Rick needed to act quick or else he wouldn't be able to keep up with the shadows for long. Rick looked at the mage to see no shame in his eyes as he cowered behind a hoard of shadows. It would be hard but rick thought it would be doable. With the right placements of his body and the right amount of hand to hand combat he could weave his way through the net of enemies and hopefully lay claim on his victim.
He leapt forward, ignoring the attacks of the shadow creatures, and struck them in a precise order. Dodging and weaving through the net of creatures, creating holes where there previously where none. After dodging numerous enemies he saw an opening that seemed to be promising. A single shadow was left between him and the child mage.
"No this won't deal. You are far to quick for your own good. It looks like I'll have to result to that thing." The child named Lucian said in a anxious tone.
"Relar!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
And as Lucian shouted a strange feeling overwhelmed Rick as all the shadows slowly disappeared one after another, their wisps following a strange coarse before being absorbed by the one in front of him.
It grew at an incredible range at an incredible pace. It became easily 5 times his size standing at roughly the top of the domes height. It grew double that large with multiple shadow arms. It seemed incredibly intimidating but a strange sense of confidence overwhelmed Rick.
'This thing may be big but it is by no means fast.' He observed as the creature sent it's arms towards him in a flurry of blows.
He dodged one and another before receiving a firm shot to the side of his body. But he managed to exchange a single blow in return.
The shadow instantly shrank by half but the shadows punch did a shocking amount of damage as well.
'This thing is just too strong!' Rick shouted out loud.
He did close to the maximum damage he could do in a single turn and still barely reduced it's size by half. If one more strike landed on him he would be done for.
What Rick didn't know was the fact that hundreds of people were cheering him on from outside.
"Beat that scrappy lookin mage kid!" ?
"You can do it. Mind over Matter Kid!" ?
"Remember what I taught you!" Lucas said.
hundreds of voices echoed in appreciation of Rick versus the Giant.
It was in that moment, when all were cheering for one side that the giant struck. It swung one of it's three remaining arms and swiped with speed unlike before at him.
"Rolve" Lucien mumbled underneath his breath as the creature struck.
The force was significant, and Rick couldn't dodge such a blow.
Was the last thing Rick heard before a wave of roiling pain echoed throughout his body as he was flung through the air. Rick fell to the brink of consciousness on the flat plane of earth. Clinging to his consciousness like a desperate soul at the brink of hell and heaven.
"FINALLY! THE VICTORY IS MINE!" Shouted Lucien as Rick Laid almost unconscious.
The voice of the leader of this event echoed out once more.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
Before zero could be said a feeble hand raised up. He dug him out of the dirt and raised onto one knee before slowly raised higher, taking himself to his feet albeit a little dazed and dizzy.
"I. AM. NOT. OUT!" Rick shouted out as loud as he possibly could before dashing forward with all he had.
He activated multistrike and before he knew it he had hit the giant twice more easily desecrating the beast after system notification after system notification.
The shadow was clobbered before the audiences very eyes as the shaky remains of Lucian stood cowering behind his veils of shadow.
Rick was on him like lightning zipping through the cracked and broken field. He struck once, then twice, then three times, and so on and so forth until the veil broke and all that was left was the mage who stood cowardly, his robes destroyed leaving him in commoners clothes.
"I-I Give Up!" He shouted before the fist of Rick could hit him squarely in the jaw.
The fist stopped a mere inch away from Lucien who seemed petrified in fear.
The invisible force that stopped Ricks fist seemed omni present and incredibly difficult to loosen it's grip. It was incredibly powerful to the point where Rick couldn't even move.
"That declares the first matches conclusion. Everyone please give a round of applause to Rick, our winner in this first contest. "
A roar of applause echoed throughout the newly revealed battle arena he was in. Surrounding him was a stadium that held tens of thousands of people all huddled watching the show in cramped benches. Two men stood off from the side in the inside of the ring, one being Lucas and the other being a man wrapped in cloth that seemed to be made out of pure light and shadows.
The mans face was carefully wrapped up but his eyes clearly showed a look of pure disappointment.
"I WON!" He shouted out loud to the loud laughter of the audience and the scornful look of his opponent.