[!!!The Evil Spirit used the ability "Blazing Fortification"!!!]
[Resistance, Damage, and Fire Damage increased]
The air was tense, the heat from the fire magic the spirit used slowly dissipating. Alexander seemed focused on something beyond the enemy in front of him.
These last abilities… A wall of fire that follows the enemy and a self"buff, blazing fortification, it's the same self"buff I used in EverMagic. These are exclusive to the paladin class, even more exclusive to my subclass "Herald of the Holy War." This quest… It waited until I reached level 15 to appear, in EverMagic it's at level 15 that our "class abilities" really appear, so I need to be careful with these two things.
"Your stats are higher now, aren't they? Whatever, I need to beat you until your stats are zero." Alexander said with strength in his voice. Jumping high in the air, but his landing move changed, before alternating the foot he landed on and took off from, now only landing on the left foot.
One…
The spirit started jumping just like Alexander.
Two…
However, its pace was much faster than Alexander's slow jumps as if it wanted to end the fight quickly.
Three…
Both landed on the ground.
"Now!"
They advanced at the same time like cannonballs fired at each other. The swords clashing against each other caused a shockwave similar to an explosion. Alexander and the spirit returned to a standoff, but it was obvious he would lose, and he knew it.
Tactics…
He thought. What ensures victory when you're outnumbered, or at a disadvantage, are tactics and strategy.
These swords we're using should have been destroyed by the force we're putting into them. So there are two options, either they're strengthened by the aura but that wouldn't make sense because he's not using his aura, or… He looked at the edges of the blades, they didn't seem worn or even used. These blades and this guy are products of the system, so they're made to last until the end of this quest!
Holding the blade with one hand, he punched the spirit in the face with force, but it only made it lose balance. "That's more than enough!" Alexander said, pushing his opponent, his blade sliding and getting a chance to move precisely. He attacked, plunging his sword into the spirit's chest, piercing it completely. "It's over…"
That's what he thought, but the evil spirit remained standing, staring into his eyes. Just like Alexander, it clenched its fist, landing a punch on the face of the red-eyed elf with such force that it sent him to the other side of the arena, colliding with the wall and falling to the ground.
He groaned in pain, it was the only thing he could do, his brain shaking inside his skull, his vision blurring. Blood poured steadily from his nose, mouth, and ears, and his jaw broken.
"...Shit."
In the stands, the sound of the spirit audience went wild, but at the top of the stands where Hakuri and Lady Fufumi were, only silence reigned.
"He's going to die." Fufumi said, covering her mouth with her golden fan. "Have faith, he will get up any moment now." Hakuri replied, his expression serious, confident. "He's going to die like all the other candidates before him and we will run out of time to prepare." "I disagree." "Always going against fate, Mr. Hakuri, that's why the gods chose you as his teacher." "Fate is a line, but what's the use of a line if we can't mold it and turn it into a beautiful fabric of our choice?"
The audience fell completely silent in a few seconds as if they saw something supernatural, something capable of surprising them after so many magnificent feats performed there. Even after taking a blow that could break a thick concrete wall like it was cardboard, the elf got up. His expression was anything but happy, a face stained with blood and red with anger, visibly still disoriented, but his balance slowly rebuilt.
"I…Am still standing…" He announced angrily, spitting a mixture of blood, and flesh from inside his mouth, and teeth. "That was supposed to kill me…But my resistance stat is pretty high and so is my vitality. It'll take a lot more than that to kill me!" He shouted furiously and then began jumping like a tengu, but his jumps were strong, when he landed on the ground it wasn't subtle like Hakuri had taught him, with each touch on the ground the arena floor trembled as if he weighed hundreds of kilos.
The evil spirit was standing still but then crouched down as if wanting to gain momentum. Both were preparing, waiting for the right moment.
It's now… I'm no longer using the tengu's subtlety… Now I'm using the full power of the system… I'm going to kill him… I'm going to kill him!
With each of Alexander's touches on the ground, the soil trembled harder. His intense aura was unlike any other, like the flames of hell itself extending just a few centimeters from his body. The spirit remained motionless, in the same crouched position as if about to leap at any moment.
"The moment…" Alexander landed on the ground, crouching as much as he could. "Is now!" Like an explosion, he charged at the evil spirit like a bullet. "I'm going to kill you, you bastard!" He attacked with his katana in a sideways strike, so powerful that it emitted a strong wind, but it didn't cut anything.
Alexander fell silent and slowly looked up. "Damn…"
The spirit jumped, at least twenty meters, but it was strange, it didn't look like it was going to fall, something began to cover its body. Wind, as if the wind began to circulate the spirit's body, keeping it in the air, but there was more, the wind moved in a spiral, passing over the spirit's entire body but concentrating on its blade. A chill ran through his body, a chill that signaled danger. The spirit started spinning, spinning in place as if gaining momentum in the air. "This isn't good…"
Alexander crouched, gathering strength in his legs. "If I'm going to kill you, then it's going to be up there!"
He jumped with enough force to leave a hole in the ground, at that moment everything seemed slow, maybe because of his high stats he could see, every movement, and he saw the moment the spirit's uniform spins stopped. It was no longer a spin, it was an attack. It was as if the very air was an extension of the spirit's blade, Alexander saw every second, every millisecond of that air blade approaching. He knew that wasn't just air, it was a real blade as hard as a steel blade.
"Shit…"
Defending with his sword at the last second, he was thrown to the ground with all his might. He roared in pain, hitting the rocky ground. Alexander opened his eyes at the same moment, even with blood coming out of his mouth he got up. Seeing that strange wind still circulating the spirit's body, seeing that blue monster floating in the air, spinning even harder. Alexander crouched once more and then jumped forcefully. Holding his sword as if it were a spear.
The spirit attacked again, and the wind blade approached with more speed and force than before, hitting Alexander who managed to defend at the last moment, being thrown to the ground once more. Once again he roared in pain, but a strange smile appeared on his face.
"I saw it!" He said excitedly, spitting blood and quickly getting up. "I saw… When he attacks with that wind blade he becomes vulnerable on the left side… I have to aim there… He's going to tear my arm off in the process… But I'll split him in half first!"
Alexander crouched once more.
"Forty"two points of strength, forty"two points of resistance, thirty"seven points of agility… I can do it!" Gathering all the strength he had left in his legs, his muscles contracted with all their might as if they were going to explode. "I'm going to kill him… I'm exhausted… If I don't do it now, I won't have any strength left… It's now or never!"
I have to be quick, while he's still accumulating his strength I'll jump, he'll attack but I won't defend, I'll hit with everything…. He looked up, staring into the eyes of that blue spirit. That bright yellow color and supernatural form, that creature that made no sound or even breathed. It's not human… It's not natural… It's a monster… And I'm going to kill it… I'm going to kill it!
"I'm going to kill it!"
Alexander jumped one last time, with all the strength he had left, advancing like a missile upwards. He saw it was as if everything was in slow motion, he saw every second of that wind blade approaching. But he also saw a chance, just like Hakuri had said a long time ago, the tengu style doesn't cling to the ground, and like birds, they change their movements in midair.
"At this distance, it won't be as effective but it'll do." He said with a challenging voice. Rising towards that spirit with overwhelming strength, seeing that wind blade getting closer and closer, he changed direction in midair. Even so, he wasn't able to avoid the wind-blade attack. Feeling its edge tear half of his shoulder like a piece of meat carved by a butcher, but it didn't stop him.
"Fuck it!" He shouted furiously. Still rising in the air, he pierced the spirit's chest with his blade, but he wasn't the only one to do so, feeling the enemy's sword piercing his belly.
"You hit me… But you can't do anything besides push the sword after using an attack like that!" Alexander shouted, shouted with anger, and grabbed the spirit's shoulder with force, pulling his sword and at that distance, in one strike, decapitated the spirit.
A sensation ran through his entire body, a good sensation, the sweet nostalgia, and at the same time the freshness of something new. The sweet sensation made all the pain go away, he didn't even feel like he was falling from several meters to the ground. Everything was so colorful, the feeling was much stronger than the purest happiness. A system box appeared in front of Alexander.
[!!!Quest Completed!!!]
At that moment, the only thing he could do was smile.
"Finally… Something interesting."