Poppy knew that Chase was going to be killed, if she didn't do anything.
In all honesty she kind of liked the Stray.
Sure at times he was a terrible human being, but who could blame him. In fact, she wasn't much better herself.
It wasn't her fault that her entire purpose in life was to assassinate people that her mother didn't like.
She had even protested against it before leaving, but if she had continued to rebel then she wouldn't have even gotten to attend an academy.
After all she was only a bastard, wearing the name of the family that wasn't even hers.
She still couldn't move, as the monster came closer.
It was obvious that her mother was taking her sweet time, drawing closer with every one of the trembling breaths that escaped Poppy's lips.
Completely paralyzed, she glanced at the one sided battle taking place only ten or so meters away.
Chase was fighting a man with orange hair, and a massive battle axe.
He looked kind of familiar, as if one day long ago She had seen him.
The man was very handsome and wore golden armor, embedded with the sigil of a Phoenix on the Chestplate.
Then everything seemed to click for the first time in forever, it was like all of the pieces had aligned after Chase had spoken a single word.
"Father..."
It all made sense now...
Why her mother had ordered her to come to this academy, and take the life of a boy named Chase.
He was the heir of the number one rival to the House of Aries...
'He is a Phoenix...'
She thought, which had seemed to break his paralysis, just as the hand of her mother was about to grace her cheek.
She smacked the hand out of her face, and tightened her grip on the spear.
Bring the diamond-shaped blade valiantly up to her mother's face, which was followed by a terrible hiss.
Her spear barely grazed off of the woman's forehead, and then she back away before Poppy could even blink.
This gave her the opportunity to intrude on the other battle taking place.
She was already in the air, when the battle axe was about to crush Chase's skull.
Her spear knocked the topaz axe out of the way, before it could meet the Stray head on.
He looked to be in terrible pain, but was still trying to stand.
"Stop it... Just stay down, I can handle them."
She protested against the boy's unwavering arrogance.
Chase had been biting his lip quite hard, which she only had noticed when a large flow of blood began to drip down from his mouth.
"Shut the hell up..."
He growled.
Poppy clenched her teeth.
Chase stabbed his cobalt blade into the crimson dirt, and pulled himself up by its handle.
"This one isn't yours to fight..."
He said, his voice growing darker with every word.
Then he did something that Poppy had never expected.
"What the hell are you doing!?"
Flames began to dance around the boy's body as he began to chant something that she couldn't quite make out.
Or maybe it was just him cursing everything in sight, she really couldn't tell.
"FATHER!"
He screamed, as a terrible grin found its way onto his pale face.
A laugh escaped the male mimic's twisted mouth, that was followed by a non-verbal agreement between the two of them.
Poppy then did the only thing reasonable, and stepped away from her original target.
Then her eyes locked onto her mother's stary blue eyes.
"You do know... Your sister would have been able to do the job a lot quicker than you ever could have."
She took a deep breath, and smiled at her bastard.
"Perhaps, the job would have been done only a few days after I sent her away."
Poppy frowned, feeling every inch of her body radiate terror.
"Don't you ever pretend to be a monster, far worse than you could ever be..."
She growled at the mimic, raising her spear elegantly in front of her torso.
Her arms were tired, and her rib had already been broken from the painful fall from earlier.
But she was also glad she had used her only potion on Chase...
If he really was fighting someone from that bloodline, then he was going to need anything he could get his hands on.
She made a silent prayer, hoping that he would be able to fight a similar demon as hers was.
Then she blinked, and a curved moon-shaped blade was already soaring toward her face.
Out of instinct, she lifted the spear only to instantly meet the backlash of her mother's strength.
Poppy's hands rung from the pain, but she did not yield.
She spun the spear into her other hand, dropping her mother's blade to a lower guard.
Spinning the staff once more, this time vertically.
The diamond-shaped blade slit her mother's flawless skin.
Her throat began to spill with green tainted blood, and her grin turned sour.
Mimics weren't supposed to regenerate, so she was quite surprised to see the minimal reaction from the monster pretending to be her mother.
The crescent blade the pierced Poppy's abdomen, and the entire world came to a stop.
Pain...
She had always hated pain.
Her mother had always been sure to implant that hatred into her since she was little.
There was a reason she was seeing her mother, instead of some monster from the depths of Tartarus.
A dangerous fury rose from Poppy's heart, but then a flash of blue blurred her vision for a moment.
Then the grin on her mother's face came to a stop, and shifted into a frown.
Next thing Poppy knew, one of the arms of her mother began to slide off of her shoulder.
A terribly gruesome slash was all that remained in its wake.
Chase had bought her a single moment, one that she desperately needed...