Spirit Taming

"Monster!"

"Get that evil thing out of this city"

"Kill the monster!"

Many shouts like this were being rained down on the arena. But the ethereal academy student with the patchwork collector just seemed to laugh. But the laughs were of many voices. The mouths and other body parts stolen and tied together using the throbbing read threads connected to the patchwork collector beast were everywhere.

"Ohhhh, healer. Don’t you like my life here? Youuuu, healer, should know that I am alive because of what I do." The mocking tone using the little girl’s voice made Maria angered and angrier. Especially since the Ethereal academy student was directly mocking healing in general.

"You are not a healer nor a bringer of life. You use the dead. You are barely even delving in to necromancy. You will be an undead soon too. A worthless pile of rotting flesh. Just hope that you are buried somewhere rather than left to be eaten by beasts." Maria’s words were cold and icy. Even the air seemed warm compared to them.

"Well said my comrade. Then I will gladly lend you my fists to crush this monstrosity. Even my partner feels this is unnatural and deserving of its anger." The yeti was growling slightly. This was a mild reaction for some beasts, but for a yeti to growl even a little meant it was truly very angry at heart.

"They seem bound together with those red threads. They have to be attached to the heart that Clark warned me to kill. Do not let them touch you." Maria gave this warning before she began to dash in a wide circle getting a better view of the tamer and patchwork collector facing them.

The Yet in turn rushed towards the patchwork collector while the Nebula tamer aimed for the ethereal academy tamer’s side. The two were both powerful and appeared to be aiming to crush them with single punches each.

"Nooooo way you hit me!" The red threads arched out and smashed in to the ground. Attached to them were the finger bones of others. Immediately, the threads drew back and pulled the tamer and patchwork collector out of the way. "Seeeeee, you’re too slow." the mocking tone in a child’s voice was enough to cause anyone more anger or fear. It was cruel to force the dead’s voice to continue to speak.

Maria used the chance to dash in and attempt to strike, however, more red threads show out with sharpened finger bones at the ends. They seemed to be bone carved needles made so that they could easily sew in to body parts. "Nooooo no no. You can’t just sneak up like that."

There was a slight cough as the Nebula academy student was thrown through the air. Maria had played the distraction while the only hint that something was coming was the cough of air being forced out of the yeti.

The Nebula academy tamer had been tossed through the air and landed right on top of the Ethereal academy student. A single gravity boosted punch sent a sickening crack in to the air. Even the audience felt their faces grow pale hearing it. Any normal human would understand that a large bone had just been broken.

"Should I say ouch?" an older man’s voice mocked them. Another voice taken from the dead. "I lost my bones years ago and had my partner take new ones for me. This one cracking is nothing I can’t handle." an evil red glint flashed in the ethereal academy tamer’s eyes as he slashed forward with a bone knife.

The slash cut in to the Nebula academy student’s chest but didn’t seem to do much. The audience was able to see the true state of the ethereal academy student now though. His body was almost all patchwork. The few pieces of real living flesh were scarred and barely holding on. This student had clearly been the victim of an accident. But that had not been the end. So many lives, bodies, and who knew what else had come together to repair this student? So much evil had been brewed by him.

"Lit, use the strongest poison you can." Maria whispered to Lit under her breath. The royal cloak slapped around her catching the daggers in her hands. As all healers should, Maria had always diluted poison so that it was beneficial. Using the numbing poison to weaken pain and make people weak kneed or collapse was all she could do as a healer without crossing a line. But this was battle of death, not healing.

"Poison. So that’s what this is. Sorry, but my beast will be attacking with you. Not me." red lines extended from the Nebula academy student’s chest. The red lines were similar to the red threads but they were clearly bits of poison coming from the rotting bodies patchwork collector had stitched together.

"Oooohh no. he looks pretty hurt. I guess I will be taking that body for myself." the mocking tone made Maria grit her teeth. She hadn’t been so angry in a long time. How could someone treat other humans as just parts? She had healed others and brought them back to full health. How could someone directly opposing her exist like this. Hope could someone use any strength they had to just cut people in to parts as if they weren’t unique and valuable beings?

The sudden push off the ground from Maria made the arena beneath her tremble. She wasn’t as powerful as the yeti, but she had strength that surpassed her appearance. This alone was enough to propel her forward with both daggers.

The sudden speed wasn’t something many could counter at their age. The patchwork collector and the ethereal academy tamer felt their bodies take on the slashes of Maria’s anger. She slashed faster and faster to deliver more and more of Lit’s strongest poison to them.

The yeti appeared full of rage as well. Its roar shook the air itself before two clasped fists slammed down separating the ethereal academy tamer and the patchwork collector. The thing red threads still holding them together were the only connection they had.

"How about I break apart your scummy bond!" Maria screamed her insult as she slashed the red threads and watched the two before her struggle.

The patchwork collector appeared to finally be angrier and reacting properly. Many red threads surged around its body making it seem to be a bundle of yarn and disfigured body parts. But when it fell away and was just a pile, Maria was forced to turn and see the Yeti being attacked by red threads from the tamer.

"Ha! Idiots think that I wouldn’t bring my beloved collector inside my body to protect me? What do you think keeps my heart together?" The red threads touched what they all thought to be the body of the patchwork collector were a lie. Just a puppet made of body parts stuck together to hide the truth.

The yetis screeched out as it tried to tear away the red threads boring in to its body. The threads and sharpened bone needle swerve already trying to dissect it while it was alive. The only things stopping it were the tearing of the yeti’s fingers as it tried to pull the threads away. It was unable to move but seemed to understand something in its pain.

The following roar came as it anchored its feet in the arena floor. Maria saw this too. "So you can’t move but he can’t either." Maria saw that the yeti and its tamer were still one in mind. They were both glaring even though one had been poisoned and the other was being attacked from the inside out.

With this as her motivation, Maria ignored her strained muscles from forcing herself to use strength above what she should. Lit had been healing her but Maria’s body would struggle to keep up with such actions. That didn’t seem to matter though, she had used some of Lit’s poison in herself to handle the strain. She didn’t feel a thing as she dashed forward faster than before.

The next attack had Maria’s full force. Every ounce of strength stabbed in to the ethereal academy student’s body. For a moment, everyone held their breath, but the red threads didn’t stop. "So close, but so far." the ethereal academy student started to laugh but then the read threads stopped and a pained expression came over his face.

"The poison I used before was very condensed. I would never use it on someone because it could numb and even paralyze someone. But paralyzing your heart and your beast together is fine. You are a monster already. I just needed to add a second dose to create a proper overdose." Maria watched as the oxygen was used up in the ethereal academy student’s body. The red threads fell limp and the tamer was on the ground dead in minutes. "If your heart doesn’t beat, how can you live?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The cheers of the audience were grand but Maria was already forcing herself to walk to the Nebula academy student. The poison had started to spread too much and it was clear he needed more advanced attention.