Standing there the red orc simply could not believe it, in his hands he had the remnants of his axe, it's blade had been diced cleanly into five pieces scattered around leaving only the handle in his hand. The other had been dropped to the ground in his moment of pure shock at how this could have happened, he raised his head up to look at Emrys who simply stood there looking at the claws of his right hand.
Even he was amazed at the sharpness displayed by this claws, measuring a length of four inches when fully released and now bearing a complexion of dark gold with a blood red tip different to what it was eight years ago. The flesh of his arm which had been completely eviscerated by the impact he had beared just for a moment only revealing his bones of pure gold was slowly regenerating, at the rate it currently healed at Emrys judged it could take two minutes to become whole even if his regeneration was no longer slowed as before thanks to his body.
He retracted his claws and returned his attention back to his opponent who still looked to be strongly shaken by the event, wasting no further time Emrys levitated forward appearing before the shaken orc slapping him hard into the stage with enough force that he bounced off it. The slap seemed to have accomplished it's purpose as clarity and a heavy hint of rage returned to his eyes, Emrys smiled as he gestured towards the axe lying on the stage with his index.
"Pick it up, this time truly come at me with everything you have lest I grant you a shameful death".
"Do not ruin my fight".
The red orc got up and picked the blade up off the stage, upon gripping it the axe was once again engulfed with a torrent of blue flames. His mana flared once more but this time it was of a different hue, the tribal tattoos on his body lit up turning his mana red and causing a great pressure to descend upon the stage, on the back of his hand was the inscription of a star.
He put a hand to his chest and pulled off the fang necklace crafted for him whispering a word into it to reveal it's true form, a blood red battle axe inscribed with three runes at it's handle and another on it's blade. The mana emanating off the blade was uncomfortably eerie giving of the feeling of millions of ants crawling all over one's skin and eating at it from the inside out, If one were to listen closely the silenced wails of agonized souls could be heard from the red gem embedded at the base of the blade.
Strengthening his grip on both blades in his hands the orc's mana rose again once more in intensity, Emrys had paid no attention to it before but upon appraising those weapons closely he knew that it was some even a good number of nobles would be unable to possess with the entirety of their wealth, the orc was definitely of a high status within his race if he were to bear such magnificent weapons.
The orc raised his hand bearing the first battle axe and swung in an horizontal motion, Emrys flew high into the air to avoid the torrent of flames he no doubt knew to be poison for him right now yet even this far up he could still free the pressure from the power of such a casual swing. His opponent looked at him high up in the air and smiled, a first which took Emrys by surprise and then came the haunting words.
<
The bracelet worn on his right hand lit up as the inscription of a wing was revealed on it casting the spell for him, in a moment the orc was right above him sending a downwards arc kick towards his head of which Emrys put his hand up to block but found himself easily overpowered and sent down towards the stage like a meteor.
The impact was explosive sending earth shaking tremors throughout the entire stage and still causing a great disturbance to the waters around even with the barriers preventing most of anything from getting out, Emrys looked up just in time to notice the red orc descending upon him in a streak of red and flew away to escape the impact.
For the first time a mark had been left on the stage by the axe indicating the absurdity of his opponents strength, the orc banged both axes against one another and gave the red one a little twirl before sprinting forward once more at blinding speeds. Emrys made an effort to get out of the way again but this time found himself unable to move as if stopped in time and just the the orc arrived and swung down at his neck, an invisible force hit his arm square off course and pushed him away.
Emrys found himself able to move once more as the immobilization spell being cast by one of the runes wore off due to disruption of his opponents focus, he instantly created a good distance to get his thoughts in order while his opponent also thought about the new variable that had just appeared.
The orc was dangerous and there was doubt about it, an enchanted bracelet granting him flight and then there were the buff magic skills he wasn't stacking yet as a warrior. But the red axe most especially was tricky, three runes were inscribed on it and though he knew of what one was now the other two remained a mystery.
Even if his claws could surely destroy the axe he had no desire to this time, a foolish decision sure but one he would be sticking by for now. Making his opponent an entirely toothless predator wasn't the outcome he desired of this fight, he would much rather break the body itself than the weapon.
His body was covered from head to toe with divine artifacts that he had worn since he was a toddler, nearly every single one of them bearing the capability to solve his dilemma in a flash but once again he could not. Having to use something that great on someone so small would be embarrassing, his opponent seemed to have finished organising his thoughts as he went on the attack once more, raising his hand bearing the first axe up high the blue flames burned with a higher intensity than ever and then he swung downwards.
The entire stage was engulfed in a tsunami of blue flames rising high into the sky, the red orc burst out of them a moment later hunting Emrys with no rest but was met with a surprise. The moment he had burst out Emrys went down and grabbed him by his legs then swung around in a cartwheel motion until he threw him down to the stage, he followed suit in the same breath to put both knees on his back while grabbing onto his arm twisting them backwards and using the power of his flight to send them downwards much faster.
But moments before impact the immobilization rune activated once more and in that instant the orc gained enough time to overpower the grip of Emrys on his hands and turn around to grab him by the face slamming him hard into stage or so he thought, only his empty palm was what impacted the stage sending another strong tremor through it. Looking up he saw Emrys floating a short distance above and witnessed the most surprising thing, Emrys was making movements though quite small and restrained they were present which should not be possible under an immobilization spell unless being countered by an equal or stronger magic of which Emrys was currently in no position to use.
'Monster'
He uttered in a whisper to himself as his eyes held pure disbelief, acknowledging the fact things could not continue this way lest he lose the upper hand to whatever method the fated one wss using to counter his magic the orc double cast a buff skill and a spell followed by another skill buff and a spell.
<
<
Emrys for the very first time in this match dawned a genuine look of surprise at the level of his opponent in this match, in a much shorter time than ever the orc was level with him once more and with the <
Dodging couldn't completely save Emrys this time as even the force of the blow came pressing down on him from all areas sending him tumbling downwards but he regained himself just soon enough to escape the bull rush attempt from the orc, twisting himself skillfully just over his head he grabbed his opponent by the collar and attempted to throw him away but was countered by the orc grabbing onto his arm from behind.
Staring at the smug look on his face Emrys realised then that he had been played the fool as the orc had read every single one of his intentions and acted none the wiser
'Clairvoyance'
He thought to himself in annoyance having also realised now that his movements had become much freer allowing him that skillful maneuver he had applied, with a stronger grip his flesh burst and ripped apart as the orc threw him forward still not letting go as he swung the red axe down at his neck hacking into it with ease yet this time he found himself unable to separate the head off his body.
"Do you want to know a trade secret"
Emrys suddenly spoke up, the orc's gaze met his eyes and he smiled.
"Even if you could have lopped the head off my neck.....I am immortal".
His eyes widened and with that Emrys released his claws cleanly severing both his eyes and the bridge of his nose, a soul crushing anguish assaulted the orc as he began rolling around wailing in pain. With his concentration entirely broken he began falling to the stage but that was the least of his worries right now. He wasn't regenerating in the slightest, seconds after seconds passed and yet nothing, not one feeling that he would be getting better, in fact the longer time passed the greater his pain became.
True panic set in for the orc as he began cursing at Emrys from below demanding to know what he had to him, his tone was a mixture of pure unadulterated anger and terror as his agony continued on the rise.
Emrys sighed to himself internally watching the helpless orc roll around in pain and swinging his axe like a madman laying curses at him, looking at his bloody claws which had absorbed the blood on it that odd feeling rose again but he pushed it away. He disliked close quarters, there was no doubt about this in his heart but he needed to learn it well.
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For the past eight years he had sparred with his family in this area he had lost which wasn't a surprising outcome but how bad he was at understanding it was another thing. It could not be said he picked nothing up from those spars but more so the fact his mind actively rejected absorbing way more than it could so easily for someone like him due to his prejudice, in every way possible he himself saw this style as inferior and troublesome.
He was a mage at heart, setting up chains of spells, planning far ahead and keeping his opponents indefinitely trapped in place while he rained down hell on earth upon them, the style that inflicted maximum frustration, pain and terror altogether against your opponents, he loved it all yet both his mother and aunt pushed for him to learn the intricacies of close quarters and become the perfect adaptable hybrid lest he one day be punished for it by those who revelled in punishing his style.
Of course he had objected putting forward the position that no matter what he would always be in a position of overwhelmingly power against his opponents bar his only true equals in this world and yet even then he wouldn't be at a real disadvantage, that position had failed spectacularly and now here he was trying to gain some experience with close quarters that wasn't harmless sparring sessions with his sisters.
Sighing to himself again he flew down to his opponent who was still wailing around and grabbed him by the throat, he struggled of course and tried to hurt him but the invisible force just kept pushing his attempts away. An idea had popped up in his head and he wanted to try it out, he cut open a wound on his wrist using his claws and dripped the blood onto the orc's eyes then dropped him as he stood back waiting to see the results.
A few seconds later the disfigured flesh squirmed around as his eyes began regenerating and the severed nasal bridge recovered, sight was returned once more to the orc who looked up, down and around. Tears welled up in his eyes for moment but was soon replaced with a burning rage upon seeing Emrys clearly, he picked up his axe and roared like a beast.
"YOU BASTARD!!!"
He yelled and banged both axes against eachother creating a resonance that propped up a three meter tall second barrier around the stage.
"The fear of permanently losing your sight is that scary huh".
Emrys mused to himself, the Immobilization effect was cast once more and the orc cast every buff he had in his arsenal upon himself and then hacked away like a madman at the body of Emrys who still looked to be amused as his flesh was torn and ripped away under each swing, thundering sounds were created with every swing and every impact he made yet nothing seemed to get through even with the stage now marked with multiple deep gashes all over.
The orc stepped back and gathered a great quantity of his mana into the red axe activating the last two runes simultaneously, the second rune turned the entire area inside the barrier into a world of grey and slowly everything began disintegrating to ashes. The final rune drew on a great amount of his life force to summon a first circle sealing magic that would capable of sealing his target away in stasis while feeding their minds into the abyss of madness for two centuries-
<
His barrier shattered to pieces as a new ceiling made out of purple viscous substance was formed above covering the entire stage, it dripped down onto the stage like raindrops and those little drops converged to devour Emrys whole wrapping around his bare bones like a piece of cloth. The substance squirmed around like it was in agony and the sounds of multiple thousand voices whispering over one another could be heard along with a wailing distorted voice, an anchor from the ceiling above reached down to pull the encased bones of Emrys into it's domain.
The orc's eyes looked ripe with madness, everything was going smoothly, the sensation of his victory felt ever so close at hand so why wasn't it going up. A moment ago the anchor simply refused to continue pulling Emrys into its domain and just simply hung there, the orc wondered if he had made a mistake when activating the rune, was the life force he had to give up not enough?.
A deep seated fear struck his heart, if this spell fails then he would truly be out of options, he had no idea how he could possibly harm Emrys, this was his only winning card. Suddenly it seemed like movement resumed once more lighting a spark of hope in the orc's heart and was soon ready to burn into a full blaze but it all got wiped out when the viscous substance began petrifying itself solid, with every crack that occurred he too could hear the sound of his heart breaking until everything was turned into stone and burst to pieces.
Floating there was the golden skeleton of Emrys, in the pitch darkness of his eye sockets two purple embers of light burning with the intensity of a cool breeze, though possessing not the capability to make an expression the orc could read it well, that look of absolute supremacy.
His head dropped down as he fell to his knees, he felt so tired, from the very beginning this had been like a game of cat and mouse, no matter how fast he made himself he still couldn't overwhelm him. His great strength that had given him the illusion that he was in control and the immobilization rune that had worked to great effects all seemed to be for naught, how was anyone supposed to win against this.
"Why".
"How could one person be so unfair, why won't you just die"
He asked, his voice filled with lamentation but Emrys just seemed utterly confused, there had to be something he was missing.
"Unfair?".
"I handed you every possible handicap i could gift you".
"I most specifically swore that I would not use magic against you, the very thing that defines my abilities as a mage and yet you call me unfair?".
"What a sad fool".
"Blame your lack of ability to detain me well enough or force my surrender".
Though his words seemed angry and sharp, his voice never rose, simply remaining low and calm as he uttered those words. With the focus of the orc entirely broken now the disintegration effect keeping him from regenerating wore off, making use of his powers Emrys set himself strongly ablaze flames which thankfully to his much too sluggish regeneration at current was able to work wonderfully well in keeping him as he were.
The orc said nothing only closing his eyes for a few seconds in a final attempt to calm himself while feeling the warmth surrounding him, once settled he picked up his axe and got on his feet barely forcing out his best attempt at a smile in this situation. He got himself in a battle ready stance, more than half his mana had been depleted due to forcefully casting spells beyond his level but for as long as they remained he would fight until the very last drop left him.
From where he stood now Emrys could see the second bracelet on his other arm light up a bit with the inscription of an enchantment as the orc cast the same spells on himself once more, Emrys felt a bit disappointed and it showed on his face without his knowing
"So it was an enchantment for focus huh".
"A shame, I had genuinely thought you one worthy of being a genius".
"My apologies".
This orc couldn't help this time but laugh a little self-depreciatingly to himself, this was practically no different from being called a fraud all for an image he himself did not willingly project but yet here he was anyways. Further choosing to sacrifice a tenth of his mana the orc called to his familiar-
"Zeshu".
A large spiral of flames was summoned and from it walked a large grey wolf with two tails and bright red eyes, it's limbs were covered in flames as were it's tails and between it's two eyes was a third one hidden behind a partially closed vertical slit.
Emrys could sense a strength approaching that of a two-star warrior from the familiar and smiled, it growled and crouched waiting for the command to pounce. With a look the orc ordered his familiar to attack as they launched themselves towards Emrys who acted fast in throwing off their attempt at synergy by continuously pushing the orc away using his ability while flying to the side in a blink to avoid the claws of the wolf swiping at him.
It recovered itself relatively quickly and turned around to roar releasing a wave of flames that melted a portion of the stage with relative ease, Emrys focused his ability to create a path through the flames and flew through it striking the familiar square in the jaw with a kick sending it flying and turning around to catch the axe thrown at him with ease as blue flames engulfed his being but caused no harm.
He threw the axe back towards the orc who caught it mid sprint and jumped high into the air applying the immobilization rune once more but it's effects only lasted for a moment before breaking, Emrys attempted flying up to catch the orc mid descent but found his legs held firmly around the jaws of the familiar with it's mouth aglow with a fast rising intensity of heat.
The axe struck down engulfing him in a spiral of blue and red flames ascending high into the sky, the orc and his familiar found themselves unharmed by the attacks of one another despite standing right in the centre of it which was another welcome effect of having a familiar, unless intended to neither would ever be able to hurt the other with their attacks.
The flames down to reveal an unarmed Emrys blocking the axe with one hand, the area around him was molten and with his free arm he grabbed onto the orc's face then tossed him away as he turned his attention to the wolf. It's instincts reacted pretty strongly forcing the familiar to retreat a safe distance away but Emrys was right there a moment later grabbing it by the throat and slamming it down to stage causing a great dent on it.
Still with his grip firmly around it's throat he picked the familiar up and tossed it towards the orc who instinctively tried catching his familiar but got punched square in the chest sending him flying like a rocket into the barrier and bouncing off it as great pain racked his senses but Emrys wasn't done as just a moment later he grabbed the orc by the face and flew high into the sky to throw him down with great force.
The orc hit the stage so hard he bounced off it again sending another round of pain assaulting his senses and just like before Emrys wasted no time and kicked him square in the guts into the barrier then rushed to raise him up and deliver a flurry of punches all over his body, he dragged the orc by the face and ran his body along the barrier to dodge the wolf. It chased him and Emrys continued dragging the orc by the face along the four corners of the barrier while his familiar chased at him yet failing to catch up which only prolonged his summoner's suffering.
In less than half a second Emrys had the orc and had been chased by the wolf around the barrier multiple thousands of times, feeling like he had had his fun Emrys let go of the orc and flew straight at the wolf who's eyes had widened with terror at what possibly awaited it. The familiar ducked down barely avoiding the grasp of doom and scurried away to it's summoners side who was barely getting up with a stagger, Emrys watched as the orc got his bearings and stood with his familiar.
The red axe was put forward, very soon his mana would run out and he would have to let his familiar fight alone which would disastrous so this would be the final attack. With a mental command to his familiar it's third eye opened wide and instantly the intensity of heat rose by multiple levels than it ever had even vaporizing the flames around Emrys, the orc lunged forward gathering every last bit of mana into the red axe sending a strong slash of mana many meters tall tearing through the stage like paper as it traveled to Emrys in a flash.
Just then it's preparations were complete and the familiar shot a dense spiral of flames towards Emrys reaching him at the same time the slash did and both collided creating a thundering sound, the stage was entirely gone or so it should have but it remained. They had thought it to be a platform atop the ocean but now they knew it to be more of a pillar, all they had destroyed was the very top. The orc fell to his knees exhausted on the rough, partially molten and uneven surface beneath him, they had failed.
Emrys stood there in the flames perfectly unharmed despite their very best efforts to do so, with his mana exhausted the orc was now truly done and left with nothing else, his familiar looked at it's summoner and then back at Emrys then turned back to walk away into the torrent of flames.
"You sent it back".
The orc raised his head to meet the eyes of Emrys "leaving him to get hurt while his summoner stands by useless to help is not my way".
Emrys would smile if he could, his opponent was indeed an amusing one no doubt but that was not to say that in this particular area he found his sentiment a foreign one.
"I see".
The orc closed his eyes and raised his head to skies heaving a sigh, on his face was a look of acceptance almost as if he had found peace with it all. The act was smooth and quick with no prolonged suffering, his cleanly decapitated head rolled to the floor drawing a path of blood and a second later his body fell forward with a thud.
Floating right behind the orc was Emrys with the index claw of his left hand extended, he retracted his claw and turned to take one last look at his opponent with those flickering calm embers of his eyes.
"I cannot say that I will remember you well as an opponent".
"But for all it is worth, I found some enjoyment in our little spar".
And with that Emrys had his fight come to an end.
EnD.