Chapter 16

Axel had begun his guitar play with his demon in front letting his hair dance to the beat of the music. And to Eugene and Ryuze’s surprise their flames within his hair began to resonate with the music as if being captured by the sounds like a net.

Their combination attack resulted in pulsing rings of hellfire spreading across the battlefield, giving little room to escape the hellish song of their duet. Eugene in a panic drew from his deck case, with no cards in his hand he was forced to top deck and hoped he had enough luck for the both of them.

As he swiped for a new card, he was praying to himself for something like Barrier or even Beast Shield. Something to help defend against the flaming sound attack but as he frantically looked at what he drew, only for disappointment to form across his face. The card he drew was Thunder ball.

Thunder ball

Cast a ball of electricity

Cost: 5 MP

Instant

How was Eugene going to use this card?! A single ball of electricity versus a wave of hellish flame music was just not much to compare. For a moment, Eugene could only focus on his lack of luck which unfortunately had him forget about the oncoming attack. It was only when it was nearly inches away from reaching from reaching him did Eugene noticed, the look of disappointment soon replaced with fear.

“Lord Eugene!!” came the cry of his Dragonoid familiar as he flew in between them activating the Frost Breaker to encase Eugene’s surroundings in a sphere of ice, protecting him from the flame song. But it wasn’t going to be for long, already the ice protecting him was starting to melt.

Meanwhile Ryuze was forced to take the full brunt of the attack, as low amounts of hellfire courses through his body like a flash fire. Normally, Dragonoids were more resistant to fire compared to other species, but the hellfire was no ordinary fire. It was more intense and concentrated, being able to continue to burn at its targets longer. Already Ryuze was feeling the effects of the flames as the pain jolted through his body.

He had to act quick, before using his gauntlets to create a temporary ice wall to spread the sound attack and give himself a bit of breathing room. But even when he blocked the attack the left-over hellfire on his was still burning through him, only lessoning as the seconds passed. Still Ryuze couldn’t let this get to him, he reached for his blade and with no plan in mind he was ready to jump into the literal hellfire to go for a more direct attack, reckless as it may be.

Meanwhile in the audience section, the crowd was watching with interest. Most had thought that the match would have already ended. But they were surprised to see that the nerd that had struggled so much on learning even the most basics of magic would put up this much of a fight. Even if he and Ryuze were currently losing, they couldn’t deny that he was more capable than they had originally thought.

As for Sife and Abdul, their focus was fully on their summoner. Sife despite looking relax was examining on how Eugene was handling himself.

“Hahaha seems like the boss is struggling, though I must say that training is really starting to pay off. Still an attack like that would be difficult to fight against. ~”

Abdul meanwhile seemed unfazed; the robot was deep in thought as it considered on what to prepare when they returned home. “Calculating for tonight’s events. Surely with today’s events Master Eugene would be needing sustenance that would benefit in recovering from this much exhaustion.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

The bull could only chuckle to himself when he noticed what the robot was up to. “Ever the loyal attendant huh? I say a good nap would do the boss good. ~”

Abdul looked to Sife as it considered his proposal. “Processing advice. This unit acknowledges claim and will prioritize in preparing resting furniture.”

It looked like neither familiars were too concerned with their summoner’s predicament, though not out of lack of care as some of the onlookers would believe. No, in truth they had full faith that he would succeed in his fight and didn’t feel they had anything to worry about.

Ryuze continued through the hellfire song, his body dealing with the fire blasting through his body. But he didn’t care, to the Dragonoid it was far better for him rather than his summoner who didn’t have the fire resistance that he had. He had to act quick as the ice sphere keeping Eugene safe would melt away soon enough. He needed to stop the red headed summoner’s musical attack. Luckily for him, the demon was too occupied letting his flaming hair resonant with the music, so this was Ryuze’s chance.

But as he drew closer towards Axel, the intensity of the flame song grew. Making it harder and harder for Ryuze to resist, slowing him down as his endurance wavered. But he won’t give in. He just needed to stop the guitar, that’s all he needs to focus on. He held his blade as he inched closer, his aim being to cut the strings.

Closer and closer, he was almost there. His movements slowed to a crawl as now even the sounds of the music were becoming unbearable. But just a bit closer and he could reach it. He thinks as the flames grow stronger as the grip on his sword loosens.

“Shadow Intercept!!”

All of a sudden, Ryuze found himself surrounded by walls of ice, already half melted in the hellfire. It took him a moment to realize that this was where he had left his lord in the safety in the sphere of ice.

“NO NO NO!! Lord Eugene!!” Ryuze yelled in a panic.

Earlier, Eugene was worried despite being safe from the hell song. But it wasn’t out of his own safety even as he saw the ice protection melting before his eyes, rather it was more for Ryuze’s safety instead. He noticed from hearing from his footsteps that Ryuze was running headlong through the literal fire. He didn’t like the thought of him getting burned while he stood back in safety.

His first thought was to draw a new card, maybe there was something he could use and that he would be lucky to draw it. But as he tried, he was given a notification that he was unable to yet. The timer on his HUD was still ticking down. There were still a few more seconds left.

It felt like it was taking forever, each second like a minute. All the while he felt helpless, so when the timer finally finished Eugene immediately drew his new card and when he saw what card he got he used it without a second thought.

He now stood in front of Axel, who was focused on intensifying his song. Eugene immediately felt the effects of the hellfire as the fire surrounded him and unlike Ryuze, Eugene couldn’t handle the flames as he already keeled over on his knees in pain.

But Eugene didn’t come into the literal fire unprepared. He lifted his hand up the best he could as he held the only other card he had and aimed it at his target.

“Thunder Ball!!”

A ball of electricity blasted from his hand as he activated the card. It was sent flying towards where he was aiming, making contact with the guitar as the electricity surged through the instrument until it reached Axel’s fingertips, forcing him to let go of his guitar.

“GRRAHH!! Why you little-” But before he could finish his sentence Eugene took the opportunity to barrage Axel with fists of ice. Each punch freezing a portion of his body bit by bit with one punch aimed at his arm that was holding the mana crystal pic, the backlash forcing him to drop that as well.

Androcles immediately noticed his summoner had stopped playing his music and was quickly rushing towards him. The ice on the tips of his flame hairs had since melted, so he aimed it towards Eugene with the intent to fire them.

“You will not lay a hand on my lord!!” Ryuze soon flew in quickly, his own weapon in hand. The ice sphere has melted just enough for the Dragonoid to fly past it, with his first thought in trying to protect his summoner.

With his focus on Eugene, the demon couldn’t react fast enough as Ryuze swung his blade and cutting the ends of his hair to prevent him from firing his hellfire. This only proved to frustrate Androcles more as he connected his fist to Ryuze’s stomach forcing him to drop his blade, out of instinct Ryuze began to open his mouth to do something before stopping himself and closing them.

The Dragonoid wouldn’t let this stop him, with the gauntlets still equipped he countered with his own fists filled with ice straight to his stomach. The demon winced in pain as he clawed at the ice over his stomach with mild success.

Everyone was exhausted; Axel and Androcles dealing with their bodies slowly freezing and their temperatures dropping while Ryuze and Eugene were heating up instead from the still burning hellfire on their bodies.

With intent to finish both human and Dragonoid raised their fists as they swung with all their strength toward their opponent’s face, sending them down to the ground and knocking them out. But at the same time, they succumbed to their own wounds as they fell down as well.

A moment later, an announcement was made through the combat ring they had created. The sound of it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Combat results: Tie