The Sun God Peak was truly beautiful, especially as the sunset approached. The peak cast a stunning shadow that formed a perfect triangle. From its summit, the sound of clashing magic and metal echoed from the cave where a lonely graveyard lay and across the ground where the Sun God stood atop the mountains.
A boy was the only witness to what was likely one of the greatest duels of old times. The old man, Alphecca, the Sword of Light, was a faded hero from a past era. Opposing him was a scarred man who controlled seven knives with a dance of perpetuity—Redgar the Fearless, the last of his faith.
Their deathly battle has been going on for hours. Both were already wounded, blade and burns, exhaustion and psyche already at their limits.
The two were clearly fighting on a squared foot. Alphecca fought with his swordsmanship and flash steps, while Redgar had become more refined with his use of floating knives and the elemental magic they could utilize.
The two without words stopped.
“You tired old man?” it was Redgar who spoke first breaking the ice between the two.
“You look tired… how about a rest… let’s talk for a while,” although the old man was trying to act tough his face totally showed it. He was already in bad shape even before the duel began.
“... I will take that-” Redgar then sat and his knives pierced down into the ground. “-I never thought that our second duel would be not that climatic… no screams, just a fight.”
“We change through time… we should be already past this revenge stuff. I just don’t understand how could you keep up this long… and I wonder, why did you kill Jimmy?” the old man asked, he then signaled Simon for a drink. “Give him some too.” the old man added.
The boy immediately followed and took their pouch of water, he then used two wooden bowls to serve the water to each of them. He gave it to the old man first and to the scarred man.
The two then raised their bowls and drank it down.
“I… I saw what really happened… a demon helped me to see, in exchange for your life,” Redgar confessed, a crack of a smile painted his face showing his yellowed teeth.
“A demon… but I don’t feel anything from you… that’s so unlike you,” the old man said, a glare was in his eyes… it's those demons again. Joshua’s face flashed in his mind.
“You… said before that I didn’t know why I was trying to kill you, I came back now that I know why-” Redgar said then he stared directly into the old man’s eyes, “You held back that’s why the fox successfully finished her possession into Lenaya, I saw it.”
“Hmm… that’s true… you are right, I’m just sad that you had to sell your soul to the demon-” the old man nodded. “-I admit it… I was lost in my power back then… I shouldn’t have held back, it was true that I fucked up that’s why Lenaya died,” the words from the old man were from his heart.
“That’s why I must kill you, not only that my ancestors would laugh at me if I didn’t do this… it would be injustice for me…” Redgar said. He was ready.
It was true that once one had reached the limit of themselves, then they would see their true nature, their true purpose.
“... But why did you kill Jimmy?” Alphecca just wanted to clear up something that didn’t make sense. Redgar didn’t clearly answer it earlier.
Redgar smiled, he stared directly into the old man’s eyes “For two reasons, 1st, when you disappeared he didn’t tell me where you were,-” Then Redgar stood up. “-2nd was… he could have stopped you from killing her but didn’t.” the knives floated together with his hand waving up.
“That was a short break. In my defense… she was already gone when I killed her, I could tell,” the old man followed suit as he stood up. “-That’s what I believe…”
“Yeah just believe on that… and I will believe in my truth,” Redgar said. His scars began twitching, from the cold or probably a memory, he wasn’t sure.
Their battle would resume now.
<--->
Back in the past.
A shattered stone bridge lay in ruins, its once sturdy arches now reduced to scattered debris jutting out from the waterway below. The stream, disrupted and misshapen by the fallen stones, gurgled angrily around the wreckage. Amidst this desolation, a man stood, his eyes fixed on another who lay sprawled on the ground face down.
The standing man gripped his unsheathed sword tightly, the blade glinting menacingly because of the coat of its magic edge. His hands bore several cuts, blood seeping through his sleeves, but otherwise, he appeared unscathed, his breathing steady and his stance unwavering. He hadn't even broken a sweat.
“Stand up!” Alphecca commanded, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife.
“Alphecca… fight me properly! You didn’t even use your Armas! Use it!” the man on the ground screamed. His name was Redgar Nigel. He was already missing an eye on his right.
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Although he was already out of breath he tried to stand up, trying to take a look at Alphecca’s face but he failed. As he breathed through the ground he remembered Lenaya’s face, when she was smiling in his dream… when her head was delivered to him, by the same man that killed her… the reason she was dead.
Then he heard Alphecca sheathing his sword with a “Clack!” then followed by the steps that suggested that he was leaving. Was he really no match? Even though he had already given up so much. He didn’t want to end it like this, ideas began sprouting on his mind.
“Alphecca!! You told me that you would carve my face! Come back here!!” it was a taunt from Redgar who couldn’t even move.
“Stay down…” Alphecca said and continued to leave.
“Don’t you back down on your word! You spineless bastard!” Redgar screamed at the last of his voice and it worked.
Alphecca stopped and sighed. Redgar should have stayed down… he didn’t want to take it further but he really said that earlier. He walked back with a steady stride. Upon reaching him he pulled up Redgar turning his whole body around then a pain struck on his knees.
It was a knife from Redgar’s grip. “Got you!!” the scarred man said, his half-face already covered in blood.
Alphecca gripped the knife firmly and yanked it out. He shoved Redgar's body violently to the ground and started carving into his face using the same knife. Beginning at the forehead, he made a horizontal cut.
“That’s right! Do it! Do it!” Redgar was already out of his mind.
“You like that? How about this?” Alphecca cracked a maniacal grin. With sinister precision, he dragged the blade from the mangled forehead down across the shredded cheeks, slicing through the hollow where his eye once was.
The two were laughing maniacally, their deranged cackles echoing through the night like the howls of madmen.
“I will come back for you… I swear on this scar!” Redgar said as he was bathing in his own blood.
“I will be waiting,” Alphecca smiled “Don’t take too long.”
<--->
Back in the present.
“Release,” / “Release,” both said at the same time the two spoke it like a prayer.
Alphecca’s eyes blazed as brilliant light poured from them. His hair billowed, radiating a luminous glow, while his sword shimmered with potent light magic. This was the reason he was called the Sword of Light.
Redgar’s knives had tripled; in their past confrontation, his Armas would only double the knives. As far as Alphecca could remember, Redgar’s knives possessed different types of elemental magic and special effects. He had broken two knives the last time they met. Alphecca could still remember the five knives that were floating.
One for each of the basic elements and another one had the power of sound, the one he mainly used for detecting.
Knives further descriptions:
Fire: Made out of Phoenix bone wing.
Wind: A normal iron knife that has wind crystals embedded on the hilt and the tip of the blade.
Water: Made out of a coral from the western part of the continent.
Earth: It looks like a Vajra or a Dojre, just search it on the internet, there are earth crystals inside that work like bells.
Sound: Looks like a Tuning Fork that has blades on each side.
The two new knives were a mystery. It had a black and white blade and they were akin to a carving knife.
“Simon!! Boy! Watch carefully!” the old man screamed then glared at the boy.
“Really? Alphecca, you are thinking of that?-” Redgar felt insulted but still in his element. “-Watch each of the knives!” he added following the old man’s lead.
The two began another series of exchanging attacks. Redgar didn’t have to move, he was controlling the knives perfectly anticipating and and countering the old man’s move.
After two clangs the old man immediately knew what was the black and white knives. The white was for parrying his light magic attack while the black one was to break the slashes he was leaving.
“You found a way to break the effect of my Armas… amazing!” the old man muttered.
Redgar smiled. Of course, he would immediately notice. The Armas that the old man was using turns his sword into a light saber and by activating his 2nd Phase he could rapidly retrace all those slashes he did when attacking in the Armas state.
Now, what he was thinking was how the old man would counter it. By all means, he knew that the old man wouldn’t go down that easily.
“I’m probably going to use my ace to you… damn, my body would hurt later,” Alphecca said without even stopping the dance and dodge.
He began looking around and found the same wooden bowl they used to drink the water earlier.
“Did you know that it rained earlier?” the old man spoke.
The old man then pointed his fingers firing a laser beam. Redgar was keeping a dark knife close to him and he used it to cancel the attack, he couldn’t and was impossible to dodge anyway. After that flash of the laser beam the old man fired another one on rapid succession and Redgar finally began moving.
“I knew it… it can’t take everything,” the old man smiled, he then flash-stepped near the wooden bowl and he hit it. Surprising even Redgar.
“That drink was for this? This is your ace?” Redgar taunted.
“Yeah… like this…” The old man began firing laser beams in rapid succession. As he embodied the element of light his perception of time led him to heighten his reaction time.
The lasers with precision hit the droplets of water refracting it.
Redgar felt the terror as he saw the magic dispersed in different colors of lasers. It was truly terrifying to fight someone with power on the scale of magic laws.
Author’s Note: Magic laws are in layman’s terms, the scientific properties of elements. Although light does reflect, refract, and disperse, understanding an element until it's on the level of magic law allows one to bend its properties. Well, it's magic!
Redgar snarled at the old man’s cunning and he summoned the black blades. It was impossible to dodge the beams of light. It was like the old man was mocking him. It was of different colors, the same as one of Redgar’s nicknames, ‘Rainbow Knives.’
Using the black blades as a shield then the white ones to at least create a room. The white ones did the trick as they limited the movements of the laser beams.
This all happened in a split second and after the flashes faded Redgar still remained on his feet. The 3 knives crumbled as the original got destroyed. The scarred man’s body was smoking, the heat created by the laser beams fried him a bit.
“Good one… that was a good one, you’ve clearly grown,” the old man smiled. His hands began shaking, it was uncontrollable, and then his sight became blurred.
Redgar blew the smoke on his body using the magic on one of his knives “And I thought I already had you, that drink, did you plan it?” he was clearly annoyed.
The old man smiled, and he then took a look at the boy who was still watching, he wondered if the boy saw what happened but Simon was just silently watching. He couldn’t afford to go down like this in front of the boy. He gave up and sighed finally reaching into his pocket the metal tumbler.
Redgar watching the old man’s action smiled. If he could beat the old man on his highest form then it would be that piece of heaven he had been dreaming of.