"That'd be awesome, thanks !" Aspen replied when the woman offered her tips on how to work with Dragon Slayer magic, though frowning slightly. She couldn't imagine that having the power of a dragon inside you would be anything but cool, that's why she had created this lacrima in the first place, but played it off as Adalinda being humble. The first tip had already come shortly after, when Ada explained that there was something wrong with her stance. That made sense. Something inside her clicked. Of course a magic contained by an inadequate vessel would be harder to control. The Dragon Slayer from Silver Wolf couldn't just rely on her magic, her knowledge or her weapons like she had done so many times before. She herself would have to keep up, physically, for her magic skills and abilities to progress. While she had tried to escape the endless drill and training of the Paladin Order ... she acknowledged the fact that she, while she had obtained Dragon Slayer magic, hadn't made much progress in the last few weeks. Giving Ada a nod before she stormed off anew, the girl grinned fiercely. She would follow the woman's advice.
The wolves flaring up with flame Aspen firmly grasped the hilt of her blade with her right hand. This first hurdle she had mastered easily, smiling as she created another copy of the Iron Key in her free left hand, turning towards the other two women. About to express her happiness with the developments, she noticed the other two deeply involved in their own fighting, with Ada easily destroying some of those wolves while Amalie seemed busy with ... something that reminded the young Slayer of a mix between an animal and a fruit ? Either way, these things seemed more than hostile, the girl with the light coloured hair jumping back slightly when one of the things exploded after Ama had finished it off. "Woah, I didn't expect that ! I'll keep that in mind ...", she whispered to herself while giving the blue haired woman a thumbs up "That was awesome Ama ! Keep it up". Before she could intervene in any of the other fights however the same beings came darting from a nearby alleyway in a group of four, charging at her with the sound of feral snarls and barks. Without hesitation, Aspen aimed the point of the black blade in her hand at one of them, 5 identical swords forming above her, hovering there for a second before bursting forward at the creature, piercing it's orange skin at 5 points and turning it into a skewered pumpkin, the fruity juice covering the street below as it collapsed forward, slamming into the cold stone. "One down, three to go !", the girl thought, readying herself to produce more blades when she suddenly found herself surrounded. The beasts had been quicker than she had expected and had outmaneuvered her. One to her right, one to her left and one behind her, the monstrosities of this never ending night started circling her, the Slayer's eyes darting from side to side to try and anticipate an attack or find an opening, but the things moved in perfect synchronicity. Something had to be done. Quickly sidestepping, dashing to the right she swung her blade at the Kinpup, the swing missing the creature, that simply dodged with a leap, entirely. Startled, Aspen was defenseless for just a second, enough for the Kinpup behind her to react.
The horned monster jumped forward, opening its massive jaws, the dark teeth shining in the glow of the burning spears for a second before sinking into the Slayer's right shoulder, Aspen letting out an audible yelp at the sudden shock and pain. Small streams of crimson liquid slowly starting to run down her arm, forming droplets that separated from her at her elbow and hit the cold stone ground below, Aspen tried to grasp for the pumpkin beast that had attached itself to her and wouldn't let go. The adrenaline kicked in, the pain turning into a universal numbness as she started shouting with intimidating tone "Let me go you stinking, half rotten excuse for a fruit !", trying to shake it off before mumbling a "Fuck it", her instincts and automations kicking in, the Key in her left hand changing shape in the beat of a brow, forming a pistol of charcoal steel. Aspen used her free hand to press the weapon against the Kinpup's head at point blank range, growling "If you're so hungry then try and eat this" before unloading the entire magazine into the creature, 9 consecutive flashes of light illuminating this street, each projectile drilling a deep hole into the monster before finally, it let go. Immediately, the soldier girl seized the initiative, the black blade in her right turning into liquid metal as she brought both her hands together, forming around them a set of two steel gloves, blue runes covering their surface. Dashing forward at one of the remaining monsters, the beast steadied, swinging a claw at her as soon as she came in range, the girl vanishing in a brief flash of light before the strike could connect and reappearing directly behind the Kinpup, her fist crashing into the back of its fruity skull, turning it into mush with the sizzle of electricity, tiny, blue lighting bolts flashing between her fingers. The last remaining Kinpup took a few hasted steps back, turning around in an attempt to flee, perhaps to find a new group of monsters to start a second assault, but Aspen wouldn't let that happen. Vanishing once more, this time in a swirl of what appeared like liquid metal, Aspen reappeared in front of the monster, the gloves now booming with electrical charge. She lost no time, extending out her hands, shouting "Gigawatt Burst !" before bolts of blue electricity surged from the ReQuip, slamming into the beast of fruit, its entire form lighting up before falling limp, the smell of burned pumpkin filling the air as Aspen ran as fast as she could to avoid the ensuing explosions.
Aspen breathed heavily. The wound on her shoulder was still very much present, and very much pulsing with pain as well. The gloves changing back into an Iron Key, the mage from Silver Wolf quickly took it before touching her open wound with it, a silvery liquid oozing out of the magical item before covering her wound, seemingly being absorbed by her skin before vanishing entirely, leaving behind only what appeared like perfect, untouched skin, the only sign of injury the bloodstained jacket lazily thrown over the girl's shoulder. "Phew. That was close", she took a few steps back, leaning against a stone wall at the side of a building, her breath visible as her chest fell up and down with each bit of air she took in. Trying to take a short break after the intensity of the last fight, she heard Ada call out, something about the smell of more pumpkins when the ground in a nearby park began to rumble, from it bursting a monstrosity of yet unseen proportions, vines wrapping around eerily grinning pumpkin heads. If the glowing grimaces were any indication of the fearsomeness of this creature this would be a ride that the young slayer wouldn't forget too soon. In any case, she straightened her back, joining the other two women, running forward and closer towards the beast. "I'll help out ! Metal Dragon's ...", the girl shouted before dropping to the ground, touching it with one hand as a faint grey glow flared up, a silver coloured magic circle appearing where she had cast the slayer spell "... Brass Chains !". With another rumble, chains started bursting from the ground around the massive pumpkin tower, immediately starting to wrap around each of the pumpkin heads, its body and the vines, pulling in towards the ground to hold them in place and give them a good squeeze. "We'll turn you into pumpkin juice ! Meta Dragons ..." the girl clamoured before readying another spell, a burst of liquid metal erupting form her hand with a sweep of her arm "... Lead Wave !", the cone of sharp, liquid metal slicing cleanly through two of the pumpkin heads, the chains releasing the dead plant matter as they fell to the ground with spurts of pumpkin juice. The girl wasn't done however. She could feel her magic power quickly running out, but she wouldn't fall behind. She would go out with a bang. "Time to rock this show !"
A smirk spread across her face. She knew a way she could help out Ada, who seemed to be fighting a pumpkin head as well, and damage the thing at the same time, the gloves around her hand changing back into an Iron Key. The magical item, for a second or two, seemed surrounded by a glowing swirl of liquid iron before the mass of metal shot upwards, Aspen calling out "Punishment", the metal spreading before it turned into countless more Iron Keys, each individual key starting to immediately change shape into dozens, scores, hundreds of various knives, daggers, swords and lances before bursting down with great force, slicing, stabbing and cutting into the monstrous pumpkin boss, turning 2 more heads into nothing but pumpkin juice in the process, covering the entire beast and the immediate area around it in a bunch of weaponry.
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Word Count: 1.567
Word Count Total: 4.244 / 4.000
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![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
