We should leave, came Sersa’s wary warning. He’s not the fifth elder for no reason. I had no idea he was so strong.
He just broke my arms. I’m not leaving until I break his.
What’s the point in dying for your pride? We can’t beat him, so let’s leave.
Jason’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Brud’s fleeing form. Great Elder Germiel hadn’t pursued them, but instead hovered in the air a few kilometres above the ground while staring down at them with contempt from within the rising dust cloud. Good, he thought. The two arrayments that he’d hidden within the town would be useless if the man left their range of effect, and after all of the effort Jason had gone through to ensure that they wouldn’t be destroyed during the inevitable battle he didn’t want to simply leave them there unused.
Seeing that Jason was standing in place with a hard-set expression, Brud made to sprint by him with frantic strides. “What are you doing?” he called over his shoulder without looking back. “R—run!”
Brud. Attack him and run back into town.
B—but I’ll die!
If you don’t, I’ll kill you myself.
Damn you, Jason!
Compelled by the master-slave contract, Brud was forced to turn around and rush back toward the town with a paper-white face and tangible fear within his beady little eyes.
Fool, came Sersa’s voice. I want no part in this. You can tell me about it back at camp if you survive.
He ignored her as she made a break for the countryside, sensing that his hidden diagrams were still intact thanks to the barrier that he’d encased them with.
Up ahead amidst a backdrop of a towering mushroom cloud and turbulent, sweeping winds, Brud summoned a massive serpent that was over five hundred metres long, its body solid and quite detailed as it struggled against the rabid elements that still poured from the epicentre of the blast. For a while it seemed frozen in place, like an eel swimming against a strong current, but once the winds began to lessen he was able to follow Jason’s command to approach the great elder in order to draw his attention. Launching the snake at the stationary man—who was obscured by the dust cloud within which he hovered—Brud immediately pushed his speed to the limits and made a B-line through the destroyed town as his martial skill targeted the great elder. Watching him disappear into the smoke, Jason decided that it was time to return the favour to their opponent for his earlier attack.
A momentary flash of crimson light caught Jason’s eye as the elder launched a modestly-sized spear of crimson energy at the area where Brud had fled, the former disciple’s left leg exploding apart in a gory mess of warped flesh, minced ligaments, evaporated veins and fragmented bone. On top of that, he was paralyzed for several seconds due to the unique effects of the martial skill that he’d been hit with.
Seeing the development, Jason conjured crimson spears of his own, the standard size that such weapons would typically be. Leaping from the ground with enough strength to leave behind a twenty-metre impression of compacted, caved-in earth, he soared toward the great elder so fast that the surrounding scenery flashed by in an instant. Just as the man made to throw another spear at the paralyzed, screaming Brud, Jason hurled one of his own at the elder’s exact location while relying on his spiritual sense to perceive his surroundings. This forced a mirror reaction as his projectile was intercepted by the one that had been created to take Brud’s life, Jason rocketing through the resultant shockwave despite the strength of the exchange’s fallout.
A second after he’d leapt from the ground, he appeared directly in front of Great Elder Germiel and lunged with the spear that remained in his right hand, the man defending with one of his own that he conjured at the very last second. Jason was flung hundreds of metres away with a disorienting rush of wind, his arms numb from the weight of the attack he’d just received. Still, he thought, at least this time he hadn’t been half-killed.
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The great elder appeared in front of him a moment after Jason had been forced back, a bit of wariness in his cold, silver eyes as his smooth, exposed scalp caught a bit of morning sunlight with a light gleam.
Jason met the follow-up attack with a strong defence, winds whiplashing every time their spears collided in an endless blur of motion.
He’s stronger… If only the master-slave contracts could process blood that wasn’t immediately spilled, he thought, in which case he could invest all of his efforts into nicking the man’s skin and then flee to a safe location to make use of the contract.
Jason’s breath whooshed from his lungs as he was punched square in the gut, though he recovered almost immediately afterward once he’d steadied himself in the air a few hundred metres away from where he’d taken the hit. Damn it, Jason, he told himself. Focus!
He met the great elder’s follow up with all of his strength, his mind a blank slate as his body moved to match the man’s movements.
In such a high-octane fight, there was almost no time to form a concrete thought. As soon as Jason had begun to adjust to the great elder’s rhythm, the man’s attack speed abruptly increased and allowed him to smash his spear against Jason’s with enough strength to almost instantly push him back about five hundred metres, his hair and clothing whipping around wildly from the excessive wind resistance. The instant after his attack landed, he hurled his weapon at Jason’s tumbling, disoriented figure, though he blocked this by focusing on his spiritual sense and timing a perfect throw of his own spear. As the two projectiles collided with a loud crash, he summoned a human-sized hand of haunted, crimson energy that he used to fling himself over two kilometres higher into the air.
As cold air ruffled his clothes and tousled his hair, Jason took a moment to heighten his focus as he watched the man below toss a couple of medicinal pellets into his mouth, likely to replenish some of his spent energies.
He snapped at Elisa via sound transference talisman, his voice filled with anger. How long are you going to keep hiding? Attack him, now!
A gigantic hand of scarlet energy appeared nearby that likely held the majority of Elisa’s inner essence reserves, the martial skill so large that it dwarfed the town that had recently been wiped off of the face of the earth.
Try to drive him toward where the town used to be.
Despite the lack of response, he had faith that the master-slave contract would assure that his orders were heeded. As a hand of similar size appeared to meet the oncoming attack, the sky was temporarily dominated by a colossal pair of opposing palms, the appendages so realistic in appearance that it seemed as if the hands of two invisible giants had been momentarily revealed in the midst of a battle among behemoths. As with the exchange between Sersa, Brud and the great elder, countless tendrils of electricity filled the vast expanse of space between the opposing skills as well as the general vicinity around them.
Jason conjured a simple barrier around him to weather the inevitable shockwave, hoping that the diagrams at the site of the abandoned town would be able to withstand the impending fallout despite being several kilometres away from where the fight had begun.
Brud, go back to camp. You’re useless here.
R—right away.
Sensing him setting off for safety, Jason also ordered Elisa to fall back as the two giant attacks were about to collide along a horizontal path of progression. Meanwhile, he rushed the creation of a complex attack attackment, the same one he’d used to decimate the disciples that had attempted to dominate the town of Alleybrook earlier in the day.
Trails of dusty wind that stretched for hundreds of metres were visible at the edges of the manifested martial skills as they closed in on one another from the east and west respectively, the clouds above parting just before an earth-shaking collision caused a devastating quake to spread out for dozens of kilometres in all directions. A blinding, pinkish-red light seized hold of Jason’s vision for a brief moment before his barrier was completely shattered and he was sent flying for over five kilometres by the thousand-kilometre winds, both of the martial skills disappearing in a soul-shaking explosion of energy that would surely be felt for hundreds of kilometres in all directions. A tremendous sound of impact lagged behind the visuals, the strength of the sound alone leaving him greatly disoriented for a few precarious seconds.
Not allowing himself to marvel at the sheer scope of the battle—one that far outstripped his previous experiences—he centred his focus on Great Elder Germiel with a pounding heart.
There he is.