The boy, Andreas, who had just lost his friend, comrade, ally and companion to a pointless civil war in the Demon continent, stared up at the temple’s roof. His mind, blinded and numbed by rage, turned down to look at Polso Daku and Ierda Lauer.
He raised his right hand which was equipped with his sword and declared, “I’m going to kill the both of you right here.”
Polso Daku smirked. “Stupid brat. Don’t think that you, a lowlife, can touch the nobility of the Demon continent.”
Polso Daku added on. “Do you really think you are in a position to threaten us when you just woke up from the dream sleep?”
“Try me.”
Polso, his ego hurt, rushed towards Andreas with killing intent.
Polso’s sword filled with mirage magic power which would be enough to put Andreas to sleep for years.
Andreas raised his sword till it reached his eye level and poured Aether into it.
The two swords clashed and the magic that was dispersed from the collision emitted huge shockwaves.
Ierda, her hair being swayed by the shockwaves, struggled to keep her eyes open and watched the scene with a conflicted expression.
Polso hadn’t been serious when he had fought with Ierda earlier, but now that he had been provoked, he isn’t going to hold back any longer.
Their expressions changed from a taunting one to outright bloodlust. Things escalated rather quickly than expected.
Andreas pushed back Polso with his sword and used Seraphic Slash. Polso, being caught off-guard by the sudden and quick follow up attack, crossed his arms to protect his chest.
The clothes on his arms tore and revealed the skin. The skin burnt from the Aether.
“Don’t underestimate me you brat!” Polso raised his sword above his head, closed his eyes and mumbled something.
His sword darkened into a gray color. Polso stretched his sword at his hip level and advanced towards Andreas. While running towards him, he cast a throwable mirage magic ball at Andreas.
Andreas dodged the magic ball barely, but failed to make it in time.
Polso struck Andreas in his torso and moved his blade sidewards as if to slice Andreas in half.
“Nnghhh!!” Andreas groaned.
“Never underestimate ... .Never underestimate me brat. You got that? Never mess with nobility.”
Polso kicked Andreas’ left leg and he kneeled down with one leg down. He then proceeded to kick his other leg until he completely kneeled in front of him.
“That’s right. Kneel at the face of a predator. That is, the nobility. The Dakus shall be the mightiest on the Demon continent.”
Blood poured from Andreas’ mouth and torso. But even so, his eyes were determined. He looked at Asher’s frozen body once again and glared at Polso.
Polso was unable to control his surprise and laughed. “Wow, even when you are about to die, you don’t give up huh. I hate brats like that.”
He kicked at the kneeled Andreas’ face and he fell face down.
“A prey should always cower in the face of a predator. That’s the law of nature.”
Polso turned to look at Ierda. “Anyways, we’ll continue our duel. This brat’s going to die in a few minutes anyway.”
Ierda couldn’t believe what just happened. She felt conflicted about Andreas dying here. Adding to this, she felt guilty of Asher’s plight since she was also a cause of the outcome.
Ierda finally decided. She was going to kill Polso here and save the two boys. She was not going to let them die in vain. Her conscience wouldn’t let her.
She generated ice magic on her hands and aimed it at Polso. “Polso, surrender now and be free or resist now and die.”
Polso just laughed. “I could take you on any day. Even if a hundred of you come at me, I’d still win.”
The once paused duel resumed now.
Ierda used her Permafrost skill and formed a layer of ice around her entire body. This would help her avoid direct contact with Polso. Next, she made a weapon which seemed like a double-edged sword and poured magic into it.
The swords began clashing. The heat was much more intense now than before.
Andreas became half-unconscious from the huge loss of blood and groaned. This was the first time he had been struck with a sword in his life, so he felt immense pain and groaned heavily. Every centimeter he moved, hurt like a thousand needles piercing through his skin.
However, Andreas did not know. He wouldn’t die here. The black overcoat he wore had a healing function. It was thanks to Osiris who had specially ordered this from a certain influential merchant in Tainia.
His body slowly but surely healed. But it will take time and it’s no guarantee that the physical and mental trauma wouldn’t just make him insane and avoid fighting all together.
An hour passed. Polso and Ierda continued fighting without a sweat thanks to their demon blood. Demons had much more stamina than humans did. But their minds got weary from the continuous battle that seemed to have no end. They were equally matched after all.
Andreas’ wound closed but his insides were still in the process of healing, so he couldn’t afford to move recklessly.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
After two more hours, Andreas finally regained complete consciousness and woke up. He heard swords clashing and looked around to find Polso and Ierda still fighting. But no matter if they are human or demon, when they fight for four hours straight, they will definitely get weary, both physically and mentally. Their brain’s quick strategic battle ideas would slow down and at one point would stop.
Polso noticed Andreas and his jaw dropped. “How..” Ierda also was also startled by Andreas’ sudden awakening from a near death state.
There’s no way for me to win if I keep using only Aether magic. I’m going to have to include Gravity magic while fighting. Andreas thought.
It was true. It was hard using only two skills to defeat a nobel demon, but what’s even harder is using a skill you didn’t even practice. Gravity manipulation is a skill that Andreas had avoided at all costs due to its penalties, but he wouldn’t have the luxury to do so from now on. No matter what happened, Andreas was determined to bring Asher with him when he left the Elva temple.
----------------------------------------
Osiris
I never expected this to be so complicated.
The Elva temple. It was the place where the Progenitor's throne had been enclosed. It has been years since I last came here. The temple layout was as unpredictable as ever.
The demon nobles tried getting in throughout history, but the heat of the situation wasn't as hot as it was currently due to the prophecy of the Wycans.
I know it is wrong. I shouldn't have involved a little kid from another world just because he was human.
The problem was that the Latix family had also researched ways of ending conflict and found a solution.
It was yet another prophecy. In it, there were three humans from another world changing the course of history in Tainad. They shall eliminate future foes of Tainad as a whole planet.
That's why I “recruited” these kids.
And now… I have left two of them alone to fight two demon high nobles. I must be a ruthless fool to do this. But I'm doing this solely for fulfilling the prophecy which wasn't proven true or false.
I'm running around the maze-like layout of the temple to find the throne room with Clara.
Honestly, this girl was awesome. I have never seen anyone master their attribute within a month of inheriting it.
Every ten minutes or so, she checks the dust particles on the ground and on the walls, and examines them to find the correct path.
It was the right call to bring her with me. Without her, I would have had to spend way more time to navigate my way into the maze.
----------------------------------------
Andreas
I opened my eyes to find the two people fighting again. They seemed to have resumed their duel and my wounds have finally healed. My mental trauma was so bad that I couldn't lift my blade. Just looking at a sword made me feel uneasy and remember Polso’s sword striking my abdomen.
But…I couldn't falter here. Not when Asher had been ready to give up his life in order to save mine. I had to think that Asher was alive to keep myself sane.
I gripped my sword which was lying beside me and stood up.
The two people who were fighting, stopped to look at me. Their expressions were one of disbelief and astonishment.
“I'm not dead yet. Bastards. I'll not die until I kill you two.”
Ierda immediately replied. “You are wrong! It was a mistake! Also, that kid is not dead yet. You can still save him.”
“Save him? Is that possible? Really…”
I continued, “The spell which has Asher bound will automatically lift when I kill the two of you right?”
“Think about it! Why would I want to kill your companion? He isn't my enemy.”
“Oh Ierda, then release the ice spell which has him bound.”
“I am unable to do that…”
“Why?”
“It's because Polso’s spell has infused with my spell, and my spell will be lifted only when Polso releases his.”
I glanced at Polso.
Polso noticed my gaze and nonchalantly declared. “Brat. I don't give a fuck about you or your companion. Both are prey to a predator such as myself.”
As soon as he said that, I completely lost it.
The once paused duel was now resumed. It was time for a rematch.
I swung my blade and Polso swung his.
We continued fighting even after an hour passed. Ierda was spectating our battle.
I don’t think Ierda really intended to attack Asher, and it must have been a total accident. However, the same doesn’t go for Polso. He really attacked Asher because he was thirsty for blood.
Polso tried to strike my abdomen again, but I dodged this time. My toned physique helped me be able to move my body according to my will. All that training had made me flexible and combat-proof.
Polso shouted, “You brat! I’ll show you!”
Polso began murmuring something and magic appeared on his hands. He touched the ground with both of his hands. The ground began turning dark. My instinct told me that it was dangerous to step on the darkened floor. But the floor kept darkening like wetting a newspaper.
I kept walking backwards while being cautious of the floor. I had forgotten about Polso and he threw a magic ball filled with mirage magic that can kill you with illusions.
The ball struck me and I fell forward on the darkened floor. As soon as my hands touched the floor, I was sent into an illusion. Getting out of it was easy because my mind was prepared and knew that this was an illusion.
But…when I negated the skill effect, Polso’s sword was already near my face. The sword approached my eyes.
I had no other choice in this situation. I had to use ‘it’.
The dust, tiny particles and everything lying on the ground levitated including Polso and Ierda. This was Gravity manipulation. Everything floated and I was able to control them. Of course, the skill user doesn’t get affected.
Polso’s sword barely missed the surface of my eyeball and I tossed him onto the ceiling. Polso’s body hit the ceiling and fell down face forward onto the floor. He spat out blood.
“Arghhh!!”
My leg dropped and I kneeled. I groaned with pain as my ligament was cut off. This was the reason I hadn’t wanted to use this skill in the first place.
I couldn’t stand up. I have to kill Polso to save Asher.
Polso was knocked unconscious. It seemed like his bones were broken because there was a cracking sound as he fell down.
My overcoat healed my wound yet again. The damage was only concentrated in a tiny area, so healing it would be faster than healing the entire body.
I went up to his unconscious body and raised my sword. There was the sound of blood splattering as the battle came to an end.
Ierda watched me in amazement. The ice infused illusion cage slowly disappeared and the unconscious Asher dropped to the floor.
I ran up to him and tried to wake him up. But even after fifteen minutes of trying, he didn’t wake up. I asked Ierda who was standing beside me, “Why isn’t he waking up?”
“It would take some time because the amount of magic power Polso used to power the spell was enormous. If my guess is right, the illusion should’ve been Asher’s trauma. The time delay for the person to wake up even after the spell was lifted is directly connected to their intensity of the trauma.”
That had me speechless because it’s been thirty minutes already.
“This poor kid. He must’ve had a rough childhood to be having a time delay of more than five minutes.”
‘More than five minutes’? So that’s the maximum for a low-level trauma?
We waited for another thirty minutes. I thought of going back to the red fortress to call for help when suddenly Asher woke up. He gasped for air and looked at his surroundings with a confused and perplexed expression. He became calm and his sweating stopped.
“Andreas?”
“Shut it dumbass.”
“Huh?”
“Why would you risk your life for a nobody like me? Do you think you’re so cool?”
Well, I acted like this but I have to admit it….It was …a bit cool. Just a bit.
“Well I didn’t think it was time for you to die yet, and you are my friend.”
Shit, this emotional bastard is making me tear up.
“Well, thank you my friend.”
We both were back to our joking selves once more. While joking around with Asher, I noticed a beautiful woman who seemed to be in her twenties looking at us while smiling gladly.
“Thank you, Andreas.” Before I could respond, she added on. “Because of you, my family members are no longer affected by Polso’s spell. The Lauers owe you our gratitude.”
“Please don’t mention it. I wasn’t thinking about saving your family at all. Our interests aligned which became our common goal is all there is to it.”
“It’s fine. You saved my family at the end of the day. The Lauer family would be there for you anytime.”
Ierda left the Elva temple after that.
The Lauers, originally, did not intend to take over the throne. They were allied with the Latix to stop the rising conflict. That’s the reason they came here. Due to Polso’s spell, the Lauer family’s military strength would’ve dropped by a lot. They could no longer afford to prevent conflict when their own family was on the brink of extinction, so the Lauers left the battle stage.
Next, we would go through the maze and join up with Osiris and Clara.