While Alnea and Ryan were trying to find cracks in the defences of each other’s Heart, the bird hanging behind Ryan raised its head towards the clusters of lights floating above their heads, and let out a silent cry, before rushing directly into the purple robed man’s body. At the same time, the shadows under Alnea’s feet began squirming, and shifting, as if they were not shadows but puddles of water.
Shadow Shift, one of the earliest Arcanas that Alnea had created. Back then, he could manipulate the shadows of just his enemies with the Arcana. It was only after he upgraded the Arcana to the Intermediate Stage that it became much more flexible. It was still a Low Grade Arcana though, and had quite a few glaring flaws. Like the visual impact of breathing life into shadows.
With such dramatic actions, anyone could see that there was some problem with his shadows. And if he was to use it on the shadows of his enemies, they would become even more wary, and take precautions against their shadows, defeating the whole purpose of the Arcana. Besides, with the speed that the purple robed man possessed, manipulating his shadow was useless. Rather than wasting his Spirit Power, Alnea decided to Shift his own Shadows instead.
Still, the transformation of his shadow was far too conspicuous for the purple robed man to not notice, just as the transformation of the purple robed into a ‘Lightning Bird’ was far too conspicuous for him not to notice. Neither of them cared enough to hide their attacks though. Both of them were raring for a direct confrontation. And both of them had already confirmed that their Hearts had not been shaken enough to be broken through with just some words.
So, both of them simply gave up provoking each other, and just rushed towards their enemies, trying to end the battle as soon as possible. One with lightning covering his entire body, tearing even the resistance of the air apart with just his sheer speed, and the other with his sword covered in the golden, silver, and black glow of his Aspects, and his shadow spreading under his feet, ready to trap the screeching bird.
The bird was far too fast for the shadow to hold on to it though. It was so fast, that by the time his shadows could react to the bird stepping into their domain, the bird was already in front of him, stretching out is lightning claws towards him once again. This time, towards his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be, making Alnea feel the breath of death once again.
After all, unlike the lightning bird, which boosted Ryan’s capabilities comprehensively, all that the shadows did was give him more variations of moves, and a possibility to trap his enemy. Earlier, he had barely matched the purple robed man’s speed after exhausting all his means. With Ryan increasing his speed once more, he had almost no chance of keeping up with him.
Thankfully, although he himself was not fast enough to react to the claws reaching towards his Heart, after months of fighting on the line of life and death, his body itself had become accustomed to dodging attacks on instinct. By the time Alnea noticed the lightning flickering in front of his face, he had already tilted his body towards his right, allowing the tendrils of lightning to just graze past his chest.
The bird, however, had no intentions of giving up after striking just once. Instead, it moved its wrist, and changed its attack from a stab to a grab. But this time, Alnea was not about to let the bird take advantage of him. While swinging his sword, glowing with golden, silverish blue, and black lights, to clash with the claws, he urged his shadows to wrap around the legs of the bird, and stop it from flying.
It did not work. The lightning bird—The purple robed man was far too strong to be held down by just two strands of shadows mustered up so hastily. Still, the shadows were enough to slow him down enough for Alnea to compete with the man head on. And in the matter of strength, he was not about to lose to an Advanced Stage False Wanderer, no matter how strong the latter was.
Strength… Once, it was his greatest weakness. He had both speed and variations in his attacks. The only thing that had been keeping him from competing with Peak Stage False Wanderers in a head on fight was strength. If only he had enough strength, he would not have had to resonate with his Roots to kill the Heterodox Wanderers, and neither would he have had to rely on suicidal attacks to defeat the Whitebud heir.
There was nothing he could do about it though. Compared to the Wanderers from Orthodoxies, he had begun laying his foundations at least six to seven years late. Even if he had covered up most of those foundations, some things had to be accumulated over time. Or so he had thought, until he read the instructions of the Blood Crystal Martial Styles. More specifically, the four Martial Styles that focussed on Forging his body.
Increasing the capacity of his body to carry Blood Crystals… that was just an unintended benefit of the four Martial Styles. From the very beginning, he had been practicing the four Martial Style just to increase his strength. And finally, he was beginning to see its effects.
Even when the Wanderer he was facing was an entire Stage higher than him, Alnea did not feel as if he was losing in terms of strength. And that was despite the fact the Wanderer was an heir of one of the strongest clans in the Fifth Sector of the Lightning Region. Or that the Wanderer was using both, Martial Styles, and Arcanas, to boost his strength.
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With just his Aspects and Martial Styles, Alnea overwhelmed the purple robed man, easily deflecting his claws away from him, and continued with his swing, creating a Golden Wheel of Death. Or rather, half a Golden Wheel. The Sky Streaming Style was just too overbearing, forcing him to keep moving forward, even as he swung his sword. On the other end, the Martial Style that Ryan was using was also similarly overbearing, forcing him to continue moving forward for a few more steps, leaving behind a trail of lightning behind him, which was abruptly cut off by a Golden Wheel in between.
Forcefully stopping his advance, Alnea pivoted on his feet, and turned back to face the Lightning Bird, just as the purple robed man turned around to face the mass of squirming shadows. Without any hesitation, the two once again rushed towards each other, clashing in an almost similar manner. And once again, the result was the same. Just the process was a little different.
Sometimes, Alnea made the first move, predicting Ryan’s position in advance, only for the latter to dodge just in time. At other times, Ryan accurately grasped Alnea’s position, and kept forcing him into embarrassing situations, only for the latter to resolve his predicaments with delicate manipulations of his shadows—either by delaying the purpled robed man’s moves, or by pulling himself out of the lightning claw’s range.
…Once, twice, thrice… At some point, Alnea just lost count. He did not know how long he had been fighting. He did not know how many Martial Styles he had used. For a while, he even forgot that they were in the Arena. He just kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting… and laughing. Fighting was so much fun. It was so exhilarating. It was so relaxing… that he forgot everything. Even thinking about which move he should use next. He just let his body decide, and enjoyed every moment of the fight—
A severe headache hit Alnea, forcing him to his knees. And once he lost his concentration, his shadows also lost their unique breath, transforming back into just normal shadows. He was not the only one to hit the ground though. On the other side of the stage, the purple robed man was also kneeling on the ground, with all the lightning around him dispersing back to where they had come from.
Right in the next moment, the stage lit up, covering both of them in a barrier of blood red light at the same time, declaring them both unfit to continue the fight. Soon, the guard also came to the stage, and declared the battle as a tie. But neither of them cared about the result. Or their headaches. They just looked at each other and let out a hearty laugh.
“…It was a good fight.”
“…I enjoyed every moment of it.”
“Next time, I am going to make sure to engrave my name into your Heart.”
“…If only I was a girl, I might have fallen for you,” Ryan said, causing them both to burst out into a laughter once again. “We should do this again sometime.”
“Only if you promise not to fall for me.”
“Do not worry,” Ryan said, waving his hand. “I am already promised.”
“Then I have to worry even more,” Alnea said, laughing once again. “What if your promised comes to find trouble with me?”
“…Before that, the girls around you might come to trouble me first,” Ryan said, pointing to the three girls in the distance, shouting his name, and waving him to hurry back to them.
“…I can somehow imagine that happening.”
“…It is a pity that you already have your team. Or I might have asked you to join mine.”
“Everyone in your team is a Peak Stage Wanderer though.”
“For Wanderers, their Stages and Ranks do not matter, only their strength does…”
“…I am sorry, but I cannot fail my team.”
“I know,” Ryan said, nodding with a smile. “I could tell what kind of a Wanderer you are from our fight. And it is exactly because I know what kind of a Wanderer you are that I admire you so.”
“…Are you trying to make me blush? Because it is working,” Alne said, laughing in embarrassment. With little to no Spirit Power left, he could no longer use his Aspects to hide his emotions. Or his flush. “Be careful, or the girls might really get jealous of you.”
“…Handling three girls at the same time, that is another thing I admire about you.”
“…I would rather not be admired for something like that.”
“Alright, the stage is not the place for you to cozy up to each other,” the guard said, handing them their Blood Cards back. “Unless you want to continue challenging someone, leave the stage for the next battle.”
…Challenge someone in their state? Alnea did not know about Ryan, but he surely did not have any masochistic desire of getting beaten for no reason. Shoving his Blood Card back into his robe, he limped towards his small platform near the edge of the stage, as the guard called for the next fighters. It was also then, that he noticed how battered he was. Not literally, of course. He did not even have any wounds on his body. After all, none of Ryan’s attacks had hit him in the first place.
Besides, even if he had been hit, the thorns on his robe would have protected him. No, his battered state did not come from clashing against Ryan, but overuse of his own Martial Styles. But that was a price he was willing to pay for such a hearty fight. Thinking of the exhilaration he had felt during the battle, he could not help turning back towards the purple robed man, only to find him looking back towards him with a grin.
“Remember to send someone to Peerless Pioneers later,” Ryan said. “Although it is a shame that we cannot be in the same team, we can still try to cooperate with each other.”