I feel like I never truly knew him, as he was. And I will never know who he could have been. But I can imagine… dream of it… when my dreams aren’t shaken by a voice I cannot understand.
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The warm orange hue of the evening dusk shone upon Léandro’s armor, then scattered into his hair. His beautiful blonde locks shone with a golden shimmer as the sunlight touched them. He took in a sharp breath, his blue eyes scanning Kai up and down like a hunter his prey. The sword he clutched swished forward as he got into a battle position, then waited for his opponent to do the same.
Kai unseathed his silver sword and took on a similar stance to Léandro. The crimson eyes hidden behind the mask smirked as he inspected Léandro’s form. Now that I know more about swordsmanship… his does look better than mine. However he didn’t think his skills were inferior, and what little he lacked in swordsmanship, he could make up with magic. At the very least, he had the confidence to think like that.
“Gentlemen… please, a loud cheer for our final two contestants!” The organiser said with a sly smile. The crowd immediately erupted into an almost drunken laughter.
“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” They chanted as they lifted their fists up in the air.
What a bunch of lunatics… Kai couldn’t understand what drove people to seek so much violence. Especially by watching a fight for either a medicinal plant or fifty gold coins. Why is this contest so popular anyway… do these people not have any sort of entertainment?
However, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted, not facing Léandro. Especially not after seeing how ruthless he was to his opponents. I don’t remember him being this angry or committed before… what happened in the times since we parted? However, such a question could only be answered by the man himself. Their eyes met mid-air, crimson and blue clashing in a weaponless fight.
As many things as Kai went through in his journey, he could that Léandro experienced a similar amount of pain. The look in his eyes told the story of a weary man, perhaps desperate. Kai couldn’t tell.
“Alright then, please, cheer for our two fighters here and give them the go!” The organiser said as he jumped down from the arena. His greedy gaze landed on Kai’s back, giving him quite a disgusting aftertaste. However the crowd didn’t care for any of that, they just wanted to see a bloody fight.
“3!” They yelled in unison, counting down just as the organizer asked them to do.
“2!” Kai clutched his sword, readying to face Léandro and the unknown techniques he held.
“1!” The cheering grew louder and Léandro’s knees bent slightly as he got ready to jump at Kai like a tiger.
“FIGHT!!!!!”
The two disappeared from their spot in the blink of an eye, reappearing in the middle accompanied by the sound of clashing steel. Their blades parted and then touched once again as they tried to get the upper hand. They seemed to be equally skilled, though, as neither of them held any particular advantage or disadvantage.
Kai backed off and pointed his sword down, then arched his legs and enchanted his feet with magic. He jumped, sword still pointed toward the ground. Kicking with his feet, he made Léandro unconsciously look away from his sword for a moment. In that split second, he raised it and swung it downward with immense momentum as he pulled back his leg.
By the time Léandro realized that he had been duped, the sword already made contact with his shoulder plate. He stumbled backward and quickly dodged a horizontal slash from Kai. Clicking his tongue, Kai didn’t give Léandro any time to recover but instead dashed toward him with his still-enchanted legs. He leaped like a frog and pointed his sword at Léandro’s torso.
Yet, it seemed that the short amount of time between the dodge and the leap gave the blonde-haired boy enough time to come to his senses. A dense amount of mana seeped through his pores as a faint light encapsulated him. The next moment, Kai found his sword blocked by Léandro’s, and it felt like he had struck stone. So sturdy, what the-
However, his thoughts were quickly scattered by a perfectly aimed kick right at his face. Wind grazed his cheeks as he dodged by a hair’s breadth. Léandro lunged at his stomach but the young vampire quickly deflected the blow with the side of his blade.
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Both of them took the opportunity to grab at each other’s throats upon the creation of the opening. Yet, as soon as they realized their similar ideas, immediately backed off.
They looked at each other, panting. The swords they held trembled in their hands, not for fear though, but from excitement. Kai could tell that much from Léandro’s curling smile. He knew that, because he supposed a similar one creased his lips.
Murmuring, his body shone with the light of magic enchantment and he immediately disappeared from view. Léandro turned around and blocked off Kai’s sneak attack, then in that same breath led the silver sword to land on his breastplate. It penetrated it, but not deep enough to cut his flesh, then launched a counterattack with a quick jab at Kai’s unprotected torso.
Kai grit his teeth and throws his body closer to Léandro, transforming the almost fatal strike into a painful cut. Simultaneously, he pulled his sword, cutting deep into Léandro’s armor and flesh. He grunted in pain looked at the uncomfortably close Kai and placed a leg on his belly. He quickly extended it as Kai tried to grab it, then kicked with the light of magic shining on his feet. He lost grip on his silver sword, and a faint amount of blood splattered where he once stood.
After flying backward like a kite with its string cut, Kai rolled to his feet, dizzy and scratched. However, he quickly snapped back to his senses and quickly summoned a dark crystal. It disappeared after he cast a spell and a barrier manifested around him, which shattered a few seconds later as Léandro’s angry charge came hulling over. His momentum got completely absorbed by the shield, though, and Kai took the opportunity to drag him by the collar and smash him on the ground.
The arena floor cracked under the impact. Without waiting for another second, he shot a ‘Flame Fist’ in Léandro’s abdomen. However, he weirdly twisted his body and barely dodged the burn of the impact. Kai punched the floor, which crumbled into a cloud of dust and smoke. Léandro freed himself in the chaos, however Kai hid himself in the darkness already.
He circled the blonde boy, who sat in the middle of the light whilst Kai hid in the shadowy spots created by the floor above. His crimson eyes glowed with the light of a predator hunting his prey, and he instinctively wanted to take out his claws and dine on the prince. However, he suppressed that though, disgusted that it even appeared to him.
With the quietness of a cheetah, he crept closer and closer to Léandro, whose caution couldn’t help him detect the threat standing right in front of him. A quick lunge sent Kai flying forward and he instantly tackled his opponent. In that same breath, he grabbed the wrist that held the sword and forced it to open. The weapon thudded on the ground. The rest of the momentum pushed Léandro and Kai against the thin, wooden walls of the arena’s foundation. A whole immediately appeared on it as the two crashed through it, causing the crowd to scatter.
Léandro broke himself free with a quick kick of his legs, and without hesitation, he grabbed the bow from his spatial ring and aimed an arrow right at Kai. However, the vampire instantly dodged the arrow and dashed forward. At that time, the archer shut off one eye as the other glowed with a violet light. An arrow pierced Kai’s leg in less time than it takes to blink. It pierced right through both shoe and bone, embedding itself in the ground.
With a grunt he fell to the ground, the sudden loss of inertia making him lose balance. His heart raced, and he knew that he had to act soon. Without giving it a second thought, he brought out his wand and cast a spell in that same instant. A pungent darkness covered the crowd as the sound of a snapping twig echoed in the silence.
Kai rushed toward the arena, his footsteps uneven and bleeding profusely from his foot. Yet, despite the pain, he leaped and scanned the area for his sword. He immediately grabbed it as soon as he saw it and put away his wand, undoing the darkness spell.
Léandro’s keen eye spotted Kai’s figure atop the arena as soon as he could see again and didn’t hesitate to pull down another arrow. The string of his bow glowed with a golden light, as did his eye, which sent a wave toward Kai. It was him before he could even notice it existed. Léandro shot the arrow as soon as the glowing string fully drew back at a faster speed than Kai could dream to react to.
He watched the arrow rush toward his head with widening pupils, yet no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t get his body to move in the slightest. He knew that all he needed to do was move his head, step to the side, or cast a barrier. Yet somehow, he couldn’t. The grip on his sword almost disappeared, but he couldn’t accept such a result. Not after everything that’s happened.
As the world around him moved in slow motion, he mustered the strength to grip it with both hands. His eyes pulsed with a desire to win, to live, and to crush his opponent. As his clutch around the hilt tightened, a primordial strength flowed through his veins.
“Yes… call upon me…” It whispered to him like a sweet lullaby. Such strength, such power, Kai desired to have it… Temptation and greed almost overtook his entire being, however, the though of what he would lose were he to accept became haunting. No, begone… I will deal with you later! He yelled inwardly and felt the strength he just acquired fade from his body.
Yet, even as that happened, he recalled one of Ivan’s techniques. Move slowly like a drifting leaf, then shoot like a flying arrow. Prepare your strike before you plan to hit, then when you’re sure do it with all you have. There are no second chances.
He took a deep breath and thought about how he wanted to strike, how his sword would slice through the arrow, and how it would get split in two. Then, as the world seemingly turned to normal, if it ever did slow down, he acted upon his vision.
Swoosh