The blade felt heavy in my hand, sweat running down my face, whether it be due to nervousness or the heat of the place. My blood roared in my ears– all I had to do was put everything I'd learned into practice. Yet, Jasper was the only person I hadn't fought in practice– likely on purpose by him.
If I had to guess, he knew it would come to this– so he had simply watched me fight, without letting me know anything about his true combat capabilities. The energy he was emitting made me want to drop to my knees. It was suffocating, grasping me by the throat and squeezing the very life from my lungs.
Jasper approached me, halberd in hand, before he pushed off of one foot. I didn't even see him move, until he was already in front of me and I could feel the movement of the air as it was slashed out of the way. Adrenaline kicked in, and I stumbled backwards, the tip of the blade nicking my chin. Damn this small body!
Blood dripped down my neck, the wound stinging as Jasper ran his finger along the steel edge, licking his lips as he charged again. I just needed time. Long enough for the others to deal with the bandits so Hua wouldn't get hurt, long enough to get used to his speed. He wasn't that fast, as a spear user, but his attacks dealt an unholy amount of damage with every hit, especially when he used his fire magic.
A ring of fire had surrounded us both, separating us from the others as we duelled in the middle. Stepping backwards, I felt the flames licking my heel, burning away at the ends of my trousers. I immediately dashed forward, despite the fatigue burning in my muscles, blade held loosely in one hand.
My arm swung as I tossed the blade forwards. Perhaps not the best idea, but I knew I wasn't going to beat him in brute strength. Skill, maybe, but that wasn't enough, when the opponent was capable of summoning large waves of flames that incinerated everything flammable and even things that were not. I had to use my brain to win, or at least stall him here.
The blade flew forward, as Jasper used his halberd to knock it upwards in a singular swing, preventing it from dealing any damage to him as it– luckily– landed within the ring. However, that wasn't my aim. Before Jasper could react, my knuckles collided with his nose, a crack echoing across the battlefield as he stumbled backwards in shock, nose bent off-centre and bleeding profusely.
I had most certainly bruised my hand, but I followed immediately with a spinning back kick to his stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs as it collided directly with his diaphragm. He gasped for air as I began to retreat, picking up my blade once more, feeling the sweat dripping down my face, mixing with my blood and pooling on the floor as I spat, blood dripping from my lips. It was all I could taste, and I hated it.
I just had to keep this up– but I would be lucky if he didn't catch on to my hit-and-run tactics. Knowing him, he probably already had. The man got to his feet, his red hair looking more of a mess than ever. And as such, I said the only words that seemed appropriate.
"Man, you look like shit."
He did not, however, take that kindly, anger rising to the surface as his teeth gritted, veins bulging as he raised his halberd up to join at me, the flames around the edges of our makeshift arena only rising higher.
"You little… fucking useless runt…" He growled, fury etched into every word. Had I not been fighting him already, I'd probably be trembling in my boots right now. Exhaling, I held my shaking hand. Although I wasn't scared, my body was tired, so tired it had begun to shiver. The soul energy being shown off by the man was too much to handle, nausea setting in as I tasted bile in the back of my throat. Yet I pressed on.
"Ready for round two?"
—
Although I had acted confident mere moments before, I was not at all believing in my ability to win here. All sounds had died out, muted by the loud beating of my heart in my chest, and the sound of the blood rushing in my ears as we circled each other. Everything hung on this. Whether Hua lived or died was all hinged on my win– and I was sure that Jasper would go out of his way to kill the others as well given the chance.
The man was insane, and willing to turn his back on his own family, his own friends, for money, and pleasure. There was no other way to describe him. He had lost his mind somewhere along the way, or perhaps he'd always been this crazy.
'I've gotta find another way to beat him…' I thought to myself, eyes glancing up and around– which had been a mistake. Jasper's knee slammed upwards into my chin. He had closed the gap in the split-second my focus had been drawn to other things.
"Don't lose focus," He grinned, "A prey too easy isn't a fun kill. It's only exciting when they fight back and run."
I rolled my eyes in response. "Yeah, no thanks. I don't need you to tell me what to do." But he was right. I couldn't lose focus again, the next time I'd be dead. Our weapons had been dropped somewhere along the way, and now, it had become a knuckle-to-knuckle, bare-fisted fight to the death. Far more gruesome, in my opinion.
From my visions and dreams of my old life, Xeno– no, I had not been able to manipulate the elements. Yet, he had managed to become a strong soldier. Not through externally manipulating the elements, but through mimicking them. Condensing soul energy around the palms and feet and forcing it through the body in explosive or free-flowing ways to mimic fire, water, earth, wind and nature itself.
I didn't know how to use the elements just yet, and this wasn't the same as my past life. But the concepts could be applied.
'Concentrate the soul into specific parts of the body, surround yourself with it like armour. Release it upon contact, so it isn't wasted.'
The words of my past life echoed in my head. I just had to follow the steps, I'd done it all before. Opening my channels, I felt the soul energy flowing throughout my body. The progression of my core from jet black to dark raven had opened up new paths for me. My output was lower than his, but with enough precision…
The grey energy converged and circulated around my hands and feet. Raising my foot, I slammed it into the earth, watching it crack as rocks and bits of debris flew up and into the air. I was faster. With soul running through my body, my physical abilities had been heightened, and I could barely feel the fatigue. It would come back later, no doubt, but for now, I had a chance to fight back.
My foot slammed into the falling rocks, sending them flying towards Jasper as he smashed them to bits with flaming fists, dust falling to the floor like rain. It clouded his vision for a moment, and in that second, I was before him. My fist slammed into his stomach, and I heard the cracks. The look on his face showed that he felt it, too. Tugging on the crease in his elbow, I leapt up, kneeing him in the side of the face. I was smaller, yet more agile. I could use that to my advantage.
He flung me off in a large motion, sending me flying backwards, skidding across the floor. I could no longer feel the blood running down my face as the heat intensified. I charged again, collecting energy in my left fist and swung, my left hand smashing into his right, an explosion echoing throughout the clearing as the ring of fire went out, the blast of wind released sending us both flying backwards in opposite directions.
Now, I could see Makko, Anthony, Nessa, and Mari watching us fight each other, the bandits lying dead nearby. I counted 3. Where was the last one? I didn't have time to focus on that however. Jasper was already up.
"Persistent bastard… haven't you learned to quit whilst you're ahead?" I had been managing my energy well, yet I still couldn't match up to the sheer amount he had. He was probably light stone… maybe even dark grey. It would be hard to measure up to someone like that.
Had I not been reinforcing my fists with soul when our fists collided, a blow like that would have shattered my entire arm, and likely ruptured it as well. My foot slipped backwards, and I felt the energy coursing through my body. I could only release it when I made contact, considering I didn't have enough to have it constantly circulating. And if I could fake him out…
There was one other thing I had been able to do in my past life to help with fighting against those with elemental powers.
Jasper raised his arm.
"ӨΉ GᄂӨЯIӨЦƧ KIПG ӨF ƬΉΣ ƧЦП," He chanted, "ᄂΣПD MΣ YӨЦЯ ƧƬЯΣПGƬΉ, ƬΉΣ ΛᄂMIGΉƬY PӨЩΣЯ ƬӨ IПᄃIПΣЯΛƬΣ MY FӨΣƧ."
'When striking certain points, if one releases large amounts of soul energy compressed into a small point, like the tip of a finger…'
I dashed forward, the fireball above his head growing in size by the second. It truly was menacing, and I could barely breathe. The air wasn't breathable, and I coughed, gasping, trying to intake something that wasn't on fire. The inside of my throat had begun to bleed again.
My index and middle finger connected with his solar plexus, releasing a large blast of air as the spell abruptly cut off.
'The flow of the soul can be cut off by clogging the channels with unfamiliar soul energy.'
He dropped to one knee, and I leapt off the floor, spinning 360 degrees, and kicking him in the side of the face with the top of my foot as I landed, sending him crashing into a tree.
Jasper let out a growl, dragging himself to his feet. I had just missed his jaw, which would have been enough to knock him out cold, no matter what. Anthony had taught me that.
From his pocket he pulled a small, cracked vial, likely from our fight, filled with a purple liquid.
"I was planning on killing you all slowly… but I'll just incinerate you instead, as you useless rats continue to get in my way. The princesses won't get their wish… but she'll be dead all the same!"
–
In an instant, he downed the liquid. His output increased vastly, and flames curled off his body like steam after a hot bath. The very rock on which he walked bubbled with his every step, the flame enough to melt stone.
My body was thrown up into the air, feeling my clothes and skin burn, pain settling in. How had he–
I wasn't even given the time to think, to breathe, as I was sent flying across the clearing and into a wall of rocks. My back hit the wall and I slipped down, coughing, throwing up blood as it filled my mouth. Pain spiked through my body, and my eyes were half-lidded, itching to close, itching to simply just let go of it all. I was already tired, and the thoughts infiltrated my head.
'Haven't I done enough? Can't I let someone else take over? Can't I just let it all burn?'
Jasper stood before me, grabbing my collar and pulling me up the wall, the skin off my back being scraped off as I hung limply, able to do nothing but glare into his eyes in response.
Whatever he had taken was some kind of power-enhancing drug, but it had its own side effects, and some of those were visible. His veins were visibly bulging and abnormally black, and his eyes seemed to pop out of his face, more so than they normally did. I could feel his soul energy. But it seemed to be eating itself. It had given him power, yes, but it was also corrupting him. Though his power had been doubled, it was eating away at his very soul.
Therefore, I didn't even need to kill him myself. He was already doing that for me. My eyes dropped from him for a second, though I was met with a series of punches.
"Don't. Take. Your. Eyes. Off. Me. Useless. Brat."
They were all directed towards the same spot– my soul core. If it shattered, I was done for. And it was already quite weak. Each punch left me reeling, without enough time to mentally prepare for the next, until I was numbed to the pain. And he let my body drop.
"Die." He declared, though it fell of deaf ears, raising a hand as it lit aflame. I couldn't even anticipate his next move, for I was already close to falling unconscious, into the sweet embrace of death. And I wasn't fighting the cold anymore.
Vines curled thickly around his raised arm, pulling it towards the ground. An arrow shot from beyond my field of vision, nailing him in the arm before he tore it out, blood streaking down his wrist.
Vines?
My head twisted. Hua was awake! She was being supported by Anthony to stay on her feet, but she was up nonetheless.
"Don't you know when you've gone too far?" I heard Anthony's voice. "He's just a kid, what do you think you're doing?!"
Jasper's head snapped towards them, and he stood before them in an instant. His hand curled around Hua's neck, flames burning her as he dragged her over to the edge of the cliff, struggling and kicking all the while.
"No…!"
He held her over the edge and I crawled, pushing myself forward into a walk, then into a run. I was too far. And I begged whatever gods existed above our heads to allow me to reach her in time.
And she dropped.
My body leapt forward, sliding over the edge, grasping her arm with my hand, the other barely hanging onto the edge of the cliff face.
Jasper's smile widened.
"Foolish boy…"
And Hua begged me to let her go, but I shook my head. I couldn't, no, I wouldn't. My heart beat wildly in my chest as I stared up at him, teeth gritted. He had set up a barrier around us all, so as much as the other 4 tried to reach us, to help us, it was to no avail. Their hands banged on the barrier, despite their skin burning, their screams fell on deaf ears.
"You really thought you could beat me?"
I shook my head.
"So you've realised then. It was all futile. Because you tried to be a hero, you two will both fall to your deaths…"
I shook my head again.
"Your math is wrong. All three of us will."
Despite my fractured core, I summoned a small amount of energy into my foot, swinging it into the side of the cliff. The ground beneath Jasper's feet and my hand crumbled. If I was to die, I would at least drag his traitorous, good-for-nothing hide with me.
As I fell, I saw Anthony attempting to cast a spell, to save us, the shock and fear evident on all their faces as Nessa let out an anguished cry. The air above me solidified, but the casting range was too short.
Jasper's face burned with fury directed towards me, and he sent a wayward blast of flame, though it missed as whilst falling, he couldn't aim properly. The wind whistled in my ears, my clothes and hair hanging around my face as I spoke.
"When you see the devil, tell your dad I said hi."
I just hoped he wasn't immortal, too.