"AAAAAAAAARRRG!"
Ryzel ferociously assaulted his opponent. – "DIE! DIE! DIE!" – Alexander dodged and defended. The fight started with a one-sided beating.
Esprit suddenly left a nearly invisible opening. 'That's my chance!' Thought Alexander and stabbed.
"Idiot!" – Whispered Ryzel so that only his opponent could hear and suddenly shot a wind blade, directly from his palm. Alexander grinned. – "The idiot here is you."
'[Burning I]'
On the point of the rapier appeared a wisp of scarlet flame and burned through the wind blade.
But the next moment Ryzel abruptly changed the direction of his chainsword and one of its dents pierced Alexander's shoulder.
The boy tried do step back but was stopped by a wave of pain. 'This is bad! My shoulder is pinned down by his sword…'
"YOU'RE DONE FOR, KID!" – Roared Ryzel. But against his only prediction Alexander's sword suddenly disappeared and a black dagger appeared instead.
He stepped forward and ferociously stabbed the Esprit's body. He retreated a few meters away.
Alexander stopped and took out his rapier.
Then he tried to move the wounded shoulder and a grimace of pain expressed well enough his sensations.
"What's your name, Kid?" – Suddenly asked Ryzel while Alexander summoned a lump of green flame.
'He didn't attack me now…at least I can answer.' The boy thought while the pierced shoulder completely healed. – "Alexander."
"I'm Ryzel."
"I feel that it would be my honor to kill you, Alexander…" – He said with serious face and as Alexander was about to retort with some veiled, or not, insult, he added. – "…or to be killed by you."
The words that were about to came out from Alexander's mouth stopped mid-way. After a long pause he nodded. – "I feel the same, Ryzel."
The Esprit grinned and dashed forward shooting three wind blades. Alexander dodged all of them nut the next moment his expression changed.
'Damn, it was a trap!'
While dodging he didn't notice the chainsword arriving from a very tricky angle towards his back.
"AAAAAARRRRRR." Left with no choice he stabbed, aiming at Rizel's eyes. 'Dodge! Bastard!'
But suddenly the Esprit laughed maniacally. – "I you want to trade hits…LETS TRADE!"
Alexander saw a pair of eyes filled with fighting spirit before the point of his rapier pierced one of them. In the same moment four dents teared his flesh.
For a second they stood unmoving, connected by their respective weapons.
In the same moment both jumped back.
There were five meters separating them now.
Alexander already healed the most dangerous of the internal damage while the Esprit reopened his pierced eye.
The boy remembered something in this moment. 'He has an artificial body…'
"You're good! Really good for your age." – Commented Ryzel with sincere appreciation written on his face. – "But you're still going to die…"
'[Speed I]'
A runic circle appeared under his feet and Alexander suddenly felt a cold breeze arrive from behind accompanied by extreme sensation of danger.
He instinctively ducked and avoided Ryzel's killing blow meant to decapitate him in one hit.
Alexander looked towards his opponent and with shock saw as Rizel's figure slowly disappeared. 'An afterimage!'
A drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead and slowly went down.
"Ho…You managed to dodge…"
The Esprit's voice was coming from… 'Everywhere.'
'What to do?!...' Alexander's mind was working frenetically when suddenly he thought about something.
'[Boundless Energy!'
He covered four meters around him with Boundless Energy and just in time.
'From the left!' He slashed.
"Hmmm?! Impossible!" – Rizel's voice carried some noted of incredulity as his body reappeared some meters away. – "You can follow my movements?!"
Alexander calmly smirked. – "Who knows…maybe!" – But in reality, his heart was still beating as a small drum and he was drenched in cold sweat.
'That was close.'
James and Doctor both relaxed. They were ready to save the boy. Law was as calm as always.
Esprit observed the boy for a moment. – "For a second I felt the taste of your fear on my tongue and thought that it was the end…"
"Somehow you could survive my assault. But…I expected nothing less from someone who could decapitate Roxanne in one slash!"
James and Doctor were both puzzled. 'So, the Esprit I managed to kill was named Roxanne?'
"She was your friend?" – He suddenly asked to Ryzel.
The man's gaze became colder but… - "Hahahahaha! You must see you face now. Do I look like someone sentimental? She was only a nasty bit…Whatever!" – He suddenly stopped talking and disappeared.
"Now I'm curious if you will manage to survive this one." – Sounded his voice from every direction.
'[Speed I]'
'[Strength I]'
Alexander directly closed his eyes and observed his surroundings through the Boundless Map.
Suddenly he sensed a slight disturbance. 'Left!' But it immediately disappeared.
"SURPRISE!"
Ryzel appeared from behind made a vertical slash aiming for the Alexander's head.
'Does he want to cut me in two pieces or…' He didn't have enough time to finish this random thought and raised horizontally his rapier.
*Clang*
He managed to stop the chainsword as it was a few millimeters away from his head.
The sheer force of impact made Alexander's feet slightly sink into the ground. His bones painfully cracked.
But he resisted.
Suddenly the pressure disappeared, and the boy fell on one knee. Ryzel returned to his initial position.
"It's not even fun if don't die no matter what…"
"What…are you talking about, Psycho?" – Alexander was gasping for some breath.
Ryzel didn't answer. – "Alexander. Can you do the same move you used to kill Roxanne?"
Alexander remained silent for a moment and mentally controlled how much Devil's Rose remained in the bottle. – "Yes, I can."
"Nice. Let's just finish this game. Your friends can easily obliterate me, anyway." – He glanced at Doctor. The image of a giant blob of dark liquid chewing and entire building was still very vivid in his memory.
"I will use my strongest move, while you will use the one from yesterday. If you survive, you win."
Ryzel looked at him waiting for answer.
'It wasn't his strongest move? The last one?! He already broke me…Damn it…I will die…absolutely die.'
As the Esprit observer the changes in the Alexander's expression some black lines appeared on his face. – "I didn't think that you were such a coward, Kid…The thing I said about the honor…well, forget it."
Alexander's face suddenly changed. 'Coward…?'
His eyes became cold. He suddenly felt like on the battlefield from his second dream.
The fear was obliterated by the determination.
Fighting spirit filled his consciousness.
"That's better." – Ryzel relaxed and nodded. – "Are you ready?"
Alexander took an old bottle from the storage of the Boundless Map and made a few mouthfuls. – "Ready!"
He pointed his rapier towards the Esprit, and it was immediately covered by purple flame.
Then his whole body followed.
Ryzel closed his eyes.
'[Speed II]'
Some cracks appeared on his legs.
'[Strength II]'
Then they extended on the upper body.
'[Control II]'
And to finish his face also became covered by a web of cracks.
Some Curse Energy gushed out but was immediately gathered towards his chainsword.
"I'm ready too."
Their eyes met and…they disappeared.
[…]
Alexander stood on the same place. *Pow*
He fell on the kneels and used the rapier to support himself. A long red line appeared on his upper body.
Ryzel was standing behind him. Unmoving. – "You won."
The first thing to crumble were his hands and the chainsword fell on the ground. – "Can you take my weapon and give it someone…"
Legs, body, and, in the end his head also turned to gray dust. – "…worthy!"
The only thing that remained was a bluish orb.
Alexander remained motionless for some minutes.
After that he stood up. A lot of blood was dripping from the wound on his chest. He touched the chainsword and stored it away.
Then he picked up the orb.
"Good fight! Marvelous! The last move was something else…" – James's voice arrived from behind. Doctor and Law also went near.
"He was a good warrior." – Commented Law. Doctor also nodded. – "Such a pity for him to serve a Phantom…" – He didn't finish the sentence as he saw the orb that Alexander was holding. – "Oh, and that should be the Wind Core that Kleid needed."
"Yes. It was inside his body. It's the Wind Core."
"Ok, now we can return."
Alexander asked to give him some time to recover a bit.
He didn't have enough energy even to heal himself.
Suddenly Doctor stepped forward. – "Let me see you wound. Strictly speaking there is a reason why everyone calls me doctor."
He touched his own shadow and surprising his hand sank into it.
After that he pulled out some strange looking instruments, but Alexander didn't remember what Doctor did afterwards as he lost consciousness due to excessive loss of blood.
[…]
He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Captain talking to Kleid about something.
"Oh, you regained consciousness." – Said James. – "We're still waiting for the last group to return. It seams that the Water General was the sneakiest among them."
Suddenly John looked in the distance. – "Oh, here they are."
There was some slight irritation in his voce.
"Now, shut off these golems, Kleid!"