmoving.

"B-Bella…" Clara whispered. "B-Be-URK!"

Once more, Clara felt her entire body being set on fire. Pain radiated from her wound as she skidded to the ground, and Pinra went ahead and stood over her. The bastard's foot found itself on her aching stomach, Clara having no choice but to take it as her enemy ground her heel at her.

"Don't worry about that friend of yours," Pinra coldly scoffed, her foot digging deeper into her wound. "I made sure not to kill her just yet. I have plans for her after what she put me through."

"W-What plans?" Clara spat out.

"Oh, none you should be concerned about," Pinra scornfully chuckled. "After all, you'll be too dead to even worry about it."

Her eyes widened as Pinra's hands began to crackle with dark energy once more, the same dark energies that made Bella scream in absolute pain and torment.

"Die for me, Lady Clara."

Clara didn't know what to do. But if she was going to die, she was going to make sure that she told this b1tch how much she hated her.

"You're a stain to this world," Clara weakly spat out, her eyes radiating with anger and rage. "It's no wonder why Nasser and your pack prefer Gilas over someone like you…"

"Why you-!"

Pinra's hands descended upon her. Closing her eyes, Clara didn't want to die, but at least she went out-

"Get away from her!"

The pain never came. Opening her eyes, the sight before her only made her question if the poison had truly made the world go sideways.

"X-Xenia?"

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