Tam unleashed a flurry of blows against Kultas, his blurred form barely visible to the eye. Kultas defended against his blows with the smallest possible movement, trying to compensate for his lack of speed. As the force emitted from their blades intensified, the circle around the pair grew wider and wider, as any errant blow was enough to decapitate an unwary soldier.
[Kothar!!! Stop watching your father's battle, we've got a problem here.]
[Alright Silane, fill me in.]
[Ready your sword and cast Lightning Aura, there's someone heading towards our position.]
Kothar watched as a young man, who couldn't be much older than Kothar sped up the valley towards the outcrop they had been posted upon.
The soldiers Tam had posted were embroiled in a clash with an advance force that Kultas had sent to try break through, and when a few of them noticed the man and attempted to stop him, he slashed out with his sword, slicing them in two with bright green blades of wind he emitted from his sword.
[A warrior with elemental affinity, this is going to be tough, Kothar.]
[I know, uncle Simon wasn't kidding when he said that Warriors with elemental affinities were in a class of their own.]
As he drew close, huge boulders flew down at him, cast by the twins, he dodged these easily, and hopped over the shifting slope.
"Looks like you're up, kid and he looks like a nasty one!" One of the twins yelled at Kothar.
"I've got it!" Kothar leapt down the slope towards the approaching enemy, his sword humming in his hand. The man grinned upon seeing Kothar dashing toward him, and seeing the lightning aura, his smile grew wider.
"I've never fought someone like me! Let's go at it then!" He rapidly became shrouded in a swirling green aura, his speed increasing.
[Looks like he's about as fast as you, didn't think your first fight on the battlefield would be against someone so similar, did you?]
[No I didn't Silane, didn't uncle Simon specifically say elemental Warriors were so rare we might never come across one in Ursten.]
[Yeah, but I don't think he expected you on the battlefield so soon either.]
The Wind Warrior slashed out at Kothar, sending blades of wind hurtling through the air toward him, Kothar dogged these with ease, sending a bolt spell out from his sword at the Warrior.
"Aaah! What the hell was that!" The man winced, a black scorch mark appearing on his leather armor, rubbing at his side.
[Looks like we can take him by surprise Kothar, try a Ball Lightning spell next, he won't expect the tracking if he still believes you're a Warrior]
[He'll be on his guard from now, I'll use a few more regular Bolt spells to settle his fears]
The pair continued to clash, drawing near and slicing at each other with their empowered blades, and then drawing away and firing wind blades and lightning bolts at one another.
"Looks like we're evenly matched! The name's Gerard, nice to meet a worthy opponent."
The man called out to Kothar, as he slashed out viciously toward him.
"This isn't a chance meeting at the marketplace Gerard, this is war!" Kothar deftly doged the blade, shooting out an empowered Bolt from his sword.
"Hey! Don't be so uptight, there's no need to not enjoy oneself in battle!" Gerard leaned back, dodging the bolt with an indignant look on his face.
"Alright, the name's Kothar." Kothar said bluntly as he drew in, sending his humming blade swinging at Gerard's neck.
Gerard dodged silently, paling as Kothar blade narrowly missed his neck, the vibration alone opening up a faint line of blood on his neck.
Now that Gerard truly felt threatened he dashed backward, and knelt down and sheasthed his sword.
[He's charging up a powerful slash, now's our chance Kothar! Charge up your ball lightning as fast as you can!]
[It'd be nice if I had the arm already!]
[Yeah, but you don't, get to it!]
Kothar charged up his Ball Lightning, dashing toward Gerard to mislead him into thinking it was a regular Bolt. By now a bright green glow shone from Gerard's sheathed blade, and his forehead beaded with sweat.
Kothar fired the ball of lightning at Gerard, and it barreled toward his head, as the lightning drew close Gerard leapt forward, drawing his blade and slashing out at Kothar in one smooth motion. The ball of lightning narrowly flew past Gerard's head, a triumphant look beaming across his face as the blade he shot out curved toward Kothar, aiming directly for Kothar's midsection.
"You fought well." Gerard said as he sheathed his sword, and the blade flew at Kothar.
"Urhk!" Gerard flew forward, as the ball lightning circled around and slammed into his back, his eyes widening in shock.
Kothar easily dodged the wind blade, now that it had lost its guidance from Gerard, and it slammed harmlessly into the side of the valley, carving out a massive groove.
[Did you really need to wait so long to hit him with the lightning, Kothar?]
[Yes, wasn't it worth seeing him celebrate then keeling over like that.]
[Alright, you're right, it was satisfying.]
[But why didn't you cast at full power?]
[He's obviously a talented warrior, and he seems more passionate about battle than about Kultas. We wouldn't want to deprive the Kingdom, Silane.]
[Look at you, becoming Tam's son through and through.]
[All that aside, it seems as though Warriors need to expend much more mana to have the same control that Mages do over projectiles.]
[It does seem to be the case, I wonder if it's because they don't have the same practice in mana manipulation…]
A massive boom rang out, it sounded as if the air itself had cracked, cutting Kothar and Silane's conversation short. A resounding cheer erupted from the center of the battlefield, evidently a winner had been decided between Tam and Kultas.
[Let's go take a look.]