Misunderstood Destinies (2)

Jargos was about to stirke with Layla when the Bone-Beast burst through the wall and tackled him

Layla watched Jargos get tackled. "Try the defensive. I've got a plan." Balthazar actually tossed her off of his back.

"So, the young lady has come back to accept her fate?"

"In your dreams."

Jargos started on the defensive, but after a hard hit to the chest, he snapped and went on the offensive

Layla jumped up quickly as Balthazar came at her. They locked into combat until they were pushing against each other's arm to knock the other down.

"Face it. You're mortal."

"I'm a mortal, but I'll be known as the mortal that kicked your ar**."

A few minutes went by. Layla was tossed backwards and Balthazar held her down. "My body weight against yours. You are outmatched. Show me what you've got, child."

Jargos was on the upper hand, and actually winning, but he saw that Lay la was in trouble and his instinct told him to help, but the Bone-Beast caught him by the saddle, then he was thrown back

Layla started feeling dizzy for a moment when Balthazar put his hand against her neck.

"What magic is this?" she asked. She then noticed the crown on his head glimmer.

"The crown, dear. Feel its energy mixed with mine? It will drain every ounce of magic you have within you should you choose not to fight back."

She couldn't focus, but she knew where her pocket knife was hidden. Pulling it from the tie around her waist, she flicked it open and shoved it into his stomach. When he lifted off of her, she took the chance to get away from him. "We're in serious trouble, alright." She balanced against her staff. "You won't get the best of me. Not this time." Layla took the knife and made a diagonal and thin line on her hand with it. Putting pressure in her hand, it drew blood. She had a trick up her sleeve as well.

Jargos' saddle was torn off and it freed him up immensly, after which he began to bash the Bone-Beast's skulls in

Layla made a symbol on her hand with the blood. It was stinging intensely. She said a chant in a language of her people. An aura surrounded her body. Layla started bashing attacks against Balthazar. "We're going to need to do something soon, Jargos. Either we take this as a one on one attack or we hope on a miracle that both of us can attack our solo opponents to take down. "

Jargos threw the Bone-Beast back into the wall then shifted down into his true form

Balthazar was pulling the aura from her body. The magic couldn't hold as long as he was using all the energy in the crown. Layla was forced to use her knife as a weapon seeing as she left her staff a little far from arm reach. Balthazar was quick to dodge. He eventually pulled a much larger knife from his pocket to defend.

"You and your friend. Why come?"

"To save Garlan. That's why. To get the crown back to the Royal Family."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Like this."

She reached up and pulled the crown from his head. As she did, a sharp pain went through her. She felt frozen for a moment as she breathed in sharply. Layla didn't dare look at Balthazar. She was blinded by the pain to see him. Following the sound of Jargos' movements, she tossed the crown toward him to signal he was weaker now.

"Take the crown, Jargos! Don't let him get it!" Despite it was unknown to Layla as to how to channel magic in the crown, the best choice was to keep it away. When Layla looked back to Balthazar and then down to the blade that had been forced into her upper stomach.

"You little sneak," he stated with anger in his eyes.

Layla smiled faintly. "Check," she stated, referring to Chess.

Jargos roared out

"Layla!"

He charged forward and took the crown from Layla before biting into Balthozar, sinking his jaws into his shoulder

Layla quickly pulled back from Balthazar before the collision. "Keep the crown away," she stated. "The less power he has, the better." Layla knew she'd lose consciousness soon if she didn't get the wound under control, seeing as it was bleeding fairly heavy, but had to wait for the moment of the beast and Balthazar to merge. To trick them into merging to launch the final attack.

Jargos sank his fangs deep into Balthozar and then tossed him high into the air before the Bone-Beast tackled him again

Layla started forming a sphere in her hand. She ran as quick as she could, pouncing into the air, and landed a blow to Balthazar. She fell back to the ground and still stood on two feet. "It isn't enough to keep him down, and he wounded me to lessen the blows."

Jargos threw the Bone-Beast back and attacked it again

Balthazar stood back up and locked back into combat with Layla. She kept throwing magic after magic. He started taunting her. Annoying her.

"Call off your creature. I won't kill you if you do."

"That's a no-can-do. I need both of you dead to rule. I thought I had finished off your partner in the fight before and you gave up. I see I should've double checked my catch."

Layla was getting angry. The aura that still remained around her was turning a red-ish tint. "You won't win. Not by my hand, and I'm sure Jargos would say the same for him."

Jargos roared as he pummeled the regenerating Bone-Beast. Something snapped in him between the last fight and this one and it was clear that without the regeneration Jargos would have already won the fight several times over

Layla formed another sphere in her hand, but she was unsure if she'd have enough power it. She was light-headed. "This is getting harder to focus on."

Jargos threw caution to the wind and ran over to Layla and created a heat shimmer to shield them

Layla silently thanked Jargos, then said, "We're going to have to do something soon. That wound isn't going to be the end of me, I swear on it, but it's still a struggle to maintain anything. If we're going to launch our ultimate attack, I'm hoping it's going to be soon." The sphere shattered in her hand. Layla cursed under her breath.

A voice spoke to Layla, though she hoped Jargos could hear it as well. "Remember, you are not destined to die. The more you say you are, the closer you come to altering your own fate without even realizing it. Your inner energy is your strongest magic. Use it to your advantage. Even the magic of the elements could aid you."

Jargos held his hand out, telling her he was ready to channel

Layla nodded and took his hand. "I have no clue how effective magic will be against him with the power he has. It's worth a shot, though." She started forming a sphere in her hand to the best she could. "Ancient magic of the elf and the rune. It's going to take everything."

Jargos nodded and brought forth all his might and all his fury, injecting the sphere with all the power he could muster

Layla pulled all the power she could into the attack. She was struggling to maintain consciousness by this point but was doing all she could. It wasn't the severity of the wound, just the strength of the pain and blood loss. "I've done all I can to it."

"I've got your back. We can do this!" Jargos roared out as the heat shimmer faded, revealing that Balthozar had already fused with the Bone-Beast and was readying an attack of his own