"No." Leraj slapped his blade onto mine and forced it to the ground.

I scowled up at him, tearing my blade out from underneath his. "I can take him. Easily."

"Estra, a coordinated attack would be better." The words were more commanding than pleading.

"So?" I turned back to Helbram and stepped towards him only to have Leraj yank me back by my forearm.

"So maybe listen to me when I say that four on one is better than one on one in this case."

"Let go of me," I growled, bristling with magic. It skimmed along my skin. He held me tight even as sparks danced between the contact. "You guys can be on backup. I'll take him down and that way, everyone's fine in case trouble decides to show up."

"You can't really be following that logic," he said.

I huffed. "Of course not, Leraj. It's supposed to console you into letting me go." Like I thought he'd fall for it; he was definitely smarter than that. "I'm greedy through and through, what did you expect?"

"More. I'm telling you now, Estra. You cannot win this battle in your current state. Not alone. Take a word of advice from someone who's lived a lot longer than you and seen much more – we are fighting Helbram together."

I levelled Leraj with a withering look that he didn't back down from. "I don't need my full strength to beat him. This should be my fight."

"You sure you're not the sin of Pride? Honestly, your ego's bigger than your head."

I gnashed my teeth, staring off into the distance with an irritated twitch in my jaw. Of course he was right, when wasn't he? But something inside me didn't want to share this battle. The greed ran deep in my veins and it was hard to pull away from the calling in my heart.

"Seriously you two, have you forgotten we're in the middle of a battle?" Howzer asked, looking highly uncomfortable.

"Worse than a married couple," Guila added.

My cheeks blazed with embarrassment. "We aren't married!" We both shouted.

"Leraj is right, Estra, we have to focus on Helbram together," Guila told me, with Howzer sealing the deal with a nod.

"Majority wins," Leraj quipped and I scowled up at him.

"If you're quite done with your lover's quarrel," Helbram said.

"We aren't lo-"

Helbram stabbed his sword into the ground and raising a hand. Two fingers pointed towards us and everyone shifted stance.

Leraj released me and we readied our blades. "I concede – four on one would work optimally, but I call dibs on the first attack. And the second, third and final," I said quickly, the words tumbling out.

"Call of Inferno!" Black mist spewed from the ground, instantly sidled down the alley and the building walls. It slid over my skin, not like fog, like slime. It was odourless though, totally unlike smoke or fog or anything earthly.

"What is this?" I asked Helbram, tightening my grip on my sword. A tickle began in my throat, a need to cough but I wouldn't be distracted.

"Don't breathe it in!" Leraj said.

"This- this black fog," Helbram started to say then he hacked. We spun to see him spluttering blood out through his lips. "The power of death. Are you insane? What happens if there are people who haven't left here yet?" He wheezed, falling against the wall.

"You-!" I clutched at my throat with a hand, blood pooling in my mouth, my legs turned to jelly. My nose bled over my lips. Someone had claws in my stomach, a pair of sharpened claws tearing without care at my insides.

The mist thickened, like black smoke from a poisonous fire. Leraj fell to a knee, head bowed, blood smattered on the ground. Guila sunk down against the wall, face clenched in agony and blood dripping out of her mouth. Even Jericho was not safe, still on all fours hacking up her lungs.

I groaned in agony, trembling, unable to do anything except stand in place. If we stayed here, if he kept doing this, we'd die. Everyone would die. Then my thoughts jumbled, taken over by the black fog. My knees buckled once and I stabbed my sword tip into the ground as a crutch, swaying dangerously to either side.

I couldn't let that happen.

"Whether I'm sane or insane, does it honestly matter in the end?" Helbram questioned "Either way, you're all about to go down writhing in pain."

"No." I straightened, forcing one leg then the other in front of each other. "I won't... I won't let you," I rasped. The fog curdled around my legs and I felt like I waded through mud. My muscles protested, cramping and straining against the poison in my system. Phantom hands tried to hold me, but I fought the heavy, crushing fatigue pressing down on my chest. "I won't let you!" Bloody spittle flew through my gritted teeth.

He stood still, unmoving. I moved within a few feet, sweat dripping off me from the effort. I raised my sword arm with the other, too weak to do much else. All I needed to do was cast one spell, something to blow it all away. But I could not concentrate, the Mana unyielding to my call.

A sadistic grin spread across his face, raising his other hand to me. "You just never learn to quit, do you?"

A blast of black obscured my vision and I shielded my face helplessly with an arm. My legs quivered to a stop, sword tip dragging in the dirt. The pain... Another blast, stronger, volatile, and all consuming pain rendered me immobile. My breath escaped.

Fire scorched my throat.

Lightning cracked behind my eyes.

Smoke in my lungs.

Acid and ice burning through my blood.

Pins and needles that turned to fire ants eclipsing my body.

A roaring in my ears sent my eyes rolling into the back –

BANG!

"I don't think so! I won't let anyone die!"

The sheer, sweet relief toppled me. I sat whimpering on my haunches, hands clawed on the cobblestone. My vision tunnelled and blurred on the ground not choked by black smoke. Bloody tears flowed down my cheeks.

"Estra, are you okay?" Diane asked, her voice muffled, laced with concern.

"Estra!" Hands cupped my face and raised my head. Diane stood with a fist planted on the ground and Leraj knelt before me. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth, worriment in his eyes. "Hey, Fox, you're okay, you're okay," he muttered almost like a pray, pushing limp hair from my face. My eyes fluttered shut and I felt his forehead press to mine.

I didn't recognise my own voice when I said, "Helbram better be fucking dead or I'm going to rip his fucking throat out." Venom dripped from it, black anger twisting itself around my heart.

"Howzer, I want you to take this boy and run," Diane said, and I looked up. She knelt over the knights and us, holding the boy on her hand. He hesitated, staring at her hand, and Guila pushed her way forward, dropping her lance.

"Ziel," she said with such care as she scooped the child into her arms.

"Help me up, Leraj." The demon was under my arm, lifting me onto wobbly legs. The clear air cleansed my lungs but the ache inside couldn't be soothed. Being run over by a heavy wagon drawn by powerful draught horses would hurt less. This was more on the scale of being punched by Meliodas again except this time I didn't pass out to escape.

"Quit screwing around," Howzer said and with I start, I noticed he was crying. "Why are you always doing this? Saving others all the time? You should think about yourself once in a while."

Her tired, purple eyes twinkled just a little and Diane smiled.

"Diane, are you okay?" I asked.

"You're one stubborn giant!" Helbram's voice cut through us all. I reached for my mana in preparation, only to have it evade my grasp.

A gust of icy air shoved Diane's fist up. A spear of ice slammed into her, driving her into the side of the building. I cried out, sliding out from underneath Leraj's arm and running towards her.

"Diane, no!" Howzer's shout followed me.

I tripped right before her, scraping my hands and knees, sword falling from my grasp and skittering away. "Diane!" I screamed, the dust clearing. My breath caught in my throat.

Like a nail in the wall, Diane sat splayed, the ice embedded in her stomach. Was she still alive? She wasn't moving. I couldn't tell if she was breathing. I opened my mouth to wake her but only a strangled sound came out of my throat.

Helbram laughed. It echoed in my ears, a tormenting cackle that raised my hackles. A flicker of hot anger helped me to my feet. When I turned, Helbram stood with a wall of ice daggers forming above his head. I planted myself in the middle. Fire coursed through my veins and I opened my hands and held them out towards the knight.

"Stop, please!" Guila pleaded.

"Don't do it!" Howzer yelled.

"Estra, get out of the way!" Leraj shouted to me.

"I won't let you hurt her anymore," I growled, Mana sparking along my skin. I'll fight until my last breath. I'll fight so they can live. I have to. I need to.

The daggers flew.

My arms opened wide and sent a shimmering, multilayered haze before us like a mighty shield.

"Firework!" I screamed, colours fizzing amongst the booming cacophony, a chain reaction of blasts. I roared, forcing each and every single blast to be stronger than the last.

My heart thundered in my ears, pacing the continuing blasts, urging them to hold back the never ending ice barrage. I couldn't let them through or Diane would die. We would die. And everyone would suffer the consequences. The thought fuelled me on, and I held back the wall with all my strength.

I'll hold on for as long as I need to!

That was when I realised too late, with a startling, stomach clenching thought, that my Mana was spiralling away like water down a drain. A ragged gasp escaped my throat, my limbs shaking with exertion, the booms echoing in my ears.

A glimmer in the corner of my eye, two, three, six, ten. Too many to count. The ice collected the colours, rainbow kaleidoscopes drenching the surfaces, as they sliced through the gaps in my weakening shield.

Too slow, not enough.

"No, Diane!" I thrust my hand towards one in feeble hope of stopping it.

The daggers shattered, miniscule shards falling gently to the ground. I stared at my hand in wonder but I could tell instantly that this had not been my doing.

My gaze soared up to the fairy hovering between Diane and I. 

A/N: I swear, these chapters are shortish when I complete them and then I run through final edits and manage to find another 500 words xD