Commander Harriot quickly swung her fist into my side after her block forcing me away from pure strength. I collided with the ground hard, I took the whole weight of the impact on the armor over my ribs but still, the brute strength in the attack managed to leave them bruised. She smirked as I was on my knees trying to stand back up.
I managed to get up on one knee and tried to get air back in my lungs, I had the wind knocked out of me and it would take a second to get my air back. Commander Harriot let me get my breath back before she sprinted into close quarters with me once again. Her speed and strength were impressive, and she had vast experience with using magic unlike me who had only been going for less than a year at this point in my life but I had power unrivaled since ages past.
I pushed my mana out from my body, using brute force mana against her physical attack was a very wasteful use of mana but I had plenty to spare. This pushed the Commander's fist away from me causing it to miss my body entirely while pushing me away from her slightly giving me a chance to stab a newly formed spear at her legs.
slowing her down was my only choice, she had way too much experience and i couldn't cross that gap with strength alone so i knew i had to slow her down or i was done for. My spear grazed past her thigh but only managed to break some of the regular armor paddings and cause a small scratch.
The commander had drawn a dagger with her other hand and slammed it into my protected side once again causing a great deal of pain but not managing to penetrate the sturdy Armor. We separated from each other just long enough for me to pull my mana to my hand into a ball of a destructive force ready to go off at any second.
The commander wasn't idle either and she blazed after me trying to get back into melee range once again.
I brought my uninjured arm that I gathered my mana into and pulled out the blade still embedded in my shoulder, no blood was on the blade when I withdrew it and the fire that was in my hand transferred along the blade I now held in my hands. The commander dodged away as she sensed the danger coming from her old blade as I swung it down at her.
The commander punched into the side of the blade with the hand closest hoping to once again knock an attack off to the side. This time I was prepared and I used all my might to keep the blasted blade straight as forced it into her guard.
The empowered sword started to slice into her shoulder armor like a hot knife through butter but she managed to push the blade off course before my blade could burn her flesh underneath.
The Blade sheared off the entire side of the shoulder armor on its way out. Commander Harriot jumped back before inspecting her armor making sure she wasn't injured. The boy had lots of power and even had a talent for mana manipulation but still always going for the kill shots, if she hadn't hit that sword away the blade would have ended up burning halfway through her chest before the blade would have stopped.
It was just as dangerous to close in with Bruni as it was to stay away but his enhanced strength while empowered was immense so she decided to do some ranged magic before closing back in.
I smiled at her as I could feel her pulling mana to her hand quickly like I had done but she quickly raised her hand and in a throwing motion lobbed the small ball of flame near me.
Seeing the ball wasn't going to land too close to me I ignored it before drawing out a fire spear once again, before I could throw it The commanders 'Fireball' that I thought was too weak to harm me went off in a massive concussive wave making me lose control of the spear construct I was forming causing it to flash into flames and disappear.
The commander had lobbed not one but 2 firebombs at me and then detonated them both a few feet off the ground and to my side making a much bigger explosion than I had expected.
Once again Commander Harriot stood back and waited for a now not smiling me to get back up to my feet. 'Good, I'm glad I wiped that smirk off your face, now let's get serious Bruni." she said while watching me once again get back up to my feet.
When I got to my feet a few seconds after she spoke I felt her once again gather mana into her hands, I looked at her hands before I let a little bit of that all-consuming rage take over my actions once again. Fire exploded off me in great waves as my anger ignited the very fabric of reality.
The Commander threw her bombs at me once again but as they neared me they flew towards my outstretched hand instead of landing to the side. As it neared my hand it started to disperse and combine with the energy flaring from my body. I had used Will infused mana to disrupt her spell.
My head started to pound after that single will casting, it had taken a considerable amount of my power to stop her attack but it was worth it. The Astonishment of everyone watching what I had just done was worth more than the pain I was in, even the commander was surprised, never had she had a spell taken so completely from her.
Seeing everyone's look made me remember that this display was very public and that maybe I shouldn't be going all out.