“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Hedon said with a smirk.
Jerome didn’t bother answering. He shot toward Hedon, his spear blurring as he stabbed at the Alvric heir. Hedon Willed the aura of his presence to rise to suppress Jerome just as he did at Blade’s Edge Canyon. Jerome chuckled at that, not feeling pressured or slowing down his assault.
Hedon’s brows scrunched a little but he did not lose concentration. He parried Jerome’s blows as they took their fight into the forest. Jerome’s spear was too heavy for him to block though, as he found out the first two times after parrying the weapon.
“Where the hell did you get a weapon like that?” Hedon asked as he shot compressed air at Jerome. This was a technique he was only able to use after the Tower of Solon.
“Why don't you come find out,” Jerome responded, redirecting the air ball back to Hedon with his spear.
The earth rolled around him and rocks shot out of the ground toward Hedon. He took to the skies with Jerome hot on his tail. With a wave of his sword, he shot out a pulse of wind blade toward Jerome but Jerome wasn’t at his previous position. Hedon felt Jerome before he saw him. Jerome bludgeoned him with his spear from above. Pain shot up his spine and he plummeted back to the earth.
Jerome shot downward after Hedon, stabbing and kicking as they fell toward the earth. With a loud bang, they crashed into the earth and Jerome spat a fireball at Hedon. Hedon quickly put up a shield of air around him, and the fireball engulfed it a moment later. Fortunately for him, he was able to come out unscathed, with only a few strands of hair singed at the edges.
Hedon quickly shot backward, distancing himself from Jerome after his near-death experience. Pulling out a strange looking artifact shaped like a hand-sized disc, he pushed his essence into it continuously. The disc was rust-brown in color but looked new, and gleamed with Sword Force.
Jerome felt a little hesitant to approach him. The disc-shaped artifact gave him a weird feeling—not threatening but cautioning.
“What is that?” he asked Achilles.
“If you were a normal Sprout, I’d say run but you’re not,” Achilles said. “It’s an artifact that’s used to collect and preserve Sword Force. With a push of a huge amount of essence, it outputs the Sword Force so its wielder can wield sword force as if naturally.”
Jerome stopped dead in his tracks. “Will it work the way the Feis wield Sword Force?” Jerome asked as he thought about Lang unsheathing and sheathing his sword, and the results thereafter. If an artifact could help someone do that, the result could be catastrophic.
“I…see,” Achilles said as he read the memory from Jerome’s mind.
“I’ve noticed you can’t passively read my thoughts on the events that happened in the night of Terra Praeta,” Jerome snorted.
A giant wind blade with so much Sword Force came at him and Jerome had to dodge to the side. He felt his eyes water in pain and his skin crawl as if thousands of tiny insects with pincers for legs were crawling on his skin as the blade passed him by. Jerome had to blink several times as he dodged another wind blade. Every tree in the path of the wind blades were shredded to pieces, some becoming sawdust.
“I suppose so,” Achilles answered.
“How many more can he shoot,” Jerome asked, blasting a heatwave at Hedon. The air warped around him and the grasses on the ground dried up and burnt to ashes.
“Only one…and then he’d have to wait 2.37 hours to use it again,” Achilles confirmed.
Jerome blasted Hedon with a blue laser of flame, “Crank up the absorption powers of the robe.”
“Yes, Xerae. But you may have to deal with the excess of the Sword Force. The robe can only do so much.”
“I can handle it,” he said, blasting another laser of flame. If he was putting on the armor that was made out of Mythril, he wouldn’t even need to bother. But Jerome didn’t want to have more eyes eyeing his treasures.
The Alvric heir dodged to the side a second time, the heat threatening to disintegrate him to dust. He found his balance for a moment and shot compressed air at Jerome, this one, slightly weaker than the first. Jerome batted it away and snorted.
“Saving your last wind blade, Hedon?!” he said. “That won’t help you.”
Hedon cursed, pissed off that Jerome was able to tell how many shots he had left. Multiple blue balls of fire shot toward him and he urged the power in his veins. Hedon clenched his fists and roared. Jerome felt the weight of Hedon’s presence grow again as he willed the air around him to stir into a cyclone. Jerome darted forward. The cyclone picked up and spun around Hedon, displacing many of the fireballs. Just as the cyclone was about to die down, Jerome dashed into the center of it. Hedon turned to face Jerome but two of the fireballs that weren’t displaced reached him before Jerome.
The Alvric heir was unprepared as a fireball came at his face. He tilted his head to dodge but the right half of his face was scorched in an instant. The other missed him completely and Hedon screamed in pain. He bore it as he shot backward to avoid Jerome’s spear. Jerome stuck to him.
“You are nimble for one who wields metal, Jerome,” Hedon growled, his facial muscles already repairing themselves. “But you wouldn’t be able to dodge this!”
The artifact in his hand glowed brightly and the Sword aura in the air spiked, bursting out toward Jerome. At such close range, it was impossible to dodge and Jerome didn’t try. Blinding silvery-white light covered him completely, cutting him off from Hedon.
Hedon laughed darkly. “You lose, Jerome,” he said as he turned to walk away.
“Think again,” Jerome’s voice sounded from inside the compressed mass of shining Sword Force and his spear shot out of the mass towards Hedon.
Hedon took to the sky, expecting the spear to miss him but the spear tilted up and followed him. He cursed loudly as he saw he wasn’t out of danger yet. Far in the distance he could hear his teammates struggling to come assist him. There was no way they could keep the Argonaut active for this long, so he was sure many of them would have died. He just had to hope that Jerome couldn’t also keep whatever that was, he summoned active for very long.
Jerome held the raging Sword Force back from him as he tried to absorb it. The Sword Force was too dense for him to absorb—dense to the extent it felt like matter. If only he had a way to displace it… He remembered something quickly and almost laughed at himself.
“I’m such a fool,” he said and a moment later the Sword Force was sucked toward and into him, and tucked away in his voidspace.
“I was wondering when you’d remember to use it,” Achilles said playfully.
“Yea, it’s kinda new so…” he didn’t think about using it.
Jerome shot upward after Hedon, moving past his spear. Hedon noticed him late as he was moving too fast to track. He punched the Alvric heir in the gut with his right hand and the punch pushed Hedon upward. Jerome shot after him, almost breaking the sound barrier. He formed a downward curved blade at the top of his fist as he readied himself to punch again. Hedon recovered quickly and shot wind blades at him. Jerome disregarded them, barrelling through as though they were nothing but air. Hedon increased the distance between them before he got to him.
Both Sprouts clashed in a dance in the air as they manipulated their respective elements to their advantage. Hedon thought he had more of an advantage in the air than Jerome but their brief clashes left his arms feeling weak and shaky and he did everything in his power to fight from a distance.
But Jerome didn’t give him the chance. Every once in a while, he swooped in with a dive and drew blood from Hedon. Hedon’s armor was a mess already, its function destroyed by Jerome’s spear. Even with enough distance between them, Jerome was still able to do damage with his fireballs and laser. The fireballs were hard to block as they exploded on impact.
Hedon marveled at the strength and quality of Jerome’s essence. To be able to create fire that was so dense and burned so hot, made him the strongest Sprout in all of Vorthe. He couldn’t accept that. He let his rage fuel him and attacked with all he had. He wouldn’t let a common disciple best him in a fight. Never!
Jerome toyed with him. Every air ball Hedon shot at him was absorbed by his robe or displaced by his spear. It felt like child’s play. He was determined to make sure Hedon suffered before he died. Every cut his family suffered will be paid back twice. He took every chance he had to inflict damaging pain but nothing that would kill him at once.
Soon Hedon couldn’t bear to be tortured anymore by Jerome. He made up his mind to fight another day. He was sure he could get away from Jerome in the air but reality proved him wrong. Jerome was just as nimble in the air with his wings, as he was nimble on the ground. He blocked every opportunity of escape the Alvric heir initiated causing him no small frustration.
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Soon though, they had an uninvited guest. The Storm-Winged Eagle made its way toward them, covering a large chunk of the atmosphere in one beat of its wings. It stirred up the essence in the air into a chaotic mess, causing the air to heat up and a storm to pick up. Lightning filled the sky as the Storm-Winged Eagle announced its presence.
The two Sprouts did their best to avoid it as they danced in and out of clouds. The sky darkened as the sun set over the horizon but explosion after explosion lit up behind the clouds as they fought on.
They felt the Storm-Winged Eagle before it got to them and separated. The Eagle snapped at Jerome who punched it under its beak. The punch was so heavy that the drops of rain in the air were blown away by the force of the impact and the eagle’s head was flung upwards, seemingly losing its grace in the air for an instant.
“What the fuck?!” Hedon cursed, surprised at the amount of force in that blow. Even as frail looking as Jerome was, his blow packed a hefty punch. He dived back down to the earth as quickly as he could, wanting to put enough distance between him and Jerome.
Jerome was hot on his tail, but the Storm-Winged Eagle recovered fast and shot after them. Jerome grumbled, knowing he’d have to deal with the eagle somehow. It must have caught a whiff of his essence and wanted to have a taste of it.
All three of them dived down with tremendous speed. Rainfall poured down in sheets around them and lightning lit up the sky in flashes. The Storm-Winged Eagle drew closer and Jerome let it. He felt it cycle, gathering essence from the storm. Its essence spiked, showing its readiness to attack and Jerome twisted in the air, extending Suzie. The sizzling tip of the whip blurred towards it and the Storm-Winged Eagle spread its wings and caught the wind, barely missing being hit in the face.
The explosion afterwards, however, was a different matter. The force of the explosion rocked its bones and destabilized it in the air. Jerome turned away, to concentrate on his foe.
He spun around to face Hedon but the Alvric heir was gone. His senses flared as he felt danger approaching from his right. With a wave of his hand, the living steel flowed out of his hand and blocked the hail of wind and Sword Force that came at him, blasting the raindrops on him away for a split second. Jerome hurled his spear like a javelin at Hedon. He commanded the essence in the air, and pushed off the air, shooting after his spear.
“Did you see that, Achilles?” he said with a smile.
“Show off,” Achilles answered.
He was upon Hedon in less than a second, his spear piercing into the Alvric’s shoulder. Hedon screamed at the unbearable pain.
“What the fuck?!” Jerome exclaimed in shock as he gripped the spear. The spear was siphoning Hedon’s essence and vitality! He chuckled and slowed down the rate of its absorption, wanting Hedon to suffer before dying. “I didn’t know it could do that,” he said before landing them gently on the forest floor with the spear still lodged in Hedon’s shoulder.
Achilles chortled, “I told you to wait before naming it for a reason.”
“Damn you, Jerome. Stop!” Hedon screamed. “Aaargh!”
“Did you stop when I asked you to? Did you free my family?! No, you stabbed and killed them one by one right in front of me!” Jerome roared in rage. With a swift kick he shattered Hedon’s right knee. Again.
The Alvric heir convulsed from the pain, unable to scream anymore. His knees gave out and Jerome held him up with the spear, causing him immense torment. He pushed the spear deeper into Hedon’s shoulder, drawing more pained screams from him. Hedon tried to suppress the pain, but the spear fought back, causing his body to convulse rapidly. His already healed face looked a bit comical with the bald side of his head as his hair hadn’t grown back.
Jerome twisted the spear in his shoulder drawing another pained scream with blood gushing out of the injury. Hedon’s sword dropped from his hand as he was unable to keep his grip on it anymore. Jerome was seeing now that the spear was capable of a lot more: siphoning essence and bending space were one; opening up pain receptors in the brain to magnify pain must be another.
Hedon huffed, his breathing ragged. He looked straight into Jerome’s eyes and with all the hatred he could will into his voice he spoke,
“I am Alvric,
I am the boisterous storm,
Sharthu could never tame me,”
Jerome chuckled and urged the spear to siphon a bit more of his vitality. Hedon gripped the spear tightly at the base of the haft in his other hand.
"N'tdaea brought his legions against me,
“Like a great wave, he rose up to trample me,
"But where is Sharthu?!
Where is N'tdaea?!" Hedon’s voice grew louder and his strength rose with every line of the Epos. He started pushing out the spear with all his might, inch by inch the eighteen inch long blade was pulled out of his shoulder.
“The heavens were torn asunder!
“The sea split in two!
Jerome recited the earth mantra under his breath to keep his strength even with Hedon’s. He’d been able to not only keep up with the Alvric throughout their fight but had suppressed him — without his mantra. It was only a matter of time before Hedon died. Jerome strengthened his grip on his spear but didn’t push back.
“What are you doing, Xerae?” Achilles asked. “He’s a lot stronger with that Epos. If he gets free, you may not be able to keep him here.”
I want to give him hope…then dash it! Jerome transmitted to Achilles, giving way to Hedon as he pushed more of the spear’s blade out of him.
Alas!
They are nowhere to be found!
For I alone stand victorious!
I,
Alvric!"
Hedon laughed as he completed his Epos. His aura grew to the maximum as the wind around him turned into blades, threatening to cut Jerome into millions of pieces. Jerome was unbothered, he tilted his head with a smile and asked, “Is that it?”
Hedon roared in anger, shoving the spear back. He dove for his sword and at the same time shot out a massive wind blade from his disc-like artifact. On close inspection, the artifact seemed to be made with bronze. Jerome took the hit on his robes—which for some reason weren’t even wet, but he didn’t have the time to stop and concentrate on such an observation. He aimed for the same shoulder again, wanting to rip it off, but his senses warned him of an incoming threat from above.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered, shattering Hedon’s already healed knee again before moving out of the way. Hedon screamed.
Compressed air hit the ground where he was standing a moment ago, gouging out the soil and blasting everything around to smithereens. The Storm-Winged Eagle descended upon them like a demigod. It shot wind blades at them with a high-pitched whistling sound that could rupture the eardrums of weaker sacred artists.
Jerome could sense the arrogance in the Storm-Winged Eagles countenance. He could also sense that it was taking out its rage on him for destroying its nest of eggs. Jerome was a bit sympathetic, but he didn’t have the luxury to pacify it, not that it would listen to him. He shook his spear, and a high-pitched vibration resonated outward to counter the eagle’s attack. He felt woozy a little but steadied himself quickly.
“That was also a psychic attack, Xerae. Be careful. And I can’t believe you can understand the bird.”
“Interesting,” he said, going after Hedon once again. “Can I do that?”
“Of course.”
The fight devolved into a three way fight, with each assailant trying to injure another while at the same time defending against the other. Jerome got it worse as the Storm-Winged Eagle was really pissed at him for destroying its eggs, and Hedon took advantage of that to attack with more fervor.
Jerome wasn’t overwhelmed by the two ganging up against him. But this way he couldn’t focus on Hedon to deal out the punishment and torture he wanted to. He used the earth to his advantage, moving the soil around and shooting out spikes and rocks to attack and defend. At the same time, he commanded the essence in the air, making it look like he could wield wind essence, using it to distract both his assailants as well.
Hedon was brimming with energy and Jerome observed that this would become a battle of attrition. He still had a lot of essence left and didn’t need to wield his own essence, except for fire. The Storm-Winged Eagle and Hedon on the other hand, seemed to be working together, which put him in a precarious position.
“This is the second time he’s using the Epos. I’d like to see how long he lasts, Xerae,” Achilles said. Jerome got the feeling that he was only interested in studying the Alvric’s Epos and not actually help him win the fight.
He didn’t leave the ground except to prevent Hedon from escaping. He also kept an eye on the Storm-Winged Eagle so as not to be surprised by one of those psychic attacks again. The once vibrant forest had become decimated. The widespread destruction could be seen for almost a mile.
Jerome parried Hedon’s sword as both of them stayed out of range of the eagle. The Storm-Winged Eagle had gotten impatient with them and could care less if Hedon got injured. It fired blade after blade of wind at them, destroying each person’s chances to land a decisive strike. Though, the eagle was aiming for Jerome the most.
Whatever happened to the ‘Mythril x flowing steel’ warrior? Jerome snorted. Get it to deal with that thing!
“But this is still considered training, Xerae. I believe you can defeat them both.”
Jerome scuffed in frustration but didn’t complain. It was hard to deal with two opponents as it were, no need to add in an argument with a difficult AI. He shot backward as the Storm-Winged Eagle suddenly dived at him in a rush giving Hedon some respite from his attack. Jerome shot a laser of blue flame at the eagle, singeing its tail as it swerved out of the way. He felt Hedon’s presence deflate and grow weak the next moment.
“He’s out, Xerae,” Achilles said. “He was able to hold on to the power of the Epos for a lot longer than I estimated.”
It’s his strength of will that pushed him this far, Jerome pushed off the ground toward Hedon. The Storm-Winged eagle swerved around and came at him again.
“I see what you’re doing you piece of shit!” he looked back at the Storm-Winged Eagle which was now gaining on him from behind. It had left Hedon to him as bait and swerved out the way of his laser to dangle that bait in front of him.
“Smart son of a bitch,” Achilles said, impressed.
Just before Jerome got to Hedon, someone grabbed Hedon and fled into the distance. “Arkesha, Damnit! How the hell did I miss her!”
“She probably had a cloaking artifact on her.”
Jerome snorted, “Weren’t you supposed to be keeping her busy?” He spewed a large amount of flame on the eagle but it gathered a storm around itself and shook it off with its wings. The armored warrior appeared before the Storm-Winged Eagle and chopped off its head in one strike.
“What the hell, Achilles?!” Jerome fumed. “You could have done that all along?”
“Calm down, Xerae. I have a bad feeling about killing Hedon.”