Capítulo 194: 192: A Company of Fools: Royal Smack down
Now, back in the underground coliseum, Iris, Turak'Kahn, Bo, and I were seated in the stands, while Jurirai and Ultia were in the arena with Iris and Viola acting as the referees.
"Can someone explain why Jane is fighting her mom?" Bo asked. I sighed and shook my head.
"Jane got mouthy while we were away, and now her and Viola are fighting." I replied. Bo arched a brow at me and crossed his arms.
"While you were away? You got turned dust and sucked into a black hole! You can't explain that away as a simply going away." Bo snapped. I smacked him on the back of his head and glared at him.
"Shut up! After stowing away with our luggage, you've lost all rights to being surprised!" I snapped.
Thankfully when The royal family and I were teleported up to the space station, Iris snagged him and dragged him to the one place in the palace that she was sure he could nor get out of easily: the throne room. So naturally, when everyone went back to the throne room, he was there kicking a fit about being locked away while something was going on.
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this…" Turak'Kahn sighed.
"Because Jane is going to get her butt kicked by her mom?" Bo asked.
"Yes…." Turak'Kahn replied as Jurirai stepped to the center of the coliseum between Jane and Viola.
"Her majesty the Queen: Viola Solomon has challenged Princess Jane Soloman to a duel. The rules of the duel are simple: this is single combat, each combatant my fight in whichever style they like. Either using blades, spells, or evos. The battle will end when one combatant is rendered unconscious or forfeits." Jurirai announced then looked to both women. "Do you both understand the rules?"
"I do." Jane replied.
"I understand, Jurirai." Viola said. Jurirai looked to Jane one last tike and then sighed.
"Then let the duel begin!" Jurirai yelled and jumped back to where his wife was.
"I'll be nice and let you make the first move." Viola said in a sweet tone, underneath that tone. However, I sensed a condescending vibration in her voice. Jane must have heard it too. She gritted her teeth.
"Jingles!" She yelled as she summoned her Lyon. She flung his crystalline structure behind herself and the large evo burst forth, letting loose a commanding roar.
"She should summon Ayia'liah. That evo would give her more of a chance." Iris said softly. I arched a brow at her.
"You say that like Jane doesn't have a chance." I said.
"She doesn't…" Iris said grimly.
"Jingles, go!" Jane commanded. The large lyon took the skies and dive bombed towards Viola with a massive paw extended to strike.
Jingles struck, slamming his paw down so hard it sent a cloud of dust into the air. At first, I was worried that Jane had just killed her own mother, but judging by the lack of reaction from everyone else, that couldn't be true.
When the dust cleared, Viola was unscathed, protected by a shield of light that looked vaguely similar to the spell that Anasazi used in Tolapo village. The shield sent a shockwave that knocked Jingles back fifty feet. He skidded across the ground, digging his claws into the ground to help him stop.
"I didn't see her cast a spell sigil." I said.
"She doesn't need to. As long as she's seen the effects of a spell and has the mana it would take to cast the spell originally, she can manipulate her mana to copy the spell sigil's effect." Turak'Kahn explained.
"That sounds like a more overpowered version of my mana manipulation spell." I said. Iris nodded.
"It is…and why Jane can't win…" Iris said.
"Jingles, don't attack directly! Keep her pinned down!" Jane exclaimed and ran diagonal to Viola, casting an offensive spell sigil.
She fired a flurry of icicles at her mother, and the light shield that she constructed moved and blocked the attack. Jingles took that moment to attack Viola from behind. A second shield suddenly appeared behind her and blocked Jiggles' attack and sent him flying once again.
Viola snapped her fingers, and the ground below her feet suddenly turned into mud tendrils that launched at Jane. Jane reacted quickly and slid underneath one of the tendrils and cast a defensive spell sigil. A wall of ice suddenly emerged from the ground in front of her and blocked her mother's second tendril.
Jane quickly jumped to her feet and channeled mana into one of the enchanted rings I had given her. She cast an axiom spell sigil and a blade of ice formed in Jane's hands. It was shaped similar to an English longsword. She pivoted on her heel and dashed towards her mom, moving in an arch to avoid the parts of the ground that were still mud.
Viola smiled and held her hand out. A sword made of ice identical to Jane's formed in her hand, and she rushed to meet her daughter. The two clashed swords, seemingly even matched in strength. Viola took a step back while blocking as Jane swung and the two traded strikes. Jane attacking with a well coordinated and fluid flurry of blows while her mom effortlessly blocked each strike.
'Is this the same Viola?' I thought as I watched. When I first met her, she seemed like a ditzy and scatterbrained researcher queen that would trip over air, but now she looked to be a powerful and elegant warrior queen.
Viola and Jane continued their exchanges with it seemingly like Jane was forcing Viola back bit something seemed off. There was no visible sign of her being pressured or even exhausted it was almost as if she was leading Jane on.
Jingles had been stalking Jane and Viola from the shadows, watching and waiting for a moment to strike. The two clashed once again, and Viola's ice sword cracked on impact. Jane took a step to the side and shoulder checked her mother, knocking her back. Jingles lunged from the shadows and charged at Viola.
The queen simply smirked. Her cracked ice blade suddenly shined with a blinding light, making everyone cover their eyes, especially Jingles. When the light dimmed Jingles continued his charge for Viola, only the situation seemed different. Viola and Jane's positions seemed reversed. As Jingles approached Viola, her expression turned to surprise she held her hands up and screamed.
"Jingles, it's me!"
The lion's eyes widened as Jane's voice came out of Viola's mouth. In that same instant, her body shimmered, and the illusion that covered Jane disappeared. Jingles flapped his wings in an attempt to abort the attack. The loyal evo flew over Jane and twisted and contorted his body in an attempt to right himself. A bolt of lightning suddenly slammed into Jingles chest, sending it flying into the far end of the coliseum wall.
"Jingles!" Jane screamed and turned her back on her mother.
"Big mistake…" Turak'Kahn muttered.
The next instant, a lightning bolt slammed into her back, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying several feet. That bolt was significantly weaker than the one that hit Jingles.
"Don't take your eyes off your opponent. That was one of the first lessons your sword fighting teachers taught you." Viola said, then snapped her fingers and a bolt of lightning shot from them and struck Jane again, knowing her even further back. "Be grateful you didn't learn swordsmanship under my father's tutelage. Your body would be covered in cuts by now with how sloppy that showing was."
Jane growled and cast an offensive spell sigil and once again fired multiple icicles at her. Viola didn't even use a spell to block them. She simply dodged as effortlessly as breathing. She moved so fluidly that I thought I was watching a dancer for a quick moment.
"It seems your spell fencing tutors didn't teach you about variety and how important that can be in a fight." She said as she weaved through Jane's attack. "Using the same attack repeatedly gives your opponent tike to analyze and find patterns in your spell casting. This is also true about sword fighting!"
With another snap of her finger, a fireball formed in front of her about the size of her palm and launched at Jane. Jingles rushed to Jane's defense and shielded her with his body and wings. The fireball exploded on impact, burning many of Jingles' feathers and the fur in his mane.
"Jingles!" Jane exclaimed. And scrambled to her feet.
"Crying for your evo won't help you or it…" She said, snapping again. Another fireball launched at Jane, and once again, Jingles shielded her. The explosion was much larger and knocked the evo back several feet. "DAMMIT, JANE USE SOME DEFENSE! DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" I bellowed from the stand.
Jane cast a defensive spell sigil and wall of ice sprouted in front of her, blocking her and Jingles.
"Jingles, go back!" Jane exclaimed as she rushed over to her injured evo. The wall of ice shattered as another larger fireball slammed into it. The shockwave from the explosion knocked Jane into Jingles.
"You should have planned a counterattack to divide my attention rather than just rushing to your evo." Viola said, shaking her head.
"Mother, wait! Let me recall Jingles!" Jane exclaimed. Viola snapped her fingers again, Jingles jumped to his feet and shielded Jane with his body as a lightning bolt shot from Viola's fingers and shocked him.
"JINGLES!" Jane exclaimed
"She's panicked…" Iris grumbled. I glanced over at her and saw her fists were clenched up into tight balls.
"Jingles is too hurt to take another attack like that…she needs to distract Viola so he can recall." I muttered.
The proud Lyon struggled to his feet. His mane scorched, feathers burned and seared, the remnants of viola's lightning bolts still dancing across his fur. It was obvious he was in extreme pain. Beneath the scorched fur and feather, I could see several cases of first - and second-degree burns.
"JANE JUST FORFIET! IT'S NOT WORTH LOSING JINGLES!" I bellowed.
"I can still fight!" She exclaimed and cast another offensive sigil. A wall of ice sprouted in front of Jingles, and she rushed forward, casting an offensive spell sigil. She fired several icicles at her mother again, then turned and started to recall Jingles.
"When facing an opponent that can create illusions, you definitely do not take your eyes off them.." Viola said.
I blinked, and suddenly Viola was behind Jane with her hand mere inches from Jane's back. Arcs of lightning danced between her hand and Jane's back. She let out a horrific scream before collapsing on the ground. Jingles tried to swipe at Viola but was blocked by one of her shields of light and forced back by the resulting shockwave.
"Fuck….!" I grumbled as I stood, only to be stopped by Turak'Kahn.
"Don't!" He said sternly.
"She's lost already…she's too stubborn to realize that, and that'll get Jingles killed!" I exclaimed.
"Jumping in and saving her isn't going to help her learn." Turak," Kahn said calmly.
"Learn what? Not too bad mouth her mom? This is going a little overboard, don't you think!" I replied. Turak'Kahn looked away.
"This isn't even a fifth of what Viola went through growing up." Turak'Kahn said. "Her family raised her very strict, stricter than what many would deem acceptable for a child. She was groomed to be the perfect bride for a nobleman or a prince…however she always failed to meet her father's expectations and was punished for it regularly. By the time she was twelve, her father had killed eleven of her evos because she needed to be 'taught a lesson'…disgusting…"
"So now she's going to do the same thing to Jane?!" I exclaimed.
"Now she's dueling our daughter. Her father always ordered her to summon her evo and then slaughtered it in front of her. The only reason Jingles is hurt so bad is that he's jumping in to protect to protect her from harm." Turak'Kahn defended.
"This is no different than her duel against you, Chase. Jiggles killed her evo in that duel…" Iris added.
I gritted my teeth and then looked out to the coliseum. Jingles was lying on his side, burns and scorch marks covering more than eighty percent of his body while Jane didn't have a scratch angrily. She kept on fighting her mother, oblivious to the agony that Jingles was going through. He is no longer even trying to defend Jingles from attacks.
'She's written him off…Jingles is a lost cause to her.' I realized.
[He's in pain!] Alpa'nagia hissed angrily.
[Help him, Pretender! He deserves better!] Fours shouted through the link.
"PROTECT YOUR EVO YOU SPOILED PRINCESS!" Bo bellowed as another lightning bolt nearly struck Jingles.
"SHUT UP! I CAN BEAT HER, GRANDMA RAISED ME TO BEAT HER!!" Jane bellowed back. The look in her eye was almost obsessive.
Jane cast an offensive spell sigil, and a wave of ice spears shot up from the ground, heading towards Viola. Viola simply flicked her wrist, and a wave of fire at least nine feet high formed in front of her and rolled down the field towards Jane. Jane ran the length of the wall of fire and just barely dodged out of the way. However, Jingles was several meters behind her and too injured to move.
He looked to Jane, pleading with his eyes for her to save him as he had done for her multiple times throughout the fight. However she wasn't looking at him, her eyes were set squarely on her mother. She moved to safety without even a thought towards Jingles behind her.
[BOSS!]
[PRETENDER!]
[STAR SHAPER PLEASE!]
I channeled accelerate and volt attribute mana throughout my body and raced towards the edge of the stands, and jumped into the coliseum. Time seemed to move much slower as I ran in front of Jingles and held my hand up, switching from channeling accelerate and volt attributes to just channeling Void attribute into my hand. A fog of shadows formed in front of my hand and swallowed up the approaching wall of fire, breaking it down and turning it into mana.
"Chase Kingston! You are interfering with a royal duel!" Jurirai snapped from his position on the sidelines.
"I'm not. Jingles is too injured to move, let alone fight. I'm simply getting him medical attention." I said as I walked over to Jingles.
His breathing was ragged and slow. With how extensive his burns were, it was a surprise he was still alive at all. I place a hand in his paw and channeled mana into the Lyon. A crystalline structure formed around it, and he was quickly recalled into my crystal. I expected to feel a little resistance from the bond that it had with Jane, but there wasn't any. Whatever bond that Jane and Jingles had dissolved when she decided to save herself over Jingles.
"Chase!" Jane called out. I turned and looked at Jane. Her clothes were scorched and burned in places, and she had dirt on her face. It's not the normal look for the princess. "Thank you. Now, I can focus on the duel without any distractions!"
I felt a pang of sadness and regret came bursting forth from my farm crystal, from Jingles. I gritted my teeth as I looked at her, then sighed and turned towards the stands.
"I'm disappointed, Jane. I thought that you were like me. You didn't see evos as simply tools…or at least the evos that you created or take into your farm crystal." I said softly. I paused, then looked to Viola. "…Whatever lesson you are trying to teach her is going over her head. I'm not telling you how to parent, but Jane's about as dense as I am about certain things. It's better to just end this and scold her later."
"I will take that into consideration…." Viola said, flashing me a sad smile.
I channeled float attribute mana and jumped back up to the stands and took my seat beside Iris and Turak'Kahn. He looked me up and down for a second, then nodded and looked out to the field.
"I was right about you…" He muttered before nodding to Jurirai. Jurirai returned the nod in reply, then motioned to Jane and Viola.
"That duel will continue! Both combatants are ready!" Jurirai announced. Jane took several steps back and assumed a battle stance while Viola simply stood where she was. "FIGHT!"
Viola wasted no time and snapped her fingers, sending a wave of ice in front of her that coveted the floor. At the same moment, Jane jumped back and started casting an offensive spell sigil. The ice covered the ground in mere seconds, and as Jane landed back down, she slipped on the ice and fired several icicles into the air.
Viola created an ice blade in her hand again and skated across the ground towards Jane. Jane struggled to get up and kept slipping on the ice. The panic in her eyes was apparent as Viola approached rapidly. She spun elegantly on her heel and kicked Jane in the jaw, sending her spinning in the air with the moment she had behind the kick. Jane landed on her back and slid. Before she could try to stand up, Viola skidded to a stop beside her daughter and pointed the ice blade at her throat.
"Yield." Viola said sternly. Jane gritted her teeth and slammed a fist down in the solid ice.
"I can…!" She started but was interrupted by Viola flicking her wrists deftly. The tip of her blade just barely scratches the skin on her cheek and draws blood.
"Yield Jane!" Viola barked. Jane looked away from her mother.
"I yield…" Jane muttered.
"Winner! Queen Viola Solomon!" Jurirai exclaimed.
Viola snapped her fingers, and the ice sheet that covered the ground melted, and the standing water evaporated before our eyes.
Viola walked towards the entrance to the throne room without a word, leaving Jane on the ground, defeated and broken. Turak'Kahn stood and motioned for Iris, Bo, and I to stand with him. We followed him towards the front stairs that led to the arena and headed to the throne room with Viola.
"Should we get Jane?" Bo asked.
"No…I think she needs to be alone for a bit." Iris said, then placed a hand on Bo's back and led him towards the throne room.
I glanced at Jane over my shoulder as I headed into the throne room.
'She never learns…' I thought, then turned my attention back to Jingles inside my crystal. I sensed a lot of pain, feelings of betrayal, and self-hatred. I bit back venom that threatened to sear my throat closed and kept marching into the throne room.
'Jingles was your first! Why was he so easy to forget! Why was he so easy to throw away!'
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn Hey! Sorry for the late post! Had a mugraine that put me out of commission for 4 days. I'll try a few relesse extra chapters to make up for this next week.
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