Separated by 10 meters two fighters faced each other, one said to be at the peak of humanity. The other a pure blood qiton, said to have limitless potential for strength, but limited by pride and tradition. The first prince, Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII, wore a confident smile along with his s.h.i.+ning red adamant.i.te armor, he was certain of victory. Having a.s.sessed his opponent was unable to use even the faintest approximation of magic he predicted being able to overwhelm his opponent instantly. The other fighter was Dax, standing barefooted calmly without facial expression of even taking a stance his presence seemed so thin that he might blend in with the arena wall. Dax only wore a pair of plain shorts and a black t-s.h.i.+rt, wielding a heavy tungsten shortsword along with it.While most of the spectators where certain that he would lose, they somehow couldn"t see Dax lose, even if refusing to admit it.
"Both fighters are ready!? 3…. 2…. 1….. Begin!"
With the tension peaking the announcer called the start of the match, prompting the prince to hastily gather mana, while Dax started bouncing around on the tips of his feet, still without taking a stance.
"EAT THIS!"
5 seconds after the announcer had started the match Henrik had prepared his first offensive spell, ripping out shards of rock from the arena ground and sending them hurling at Dax with break neck speed. Dax responded by dodging the rock shards with minimal effort, except for the last, which he caught with a spin and tossed back towards the prince as he broke the ground beneath him as he charged the prince simuntarraly.
"Wha!-"
Not expecting his spell being used against him, Henrik was forced to pause his ranged attack as he slashed the rock shard in half with his sword, revealing Dax charging towards him only a mere meter behind the rock shard. Slas.h.i.+ng out of panic, Dax received the hit with his flesh and blood arm as he placed a open palm strike in the center of the prince"s plate armor, making him stagger a few steps backwards.
"Take this seriously."
Instantly closing the distance once more Dax delivered a series of heavy strikes to the prince"s chest with his shortsword before he was forced to retreat a few steps when the prince channeled mana into his longsword and made a wide slash. Following the slash Henrik kneaded a high amount of mana before Dax could close the distance again and used it to make a wind spell that pushed Dax away.
"That was some exchange ladies and gentlemen! What do you think about it Marcus!?"
"The crown prince underestimated his opponent and allowed him to get close. But still what was that parry from Dax? I"m much more interested in that. Even if the runic formation in the crown prince"s sword are unpowered it should be able to slice something as soft as an arm…"
"I"m very interested in that too! When Dax parred his highness" sword it didn"t even leave a mark, let alone a wound!? Could you please tell us about that miss Terra?"
"Dax"s skin is extremely tough, so the prince will need to take the fight a whole lot more seriously, but then again so does Dax, that exchange right there was just a greeting."
"A greeting you say?"
"Yeah, it said "I can hurt you so get your act together"."
"Well one thing is sure, Dax isn"t going to lose this as easy as some people thought!"
(That sure was unexpected…)
Until now Henrik had been sure that the fight would be easy, but was forced to reevaluate his opponent after he had effortlessly closed the range.
(Seems like there is something worth taking seriously after all… Then it"s simply a matter of crus.h.i.+ng him like the inferior race he is!)
With a still confident smile Henrik prepared his next spell instantly, and invoked it by channeling mana into his chestplate. As the chestplate absorbed the prince"s mana it started glowing slightly, then golden crystals started forming around the prince as his smile bloomed ever more confident. After forming some 50 sword sized crystals the prince seemed to be able to control them at will, and they slowly started spinning around him.
(How about this then!?)
Having prepared his new attack spell, the prince sent some 20 sword sized razor sharp crystals flying towards his target. Dax reacted by charging towards the crystals, and as the first one was about to hit him he reached out his artificial arm, and with a wave the crystal disappeared as if dissolving.
"WHAT!?"
Starting to panic slightly, the crown prince sent the rest of the crystals towards Dax as he summoned more and channeled mana into his sword. Dax destroyed a few more crystals but was eventually forced to stop his a.s.sault as he was slowly overwhelmed by relentless swarms of the prince"s spells.
"Seems like Dax is in a pickle ladies and gentlemen!? What do you think of this development miss Terra!?"
"I feel like it"s to be expected. Dax can"t use mana, and for some reason he isn"t allowed to use something like a handgun to compensate for it, so of course he"ll be overwhelmed when the crown prince started taking this whole affair seriously, now it"s just a matter of time until Dax himself starts taking the match seriously or he loses."
"Indeed. But I can"t see Dax breaking out of this with pure strength alone… Still it was a surprise to see him cancelling the prince"s spell with that arm of his."
"Could you please elaborate on what that exactly was that just happened Marcus? I"m sure that there are people among the audience today not able to see mana as well as you, including myself of course!"
"Even if you ask me it"s a bit hard to explain… If I had to try and explain it, it was like the crystal burst apart from the inside as something strange happened with the mana."
"Something strange?"
"That"s as close as I can get to an accurate description I can get, to be honest the implications behind even being able to cancel a spell after it"s been invoked are…. Well terrifying, so let"s not get into it here."
"Then we won"t! But even with whatever trick Dax is using it looks like he"s running out of steam!"
Indeed as the announcer said Dax was slowly backing off while being overwhelmed by the prince"s constant barrage of spells
"Are you really sure that"s the case? From over here it looks like Dax is overwhelming the prince."
"Oh? How so?"
"Dax can keep dodging, canceling and blocking the prince"s spells perfectly for days on end without issue. Even if he"s. .h.i.t a few times it won"t bother him, whereas the prince is "just" a human, like all of us, limited by mana, patience and concentration. The longer the fight goes on, the higher chance Dax has of winning."
(Why can"t I hit him!?)
After seriously trying to harm (or kill) Dax for a few minutes Dax had reacted by continuously evading hits with minimal movement as he slowly creeped closer, making the prince ever more frustrated as he started to slightly panic.
"You"re exposed."
Seeing his chance Dax hit away a crystal as his artificial arm split apart and 3 metal rod extended outwards.
"Disruption field wide area test #1… Commencing."
It started slowly, maybe it was a few seconds before even the prince noticed it, but all of a sudden he lost all control of the crystal swords as the suddenly all disappeared.
"Test successful, although heat generation and decay are both intense…."
With a clam report as if he were in a laboratory doing clinical trials Dax rushed towards the prince once more, but this time he exposed the prince to the full brunt of his bloodl.u.s.t.
"s.h.i.+T!"
In that moment Henrik completely forgot he was in a sparring match with his flight or fight response deciding to fright he hurriedly activated a different runic array in his prized adamant.i.te armor. Dax was at that point only a few steps from reaching the prince when a layer of concentrated dense mana seemed to from between him and the prince. Smas.h.i.+ng through the hastily formed barrier with a shoulder tackle Dax barely slowed down as he showed a slight smile.
"Is that all you got?"
As his artificial arm turned whole once more he grasped his shortsword and stabbed it towards the crown prince"s throat.
"Fu-"
Reflexively reacting the prince took a step backwards as he swung his adamant.i.te sword infused with mana and cut through Dax"s tungsten shortsword like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter.
"Naive!"
Having predicted the prince"s movement Dax had let go of the sword even before it was cut apart, with a faint he had exposed his intended target. Lowinger his center of gravity he delivered a slight uppercut to the princes chestpiece, using all his momentum he sent Henrik flying, hitting the oppersid wall with a bang, creating a dust cloud.
"Did you see that ladies and gentlemen!? Dax sacrificed his own sword to get a hit in on the prince, and it looks to have payed off! Will the prince declare defeat, or has he simply been knocked out!?"
With the crowd gasping and/or cheering at Dax"s display of martial prowers the dust slowly cleared, revealing the crown prince, mostly unhurt.
"I will not lose to filth like you!"
Dax"s. .h.i.t appeared to have hurt, greatly. In response to that the prince looked like he had lost his cool, and was kneading mana into his armor on an unprecedented level. In response Dax showed a mischievous smile, and seemingly waited for the prince to finish up his spell.
"This commentator dose in no way support the comments made by the prince in a riddled up state, but what was that!? The prince appears to be fine, moreover it looks like he"s preparing some sort of spell, and Dax is allowing it!? Marcus have you ever seen that kind of spell before?"
"I have. I ask all spectators to immediately evacuate."
"Eh?"
"The crown prince has broken the terms of the sparing, Dax is the victor."
"Hold on what are you talking about!?"
"The prince seeks to use lethal force, thereby he has lost the match. All royal knights move to cover Dax, the prince is employin-"
"There"s no reason for that."
"But miss Terra, the rules of the dual st-"
"Even if you try and stop the match Dax will be furious, just let him have his fun."
"I-"
"That was not a suggestion."
"..... Fine. But I recommend the first few rows of spectators move back."
With a few intense seconds of starring Marcus finally agreed to let the match go on, only giving in when he felt the same kind of bloodl.u.s.t emerging from Terra as he had once sensesed from Dax.
(What the h.e.l.l are you teaching this girl…)
Down in the arena the prince seemed to have finished preparing his spell as his armor and eyes started glowing in a golden light, and then he disappeared.
A split second later Dax doged the prince"s sword that aimed to decapite him, before he lost sight of the prince once more as he seemed to move faster than even his qiton reflexes could keep up with.
"So high speed movement by extreme mana enhancement? Highly fascinating!"
Narrowly dodging one more sword strike Dax received a deep lash in his cheek when he struck empty air with his own fist.
(Well this might be a problem..)
Receiving ever more small cuts Dax saw only imminent defeat, unless he did something about it.
(A strike to disable the prince, without actually disabling him…. Might need to break this arm for it.)
Formulating a plan Dax took more and more small hits as the arena ground was slowly painted black with the nanomachines that long had replaced most of his blood and maintained his body"s cybernetic implants.
"I understand. Seeing your own sister getting stabbed right in front of you must have been a horrific thing."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"
"The rage, shame and disappointment must have been useful motivators. But as the talent started showing itself the rage turned to prejudice towards the ethnic group belonging to her attacker, and with your newly found strength it turned to hate."
"WHAT"S WRONG WITH THAT!?"
"Absolutely nothing, unless it becomes a hindrance."
"WHAT HINDR-"
Cutting short Henrik"s outrage Dax suddenly managed to land a strike as he continued talking.
"Hate, racism and prejudice born from fear and lack of knowledge clouds your judgement. As the crown prince of the first nation I made friends with in this strange world that is something I can not allow, therefore I will correct it."
In a hail of attacks Dax slowly forced the prince back as he seemed to only get more desperate.
"Strength not about how much your can hurt, maim and kill. But what you can protect and save, at one point you might have seen that as well… Allow me to return you to that."
With his artificial arm now glowing bright red from heat generated, Dax exposed the coils once more and turned them towards the prince
"s.h.i.+-"
"Too slow."
Henrik was fast, but not fast enough, with a wave his ability enhancement disappeared as Dax purged his artificial arm while kicking him in the chest, sending him flying as he was knocked out.
"Hate and pride clouded your judgement, get rid of them if you want to fight again, they"re inefficient."
"Winner: DAX!"