Scene 7A - Princess Jao: Half a step failure

Jao stood steady as ragged screams and battle cries filled the air. The heat of war could be felt all around him. Jao released a steady breath in the face of the elven expert's overpowering aura that seemed to sap him of his strength.

With heavy steps and beads of sweat the size of raindrops flowing down his body, Jao moved to face the elf, not faltering in the slightest under the its suppression. As the distance between the two foes decreased, Jao felt the hand of death creeping towards him, causing his breath to turn forced.

Gnashing his teeth, Jao's mind started to waver as thoughts of fleeing appeared within his heart, ‘I’m just a peak 4th heavenly refinement expert, why do I have to fight against a mid stage 5th heavenly refinement expert.’

But he couldn't run away. Not now. The moment he turned his back, the elf would slice him in two. No matter what the cost would be, he had to kill this opponent if he wanted to survive!

He wasn’t like Jayce, who could turn crazy at the drop of a hat and explode with unknown power in order to take out stronger opponents. And he wasn’t like the princess, who had been fed heavenly resources at every meal, given divine abilities to train in, and taught the best skills in the kingdom. All Jao had to depend on was the spear in his hands and his peak 4th heavenly refinement cultivation and being half a step mage.

The fiend elf licked its lips as it eyed it's tasty prey. Despite the elf’s low intelligence it knew the being before it was weaker than itself and would die easily. Jao’s eyes held a mixture of courage and fear as he gathered fire mana around his spear, causing a raging inferno to appear.

‘This’ was the only trump card he had. As a half a step failure in magic, this was all he could do with mana. Using his qi as glue, Jao gathered all the fire mana he could from the surrounding area and pasted it to his weapon, increasing its damage in a crude manner.

Gritting his teeth, Jao moved even as the feeling of death grew in the back of his mind. His pupils turned pure scarlet under the pressure as a single thought raced through his mind, ‘I have to win!’

Jao fought with everything thing he had, kicking away the elf's sword strikes and stabbing with his spear whenever he saw the chance, but with every exchange he came off worse for wear. Wounds piled up upon his body in no time at all.

No matter how he attacked everything was meaningless in the face of overwhelming power. The elf's sword inched ever closer as it aimed for his life. Licking its lips, the elf’s cold eyes shone with hunger. Jao overstepped a move and the elf took immediate advantage by stabbing its sword into his side. Amazingly the sword missed Jao’s vitals, but the elf wasn’t finished with him as it pulled on him to bite into his neck!

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In a last ditch effort to survive, Jao kicked off the elf’s body and threw himself back, causing blood to squirt outward as the sword was removed. Rolling through the blood stained grass, Jaos stopped thirty meters away with his face to the ground. Despite rolling that far Jao never lost his spear. The elf slowly stepped towards Jao, clearly playing with its food.

Gritting his teeth, Jao raised his head. He knew that his injuries were severe and that if he wasn't treated soon he would die, but knowing his opponent was merely toying with him made his mind blank with anger. He wanted to rise to his feet and battle the fiend elf to the death, but his body wouldn't move.

Faced with death Jao roared within his mind, urging his body to move, ‘Move! Move you piece of shit body, move! I can’t die here, not when I have yet to become a mage! I refuse to die a failure!’

The elf steadily crept closer, its cold eyes holding nothing but hunger.

Twenty-nine meters…

Twenty-eight meters…

Twenty-seven meters….

The distance closed at a steady pace.

Jao desperately fought to stand yet no matter what he tried, nothing seemed to work. His anger faded as the elf grew nearer, replaced by the fear that lingered in the back of his mind.

Images of the past suddenly filled his brain as he looked at the elf. Images of being laughed at, stepped on, berated, told he was a failure. His rage came crashing back with a vengeance as something inside him snapped. Unknown strength exploded inside of his body, raging through his limbs and allowing him to rise to his feet.

His arms shaking and vision clouded, Jao ignited all his remaining qi and pulled at the fire mana in the air around him, causing flames to appear across his body as they made their way to the tip of his spear. He charged forward, his footsteps shaky at first but they quickly gained traction, allowing him to become an unstoppable force! Feeling the surging power within, Jao suddenly released a howling scream full of madness, “ <>!”

The elf, though startled by its prey’s transformation, didn’t idle and meet Jao’s charge with green qi upon the edge of its sword. The two clashed with a boom that shook the battlefield and caused the surrounding people to be blinded as the resulting dust storm blasted in all directions.

‘Fuck, I didn’t kill him...’ Jao thought as he lay on his side, a sword stuck in his gut and an  one-armed elf standing close by, smirking down at him. A coppery taste filled his mouth, and Jao coughed out blood.

He lost. He lost as a failure that couldn’t even kill his opponent. So what that he took an arm? A fiend elf, given enough time, could easily heal such a wound.

The elf seemed completely unfazed as it made its way over to him once again, hunger still looming within its cold black eyes. Jao cursed to the heavens, not having an ounce of strength to resist.

Jao closed his eyes in the face of death, waiting for the end bitterly, ‘If only I was stronger….’