Grey Swordplay 6

With an angry scream, Nico hurtled forward. The ground came apart beneath him, collapsing in on itself as black spikes grew like weeds wherever his shadow touched. A vortex of black flames coiled around and extended in front of him as he prepared to bathe Arthur in hellfire.

But Arthur did not flinch in the face of Nico’s rage. I might have thought him as mad as Nico if I didn’t know better.

My eyes widened and I leaned over the rail next to Melzri, well past ready to finally see for myself the power that Caera had described.

With a hungry roar, Nico’s soul flames burst forward. Arthur’s hand rose, and a cone of amethyst energy spilled out to meet the fire.

Where the two powers touched, they intertwined and ate away at one another, each perfectly canceling the other out.

“Impossible,” Cadell grunted from behind us.

“Oh, now that’s interesting,” Kiros said, leaning forward on his throne. “You there, Melzri, scoot aside, you’re blocking my view.”

Black spikes punched out of the ground all around Arthur, but they shattered against a layer of glowing aether that tightly clad his skin.

Nico burst through the crackling cloud that remained behind after the aether and soulfire collided, a dozen more blades of black metal orbiting around him. With a shove, he sent them flying like missiles at Arthur.

A sword shimmered to life in Arthur’s hand. A blade of pure aether, glowing vibrantly amethyst. The air around it warped in a way that made my eyes ache, like the blade was pressing away the fabric of the world to make room for itself. In movements so quick that most wouldn’t have been able to follow, Arthur cut through spike after spike, letting the pieces careen past or ricochet harmlessly off the protective barrier over his skin.

Then Nico was on him.

Their collision sent tremors through the foundations of the stadium, and for a moment I lost sight of the action as it was happening. Arthur’s weapon was a line of vibrant purple light glowing through a screen of dust. Nico was a silhouette, highlighted by the nimbus of black fire that still surrounded him.

The line of purple light intersected the dark silhouette…

Then…Nico was hurtling past Arthur, tumbling through the air like a tossed ragdoll.

Nico’s body struck the arena floor with a crash, digging a deep furrow half the length of the coliseum behind Arthur.

“Wait, what happened?” Dragoth asked, his deep voice thick with confusion.

Viessa let out a slow breath. “Nico’s core…”

She was right. Already, the mana was abandoning Nico. I could sense it flooding from his ruined core and disbursing into the atmosphere around him.

“Oh,” Dragoth grunted. “I guess I was wrong about him proving himself.”