"Oh no" was all Amelie managed to say before a massive wall of ice slammed into her from above crushing her into the floor. The ground cracked, under the weight, of the pillar. Amelie tried to say something, but the force pressing her into the ground was too much for her jaw.
Kat could no longer see what was happening under the ice pillar, but it was only a few moments before it started to crack. Several large ringing thuds accompanied each crack that grew larger and larger.
Shizuka, watching this summoned three more three ringed sigils pointing at the spot where Amelie was pinned. With a final thud the ice shattered and Amelie pushed herself to her feet, only be met with a hail of icicles.
Eyes widening, she curled herself into a small ball, placing her buckler in between herself and as many icicles as she could, she channelled a bit of mana into her shield, activating a glowing orb around it, doubling its area, allowing her to just barely block everything.
"You have to stop Shizuka!" said Amelie "Don't ruin your future for this"
But Shizuka showed no sign of letting, up even as Amelie's projected shield started to flicker. "Minor, what is she talking about" asked Kat
"Well… when a kitsune gains her tail, she also gets a temporary boost in strength. We think it's because tails more easily form in stressful situations. The problem however, is that if you burn through all the mana it grants you, you can cripple yourself and be stuck at whatever tail number you waste your mana" said Minor
"Should we be concerned" asked Kat
Minor shook her head "Nah, Shizuka is fine, because her rank up is mine as well, so she gets twice the energy. Amelie and Major didn't know at the time of course, but yeah we don't have to worry"
Kat nodded, calming down, when she saw a slight increase in the amount of energy she was losing. If she hadn't checked at that moment she wouldn't have even noticed. "Minor… why am I using more energy?"
Minor frowned "I haven't changed anything… are you sure it's taking more energy?"
Kat nodded, and Minor frowned in response. "Well, if you drop to low let me know"
"Sure… I'm just a bit above a third left at the moment" said Kat
Minor winced but made no further comment as they let their eyes drift back to the action. Amelie had decided to take a chance, and was using her shield to push forward. She was keeping low, and using her powerful legs to hop, not unlike a hare, forward, keeping low and mostly using her knees to progress forward.
When she closed the distance to slightly out of trident range, she crouched behind her shield, and let herself fall forward. Kat felt like the world slowed, despite not using any of her powers, as Amelie fell.
When she was lined up perfectly, she pushed off with all her might, still hiding her body behind her shield, acting more like a human missile than anything else. Icicles glanced off the shield but it managed to hold firm through the onslaught.
Shizuka's eyes went wide as she saw her icicles fail to stop Amelie's charge. The world slowed again, so that Kat could have easily crawled the distance faster than Amelie was now covering it.
A massive three ringed sigil appeared directly in Amelie's face, as while Shizuka's eyes were wide, with cracks in them, that Kat took to mean they were bloodshot. As the sigil glowed brighter, and brighter, the air around Amelie chilled.
Then in a blink of the eye, even at this snail's pace, a massive ice cube formed around Amelie stopping all of her momentum. Shizuka started to relax, but before she even lowered her hands the ice started cracking.
Amelie had dismissed her shield and used the space she had obtain to slam her hands into the ice construction. A second large thud resounded as her hands broke through the edge of her icy prison.
This was followed by a grating sound as Amelie used this as leverage to rip it in half. With a final wrench, those two halves went flying, and as Amelie dropped to the ground she tucked in her legs before slamming them into the ground and shooting her that last bit forward.
"Yield" said Amelie as she slammed knee first into Shizuka's chest pinning her to the ground. Shizuka didn't even respond as a three ringed sigil appeared and a tidal wave of water crashed into Amelie, washing her off Shizuka
This wasn't enough to get her away though, as Amelie slammed her trident into the ground and held on through the rushing water that continued to rage on. Positioning herself against the tide, Amelie pulled herself forward.
As she inched forward, letting wave after wave crash against her, Amelie managed to reach a sideways crouching position on her trident. Lining herself up once more she jumped off slicing through the water, with her ears held back against her head.
She broke into the small patch of air Shizuka had created for herself easily and gripped her by the throat ���Yield! Please" said Amelie, with sadness in her voice "Don't do this"
Shizuka managed to just barely shake her head at the hare in front of her. Amelie took Shizuka and slammed her into the ground, as a sigil appeared, creating a bubble of water around Shizuka, dampening the force of the attack.
Seeing this Amelie frowned and let go. "I forfeit"
"What?" said a stunned Shizuka as her concentration faltered, and the sigil powering the endless stream of water cracked and broke, dismissing the raging tide.
"I forfeit" said Amelie "You've won"
As she said this Amelie recalled her trident and placed it on the ground next to Shizuka and then took of her bracer "I can't let you hurt yourself any longer. You've won" said Amelie
Shizuka seemed to come to her senses at this "Wait, what? No you were winning, why?"
Amelie sagged and let herself fall to the ground next to Shizuka alongside her weapons "You've told me how important getting your next tail is… and what happens if you don't do it properly. I won't. I absolutely refuse to do that to you"
Shizuka shook her head "No, I forfeit then. You can't just give up your weapons to me when you were winning"
Amelie laughed from her place on the ground "It's ok little fox, I knew this could happen"
Shizuka shook her head violently "No, nono, no I forfeit, you win… please"
At that moment, Kat felt like she was hit with a hammered. Coughing to relieve herself of the weight she saw that a huge chunk of her energy was gone all of a sudden "Minor, I just lost like half my remaining energy" said Kat
"The memory is nearly done" said Minor "Can you hold out a little longer"
Kat nodded weakly, the sick feeling she'd had at the start intensifying as her energy drained. "It's fine little fox. It's a bit disappointing to lose, but I'll live"
Shizuka tried to get up and move to Amelie's style but found herself slipping and falling flat, her arms like jelly, unable to move even a few paces to the right. "No, I, Princess Shizuka Maemari hereby forfeit this duel" said Shizuka
"Enough you two" said a voice Kat recognised as Chiharu, but couldn't see the question in person. "We can declare a draw"
"Hahaha" coughed Amelie, emotionally exhausted if not physically "Do we both lose then or do we both win. I vote for win"
"What does she mean?" asked Shizuka
Chiharu's sigh could be heard from wherever she was hiding "The rewards. You either treat it as if both contestants won and hand over the rewards, or both lost and nothing changes hands"
"Then… then loss" said Shizuka "Amelie shouldn't give up her weapons"
Amelie laughed "Ha, I don't care about those. Sure they are precious but-"
Kat felt the memory falter as she felt her flame get struck by some force. Energy poured out of her to try and fend off whatever it was leaving her almost empty "Minor" chocked out Kat
"Just a few more words"
Kat nodded but her vision was starting to get blurry.
"You can't mean that Amelie, why do you even care about my hand" asked Shizuka
"Hehehe, tell you what little fox… I'll… I'll tell you when I wake up" said Amelie, who collapsed completely, eyes closing.
Shizuka panicked and tried to claw her way over to Amelie, but was stopped by Chiharu's calm voice as she appeared beside Shizuka "It's ok rest now"
*Ah… that… that sounds like a good idea.* Kat felt herself letting go as the scene began to end, falling forward despite not having any ground to stand on.. As she fell, she could almost hear Minor shouting out her name, but there was a ringing in her ears that wouldn't go away and blocked the sound.