KABOOOOM!
Buildings collapsed and fragments of small rocks rained over the entire city.
This was the result of an explosion that sounded much clearer than the footsteps of the living city.
Unlike the deep vibrations going through the city, this was a sharp sound, twisting the air, and creating a shock wave that flew through the cores of anyone unlucky enough to be standing outside, making them feel nauseous and disoriented.
Those unlucky enough to have been caught in the actual explosion would certainly have naught but a stain remaining of them.
A large crater at the centre of the explosion. Inside should be nothing but emptiness, a reminder of what was there and now wasn't-
It should have been filled with emptiness. Yet...there were two figures standing there. Both seemed to barely stand on their feet.
One of them was a young girl, clad partially in armour. Her dress and hair were scorched, her skin was covered in ash and was slightly burned, it wasn't enough to be dangerous, but it was certainly enough to impede proper functions to some degree.
The other was a man. He looked completely fine, other than the fact that his body was letting off a lot of steam.
Yet his body was shaky. His legs barely able to hold him up.
He took a step back and widened his legs further apart to gain more stability.
They had both survived the explosion in a way no other sane human would dare to attempt.
Yuri had activated a half finished runic circle, which she had etched onto her gauntlet in the last moments before the explosion, managing to successfully create an unbreakable barrier around her, which would last a moment, and get her through the explosion.
But it was only half finished. It did not posses the strength it normally had, and so would shatter under the force of the explosion pushing against it.
So Yuri made use of another spell on her gauntlet. A smoke spell.
It was made to simply create a mass of smoke to fill an entire street with. There was now a much better use for it than a simple smokescreen.
Since the area inside the barrier was very small, and the smoke produced by the spell was very large.
It overfilled that limited space within the single moment it was there for. The smoke had no way to escape, so it kept collecting inside the barrier, becoming compressed. Pushing against the barrier and Yuri.
She was thankful the barrier only lasted a moment, any longer and her bones might have been broken.
Since the smoke inside the barrier was heavily compressed. Once the barrier was released. The smoke shot out like its own explosion. A compressed air explosion. Pushing against the force of the explosion outside and nullifying most of its power, so it did not do much other than push Yuri away.
Of course, although the force of the explosion was nullified. The heat surrounding Yuri was not. So she was met with almost the entire heat of the giant explosion.
Had it not been for the strong winds from the city's movement, she was sure her skin would have melted.
Pi however, chose to take a whole other approach to stop himself from getting blown up or melted by the explosion.
Reacting at the last moment, he had take out all of his paper slips containing water spells. He had around twenty, and crushed them.
Resulting in a cascade of water shooting out around him and enveloping him in a water bubble that was out of control.
Using several spells together was never a good idea, since it often created unpredictable phenomena such as the water bubble which formed around the user and suffocated him to death.
But that was just what he needed.
The heat of the explosion had evaporated all of the water, which had also absorbed some of the force of the explosion.
But the evaporation was too quick, and although the heat was dealt with, he was still hit with a very large portion of the explosion's force.
He was sure that several of his bones had cracked, some of the force also went through his body, damaging his organs, not fatally, but it made it difficult for him to move without intense pain.
They were both facing each other, both in an equally terrible condition.
They stood still for several minutes, although to them it felt like hours, standing there, trying to catch their breath, trying to push away the pain and discomfort to the back of their heads, summoning their last bit of energy.
It was Yuri who made the first move, rushing forward with her skin still retaining the feeling of being burned alive.
She moved and thrust her dagger.
She needed to win. This was no longer a matter of honour or pride or the shame of defeat or even anger.
This was a feral instinct. Being faced with such a ferocious battle, her emotions were stripped bare of anything unnecessary, stripped bare of anything but the need to win.
The pigeon mask's unmoving eyes stared at her. She couldn't tell the expression of the man behind the mask. But she could tell he was the same. The heat of the battle made everyone the same. Stripping them bare of anything but the basic emotions and their pure skill.
Pi moved downwards, avoiding the thrust completely. No he didn't do so intentionally, he just...collapsed.
Yuri was too worn out to do any fancy maneuver. So she continued her thrust, hoping to hit him, instead she once again only left a small scratch upon his mask.
(You can't fight any more. I win..!)
But right before his mask touched the ground. His muscles tensed up. Holding him just inches above the stone.
He turned his torso and made a palm strike at Yuri, hitting her squarely in the chest and pushing her back.
He had regained his senses just before completely succumbing to fatigue.
Yuri hit the ground hard, pain coursing through her body.
She got up just in time to see the figure of Pi appear right next to her.
She rolled away, dodging his kick.
He slowly took out one of his few remaining slips of paper.
His arm was surrounded with a small flame, any strike from him would do more than just break her bones.
She realised that the tables had now turned. She had become the target.
He likely knew that at this rate, he would collapse sooner or later.
He had to take out his opponent before she took him out. Escaping and killing time was no longer an option, not with these injuries.
The warmth from the flame around his arm slowed his shaking slightly.
His bones were still fine, but his organs needed rest, and rest meant being attacked.
Yuri turned and began to escape.
She knew that if she outlasted him, he would eventually just succumb to his own injuries. There was no reason to fight him any more.
(Finishing him off? I'm not that foolish, I will take a certain victory rather than a risky prideful one..!)
After he succumbs to his injuries, she could just walk up to him and effortlessly pull his mask off, without him even resisting.
She had won.
Or so she thought.
Until Pi began sprinting toward her, his flaming arm leaving a trail of smoke behind him.
(How the hell can he run like that despite being half dead!?!?)
She kept running, rounding a corner. She had only two spells on her boots, and only a single spell on her gauntlet. She couldn't afford to use them right now.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
She ran as fast as her legs allowed, ignoring the pain on her skin.
Running past the broken rubble of some nearby buildings, Yuri grabbed onto a thick board of wood.
The road ahead changed into a very steep staircase leading down.
She jumped, holding the board beneath her.
Landing roughly onto the stairs, barely dodging out of the way of the flaming fist aimed at her.
Yuri slid down the stairs on her board, she looked back expecting to see her pursuer slowly running down the stairs.
Instead she found him, standing on the railway of the staircase, sliding down perfectly.
“How is he so damn agile..! More a monkey than a pigeon..!”
But it was fine, she would soon reach her destination.
She reached the end of the staircase and ran ahead.
Pi did a semi flip and got off the railing, sprinting after her.
She was stuck, she had reached the out most edge of the city. Beyond this fencing was nothing but a drop into the passing desert below.
Yuri dropped the wooden board on the ground ans sat on it.
Pi wondered if she finally admitted defeat. There was no escape, from where she was sitting, if he attacked now, she wouldn't have time to do anything.
He moved forward, twisting his body and throwing his still aflame fist at her.
Boom.
An explosion much smaller than the previous one occurred, something exploded beneath where Yuri was sitting.
Shooting the board with her on it, up into the air.
And just out of Pi's reach.
She continued to fly up. Activating one of the spells on her boots, she flew sideways, landing on a rock beyond the limits of the city.
“Eleven.”
It was no rock, it was actually the City's head, or rather the head of the creature.
He was running out of time, Pi was sure that his excessive movements had opened some wound inside his damaged organs. He would collapse in a manner of minutes.
Taking out two slips of papers, and crunching them in his burning fist, the burned papers shot a mass of flames from his fist. Its range was short, but its strength was not something that could be controlled.
It was like having a small jet engine strapped to his arm, he couldn't use it as a weapon. He could however, use it as propulsion.
Which he did, propelling himself through the air toward where Yuri stood, waiting for him.
His spell ran out conveniently at the spot right beside Yuri, dropping him in front of her.
When he did, Yuri naturally swung at him with her dagger, slicing a bit of his mask and making him jump backwards in caution.
They face each other, the unblinking eye of the creature whose head they were standing on looked out at the desert, completely unaware of their battle.
Both barely had any spells left.
They swung at each other, dodging and striking.
He used some form of martial arts, making use of his longer limbs, kicking and striking with his palms.
While Yuri went for a more fencing style of combat. Dodging and slashing at him, always just barely missing.
None dared to use their remaining spells. Choosing instead to wait for the next to use theirs so that they could counter it and head for the killing blow.
“Should be about time now..”
Yuri jumped back and looked up at the sky.
The sun was a bright orange in the horizon. Shining brightly enough to blind anyone looking directly at it.
Asur, the creature this city was built into, was heading directly for that horizon, so naturally, its eyes were getting dry, even drier than usual.
It didn't help that it couldn't blink.
Yuri was glad she had asked Hikaru to look up information about this creature. Since there was an interesting fact that would now prove very useful.
This creature lived in the desert, yet its eyes could not blink. They could not be re-moisturised. For a creature that was already very dry, this was more than inconvenient, and most likely irritating. A flaw in its design, which would now help Yuri finish this duel.
She smiled knowingly at the man running towards her with his next attack.
Yuri activated the last spell on her boot. With a tremendous burst, two gigantic pillars of water burst out from the bottom of her boot and thrust her up into the air.
The pillars of waters were incredibly strong, and they were incredibly dense. Not to mention that there were two of them. Yuri spun out of control on her way up, creating a spiral of the two pillars, which slowly dug into the head of the creature.
Yet the creature did not mind, it was made of stone, as such it barely had anything close to a sense of touch in most of its body. Which was why humans were successful in building a city out of its back.
But it felt something trickle down into its eyes. Something refreshing. Small streams of water from the pillars crashing against the top of its head.
It shook its head in a refreshed manner, and looked up, hoping to catch more of the rare liquid on its face.
It was rewarded with a blast of the water pillars, but it didn't seem to mind, it kept moving its head and even unlocked its giant jaw to catch some of the water in its mouth.
Yuri looked down on this relaxed giant lizard and saw what she was hoping to see.
The figure of Pi being flung off the creatures head and down into the desert below.
“Even if you fall in the middle of the desert.. as long as you die, I can always come by later and get your mask.”
A twisted laugh came from Yuri's mouth.
She had a single spell left on her gauntlet, it was the feather fall spell, which she had specially saved in case she needed to use this method of eliminating her enemy.
Activating the spell made her entire body as light as a feather, descending slowly through the sky.
Her clothes were red from blood. Her skin was slightly burned. Her hair was a mess flying in every direction, and she was laughing in an incredibly evil manner while slowly descending from the sky.
She looked far from any thief.
She was more like a demon.
Some people inside the city saw her descending from the sky. This appearance would later on spread in rumours and size until it somehow made its way into the city's religion, as the counterpart of their god Asur. The demon queen of the desert.
But that is a story for another time.
Yuri landed softly on the head of the supposed god which had now put its head back into its original position because of the disappearance of water.
Upon landing, her bronze boots shattered into several small pieces. When she crouched down to touch one of the pieces with her left hand, her gauntlet followed as well, shattering into even more pieces.
“Ah..this is why I wanted stronger material.”
Brushing the pieces of metal off herself. She pondered if her new gauntlet was finished, hopefully it could take the strain of having so much magic poured through it.
“Now..I really need to go wash this dress..Hikaru! Where are you, you can come out now!”
She yelled, knowing he had been watching her fight from somewhere, while not interfering as per her orders.
“He's not answering..that could only mean..”
That her duel wasn't over.
She heard the sound of heavy breathing.
Yet there was nothing around her other than wind.
“Below!?”
A shadow jumped up from the edge of the creature's head.
Landing roughly in front of Yuri.
It was Pi. He had somehow managed to stop his fall.
“But how..”
Then she saw. His hands were red, they were so bloody that not even an inch of skin could be seen.
He slowly stood up.
Yuri took a step back. The man before her. She had underestimated him. His will is incredibly strong. Strong enough to keep fighting and survive death countless times even in his near death condition.
He slowly, almost painfully slow, took a single piece of paper from his pocket, his red blood staining it greatly.
He held it up In front of him.
Yuri understood this as his last spell.
He took the spell and threw it away.
“Huh? Why did you?”
Taking a deep breath, he took up his stance, lifting his bloody fists.
“I see...we are both out of spells now..then out of courtesy for your will. I will not use my weapon.”
She sheathed her dagger behind her clothes.
“Now...come..!”
She exclaimed while taking up a basic stance.
They began running. Their bodies were slow, especially Pi.
But even if he was extremely weakened. Yuri was sure he was still stronger than her in pure combat.
All she needed to do was to dodge a single attack.
No..she didn't even need to dodge.
His fist struck her face. Pushing her cheek with so much power that she almost fainted, the power leaving her body.
(Now..!)
She punched him weakly in his face, her punch jumping off his rubbery mask.
He pulled his fist back again. His victory was certain. He was on the near of collapsing. But he had won. He had landed the hit, she couldn't fight back any more. After the next hit she was done for.
Yet why.
Why was she smiling.
She was smiling even with blood dripping from her nose and mouth.
Some strange light made him close his left eye instinctively, even despite him wearing the covering mask.
His eyes widened in surprise.
The light was coming from his mask. A bright uncertain light was coming from his mask.
Just when he realised this.
His mask exploded.
The explosion wasn't large, in fact it was incredibly small.
But it was enough, he fell over sideways.
His mind circling around how this was even possible.
“You know. This dagger I was trying to cut you with?”
She twirled her dagger.
“It's got magic in it. So all those times I only left a scratch on your mask? Each scratch was a stroke on a runic spell. And after enough time. I had enough, all I needed was to just..touch it.”
She clenched her hand into a fist.
The explosion was small due to being drawn so sloppily, but it was still enough to blow away most of the mask.
His consciousness left, as he admitted to being outsmarted. Yet that fact didn't make him feel shame or the feeling of defeat. In fact. It made him relieved. Since being outsmarted could maybe mean....
“I win. You were good. You were really good. Your only mistake was not planning ahead as much as I did. Now let's see who is behind that ugly mask all along..”
She walked over to where he lay on his side.
Her entire body froze.
Even her breath stopped.
“It..can't be..”