“I have listened to your conversation, and it has made me come to a decision,” Regulus said to Natasha and Austin.

  “Let me guess, you are going to choose Austin? Just like everyone else has,” Natasha rolled her eyes.

  “I did not say that. It would do you well to be quiet, though,” Regulus said calmly. “You both have characteristics I find important. Yet you both lack qualities I find important. So, this comes down to if you can fill in those gaps.”

  “How are we supposed to prove something like that?” Natasha asked.

  “You can’t prove it,” Regulus said. “Instead, I need a moment to think to decide who is more likely to change in the future.”

  Neither Natasha nor Austin responded. Instead, the entire group became quiet as they waited for Regulus’s decision. The entire arena grew so quiet that it was possible to hear a pen drop. Regulus just held his chin with his hand as he stood and thought about his decision.

  The moments of waiting felt like an eternity for Austin. He realized that he needed to take the tower’s reward for himself. While the power would be useful, he also needed to make sure that Natasha did not have it. She would become an immense threat with its power.

  Austin looked around the group as he waited. He could feel his hands grow sweaty as time went by. He noticed that the rest of his group also seemed to be growing nervous. Maya nervously played with her hair. While Sean and Josh tapped their feet. Austin turned his gaze to Natasha. He was shocked to see how calm she looked. Especially after her outburst towards Regulus.

  “I’ve considered the facts,” Regulus broke the silence. “I do have to choose Austin as the one who will receive my power. While I do believe that Austin needs more drive to get powerful, I think it is something he will obtain. Natasha, you will never be a good leader.”

  “What did you say?” Natasha’s face twisted into a scowl as she prepared to attack.

  “You heard me. You don’t understand leadership at all,” Regulus said calmly. “Now I would lower your arm if I were you.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about her!” Jess yelled in anger.

  Jess slammed her foot on the ground, and spikes shot forward towards Regulus. As they approached him, he let out a massive yawn. Then the wind in front of him whipped up into a vicious cyclone. The cyclone tore apart the spikes until they were nothing but dust. As the cyclone broke apart and dust filled the air, Regulus raised his hand towards Jess.

  “Watch out!” Natasha yelled.

  “Too late, you need to learn a lesson,” Regulus said.

  The air cracked as a bolt of blue lightning slammed down on Jess. The bolt came down in an instant, and Jess was not fast enough to dodge it. Her entire body was charred from the attack. As she collapsed to the ground, her body started to break apart into tiny motes of light brown light.

  “Was that necessary?” Austin asked as he looked at the display.

  “Very much so,” Regulus nodded his head. “A leader should not be cruel, but if someone openly defies and attacks them, they should not show mercy.”

  “I can’t believe you,” Natasha’s eyes were filled with fury as tears ran down her face.

  “You should be the most accepting of this. Didn’t you just talk about all that tyrant stuff? Or is that not okay because she was your friend?” Regulus’s voice was calm, as if he really could not care about the results of his actions.

  “You know I can’t just accept what you did!” Natasha yelled.

  Natasha moved to charge Regulus, but a bolt of lightning struck right in front of her feet before she could move forward. “I could kill you right here with ease. I’m not sure if my new partner would be okay with that, though.”

  “Natasha, please stand down. I don’t think you have a place in the town, but you could at least live another day,” Austin pleaded with Natasha. Even with her actions, he did not want to see her just die.

  “Still trying to be kind?” Natasha scoffed. “You’re pathetic. That mentality will get you killed.”

  “So, I’m assuming you are going to continue with your attack?” Regulus asked to confirm Natasha’s answer.

  “Yes, I can’t just let Jess’s death go,” Natasha said as tendrils started to grow from her back.

  “You’re lucky on two counts. One, my partner doesn’t want to see you die so easily. Next, I would find it boring if I just killed you,” Regulus said. “So, Austin will fight you.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Wait, what?” Austin’s eyes widened in shock. “But I don’t want to kill her!”

  “I know you don’t,” Regulus said. “This is my lesson to you. You’ll have to do things you don’t want to do. She is a threat to your people. You need to deal with her.”

  Austin let out a deep sigh as he readied himself. He did not want to fight Natasha, but he knew that Regulus was right. Austin could not even be sure if letting her leave and excommunicating her would not come back to bite him. This was a problem he needed to deal with.

  “If I kill him, does that mean your power is mine?” Natasha turned to ask Regulus as she readied herself.

  “While I would do so, begrudgingly, you would get my reward,” Regulus confirmed.

  “Whatever, power is power. Let’s do this,” Natasha said.

  Before the battle began, Maya looked towards Austin with a worried expression. “Are you sure about this?”

  “I think I have to. I know it’s not the best outcome, but it’s something I have to do,” Austin said before he turned towards Natasha with a frown. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

  “I’m going to enjoy showing you which of us is truly stronger!” Natasha smiled broadly.

  Natasha’s tendrils immediately shot towards Austin. The sharp ends of the tendrils pierced into the ground as Austin dodged each one. Natasha did not let up on her assault; the tendrils in the ground flexed, and she threw herself forward towards Austin. She brought down her bladed arm on Austin. As it came down, Austin quickly moved his shield to block the attack. He was not going to stop with a simple block, though. Silver light erupted from his shield and threw Natasha backward. Natasha’s tendrils broke free of the ground as she flew backward.

  It was now Austin’s turn to attack. He quickly formed an orb of silver light in his free hand. Before Natasha reached the ground, he threw it at her. The orb made contact and dispersed into tiny motes of light as it hit Natasha. She quickly stabbed her tendrils into the ground to stabilize herself. Then a look of shock came across her face as she patted her body.

  “Maybe you should stick to Champion techniques!” Natasha laughed. “Your new Shaper technique did nothing to me! I knew you were pathetic!”

  “Okay, I’ll stick to Champion techniques if that’s what you want,” Austin nodded as he swung his arm to the side. His shield then broke apart and floated away into motes of light.

  Natasha used her tendrils to throw herself towards Austin once more. As she flew towards him, Austin formed silver beads in the palm of his hand. Then he casually threw them into the air. He did not even put much strength or effort behind the throw.

  “Now you are using weak little balls! At least throw them with some strength!” Natasha laughed as she raced towards Austin.

  Austin let out an exasperated sigh as the beads stopped midair for a moment. The beads then all pointed towards Natasha and shot towards her. As the beads changed trajectory, they instantly gained an incredible amount of speed. Before Natasha could react or reach Austin, she was pelted with the mass of beads.

  “What the hell was that?” Natasha gasped. “How did you do that?”

  “You told me to stick to Champion techniques,” Austin said as new beads formed in his hand. He started to casually toss them up and down. “I’m just doing as you said.”

  Austin then threw the beads and watched as each bead raced through the air. Natasha tried desperately to run away from the beads, but she could not avoid them. As she ran, the beads caught up to her and smashed into her. The second volley was enough to throw her off her feet. Her body went crashing into the ground.

  “Do you see? This is the difference in our strength,” Austin said coldly. “If you give up now, then I’ll let you live.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you!” Natasha angrily replied as she forced herself to stand up. Her body shook as she used her tendrils to keep herself standing.

  Natasha’s tendrils plunged deep into the ground. This time it was different than how they pierced into the ground. It instead looked like they dove deep into water. Austin prepared for another assault of his beads, but felt something pierce into his side. He looked to see that Natasha’s tendrils had sprung up from the ground.

  More tendrils rose and tried to pierce Austin. In response, Austin formed a translucent silver barrier around himself. He was not sure if his magnetism extended to Natasha’s tendrils, but he had to try to stop them. Each tendril shot towards Austin to skewer him, but bounced off Austin’s barrier and were pushed backward. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw his technique work.

  The tendrils continued to try to slam into Austin‘s barrier, but each time they grew close, they were repelled backward. Eventually, Natasha pulled her tendrils from the ground, and they came back behind her. As they pulled back, Austin released his barrier.

  Natasha’s frustration had reached a boiling point. Whatever she did to Austin, he had an answer for it. She knew that she would have to try one of her new techniques. She was not especially skilled at it, but she felt it was the only way she could continue to attack Austin. She did not understand how his techniques worked, but she realized she could not simply attack Austin unless she threw him off guard.

  If Austin was going to use projectiles, Natasha decided she would too. She returned her hands to a hand shape and started to focus her Essence. Shadows swirled together until they took form in both of her hands as knives. She then threw the knives towards the ground, where they sank into it.

  Austin could tell what was coming next and charged towards Natasha. He just needed to change his position, and the knives would not hit him. He heard a clanking noise from behind him as the knives shot up from the ground.

  “Just because it’s a Champion technique doesn’t mean it’s any different from your other tricks,” Austin said as he approached Natasha. He then formed two silver knives in his hands. “But I could give it a try too.”

  Austin tossed the knives in the air, and they immediately honed in on Natasha. Natasha tried to run away, but Austin’s repeated attacks made her weak. She could barely stumble out of the way of the knives. One knife sank into her side while the other sank into her shoulder. The damage to the knives forced her to trip over her feet and fall to the ground.

  Austin walked closer to Natasha as a silver sword formed in his hand. Natasha’s shadows started to crawl away from her body. They barely covered one of her arms as she tried to force herself to stand. Each of her attempts ended in failure, and she was forced to kneel in front of Austin.

  “I’m really sorry,” Austin could feel his eyes grow heavy as he looked down on Natasha. He knew what needed to be done, though. He then gripped the sword with both of his hands. With a swift motion, he brought the sword down on Natasha’s neck.