$(Posting a little early due to exams. Peace)$^~^
"M–maybe it was just a fluke,"
"Yeah, may be," I said to Charles.
He finally took a fighting stance once he was back on his feet. Must have finally chosen to take me serious this time. Not that it would help him.
He tried rushing me from the front with his left fist raised and screaming in challenge, but that attack was poorly thought. Seriously, is this a whole life's worth of training?
I patiently waited for him to throw his punch, then easily stopped it with my right hand. I watched as his cocky face twisted in utter shock when he realized a was a lot stronger than I looked.
"A little advice for you, Charles dear. Never go head to head with a half-wolf!"
I delivered a good hit to his stomach, and he doubled over and immediately coughed up whatever he had for breakfast. I'm sure he lost a good chunk of his fans after that. I wasted no time and began loading up an uppercut before the elf regained his composure.
Since I was traveling at an inhumane speed, all this seemed like a blur to the less battle harden, but to most of the representatives, I'm sure they could see what I was doing. Once Charles was done down there, I launched my pre-loaded fist to his chin, then, before he could rise up with the momentum of my fist, I twisted a right kick to his ribs and heard the satisfying crunch of bones.
"OUCH! That'll leave a mark," someone from the crowd mattered, the only sound visible through out the silenced arena.
"AAAAAH!"
Charles took off with a pathetic scream as he flayed towards the ref. Kevin wasted no time and activated his teddy bear for his safety. A barrier of blue energy encased him before impact, which surprising managed to fend off a flying elf.
"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!" Kevin screamed up at me when his barrier had dissipated.
"THAT'S RIGHT MAX! SHOW'EM HOW IT'S DONE!" a familiar soft voice screamed from the warriors observatory. That started a chain reaction as I got more popular with the crowd.
"Just what kind of power does that kid have?" King Fenrick asked to no one in particular.
I ignored most of the chants and the angry ref and focused on the matter at hand. From the ground, Charles raised his right arm and a brown oak staff rose up. He used it as a support and slowly raised from the ground. That staff of his started glowing green, probably healing his injuries.
"You done? Cause I've got a question for you. Were you by any chance the one that used my maid to turn me in circles hoping I would kill her after threating her friends during the first night in the castle?"
Charles finished healing, then threw a dirty look my way before raising his staff. "What type of screwed up head do you have on you to think I would waste my time with the likes of a useless mons–"
I was already in front to him, this time with a kick straight to his face. I made sure this time to add a little more power to it.
Due to his close proximity of the barrier, he painfully hit his head in a powerful impact then collapsed to the ground. I approached him, squatted down to his level, then grabbed a chunk of his hair.
"That's for Cathy, you dumb elf! And this one's for me!" I whispered in his ear, then bashed his head to the ground.
"HEY, REF! HE'S OBVIOUSLY CHEATING!" a tensed voice echoed through the arena.
Kevin raised his arms in the air while shaking his head. "No cheats observed yet. This is still a fair fight,"
"Hey, Jason? Where have you been hiding such a powerful kid in your arsenal?" the Elf King asked with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know his full potential until today? But this match is clearly a disadvantage to the elf,"
"How so?"
"If it's a matter of how strong who is, then the Furrha is ahead due to his wolf side. No amount of training can ever come close to natural strength. And in this fight where Max seemed to have an upper hand with his fighting prowess, that's an even larger huddle that Charles has to get over."
What the two kings didn't know was that, yes this match wasn't evenly matched, but I was the one at a disadvantage. I didn't want to fight Charles ability while mine was still out of commission. Charles must have realized it too, because he swiped at me with his staff, summoning five tree roots all targeting me. I used my speed to dodge the first four, but the fifth one caught me off guard.
I placed both my hands in front to protect my vital organs, and immediately regretted it as soon as the root smacked me to the ground. Pain immediately flared through both hands, the strike almost numbing them to unusable.
The mindless fans of Charles roared in acknowledgement when he'd finally landed a hit on me.
"Damn! Those are some strong roots,"
"You see now! I didn't want to use my full power against the likes of you but you forced my hand!" Von Helfier looked really proud that he'd actually injured me. Now, if he could fix that nosebleed of his, his proud smile wouldn't look so funny.
"You land one hit on me and you already think you've won? Don't make me laugh! And also..." I indicated to my nose.
"GAH!"
He swiped that staff of his once again and this time, multiple tree roots and branches grew from the ground at a rapid speed. I'll have to give it to him, he's got some good ability on his side.
His attacks became relentless where I even found my self focusing on dodging his powerful attacks alone. Whenever I tried counter attacking, a tree branch or root would always block my path.
The crowd were all shocked at the sudden change of pace, where before, I was the one dominating but now, it was Charles.
When I finally saw an opening, I knew this was my only chance so I used my maximum speed to capitalize on it. I aimed a powerful strike for his face but I think I may have moved in a little too soon.
"This match is already over," King Jason said.
"I couldn't agree with you more," the Elf King nodded. "This is my win."
It was good hit, excellent even, if only it were to reach its target. I found my fist held back by a golden barrier that shimmered around the elf's armored body.
"Shit! Buffs!"
***
Prince Charles knew Max couldn't dodge from such a close angle so he intentionally never used his armor's skill to let me lower his guard. With the same speed as Max, he delivered a hard punch to his face that launched him metres away from him.
***
Before I could get up, two branches pummelled me deeper into the ground, never giving me any breathing space. My entire body screamed in pain as I coughed up blood, drawing it for the first time in the match.
"I'm going to repay you for every drop of blood you spilled from me!" Charles roared and summoned a few more branches to his side.
There was no way I could win this fight against someone with such a large mana pool and a strong armor with a defensive skill.
***
[Bradley! You there?]
[Thanks for the vote of confidence. Really appreciate it. Why aren't you helping my like you should be?!]
[OH THAT'S TOTAL BS! Then can you at least do this for me. Remember my title as the leader of the diamond wolves? I want you to enhance my wolf blood to the Max. In short, suppress my elf side]
***
In that half a second, I could feel my wolf blood getting more and more stronger. My fingernails grew a lot longer and my muscles became more rigid and firm. My vision turned even more enhanced than before, together with all my other senses.
I immediately buffed myself with speed and escaped the onslaught of those branches of the elf. They looked relatively slower compared to before, meaning that just as predicted, my speed had increased tenfold. I disappeared from everyone's vision while travelling at the speed of sound and appeared right next to the prince.
"First, let's get rid of this thing!"
He didn't have enough time to put up his barrier before I chest punched him. I made sure to give that armor all my strength, which was a lot more than was needed, cause it immediately cracked and disintegrated on impact.
Charles wasn't spared either. If it weren't for his armor, he would have been dead. For now though, he coughed up blood and almost nearly lost consciousness.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" the whole crowd roared in shock.
"WHAT KIND OF TRANSFORMATION IS THAT?!" Clare screamed through the noise.
I said nothing and stared blankly at the bleeding elf on the ground. He was already trying to rise up from the ground, however pathetic it seemed.
"Listen, bro. I respect you for wanting to continue this fight, but a good warrior should know when to quit,"
"I'm no brother of yours! And this fight is over only when I say its over!" Charles screamed back.
"Ref, is this really ok?"
Kevin was still in that barrier of his. "If the contestant still wished to continue with the fight, I can't stop him unless he's knocked out cold of is near death."
"Huh. Guess I'll have to beat your stubborn self to near death, can't be helped, " I shrugged.
Well... the rules are the rules. Not that I'm complaining or anything.
"Ha! I'll love to see you try!"
Charles pulled something from his inventory and placed it on top of his staff. My beast senses told me to immediately run away from what that elf was about to do. I used my speed to quickly distanced myself and not a moment too soon.
A huge eruption of some from of mana threatened to destroy the entire arena. It was all the barrier could do to hold it back. This magic emitted by the elf seemed eerie familiar. I just couldn't put my finger on it.
A sharp pain suddenly flared in my right hand, and when I rose it, I saw the cause of the problem. Clive's ring was resonating with the magic. That could only mean one thing.
"Dark magic! Where did this stupid elf get that orb?!"
I turned to the kings. Both were shocked by the turn of events and looked ready to jump in, but I shook my head to both of them and pointed at the newly created crater. My fight, my problem.
***
<*Mission has been updated!*>
<*A passive skill has been granted access to be used*>
<*Passive skill dark magic resistance [LVL 3] is in use*>
***
"Call me draft, but is that kid using dark magic?!" someone screamed from the crowd. Please don't let them catch on
"Don't worry folks, this is not dark magic," the King tried reassuring everyone. But anyone with eyes could tell this was definitely dark magic.
I knew the fight was about to get ugly, so I rushed to the ref and before he realized what I was doing, delivered a kick through his barrier. He flew towards the arena barrier, where the king dropped it and immediately rose it the second the ref passed through.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Kevin screamed as he held his stomach in pain.
"You're safer there. What's about to happen here–
"LET'S SEE YOU FIGHT AGAINST MY TRUMP CARD!" a hoarse voice roared from below the crater.
All branches summoned by Charles that were once golden brown now turned into ugly withered branches. And something told me they were a lot more powerful. Thankfully, my transformation skill still had a few more minutes.
They all rushed at me in record speed, but I dodged each and every one of the branches, then advanced towards the prince. He'd seen better days, the lad. Just like last time, use of dark magic always affected the user.
Charles injuries were mostly healed, but his eyes were sunken black with dark veins bulging from them. He had not fully transformed, thank the gods.
Before he even adjusted to my speed, I punched the day lights out of him.
" IDIOT! DO YOU HAVR ANY IDEA WHAT USING THIS TYPE OF MAGIC WILL DO TO YOU?!"
"WHY WOULD YOU CARE?! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE IN THIS FIGHT! I'VE GOT A REPUTATION TO KEEP!"
"YOU'LL KEEP IT LIKE THIS?!" I threw another punched at him that drew blood. He screamed in pain but stubbornly still held firm to the ground. He plunged the staff deep to the ground and another dark magic eruption occurred. This time, it caught me head on.
It was all I could due to focus most of my strength in my defense. The blast sent me flying to the barrier, with new injuries that my healing skill couldn't fix. I could feel the dark magic trying to take control over me but most of it dissipated due to my resistance. It also helped the dagger in Clive's ring absorbed some of it.
"I guess I'll have to summon something to take you down!"
Charles began muttering and suddenly, the air turned cold. This is a feeling that was all too familiar. Dark flames began gathering around Charles and all condensed to form an overbearing dark warrior with bones for armor covering each part of it. This monster was at least at a grade A level. I'm not so sure I could take it on with my cool down so close.
"DESTROY THAT FURRHA FOR ME!" Charles screamed his order to it.
"Yes!"
It sprinted towards me in ungodly speed before I could react and when it was only a few centimetres away, it immediately dived to the ground.
"What the–"
"I acknowledge you as my Master's disciple!"
"Wait... Tye?! No way! Is it really you?"
" 'Tis I, Master Max,"
Of all the dark soldiers to summon, he summoned one that I was already acquitted with?! The god of luck must be really smiling up at me.
I told the undead a few words and it immediately returned back to where it came from. Charles eyes were wide with shock at what happened. I'm sure he wasn't the only one though. But I had other things to worry about.
His skin was already turning pale white. The corruption was advancing much faster than I thought. Before he could gather his bearings, I used the last bit of my energy and sprinted towards him. He threw his staff forward, ready to meet my attack head on, but what he didn't notice was that I was just a distraction.
While he was occupied with protecting himself, a bony hand snatched up his staff. Charles immediately lost consciousness since the dark magic was no longer flowing in him. Tye tossed me the staff, nodded at me, then actually left for real this time.
I wasted no time and detached the powerful orb from the staff. I hadn't think that part through, cause I suddenly felt dizzy after a cold voice whispered in my mind. Before I passed out, I realized with terror that my skin was changing color, the darkness over flooding me.
–––
<*Dark magic take over has commenced!*>