When the Duke's champion managed to return and try to cross the field he would occasionally stumble do to the holes in the ground. because the holes looked complete it was impossible to notice them. Worse still once his foot touched the bottom the soil turned solid again further slowing him down. Jason took full advantage of the slower speed of his opponent to spam his improved mana dart spell at him.
Normally the champion the dukes sent firth were considered average for their level, but sense Duke Gangler wanted to insure his win he had sent an elite. Using his two short sabers to block, he was able to stop roughly four out of every eight mana darts. This allowed him to dodge two of the other four so Jason could only hit him with about twice out of every eight attacks.
The crowd was actually shocked both about the new ghostly mana spell jason had invented, and the fact that he was able to hit an elite who had a power level five tiers higher than Jason's, with elite level skill.
When Jason's opponent got half way towards him he called out, "My name is Gregory, you have earned the right to know it." After Gregory finished his statement his body was covered in a water like aura. This aura made Gregory more fluid and flexible, enabling him to dodge six tor seven of the mana darts. The last couple of attacks Gregory blocked with his sabers. Gregory also took this opportunity to reapply the qi shield on his body.
When Jason saw this he grit his teeth before starting to dual instant cast two mana dart spells. Then he ahocked the crowd again by punching the sigils. People had tried this approach on sigils before, it could roughly double the speed of a spells travel speed, the rate of increase depended upon the power of the punch. Unfortunately doing so would return double the force of the punch back upon the first that struck it.
When jason struck the back of the spells they nearly tripled in speed. A loud boom was heard as the sigils sent their counterforce before shattering like normal. Gregory was shocked by the increase in speed and could no longer manage to dodge, Though he did manage to barely block one that was aimed at his head. The second one hit his left hip knocking him back four steps, nearly causing him to trip do to stepping on another hidden pit caused by the ghostly mana.
Gregory grimaced before calmly stating, "That is a great resolve you have, but you probably shattered your bones with the counterforce so I doubt you can continue buffing your spells that way."
Jason knew why Gregory believed that as a mage would cripple their arms doing something like that, and only the mage that cast the sigil could hit it, if someone else hit it it would shatter before the spell was cast canceling it. But what people didnt know was that while his body forging art increased his strength the main thing it increased was his resilience. Added with the gloves he wore bwfore the fight all that happened to jason was that his fist bleed a little and his arms were sore.
Jason grinned in response to Gregory's provocation, before instant casting another two sigils and repeating the same attack again and again. Jason's arms moved like fast pistons smashing one sigil after another, every time the sigil shattered he instantly crafted another.
The sound was akin to that of a machine gun from earth though somewhat deeper. Hearing this sound apart of Jason slipped into a memory from world war three, as the counterforce reverberated up his arms.
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"Warrant Officer Jason the enemy has our location surrounded. We have over two hundred tangos headed to our coordinates. We only have eighty troops combat able. Are position cannot survive heavy artillery." Master chief Grimes informed Jason.
"Where is our closest friendly base?" Jason inquired with a steady tone.
"We're currently three klicks from a u.s. base. It would take us nearly an hour to get there. The incoming tangos are coming from the opposite direction. But we still need to find away to break out. we also only have two vehicles left, which is not enough to carry all of us. " Lieutenant Harwood stated. While the Lieutenant Harwood was the one with the highest command, he knew that Jason had the most experience and most strategic mind. Jason had even saved the lieutenant in two previous engagements.
"I will ride gunner on one vehicle to open a path then in the second vehicle with Grimes as gunner and the lieutenant as driver, will pass me. We will cover the back and front while the troop stays between us. We only have six injured, they will ride in the vehicles as well. " Jason said after thinking up a strategy.
After going over the plan in a little more detail the troops moved out. Jason stood at the gunners spot behind the Browning M2. He sent a signal at the man at the gate, and as the door opened the the vehicle rolled out. a few minutes after Jason cleared the gates enemy soldiers started coming around the corner of a building to take fire at him. Jason took aim in their direction before firing the recoil of the gun numbing his arms as he heard the roar of the bullets firing.
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Jason came to when his mana was nearly out, he only had seventy-three mana left according to the HUD Jess created for him. Gregory was on his least legs with a broken leg and arm, one of his sabers was also snapped in half. Seeing that jason had stoped casting Gregory assumed his mana was out. Taking his last saber he tried to charge toward Jason, he was certain that if he could just get in striking distance he could finish him even with his injury.
Jason instantly knew Gregory's pkan once he started to move. He also figured Gregory was probably right. The counter damage from the sigils had destroyed Jason's hands and also dissolved the mana shield he made at the start od the fight. Even worse he now only had enough mana for basic level one spells. And Jason knew that a basic level one spell couldn't injure Gregory at all. He quickly looked around trying to think of something he could use.
There! Jason saw the other half of Gregory's broken saber. He quickly cast the spells levitate and draw towards the saber blade. It rushed towards Jason whose arms hung at his side drenched in blood and a few broken bones could even be seen on his hands. Nobody could understand what he planned, it was obvious he couldn't hold the blade, and the push spell was too weak to move the blade fast enough to harm a knight squire.
Gregory believed he might try to attack his eyes so he held the saber at head hight so he could block quickly, after all it is the only place that a push spell could harm him, and even then it would only harm him because of the horrid condition he was currently in.
Jason waited till the blade was at the best possible location and Gregory was lined up. Jumping into the air, Jason performed a spin kick that shot the blade out. Gregory looked down in shock. "How could Jason do this?" he thought as he stared fixedly at the broken blade that was pierced through the gap of the second and third rib on his left chest. Dropping to his knees he coughed up blood and managed to ask one thing"how".
Jason looked at him and answered, "I'm a mage and a warrior."
Many were confused by this answer but the experts quickly realized the crux of the matter. Only a mage could have calculated the angle and force along with the shambling speed of Gregory. But a mage could only do the planning yet never control their body well enough to execute that surprising maneuver. To have that sort of bodily control one would have to be a warrior of some skill. Therefore to be able to do what Jason did a person must also be a mage and a warrior. There where mages and warriors who followed only one path yet could easily beat those five or six tiers above them, but none could win in the same way Jason had just performed.