It was a beautiful spring day in the western hills, calm, peaceful and productive for the busy residents completing their assigned tasks.
Energetic kids happily ran about in the sun, finally free from the restrictions and confinement of the winter months.
Their animated excitement could hardly be kept from their faces, boys and girls alike were attending lessons run by members of the elite army.
Outside the make-shift school, mining carts rumbled over the paved roads, heading to the coal mines in the east.
The well equipped miners trudged alongside the juddering train of carts, most engaged in casual conversation among themselves.
Happy voices, jokes and jovial laughter trailed as the men made their way out of the residential district, passing pedestrians and groups of mounted men on patrol.
On this sunny and windless day, the flag sitting high over the main manor hung limp, drooping down lifelessly on its tall spire.
Everything was business as usual. It seemed like just another normal day, no different to the others behind the wall.
...
Everyone was oblivious to the almighty ruckus taking place in the back mountains of the western hills.
Flashes of blue and silver sparks showered down from the sky, bouncing along the floor like marbles.
The colours of the entire scene was vividly saturated, to the point that everything looked like it was illuminated by neon lights.
Three blisteringly fast clashes took place with such stunning velocity, the combatants were practically invisible to the naked eye.
Clang!
A flourishing strike from low to mid-left was blocked by Hartley's long sword.
The two swords clashed like violent thunder, the elemental long sword visibly dimming in colour as it rained another burst of sparks.
Hartley rebounded and slid back ten meters, his thigh muscles bulging while his feet gouged out defined lines in the uneven surface.
A shockwave pulsed out from their exchange, forming a five metre high translucent dome around the two, half blue, half silver.
It swept 30 metres out in all directions like an extending halo, peeling away the top layer of earth and trees.
The sheer power released attracted a maelstrom of black energy that erupted noisily like a bomb, causing the terrain in a 30 meter radius to disappear like a nuclear strike.
The woman in white was in disbelief, residual winds buffeted her like a canoe descending turbulent rapids, this puny guy was fighting two layers above his own level.
More so he was glaringly reckless, taking no stock of the black energy worming out from multiple places. Dazzling streaks of the deadly element was whizzing pass and missing him by mere inches, it was almost miraculous, he was as lucky as a rabbit's foot.
"Stop Resisting!." She barked coldly.
The shadowy image of a dragon behind her wrapped it's wings around her body, alleviating some of the pressure weighing her down, simultaneously protecting her from the sputtering sparks of black energy flying wild.
"You will be defeated!" She shouted to the heavens in disgust and anger, moving to her right to avoid more spewing black energy.
Finally taking the young man as a serious opponent, her eyes squinted into beads like a shark smelling blood.
She launched herself forward again, sure footed and steady as she accelerated over the decimated ground, scorched black.
Clang!
Hartley's long sword came up to deflect the silver sword with another arm-numbing collision. Their silhouettes were coloured with another flash of blue and silver.
Hartley took a step back, pain pulsing through his body, resisting her power through sheer guts, his movements blurred as his short sword counterattacked like lightning, the curved blade with zero gravity applied, swept viciously towards her waist.
"Child's play!"
Two words fell from her lips.
She didn't break stride, easily stepping to the side like a ghost, bringing down her silver sword in a glowing arc even faster, meeting the short sword in another jarring exchange.
Sparks flooded out, her hair fluttered behind her, exposing a beautiful face as stern as granite.
Hartley's dual swords held no advantage over her lone blade.
He was forced back again, sliding across the scorched and smouldering ground, raking up plumes of dust and cutting a sorry figure under the afternoon sun.
She had intended to prise all his secrets away, either by shadowing him for a period of time or extracting it through torture, now she thought different.
This guy was talented, determined and could endure like a maniac, he had to be put down mercilessly, lest there be never-ending troubles in the future when he progressed.
Her whole life she had contended with the egos of men who would rather die than lose to a girl.
The lord of the western hills was more dangerous than those egomaniacs.
Not only did he possess a potent second domain that handicapped his opponents, he crudely disregarded the presence of the black energy, it seemed he had opted for mutual destruction, but the longer she observed, the more it seemed like the black energy was wilfully avoiding him..
....
Hartley's ribs throbbed with stinging pain. Arms numb from the battering exchanges. Blood dribbled down his lip and his robe was tattered and singed.
His eyes gleamed blue with determination as his brain searched for another strategy, he caught his breath for a few seconds before the woman in white was upon him again.
He lessened gravity around his body and sprung backwards, barely making it out of range, an arc of silver light ravaged another piece of the shattered earth, sending shooting debris flying.
This exchange inspired a new battle plan.
Fighting her head-on was like running headlong into a tank. That strategy would only lead to a brutal battering and eventual death.
She charged at him again, the background still vibrant with the colour, she disappeared from the charred landscape with an explosive sonic boom.
Hartley brought 1500 gs of gravitational downforce crashing against the woman's domain, crunching the ground like a tin can and sending plumes of dust rising like smoke.
To his dismay, the shadowy image of the dragon at her back, roared then wrapped it's massive translucent wings around her like a cocoon. This didn't cancel the effect of increased gravity, she obviously struggled to adjust for a second, blinking back into view as she regained her balance, but it negated just enough pressure to keep her potently dangerous.
Seeing the large scale destruction to his backyard, Hartley retracted his full scale domain, applying the forces under his control with more finesse.
There was no point in destroying the back mountains when he had granular control over gravity in a ten mile radius.
Weight was the solution to this battle, it was the best way to grind away the woman's overwhelming strength.
What defines weight?
Weight was always dictated by a downward force on material mass
Increasing the gravity bearing down on any single object was equivalent to multiplying its weight.
In Hartley's new plan, he had to apply granular gravity to two moving subjects, in two very different ways, to get two different results.
The first step was to create a small pocket of exceptionally highly condensed gravity, amplifying its downward force and trapping the person in a mobile gravitational field, it was like a ten tonne piano tethered to the target's back.
Even if she was partially protected by the dragon, the burden would still be significant over time.
The second step was simultaneously lessening the gravity around his own body, decreasing air friction and net weight, increasing his aerodynamics just enough to be stable when moving.
...
Patches of sunlight filtered through the dust columns rising to the sky, the cracked ground resembled the black remnants of a camp fire.
The woman in white eyed the young man with cold contempt.
She did not deign to speak another word of persuasion to the young man.
It was time to end this farce. Frankly, it was impressive that he had lasted this long , but he was at his breaking point, he looked haggard, his robe in ribbons. Her next strike would be the beginning of the end.
She dashed forward again, sword primed as she blinked out of sight.
Half way to the target a heavenly force seemed to drop from the sky, slamming down onto her slender figure like a tonne of bricks. The earth cracked, seismic rumbles flung chunks of the scorched earth into the air.
Eyes bulging, she rocked onto her heels, shocked. Feeling as if she was being pressed into the ground.
There was a weight on her shoulders as if she was Atlas holding up the globe.
Her shadow dragon extended its wings, wrapping her up like a new born child, alleviating the massive pressure by half.
It wasn't ideal but at least she could move again.
Everything went calm again for a moment.
Just as her confusion began to clear, the pressure returned, this time without affecting her surroundings, it seems she was specifically targeted this time.
"You are going to pay for this," she threatened.
...
In their next exchanges, Hartley moved at double his original speed, almost teleporting around, she could only respond with fifty percent of her strength and speed, moving clumsily as if wearing concrete shoes.
The longer the fight continued, the more she began feeling the oppressive tonnes of weight bearing down, taking a visible toll on her body.
Her movements and lightning reflexes, once smooth as butter, started to look laboured and ragged, leaving deep footprints scattered in the scorched dirt.
The strength she possessed still couldn't be underestimated. She was leagues above Hartley in brute power, but application of techniques was always more important than power in any high level encounter, whether in victory or in making an escape.
The translucent dragon at her back made her almost invincible.... but not to black energy. The only thing that had kept it a somewhat even fight was the blaring black energy he was triggering at random, forcing her to cower back and protect herself.
Booms and bangs echoed with sparks flying sky high, chunks of the terrain was erased as easily as chalk. Hartley whizzed around like an annoying fly, attacking from every angle with speedy assaults and withdrawals.
Her frustration was welling up, if she had freedom of movement she could have battered this puny insect to death with a blunt stick.
A single bead of sweat ran down the centre of her forehead, travelling down the bridge of her nose and dripping to the ground, even her pristine robe had been soiled.
This might be the time to retreat, she thought, shocked at how evenly balanced the battle had become.
Seeing her indecisiveness, Hartley knew this was his opportunity, it was time to take advantage of her frustrations, he would never let off anyone who made an attempt at his life, regardless of gender or beauty.
He dismissed his short sword as he burst across the ground in a blur, attacking with an overhead chop of his long sword in his right hand.
The floor exploded, underfoot, dirt and pebbles flew up around the two locked in battle. Hartley's sword dropped down with a thousand gs of gravity applied to the blade.
The blue weapon came down like a whole country was falling onto her head.
White robe fluttering in the turbulence and hampered by the extra gravity around her, she moved to meet his strike without fear.
"You shall be defeated, do you have any idea who I am?!" She shouted righteously, putting her all into meeting the strike with her own.
Her silver sword swiped up to meet the threat. The shadow image of the dragon fading in and out behind her as she gave her absolute all. Whipping up
a mini tornado that stirred around.
Hartley gritted his teeth, putting it all on the line, he performed a series of finger gestures. Trying to achieve something he hadn't up until now, his free hand moved smooth and fluently, transitioning from simple gestures to complex ones, for the first time Hartley completed 8 finger gestures in one motion, summoning the dormant black energy from nothing.
With a rending crackle, the seams of the mortal plane opened. Black energy burst to life around Hartley's silhouette, coiling and coursing around his body like streaks of shimmering electricity.
The dark energy climbed onto his sword in a flash, buzzing lines of black energy danced and crackled up and down the length of the blue elemental sword.
Blue, silver and black clashed as the two swords met.
Boom!
The ground shook.
An uninhibited female scream bellowed out as loud as a fog horn, everything was plunged into temporary darkness.
Hartley was flung away like a missile, ears ringing like bells, the world seemed to twirl around him in slow motion, he landed and rolled onto his back, a little dazed, deafened and shell shocked.
His frayed black robe swayed from side to side, moving along with its staggering owner as he struggled to his feet, coughing up a lung full of dust.
Everything was quiet.
Craters and smouldering scars were dotted everywhere like an obstacle course, a testimony to the havoc the two had wreaked in the back mountains.
Dust was slowly settling back down, beams of sunshine penetrated through, lending a hazy dullness to the scene.
A blackened screaming figure came sprinting through the dust, sending the fine particles into a chaotic swirl.
"How dare you do this to me? Die you evil creature!" A hysterical voice shrieked, bursting into the sunlight, clumps of hair were missing, leaving reddened bald spots on her bleeding scalp, her robe was half burnt, pieces of its fabric fused into her exposed flesh. Her sword arm bent unnaturally and bled freely, scarlet liquid ran onto her silver sword dripping to the ground.
She was almost unrecognisable.
"Die you devil worshiper!" She screamed in mad rage, charging at him. A faint image of a dragon appearing behind her.
It was a futile attempt, still affected by the dense gravity around her, and the battering and burns from the black energy, she moved with a limp, like weight was strapped to her back.
Hartley easily pirouetted to the left, performing 8 finger gestures in one motion for the second time in as many attempts.
Gravity, blue elemental power and crackling black energy, spun and combined with Hartley's practiced routine.
Every element shrinking down to sub atomic size, spinning counter clockwise with the help of condensed gravity.
The ground shook as Hartley created a sizzling black hole, the nucleus lashing out with buzzing black lightning at its edges.
Using his speed advantage he manoeuvred to the opposite side of the screaming woman.
In a practiced manner, Hartley created another black hole around the hysteric attacker, dragging different parts of her body in different directions.
Her wretched screams and incomprehensible gibberish could make one's blood run cold.
The black holes sucked at her like a tug of war.
She, like so many other assassins and spies, would not be leaving the western hills.
She was ripped apart in a couple seconds, disappearing with a puff of black sparks, leaving no trace of her existence as the black holes blinked away, the dragon at her back faded away into dots of sparkling lights.
Silence was restored.
Above all the destruction and pluming dust, a golden butterfly flitted around erratically, going away from the western hills at a leisurely pace.
Hartley stood and watched it disappear, trying to figure out if he had really heard it speak, or was he hallucinating under the pressure of attack.
Like a shattered glass dome, the shield blocking out the battle from prying eyes and perception disappeared.
The people of the western hills stared with gaping mouths, flocking to the back mountains at the sudden sight of destruction, trees were mowed flat, scorched earth and plumes of dust rising from multiple places.
Ripples of bewilderment and dismay overtook the shocked crowd gathering.
Zhi Ruo, Qin Li and all other core members surrounded a battered and bloody Hartley, rushing him back while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Hartley's eyes were unfocused, he remained unresponsive to all questioning, flashing a bloody smile at Zhi Ruo.
Hartley's mind raced, the two princes were meat and vegetables compared to the level of power displayed by the lady in white.
He had suddenly gained a new perspective.