Chereads / Archmage Support / Chapter 26 - Fist of Shield Against Fist of Magic

Chapter 26 - Fist of Shield Against Fist of Magic

'Why is it that everyone seems to tell me whatever they want, especially the sensitive kind of information. I seriously do not want to know, do they believe in my moral conscience or something?'

A sudden aura of killing intent could be felt from nearby, Regal moved his eyes in its direction and saw Ruk attempting to reel in his anger.

Regal stuck his tongue out.

"What? Can't hit me because it goes against your morals? Can't hit someone who is above you in rank? That's good, almost thought I'd need to teach you a lesson with my own fists", Regal stated mockingly.

He punched outward a few times with surprising force and speed, but it was nothing more than a taunt.

Ruk took a deep breath and crossed his arms.

"Correct, it goes against my personal morals about upholding the respect of someone's status", he said with a progressively calming voice.

"That's too bad, I would've given you a good fight, even without mana", Regal responded with a shrug.

Ruk frowned.

"You don't seriously believe that do you?"

"As long as you don't use aura, I'd say it might even be possible for me to beat you", Regal smiled as he made further attempts to lure Ruk into a bout.

There was silence for a few moments, a different kind of tension was forming between them.

"...Is that so? Then how about we do this, we have a simple spar where the loser is dictated by the person who gives up first. If I win, then you'll tell me everything I want to know about the Majin without any... nonsense involved.", Ruk suggested.

Regal pondered for a moment.

'I get it, if I agree to a spar, then it doesn't challenge my status and authority... so complicated, I wouldn't have done anything simply because he wanted to fight, who cares, right?'

"Suit yourself. If I win, I want you to help me out with something later", Regal said as he walked away to gain some distance between the two.

"Hey Kendrick, you be the judge", Regal said.

Kendrick looked skeptical about the whole situation, but he didn't seem overly concerned, or anything of the sort for that matter.

"Stand back Ellis, this could go on for a while"

Ellis looked at Kendrick with a raised brow.

"How are you so sure? The outcome looks obvious to me, how could a mage win this without mana?", she questioned.

"Just watch", Kendrick stated.

And just as he said, she glued her eyes onto the soon-to-be battle. Regal appeared to take on some form of stance, his feet were wide apart with his right one forward and left behind him. Both his arms were lowered, but one was behind him as he tilted his torso ever so slightly along with it.

Ruk glared at his stance for a few moments before preparing his own... by not moving. All he did was plant his feet onto the ground and look as though he was bracing for impact.

'That's a shieldbearer for you... always ready to take a hit first', Regal thought.

Noticing the situation, the heroes momentarily paused their construction work to watch. They seemed worried about how to fight would end, but there was a face or two that looked happy about Regal's situation.

Perhaps some second hand revenge against the arrogant Archmage?

Everyone was drawn to Kendrick who was raising his hand into the air, everyone and everything around them turning silent in anticipation. The two individuals preparing to fight faced each other with a hint of excitement, a smile clear on Regal's face but a hidden emotion behind Ruk's stone face.

He held it in the air for a few seconds and quickly shot it down while at the same time saying, "Begin!"

Regal shot forward in a burst of speed surprising everyone present, everyone lagged behind his movements for a moment as they failed to anticipate this initial development. Ruk however remained still, as if it didn't matter and he would stay waiting regardless.

Regal quickly closed the distance between the two, his small body almost literally flying forward with each kick. The final step before he reached Ruk he felt rather strange and forcefully stopped himself to move to the left.

"So this is the distance then", Regal said.

Ruk seemed annoyed but remained standing as he was.

'A step further and he would've done me in. This is the perfect distance to prance around'

Regal was confident in his physical abilities, even as a mage, but he also knew the difference between himself and his opponent. Ruk was obviously sturdier than him and could use far more force. But that's also why Ruk remained still, waiting for an attack first, because he lacked the speed to match up with someone as small as Regal.

A second later Regal jumped directly at Ruk.

Ruk looked surprised by this but reacted accordingly. The moment Regal was supposed to make contact with the right side of his ribcage, Ruk attempted to grab him with his left hand. But Regal never made contact with his ribcage, and instead grabbed his massive hand and swung his body upward, his leg clashed directly against his face, causing Ruk to stumble.

Regal quickly let go and fell on his feet to deliver a flurry of punches and kicks to his stomach, and after one final powerful kick to Ruk's solar plexus, he dashed away. 

Ruk regained his balance and wiped his arm against his face. He seemed more or less unfazed, he was just caught off-guard by Regal's controlled movements. He was led to mistime his attempt to grab Regal by making him believe the actual target was something else... a classic trick.

"Were you taught to fight by someone?", Ruk asked with a curled lip, to everyone's surprise.

Regal shook his head.

"I was taught a few basics by some bald fellow I met a while back, but these acrobatics are all me", he said with a smug tone, and a similarly smug face to follow.

"Probably from running away from monsters...", Kendrick commented.

"Kgh...", Regal felt more attacked by that comment than in the actual fight. But he couldn't deny it, escaping monsters while your life was on the line no doubt had a big impact on his current capabilities.

Regal decided to ignore the noise and run straight at Ruk again.

'I'm sure I've been in a fight against an enemy like this before... how exactly did I win again?'

Regal gave Ruk's feet a quick glance and noticed that he hadn't moved a single step from his spot, not even after the earlier attack.

He laughed, 'Ah that's right... make them fall...'

As he approached Ruk once again, he jumped over him, making himself a clear target in the process. And Ruk didn't waste the chance either, he used both arms to attempt to grab him. One arm was reaching directly for Regal while the other was slightly ahead in preparation.

But once again, Regal did something against his expectations. He grabbed his head.

From Ruk's perspective, Regal looked as if he had jumped so high above that he planned to be just out of reach of his grasp and then failed. But it was more or less an illusion of Regal's small size, he turned his body mid-air and just barely grabbed Ruk's head.

He was propelled forward by his momentum while grabbing Ruk's head... but it didn't matter. Ruk whipped his body forward with enough force to send Regal flying back where he came from.

Regal once again landed on his feet and took a few heavy gasps for air. His method of fighting used far more stamina than Ruk's.

"Hah! If you didn't whip me forward, you could've just grabbed me there and then!", Regal advised.

"And give you something else to grab and swing with? I think I'm beginning to understand your slippery fighting style...", Ruk responded.

Regal shrugged.

"Say what you want, you still haven't even touched me"

Ruk grimaced at the mere comment., Regal noticed and copied his action.

"Get your mind out of the gutter! Bastard!", Regal shouted.

He then propelled himself forward once again, but this time he did so much slower than usual.

"Is he tired?", Ellis asked.

Kendrick responded by shaking his head, "No, someone as petty as Regal would just wait and regain his stamina to taunt Ruk, he is probably faking it. These small few seconds would be nothing to him anyway."

Ellis couldn't get a handle on the fight, she had never been in one herself, and even if she did she wouldn't be at the frontline of it. She is a healer after all.

She listened to what Kendrick said and agreed but was also suspicious of the validity of his statement, so she kept her eyes on the fight once more to see what would happen.

Regal got close to Ruk once again, but this time Ruk took a more forward approach and lunged at Regal, his massive body looming closer.

Regal, as expected, flew forward with a sudden burst of speed, evidently not as tired as he led them to believe.

He managed to push his elbow directly into Ruk's solar plexus once more, causing Ruk to grimace. But he propelled his own fist at Regal while enduring the pain, it swung from his side to Regal's face.

Regal ducked and dodged it rather easily, but remained in his spot for a moment instead of retreating.

Ruk and his incredible size compared to Regal was compelled to use his leg in this situation, either to swipe at Regal or crush him underneath.

He raised his leg off the ground as if by instinct, but that was his final mistake in this spar. Regal shifted in a ridiculous manner while still crouched onward under Ruk's leg, his leg still barely off the ground at this point. 

And then, with some amazing burst of strength, he grabbed his thigh and pushed him upward. The small body of Regal managed to push Ruk off into the air and cause him to fall backward.

"Agh!", Regal let out a slight shriek of pain as he was unexpectedly grabbed. Ruk wasn't the only one going down.

As Ruk fell on his back, he swung Regal's small body into the air and tried to get himself up as quickly as possible to finish him off.

He pushed himself onto one knee and prepared a punch.

'...Quite a view from up here', Regal thought as he saw his altitude decrease into an impending fist of death.

He didn't seem particularly worried, he could easily use the punch to his advantage. Ruk always seemed far too confident in his straightforward and simple attacks, as if he knew nothing of feints and trickery.

As Regal fell closer to Ruk's fist, he prepared himself to catch the fist with his arms extended. He didn't feel the need to hide his intention, it's not like Ruk would understand it.

Once he was close enough, a fist went swinging from Regal's right.

'...huh?'

Ruk used his other arm which seemed far more unprepared for an attack, to swing at Regal. Another simple trick that shouldn't trick anyone experienced in fights, he made Regal believe he was a simple fighter. 

Regal tucked his body into a ball and turned it as best he could so that his feet would make contact with Ruk's fist, but instead of that, the original punch prepared by Ruk propelled itself into Regal's side.

He was once again sent flying, but this time he hit the ground a few times before picking himself back up.

'He hit my arm... if I wasn't curled up like that, I would've had a not-so-pretty wound to my ribs... or maybe lower than that. It may have been my loss then and there', Regal thought as he took a few more deep breaths.

But he didn't have time to catch his breath, because Ruk was now running towards him.

'...at least he's slow?', Regal comforted himself as he struggled to balance himself.

"Huuu...", Regal let out a breath.

'Guess I need to fight like that baldie told me to...'

Meanwhile, Ellis was completely shocked. She didn't know much about fights, but there were certain obvious things. Like how a mage should normally never stand a chance against a fighter without their mana.

"How is he able to fight like that...?", she questioned aloud.

Kendrick turned his head to her and scoffed.

"That bastard is more ridiculous than that, believe me... I once taught him a few sword moves back in the day for the fun of it, and he did pretty well...", Kendrick mentioned while thinking back to the days he first met the monster known as Regal Riverwood.

"A genius... through and through...", he mumbled while turning his head back to the fight.