He flicks it toward her and she leaps, her winds pushing her into the air. The sindar passes just beneath her feet and he circles it around to send it towards her again. This time it hits her in the arm and latches on, pulling her forcefully to the ground. She hisses in pain as she tries to yank her arm away and it tightens, biting into her flesh.

Ilior laughs, his voice high and cruel. "Looks like I've got you now. I told you that you couldn't get away."

Jīvitaya glares at him before turning her attention to the sindar. She tries to peel it off her arm, but that just causes it to tighten further, and her arm begins to turn purple at the loss of blood circulation. She pulls her hand away and glares at the sindar, fighting to get away from him as he pulls her down toward him. Her winds pulse and buffet her strongly and they reach a stalemate as he can't pull her down more and she can't get any higher into the air. She continues to strain against him, using her winds to keep her as high as possible as she focuses more of her energy on the sindar wrapped around her arm. The life crystal at her throat pulses, restoring her drained energy.

Finally, her use of spirit against it causes the sindar to explode, releasing her. She instantly goes cartwheeling through the air as her winds no longer encounter any resistance and send her hurtling through the air. She regains control and lands on the field once more, far away from where she once was. She is immediately met by another Selemat, who fires at her before she can dismantle his device. She twists away, and the bar of light passes by her with barely a hair's breadth between it and her face. If she hadn't been doing gymnastics and dancing all her life, she would have never been able to dodge it.

She glowers at the device and dismantles it, dropping him into a hole in the ground like many of her other opponents. She turns away, about to go to her next target when Ilior appears again, materializing into the air before her. She curses, having forgotten that the Selemats could teleport. Her face pales momentarily. What if she didn't actually prevent all her previous opponents from fighting? She shakes her head and refocuses on the situation. His face and arms are gashed and dripping red blood and he sneers at her.

"You didn't think you could get away that easily, did you?"

She retorts darkly. "No, but I did think the exploding sindar would halt you for a moment."

He snarls. "I'll repay you for that, don't you worry."

She rises into the air before he can unfurl the new sindar at his side and hovers out of reach, gathering her powers for use. Then she feels a pulse of darkness and the crystal at her throat falters. Her powers fail and Jīvitaya falls to the ground. She realizes that something must have happened to the crystal forest and she tries to rise into the air again, but she is too late. The sindar wraps around her, pinning her arms to her side. She struggles, and gasps as it bites into her flesh. Ilior pulls her towards him and she tries to twist away, writhing and kicking at him. He presses something on the side of the sindar and it digs into her with sharp hooks, and she stops moving so that her skin isn't ripped into shreds.

Instead, she tries to gather her powers again despite the damage to the crystal forest that sends its effects reverberating through her and pushes out a wall of flame at him. He dodges and she gathers it again, only for him to disappear. She looks around wildly but stops when she feels a cold hand on her neck. Her entire body grows still and tense with instinctual fear. Ilior chuckles cruelly and presses something cold and hard into the side of her neck. There is a sharp pain at the site as it burrows into her flesh. She gasps. She tries to use her telekinesis to tear the thing out but nothing happens, as if her powers never existed at all.

"What have you done?!"

He laughs again and moves to stand in front of her before he grins down at her sadistically.

"I've disabled your powers. Permanently. I'd use this device on all of your people if there weren't so few of them, so the ones we have are reserved for the important people. Don't worry, the device can't come off. It melds to your skin."

Jīvitaya struggles again and the life crystal at her throat flickers, sending another pulse of weakness through her. She sags at the waves of illness it sends through her and her skin turns clammy. His eyes snag on the crystal and he frowns.

"What is that."

She tucks her chin to her chest to hide it from his eyes. "None of your concern."

He frowns, and his eyes flicker with a cruel light. "I wonder what would happen if I ripped it out of you before taking you back to the ship."

She tucks her chin in tighter as he stretches out his hand towards it, and kicks wildly, trying to block him from moving closer. He makes it around her flailing legs and uses one hand to pry her chin from her chest. He reaches out a hand toward the crystal in her neck and his nails dig into the edges of it and wrap around it. He tugs.
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Oh no, what's going to happen? Do you think Jīvitaya will be able to get her powers back? Will he rip the crystal out of her and will that kill her? Tell me your thoughts! Tell me if you have any questions, and happy reading!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out.