The King and Queen of Fighters (Venir/Job)

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

No matter what form she took, how strong she became, or how much more mature she got Venir would at times suffer from bouts of boredom. Not to say that the average person didn't suffer from boredom but Venir's bouts of boredom certainly had to be worse than an average humans. After all, she was a mage and thus knew the excitements of venturing where as a regular civilian couldn't possibly understand what it was like to not be out adventuring without ever having a taste of something so thrilling. Then of course there was the actual physical aspect of being bored. Regular people didn't have the abundance of energy that Venir now carried about with her, and sitting around feeling bored made her antsy, and that energy? Well, that was rather difficult to control when antsy. Naturally, there was always a few ways to alleviate boredom. There was sleep, but that was currently out of the question. The last time she had attempted to nap the day away she had received an unexpected and rather terrifying visitor.


The blonde shuddered not out of dislike but out of the memory alone. It wasn't as if her ex-guildmaster was unpleasant to be around, or that she disliked him. Simply put the training that took that place was rigorous, and made Venir wince at just the memory. A lot had been accomplished by the two but it was hardly something she wanted to repeat. Not that it would be repeated, or at least she hoped not, surely Deniel wasn't hoping to teach her other things as well? Regardless that day of harsh training had temporarily made Venir want to avoid any day long naps less more unwanted visitors came to pay her a visit before she could escape. If she could not sleep to alleviate boredom then she could have gone on a job but there wasn't exactly much these days that thrilled her. Venir adored saving cats from tree's and helping kids with bullies as much as the next mage, but truth be told that wouldn't satisfy the sort of boredom that plagued her. What she needed was a challenge but out of all the jobs on the job board, none of them caught her eye. Which left Venir with one last way to reduce her boredom, though it was more of a temporary fix than anything.


Since becoming a flame goddess slayer the blonde had taken up to drinking. Especially, the sort of shots that were lit on fire before being served, those happened to be the flame slayers favorite for obvious reasons. She was every alcoholics dream come true, and every bartender's worst nightmare. Alcohol and most poisons had ceased to affect her body in any negative way. Meaning that the slayer could consume as much liquor as she wanted without ever feeling a side effects, or facing any consequences for in taking such large amounts of liquor. Her flame body burned away such side effects with ease. Hangover or even getting a little tipsy was impossible for Venir less she find a way to cool her inner body temperature. Still, the taste of the liquor, more specifically the flaming liquor was more than pleasant, and the fellow patrons of the local Soul Bar in Talonia were always interesting to say the least.

Living in a room above the Soul Bar did have its perks, one of which being a regular to the Soul Bar meant that most knew her, including the bartender and the regulars of the bar. Sliding into a stool at the counter a glass of her usual was already awaiting her, and Venir was quick to drink it down. "Oiiiiiii I'm bored!" The blonde chirped not unpleasantly, "Any requests today?" The local job board in the district often home to an assortment of guildless mages rarely had good requests, but sometimes the good requests weren't the one's that were written down. Often times the bartender always had a good request from one of the patrons that Venir could accomplish, or one of the patrons would approach her with an unwritten request. Soul Bar was an almost infamous bar for serving so many guildless mages of questionable morals and magic power levels that would do a wide range of jobs. While, Venir was not one of the morally questionable, she did at least have somewhat of a name for herself in terms of power. Enough so that within the Soul Bar, and even Talonia she had more or less become the local slayer. This reputation brought about the occasional request that was specifically sent her way, and that request usually ended up in the bartender's hands, in turn he would pass it Ven's way.


The bartender nodded his head towards a well dressed man sitting in the corner. Somewhat suspicious but he was no Rune Knight so Venir didn't worry much. If he was a bounty hunter he was in the wrong place. It would do no good in trying to capture or fight her in her own territory where a number of people would certainly help out the slayer. However, just from her senses alone the man didn't seem to carry any sort of magic with him so he was less of a threat to her. "I heard you had a request for me?" Venir inquired as she slid into the booth opposite from the man. "You're the slayer aren't you? Didn't think the so called Fire King would be-" He inquired only to have the violet eyed girl's once friendly expression turn hostile, "Wrong." She interjected almost offended because of how often she was mistaken for the particular person he mentioned, "I'm definitely not Guild Master of Infinity Hydra and think ya know that to. So cut the small talk clearly you know who I am and what I can do so what is it that you want of me?"

It was at that the man gave a smirk before sliding an envelope across the table to her. Inside was a request or rather the challenge that Venir had been looking for. She only read it over once before readily agreeing to take part in the tournament, it was just what she was looking for to cure her boredom. Though the journey there would not be a simple one, and she had managed to miss a rather important detail that she was not informed of until having arrived at the destination. Something that Venir was quick to complain about to one of the workers, and give yet another person a hassle for having mistaken her for a certain someone,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

It was hard to say whether or not Venir was always so temperamental. Sure she had been known for a rather nasty temper thanks to a certain lacrima in her belly, but recently she had gotten some control over that temper. Enough so that she wouldn't blow up over little things anymore. Though like most there were a few things that were certain ticks for her. Getting mixed up with the Infinity Hydra Guild Master was one of them, but even that wouldn't completely set her off. Generally, she had to have been in a bad mood before hand... Which was hard considering Venir was usually a ball of warmth with only a side of a danger. However, the poor worker her caught her after a number of instances that had put the blondes mood in the gutters.

For starters Venir was irritated that she had traveled all the way out to Sphere Island. It was a rather large distance to cover especially from Talonia. Venir had it better of than mot considering she had her own improvised way of flying but it still took time and more importantly energy. She flew fast, exceptionally so, but she didn't have wings like some sort of bird or angel. No, Venir RuLush quite literally launched herself through the air with bursts of dark flames. There was no grace in her flight, if anything she looked more like a rocket spiraling out of control. Most would simply take a boat to the island but the flame goddess slayer disliked ships, and more importantly disliked water for obvious reasons. Which made the journey even more tedious. Propelling herself over an expanse of water? Venir didn't doubt her abilities but even she was nervous of the journey, one slip up and she would hit the water. Her wariness of water wasn't just because of her fire affinity, but also her swimming abilities or lack thereof. Drowning to death in the middle of an ocean with no one nearby wasn't the way she wanted to end her life. If anything Venir would be going out with a bang, provided that she were to at any point die, not that the young woman dwelled on that very much. If her stressful journey didn't put her in a bad mood it was the news that she received upon arrival that did.


While being a more than sociable young lady, always warm and inviting that did not particularly mean that Venir worked well with others. Perhaps back when she was in a guild she was more of a team player. Her change in magic and view of the world made the blonde less than eager when it came to working with others. She enjoyed their presence but did not require it, and if it was a fighting competition? Well, a partner would be in more danger being with her than being on their own. This revelation was enough to put Venir's mood to the test, and being mistaken for Ardere had just tipped her over. Enough so that a flurry of complaints escaped her lips, and Venir was only half aware of her fist being raised as if to strike. Already guards were watching, waiting for the blonde to make one wrong move so that they could kick her out. Luckily, those guards didn't have to intervene.



She flailed around a bit as her arms were restrained, almost agitated until she realized who it was. Only a handful of people called her Ven, especially since her change in appearance. Her flailing ceased the moment she discerned the identity of the man attempting to restrain her, "Elyx!" She chirped almost happily, any previous rage or irritation having diminished at the sound of an old friends voice. Her temper was quick to ignite but was also easily smothered. Her body went lax and in turn she was free, quickly turning around to see Elyx, and give him a grin of her own. "Come on have a little more faith in me! I've gone a whole week now without burning down any houses. I'm sure this island can hold against me!" At least she hoped it could, Venir would have thought that Eclipse Soul could hold against her flames but sometimes things weren't as strong as they appeared. "That's a relief I was worried," More like enraged, "That I wouldn't have a partner." She laughed before her countenance showed some form of confusion, "We were a team before?" The last time the two had encountered each other Venir was pretty drunk, or rather very, very drunk so it wouldn't be unnatural for her to not recall most of that night. "I mean yeah we did make a pretty good team on our last missions but that was before you know." She gestured towards herself, when in reality she really meant her change in magic. It's not like they were an official team right?

Prancing after him to the waiting area, the slayer was more than excited to have encountered Elyx once more. He always seemed to have a knack for helping her when she was in trouble. If she had to partner up with anyone for the tournament she supposed that Elyx would be her first choice. After all, he was strong enough to take care of himself! "Ah trust me I didn't know either." She joked as she took a seat, "Or at least I wasn't into it but I've gotten into fighting a bit more than I used to be. Besides," She slammed her fist into the palm of her hand, "I need to be seen in a public fight. I'm tired of people mistaking me for someone else..."She gave him another grin only for it to fall at the mention of her guild. It was an involuntary reaction, any mention of guilds often got her thinking of her own guild and well her hand in its destruction. Which is why the young woman had not joined another guild...How could she? There had to have been a number of bounty's out for her so legal guilds were out of the question, and Venir was no dark mage despite her poor temper. Even if she found a guild to accept her there was the matter of that guild's safety, nowhere would be safe with her under its roof. "Oh you know..." She began, hesitating for the briefest of moments, "I'm just taking a break from guilds right now...You know exploring and seeing the word." It wasn't a complete lie at the least. Not giving much time for him to reply Venir quickly turned the tables on him, "What about you and your guild? I heard Black Rose became a Legal Guild!"

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The young woman replied in an almost odd way, hopeful but unsure. Her change? From Child to an adult, to a completely different adult. To most the original change of child to adult took years, and to have it happen so rapidly would have thrown them for a loop. Even, Venir herself was a bit perplexed when she had went from child to a white haired woman. However, her crucible did not end at just one change, but rather a secondary. One would thin that Venir would have been used to sudden changes in her appearance but the circumstances in which it came about was what made her newest form...A rather difficult one to cope with. It wasn't as if her current form was unpleasant, at least not visually. Most would describe her as a youthful, attractive, young woman, always appearing warm, and drawing others in. Much like how a fire would to a cold stranger, but just like a fire if one got to close they risked getting burned. Visually she was pleasing but if one attempted to touch her then burns would be in their near future. It wasn't just her sudden temperature increase, or even her change in magic that made Venir uncomfortable with her form. It was the fact that this body was,


It was who she was, who she was born as; a vibrant young woman who was supposed to be in her early twenties. A young woman who would have simply been a pretty face if not for an experiment gone wrong, a lacrima illegally implanted at a young age, the said lacrima not working, and then getting tossed into the streets with her memory wiped and her true form hidden via magic. Not that Venir remembered any of this, her earliest memories were of being at Eclipse Soul but even then she was a young platinum haired girl. Venir was missing a huge chunk of her life, based off of the current age of her body, Venir was missing about eighteen years of her life. All that she knew of the lacrima was fed to her by the people whom had performed the experiment. Just thinking of them made the said lacrima twitch in her belly, igniting a fire, and an almost irresistible urge to punch something. Luckily, that urge would be fulfilled shortly.

At least Elyx was more confident in his change. "Is that so? I bet you're even stronger now!" She chirped enthusiastic for Elyx. As far as the blonde knew he still used his old magic, which was somewhat of a concern for the fire slayer. Wind and fire mixing together? It was possible that he could blow out her flames on accident, or worse yet accidentally start up an uncontrollable inferno. There battle to come would be an interesting one at the least. "With the two of us I'm sure it'll be an entertaining show." She grinned again, "Don't worry I'll do my best to try and outshine you!" It wasn't meant to be rude but rather it was supposed to come off as helpful. Though with Elyx being a previous victor of the tournament it was going to be rather difficult for Venir to outshine him, especially thanks to his previous partner. If anything she'd end up looking like another flame slayer that he picked up to fill in for his old tournament partner. Not that Venir knew any of this, regardless the young woman would be doing her best to stand out. Which wasn't exactly a good thing, with her current relation with the magic council, and a number of other people, Venir had a good sized bounty on her head. Large enough that she really ought to be hiding rather than participating in such a well known tournament, practically second to the grand magic games. In her head though, if she displayed enough fighting prowess publicly then no silly Rune Knight or Bounty Hunter would ever dare to challenge her again!

"Pffffft." She laughed, nose crinkling, a prevalent quirk that was shown no matter what form she took, "Mistake you? As a serial killer?" Another giggle escaped her lips, not meaning to offend him or anything. Having known him for sometime it was hard to imagine the mage before her as a serial killer, a dark mage, or anything of that nature. He seemed so inherently good natured that the notion of him ever being evil incited laughter. "There's always room on my boat. Not that I have one. Boats are terrifying." She quickly added, "But it'd be fun to go traveling together sometime! Like an adventure or maybe a vacation." Based off of her excitement alone, Venir was already mentally planning a trip for them. His next words had saved him from hearing all the details or plans in which she had for a trip of sorts. "Oh right!" She stood up, giving a stretch of her arms, her back letting out a pleasant pop.

Her gaze followed his fingertips, pointed towards the entrance that was some distance away. She glanced between Elyx and the entrance a couple of times before giving Elyx a mischievous look. "Well, if you insist..." She began taking a few slow steps in the direction of the arena's entrance. The steps were odd in such a way that it looked more like she was stretching her legs with each step. Once she felt properly stretched the slayer grinned again making her intentions known, "Race ya!" She said but was already making a mad dash towards the entrance regardless of whether or not her partner took her challenge. The dash was nothing more than a warm up for the young slayer, a way to get her blood pumping for the battle to come, have a little fun, and get there a little faster. It would do neither of them any good to be late for the tournament, the only reason why they were on the island in the first place. As much fun as it was to hang around and chat, the two did have some battles to win.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

Her little warm up was far from a little warm up, or at least for an average person. With her seemingly boundless energy, Venir pranced about the stairs. There was hardly a drop of sweat upon her brown but internally even Venir was a bit astonished at the stairs. One could only see a small square of light where the stairs exited into the arena, but that was from the very base of them. She would have compared to a stairway to heaven if not for her knowledge of what awaited them at the top. Nothing but trial and combat, hardly close to a serene heaven. In a way though, the stairs themselves were a trial. A way to weed out the weak from the competition. If one could not climb the grand set of stairs then they shouldn't be in such the tournament. Still, the young woman couldn't help but pause before the stairway. She did not pause for long though as Elyx's shout from behind her caught her attention. "I never said I played fair!" She hollered back, a smile in her voice. Without further ado she took off again, running up the stairs as quickly as her legs would carry her.


Her boots echoed down the tunnel, as did Elyx's. There was no one else but the two of them making their way up, and it made their journey seem more significant because of that. How many other great combatants had rushed up this same set of stairs? Venir didn't know them, or who they might have been but the thought alone was almost breathtaking. She was climbing up the same set of stairs that many other mages had! Some of those mages had to have been victors themselves! That thought alone almost put a spring in her step, almost. About halfway up the stairs her breaths came out in little puffs, but physical exhaustion hadn't kicked in just yet. Using a jet of flames to propel herself further up the stairs crossed her mind, numerous times but she did have Elyx to worry about. She'd hate to intentionally hurt a friend again. At the rate he was moving Venir wouldn't have to worry about him getting caught in a blast of her flames. Soon enough they were neck and neck, and the slayer was struggling to keep pace. "Crap!" She internally cursed, pushing herself harder to keep up. If not for her slayer body, the blonde was certain that he'd easily outrun her. Something that irritated her to no end. Her body was changed to be able to compete with that of a god, and here he was practically outrunning her! Perhaps she had spent too much time napping and not enough time focusing on progressing with herself, and her magic.


Venir continued to struggle to keep pace with him until they reached the top of the flight of stairs. The two were almost late, and there was a slight note of irritation in the announcer's voice because of that. His irritation was overlooked by Venir as the announcer stated something that caused her brow to furrow as she ran. Previous champion? Elyx Reiaki? Even as the thoughts ran through her head they didn't quite register until a moment later. When they finally did the fire slayer was mildly upset, and the look upon her face showed it. When Elyx gave her a thumbs up accompanied by a smile, he would have been greeted with an opposing look. One that clearly stated one thing,


Venir wasn't exactly pissed, but her agitation is what she used to help her keep pace with him so that their race ended in a draw. She was unsure if she was mad that he didn't mention it because he didn't deem it a noteworthy accomplishment, forgetfulness, or even trying to hide it from her. Or if she was mad that this would now make her own task more difficult. How was she to stand out and make a name for herself if she was accompanied by the previous champion? For no Elyx ought to have felt blessed that Venir was unaware of the identity of his previous partner. However, as Venir skid to a stop beside her partner in the Colosseum any previous agitation quickly faded. Instead it was replaced with


All around her was a plethora of spectators gathered there to see a good fight. This was the first time in her life in which so many pairs of eyes had been directed towards her. Sure a good few were on her partner, not that Venir minded much at this point. Already she had enough attention from the crowd and she had yet to greet them like her partner. "Ah..." Elyx had given a bow causing the crowd to cheer louder than before. Swallowing the nervous lump in her throat, Venir took small comfort in her lacrima heating up in reaction to her own nervous emotions. "I'm a goddess slayer. A being that rivals a goddess." She let out a breath of air she hadn't realized she had been holding. "I ought to act like one then." With that she gave a grin to the crowd, slamming one of her fists into her palm while giving her signature catch phrase,


Their opponents entered from the opposite end of the arena as expected. A man in a pink martial arts suit was the first to appear, slightly odd but not completely out of the norm. What appeared next was startling to say the least. "E-Elyx..." The blonde almost paled, "Is that a..." The stadium floor almost rumbled from it footsteps alone, "Behemoth?" She whispered the last part in his ear, her violet gaze still upon the creature in question. What on earth was such a beast doing in the tournament? No one had informed the poor slayer of the contestants that were in the competition, and just how unconventional some of them were.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

Venir had her doubts about the behemoth being nothing more than a softie but she wasn't about to voice those doubts. However, Elyx did attempt to reassure the young woman, even using her name. Something that she couldn't really recall him ever using before. It almost sounded odd from him, and truth be told Venir always preferred her nickname over her full name. Unless of course it was to announce herself. Seeing as there was two opponents, and two of them they would be dividing them up. Elyx had already called for the one on the left, which happened to be the behemoth. Meaning that even if she wanted to she would not be stepping in less she trample upon her friends reputation. She respected him enough to let him fight his own battles, it would be rude of her to offer her help. Not that she particularly wanted to fight the large beast. Only a few moments into the fight Venir's worries were laid to rest. "Either that thing isn't very tough or..." She gulped, "Or Elyx is exceptionally strong..." As the fight continued the latter of the two seemed to be apparent. Had he always used blades with his magic? She could have sword that he used a violin before! Apparently, Venir was not the only one to have gone through a change.

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of her head, a her partner cut the behemoth in half. The floor shook when the beast hit the ground, but that was nothing compared to the roar of applause from the stadium as the beast dispersed into particles of light. "Yeah I guess I will." She scratched at the back of her head finally giving her opponent a real look over. The pink martial arts suit was a little overbearing, wacky even, as was his facial expression, even his general appearance. However, Venir had hope that at the least he was some famous martial artist even a master of sorts! That might make her stand out some! It would certainly make the fight more challenging seeing as Venir had only recently taken up to fighting with her fists, but most would call her a natural at fist fighting. As the two contestants moved closer to the center of the battlefield, Venir's hopes were crushed as her opponent spoke to her.

"My name is Yonku Pookning! I've competed in this tournament several times." Venir's eyes widened, several times? He must have been an excellent fighter! "This year I'll make it past the first round without getting knocked out!" Like that Venir's excitement dropped, several times he has competed and never once had he gotten past the first round? "After all, I'm fighting a small girl like you." One of Venir's hands clenched into a fist, and she swore she felt one of her eyes twitched.



Yonku flexed and the sleeved of his uniform literally ripped off, revealing the bulging arm muscles beneath them. The action was unexpected to say the least, enough so that it snapped Venir out of her boiling rage. "You look so...Ridiculous." Only a moment later she was laughing, a fit of uncontrollable giggles spilling from her lips. Now it was her opponents turn to get angry, his face the same color as his uniform. He charged at the still laughing Venir with a yell. When he was within striking distance he cocked his fist back, aiming for the laughing young woman.


His fist was caught in her palm, his arm shaking as he tried to overpower her. "But I'm not exactly just any small girl." Her grip on his fist tightened, and her amethyst orbs narrowed. "So ya better not hold back on me!" With that she gave him a smirk, pushing his arm out of the way. Yonku retaliated with a kick but his leg was met with her arm, already up to block it. Again he kicked like a newly trained martial artists. This time Venir dodged, crouching low enough to avoid the kick. Block, avoid, repeat. The man simply could not touch the elusive blonde as she was simply too fast and too limber. Still, the young woman had yet to raise her hand against him. Until, she caught his leg with one of her palms.


With that she dashed at him, ducking low under one of his kicked, and coming back hooking his leg over her shoulder. His balance wavered, and Venir took advantage of that her fist hitting him directly under the chin. For a moment his feet did not touch the ground, his body supported by Venir until she simply tossed him to the side like a rag doll. Spinning on her heel in one fluid movement, Venir's boot met with the man's stomach sending him flying another couple of feet. "What was that about me being small again?" She inquired, amused that a man with arms like tree trunks couldn't stand against her own lithe form. Yonku clambered back up to his feet, rubbing his aching chin, and was blissfully unaware of the three curious glowing marks upon his body. By the time he had looked at his opponent again, she was already in front of him but he could not react fast enough. His arms were raised aiming trying to shield himself from the impending fist to the face. A fist that was coated in flickering dark flames. Just as the fist was about to make contact, Venir opened it;


She grinned at him, index finger poised against her thumb in common flicking position. Which is exactly what the slayer did, flick him, right in the forehead. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Until his body finally registered the power that had went into such a simple action. Yonku went flying across the arena, uniform having caught on fire, and did not stop until his back collided with the Arena's wall permanently leaving a Yonku shaped dent. Perhaps she had put a little too much force into that flick? Venir shook the dark flames off of her hand, before waving at Yonku with her other,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The roar of applause from the audience is hardly what Venir had expected. For a moment she stood there wide eyed with wonder, like a little kid. There was no doubt that she looked, for the briefest of moments like her younger form. She would have continued to stand there like an idiot if not for her partner, grasping her still heated wrist and bringing it up into the air. Yet another wave of applause, and the blonde blinked in surprise, glancing at her partner as if for confirmation. Were they truly cheering for her? Looking over to Elyx and seeing his own grin, it was all the confirmation she needed. Hesitantly, she gave a smile that soon broadened into a grin. Her other arm was now raised in the air, and laughter was upon her lips. Warmth spread through her, who knew having a crowd cheer for her would feel so nice?

Venir enjoyed the roar of the crowd for a moment longer before turning to her partner, an almost goofy but pleasant grin still plastered on her face. "Ha, ha real funny!" She gave him a light punch to the shoulder, careful in not using too much force or heat for that matter. He already risked a burn from her twice that day, and her body temperature was just starting to heat up again after that fight. Though a warm up was a more practical way to describe the battle that she had just won. It was a bit of a disappointment for her first battle of the day, but the crowd seemed pleased enough by it. In turn Venir was pleased, and would only be more so when the announcer spoke again.

"A Battle Royale!?" Again she was hit with nervous excitement. If their opponents were anything like the last pair they fought then this was going to be an easy win from the duo. That and it wasn't as if her and Elyx were going to be specifically targeted by everyone, it was a battle royale, each pair on their own. It was highly unlikely that all of their opponents would want to team up specifically against them. Even if they did Venir had her doubts on them being much trouble. "This is going to be a piece of cake!" She chirped to her partner, confident in him and somewhat in herself. An almost ironic statement considering the looks that her partner was drawing, looks that she was blissfully unaware of. Who knew if they were going to be targeted or not? Perhaps the two of them getting ganged up on wouldn't be such an impossible scenario? If they were lucky then their opponents might all just try to avoid the pair, hoping that they'd get taken down by someone else.

Finally, she turned her attention from her partner to the influx of opponents entering the arena. "Oh my..." There was a wide variety of beasts, and fighters alike. Amethyst orbs had only drifted over a few potential opponents before a man in a red cloak caught her attention. Elbowing Elyx none too gently in the side, Venir flicked her head towards the man in question, before making an "X" with her fingers indicating that he was a no go. Even from such a distance, Ven could feel his strength. She wasn't scared but she'd rather not waste energy upon him when they still had the ex-champion to fight. Which was rather odd considering Elyx was the previous champion so if anything shouldn't she be fighting Elyx? That would be a rather odd and terrifying turn of events to say the least. As everyone settled in the arena, each contestant a reasonable distance away from each other, Venir took her own fighting stance.


Her fists were already raised, and for a moment no one had moved. Then chaos had erupted within the arena. Everywhere there was a number of spells being shot, people getting hit, the sounds of battle emanated throughout the arena. "Woah!" Venir barely dodged a stray attack, unsure of where or who it came from but it was certainly not intentionally aimed at her. Her surprise didn't last for long, as another stray attack came her way. Before Venir knew it, she was separated from Elyx in the center of the chaos, haphazardly avoiding attacks. It wasn't until a tiny laser beam hit her in the side that Venir stopped. "Ow what the?" She yelped not cause it hurt much but it was certainly unexpected. One hand rubbing the laser burned part of her favorite jacket, Venir's gaze fell upon the culprit. Someone in a green suit that suspiciously resembled a frog was looking at her. He, she presumed it was a he, was small, smaller than her, and the armor made him round as well. One of his green gloved hands was balled into a fist, and the other hand looked more like a cannon that shot- lasers!



She yelled charging at the green suited man, who raised his laser to shoot at her again. Hardly flinching, Venir took yet another laser, brushing it off as if it was nothing more than a fly. Before another laser could hit her, the blonde collided with the armored figure practically tackling it. Neither of them fell to the earth, but instead Venir wrapped her arms about it hoisting him up so that his feet did not touch the earth. "Flame Goddesses Embrace!" Caught in her arms, the thing wriggled about as Venir heated up trapping him in her hot embrace. The suit he wore protected him from any burns but he must have been melting from within. "Ugh stupid metal armor!" She growled out between her teeth, evidently irritated that this wasn't as effective as it was when it was skin to skin contact. Using that anger to fuel her strength, Venir decided to toss the frog like armored guy to the side, ridding herself of the problem. Only her problem ended up tripling in size when her disposed of enemy hit something much larger. A hiss caught Ven's attention and her amethyst eyes widened at the flaming blue tiger that the man had collided with,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

A blue tiger made of flames was a nightmare to most people. However, to a certain blonde haired flame goddess slayer? Well, it was nothing short of a dream come true! "You look so tasty!" Her mouth watered at the sight of the feline but she quickly shook her head, "No! You're also really cute!" She had a special place in her heart for felines, and large tigers three times her size were of no exception. Most probably would have or would feel the urge to run. The only urge that Venir felt was to run up and hug it, or take a good bite out of it. Perhaps she could do both at the same time? Not wasting a moment to engage in combat with the feline, Venir lunged forward with the tiger mimicking her. Beast met slayer, in a clash of claws and fists. It took all of Venir's strength, something that she had an impressive amount of, to keep the beast from digging its claws into her flame body. Not that she or the tiger had to worry about that for long. Her arms shook with effort as her and the beast were locked together, trying to overpower each other, the tiger let loose a roar so loud that Venirs bangs were rustled. Pink lips parted as if to give back a roar of her own but instead she merely sucked in a deep breath, and kept sucking it up until-


The blue flames of the tiger were eventually pulled into her mouth, and from there she fed upon its existence. A cry of pain from the tiger made Venir, blink and open her mouth no longer sucking in its flames to fill her belly. Much to her horror, she had essentially sucked in its leg. Since it was made of flames, there was no blood or anything, but it still had to have been painful. However, the tiger made a sharp yowl and it....Shrunk? Or rather moved its flames around so that it could reform its leg but in turn its overall body size shrunk quite a bit. "Oh?" Her eyes widened, and despite being a goddess slayer a devilish grin had found its home on her lips. "Bon Appetite!" Again tiger and woman clashed, though this time the tiger seemed more wary of the slayer. Try as it might it could not avoid the woman, and this time she sunk her teeth into the almost solid flames, much like her own body. "Mmmm!" The flames were delicious to say the least, any sort of fire was sort of hard to describe taste wise, but all that mattered was that they were pleasant enough for her to swallow down in large gulps. One of the tigers free claws attempted to dig into Venir's side but she phased the attack through her flame body. She could still feel the pain of it and it made her wince, but the young woman continued her meal. Gradually, the beast shrank as its flames were devoured, and Venir did not stop until it was hardly larger than an average house cat. Unwilling to kill such a cute flame kitten, Venir ceased her consumption and instead tried to beck it closer to her, only to have it hiss in retaliation.


She cooed only to yelp as another feline appeared though this one was hardly the kitten she was calling to. "A two headed tiger!?" Venir exclaimed as the mutant had attempted to eat the flame tiger cub only to recoil as it burned its tongue. "Oiiiiii!" Venir scooped the cat into her arms, her own skin was flame proof the kitten though its claws were painful enough to make her eyes squint a little. "It's not nice to eat people!" Venir scolded as if the two headed tiger would listen to her or understand her. Hardly a moment later and the tiger had also lapped Venir into it's mouth trying to swallow her and only proving that it did not understand her. "Ew!" She blanched its mouth smelling faintly of fish. With one arm wrapped tightly about the kitten, her other hand was wrapped about one of the tigers teeth, trying to stop it from closing its mouth. "I'm not food!!!!" She cried out, and opened her mouth once more this time letting loose a roar,


Black flames escaped her lips, and went straight into the belly of the two headed tiger. As the creature stumbled, Venir slipped out of it as quickly as possible, hitting the ground below, and rolling to a stop. "Ya okay little guy?" The flame kitten was held firmly against her chest, protected from any fall damage. It was simply too cute and too yummy to pass up! She'd just keep it around as an emergency snack! Clambering up to her feet, Venir wiped away any stray tiger drool that was upon her form. So far the battle royale was not what she had expected, but it wasn't like it could get worse-


Something had picked her up off of the ground, the surface of the earth getting farther, and farther away from her. "Ow what-" Another feline, this one like a cheetah with wings had latched its claws into her hair, and was pulling her up into the air. What was with her and attracting cats? Suddenly its grip upon her hair loosened, and Venir slipped from between its teeth as what appeared to be a flying serpent locked its fangs into the flying cheetah. "Ahhhhhhh!" The yell escaped her lips only to cease as someone had caught her in midair, "E-Elyx!" She cried thinking her partner had caught her, only to see that the face belonged not to her partner but to an elephant mixed with what looked like a vulcans body, and had wings too? "What the hell!?" Before she could stop herself she punched the creature right in its trunk. It faltered a bit in midair, and flailed some but they were now close enough to the ground that Venir squirmed from its grip and hit the- person, a person that was just unlucky enough to have been in her landing zone. Settled upon their chest, Venir looked down to see who she had crashed upon.


It was the white haired male from earlier, the one in red that she had wanted to avoid combat with. He didn't seem particularly amused about her literally dropping in on him. "Heh, nice weather we're having huh?" She attempted to joke but the scowl she received in return was more than disheartening. As quick as she could Venir tried to scramble off of him. With a harsh yank of her hair, Venir stumbled backwards suddenly aware of the fist wrapped about her blonde locks. "Ow easy there buddy!" She scolded, getting another glare in return. Any flailing was impossible because of the tight grip he had on her precious locks. Instead he none too gently dragged her along as if looking for someone. Who he was looking for Venir had a good guess, and with her slayer senses she was able to pinpoint his location before the red coated man could. Frantically she waved her free arm about, the other still held the flame kitten, and if she had gained the brunettes attention? Well, a series of vague hand signals was what he would receive in return, the best way in which she could communicate to him a plan of sorts.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

Yes! She had caught Elyx's attention! Her face lit up for a moment, no longer holding the expression of mild discomfort from having her hair tugged on. Much to her dismay her series of more than complicated hand signals were ignored. "Oh no..." She paled, expression dropping as she took in Elyx's less than happy expression. He looked pissed to say the least. Furiously, the blonde shook her head, as much as she could with the current grip upon her hair. "No Elyx!" She mouthed, trying to signal him to stop, a signal that promptly ignored. One moment Elyx was across the arena, and the next he was so close that Venir could reach out and touch him. Not that she wanted to. Cold steel flashed dangerously, and Venir could only brace herself by closing her eyes. She knew he was going to attempt to cut the man's hand off, or even slice off some of her hair. Neither of those scenarios were one's that Venir was prepared for, or stood behind.


The grip upon her hair loosened, and with the reflexes of a well-trained mage, Venir quickly tossed herself out of grabbing distance. Patting down her mane of hair, Venir found that it was all still attached to her head, and the man's hand was still attached to his body. "Oh thank goodness he missed." Venir clambered to her feet, raising her fists prepared to fight as well. "Thanks!" She chirped to her partner, only to quickly add, "Though you're totally overdoing it. The Priory attack really?" She rubbed at the back of her head awkwardly, feeling like a little girl all over again. However, their opponent disregarded Elyx's extreme threat and attacked anyways. "What am I chopped liver?" The blonde huffed, irritated that the man just wanted to fight Elyx, the champion of last year's contest. Only further adding to her irritation was when Elyx summoned forth a Celestial Spirit. Agitation and surprise could only mix as she gave Elyx a more than threatening look at the spirit's word, "Master?' She cracked her knuckles, "Punishment?" Clearly, she thought Elyx was some sort of pervert.

Her partner gave her no room to try and fight the man in the red cloak. Which made her mad but she saved that anger. It would come in handy for later where she could use it as fuel, to steal the spotlight away from her companion. After all, the boss fight was far more important than some chump in a red coat. Venir's eyes could only widen as the scene before her unfolded. "No!" It barely had a chance to escape her lips before Elyx seemed to halt in midair. A moment later the opponent admitted defeat. Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, Venir's violet orbs focused upon that of her partners, his own eye color shifting back to its original state.


Her arms were crossed firmly over her chest, almost defiant. It wasn't as if she was ungrateful for his rescue. Rather she was irritated in the manner it was went about. Her own life was hardly worth the same amount as someone else's. If push came to shove she'd rather herself be fatally harmed than another human being no matter their quality of character. Yet it seemed like Elyx was prepared to kill, where as Venir was not nearly as prepared. Nonetheless the middle of a battlefield was hardly a place for Venir to voice her discomforts. Instead her violet gaze fell upon the carnage of the arena. Many of their enemies had torn each other apart already, some quite literally. It took a while to get so many creatures and contestants out of the arena, so the pair was left standing for sometime. All the while, Venir held onto her burning agitation, keeping it warm within her so she could use it at the right moment. It was in the middle of giving a great stretch, touching her fingers down to her toes, that the arena went silent.

From the opposite end of the arena came their opponent. A man who simply didn't need an introduction from the announcer. By the way he carried himself even an untrained eye could see that he was lethal. Every step was graceful, powerful, and almost relaxed. Did he not take the two of them very seriously? Their opponent did not stop until he was in the center of the arena. Slowly, he raised one of his arms, and without notice the crowd erupted into cheers. "Ow." Venir covered one of her sensitive ears, the roar of the crowd was far louder than any cheers that they had produced so far today. Their hollers went on for sometime before falling silent almost on command as the man dropped his arm to his side. Unsure of if they needed to introduce themselves Venir glanced to Elyx, only for the starting bell to ring. With almost cat like reflexes, Venir was startled into motion.


She called, unsure of if Elyx was going to take her claim seriously or not. Launching herself forward with a blast of flames, Venir closed the distance in a blink of the eye. Her first attack, was hardly an attack of sorts but rather a set up. Clap! Her hands came together and a ring of fire burst forth going up into the sky. The ring then came down forming a dome that covered the entirety of the arena, unfortunately trapping her companion under the flaming dome as well. It also temporarily blocked the spectators view. "Flame Goddesses Servant!" She pulled her hands apart, a ball of dark flames appearing between her palms. As she pulled them apart the ball grew in size, until it was far larger than Venir. It began to form shape into a shape almost like that of a samurai, made of dark unholy flames. "Alright let's do this!" Venir threw a fist at her opponent, the martial arts master dodging with ease, only for the fist of her summon to hit him instead. Venir and the summon were linked with mirrored movements, if she hit or kicked one way then the summon would do the same in the opposite direction. Meaning that in close range it was nearly impossible to avoid both of their attacks, especially since the flame guardian was of a substantial size. Not wasting a moment, Venir exchanged countless blows with the ex-champion, both of them taking a number of hits from each other. However, the man in question wasn't an ex-champion for nothing, and Venir was sent flying back across the earth, until she skid to a stop.


She growled, irritated at her opponent and that she had to ask for some minor assistance. "Mind holding him off for me for a moment or two? I have another trick or two up my sleeve...But it's gonna take some time..." She stood up straight, wiping away a stray tickle of blood from her mouth. "I'll cover ya." Moving her hand in a circle, eight balls of flame appeared hovering about her waiting for Elyx to move towards their opponent so that she could shoot them forth for cover. Her other hand was held up towards the sky, another dark ball of flames building up above her but this one continued to grow in size.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The moment her partner made a dash for their enemy, Venir let loose the barrage of fire balls. "Flame Goddesses Eight Strikes!" Each ball of dark flame zoomed about the battle field, some getting dangerously close to her partner but none of them burned him. Their opponent on the other hand couldn't hope to avoid both Elyx and Ven's attack. After each of the balls had hit or missed, each individual one exploding upon whatever it contacted with, Venir had little to do save for concentrate on her next attack. Well, and watch a bit as her partner and his spirit carried on the battle. Venir didn't recall Elyx being able to use Celestial Spirits, or swords for that matter. Had it truly been so long since they last saw each other?

Elyx and his spirit made an impressive combination to say the least. It also helped that Elyx could separate into multiple clones. Vaguely it reminded her of her own fire clone, but that was a simple projection that did little more than take a hit for Ven when needed, or just explode as a distraction. Ah how the blonde loved explosions. Needless to say it was a rather handy thing to have multiple self's and a spirit to match. It had been a long time since Venir had fought with a partner. Long enough that she had almost forgotten how easy things were when there was people willing to help. An opening revealed itself, but it had passed too quickly. Their opponent was a rather skilled individual. However, with her partner and Virgo both working hard, Venir was certain that another opportunity to strike was going to arise. Just thinking of strike made Venir pause for a moment, eyes widening as she had already forgotten about a certain attack of hers. It was probably going to be a bit of an overkill but....It would shock the audience to say the least. Hopefully, it'll even amaze them! If it did then her name would forever be clear, never again would she be mixed up with the other flame god slayer!



Her stance widened, a large magic circle having appeared beneath her feet. Dark in color the magic circle was almost ominous, glowing with its purple light, dark flames licking around the edges of the circle. Above her the orb of dark flames seemed to be growing at an exponential rate. However, it finally halted with the ball of dark flames floating above her head, her palm still stretched out up towards the sky as if she herself were personally holding up such a large sphere. In a sense she was holding the sphere up though it didn't require any physical strength to do it, magical on the other hand? Well, that took some effort especially since she also had to concentrate on the second spell that was building up beneath her feet. Both above and below, Venir was surrounded by her own magical energy. An energy that practically swallowed up the slayer almost hiding her out of view. Despite her own strength both physically and magically, Venir did have to drop the dome of fire, letting it burn out.


There was a perfect opening, one that neither her nor her partners could possibly screw up. With their opponent chained there was no way that he could avoid the attack that Venir had in store for him. Even if he could escape from the chains, it was highly unlikely that he could move out of the radius of her attack. The flames above her head were almost like a small black sun, large enough to cast a shadow over Venir, and her portion of the arena. She gulped in a large breath of air, hoping that Elyx was sensible enough to move out of the way for her incoming attack. With seemingly tremendous physical and magical effort, Venir simply threw the sun at the bound man.


Aptly named the attack bore down onto her enemy, digging him, and itself into the earth. Flames licked their way into the earth, forming a crater that was roughly the same size of the meteor of flames. There was only a little bit of room on the sides of the arena where the crater did not reach out to. When the meteor had all but dispersed, lacking no more energy to dig any further into her opponent and the earth itself, another magic circle had appeared. It covered the same span as the crater. Considering it's dark color it was evident that it belonged to Venir as well. Hardly a moment after her first large scale attack, came another one. This one was typically used for long range, but at close range it could be just as effective if not more so. After all, she was no longer guessing about the location of her enemy, she currently knew right where he was. That and Venir did love,


At her will the magic circle beneath her feet stopped, and the one that covered the crater? It exploded with a force that rumbled the arena, a jet of dark flames and smoke rocketing into the air. Unlike the meteor it was an instantaneous attack, so it did not bear down into the ground as much. Unfortunately, the crater did grow some in size, but surely there opponent was strong enough to survive both the blasts. Maybe not consciously survive, but he wasn't going to be dead, that much Venir was certain of. "Did I shake him up enough?" She certainly shook the arena up enough. Between the meteor and explosion, a number of spectators were accidentally tossed out of their seats. Try as she might the young blonde's balance was a tad off after so many large scale attack. Back and forth she swayed, trying to stay upright, but eventually her knee's buckled. With a groan, too tired to flail much, Venir hit the earth in exhaustion.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

She hit the earth with a surprisingly soft thud, having a flame body made her rather light. For once though her flame body wasn't overheating, as it normally was after fights. More than likely she had used up almost all of her flames, her energy, her very essence. In an almost lucid moment Venir realized that the feeling of exhaustion was what regular people felt. She had almost forgotten it. What it felt like to be totally spent, to not feel like she was gonna blow up, to feel human again? If she wasn't too tired to laugh, she would have at how silly the whole thing was. Unsure of it she actually beat the opponent or not, Venir did not care. At the moment despite her weary body, she was happy. Regardless of whether or not she won. Though winning would have been substantially better than losing. However, Elyx was still around so worse case scenario he could have taken the opponent on if Venir's barrage of attacks didn't do the job. Which would have been quite a disappointment considering that was the best she could do. However, it would seem that Venir's victory was secured.

"E-Eh?" She opened her amethyst eyes when someone had gripped her ankles. Next thing she knew her body was hoisted up so that she was upright again. "E-Elyx!" She would have flailed out of his grasp if she could, but she lacked the energy and will to. His words, startled any exhaustion out of her. "I won?" She asked again making sure that she had heard him correctly. A glance towards the crater of the center of the arena only answered her question. Medics were already ushering the ex-champion out of the crater. Maybe she really did over do it? The crowd seemed more or less pleased by her performance and victory. "Wait put me down!" She hollered, flailing some as her body was hoisted up again, but this time onto her partners shoulders. Somewhat flustered Venir hit her hand upon Elyx's head of brown hair. It was a half-hearted hit at best, even if she had more of her energy to hit him harder it still would have been nothing more than a little love-tap. Despite being flustered, Venir couldn't help but look back at the audience in awe. To think that so many people were cheering for her, not running away in fear from her. Since becoming a slayer it was the first time in which people seemed to appreciate her existence. Unable to help herself the blonde lifted up a fist into the air, lighting it up with the remainder of her black flames. Again the crowd cheered, and Venir extinguished the flame as she was lowered back to the earth.


The exclamation left her lips as soon as her boots touched the ground. Hardly giving her partner a moment to react, she wrapped her arms about him to give him a warm embrace. Not a burning one but a pleasantly warm, almost completely human hug. Thankfully her body was still too worn out to have give her usual super-heated, rib shattering embraces. "Well, you're still in trouble for a number of things but..." She finally released him from her hug, "Thank you." Her smile was an honest one, a tad shy cause it wasn't often that she had much to thank people for. Already the slayer seemed to be rapidly recovering from her moment of exhaustion, a perk to having a self-repairing flame body. She wouldn't be doing any attacks soon, but at the least she could stand on her own two feet now. Sending another glance towards the crowd, Venir managed to miss Virgo's slip up. By the time that she turned around, Elyx had already secured his palm against the celestial spirits lips, inciting a suspicious look from the blonde. Suspicion didn't last for very long as she let out a laugh at how silly the male mage and his spirit looked. With the spirit departed, and the crowd finally beginning to leave the arena, a new question was posed to Venir.


Her hand cradled her chin in a universal sign of thought. To celebrate together or to simply part ways? "Well," Her eyes closed as if in deep concentration. She was rapidly recovering but there was no way she was going to be flying back to her home anytime soon. If anything Venir would have to spend the night there. Which wouldn't pose too much of a problem considering her new title. "Let's celebrate some!" She gave a light punch to Elyx's shoulder, "I mean you did help out and all. But I can't help but feel as though you got the short end of the stick this time." He was previous champion, and Venir did feel a tad guilty for stealing the show from him. Only a tad though. "So I do owe ya!" She grinned, "The least I can do is take ya out to dinner. I think I can afford it now." She somewhat teased. Both of them would be earning a sum of money for participating and winning again. Of course they won more than just a handful of money, but also a curious piece of jewelry, and their new titles. Well, new for Ven and old for Elyx. "Drinks on me!" She chirped already rushing out of the arena's center, child like persona having returned. At least she wouldn't be racing him this time. Besides it wasn't as if he had to worry about Venir getting drunk. There was only one time in which Venir had been drunk and that was at a festival where magical drinks were being served. Drinks that the slayer could not quickly burn out of her system. All other alcohol on the other hand? It burned off before it could even hope to get her a little tipsy. Meaning that she would be dragging Elyx to a restaurant with a bar, even if he was afraid of another drunk slayer incident. He may have been off the hook in the arena, but Venir was definitely going to have a chat with him about a number of things. It was about time that they have some catching up, this time while Venir was sober.