Zycor and Volnir stood their ground, Volnir’s claymore drawn while Zycor clutched his gauntlets. The tension in the air grew thicker and thicker the longer their stand-off lasted. Zycor, having reached the limits of his patience, made the first move. He suddenly threw one of the small gauntlets towards Volnir as he readied the other one. As the gauntlet soared through the air, it began to return to its normal size. Immediately after, Zycor began to charge at Volnir as he enlarged and equipped his remaining gauntlet.
Despite the unorthodox opener confusing him, Volnir stood firm as he moved his claymore to parry the projectile. His sword collided with the gauntlet as he threw it upwards. Volnir, now no longer distracted, immediately re-focused on Zycor who had vanished into thin air. Rapidly scanning the area in an attempt to locate him, He was struck with a sudden realization. Volnir quickly shifted his attention to the gauntlet he had just parried upwards. Sure enough, Zycor had equipped it and was rocketing down towards him. Coating his claymore with mana, Volnir grinned as he readied himself to parry the attack. As Zycor made contact with his sword, Volnir’s smile instantly vanished as he began to grit his teeth. Volnir, struggling as he let out a ferocious shout, repelled Zycor’s initial attack.
“Well, it seems you might actually be worth some-.” Volnir continued to taunt for a brief moment before Zycor swiftly resumed his assault.
Zycor extended his blades and coated them with lightning. Now in front of Volnir, Zycor unleashed a barrage of targeted attacks aimed at every vital point he could find. Volnir was defending well, but as the barrage continued he noticed the attacks accelerated with each strike. In order to free himself from the onslaught of blows, Volnir decisively chanted, “Fracture.” With this, the earth beneath both his and Zycor’s feet cracked and broke, throwing them off balance. Volnir seized this opportunity and kicked Zycor as hard as he could in the stomach, creating some distance.
Zycor winced at the pain, but the flood of adrenaline coursing through his body abated the pain. Without skipping a beat, Zycor retracted his right blade and gathered lightning in his palm as he spat out, “Converge. Splinter. Surge. Seek.” The lightning in his hand began to swirl violently with each word before he finally thrust his hand forward, discharging the lightning in a single sharp shot. The lightning bolt shot through the air at an incredible speed. As Volnir raised his sword in preparation to defend against it, the single bolt splintered into six smaller ones that accelerated to even greater speeds. Each bolt began to make rigid, sharp adjustments as they ripped through the air towards Volnir. With little time to react, Volnir did his best to cover himself with as much mana as he could before impact.
“If it is only one or two of these stray shots, I should be ok.” Volnir thought as he braced himself.
Suddenly, the beams that were flying erratically course corrected. Without the option to dodge the seeking bolts, Volnir was now faced with taking all six directly. Volnir managed to parry two of the bolts into the ground, kicking up dust that removed all visibility of him. Zycor stood observant and ready as he took deep, heavy breaths. “Zy, you have to calm down! You can’t tear through our mana supply like that!” Zweicor began to scold.
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Through his labored breaths Zycor responded, “Well… it… worked… didn’t it?”
“What do you mean ‘it worked’? Remember what happened last time we thought we won without seeing the body?” Zweicor retorted.
Controlling his breathing, Zycor looked around at the other soldiers and admitted, “Well, I do agree with you that going through my mana like that may not have been the greatest idea. Especially surrounded like this.”
“Now, I am not sure if I kicked you too hard, or if the lack of mana is making you delirious, but talking to yourself? I must admit friend, I am kind of worried about you! It’s no fun executing someone who is not all there, I don’t get to hear their true screams!” Volnir taunted as the dust settled.
Zycor stood stunned as he questioned, “Did I miss!?”
Volnir chuckled as sparks of residual electricity zapped across his armor, “No, my dear boy, you most certainly did not. However, I am afraid you do not pack enough of a punch to fell me.”
Zycor’s shock and surprise quickly turned into a twisted amalgamation of anger, hatred and enjoyment. “Honestly I am glad you didn’t go down that easily, now I get to prolong your suffering.” He smugly declared.
Volnir cackled as he retorted, “Are you now?! I must admit, it is heartwarming to know we are in agreement, but I am afraid our one on one duel has come to an end. You will now have to deal with myself along with the other seven knights here.”
After Volnir finished his statement, the other knights encircled Zycor. His eye began to twitch in frustration as he realized what Volnir was attempting to do. Zycor began to contemplate his options. Novos was still here and could serve as not only a second fighter but also a way to replenish some of his mana through their contract. Alternatively, he could let Novos go wild with his true form, but that would leave Zycor with no way to defend himself. Novos’ transformation would end up increasing the amount of mana he would need to fire attacks. This would mean Zycor would have to make do with the small reserve of mana remaining.
Zycor smirked as he chuckled, “Any ideas, Zwei?”
Zweicor chuckled back, “Your thoughts are pretty much the same as mine. We either rely completely on Novos, or we tag team with him. Both have their pros and cons. But honestly, I think we are kind of screwed. It might be for the best to let Novos escape all together, seeing as it is our fault he is in this mess.”
Zycor looked towards Novos, who was now guarding his rear, and asked, “Well partner, what do you think? Do you want to run or fight?”
Novos grew slightly bigger and he fired a bolt of lightning through one of the knights’ chests, roaring as the knight collapsed. Zycor, agreeing with his partner's answer, smiled as he shouted, “Well said!”