"My turn. Sun flare!"
I used the same spell as Kesh but without any incantation. I had an innate understanding of my own and my ability to shape and control my spells was also greater.
In the sky above me, a giant ball of flame manifested. Its appearance looked similar to the real sun but I had toned down the heat to a reasonable degree to not let the entire town's inhabitants evaporate. Despite that the heat was still strong enough for everyone on the training field to look up in surprise.
I held on to the spell for a few seconds before letting it dissipate. Kesh had already collapsed onto the floor and was breathing raggedly.
Using those tattoos to raise the power of his spell above what he should be able to cast had a price. His tattoos were giving off smoke and seemed to be smoldering with heat. The innate understanding of fire that the tattoos had extracted from the sunlight hadn't been completely used. An impure fraction had remained and couldn't be released by the markings themselves.
Therefore, Kesh had to bear the brunt of that power being flushed out through his physical body. The power was of a higher level than anything he could defend against so the pain must be unbearable. Kesh clearly knew of this but had been willingly accepted the backlash in return for a chance to win the match or at least impress me.
Letting him suffer from those tattoos didn't quite sit right with me. I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder letting a stream of flames enter his body and clear away the impure remnants.
"You shouldn't use a trump card like this for a casual spar. Use this only when the situation truly demands it."
He seemed confused at my warning. Something like pride welled up in his eyes as his gaze grew slightly defiant.
"I am a proud warrior of this oasis. I will not shirk a little pain and I certainly won't hesitate to use an attack like this in battle if the opportunity presents itself."
"Be proud all you want but let me tell you something. This isn't just about pain. Every time you use that ability your body is damaged and needs time to recover. I assume Rose healed you so it's fine for now but she can't heal you every time you recklessly use this ability."
At my words, a sense of guilt flushed away the pride and defiance in his eyes. He slumped together and for a moment it seemed like he was going to cry.
From the looks of it, he'd been using the move quite frequently and had visited Rose numerous times to get treated. At least he understood.
"Now that you know I hope you will only use this power if the situation demands it."
"I understand, lord Abel. Please excuse me."
He left the training field as Red made his way over. His job as the referee had been painfully easy since there had been no struggle for victory. His whole purpose of organizing this fight had probably been for me to discourage Kesh from recklessly using that ability.
"Abel, you have certainly become adept at manipulating the hearts of other people. In all my efforts to make him stop hurting himself, I had never considered mentioning Rose."
"This isn't manipulation, Red. I merely stated the facts and let him come to a conclusion himself. This method of telling the truth usually works much better than telling a lie or half-truth."
"You are telling me that making a warrior who was dead set on giving every fight his all rethink isn't considered manipulation."
"Kesh knows his own worth for the town. Losing him to an inconsequential enemy would be trouble for the town so he will avoid that. I assume that he thought the only backlash from the tattoos was pain and there would be no actual damage."
"That's good then. How about a real match now."
"Red, if we fight here the whole town will be destroyed just from the shock waves."
"I know that but if we hold back we can at least have some fun."
Red had already drawn his sword and a certain battle mania had entered his eyes. Red's sword is a legendary (grade 9) grade great sword that he made himself with a lot of help from my side.
Since it was made under my instructions the sword goes by my philosophy of legendary grade weapons. My philosophy put the user's power above that of the weapon. Meaning the weapon itself has few to no flashy abilities by itself but in return won't break on you in the middle of a fight.
All legendary weapons I made since becoming a legendary blacksmith have the indestructibility trait. That doesn't make them completely indestructible but they won't break under normal circumstances.
Since Red is using a weapon of that grade I would have to use one too otherwise the fight wouldn't be very interesting. I summoned my sword, Arcus, and prepared to face him. Just to be safe we both set up a barrier around us.
During fights like this, I had grown accustomed to letting the other party make the first move. Countering the opponent's attack would allow me to get in a clean hit and end things quickly.
Red liked to do the same and therefore we just waited for the other one to make a move for a few minutes. We were holding back on using our powers so we couldn't use aura or intent to pressure each other. After about five minutes we both lost our patience and decided to attack simultaneously.
We both flashed forward and our swords clashed between us. While holding back our strength was roughly equal so neither of us could win the power struggle while our swords were clashing. I flashed backward and tried to gain some distance but Red followed closely while slashing at me repeatedly.