Chapter 10

Roden woke up the next morning a moderately changed man. He had a new outlook on his time on Mir. He wished it hadn’t taken getting struck by lightning to do it, but apparently that was what happened when being stubborn was taken to adventurer levels.

In his mind, it was time to stop complaining about what had been, and start dealing with what was at hand. That morning he drank his coffee and started a rough map of how long it would take to finish his mission on Mir. With everything he knew it was going to take at least four or five months before they reached what he knew was the end and that was just on this plane of existence.

‘Well at least it wouldn’t be years…’ he thought.

When Errrkkkk came inside after his morning flight around the cliffs, Roden set down his coffee.

“Hey Errrkkkk.”

“Hey Roden, cacaw.”

“You up for a real spar today?”

Errrkkkk’s eyes grew with an intensity only matched by the sheer joy emanating off of him.

“It’s about time, cacaw.”

Errrkkkk practically dashed to their dojo.

Roden was thankful he had been recasting the building in the evening inside of the mornings. He assumed it was going to need recasting after this fight.

They took their places opposite one another. Errrkkkk took his typical mostly sideways martial arts stance, this time with his staff across his back. As Roden’s Grove Armor and Mozzetta of Clouds spread over his body, he cast one of his new Storm spells Static Coil, immediately a faint blue aura of crackling energy rippled around him, which in turn primed his Storm Strider ability.

“With no Riakon you can call the start, cacaw.” Errrkkkk said smugly.

“Go!”

Errrkkkk leapt forward in a rush of wings. His powerful flapping carried him across the dojo in a blur. Once within range he unleashed a combination of punches followed by a twisting aerial roundhouse kick toward Roden’s head.

Roden was able to fade with the punches taking off the majority of their sting before using his enhanced speed to zip around to Errrkkkk’s right. This was his new plan, no more sword. He wasn’t a swordsman and neither was Roden. He had been fooling himself before and it was time to go back to what he had been relying on since he got to this world.

His fist was drawn back ready to deliver his counter strike. Just as he saw his moment he cast his Storming Smash. Arcane lightning erupted around his hand as he clenched his fist and delivered a perfect right cross to Errrkkkk’s head.

The condensed energy of the spell blasted out of his punch in arcs. Errrkkkk took the shot as well as could be expected. A lesser man would be fighting for his life, but Errrkkkk was built for this kind of fight.

He flipped back to the ground and kipped up in a smooth motion. He allowed his momentum to carry him straight at Roden in a flurry. The first punch came at him with Errrkkkk flying. It connected with his helm discharging the aura of his Static Coil.

The shock rippled through Errrkkkk, but didn’t slow him down. Errrkkkk’s second strike was a spinning elbow to his chest, cracking his breastplate and sending him bouncing off the wall of the dojo. His body thudded hard against it. It was the “Caaaaaaaaa, Caaaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!!” That followed that made Roden cover up.

Errrkkkk smiled as his beam dissipated, both satisfied and smug. The latter diminished rapidly when he saw Roden had managed to block his beam with his golden Aegis. Roden seized that moment, “For the Grove!” a golden bow formed in the air over the top of his shield and loosed an arrow of light.

Errrkkkk deflected the arrow, but didn’t see the twin beams from Roden’s eyes until the last second. The beams struck him just enough to cause him to dance backwards, giving up ground to Roden.

As the gold of his eyes dissipated Roden prepared himself for their next exchange. As Errrkkkk’s back foot touched the ground he shot forward. This time Errrkkkk’s assault was blunted by Roden’s Aegis. His first kick connected with the shield dead center. Errrkkkk flipped off into an axe kick that was blocked by raising his shield high.

“On Guard!” was Roden’s newest incantation causing his Storm Guard to spread its mist around him. It was too late for Errrkkkk to leave its range and he was caught by a bolt of lightning from out of the spell’s mist.

The bolt shot Errrkkkk across the dojo. He twisted in the air and landed on his feet, in a three point stance, with one hand on the ground. Errrkkkk stood to his full height, chest up, and shoulders back. He bent forward and couched both fists at his hips. His aura began to surge, in a flash of light he was cast in his golden energy.

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Roden stood resolute; his armor mostly intact, his cloak swirling, the mist roiling around him, his shield steady at his side. Roden made the first move by discharging his cloak in a flying jolt of energy toward Errrkkkk, who meant the attack with a chi blast of his own. Roden’s was stronger, but missed its target and punched a hole in the wall of the dojo to Errrkkkk’s left.

Errrkkkk drew his staff from his back, gripping it in both hands as the head glowed with a green energy. An arrow from Roden’s conjured bow drew Errrkkkk’s attention. He managed to deflect it, but it kept him busy while Roden used his Storm Strider ability to put Errrkkkk within range of his Storm Guard mist.

With that ability Roden merely needed to get close enough to his targets and it would do the rest. Errrkkkk was a remarkably seasoned warrior for being so young, but he was a prodigy through and through. He blocked the arrow and absorbed the bolt from the mist on his staff.

He returned fire with a volley of chi blasts. Each one clanged off of Roden’s shield as he continued his charge toward the birdman. “Lux” was the command that preceded a shining spear of energy that soared from Roden as he completed his throwing motion.

His spell struck Errrkkkk embedding itself in his shoulder. In a swift motion, Errrkkkk shattered the shaft of the energy spear with his staff and used the motion to throw himself into a spinning back kick powered by his wings. The kick caught Roden flat footed and nearly shattered his already damaged breastplate.

Roden slid back from the force. He looked up just in time to see Errrkkkk spinning parallel to the ground with a glow emanating from his clasped palms. Roden had no choice, but to meet his beam with one of his own. Against Errrkkkk, the faster the better because the more time he had to pour chi into that beam the more powerful it would become.

Roden gathered magic into his right arm and brought it forward. Lightning surged around him, as the spell neared completion he activated his Divine Gambit. His perception of time slowed just enough to give him a clear sign when his spell was at its zenith.

“Burst!!!”

Roden’s lightning ripped through the space between them, its power was such that stray arcs left rents in the floor behind it. Errrkkkk completed his flip and braced himself before driving his hands forward with his signature.

“Caaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Caaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!”

The two streams crossed in a cacophony. The dojo around them shook and cracked as the power of the collision sent shockwaves cascading away from their epicenter. There was a brief moment where the beams were matched, but Roden’s Divine Gambit boosted Lightning was too powerful. It shredded Errrkkkk’s beam and struck him hard.

Errrkkkk bounced off the wall behind him. His aura faded and he was down on one knee. It was then Roden noticed a faint blue glow emanating from around Errrkkkk’s neck. His eagle eyes shot up and a wicked grin came over his face.

The realization hit Roden nearly instantly, ‘that bastard took resistance to my lightning!’

With chi empowered movements, Errrkkkk shot forward as if fired out of a cannon. The series of strikes that followed caught Roden unprepared and out of position. Roden couldn’t be sure what Errrkkkk was hitting him with as each strike was on the heels of the one before it.

Roden tried to bring his shield up, but Errrkkkk kicked his arm away like a boxer sweeping away his opponent's glove to open him up for a powerful strike. Roden didn’t see the kick that shattered his helm at all. The onslaught caused Roden’s grip on his Storm Guard to loosen and he lost the spell’s matrix causing the spell to fail.

Out of sheer desperation Roden fired his bow. When Errrkkkk went to deflect the arrow, Roden drove a Winter’s Blast straight into the bird’s chest. The ice immediately raced across him like a blue crystalline disease.

Before the ice could completely encase him Errrkkkk let out an avian screech. His aura erupted once more, shattering the ice, leaving him golden once again.

“Oh come the fuck on.”

Roden lamented, he knew Errrkkkk had taken more damage than he had, but Errrkkkk also had much more left in the tank. Roden was on his last wisps of his magic. He had enough for one big spell or a few of his Initiate tier ones. After that he’d be left with just his non-spell abilities.

Errrkkkk rushed forward again, Roden noticed he was using his chi to empower his movements instead of increasing his striking speed. Had to end this before he ran out of magic. He threw his hand to the side, giving a mental order to his bow to change form into his sword. The hilt of the sword met with his hand as Errrkkkk primed to strike out with his staff. Roden met his attack with the blade of his weapon.

“Finally, brought out your sword, cacaw.”

“Yeah, I need it for this.”

Roden twisted off the attack and parried Errrkkkk’s follow up swing with his shield. Roden poured his remaining magic into his blade causing bright white arcane energy to flow up and off the blade like billowing flames. His Hero’s Strike spell was everything he ever wanted in a magic powered sword strike.

He gathered momentum as he spun, just as he came around anticipating Errrkkkk’s position, he hadn’t seen Errrkkkk’s retort.

“Caaaaaaaaa, Caaaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!!”

Errrkkkk’s beam raced toward him from just a few feet away. With no time, Roden brought his sword down to meet the beam. The two energies crashed, Roden’s spell cut into Errrkkkk’s beam splitting the current of energy around him. The force of the colliding forces was too great and shockwaves ripped out from their point of collision.

When the dust cleared, Roden saw Errrkkkk standing, still in his semi-crouched stance he used when bracing his beams. The bewildered look on Errrkkkk’s face was rather satisfying for Roden. He took a deep breath trying to calm his racing heart. He scraped up every last bit of magic to cast his spell, Elven Grace.

Elven Grace was the spell that replaced his Blessed Traveler when he reselected his spells back in Pescatin. He chose that for his last spell as it was supposed to grant him greater precision in his attacks and his movements.

If figured the only way he was beating Errrkkkk at this point was going to be with a bit of luck. He just needed a lucky strike.

Errrkkkk gathered himself from the shock of Roden cutting through his beam. He didn’t have much more time left in his transformation. He needed to end this now before he ran out of chi.

The two men stood there each staring at the other, neither moving. A piece of the dojo’s roof crashed to the ground and the sound sent both men off toward each other like a starting gun.

What followed was an exchange any onlooker would be hard pressed to follow. Both men were a blur, Roden moved in sharp lines, while Errrkkkk flowed around him. Each man took his turn on the offensive. Errrkkkk’s strikes hand Roden’s armor in shambles, but he was covered in small cuts from Roden’s blade for his trouble.

Errrkkkk noticed Roden was slowing down. His Storm Strider ability had run out of energy without any lightning spells to keep it going. Errrkkkk waited for the moment it completely ended and bounced into the air. Errrkkkk put the last wisps of his golden aura into one final beam.

“Caaaaaaaaa, Caaaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!!”

Roden felt his Storm Strider end and watched as Errrkkkk leapt back and up. His intent was clear, another point blank beam to finish it all, except Roden had planned for this. He activated his Pilgrim’s Rebuke just as Errrkkkk’s beam got within range.

The shockwave halted the beam momentarily, but wasn’t enough on its own. Which is why Roden unleashed all of the energy he had built up in his cloak during their last round of fighting.

The bolt of lightning tore through Errrkkkk’s beam and struck him cleanly. When he touched down the energy still sparked off of his body, but his necklace had absorbed enough of the power to keep him standing even as his aura faded.

“Can we call it a draw?” Roden said hoping with his whole being Errrkkkk would just agree.

“Why should we, cacaw?” Errrkkkk shot back.

Roden sighed, “well I have taken less damage than you, but I am significantly more vulnerable now without my armor. “ He gestured to his exposed everything. “But, if I have it right, one more well placed hit from my sword and you’re done too. So what is more likely to happen first ends up being the question.”

“Sounds interesting to me, cacaw.”

Roden gritted his teeth and gripped his blade. The energy from his last bolt of lightning wrapped around him, empowering his Storm Strider once more.

“Okay, let’s go!”

The two men launched themselves at each other in a final clash of sheer willpower.