Year 6983 st (settled time)

Town of Oiho in the Missacon territory

The weight of a two-story high cathedral ceiling’s main support beam just crashed into Teum’s face. That in itself isn’t a problem, he was the one that had gathered that energy when a support beam fell on him the day before. The problem comes from the fact that he unloaded the literal weight of a building at this tiny person in front of him and with barely a twitch they returned it so fast it felt instantaneous. It feels like he’s punching himself with every attack. The difference being he only has one attack and it’s everything he’s got in one blow. The return attacks are coming back at an equal strength, sometimes all at once and sometimes split into dozens of attacks from every direction. His opponent is better trained and doesn’t have to use a focus like a fist or foot to deliver a blow, they can simply manifest the impact with a thought. A small fist to his stomach can deliver half the blow while an invisible cannon ball hits the side of his head. After every exchange he feels like he’s holding the exact same amount as before. Teum has never lost a battle, he’s going to need more than the brute strength he was holding to beat his impish challenger.

Teum continues what feels like a mutual exchange of blunt force trauma, capturing nearly all of it each time. Slowly a little is getting through leaving small bruises that his spirit goes to work at healing. His adversary should be feeling it too he thinks with a grin. Teum probes the sky looking for a pocket of static that he can coax down to the ground for himself to capture or better yet, direct at his unsuspecting foe. This isn’t the first time he’s found himself fighting against an opponent with more skill. Eventually they all realize they can’t overwhelm him and quit. Nobody has been able to come close to doing that, yet. This nit can’t keep up forever.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

A large pocket of static is sitting a little under a mile above them. Teum wills it towards himself. At that distance his gathering will be slower than he likes but there’s a lot up there and it could easily double the amount of energy he’s exchanging. The negative particles of static begin to infuse and mix with the kinetic, what previously looked like two people punching each other with no regard for defense starts to crackle with tiny lightning strikes. Most go into their intended targets but some leap away towards anything connected to the ground. That includes bystanders who are now backing away.  

A blast of heat coming from a kick nearly catches Teum off guard. His foe must have been holding therms from the beginning or he would have felt the temperature drop. No problem he thinks, fire, lightning, and force are all the same to him, and he can hold more than anyone. The two continued their hand-to-hand lightning and fire imbued combat.

Teum is suddenly rocked by a thronging cacophony of noise made of low frequency sounds. The low-pitched waves pound his bones, making them vibrate painfully before he’s able to adjust and gather that too. He’s no stranger to controlling sound waves but would never have thought to use it as a weapon. Who is this person, and why did they come here and make that challenge?

The fight continues, neither combatant gaining an advantage, Teum’s spirit continues to patch his body from knicks, blows, and burns.  His clothes are starting to look overly worn, somehow his challenger’s wardrobe looks as fresh as they did at the start of this duel.

I’m no duelist and neither is his challenger he surmises from the lack of ceremony displayed at the onset. Teum’s thoughts begin to wander, they frequently do that when a task takes longer than a minute or two to complete. How did this start? What sequence of events occurred that brought him to this place at this time? What bad decisions did he make this time to put him here?