Amadeus let out a blood curling roar, one which he never thought he was capable of. Immediately, he felt the Lighvel drain of all its power. The power siphoned into every corner of his body, filling his entire being with overwhelming energy. It strongly contrasted against how weak he had felt only seconds ago. A shockwave pushed outwards from him, sending a bright flash and sparks flying in all directions. Lightning engulfed Gene, Lockheed and Willie and they screamed in horror as their bodies were tossed backwards by the incredible force of the shockwave.

No time to waste. Amadeus pushed off on his front foot and his body surged forwards towards Izumi. He moved along the landscape at an impossible speed, and looked like a blur of light to the naked eye. For once in his life, Amadeus felt free. His movements were fluid, and effortless. Am I flying? He asked himself as he floated past the fiery pit. Reaching out for Izumi, he pulled her close and cradled her in his arms. Simultaneously, he kicked off the walls of the island and landed swiftly on the other side of the pit. Laying her gently onto the ground, he took a frost dagger from her belt and severed her bonds in a single stroke.

*******

Izumi rubbed her sore wrists and immediately reached for the icicles on her belt. Amadeus gently put a hand over hers, causing her to pause and turn her gaze towards him. "Be careful," he said with a smile while looking into her deep blue eyes. Izumi bit her lower lip, and nodded back at him. She glanced over to Gene, Lockheed and Willie, and found Gene and Lockheed slowly getting back to their feet. Willie, who had taken the brunt of the shockwave, remained unconscious on the ground.

Good, one less Noble to worry about. If it's only the two of them, I should be able to manage. Having trained for many years for situations such as this, Izumi was confident that the odds of this fight were in her favor. She would help keep these two Noble's busy while Amadeus fought off the crazy one that couldn't stop talking. Eager to end this quickly, she drew two icicles and sprinted in Gene's direction.

*******

Behind Izumi, Amadeus turned his attention towards Waldo, who had already started chanting, causing flame licks to run up his arm. The licks swirled and gathered at his fingertips, forming the outline of a spear. As he continued to chant, his face became contorted and his nostrils flared up in rage.

The moment the flame spear took shape, he hurled it towards Amadeus who side stepped it with ease. It pierced the ground and blew up, showering the immediate area with fiery droplets. He's angry, but so am I, thought Amadeus to himself as he felt all the fear he used to have melt away, only to be replaced by a controlled anger. He tightened his grip on the frost dagger and rushed towards Waldo.

*******

On the other end of the clearing, Izumi tightened her grip on her icicles. "Ichi No Ta'me!" she cried as she launched an icicle at Gene. The icicle whizzed harmless past as Gene disappeared, teleporting feet away from her. Immediately, Gene reached out his hand to launch his counter-attack.

What is he up to? Izumi wondered as she felt the snow beneath her feet vibrate ever so slightly. Nice try, but I can feel the vibration from the energy of your spell charging the ground around me. I don't need to see it to dodge it. Her muscles tensed, preparing to move out of harm's way quickly. The ground beneath her shifted violently, and would normally have caused her to lose her footing. However, Izumi was ready. Rising up, large fingers forming a stony hand erupted upwards from the ground and closed in on Izumi, trying to trap her in its grasp. Anticipating this, Izumi quickly back flipped out of its grasp and countered with another icicle aimed at Gene's throat while in mid-air.

Gene dodged the attack to his throat successfully but the icicle managed to graze his arm, causing him to stumble backwards. Not allowing Gene the time to recover from the attack, Izumi immediately launched into a quick draw. To Gene, the quick draw looked like a blur of movement as Izumi drew another icicle from her belt and threw it at his throat. Not having the time to dodge, Gene's eyes widened in fear as he waved his hand to throw out a deflection spell. The force of the spell hit the icicle, changing its trajectory. Veering off its intended target, the icicle pierced Gene's side instead of fatally wounding him. He collapsed to his knees as a cloud of red bloomed on his robe like a flower from where the icicle had hit. "Bested by a girl..." Gene whispered in shock, his eyes turned upwards and he fell unconsciously onto the ground.

*******

In all his life, Amadeus had never been this angry. Push me around, sure. Threaten me, sure. I can forgive all those things. But, threaten someone I care about – I can't forgive something like that. He moved through the air seamlessly, leaving behind a trail of light. Appearing next to Waldo, he swung the frost dagger in his direction.

Waldo, taken by surprise, leaned back to avoid the attack but suffered a slash on his arm. The slash did not cause him to waver, and he immediately countered with a fireball. Amadeus felt the heat against his face as the ball of fire burst into life. Taking a casual step to the side, he avoided it. The fireball soared past him and hit a nearby tree, engulfing it in flames.

He is moving so slowly, thought Amadeus; to him, the entire world seemed to move in slow motion. The energy pulsed within Amadeus, and he continued to move with inhuman speed. To Waldo, Amadeus was blinking in and out of existence. He stepped behind Waldo and slashed upwards, causing Waldo to fall over forwards. Again, Waldo appeared to be unfazed, and fired off another fireball from his prone position. Amadeus didn't even have to move this time, just leaning calmly to one side enabled him to avoid it. He felt the heat of the fireball as it flew past him into the empty sky.

Waldo turned around, his back still on the ground. His eyes were wide with fear, for he could not fathom how Amadeus could move so quickly, like a phantom. Panic; thought Amadeus. I'm too fast for him to hit. He recalled the last battle he had with the Nobles in a large open space where Waldo had struggled to hit him. When they can't hit a moving target, they use spells that blanket an entire area. It won't be long before he does an area spell like Turney did the last time in the Lost Valley.

Gripping both his hands into fists, Waldo raised his arms up. Turney took a long time to charge the area spell because it covered a really large area. Waldo will only need to blast the immediate area. I'm still moving in super speed, but I'll need to move fast to dodge this.

Bending his knees, Amadeus prepared to dodge the impending area spell brewing on Waldo's fingertips. He didn't need to wait long. Bringing both fists down to the ground, a wave of fire pushed outwards with Waldo as its epicenter. Instinctively, Amadeus leapt up to avoid it. He watched in amazement as his legs carried him high into the air, a safe distance from Waldo's fire wave.

*******

Meanwhile, Lockheed had rushed to aid his friend Gene but arrived just in time to see him collapse to the ground. Izumi retreated several paces away from Gene to keep a distance from her new enemy.

"Gene!" he shouted. "Answer me, Gene!" Lockheed grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him. Izumi watched as Lockheed gradually stood up, his friend's blood stains on the front of his white robes. His mouth pulled back in hatred and his breathing quickened. "Dirty Exile," he mouthed. Opening up both palms behind his back, Lockheed swung both hands forward and clapped, releasing a crescent shaped gust of wind. It moved rapidly towards Izumi who bent over backwards to avoid it. Swishing past, it sliced cleanly through a thicket of trees behind her. The trees collapsed in a symphony of thuds.

The devastation of the attack caused Izumi to pause and consider the situation. Oh great, Air magic - quick and deadly, bane of the Izenth. Izumi shook her head and sighed. The weakness of wind magic is that it requires big movements. If I get in close, I can stop him from dishing out more of those devastating wind spells. Izumi dashed forward before Lockheed had time to release a second attack, drawing a frost dagger from her belt. She held the dagger in her main-hand and an icicle in her off-hand. Amadeus has my other dagger, this will have to do.

Lockheed, seeing her approach, reached behind his robe and drew a broadsword. "Bad move, Exile. I'm the best melee fighter of my class." He grinned at her and released a spell, causing wind currents to dance along the length of his blade.

Too late to back out now. Izumi leapt overhead and clashed blades with Lockheed. Both of them pushed against the other as they engaged in a trial of strength. Lockheed gained momentum and took and step forward as he pushed Izumi backward. As Izumi evaluated her options, a wave of fire suddenly pushed them apart and threw them apart in opposite directions without warning.

"Oh for Maker's sake Waldo, can't you look where you're—" Lockheed trailed off in mid-sentence, his mouth agape as he stared up at the sky. Amadeus - the weakling of White Harrow had leapt thirty... no fifty feet up in the air without the help of magic.

Izumi turned towards the direction Lockheed was staring at and was equally surprised. She knew Amadeus could use the Lighvel to shoot out lightning bolts and ride along them; she had seen him do that. But now, he had jumped higher than physically possible, even higher than the most skillful Izenth hunter. What will he do next?

Author's Note: Oh, now it's on. Amadeus and Izumi vs Waldo and his lackeys. Did you find the jumps between Amadeus and Izumi's POV confusing? I'm experimenting with this style while writing a fight scene. I hope you liked it. If you did, don't forget to vote and comment, cos I get an awesome boost every time you do :)