Kase versus Aelbrecht

(Aelbrecht point of view)

After the queen made the announcement of the bonus fight that I negotiated with her, I walk down the stairs towards to arena grounds. I first pass the nobles, of which a lot of them are staring at me. In my many years as an S rank, I have become used to stares. There are differences between them, though. The younger people often stare in awe. They have heard many stories, which have often been exaggerated. The older people, the ones who have already seen me perform in these duels before, betray a hint of excitement in their stares. They already know what kind of spectacle they can expect, and since it is rare, they are eager for more.

When I reach the seats for the Oblivion guild, the stares are different. The ones closest to me tend to stare in fear. They know I am a powerful mage and could destroy them with a snap of my finger. Those further away give me angry stares. It is easy to guess that they see their guild having provided the S rank champion and now I come to try and steal that victory from them. I have no need to justify myself to them, so I ignore their stares and continue my long walk to the judges.

When I get close to them, Agnes decides to confront me. She blocks my path and says, “What game are you playing.”

That was a statement, not a question. She has already convinced herself this is about me trying to deny glory to her guild, which it isn’t. But she won’t believe me. So, I say nothing.

“Or is it because you had your pride hurt?” Agnes continues. “You’re pissed that Kase chose my guild over yours and now you want to put him in his place?”

I have nothing to say to her now. It would only give cause for a long discussion. I am not interested in it.

Agnes gets frustrated and says, “Goddess, I hate it when you are like this. It’s like talking to a grave.”

This is when Agnes gives up and walks away. I continue on my way and present the judges with my adventurer card. After that I walk to the starting position for my duel against Kase. Agnes doesn’t return to her seat with the rest of her guild. She remains on the edge of the arena, on the safe side of the magic barrier. Same with Kase for now, except he is with the Knights Hospitaler receiving healing spells. I simply wait for Kase to prepare and take place for our duel. I stand here completely unmoving while thinking of the strategies I plan to use to win this duel.

After some time, a freshly healed Kase walks past Agnes to start his duel against me. Agnes stops him and it looks like she says something to him. She is probably explaining him the special rule that was implemented the first time I participated in this tournament. As an undead, I have an unfair advantage over the other contestants. They can be so exhausted or so wounded that they give up and yield. While my mana supply can run out, I can never become physically tired. I can also receive multiple stabs to the chest or even have my arms cut off and I will feel no pain whatsoever. To make it fair for the living, it has been declared that if my opponent can separate my skull from the rest of my body in any way, I lose. I am curious how Kase shall attempt that. But for now, I remain motionless as I wait for Kase to reach his starting place and for the judges to give the start signal.

When the signal to start the duel is given, I start by casting [Ring of Fire] five times. The first ring falls on the ground 2 meters from me and continues burning. The second expands beyond that and falls on the ground another 2 meters further. The following rings expand and fall on the ground the same way, making it so the 5th [Ring of Fire] has a radius of 10 meters. The fires are tall and reach up to my hips. This way Kase has 5 obstacles he needs to jump across before he can reach me.

After I have finished casting the [Ring of Fire] spells, I raise my staff above my head. I grip it with both hands and point it in Kase’s direction. Then I cast the [Fireball] spell and guide it through my staff. Since Kase is still at a distance from me, he has an easy time dodging it, but I am not trying to hit him. Not yet. I want him to dodge and spend his energy. So, I shoot one [Fireball] after another. Forcing him to keep dodging. Kase seems to quickly catch on and uses his stealth skill to hide himself. That is actually the smartest thing he could have done. But if he remains hidden, this duel will be long and drawn out.

I stop casting [Fireball] spells and place my hand on the large crystal adorning my staff. That is when I use my [Absorb Mana] skill and replenish the magical energy I just spent. Once my mana has been refilled, I decide to cast an electricity spell named [Plasma Globe]. I point my staff above me and cause a globe of electricity to be created above me. Once the spell is powerful enough, multiple arcs of electricity shoot out and start traveling from the bottom to the top. It is at this moment, I cast [depower spell] on my own [Ring of Fire] spells. This way, I weaken the [Ring of Fire] spells, making them smaller until they outright die out. My goal is to make Kase think the fire defenses went out by themselves and motivate him to approach me. Let’s see if he falls into my trap.

It doesn’t take long for Kase to appear and start running towards me. That is probably an illusion of his. My suspicion is confirmed when, even though he gets close enough for the [Plasma Globe] to discharge at him, it doesn’t. The fake Kase continues his approach from the front, until suddenly the [Plasma Globe] above me, suddenly shoots a thick electrical arc towards an empty spot behind me. That was a target, that can conduct electricity, which came too close to the [Plasma Globe]. When I look behind, I see the real Kase, now visible, trying to pick up his dagger. The blast from the [Plasma Globe] must have surprised him in such a way that he dropped it. I reach for my hand in Kase’s direction and cast [Nausea] on him. The spell quickly causes him to start vomiting. It doesn’t last long, but most people feel quite disturbed even after the vomiting has passed.

While Kase is puking up the contents of his stomach, I let the [Plasma Globe] above me fade away. Instead, I cast [Raise Dead] spells to the three bodies that have been left on the arena floor; a wolf, a goblin and a bear. As soon as they are animated, I command them to attack Kase. As the three undead charge Kase, I bring my hand over the crystal adorning my staff again and use [Absorb Mana] once more. Then I start casting [Blight Spores], which creates a sickening breeze and guide it into Kase’s direction.

Even though Kase just had some electricity go through his body and was **** to puke, he is still fast and agile enough to quickly dispatch the undead wolf. He does so by cutting off its head. It looks like Kase has been thought how to deal with zombies. The undead bear was harder to deal with, but his S-rank strength bonus helped him deal with the creature. The undead goblin, slowest of the three, was also the easiest to decapitate.

Once Kase has dispatched the three undead, he looks at me. I can see the anger on his face. He then runs towards me while reaching into his pocket. Unbeknownst to him, he is running straight into my [Blight Spores] spell. It will take effect momentarily. As for Kase, he probably thinks I don’t expect him to use potions. There have been many cases of opponents trying to use potions on me, especially from non-mage classes. So, when Kase throws a potion in my direction, I am already prepared and cast [Pillar of Fire]. I am quickly surrounded by an inferno. The flames push up with a powerful **** and since I am so skilled, I can push this spell beyond its normal boundaries and create a fire pillar three times my own height. When the potion Kase threw makes contact with the flames, it explodes immediately. I can feel the resulting shockwave, but it is not enough to do me any damage. While the [Pillar of Fire] is still active, I start casting the [Hurricane] spell. The air around me starts to swirl and makes the fire swirl along with it. Then I guide the [Hurricane] higher than the [Pillar of Fire], combining the two spells into what amounts to a fire tornado. When the fire tornado is about to reach the anti-magic shield surrounding us, I let the top air currents widen and create a larger and larger circle. Making the tornado take the shape of an umbrella. Then I use [Depower Spell] on my own [Hurricane] and weaken it so the ambers start falling from the uppermost layer. Pieces of fire fall all around the arena. I then end both the [Pillar of Fire] and [Hurricane] spells while also casting [Air Shield].

As the [Pillar of Fire] spell ends, my surroundings become visible to me again. Embers of fire are still falling all around me, but Kase is no longer where I last saw him. An object gets thrown at me from behind, straight for my skull, but gets deflected by the [Air Shield]. The object falls on the ground close to me and I can see it is a dagger. One that I have seen before many years ago. So Kase is who the princess’ dagger belongs to now.

I cast another [Ring of Fire] and as the ring expands, I hear Kase screaming behind me. I turn around and see that his clothes are on fire. I first place my hand on my staff again and use [Absorb Mana] again, then I aim my hand at him and cast [Gale]. The air current is powerful enough to both extinguish the flames as push him off balance. Then I also cast [Enfeeble] onto him to weaken him even more. By now Kase is so exhausted that he needs to get close to the ground and kneel. I slowly walk over to him, then swing my staff so I hit him hard in the stomach. Kase rolls over and falls on his back, allowing me to place my foot on his chest. I will no longer allow him to get up. Several parts of his exposed skin are showing signs of rash. A sign that the [Blight Spores] are working. He must already be feeling the itches and it will only get worse.

“I have reasons to believe you ordered Url to maim Darx.” I tell kase.

“He’s just some lame kid. What do you care?” Kase says angrily as he grits his teeth.

“My guild members are precious to me. If another guild targets them, they will have to deal with me. Let this be a lesson to you, to never again try to harm a dark dragon.” I tell him calmly. Then I also add, “Now yield.”

Kase responds pushing his hands under my robe and grabbing my boney leg. He then says, “This victory belongs to me.” And pulls on the leg really hard. The bone comes loose and I have one less leg to walk on … for now. I in turn reach down and grab Kase’s hand. Then I quickly cast [Necrosis] and let him go.

Kase gets up, with my leg still in his hands, while also scratching himself. As he prepares to use my leg as a club, he notices the black skin on his hand.

“What the f…?” Kase says. Then he looks accusingly at me and demands, “What did you do to me?”

“A simple necrosis spell.” I answer. “It will continue to expand and kill your body until either someone cancels the spell or until you die. I could cancel it, if you yield. But if you wait too long, you may lose that arm forever. Yield now.”

Kase screams in rage and swings my leg at my head. I simply use my [Blink] skill and teleport myself to the other side of the arena. Kase tries to hurry towards me, but he is already exhausted. In the meantime, I cast [Ring of Fire] another 2 times. I can easily wait inside these circles. I have the luxury of time. Kase doesn’t. He seems to know it and looks with fear to his hand. The black skin spreads slowly and pus starts appearing in the center. I will of course not let him die from it. But if he waits too long to yield, he will lose a hand, or a couple fingers. Then it is his life as an adventurer which is at risk, like he planned on doing to Darx.

“Yield! I yield! Stop the fight! I yield!” Kase screams, finally having realized he has no chance to win.

The judges sound the gong and declare me the S-rank champion. Now that I have won, I cast the Nether spell [Depower Zone] to weaken all the magical effects surrounding me. Including the curses on Kase. As the [Blight Spores] and [Necrosis] stop growing, they do leave their scars. I hop on one leg towards Kase with the help of my staff and hold out my hand. I don’t need to say anything. He knows I want my leg back. Instead of giving it back, he just throws it at me. I cast but a simple spell and the boney leg flies to me and reattaches itself.

“Oblivion and The Knights Hospitaler both have skilled clerics. They can heal the [Necrosis] for you.” Then I walk towards the judges to first hear receive the queen’s speech and then retrieve my adventurer card.