A/N: Apologies for the missed day. Power was dead and I had no internet access or battery charge in the laptop.****Lev hopped in place, over a hundred meters away from his opponent. No soreness, no lingering pains, no signs of the aura burn. He felt ready.
Stargazer thrummed with lightning mana. Using fire against the warrior would be foolish, so he commanded a part of his willpower to convert his mana at all times passively. The rate would dry his pool in fifteen minutes, which might as well be an eternity. He would probably lose long before that.
In front, Aurora calmly watched him. Her gaze wasn’t hostile, not even creepy anymore. She just stared in his general direction, and Lev’s muscles instinctively stiffened.
He really wanted to see the best she had to offer. Just how cool would it be to get his ass kicked that way? Sure, he would be roasted non-stop, but that was a price he was willing to pay.
While Lev also wanted to re-enchant his armor, that could wait. The spar was going to test its limits further, and the tiny improvements wouldn’t have mattered with his usual set of enchantments. He had no plans to only use runes that countered fire, either.
Here goes nothing.
Wreathed in blue, he closed the distance in a blink, Stargazer swinging. Her weight was increased to a ridiculous degree right before impact. Aurora’s rapier… didn’t bend, or even budge. The ground beneath her feet exploded, yet her arm only flinched once, countering all that force.
Lev gulped. He could feel her smile very clearly from underneath the powered armor.
At least I tried—
A kick to his chest like before, and he was blown off like a beach ball. This time, however, Aurora gave him no quarter. Her body enhancement turned overwhelming, banishing all thoughts Lev had about facing her in melee.
Lightning flooded his armor. Absorbing his own kinetic energy to right himself, he touched the ground once. Firing a firebolt from his arm as a distraction for her to absorb, he sent a torrent of mana into barrier ropes.
Unfazed, Aurora cut through them deftly, landing in front of Lev, who still didn’t move. Blocking her probing thrust, he left some flames to touch his armor. The skin below sizzled, but a bit of the element was absorbed, proving that his enchantments could still overwhelm her control. He noted that for the future.
Instantly on the back foot, he blocked, evaded, and deflected as best as he could. Parrying might as well be a distant dream against his opponent. Lev tried his best to keep her busy, all the while her curiosity mounted.
After all, Lev was using a lot of mana, except all of it was hidden from sight. She likely couldn’t even feel a tenth of it. It was teleported away immediately.
Just as she rushed him to end the spar again, Lev made his move. Orbs materialized in front of her, hidden by a large amount of shadow mana.
She slashed one, absorbed the lightning from another, only for twenty more to surround her. Left without a choice, she barreled forward, only for a huge shieldwall to drop in front of her. For once, the rapier struggled to cut it in two.
Aurora’s eyes narrowed. Flames burst out of her like a storm, destroying a few orbs prematurely. More barrier ropes reached her, and then Lev sprang his trap.
All around her, invisible pillars became visible. The first were enchanted with kinetic energy runes, closest to Aurora. Further away were lightning absorption pillars, mixed in with others that absorbed flames from explosions.
The noblewoman, however, did not seem at all worried. Her brows rose slightly at the amount of mana on display, then she adopted a stance, ready to face the whole world.
Alright, then. Let’s see what makes the Red Streak so famous.
Lev began by detonating several lightning orbs. Pushed to the side, Aurora slashed upwards, bisecting half of the ropes with a Fire Slash. Flames exploded beneath her feet, empowering her legs as she kicked the massive shieldwall to the side.
The raw physical strength was enough to counter Lev’s mental power, but the blast on contact overwhelmed it entirely. Like a bullet, she closed the remaining distance, and that was when the closest pillars flared brightly.
In a sphere, all kinetic energy was siphoned. Aurora staggered slightly, caught off guard. Two more pillars flashed, though she controlled herself in time, eyes trained on the barrier mage. Lev himself just created more distance as the bubble above turned, aiming one of his cannons downward.
Aurora felt the power of the charged shot. As if acknowledging that things could get dicey in that state, she nodded slightly. Then her aura became stronger.
…What?
Lev watched, mouth ajar, as even brighter red flames took shape around her. Her speed also rose sharply, and suddenly, the distance between them wasn’t enough.
The cannon beam missed. Lev triggered more kinetic pillars, leery of the mana usage. Without a proper formation, indiscriminately absorbing kinetic energy in a sphere was grossly inefficient. He had to be mindful of the draw on his pool.
She slowed slightly, except this time, her flames remained unaffected. Lev knew that she would catch up within seconds at that rate. A new rune appeared on his pillars, connecting them with his other traps that took form rapidly.
Coming to a stop, he held up Stargazer. Aurora’s rapier screeched against it a blink later, just barely redirected. Stepping back to avoid a knee, Lev let go of his glaive. Moving in, his first punch was avoided easily, and he experienced the gap between them quite keenly.
Her hand barely brushed against his arm, and Lev was suddenly tripping towards the ground. Only Stargazer firing a Fracturing Wave through his mental manipulation saved him from being punctured.
She’s still holding back so much, Lev sighed in his head. And what for? She knows that I can blow her up, and yet she closes the distance every time. Why is she so confident?
Lev wasn’t going all out yet. Far from it. It would be foolish to go all in without observing the opponent first. But Aurora was constantly pressing him, not at all wary of his Wisdom Boost or the strength displayed by his aura.
She’s taunting me.
And it was working. His blood was starting to boil a little. She was, ultimately, still a human. There was a limit to what she could handle, and now, Lev felt obligated to remind her of that.
Grabbing Stargazer by the pole, he sent a massive Fracturing Wave her way. She tried to dodge, but it exploded prematurely. Engulfed by the explosion, she reacted in time when Lev powered through the flames. Her rapier felt slower to his senses now. Wreathed in lightning, Lev’s armor moved as a blur, his glaive slapping away the rapier and shooting towards her heart.
Behind Aurora, a shieldwall appeared to block her retreat. Flames devoured it just as she dodged Stargazer, stepping in the path of a barrier spike. It grew in a blink, and the moment it extended to its full length, the formations carved atop it came alive.
Lev overloaded several kinetic pillars around them. One of the combatants was more prepared, and he took advantage of the slowed adversary. Shooting another Fracturing Wave at her, he tracked the progress of his recent Connection rune.
On the spike, the first rune flared. It connected to the one on the cannon atop his bubble. With Lev’s input, it aimed, just as another connection snapped into place.
A cluster of orbs was suddenly infused with lightning. They even drained several cores slotted in his bubble. Their reserves were constantly converted into lightning by his willpower.
Several more connections formed in the second it took for Aurora to overwhelm Lev in melee again. She felt the danger clearly this time, and her rapier was aimed at his vitals.
Lev, for his part, just tried to survive for a few instants. Deep cuts appeared on his armor, and his fleshy left arm hung uselessly despite the constant healing. It was a worthwhile trade.
The barrage started without preamble. One moment, the skies were clear, and the next, a rain of orbs fell atop the combatants. Aurora disintegrated many with a wave of flames, but Lev controlled the rest to hone in on her.
Below the ground, a barrier floor took shape in advance. Lev had a single instant to plan out his next moves, during which he disengaged and released a large wave of lightning from his armor.
After that, hell broke loose. It descended in the form of a carpet bombing, with Aurora at the center of it all. Her speed showed its worth there. Dancing between the projectiles, she cut through all she couldn’t dodge and absorbed as much lightning as possible.
Beneath her, the dirt ground continued to erode. She didn’t notice, for the barrier floor below was infused with shadow mana. Explosion after explosion destroyed the area, and that was when other projectiles joined in.
Peering through the rapid blasts, Lev brought out hundreds of lances from his bubble. Mana rushed into them before they were fired by the dozens.
Aurora’s presence again turned up a notch. Her aura displayed an emotion for once, and Lev had to say that the excitement did not bode well for him. That feeling was not what he expected from a cornered warrior.
Still, he continued with his plan. Just before the bombing came to an end, the cannons began their job in tandem with the barrier floor.
Now fully revealed, Aurora glanced below her, seeing the number of formations in the floor. Her lips pursed as she considered her options, then finally, finally decided to take things seriously. Lev’s smugness had barely bloomed before it was smothered by the real aura of the Master warrior in front of him.
Suddenly, he had no choice but to deploy everything.
Breathing hard from the pressure radiating off Marchioness Aurora Flynn, the Red Streak, Lev pulled out all the stops. Both his cannons fired at once and met a wall of red. Her ridiculously hot flames outright devoured the beams.
Below her, the barrier floor was overloaded. Kinetic energy was siphoned in large concentrations. Combined with the thick cables zeroing in on her locations, as well as the recharged cannons, the real test of her strength began.
Aurora slashed at the cables, but they survived her assault. Her speed saved her from being wrapped up, even as the enchantments in the floor became even stronger, further slowing her. Flames coursed through her flesh and bones, and she became the personification of her title.
Faster than Lev could reasonably track, she closed the distance. Augment Carving was pushed to the limit as it ate through his willpower. Runes appeared in her path, most of them made to siphon kinetic energy.
She changed her path abruptly to avoid them, deceleration not a problem for her whatsoever. The first beam missed, and so did all the other prepared cable traps. Aurora seemed to feel even the tiniest fluctuation of mana, detecting runes, willpower, and everything before it could act.
I can’t catch her, Lev realized, the uncomfortable fact settling in his gut. Shit, she’s faster than my Monarch-damned lightning.
He tested it again. In the single second he had before she reached him, Lev aimed with his right arm. Beams, arrows, lances, ropes, and pillars tried to stop her. None of them made a difference, and his lightning bolt missed once more.
Out of options, he powered up the bubble’s defensive enchantments. Then he tossed it towards her like a massive boulder, raising its weight to the maximum.
For once, his aim was true. Except, Aurora simply pierced through the construct like an unholy human-laser hybrid. Right behind the bubble were several huge lances. Each was enchanted with Lightning Surge, a travel-exclusive rune Lev was wary of using for offense.
Other than the Lightning Surge formation, each projectile was filled to the brim with durability runes. Only then did they handle the insane acceleration. And that was the only thing that gave Aurora any real trouble.
Lev tweaked the flight path of the lances. Seven of them were launched in quick succession, forcing the noblewoman into an uncomfortable position. Similar to the lances, Lev also threw himself in a temporary bubble and enchanted it with Lightning Surge.
The construct accelerated and crash-landed on the barrier floor in the same instant. Stargazer was already prepared with a huge amount of mana, a Fracturing Wave already stored in her blade. It was practically bursting at the seams from the power.
Oh, fuck me—
It didn’t matter. Aurora’s eyes were crazed and wide in anticipation. Lev was right where she wanted him to be, but he had no choice except to do what he planned to. Swinging Stargazer at point-blank range, he fired the massive Fracturing Wave.
Naturally, the Red Streak lived up to her fame. Her aura swirled around her. Lev watched, transfixed, as red flames bloomed in the pattern created by the aura. Aurora took a few lightning-fast steps to the side before she was encased in a dome of her element.
The Fracturing Wave, even at its ridiculous speed, only arrived after the marchioness had moved out of the way. Lev’s skill impacted the edge of the fire dome and was easily redirected. Contrary to his expectations, however, the mana slash didn’t bounce away or was allowed to pass. No, her flames stubbornly clung to it, then dragged it along with the swirling dome’s momentum. He tried to make it explode early, but she overrode his control and forcefully stabilized it.
In front of Lev, his strongest skill was overpowered, dismantled, and absorbed. Aurora’s flames grew stronger as the Fracturing Wave withered. Within moments, the heat grew unbearable, forcing Lev to flee as his armor started to melt. His body fared even worse.
You monster…
Taking to the air, his brain noticed just how hopelessly outmatched he was. Aurora stood amidst a blazing hurricane, a dense cloud of red violently orbiting around her. The calamitous power under her control charred everything in the vicinity. And yet, she controlled it effortlessly, gazes locked with Lev.
Then she returned the favor. Lazily swinging her rapier, she launched a fire slash at Lev. It arrived in a blur, dodged by the barest of margins. Many more replaced the first projectile, forcing him to push his barrier creation and enchanting to an obscene degree.
Tens of shieldwalls were created and enchanted in blinks. Lev’s mind felt as if it were flayed and burned, but he refused to give up. Aurora’s flames barely dwindled, but that was fine. Lev still had a lot of mana to spare due to all the absorption pillars scattered around.
It did come down to cheating, didn’t it?
That was perhaps the only way to win, because Lev could not imagine how he could beat her otherwise. She was just far too experienced and strong.
Ultimately, however, that was nothing new for Lev, either. There was always another way, even if his solutions were usually painful.
Centering himself, he prepared for a world of agony. Pure mana rushed out of him, tearing through his flesh. Both his arms and legs were sacrificed as a large portion of his and Stargazer’s pool was carelessly thrown at Aurora.
She caught up to his idea in moments. A bit of panic finally appeared in her eyes as the red flames grew rapidly. The storm vehemently resisted her control, nearly exploding as the flames devoured all the free pure mana.
Lev appeared when she was the most vulnerable. Right before things could get out of hand, he enchanted his armor with a Lightning Surge formation. Like a bolt, he reached her in a split second, right arm outstretched to grab her by the throat.
Unbelievably, Aurora reacted in time. No longer was any of the previous calmness present. Her rapier shot towards Lev’s head like a bullet, but he was prepared for that. Willpower was sacrificed in droves for a burst of enchanting, removing all runes on his armor and replacing them with a lone durability rune instantly.
A truckload of mana was sent inside that rune to increase his armor’s durability tenfold. The barrier structure almost crumbled from the strain, though it held for a crucial moment. The flames still cooked him alive, but he didn’t die outright.
Aurora’s rapier met the palm of Lev’s left hand, piercing it without problem. It scraped against the inside of the barrier armor, carving deep grooves but failing to cut through. She tried to pull it back, but he twisted his limb, trapping the weapon.
Lev’s other hand, however, continued forward unimpeded. Victory was in his grasp. The moment he gripped her neck, an overloaded lightning bolt would tear her head off, forcing Drakys to save her. There was nothing the noblewoman could do now to defend herself, not on such short notice.
…Then why did he feel like she was about to rock his world?
Lev could feel his Perception skill activating. In slow motion, Aurora’s bright red irises blazed even brighter, her whole eyes turning crimson. Whatever she was about to do, it radiated a sense of danger unlike anything Lev had felt before.
Before things could get out of hand, a third person appeared. Drakys grabbed Lev by the right arm and forced the loaded lightning bolt to fly out of it. It landed hundreds of meters away in a crackling explosion, just as Aurora also backed off and deactivated whatever skill she was about to use. Her flames were overtaken and dispersed in a blink by the Exalted.
Hah! I win—
A wave of mana brought Lev and Aurora to their knees. His ragged breath froze in his throat, his soul constricting under tremendous pressure. Head snapping towards the North, the other side of the continent, or perhaps even beyond that, he barely felt Drakys grabbing him.
Healing mana coursed through his battered and bleeding body. It was supremely difficult to control, even inside himself. Whichever being’s aura he was affected by, it eclipsed the stormfury.
“What is happening?” Aurora asked by his side. Drakys had disappeared, though he appeared a second later, carrying a team of unconscious harvesters.
“Something’s fighting above the oceans,” Drakys replied calmly, unaffected. “We’re going to create distance, just in case.”
Over the oceans? Lev wondered in awe. Aren’t we like, more than half a continent away? How can the residual mana still reach us—
His thoughts ground to a halt when he noticed something peculiar. A few dozen meters away, where the battle’s aftermath hadn’t fully reached, the very grass was getting petrified, each blade’s tip turning light gray.