Damien’s body started working in overdrive as he pumped his pure Mana Fluid through his meridians. The blood cells in his veins heated up as they bounced around in his body. All of his thoughts converged into one thing, ‘Fight’! For Damien everything was pitch black, but he was able to see his opponent in a Mana shape of sorts. He launched himself toward Tenzin without any concern for defense. Damien just came out like a wild animal running off pure instinct. Tenzin met Damien’s sword with one of his fists and tried countering with one of his many arms, however things were different this time.
With Damien reacting off pure instinct, he was able to block or dodge every single attack, no matter how fast they came at him. Without his thoughts to tell him what to do, his body was able to move faster. His actions were less clunky and more ruthless. Damien was standing toe to toe with Tenzin, trading blows that created shockwaves rumbling through the prairies. Whatever lifeforms that were left had all finally scurried off from the intense bout. The exchange lasted for a few minutes with neither side giving up an inch of space. As a matter of fact they both were moving closer to each other to see who would give out first. Once they reached a certain threshold, that was when Damien smiled wickedly like he was saying ‘I got you’.
Damien let go of his sword without hesitation and allowed himself to be hit in a non vital spot in his body. It left a deep imprint on his body but it gave Damien the chance to trap Tenzin. He grabbed that arm with all of his strength so he wouldn’t be able to retract it. Tenzin felt an immediate sense of urgency when he couldn’t escape Damien’s grasp, so he punched out with the rest of his arms, but it was too late. Damien embraced him in a tight hug so his hands could make physical contact. Everything he did led up to this point so he could slip his trap. Damien began disturbing Tenzin’s Mana flow by activating his Fire Dao. The absorption of his Mana fueled Damien’s technique as he pumped his own Mana into it as well. Since his hands were touching his body, his Flame technique manifested itself inside of Tenzin’s body. Tenzin knew he was in a dire situation and tried his best by battering Damien, but his hits kept getting weaker as his energy was being absorbed as well. Damien would have never had the idea to use his ability in such a manner since it was too cruel, but he was not himself. He played his cards to perfection to allow himself a winning chance against someone who was superior.
Damien watched as Tenzin grew weaker and the color of his skin lost its pigment. His body was rapidly deteriorating to the point where he could no longer try to resist. The last thing Tenzin was able to see before his vision went blurry was Damien’s face that was engorged in his last moments. As he was reaching his final cold breath, Damien’s consciousness suddenly awoke. His Flame technique was obstructed and caused a large explosion inside Tenzin’s body. However, in the last second he was able to regain enough of his strength back to try to mitigate the damage.
Damien returned to a world of color and felt the pain where he was hit by Tenzin. It distracted him for a moment until he realized the condition Tenzin was in. Half of his body was gone, leaving a charred mid section of his internal organs. He was trying his best to keep his mind afloat as he healed the wounds he sustained from Damien. Tenzin was given the time to stop the burning of his body along with recuperating a lot of his strength. Damien just watched on in shock, not knowing what happened. It was like he was someone else entirely, where his subconscious was locked away and only allowed to spectate his actions. This led to conflicting feelings where he was happy he put a stop on Tenzin, but it didn’t feel like his own doing. This feeling gave him a sense of deja vu, however he couldn’t put the pieces together in the tense situation.
Now Damien was left with a choice to make, to end Tenzin or to let him go. The reasons stopping him were that he didn’t feel like he did anything and he was still not ready to take a life. Even though Damien was on the verge of death because of Tenzin, his brain was going through every excuse to not kill him.
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‘In the end I am still alive and I’m not in too bad of shape while he is suffering. I don’t think it would be right of me to take advantage of something that wasn’t really done by me…’
With Damien’s logic, it appeared he would need to truly face death to feel like someone deserved it. It was a naive way of thinking that was starting to show its cracks along this journey. In the end Damien let Tenzin recover as much as he could so they could restart this fight on his own terms. On paper it was a stupid idea to let your enemy recover, but Damien had a spark of enlightenment as he was trapped in his own mind.
‘It’s a whole new eye opening perspective when you watch yourself fight. I found some holes in my techniques that I could improve and help me stay alive. I just needed to get a little creative.’
Tenzin didn’t question what was going on, for him it was life or death and he saw his life flash before his eyes. He knew exactly what kind of person he was and he wouldn’t find the forgiveness in him just for being spared in the moment. Damien watched as Tenzin bathed himself in vials of medication, bringing luster back to his skin. Damien wasn’t just sitting around either, he was mentally preparing his next move and going through every possible variation that could happen. As he was simulating his next evolution of his technique, Damien was gathering a massive amount of Mana from his body and that around him. Damien’s body was like a black hole, not letting any singular amount of Mana in the air break free from his grasp. He generated a vortex that blew his hair and clothes back.
‘Okay, let's tweak my Dao Domain a bit. I always thought a good defense would win every battle, but I was painfully wrong in this fight. If I learned anything from spectating myself, it’s that a good offense is also a good defense. I need to balance out my Domain so I can cover both bases and I know just the truck to help me with that!’
Damien finished gathering as much Mana as he could control and finally expanded his Dao Domain out. It carried the same exact effects as his original one but if you looked closely, there were tiny jewel-like dots sparkling in its circumference. They were like tiny stars inhabiting his space. By this point Tenzin was already done healing himself. He used some miraculous pills that regenerated his limbs, but they were not back to full strength. Tenzin chuckled at the sight of supposedly new Domain and sneered at him.
“You think just by adding some parlor tricks you can scare me. Think again, there’s no way you can improve an intricate ability in the heat of the moment! You should’ve finished me when you had the chance, but now I’ll end this farce instead!”
Tenzin completely disregarded such a change to his Dao Domain. Instead, he felt confident once more as he did not feel that defeating bloodlust from Damien anymore. He believed Damien was in a moment of weakness and could no longer support such a fighting style. He ran through the barrier of the Domain and felt relieved he was correct at first. The tiny sparks touched him, but did nothing to him. He laughed sinisterly as he thought he could not be outsmarted by a brat like Damien. What Tenzin didn’t notice was the white sparks attaching themselves to his body, while some of them went through his pores. These white sparks were like leeches that sucked away his Mana at a rapid rate so that it could power itself. In just a few seconds they multiplied in size reaching areas, Tenzin had no idea what he should guarding with Mana reinforcement.
Tenzin’s rush toward Damien ended with him stopping dead in his tracks with a vile expression as he was in intense pain. He finally realized what was going on but it was too late. The white sparks drained his energy and burned every organ in his body. There was nothing he could do at this point except bomb rush Damien as a last ditch effort to bring him down with him. However, the more he moved through the mine-filled Dao Domain of white sparks, the more that attached themselves to his body. Eventually, Tenzin’s body began melting away before turning to a puff of ash. His legs were the first to go, so he tried hopping with his arms. Right when those became useless as well, he jumped forward ready to at least bite Damien. Damien was frightened for Tenzin as he thought he would retreat once he knew he was done for, however reality is always different and more cruel. The last effort made by Tenzin caused Damien to flinch and instinctually activate the final mode of the parasitic white sparks. Right when Tenzin was inches away from Damien’s face, he exploded into tiny bits.