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Why does Arne always have to be like this? Damien thought as he watched Arne loosen up for the fight.
He looked around at the humans spectating, hoping things wouldn't get too out of hand.
"You sure you should be focusing on them?" Arne called out from across the stage.
"Are you insinuating you could catch me by surprise," Damien responded smugly, looking back at Arne with a daring expression.
Arne shrugged.
"Don't use them as an excuse when you lose."
"I won't. But since they're here, I'm going to end this quickly," Damien told Arne confidently as Arne finished stretching.
"You sure about that," Arne stated as their skin turned metallic silver, taking on a tougher appearance. "Like this, my skin's even harder than diamond. What can you do to me without your lightning?"
The crowd gasped in utter disbelief, seeing Arne's body become metal.
Damien smirked. He reckoned that was the first time Arne had ever displayed any of their abilities in front of them.
Looking at Arne, he realized he couldn't sense the metal coming from their body. He and Arne had sparred the last time he was here, but they were alone then and didn't need to hold back. He wasn't focusing on whether he could sense Arne's metal then.
I wonder...
Damien reached his hand out toward Arne. Taking this as a sign of the match starting, Arne instantly charged at Damien, but due to their speed being in different leagues, Arne's movements were slowed in Damien's eyes.
As Arne continued their charge, they slowly knelt and dug one hand's fingers into the stage floor.
Meanwhile, Damien tried to manipulate the metal covering Arne's body, but it was useless. It seemed his Ferritic Pull didn't work on Arne's organic metal.
Arne had drawn closer to Damien and lifted a chunk of the stage floor large enough to block Damien's view. Remembering their last fight, Damien assumed Arne would smash through it and maneuvered around the debris, where he unexpectedly encountered Arne's arm swinging toward him. With quick reflexes, he dodged just in time as Arne's fist barely missed him.
Once they both stopped moving, their perception of time resumed to normal.
"Almost got you," Arne laughed.
"You don't really think I didn't learn anything from last time, do you," Arne said mockingly.
Damien admitted that that was a close call. He knew that if Arne managed to get their hands on him, it'd be over for him, so he needed to figure out a way to keep them at a distance. Lucky for him, with his power, he had plenty of material at his disposal.
Concentrating, Damien focused on the ground. He felt for any metal near the surface that could be safely summoned. Sensing a few small deposits just beneath the ground's surface, he willed them toward him, causing the ground to rupture as multiple irregular-shaped chunks of natural lead floated around him.
"Lead? That's the best you could summon?" Arne asked disappointedly.
Damien remained silent without faltering.
Truth be told, he had hoped to find some iron at least, but the lead would work just as well for his plan. Damien raised his hand toward Arne, shooting the chunks of lead directly at them. Arne didn't bother to block or use spirit enhancement as the pieces broke against their skin.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
But Damien expected as much. As each chunk broke, he made the smaller pieces cling to Arne like lint would clothes. Every time Arne removed one piece, a pink bolt would appear connected to their body and the lead and force the lead to return to Arne's body.
"What's this?" Arne asked, surprised and annoyed. "You made me magnetic? How does that help you?"
"You'll see," Damien responded coyly.
"It won't matter."
"Oh? Do you intend to tank it this time, too? Last time, that didn't work out well for you."
Arne looked around.
"Initially, I planned to since you can't use your lightning much," Arne said before smiling again. "But everyone's here for a show, so I think I'll go a bit more on the offensive this time."
Damien's eyes suddenly widened in alert. He jumped reflexively as Arne swiftly raised their fists and smashed them onto the stage floor, sending a rippling wave of destruction outward.
The ripple uplifted the ground unnaturally, destroying the stage in the process and filling the air with dust, making it difficult to see. Damien immediately switched to omni-vision to lock onto Arne's energy.
He saw Arne standing in the same place, their orange glowing eyes looking up at him. With a wave of Arne's hand, the dust in the air scattered to reveal Arne now standing in the center of a swirling pool of earth.
As he watched, four solid, rock tentacles shot out of the ground and headed straight for Damien. He could easily dodge them, but Arne manipulated the tentacles to pursue him and created a total of a dozen of them.
This forced him on the defensive. He cursed himself for not being able to use his abilities freely; otherwise, he wouldn't be having so much trouble.
Damien was so preoccupied with avoiding the earthy tendrils that he hadn't noticed Arne approaching him until he felt a vice-like grip on one of his ankles.
This surprised him, but Damien smiled at the opportunity and immediately sheathed his body in condensed lightning for a moment – just long enough for the lead around Arne to react to his spirit energy.
Damien felt a strong downward yank the next instant as Arne threw him into the ground with incredible force. The ground immediately tried to swallow Damien, but thanks to his reflexes, he managed to escape back into the air before being trapped.
"That was desperate. It's unlike you," Damien commented as he leveled with Arne.
"Last time taught me a few things. I won't lose this time. Especially now that you can't throw lightning everywhere."
Damien smirked amusingly.
"You've already lost," he proclaimed. "You ensured it the moment you touched me just now."
Arne looked down at their body to see the lead on their body liquifying from Damien's electric spirit energy that remained on them.
Using his hand as guidance, Damien spread his palm open, willing the liquidized lead to spread around Arne's body. Then he closed it into a fist, causing the material to constrict Arne, but to no one's surprise, Arne's tough exterior and monstrous strength allowed them to break free easily.
However, before they could go on the offensive again, Damien did something deviant and sent the liquid metal into Arne's mouth, spreading it within their body.
Arne immediately dropped from the sky and crashed onto the ground, their metallic skin returning to normal.
Amazingly, Arne was still on their feet after the fall but fell to one knee as they struggled against the internal assault against them.
As Damien slowly landed before Arne, he could see their veins start to show through the skin as they filled with lead.
Damien, confident in his victory, got too close, giving Arne a chance to lash out at Damien, managing to hit him unexpectedly, but their strength had waned to the point Damien barely felt it as Arne collapsed before him.
Before things went too far, Damien called the match as he willed the lead to leave Arne's body.
"I win," he declared.
Arne grunted as they rose to their knees, coughing vigorously.
"I didn't tap out," they proclaimed.
"We both know you wouldn't have even if it meant dying," Damien said calmly as he reached out a hand to help Arne up.
Arne eyed Damien's hand for a moment before taking it.
"You're a demon, but at least fighting you is never boring," they said with a smile while standing.
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Fun fact: Ranked in sixth place, Arne is the slowest Primordial, but the second strongest in terms of physical power [https://img.wattpad.com/c11cde356a535660ff9df3036a56ad9365f2f4e8/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f41686a41384f4d646736555a38673d3d2d313338313436393939332e313738333938363265343862366639353530353631323631303635342e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Fun fact: Ranked in sixth place, Arne is the slowest Primordial, but the second strongest in terms of physical power.
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