Troy’s life changed in the moments after Almarine rose to her feet. Many would try what the orphan mother achieved in the next moment, but only one would succeed, and that was Troy herself. “What’s happening?” Troy looked away from the fight below, and toward her own flatscreen. Originally the group collected on the wall needed the broadcasts of the fight to hear the combatants conversation, but that changed once the two women started to exchange blows. The cameras above were able to slow both the combat and the spoken words down to a heart pumping inducing speed that captivated the realm as a whole. Then it seemed that Almarine didn’t like to be called out, as now… now she hounded Jade of CloudLake with an unrelenting assault. Troy rewinded the recording on her screen multiple times. The sight of clones being made of Almarine was unbelievable, the full body constructions made of a deep blue and silver light that flickered across the bodies of the copies as they stepped free of her core. Almarine was already mid motion as this began, and none gathered expected any of what occurred next. The clothesline that took Jade off her feet was powerful enough to extend the field they fought in by a few yards further. Still horizontal and being dragged through the air, Jade’s eyes widened at the sight of the clone that appeared above her, two legs aimed at her torso. Almarine’s clone landed and Jade’s body was slammed into the ground below. The woman performed a kip up to avoid being stomped on by the multiple figures Troy assumed Jade saw. They were reflected in motion at the edges of her vision even while being slowed on screen, easily captured by the vividness of the hologram's imagery displayed. Once vertical, however, she wasn’t even able to balance herself before Almarine spartan-kicked Jade in the chest. It was Jade sent through the air this time, but before she was allowed to land she hit something as hard as a wall. It wasn’t until the wall began to move and wrap its arms around Jade, that she realized it wasn’t a wall but another clone of the Orphan Mother. “Embers and demons,” said Jade on screen. Her actual body still moving far too fast to be seen by the mortal eye. Troy couldn’t believe what she was seeing, nor could many who watched. “It's only because the Jade took off her armor, this wouldn’t happen otherwise, right?” Troy had been joking when she’d asked herself the question, but from the murmurs around her, she knew many others clung to the same belief. “I’m going to make you take me seriously, the realm seems to believe that what I am fighting for has no value, but you will believe it does by the time you leave here, win or lose,” said Almarine. Dozens of punches and kicks blurred so quickly on screen that the many forms of Almarine looked like a storm of blue and silver mana rather than separate clones that aided Almarine. Jade’s body bounced off of the clone that held it in place like a dropped bag of open bouncy balls, and within that moment the realm took a breath almost all at once. While those who knew the tides of battle, knew the fight to be far from over, the children behind her, the very unused and most prominent source of her currently displayable power, knew not what she was capable of, nor what they were to her. The reality may be that her core was charged by them merely living or being alive while being close to her, but the same was said for the trees, and the birds, and insects alike. No Almarine depended on her charges to keep her humane. Help her feel joy and laugh. She’d never used the life force of her charges, she’d never needed to. Nor would she start now. Troy looked between the holograms projections, and the unmoved armor that Jade had left behind, wondering if the woman should have ever taken the equipment off. Then a single arm reached from within the storm of clones and grabbed the copy behind Jade by the neck. The overhead slam would have been enough to disperse many of the clones around the woman, but her followup punch that struck the ground was more than necessary to even the playing field. Jade’s pace increased again, and again, and again. Many cultivators were aware of what was happening just by watching, but Troy was not one of them. Jade went from being struck each and every single time Almarine chose to strike out. To blocking occasionally, and now even managed to counter progressively more and more with each blink of time that passed. The fight was moving so quickly that Troy feared missing a single instant. She’d rewound enough already that where she was within the fight was behind the others nearby, which she found annoying as her peers yelled about things she hadn’t seen yet. The sharp inhalations that came from all around her as she strained to keep her eyes opened, ended up being completely justified. Almarine was amidst an all out slug fest with another immortal, and all who were there to bare witness were frozen as the strongest known female fighter in all the realms, was made stronger by engaging with the Orphan Mother of Maelstrom. “I like you, old lady!” The excitement that could be seen on Jade's face made even Troy want to fight. Almarine’s own returned smile made a cheer go out within the orphan ranks. And the clash between Troy’s now two favorite fighters, continued. “Anyone seen Seven, I need to put some money on this…” … Almarine was having the time of her life. She couldn’t remember fighting like this since prior to even the birth of her first son, Arkanous. She’d been in the lower realms then, and had far less access to mana, but now… “Let's see if you are worthy of my father’s blood,” roared Almarine lost in the elation a warrior felt within the heart-pumping thrill of combat. Jade started to speed up even further, teleporting all over the small field they fought within. Only seen even on screen in the moments that her strikes were blocked, or avoided by Almarine’s subtle movements, Jade pulsed with a black energy each time she vanished, only to reappear in the middle of another attack elsewhere. Tinges of gold and crimson could be seen lacing the black energy that surrounded Jade and Almarine knew that if she didn’t end the fight soon, the tide of battle may shift in a way that she wouldn’t be able to recover from. Definitely a daughter of Omni… Just as Almarine’s own power came from the environment around her, every other member of the Omni family gathered power in a near identical way. She’s either growing with every blow I land on her, or every blow she lands on me, either way, this could get ugly quick. Less and less of the flash was used in each of Jade’s strikes. Normally fanciful kicks with added spins for flare, had been trimmed to cause pain, distract, or guard against the actions of Almarine’s clones. Then Jade began to use skills and magic, and the entire scale of the duel was flipped. Two clones managed to grab Jade by the arms and pull her downward. Almarine moved in and grabbed Jade by the neck before she could break free, and the two struggled for what looked like a handful of moments of jolted movements and yanks, that couldn’t have actually lasted for more than a fraction of an instant. Jade laughed, and her entire body turned into water. She twisted and slid free of all three grapples simultaneously. The single maneuver resulting in a gravity defying heel drop that landed across Almarine's face and once more sent her flying. This time directly into the dump. “Embers and sparks!” said Troy. The wall now silent as they all looked up to see the destruction take place first hand. Entire trash heaps barreled over and exploded when Almarine was sent through them. Jade could then be seen walking normally. The attacks from the clones now ignorable, due to the young woman’s adaptation of blocking in the same manner Almarine had since the beginning of the fight. Two fingers were used to send one clone's kick slightly toward another clone's head. That was enough to make the projection burst into dark blue light. Jade immediately swept a kick through the air and took out the other clone as well as disbursed the blue energy that had the tendency to reform back into a full bodied opponent if left alone. “Will somebody tell me what’s going on here?” Troy looked back for an answer to her question and saw a familiar face incapable of looking away from her own screen unlike the majority who looked up at her, muttering to herself with each action shown on the broadcast. None of the people who returned her questioning stare returned anything beyond blank looks, or shrugs of their own. The silver haired girl who analyzed her screen intently however spoke up after Troy’s gaze settled on her for longer than a brief moment of recognition. “What,” asked the girl Troy thought to be named, Semi, or Xani maybe. “Nothing, just don’t get what is going on here and won’t figure it out by just throwing random questions in the air,,” said Troy, trying to watch the fight on the girl’s closely held flatscreen as she looked at her. “Well, you seem to be doing well so far,” responded the girl rudely. Troy crossed her arms, and stared daggers at the silver haired girl, until she sighed, and rolled her eyes in a way that made her think of Almarine. “”It seems that Almarine is a far better fighter than even this Jade, but Jade is a fast learner, like statistically unfathomably fast,” said the girl Troy now remembered to be named Xani without a doubt. The precise way of speaking was common amongst the Bookish, and it clicked for Troy mentally where she’d seen her before. “Hey, you're that girl I caught reading books in Momma Almarine’s office that one day like five season cycles ago,” said Troy in excited realization of where she’d seen the girl before. Not many of the orphans could read, or write, so the girl stood out to Troy both then and now. “What, no you didn’t… wait, maybe you did but mind not spreading that so loosely, word of mouth is a big deal, ya know,” stated Xani Seriously, looking at the other nearby orphans on the wall alongside them that now stared in growing interest. “Noted, my lips are sealed. Anything else you can tell me? I want to learn how to fight like them one day,” said Troy with a fearsome gaze on her face as she looked over her shoulder. Eyes again locked in on the battle, Jade’s slow jaunt still viewable to the naked eye. “Almarine is either holding back, or being held back by something, and unfortunately the only thing I can think of is us maybe being so close…,” said Xani aloud before her words trailed off. Troy felt maybe that she’d come to the epiphany as she’d spoken, but then Xani obliterated that idea with her next statement. “Spark it, we can’t risk it. You gonna help me clear the wall or what?” Troy looked around at the others around the pair who were obviously listening and equally as confused as Troy. “What, I mean I—“ Xani rolled her eyes again before she took action into her own hands entirely. “What do you mean Graveyard put bombs all over the perimeter wall to threaten momma Almarine,” yelled Xani straight faced and directly staring at Troy who pointed to herself even further confused. “Are you still talking to me,” whispered Troy questioned in a conspiratorial fashion. By that point though, the task had been done. A chain of gossip had already started to make its way through the crowd, and Xani’s next actions only sealed her solo equivalent to a fire alarm of a plan being a success. She bolted through the crowd screaming for her life. A single word echoed as she ran and screamed it over and over until panic set in like a wildfire amongst the orphans. “Bomb!” Troy looked around at the others beside her. Most both knew that there weren’t any bombs, nor had any reasons to help the chaotic mess brewing around themselves, yet when tempted… “Might as well sell it, guys,” said Troy before she ran after Xani yelling her own rendition of danger and mayhem. “Run!” “Bloody embers, bomb! Run!” Troy smiled at the voice she heard yell behind herself while she ran to catch up to Xani, running as if her life were truly on the line. “Run!” … Almarine pulled from the mounds of trash around her. Weapons of various styles and types lifted from the detritus in a threat, all in constant motion. A deadly pattern created a deadly dome extending the range of her combat capabilities threefold. “This is going to be interesting,” said Jade. The woman dove head first into the range of spears, swords, and even great hammers. Using the two fingered deflection technique that Almarine had perfected Jade was able to cleanly enter back into Almarine’s own striking range. Through the use of sporadic teleportation and perfectly timed counters this hadn’t taken her long to achieve. In fact Almarine knew that the woman would have been able to close in far more quickly if she wasn’t dissecting every weapon Almarine pulled from the trash. Her obvious interest growing with every new addition to the swarm Almarine used. Eventually Jade stopped, caught a sword from the air, dispelled Almarine's mana from the weapon and began to use it herself. The stellar use of a sword came as a shock to Almarine for the moment it took her to remember whose daughter she was. “By my own maiden-forsaken luck, she’s a Fury," cursed Almarine mentally remembering how her own son had beaten his fellow slaves nearly to death his first time with a blade in hand. “You really are the daughter of Arkanous, aren’t you,” said Almarine with a smile the moment she was forced to block a heavy overhead slash that would have bisected her if she hadn’t caught the blade between both palms. The two women locked in a struggle of will and physical strength. “Born and raised,” said Jade with an undertone of grit in her voice that Almarine couldn’t ignore after centuries of nurturing children. The blade slipped in that moment and every orphan across Maelstrom froze at the sight. Thousands left unblinking as the blade slid toward Almarine. The Orphan Mother forced to do something she hadn’t wanted to no matter how strong Jade was. Almarine extended her core, and right at the moment the blade was going to take her head from her shoulders, allowed the energy within to encompass her entire being. “Gotcha!”
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