On their way back to the center of the city, Alistair spotted an injured participant thanks to his conceptual awareness. The black-furred Rabbitkin had used magic to hide in the shadows but was promptly impaled by Alistair ambushing him. They were tied for first place now. However, a lot of new groups climbed on the board, and there were still quite a few individuals left in the tournament. Riseth pointed out some magical fluctuation with the palace in the center. Their invisibility had held up so far, but the Rabbitkin earlier made it abundantly clear that hiding only lasted so long until you were spotted by a skill counteracting it. Fortunately, invisibility and flight only required small amounts of mana, and while suppressing their energy signatures, they did not stand out too much in the ambient mana. However, it was a weakness that Riseth was working on improving.
"Should we risk sneaking in? Just to see who is fighting?" Riseth asked over the link
"It's risky, but we can likely snipe a kill or two, and it might be Zalgrun fighting in there," Alistair responded, scratching his chin.
"Let's do this," Riseth said, giving him a toothy smile.
They kept low, flying through the many alleys, not spotting anyone as they entered the palace grounds. The courtyard was a mess. The missile had destroyed many of the arches and uprooted most of the trees. The acrid scent of burnt hair lingered in the air. They entered one of the balconies of the central palace, sneaking towards the sounds of battle. After passing through some corridors, they looked down upon a throne room from a balcony.
Down below, two people were fighting. One was a Merman with middle-length black hair and a small, somewhat slender, yet muscular frame. His skin was turquoise, and he wore skin-tight modern clothing. His face looked young, and exasperation was painted across it as he blocked another swing with his falchion. He took ragged, defiant breaths, staring intensely at his opponent.
Clad in all-black, similarly tight leather clothing with an over-abundance of leather straps. Alistair recognized him as a vampire due to the ashen skin, fangs, and red glowing eyes that bore into his opponent. He had long pitch-black hair, and his face was adorned by a wore well-waxed and pointy van dyke beard. He wore a black cloak with a red inner lining made of velvet. He wielded a thin, silvery blade that almost looked like a rapier. Alistair raised his eyebrows at the flamboyant outfit, which looked like something you find at a KISS concert. But the most offputting thing was their combat taunts and banter.
The Vampire swatted the falchion to the side with his long blade before kicking the Merman into one of the nearby pillars, which cracked.
"I will dominate you and use your body like a slave for what you did to my companion," the Vampire declared in a deep, anticipation-laden voice.
The Merman gave him a defiant smile. "Oh yeah?" He responded incredulously as he wobbled a little on his legs.
A predatory smile widened on the Vampire's face. "Yes... I will make you suffer. I will make you beg for me to finish you off,"
"I'd like to see you try!" the merman said stoically, with a cheeky smile, as he raised his falchion and pointed it at the Vampire.
Alistair and Riseth furrowed their brows and scrunched up their faces in a what the fuck? expression as they looked at each other.
"Is it just me, or do these two have some really weird sexual tension between each other?" Riseth asked over the link.
Alistair continued to listen to the two fighters below. "No, you're right. I sense it, too, though they might be just really terrible at combat banter,"
Alistair smirked, and Riseth struggled not to laugh and to give their presence away. This was made even more difficult as the two fighters below continued their banter, making it harder for them not to laugh.
"I will put you down~," The vampire said in an almost sensual voice, whispering into the Merman's Fin-like ears as he teleported next to him.
"Okay, they got to know what they are doing, right?" Alistair asked incredulously over the link.
The Merman spun around, pushing away the semi-incorporeal vampire that had wrapped around him with his magically charged webbed hand. "It will take a lot to get me there," the Mermen said defiantly before unleashing an energy blade the Vampire casually sidestepped. The Vampire clearly loved theatrics; Alistair presumed the Vampire had waited in the throne room to play out this scenario.
"I first thought they noticed us and were just fucking with us, but I think they are actually into each other," Riseth responded.
This continued for several more minutes until Alistair exchanged another glance with Riseth. She knew what he was about to do, so she gave him a thumbs-up as she casually leaned against the balcony's balustrade, maintaining her invisibility.
"Are you two going to fuck or not?" Alistair yelled down from the balcony. This elicited a laugh from Riseth and a perfectly in-sync "What?!" from the Mermen [Zalgrun - lvl 49] and the Vampire [Demian Krahl - lvl 48].
He felt two identifys hit him as they checked who he was before the Vampire spoke up. "We are locked in a fight for our lives. Show some respect and wait your turn," Demian demanded in a frustrated and slightly annoyed tone.
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"Are you sure? Like, I did watch the two of you fighting down there, but it sounded like the two of you were about to bone or something," Alistair said, struggling to keep a straight face.
Zalgrun looked flustered, while Demian looked incredibly annoyed. "Get the fuck out of here, Alistair!" The Vampire yelled.
Alistair smirked as he added insult to injury and continued subtly using the vicious mockery manually. "This is still a Tournament, in case you forgot while flirting with your loverboy over there. But I don't mind waiting until you two exchange contact information."
The Merman and Vampire exchanged hesitant glances, unsure if they should cooperate as they knew Riseth had to be around somewhere. Alistair continued to smile at them, happy they had not caught on to what he was doing, as Riseth positioned herself behind the pair, poised to strike. These two were excellent for practicing more subtle mind attacks.
"No need to be embarrassed. I won't judge," Alistair added as both of his opponents were plagued by annoyance and indecision. "But on the off chance that I'm wrong, you two really need to work on your combat banter," Alistair added as he jumped on the balustrade, taking out his poleaxe, knowing the vampire was about to break out of his mind tricks.
As if on cue, the Vampire dashed at him in reckless abandon, his ashen face marked in fury. Alistair activated his Temporal Combat Reflexes and fed it twice as much Qi as usual as he parried the sword swing. Alistair then extended his Dispelling Aura to prevent Demian from turning incorporeal. The shocked expression of the Vampire's face told him he was not used to being stopped in his tracks. Alistair's senses were screaming at him that this Vampire was dangerous. He suspected Demian had either started as or evolved into a high-tier vampire early in the trial.
Zalgrun stood there amazed as he watched the exchange above before looking down at two bone blades sticking out of his chest, flickering and warping with space magic while scrambling his insides. He had accumulated too much damage over the span of the tournament, and as the blades ripped out the sides of his body, he collapsed in a bloody heap.
Alistair, on the other hand, had a much harder time and was shocked that the Vampire only occupied fifth place in the current rankings. Riseth planned to jump in, but he told her to keep out and stop anyone from interfering. He would not pass up the chance to finally fight somebody about as strong as himself. The Vampire benefited from being a high-tier race and seemed to have a decent assortment of skills. Most of Alistair's attacks passed through the Vampire as Demian turned incorporeal, brute-forcing his ability through Alistair's Dispelling Aura.
Alistair recalled from his research that a Vampire's regeneration was linked to its blood reserves. As he inflicted injuries, Demian's blood reserves would dwindle, meaning that his Health and Mana regeneration would diminish more and more. After their first few clashes, Demian avoided using his sword as he realized how Alistair both stole the energy and retaliated swiftly, using the stolen momentum against him. This made Demian's slightly superior swordplay meaningless, so he switched to using his shadow magic, which formed bands that tried to wrap around Alistair to tie him down. But to Demian's annoyance, no matter how much mana he put into his shadow magic, it could not restrain Alistair due to his armor's Freedom of Movement enchantment.
Riseth followed the fight with rapt attention. Analyzing Demian's shadow magic, she had a high affinity for it but had not deemed it a worthwhile concept to invest in. This fight gave her meaningful insights into shadow magic applications, and she would make sure not to miss out on any of them. It also became abundantly clear that the vampire had been toying with Zagron, as he clearly could have finished the fight quickly if he wanted.
Alistair had a wide grin as he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Demian was just as hard to pin down as himself. He had gotten the occasional attack with his poleaxe and had one decently charged kinetic sphere orbiting around him. Alistair knew others could show up at any moment and interfere, just as he had. However, some part of him welcomed this challenge and even yearned for it. He had been facing decently strong opponents but few that could truly challenge him as of late. He knew Nessyra had told him not to draw too much attention and finish fights fast, but he wanted more than this, and the vampire was a good start. But Alistair knew if he pulled out the stops, the Vampire would crumble under the pressure unless he started pulling out some hidden aces.
"I will put you down and suck you dry, you insolent dog!" Demian called out to Alistair, who raised his eyebrows.
"This still sounds incredibly gay," Alistair told the Vampire, who only grew more furious.
"Valiant last words for a cur on the backfoot," Demian spat.
Alistair considered continuing his mental attacks through vicious mockery but was happy just to let his bloodcurdling aura whittle the Vampire down. Alistair's armor warped as the Vampire returned the favor, the irises expanding as both eyes radiated a red glow, making it hard to look away. Alistair's armor and constitution helped him resist Demian's attempts to control his body. Alistair had wanted to hold back on the cold rage as it dampened his enjoyment from the fights. His rage skill usually made use of that annoyance of losing out on enjoyment to fuel itself.
Alistair activated the skill and immediately did not even feel like joking around anymore as the simmering rage burned inside him, driving him forward. Demian tried to assault Alistair with a swarm of shadow blades extending from his shadow, but Alistair defended against the attack with a barrier. He then threw out a razor blast, harassing the vampire and forcing him to use a barrier of his own. Alistair then proceeded to rapidly fire his fire blasts, forcing the vampire into defense. Demian was forced to put his all into his own barrier.
"Alistair, you got to hurry up. We got people fighting outside in the courtyard," Riseth warned him over the link.
This only stoked his simmering rage; luckily, Demian seemed to have given up on his mental attack. This means Alistair would be able to drop the skill after his upcoming push. Alistair proceeded to close the gap between him and Demian. He maintained his assault of fire blasts until he mixed in a series of dispelling blasts, creating a gap for him to exploit. Two fire blasts slipped through the cracks, searing the vampire's face and shoulder, just as Alistair darted in, driving the point of his poleaxe through the vampire's chest. Demian had staggered and reflexively tried to grab the poleaxe impaling him but found himself slowed down. Alistair managed a smile as he unleashed the stored-up kinetic energy from the sphere to course through the Vampire. Demian was forced to put his all into turning incorporeal, burning through his blood reserves to get away from Alistair's time and momentum-based magic wrecking his body.
Alistair watched the Vampire get away as he stopped his Cold Rage skill, feeling temporary feebleness wash over him. However, the Vampire's regeneration speed had slowed significantly after the last strike as the wounds did not close in a matter of seconds anymore. Alistair had deactivated his rage skill as he was not confident in maintaining it in case the incoming fighters were strong, dragging out the combat for too long and exhausting him in the process. He needed to put Demian down and fast.