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Drac’s golden pommel was close to his chin; his left hand swung low like a reed in the wind. He found his rhythm. A boat bopping in a lake, he bounces. Drac turned on Aura sense.

Conserve and condense.

Danor kicked pieces of wood in his way. With each step to Drac, his anger swelled. Another step launched the armoured noble, crossing metres in a moment. Danor swiped up from the left. It missed Drac's neck. The strike turned into several pokes. Drac condensed murus to the edge of his blade, blocking the thrusts. The force pushed him back, but his stance was regained quickly. The Duke goes for an overhead cut to Drac’s shoulder. Heilong met Golden Sword. A second Heilong sliced the broken chestplate. Metal met skin. Danor propelled himself back with a groan. Hand on injury, he looked back at Drac.

“This is how I defeated your cousin.”

Danor saw red and rushed in, leaving a sonic boom in his wake. Drac exploded himself forward with Ignis and Ventus at his back. They collide in a flutter of swords. Sparks were born, and the air boomed with every strike. Drac sidestepped an attack, letting his second Heilong dissipate. He flicker-jabbed balls of fire at the unsuspecting duke. The Duke cut into the flames. The heat still scored him. His gold sword turned into a snake of aura light. It cleaved through magic, and Danor got closer with every swing. A sonic boom exploded, and Danor appeared in front of Drac.

The Sword of gold pierced the right shoulder. Drac screamed out. Danor lifted his sword, and with a crescent motion, he charged his sword on the right with his energy. A wide smile grew. An Aura wave came for Drac.

Drac burned his soul. A Murus, formed by the left hand with all the Aura Drac could muster.

Danor increased his Aura.

Lifted off his feet and carried by the wave, Drac crashed into the wall. He fell into a pit with the remnants of the brick wall, landing in a pit of sand, bone and blood.

A Murus Protected Maki while she ran toward a mage. Flames hit the moving barrier, Maki sprinted in close. Arm sliced, and then a head rolled. Frightened, the second mage launched a large ball of fire on top of Maki. She ran to the stands to evade the heat and explosion. She zig and zagged past small blasts and then an Aura sword pieced the mage in the chest. Maki pulled her sword out, scanning the area for Marina.

A barrier of blue protected Marina from icicles as long as Drac’s arm. The sharp ice pieced her Murus, then her stomach. She backed away.

After she realised the injury was shallow, she melted the ice. Her dress gained a hole. Covered with Soot and now her blood, she froze. Her face was screwed with anger and impatience. Vambaced arms wide, she tuned into Igis. The fair lady summoned many spheres of fire. They spin, orbiting Marina. She stared at her enemy. He prepared himself for the onslaught of magic. Aura flowed around him in a haze.

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Marina shot the spheres at the manservant. Frederick rebuffed with a large block of ice. Every ball of fire melted a sheet of ice. Frederick reformed the spell each time. Marina walked forward slowly. Spheres were created and thrown. Frederick withstood the barrage. Marina walked closer.

It was a war of fire and ice. The boisterous girl was quiet.

Frederick flung his projectiles. Marina created a column of fire, melting the icicles before they reached her face.

She flicked her right hand. A ball of fire goes around the wall. Frederick put up a quick barrier of blue. The explosion blew him down to the lower level of the stands. His clothes singed, and he struggled to get up. Frederick looked up.

The lady in the green dress floated down with a murus platform. His eyes widen while scampering away. Columns of fire blocked his way.

Marina stepped off the platform, her heels crunching on wood splinters. She walked to the middle-aged man. The well-dressed man shrank from her green eyes.

“Is it worth it?” She pointed the man’s chest. “Is that man worth protecting?”

“Of course he is! Without his grace’s father, I would be toiling in the field with no future. They could have had the same chance as me! They just had to accept it!”

Marina sighed in resignation.

“Disappointing.”

“Fuck your pity!” Frederick burned his soul. “FOR THE DANOR! FOR WILLIAM!” The manservant tuned into Glacies one last time before he was incinerated by a tornado of fire. Ash, he became. Leaving behind nothing but a rune.

Move…down…

What?

MOVE AWAY! HE IS COMING DOWN!

Lying on the crunchy sand, Drac opened his eyes. A wave of aura fell. Drac rolled on the sand to evade the wave. He pushed off the ground light as a feather. His shoulder pained him and stung with every movement. Movement of his right hand was hampered.

Drac summoned his copies. They shared his injury, but newly created they are fresh with energy.

Danor landed in the pit. He strode toward Drac as if fate assured him of his victory. Drac’s copies jump at him to buy Drac time. Flames and blades distract the master swordsman.

Jacket pocket, farmboy. The elixir. It will help for a time.

Drac fished in his jacket pocket. He felt a vial. He took it out and gulped it down.

Years salary, that.

The fluid tasted of harsh mint. A chill flowed through his body. The pained dulled, movement of his limb restored.

We will feel the effect later on. But for now, let’s fight.

But...How?

Hood is quiet. And like he made a decision, he spoke

Give me the reins.

What…?

The backseat driver needs his chance, too.

…

We fought Danor your way. Your ideas break in front of a master like him. So, we change tactics. We fight like an assassin.

Drac ruminated. Giving Hood his body gave him the chills. To be without control of his own body unnerved him. During the talk with Gove and Maki, he was in a cloud of nothing and nowhere, only managing to tether himself to his body through Hood. Was this what Hood felt each day? It was the last time he wanted it to happen.

But there was no other choice. Give Hood the body or die in battle in the pit of a slaver’s arena.

Drac knew his journey couldn't end here.

And so the farmer let go.