As the sound of clashing weapons and screams of pain resounded throughout the clearing, Mikhail stood opposite of another opponent.
He was panting hard, his body shivering, with jolts of pain shooting upwards from the soles of his feet to his brain as he shifted his weight back and forth methodically.
His opponent, the young woman with powder blue hair and an icy attitude, Lily, wasn't faring much better. Her weapon of choice was a sickle, and she used one in each hand with superb finesse.
Mikhail had several violent looking gashes on his body, whereas Lily had several precise stab wounds. Both of their clothes had been torn up to an almost erotic degree, yet they couldn't have cared less.
Of course, there was a sizable group of younger folk who fell victim to their hormones, getting distracted as they took the time to sneak glances at the pair.
They, to neither Atticus', or anyone's surprise for that matter, lost their duels unceremoniously in that moment of distraction.
They had been taught a valuable lesson that day.
Though, unfortunately, most of them were more thick headed, and would continue to learn this lesson as time passed until it either killed them or they finally comprehended this lesson.
About half of them had been learning this lesson for some time already...
The two of them continued to stare at each other. Lily's defensive stance was flawless, leaving Mikhail no clear opening to directly end the fight.
He had to take initiative!
Meanwhile, Lily knew this, and planned to make use of the next exchange to decisively win with an elegant counterattack.
Mikhail suddenly shot forward, putting all of his strength into his left leg, causing an intense surge of pain, while leaving the other leg ready if need be. He had lost several times today because he had gone all-in without a back-up plan, and was about to try something different. Lily was none the wiser, and fully expected him to make the same mistake yet again.
Everyone, save for Mikhail, had long since gained the ability to keep watch of their surroundings as they fought.
And they needed to, or their potential opponents might surprise them with a trick they had learned in another fight.
Because he had made this mistake so many times already, Lily had been lured into a false sense of security, thinking that this bad habit of his would last throughout the day if not the week.
Mikhail had both of his arms raised above his head to the left, seemingly grabbing the Onyx Spear with both of his hands.
That's the name of the spear he had used last time by the way. It's not particularly special, just something that helped people who had awakened the Shade Element.
All the weapons were like that, meant to enhance certain elements.
Lily was wielding a pair of Icicle Sickles for example, the one in her right hand slashing diagonally upwards at the incoming spear with the sharpened side from her low and crouched position.
The two weapons connected, and her eyes widened in horror!
There was almost no force being put into this thrust!
It was a feint!
She fell for a fucking feint!
Rather than cutting through the wooden pole of the spear like she expected, the pole was left with a light scratch mark as the force of the upwards slash made Mikhail lose grip of the weapon.
Yet, before he could fully lose grasp of the spear, he used his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger to spin the spear!
Rather than fly away, he had used just enough force to keep it spinning just above him! Lily was shocked, but not shocked enough to break apart years of fighting experience.
She immediately slashed upwards at his torso!
He couldn't stop his momentum now. His feint had been pointless!
Or so she thought.
Mikhail's right leg suddenly shot to the side, causing him to spin. His weird aerial positioning finally made sense!
She had thought his right leg was simply too hurt to move from the gash going through his upper thigh, but she had been mistaken! The feint was meant to open her up to a devastating flying spin kick!
As if in slow motion, Mikhail felt a familiar and terribly cold chill spread across his abs as the back of his foot aimed for Lily's temple.
Her weapon, infused with the power of the Ice Element, quickly froze the skin tissue of his abs and the layer of muscles underneath, making them brittle enough for her sickles to shatter those spots on impact.
Mikhail's skin would ordinarily be too powerful to get cut by such a weak weapon, but the power of Lily's element was the perfect counter to his defense.
They struck each other at the same time.
Mikhail's eyes became bloodshot and he grit his teeth so hard they cracked as a huge chunk of his stomach was shattered into cold red chunks. Meanwhile, the force of the kick made Lily's skull deform at the temple, and she fell on the ground with an intense seizure.
He landed on the ground with both feet, feeling an incredibly powerful pain, and raised both of his arms. The spinning spear shoddily landed in the palm of his right hand, and he loudly clasped his hands together, taking hold of the spear properly.
With no hesitation, he swung his spear down in an arc, aiming for the deformed spot on her skull.
An intense pressure pressed into his body just before the spear stabbed through Lily's skull.
The spear had been mere millimeters away from ending her life.
And since everyone always stayed aware of their surroundings, they were shocked to see their duel's outcome. Lily just lost!
What was with Mikhail's ridiculous talent?!
He'd only been fighting for two days!
The fighting stopped for a little while as everyone watched the resident medic quickly approach the two. The other fights slowly came to a stop as they looked over to Lily.
If that woman didn't act fast enough, Lily could really die!