"Zai, let's fight."
"What the fu.. Elysa are you serious??"
"Yes, don't worry I'll hold back and it will be a good choice to test your new abilities."
"But what if I lose control and seriously injure someone?"
"Oh Zai, don't worry. Each one of us is capable of defeating Verkoth alone. And also our Luke here can bring you back from brink of death, so don't worry about injuries."
"Oh Yeah! Now I am a glorified ambulance huh?"
Luke scoffed from a distance.
"It's a good strategy to know what this runt is capable of. As expected of The Advisor of The Great King."
Deeno also added his comment.
Well now that I think about it, it won't hurt to try and I can see by myself, where I stand against some of the strongest in the kingdom.
***
So it started, on one end, Elysa elegantly levitating and on the other hand Zai preparing his combat stance. Luke was given the role of refere and Deeno stood by in case anything goes wrong.
"I am gonna count to 3, at my mark both of you can start."
Zai and Elysa were both seriously looking at each other.
"3.. 2..."
"1"
As Luke finsihed, strong gust of winds blew past him as Elysa instantaneously rushed towards Zai. Zai stood still yet in his combat stance as if waiting for Elysa to approach him.
Elysa, now only a few inches away, sensed something wrong but she was too late. As her fingertip touched Zai, a huge explosion of purple mist occured, Elysa couldn't sense Zai anywhere in this smoke.
[Decoy] and [Vanish], two of the Verkoth's skills that Zai is able to use. Elysa summoned another gust of wind to quickly disperse the smoke, as the smoke vanished, Zai quickly appeared behind and started attacking with his fist. Elysa dodged and began counterattacking.
Elysa could feel it. Zai had used [Body enhancement] in order to by pass Elysa's [Mana Barrier] deal damage to her.
'Deeno really is a great teacher. Zai's even more of a genius to learn all this in such a short time. As expected of [ Last vessel of the damned darkness] but, he still has a long way to go.'
Elysa thought to herself as she suddenly retreated and stood at a distance. Zai could feel the wind currents suddenly changing. Elysa was now covered in glowing currents of wind and in a rather exciting tone she said-
"Let's start Zai!"
As she finished, her figure disappeared and appeared behind Zai. She was way faster than before and she started attacking. Each of her punch threw Zai several feets away. As Zai wanted to recover his balance but he failed to realise that his legs were already tied by Elysa Tree root magic.
Elysa continued her onslaught of attack with Zai barely defending at all.
"Why's Elysa going berserk like that? And why are you not doing anything. Isn't he your best buddy Assbrain?"
Deeno asked Luke who was observing the fight.
"He's changed. We may not see it but we do not know what type of effects Verkoth's mana would have on Zai. She's simply using this spar as a front in order to make sure that Zai is actually safe from Verkoth's influence. If it truly is the [Primodial Sin of Envy], then the chances are he may be hiding himself inside Zai and we should absolutely take no time in making sure he is suppressed."
Luke explained.
Deeno stood quietly after Luke's a explanation as the scene of Elysa's one-sided assault on Zai unfolded.
Zai was not getting even a second to catch his breath but Elysa was getting faster and faster by second. Zai needed to think of something quickly. He than remembered that.
Elysa flew past Zai as to attack him behind again but this time she felt something odd. Zai who was previously struggling to get out roots was not relaxed. He was way too relaxed.
'I have to end it now.'
Elysa thought to herself as she flew to Zai in a astoundingly fast speed, Zai looked behind and suddenly glared at her. Elysa was startled by sudden sight tha she lost her focus and gave Zai enough time to escape.
Zai retreated and stood on ground panting loudly. He could finally catch his breath. Elysa recovered her composure and floated in air while looking down on Zai.
"Zai! I am going to attack you now! Be prepared."
She shouted in excitement while smiling at Zai.
"Let's do it."
Zai clenched his fist while signalling Elysa.
On his provocation, Elysa gathered all the surrounding winds behind her. The winds glowed green and started condensing and formed an armor around Elysa. Elysa was shining brightly while the Air around her flowed lika a vortex. She gently landed on the ground. The place where she landed was now hollowed, as if the wind was eating the ground.
[Voracious Armor],
this was one of Elysa's special skill which granted her and armor made up wind. The winds are condensed and are so fast that they, quite literally devour everything that is touched. It was simple skill but required absolute control over the flow of mana in the winds.
Zai gulped as stared at Elysa preparing for her special attack but Zai was not unprepared. He took another battle stance as purple aura covered his body.
"Hey muscle head, isn't that your skill?" Luke asked as he stared at the sight infront of him.
"It is. I can't believe how quickly he mastered and also assimilated Verkoth's mana and enhance it. That runt might actually be a prodigy."
The skill in question was a simple [Mana Armor] but due to Deeno's hand-to-hand combat style he modified the technique to allow his exert greater output this making this technique a great offensive as well as defensive skill. Zai combined this technique with Verkoth's mana and thus enhanced it a step further.
Zai now looked like a Chinese qi martial arts fighter. Zai and Elysa both looked at each other in dead silence. It was suspensefull situation. The first one to move was Elysa, quicker than before, she rushed towards Zai and started punching. Zai skillfully dodged and at time counter attacked. Now it looked like they were both on an equal footing.
But a carefull eye could see that Zai was being pushed to disadvantage. Each of Elysa's attack damaged Zai's [Enhanced Mana Armor] but each of Zai attack also helped Elysa to decrease the armor's durability. Zai was now again pushed back.
It was at that moment Zai thoght of an idea. Elysa attacked Zai continuouslly, it was only for a brief moment but there was a small gap in her attack where she stepped behind Zai in order to do a surprise attack. As Elysa once again tried to move behind Zai in order to attack, she was suddenly blinded by a white light.
Quickly retreating back she said,
"You know you can't seal my movements Zai."
"I never wanted to."
Elysa looked for Zai but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly Elysa felt something behind her back and quickly turned back and attacked Zai.
But something was wrong. It looked like Zai but it was not Zai. It was at that moment she realised she was severely mistaken.
The figure suddenly exploded and spreaded a purple smoke around Elysa. Elysa knew this trick so she again used her winds to clear the smoke. When she cleared the smoke, she found herself in a long corridor with pale yellow walls and marks of scratches.
She quickly took a defensive stance and looked around the room.
"Hello dear.."
It was a gentle yet ominous voice.
"What am I doing here? and what's this place this place? Tell me now or I'll kill you, really kill you, Verkoth."
***