Chapter 71 Guidance
Isaac and Eskahno Ravenborne faced off in the middle of the arena that had seen countless battles and oceans of blood. Fable stood off to the side a dozen paces next to the same blonde acolyte who had kept him from bleeding out the last time they were there. Isaac slowly started taking off what was left of his armor and putting it in his inventory. Isaac didn’t want what was left of it to get destroyed during a casual spar when he would probably end up needing it in the real battles to come.
Esk was breathing measured breaths to keep his nerves in check and to help him focus. He was going to go all out on Isaac even if Isaac wasn’t going to do the same to him. Even so, Esk was covered in a cold sweat. The side effect of getting disintegrated by Isaac’s death mana would prevent his resurrection and the last thing he wanted was to end up like his brother. He took one final deep breath and opened his eyes just in time to see Isaac unbuttoning the last button on his shirt. “Um,” Esk began.
“I’m tired of replacing shirts.” Isaac replied to his unasked question while he finished taking off his shirt. He covered it in shadows and dropped it like he had with the rest of his armor.
Fina cleared her throat and looked away which caused her to receive a scowl from Lenna. “He’s mine.” Lenna warned the other elf. Lenna looked back at Isaac and grinned. She couldn’t keep her eyes from tracing his literally sculpted muscles. Isaac’s body was what countless men strove for but couldn’t achieve. The reason they couldn’t achieve it was because they couldn’t dehydrate themselves to the point where their muscles would be as pronounced as Isaac’s and expect to still be able to function normally. Isaac’s boon from Zei made that a thought that would never cross his mind. Isaac’s body was perfect and it would always be perfect, at least until he died, maybe even after.
“Lenna dear, you’re making Fable uncomfortable.” Isaac told his mate. If he could feel Lenna’s totally not lustful gaze sizing him up then he didn’t doubt that Fable could feel it too. Lenna coughed and turned away as her cheeks took on the color of fresh red wine. Fable’s frown just deepened at being brought into the conversation but he didn’t deign to add anything to it.
Isaac stood twenty feet away from Esk with his hands at his sides in nothing but his pants and boots. His silver eyes narrowed on Esk. “Ready when you are.” He told the other adventurer.
Esk nodded and drew his sword while putting a hand up to his chest. “Ready.” He replied.
“Begin.” Fable told them and Isaac vanished.
“Quicken.” Esk began and jumped back in anticipation of Isaac’s first attack but it never came. Esk’s movement speed and perception speed both nearly doubled but even so he wasn’t able to find Isaac anywhere. A spike materialized in mid air with a rapidly dispersing silhouette behind it. It was already flying at Esk’s face at high speed and he moved his sword to intercept it. “Deflect.” Esk chanted quickly as he expected Isaac to capitalize on his momentary distraction to counter the first throwing spike.
Isaac appeared with the back of his dagger pressed up against Esk’s neck. Esk’s reality shield moved in an instant to position itself between his throat and the weapon. Unfortunately for Esk the automatic defensive measure proved almost fatal and a split second later another throwing spike impacted the side of his head. Isaac had thrown a spike, teleported, thrown another spike, teleported, and then pressed the back of his dagger against Esk’s throat. He had done all of it in barely over a second as that had always been his plan of attack. Isaac had unfortunately messed up the timing slightly. If everything would have gone to plan the second spike would have taken the reality shield so Isaac’s dagger could rest against the magic knight’s throat instead of the other way around.
Esk’s head rocked to the side slightly before his legs gave out. Isaac backed away quickly and raised his hands with a frown. The young priestess ran over to Esk and was at his side in an instant healing him and removing the spike from his temple. “Oops.” Isaac said aloud.
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“Was that truly an accident?” Fable questioned, not taking his eyes off of his apprentice and the acolyte healing him.
“Yeah.” Isaac confessed. “The timing was too tight for me to hesitate and I didn’t want to just throw him around the arena until he gave up. He wanted me to dehumanize myself for him so I did. This was an unintended side effect.”
Fable nodded as Esk let the healer help him sit back up. Isaac walked over to him and offered him a hand. Esk looked up at the shirtless mage who had just ended their fight in a hair’s breadth over a second. “Thanks.” Esk replied as he took the outstretched hand.
“I don’t think-” The healer began but Esk was already getting pulled to his feet. “-that’s a good idea.” She finished, somewhat dejectedly.
“Everything you did was correct except for one small thing.” Isaac began. “You had a speed boost on yourself but you didn’t use it effectively. You should have been on the move the entire time even if you didn’t know where I was. Precasting the reality shield was a good idea but only one shield is easy enough to work around. The spell is good but not perfect and anyone who’s gotten into a knife fight with someone who has the spell can tell you that you just have to hit two places at once.”
Esk nodded in understanding and appreciation. “I will keep your guidance in mind.” He told the mage. “Thank you for humoring my request.”
Isaac nodded and picked up both of his throwing spikes with tendrils of dark mana. He grabbed them and tossed them back into his Inventory after coating them in shadows. Isaac looked around and saw Fina, Shy, and Mark relax in their seats. He blinked as he felt a sudden surge of mana from nearby and in an instant Alexander was there. Isaac raised an eyebrow quizzically and then his eyes caught movement at the top of the stairs to the stands. Alexis and Alecia hurried over to Lenna and sat down. Isaac smirked at them and shook his head before turning to Fable. Esk and the healer quickly made space as the two powerhouses stood watching each other.
—
“What did we miss?” Alexis asked Lenna.
“Is it over already?” Alecia questioned as well.
Lenna didn’t look over at them. “He took out Esk already. You didn’t miss much.” Lenna explained.
“What? But you just got here!” Alexis exclaimed.
“Isaac attacked him from three directions at once. He couldn’t react to everything at the same time.” Mark explained from a few seats away.
“He could have if he thought more like a spellblade and less like just a blade.” Fina commented. “Darkness is right, if he had been properly using the Quicken spell then he would have had a much better chance. At the very least he wouldn’t have been taken out in one move.”
Alecia and Alexis winced in the exact same way at the exact same time. “Poor Esk.” Both girls said together before looking at each other and grinning.
“Alexander.” Lenna greeted the court mage as he sat down in the seat behind and slightly above her. “I’m surprised you are here already.”
“Fina called me.” Alexander replied and nodded to the sorceress in thanks. “I don’t usually watch these types of things but I believe it will be a good learning experience.”
Lenna shook her head. “I don’t know about that.” She warned. “Isaac still hasn’t truly settled into a fighting style.”
“With that much mana, how many different styles can he have?” Alexander questioned. “He could drown an elemental with pure mana.”
“Just wait and see.” Lenna told him. “Though I doubt you’ll get to see that. Isaac is afraid of accidentally permanently killing a future asset. He probably won’t attack with his death flames at all.”
“Won’t that put him at an incredible disadvantage?” Alexander questioned.
“Yes.” Lenna replied. “That’s what worries me.”
—
“If it’s just us down here who will say go?” Isaac questioned with his classic casual grin.
“The first one to move will be the one who starts.” Fable replied.
“You should at least draw your sword first.” Isaac recommended. “It won’t be a proper spar unless you are trying at least a little.”
Fable nodded and pulled his longsword out of its scabbard and started clamping his wooden fingers around its hilt. “When you said you won’t go all out, what did you mean?” Fable asked.
“I won’t crush you under a dozen wizards worth of dark mana in the form of death flames.” Isaac replied casually. “That would defeat the purpose of the spar and also kill you for good.”
“I can teleport.” Fable replied evenly.
“I know.” Isaac shot back in the same tone which got a raised eyebrow from Fable.
“You think you can keep me from teleporting?” Fable asked rhetorically.
Isaac smirked. “Only one way to find out.”