The Doll reached her hand out to accept The Strings. This duel, this whole mess—all of it was her fault, a result of her own incompetence. Taking The Strings hand would be for the better; if there was no doll, there would be no problem.
Everything would be solved if The Doll ceased to exist.
Yet The Doll hesitated. Her hand remained suspended in the air, frozen only inches from The Strings'.
Why was she frozen?
It was a simple choice; her inability to use magic it was the source of the problem. The Ashencroft lineage being on the edge of falling was her fault. Lukaz being beaten inside of the dueling grounds was her fault.
Mother's death was her fault.
Yes, it would be best if she gave herself up to The Strings.
With her resolve steeled The Doll moved her hand once again, inching it closer and closer to The Strings. However, as The Doll reached down, ready to take The Strings' hand, it disappeared.
The Doll felt a familiar weight on her back as The Strings now stood behind her, hugging her around the neck. Pulling The Doll in closer The Strings said in a low voice, “Not like this.” The Doll attempted to struggle against The Strings but found herself unable to break the tight grasp that it held on her.
Why?
Why wouldn't The Strings let her do this? The Doll was giving The Strings exactly what it wanted: control over her. The Doll continued to struggle despite the futility in trying to escape its grasp.
Why wouldn't it even let The Doll make the choice to give up control?
Was she truly that incompetent? So incompetent that she couldn't choose to end her own incompetence. Yes, that must be it. The Strings knew The Doll was far too incompetent to make such a choice willingly. It didn't want her to willingly make the choice; it knew she was incapable of making any choice.
The Doll stopped struggling, choosing to merely stand there and allowing The Strings to hold her. There was no point in struggling if she couldn't even make the choice to give up complete control.
After a moment of stillness The Strings spoke again, “I wish I could love myself, both parts of myself.” The Strings held The Doll even closer, its grip becoming suffocating as it continued to speak, “Why can't I love myself?” The Doll felt her back get wet as The Strings began sniffling.
Was The Strings crying?
Why would The Strings be crying?
Was there even a point in trying to understand what The Strings wanted?
The two of them remained there in the darkness that The Doll once found comforting, with the only sound being that of The Strings crying. The Doll didn't do anything; she no longer knew what to do. The Strings made no moves to do anything merely weeping against The Dolls' back.
It seemed as if this moment would never end, as if the darkness would never leave the two of them. However, eventually after a moment that felt like an eternity The Strings spoke through its perpetual sobs, “I can't hate myself forever; it will only continue to bring pain.” Before The Doll could even reflect on what The Strings had just said, she found herself back in the dueling grounds.
The Doll allowed her eyes to readjust to the light of the sun as she focused her attention back on the dueling grounds. She knew that she would hate what she saw and that she would hate herself for allowing Lukaz to continue being beat for her own incompetence.
Her inability to even give up control for power.
As her eyes focused, The Doll saw exactly what she expected. Darius was still punching Lukaz repeatedly, and Lukaz refused to admit to yielding. The Doll could only look on in horror before saying, “Stop this, please.” The words were meant for nobody in particular, a vague hope that the headmaster may finally call the duel concluded.
The arm that had been holding The Doll back previously moved as soon as she spoke. With a giggle the person to her right said, “If you ask so nicely, Dollie, I can't refuse.” Malina The Doll had completely forgotten she didn't come here alone. The Doll had been so focused on the sight below her, so focused on blaming herself that she forgot about Malina and Lila.
Before The Doll could even think of a response, Malina shot up into the air and flew up to directly face the magic barrier around the duel. Malina then brought both hands up in the air, and all around the entire dueling grounds massive circles of multicolored light appeared. More beams of piercinium than The Doll could even count were appearing around the barrier.
The Doll could only stare agape at the sight before her; the entire crowd watched in silence, likely feeling a similar level of shock to The Dolls own. She heard the headmaster attempt to say something with projection, but it was completely drowned out by the sound of all the beams of piercinium suddenly launching against the barrier, destroying it completely.
A large cloud of dust erupted from the dueling ground from the sheer force of the opposing forces' mana clashing against each other. When the dust finally settled The Doll saw Malina floating where she had been previously and Darius still punching Lukaz as if nothing had happened.
Malina moved slightly forward so she would be hovering over the part of the dueling grounds with sand. Then she spoke, her voice being carried over by the projection rune, “My name is Malina Regius the fourth in line to the throne of Rivenhiem and the only princess of the crown. My magic is that of Rivenhiem itself, and I command the air itself to push you off.” As soon as she spoke the words, Darius was sent flying off of Lukaz straight into a wall of the dueling grounds, destroying it completely as Darius made impact.
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After effortlessly dispatching Darius, Malina landed in the center of the dueling grounds with a flourish. She put out a hand toward Lukaz, and a light circle appeared around him, and all of Lukaz's wounds began slowly closing up. The Doll immediately recognized this as Helliona, the third pinnacle of magic and the only one she hadn't yet witnessed Malina use.
The sight shouldn't surprise The Doll at this point, but it still made The Doll's heart flutter in shock.
The Dolls heart had fluttered in shock?
No The Doll was sure that was a normal reaction.
Malina turned her gaze away from the wall that she had thrown Dairus into instead choosing to focus her attention on the faculty box. “I believe this duel is over; the creep won and the moron lost. Perhaps you would see that if you paid attention to the duel.” Confused as to what Malina meant The Doll looked towards the faculty box.
It was hard for The Doll to make out exact details considering the distance between her and the people in the faculty box. But just barely she could see a pair of dark eyes staring directly at her with a familiar look that pierced into her soul. The headmaster was looking directly at her rather than the duel. The Doll wasn't sure how long he had been doing that, but it left her slightly unnerved.
The headmaster quickly turned away from The Doll looking towards the dueling grounds where Malina stood. The doll looked away just as quickly, happily breaking eye contact with the headmaster to look back at Malina.
After a moment of silence, Moris spoke, “Your intervention is highly against the rules. Regius, would you care to explain yourself?” His cold dismissive tone made it sound as though Darius hadn't just almost killed Lukaz.
Malina exasperatedly stretched both hands out to Lukaz’s body that was still covered in dark blood despite the wounds slowly closing. “This moron almost died, and you weren't even paying attention to the duel, you were too busy giving Dollie the death stare.” The Doll winced at how blatantly Malina had just called her Dollie in front of everybody.
Whispers began spreading throughout the crowd at Malina's accusation towards the headmaster. Unperturbed by this, the headmaster continued to speak, “Zephyr requested that we not call the duel off early prior to it starting. I merely believed that it would be against his wishes to write him off so soon; he is above Darius in standing after all.” Every word the headmaster spoke oozed with confidence as if every response was already prepared.
Malina took a step forward in clear frustration. “Even if it was against his wishes, the death of the heir to the Zephyr family would reflect poorly on your academy.” The Doll never suspected she would see Malina get angry over Lukaz.
The headmaster's sigh echoed through the dueling grounds, followed by his words, “Do you truly think I would let one of my students die?" As if on cue, one of the various doors lining the dueling grounds center opened up, and the healer that had previously taken care of The Doll came out. “The healer was on standby this whole time, and I'm sure even you can admit she is a far better healer than you.” The healer slowly moved towards Lukaz, who by this point had most visible wounds healed.
Malina gritted her teeth and moved out of the way, allowing the nurse to pick Lukaz up and carry him outside of the dueling grounds. She opened her mouth to speak, likely intending to continue accusing the headmaster of incompetence, but he spoke first, “I believe that it's time you allowed me to ask a question of my own, Regius. How would your father feel to hear you interrupted the sacred act of a duel?” Malina's face visibly fell from its previous confidence as the headmaster added on, "I'm sure he would hardly be happy with you; it may even be grounds to pull you from the academy.” His tone was consistently cold despite the clear edge he held towards Malina.
Malina brought her hands down to her side, clenching them into fists. It was clear that she wanted to say something, anything, but no words came to mind.
While Malina stood there in indecision, a red flash of light came from the wall where Darius had crashed straight towards Malina. Next to Malina a flash of multicolored shades shot out to meet the red light. Before The Doll could fully visualize the scene, Darius was lying on the ground with a small circular hole in his leg a few feet away from Malina.
It seemed that Malina hadn't fully noticed what happened either as she turned around in shock before a grin spread across her face. She unclenched her fists and brought her hand up to her mouth to cover up a signature giggle as she said, “You really don't know when to quit.” As if in response to Malina's taunt, Darius got up slowly his previous speed celarly hundred by the wound in his leg.
Malina only giggled further at the sight before saying, “May the ground itself stop your advance.” The sand beneath Darius suddenly began shifting like quick sand that sank Darius's feet into it, only stopping once they were completely submerged.
The headmasters spoke over top of Malina's giggles. "Ira, stop this foolishness; you can't attack a member of the crown.” His previously cold, emotionless voice now held a slight edge of frustration to it.
Darius, clearly not listening, used sheer strength to pull his feet out from the sand. After finishing this, he began charging towards Malina at a much slower pace than previously, allowing her to put her hand out towards him and say, “On my authority as the fourth in line to the crown, I command you.” Malina's eyes began to glow as she spoke and said, “Kneel.” Her voice, which already echoed throughout the crowd due to the projection rune, felt even further amplified than before.
It felt as if the projection rune was unnecessary.
As if everyone would have heard her regardless.
The moment the words left her lips, Malina's eyes ceased to glow as Darius immediately fell to one knee, the red aura that previously surrounded him dissipating immediately. Despite his previous aggression, Darius made no move to fight or stand; he merely stayed there on one knee, staring at Malina.
Malina turned away from Darius, looking back towards the faculty box. Darius fell to the ground as soon as Malina stopped looking at him. "I'm sure my father wouldn't be happy to hear I was mindlessly attacked. Let's forget this happened and just conclude the duel.” Malina giggled after saying this, clearly believing she had the headmaster at a standstill.
Malina's giggles echoed throughout the dueling grounds as everybody watched in silence. The headmaster coughed slightly to clear his throat before he simply said, “Very well, you have exceeded my expectations.” The Doll raised an eyebrow in confusion at the headmaster's choice of words. The Doll also noticed Malina look slightly confused, but before the words could fully settle, the headmaster spoke again, “The duel has concluded. Zephyr was defeated by Ira; as such, Ira now has the right to challenge Ashencroft to a duel.” The simple declaration was met with a silence by the crowd.
It was clear everybody present was shocked by the outcome.
But this silence didn't last long as cheers erupted throughout the dueling grounds. Quiet, tentative cheers at first, but slowly they become louder than anything. The Doll had heard before. The show had satisfied them, and they were all excited to see another. To see The Doll face off against this monster to see a member of a major family fight.
If only they knew The Doll couldn't use magic.
Seemingly embroiled by the cheers Darius got up from the ground he had been forced to by Malina and put one fist up to the sky, taking in the cheers. It was no big celebration, but it was clear he was basking in the cheers of those who once cheered against him.
While he stood there holding his fist up, the crowd continued to cheer.
The Doll's heart sank at the sight, knowing there was no more running; she had to find something, find a new answer. Lila reached over and held The Dolls hand in an attempt to comfort her. Malina turned around to look at The Doll and smiled, clearly happy that she had done what The Doll asked.
Darius put his fist down and stared The Doll directly in the eyes.
The Doll felt a feeling rise within her chest at the sight.
Fear.