Leon held out his hand to the side and a spear materialized in his palm, birthed from black fire. He spun the spear around, before slamming its butt into the ground and looking at Eric expectantly. The brown haired man on the opposite side simply held forward his sword.
Eric was a mage, but his magical talents were rather limited, so he also walked the path of a warrior. He was somewhat like Malaki in that respect.
“Alright, ready?” Richard asked both fighters. As the strongest person present, he was going to act as their referee. When both Leon and Eric nodded to express their readiness, he gave the signal. “Fight!”
The moment he gave the signal, both sides sprung into action. A brilliant flame engulfed the length of Eric’s sword as he leapt forward. His eyes were already set on Leon’s frame as his target, and an invisible line between his sword and Leon’s neck was formed on the tip of his sword. His sword carved through the air, following that wavy trajectory that was drawn by that invisible line.
Whoosh!
As Eric leapt forward, Leon did not stand idle. His spear spun around so quickly that it vanished for a moment before it appeared, splitting apart the air as a black fire blazed on its tip. For some reason, the spear seemed to twist along its part, and it was aimed at Eric’s chest.
Clang!
The two weapons clashed in the middle of the room, and a strong, but compressed explosion pushed back the two fighters as a massive amount of energy and mana ran rampant from their clash.
“Hup!” Eric’s sword rose up and slashed back down, its tip still seeking out Leon’s neck, but Leon’s spear suddenly turned into a shield, blocking and throwing off the sword, before turning into a sword that could exploit the close range and open defenses of his opponent. This smooth, but extremely unreal change shocked the onlookers!
“It is not that easy to bring me down!” Eric roared and a golden light burst out of him! A giant, five meter tall figure made out of golden energy grew to engulf his body and protect him, while still retaining solidity. Not only that, but it was also completely able to display his might and prowess, along with granting him a healthy boost of strength!
A giant sword of golden light manifested in the giant’s hands, which immediately carved a path out of the air to crash down against Leon. But Leon had immediately moved the moment he saw the giant energy manifestation. Not only that, but he was able to read its moments through the movements of Eric, who was now imbedded in the center of the golden giant.
He quickly dodged to the side of the giant, dodging its ferocious attack. For a moment, Leon could feel the killing intent seep out of Eric, and he grew even more cautious. Eric was taking this very seriously. He was going out because Richard remained as a safety net to prevent either of them from losing their lives. So that meant Leon did not have to hold back either!
Boom!
A powerful magical storm was stirred up around Leon as he brought the full prowess of his mental abilities to the field. Around him, a ring of black fire burned, rising into a tornado of black fire that expanded and spread its reach until it reached Eric’s energy manifestation. The man stepped back and raised up his sword, but before he could strike down, a black spear stabbed out from within the black fire tornado, piercing the chest of the energy manifestation easily.
“What?!” Eric was shocked, but before he could muster a response, the tip of the spear suddenly spewed out a black fire that instantly spread through the insides of the energy manifestation. This should have been impossible, as the manifestation was constantly being reinforced and empowered by Eric’s skills, but for some reason, it was still happening!
“Ugh!” Before the fire could reach him, Eric jumped back and exited the energy manifestation, causing it to lose its support and dissipate into nothing, together with the black flames that had latched onto it. However, before he could react, Leon came flying through, his spear already primed for an attack. A purple light flashed from his eye sockets, and Eric could feel a sudden weakness and fatigue settle into his bones. He felt as if he was already out of breath, and his arms ached, as if he had been swinging his sword for days on end.
‘Dark magic!’ The man thought with apprehension. Thankfully, he had a bit of expertise with Holy energy. Although it would not be enough to dispel the effects of this magic, it could at least help him cope with the effects of this skill.
Whoosh!
The black spear stabbed forward and slipped past Eric’s head, but not without grazing his cheek. Immediately, it started bleeding, but his blood was a darker color.
Poison!
Eric cursed in his mind, but before he could react, he felt something latch onto the back of his neck, and tug him forward. The body of Leon’s spear had morphed and turned into a scythe-like hook, albeit blunt, which hooked onto Eric’s neck, and pulled him forward and onto Leon’s waiting fist.
Boom!
A dull boom resounded through the hall as Leon’s gauntlet covered fist slammed into Eric’s abdomen.
“Kuek!” A mouthful of blood was coughed up by Eric a moment later as an astounding amount of force was transferred from Leon’s fist, to his body. he could feel his bones shake and tremble under that force, and his eyes shook in their sockets.
Before Eric could regain his wits, another armored fist slammed into the side of his face, followed by another to his side, and another to his chest. Before he knew it, he was being drowned by a flurry of punches that sought to pulverize his skull! Eric realized now, that he had no chance of beating Leon at all!