Urkse flew on the back of his creation, towards the Silver City. He bit his lower lip, unable to find Jacara. How far could she have taken them? A sharp whistle rung out. Urkse quickly leapt off, narrowly dodging an invisible blade, that split his falcon in half. The creation turned into a blob of black ink. He floated down into the forest below, scanning the area. His thumb resting on his cork. From the bushes, Valsko emerged brushing off twigs and leaves. "Seriously, how does Skora sit in those bushes for so long?" He grumbled. Urkse looked at him askance. "Who the hell are you?" Valsko gave him a deep bow, with one hand over his heart. "My name is not important. What is important. Is that you keep flying down to Kal'Nar. And go away." Valsko said, shooing him away with his hand.
"Do you seriously, not know who I am?" Valsko rolled his eyes, letting out a long exasperated sigh. "I have to ask, do you Grand Mages, see the shit form around the corn? Or does your head not reach that far up your asshole?" Urkse glowered, popping the cork. A whip of black ink shot out. Valsko snapped his fingers. Dispersing the ink with a concussive force. Urkse's eyes widened, as the ink slithered back into his flask. Valsko gave him a cocky grin. "The war was a long time, Artist. You aren't at the top of the hierarchy anymore." Urkse rolled his head, loud cracks popped through his neck. "I don't want to deal with such a hassle. Leave and I won't kill you." Valsko chuckled. "I was just about to say the same thing."
The two of them stared each other down. Valsko wore his smug smile, arms by his side, and chest exposed. Urkse wore a scowl, hand on his flask, with a lowered and wide stance. A strong wind swept through the trees, whipping the branches violently. Urkse popped the cork, surrounding himself in a sphere of ink. "HA!" Valsko cheered. "First person, to catch onto me doing that!" His jubilance irritated Urkse to no end. The sphere begun to spin rapidly, launching spears. Valsko swaggered towards the sphere, snapping his fingers as he hummed a upbeat tune. Each snap made the spears explode. "You're gonna have to come out of there eventually." The sphere became motionless, before melting into a pool on the ground. Urkse laid flat on his stomach, barely breathing. Valsko let out a small laugh, before scanning the area.
"Come on now!" He said snapping his fingers. Urkse exploded into a pool of ink behind him. "You don't really think that was going to work on me did you?" "You'll be surprised, how often it tricked my enemies." Urkse's voice came from behind Valsko. He spun around, shocked to see a inky copy of Urkse lunge at him. With a scream, he released a powerful concussive force, cleansing the ink. Urkse emerged from the bushes, dusting the twigs and leaves off his cloak. "What's wrong? You look upset." Urkse said, pouting at him.
Valsko stared at him filled with contempt, failing to conceal the anger boiling inside. "I suppose we can skip the warm up then." He said tossing aside his coat. Valsko wore a plain white shirt, exposing his lean physique. Urkse followed suit and threw away his cloak. Exposing his burly and stocky muscles, covered in a thick layer of hair. He took the same stance, hand on his flask. Urkse watched cautiously as Valsko, dusted his finger tips off on his pants. "Last chance to leave. I'd hate to kill a fellow artist." Urkse scoffed. "Now who's staring up his asshole?" Valsko snapped his fingers. Urkse raised an ink wall in response. A sharp and short whistle rung out. A large blade sliced through the wall. Urkse dropped the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack. The sound of rapidly snapping fingers caught his attention.
Urkse leapt to his feet, creating another sphere barrier. Small explosions of concussive force, bombarded the barrier, exposing him for a second. Valsko clapped his hands together, blowing apart the sphere. Urkse was blown back, rolling off his shoulder, to recover his fighting stance. Urkse raised his hands, creating a black wall. Within an instant, spears, lances, arrows and swords, shot out in a vicious torrent. Valsko took a deep breath, filling his lungs to the brim. With a boisterous shout, a destructive shockwave shot out towards Urkse, ravaging everything in its path. The force dissipated with the ink wall, and the two Mages stared each other down. "You done testing me?" Valsko asked, cocking his head to the side. Urkse tossed aside his flask, raising his hand high into the air. "Palette." He chanted.
In an instant the arcane gate opened above him, spinning and three meters in diameter. Each primary colour dripped off the tips. "You've finally used colour. I had heard stories that colour makes Enk magic more powerful. It always sounded like some bullshit to me." Urkse, gave Valsko a piercing glare. "The first step in any creation, is to create the outline." A golden spear flew out from the Palette. Valsko snapped his fingers, the force pinged the spear off course. The sound of metal being pinged, rung out, shocking Valsko. He stared at Urkse, eyes bulging with fear. A stream of red and black ink shot out like venom from a snake. Valsko leapt high into the air, watching the stream melt through the ground faster than magma. A shadow instantly cast over the area. Valsko spun around to a pitch black sky. A crackle of golden lightning ran through the clouds as a fissure. "Fork." Urkse chanted.
Lightning bolts rained down, engulfing the forest below in flames. Valsko soared through the sky, weaving and dodging the lightning strikes. 'I guess colour does make it more powerful.' Thick black smoke filled the air. 'He's trying to snuff me out of the sky. But he's going to have to try harder than that.' Spinning swiftly, Valsko created a cyclone, emanating from his body. The destructive force blew away the fire and storm clouds instantly. He floated down, taking a satisfied breath, appreciating the cleared forest land. "Colour me impressed." Valsko said, resting his hands on his hips. "See what I did there?" Urkse rolled his eyes,. "I don't have time for this nonsense. I will admit you are powerful, but I have more important things to deal with."
The Palette expanded before encasing Urkse in a swirling rainbow sphere. Valsko slowly backed away from the expanding sphere. "You know in my experience. The first one to enter their Draken state normally loses!" He called out. Valsko blew a sharp whistle, releasing a piercing wind. A large black scaled arm of a Ryū shot out, swatting the attack away. With a monstrous roar, the sphere exploded, and Urkse emerged in his completed Draken state. Valsko nodded, impressed by the menacing Ryū snarling at him. Urkse blew a breath of red ink, morphing into intense flames. Valsko leapt away, holding the flames back. "You had to go and ruin the fight!" He said shaking his head frustrated. Urkse recoiled, with black ink from his scales, and gold ink from his mane shooting into the sky. He roared a devastating torrent of water, as the sky crackled with lightning.
Valsko took a deep breath, and before the torrent of water smashed into him. He let out a roar parting the wave. His shirt exploded off. His chest and back had the Wind gate branded onto him. Urkse recognised that kind of branding. 'The mark of a slave fighter.' The roar was more powerful than before, and blew Urkse back. He flew high into the air, as the air encircled Valsko surged and pulsed violently. Urkse felt the air become thin, each breath became more and more laboured. The cyclone exploded, and the sight of Valsko's draken state, brought Urkse to the ground laughing hysterically. He fell onto his back thrashing and writhing, the pain in his stomach throbbed. The ground shook and cracked under his weight, with his laugh bellowing out.
Valsko took the shape of a lanky grey dragon, with a mane that ran down his spine made of long spindly white hair. His claws layered and split apart, similar to castanets. They clicked with each step. The loose bronze scales hung loosely to his grey skin, jingling and jostling with the slightest breeze. However the feature that brought Urkse to tears, was Valkso's fangs. Each one was riddled with different hole sizes. Valkso let out a low rumbling chuckle, joining Urkse. "HAHAHA! HOW CAN YOU BE SO FUCKING UGLY? WHAT EVEN IS THAT FORM!?" Urkse wheezed. "Unfortunately, I can't use my magnum opus without taking this grotesque form."
Urkse enjoyed the sight, but hearing any opponent announce they had a Magnum Opus. Was something any seasoned fighter, would never think to treat as a bluff. "Then I'll show you mine." Urkse announced, as he begun to slither in the air. He shrugged off giant viscous blobs of black and red ink to the ground. They split apart to the size of a rain drop, forming a shadow knight. Each one wielded a flaming sword. The sky above them crackled with golden ink lightning, and from the corner of Urkse's mouth, water gushed out. Valsko had to admit the sight of Urkse's magnum opus was spectacular. A thousand shadow knights wielding fiery swords, the rumbling from the lighting above, and black Ryū ready to lay waste below with a torrent of water. The man who became known as the Artist. For when he stood alone against an army, he created his own.
"Impressive." Valsko muttered. With a roar Urkse unleashed his Magnum opus. The army charged in, with the torrent of water rushing past through them. Lightning shot down, discharging in the torrent. Valsko gnashed his jaw together, and filled his lungs rapidly. The rush of air filled his lungs, flowing through the gaps in his fangs. He released his breath, keeping his fangs shut tight. With a deafening shriek. Thousands of invisible blades and concussive forces shot out, in every which way and direction. They decimated his shadow army instantly. Parting the ink storm, and torrent of water within seconds. Urkse tried to flee the range of the attack, but was too late. The attacks cut him down, before his Ryū form exploded into blobs of ink.
Valsko moved in a ghoulish fashion to Urkse, his claws clicking and hair creating ghostly wails. He stood over Urkse, wheezing and coughing blood. He flipped Urkse onto his belly, pinching his legs, with his castanet claws. Crushed them into a paste. Urkse cried out in anguish. Valsko reverted back to his human state, letting out a satisfied breath. He shook the blood off his hand, and sat his bare ass down onto Urkse's back. He relished hearing Urkse's agony. A Grand Mage reduced to a blubbering mess. "I told you to fly away. Now you have to die out here." He said, spanking Urkse's head. Annorak's scorpion scuttled up his leg, onto his thigh. "What do you mean I have to save him?" Valsko asked, annoyed at the very notion.
The scorpion ran it's stinger along his leg. "Fine, fine, fine." Valsko said pouting. All that effort, and I can't even kill him. The scorpion scuttled up to his shoulder, as if to whisper into his ear. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get him to Irina. He'll live." He said, tossing Urkse's limp body over his shoulder. The scorpion tapped him again. "And I can't be seen, nor let the Forsaken one, and his friends find out about Urkse. Anything else your majesty?" The scorpion shook its head, before disappearing. Valsko rolled his eyes, before leaping into the air. "Consider yourself lucky Artist. Boss has better plans for you."