The dust settled revealing Lyze on the ground still blocking Ottar's weapon while the Boaz stood over him. Libur had cut so deep into Ottar's weapon, it had lodged itself halfway. In Lyze's other hand was Cupid which he weakly employed a small gesture with. Ottar heard the sound of a shrill bell chime as Lyze spoke two words while he coughed up blood.
"Full Counter!"
Ottar watched as the air between them distorted as it seemed to build up, like a ball of air pressure before it launched at him, and the Boaz was flung off of the boy so violently, his weapon slipped off of Libur easily as if it were oiled. A great huge gash appeared on Ottar's right trap muscle which ripped part of his top and travelled some way down his back.
Blood spurted out of the wound as Ottar staggered back clutching his shoulder in surprise as the red liquid spilled out of his gloves and dripped on the floor. Lyze rolled over on his stomach and coughed up several mouthfuls of his own blood as his blindfold fell off, revealing itself to have been cut in half.
The boy's back was burning from what he knew would be several bruises, broken bones and burns on the back of his neck. As Lyze attempted to stand up, he felt his leg suddenly click back into place which made him falter. He hadn't even realized it had been dislocated. He drew heavy breaths as it felt like his lungs were going to explode with how harshly he'd had the wind knocked out of him.
There was a large cut on his forehead, which would've been the place that Ottar's weapon also cut the blindfold. Lyze took as much time as he could afford while keeping Ottar in his sights, trying his hardest to get back on track. Although he doubted he could defend himself if Ottar chose to attack him now. Checking on his Mind pool, Lyze grimaced as he realized he didn't have much left. And Ottar's expression showed no desire of ending the fight any soon.
Sweat dripped down Lyze's brow as he realised he may have to use Overdraft if he wanted to continue fighting with magic. His arms were aching from having to withstand Ottar's attacks which the Boaz had still been holding back on. However, Lyze was prepared as he still had 3 trump cards, one of which Ottar was demanding to see, one which Lyze intended to use now or at least he was hoping to use, and one Lyze absolutely hoped he would never have to use.
Because if he did use the last one in desperation, there was no doubt Ottar would lose his life today and the boy didn't want the death of a first class adventurer from the Freya Familia hanging over him. Ottar's existence was vital to Orario's survival.
Ottar himself stared at the blood on his glove before he looked up at Lyze, his expression varying between surprise, understanding and being impressed.
"I'd forgotten you had that peculiar ability." Ottar said as he smiled a little before straightening up. "I see what you did there. You waited for me to use my full power before employing it. That was the only way you could have harmed me with that technique."
Lyze scoffed as he smiled a little.
"I'd read you were incredibly perceptive in battle King, but it's one thing actually seeing you gauge my plan first try."
"Where would you have read that?" Ottar raised a brow.
"Never mind. But there's no point in hiding it. Yes, I realized that none of my attacks would be able to harm you like that, so I counted on the small chance you'd use all your power even for a split second. Just that was all I needed to reflect it back at you. It made logical sense that the only person here whose power could harm you is yourself."
"Very clever." Ottar rolled his wounded shoulder but showed no sign of being affected. "But even this is not enough to stop me. A wound like this does not put you in any less danger of me than you were a moment ago. It changes nothing."
Lyze narrowed his eyes as he saw the Boaz was speaking true. Ottar showed not even a hint of pain at what had happened to him.
'What you would expect from a hardened warrior I guess. It's probably little more than a scratch to him.'
The boy was nastily surprised however as Ottar seemed to blink out of existence and reappear in front of him. Ottar's sheer speed left Lyze not even enough time to register what had happened as he smashed the blunt side of his weapon into the boy's side. Lyze was sent bouncing painfully over the upturned earth, dirt, insects and pebbles all scratching at his face as it was used to dig a ditch through the undergrowth. His body came to rest by the roots of an uprooted tree.
Lyze turned over on to his back as he spat out the contents of his mouth and moved a hand to his side. He could physically feel the broken rib moving about and it hurt like hell too. He'd probably lost a couple of intercostal muscles too as it was painful for him to breathe.
"Why did you not use it that time?" Ottar asked in tone that indicated he already knew the answer. And indeed, he did. "My guess is that you need time to react and you have to know where the attack is coming from in order to reflect it, no?"
Lyze grunted as he shakily climbed to his feet, and wobbled to stop himself from falling backwards. Wiggling his foot, it seemed that he had pulled a ligament as well.
"Well, are you going to use that special power or not? You are clearly out of magic to use against me, and you can barely stand on your own. Will you not use that power which grants you even more strength? Or am I going to have to further beat you into a pulp until I see it?" Ottar asked. Lyze began laughing as his face was turned to the ground. "Did I say something funny?"
"I've run out of magical powers to use against you?" Lyze chuckled as saliva mixed with blood spilled from his mouth.
He looked up at Ottar with his closed eyes and grinned a full toothed one, looking slightly maniacal with how much blood was caked on his face. He said his next words with no small amount of glee to them.
"Who decided that?"
"Hm?" Ottar raised an eyebrow as he tilted his head, confused by the boy's behaviour.
"I can barely stand on my own? Who decided that? You will be the one to force out my Dark powers? Who decided that?" Lyze stood straight as he lifted up Libur. "I will be the one to decide what powers I shall use in this fight. Be proud Ottar, because what I am about to unleash upon you, is the very magical manifestation of pride!"
Ottar braced himself as he felt his hackles stand on end for some reason. His honed instincts suddenly started telling him to be on guard as the boy lifted up his sword and threw it at him. The small cane sword sped towards the Boaz like an oversize dart, its tip glinting dangerously.
"Catch!" Lyze shouted.
Ottar leaned out of the way and made to grab Libur as it sped past him. But to his very big shock, Libur suddenly carried Ottar off his feet and took the Boaz with it. They landed on a large boulder that had been revealed by the impact earlier, and Libur sank deep into it, the rock offering little resistance to the sharp blade.
Ottar stood up and tried to pull the sword out of the rock but it would not budge. The Boaz stared at it, utterly perplexed as he heard Lyze call out to him.
"Only those who are chosen can wield the likes of my sword Ottar!" Lyze lifted his palms towards Ottar as he shouted his next incantation. "Explosion!"
Balls of magical energy formed around Lyze in their dozen. They hovered in the air for a moment before they all shot off towards the Boaz at bullet speed. Ottar lifted his greatsword as shield against those directly aimed at him. The others all exploded around him, filling his ears with hurtful noises and raising thick clusters of black smoke around him.
When the explosions stopped, Ottar swung his greatsword to create a gust of wind which cleared the smoke from his vision. Once the smokescreen receded, he found that Lyze was nowhere to be seen.
"Is THAT what you were trying to show me?" Ottar called out, his eyes scanning the area.
"Not even close!"
Ottar looked up to see Lyze flying about 30 feet above where he'd been standing before. The boy's body seemed to be glowing with some sort of light that appeared to be both soothing and dangerous at the same time. Unknown to Ottar, this was the result of Lyze drawing upon the Light side of Chaos for the spectacular show he was about to pull off.
"{I make this tribute to the Lord of Pride.}" The boy recited as a ball of light seemed to form between his hands. The ball seemed to draw on more and more Light from the aura that was encompassing the boy's body. "{Let me smite my foe down with the flames of his power! And draw righteous magic from the Lion's nobility. A testament of acknowledgement from one King to another.} Lyze held the ball of light above his head as a small yellow flame ignited at its core. "{Praise the Sun! Hail Escanor!}" Ottar didn't know what a sun looked like, but sure enough that was what appeared in Lyze's hand as the ball of light converted to a flaming miniature sun.
Lyze stared down Ottar as best as he could without being tempted to open his eyelids. He held the proud display of his magic above his head for all the residents of the 18th floor to see. The residents of Rivira looked up as a great light spilled over the 18th floor from the direct of the south of the forest. But from what, they could not tell.
Ottar gazed up at Lyze in disbelief as the light threatened to blind him, and even from down here he could feel the heat that the strange ball of fire was emanating. Lyze meanwhile inwardly triumphed and despaired at the same time.
'Good news is I pulled it off. Bad news is that it's just an imitation with nowhere near as much power as the real thing. There's only so much I can do without the Grace and at the level I am now. There was no need for the chant either...but for some reason, it felt wrong to not give the Lion Sin his credit and due respect while I just casually jack his technique. Hopefully no-one disagrees with me.'
Lyse flung the miniature sun down as dramatically and as hard as he could. The attack seemed to create a pressure field as it travelled towards it's target, illuminating the entire forest behind Ottar as the Boaz stood brave and straight in the face of the oncoming danger.
"CRUEL SUN!"
Ottar dropped his greatsword as suddenly the sun accelerated and began rushing towards him even faster. He held out both hands and to his credit caught the sun in his hands, to the shock of Lyze who at the time kind of expected it. The power gap between him and Ottar was just too big for even this attack to work perfectly.
Still though, the sun pushed against Ottar and his arms began shaking as he struggled to hold the attack at bay. Ottar's eyes widened as his gloves burned away and his palms began to toast under what he could now feel what was the extreme heat of the sun. The rock Libur was embedded in began to melt as the ground around him began to char.
"What sort of magic is this?!" Ottar grunted out as he pushed back against the sun.
"The kind that you will never get to know if I decide you do not." Lyze replied before he held out a hand and called to Libur. The sword stood upright and then began flying to the hand of its master. Lyze caught it and held it aloft as he looked down at Ottar worriedly. The Boaz was slowly but surely winning the battle, and seemed on the verge of pushing it away.
"Is there no end to your surprises Lyzof Keele?" Ottar asked as he felt his hands start to burn painfully as the sun roared with more power.
"This is but half the surprise Ottar." Lyze smiled.
"Huh?"
Lyze held out his thumb, his index and his middle finger. "This attack comes in two stages. The first is 'Cruel Sun.'" Lyze held the fingers upwards and clicked them. "The second is {Pride Flare}!"
Ottar's body was engulfed in flames as the sun exploded, sending out a giant shockwave that obliterated even more trees then before and scorched the earth all around as it devoured the surroundings in its fury.
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