Lance Swordplay 6

I responded in turn, igniting Realmheart Physique to its fullest extent. I needed to. Just from what he showed me, his spell formations were almost instant. If I was going to get out of this alive, I needed to know where and how his spells were going to form beforehand.

I could see my bangs turn white while golden runes began pulsating on my skin. As the otherworldly power of an asura coursed through my veins, I felt myself calming down—becoming more detached—as a cool blanket draped over my mind.

With a thought, I withdrew the only sword I had left in my dimension ring—the remaining sword of the pair that Senyir, Trodius’ daughter, gave to me.

The golden sword slid out of its scabbard with a soft hum. Tightening my grip around its handle, I faced Elijah, a whirlwind of ash-like mana converging around his hands, ready to be unleashed.

I need to stop him. I’ll pry the answers out of him after that.



I dashed forward, closing the gap between us in three steps. I aimed for his midsection but a black spike erupted from the ground between us, parrying my swing.

“Why are you doing this, Elijah?” I seethed, repositioning myself. I didn’t let him rest. The physical training I had done with Kordri kicked in. My feet blurred in a series of complicated footwork maneuvers designed for sharp directional changes.

“After what you’ve taken away from me, don’t you feel bad asking me that, Grey?” Elijah replied, voice laced with anger.

His eyes couldn’t keep up but the spikes that could be conjured from thin air and even faster from the ground seemed more like an automatic defense system rather than a willful conjuring.

Meanwhile Elijah continued to try and back away, his face tense but controlled as he continued preparing his spell.

I could see through Realmheart the form that this massive spell would take, pressuring me to move faster and hit harder. My initial plan was to confront him in close combat in order to conserve my mana and to exploit his weakness, but as our clash went on, I had the feeling more and more that it wouldn’t be as easy as it had been in my head.

Even while integrating elemental magic into my blade, the black flames swirling around his hands ate away and even got larger after consuming my attacks. I was able to slice through the black spikes that seemed to endlessly conjure and protect their master, but not without my blade sustaining damage as well.

With a blast of black fire, Elijah propelled himself back, putting distance between the two of us as I quickly discarded my outer robe, which caught on fire.

In that short span of time, a trail of the ash-like mana accumulated in a path from where Elijah now stood, all the way to the portal. Tess, Sylvie and everyone else all stood in that path.

Sylvie, I called out in my mind, sharing with her the path of Elijah’s spell. With a mental nod of confirmation, I turned my attention back to my friend.

“Damn it, Elijah,” I whispered. Dropping the steel scabbard on the ground, I imbued more mana and swung the sword at Elijah.

Not a sound was made as the blade sliced through the air, but the effects were shown immediately. Dozens of thin paths carved themselves like intertwining snakes on the ground as a flurry of crescents honed in on my old friend.

Elijah finished his attack prematurely. His spell was three-part—the first part made the ground crack and crumble, the second part raised chunks of the ground into the air, and the third part…

Thrusting his palms forward, Elijah unleashed a score of obsidian spikes from the ground and from the large chunks of stone floating in the air. Like the inside of a large tunnelworm’s mouth, rows and rows of sharp fangs shot out, tearing apart my spell.

Receiving a mental signal from Sylvia telling me that the three of them were at a safe distance away, I concentrated ahead.

Realmheart allowed me to see the locations where the spikes would shoot out from and even how large they were before the spikes even manifested.

I took a sharp breath, as electricity filled my body, stimulating and forcibly enhancing my reflexes. I tuned everything out and focused solely on the path leading me to my opponent.

Now.

Blood pumped through my limbs and the muscles in my legs and core tensed. I pushed off with my feet, feeling the paved ground beneath crumbling from the force.

I shot forward, trusting my body and instincts to take me to the exact location I wished.

Like a well-orchestrated performance, a black spike shot out from the ground just where my feet were, giving me another foothold to push off from.

Despite the seemingly random pattern that the black spears exploded out from the ground like deadly pistons, I was always at the right place at the right time.

I weaved through the jungle of black fangs as more and more spikes shot out in all directions before nearing Elijah.

Stabbing my golden blade forward, I released an arc of lightning that glowed black under the influence of Realmheart Physique.

Three black horns jutted in front of Elijah, conducting and redirecting the blast of lightning. The black tendrils of electricity spiraled down the thick black spikes that Elijah had conjured, destroying the ground.

Elijah’s lips quivered in a snarl as mana gathered around his lower face. A black fire roared to life from his mouth as he bellowed like a dragon.

The hellfire grew stronger as it approached, consuming the black spikes as fuel.

Under the influence of Realmheart, I stayed calm, calculating the best possible scenario out of this.

The cold whisper in my mind told me to activate Static Void, to close the distance and finish it cleanly from behind. I almost listened—even if I couldn’t land a killing blow, I could injure him heavily enough to change the tide of battle.

But Sylvie’s voice pierced through.

‘Block the attack or the teleportation gate is going to be destroyed! We can’t afford to travel to another one!’ Sylvie screamed.

Sharing our thoughts, I could sense Sylvie shifting back into her draconic form while Tess, Madam Astera and Nyphia fought off the remaining Alacryan soldiers.

Trusting her, I held my ground and released Thunderclap Impulse. The tinge of electricity around my body faded and I devoted my mana into my next attack.

I held my sword close to my body with its tip pointed at the approaching fire. A white fire ignited on the blade, shining brightly like liquid pearl as I imbued more and more of my internal mana as well as manipulated the mana around me to fuel my attack.

During this time, a concentrated blast of pure mana shot out from behind me, enveloping Elijah completely and creating another crater.

With the spell interrupted, the size of the hellblaze stayed constant, but continued its fast approach.

Gathering more and more power into my spell, I waited until the last moment before thrusting my sword forward, releasing the white flame that had covered my clothes in a layer of frost and had frozen the ground around me.

A swirling cone of white frostfire ripped out of my sword and clashed against the raging black inferno.

A shockwave of force as my spell continued to drill through the black fire pushed me back on my feet even as I used wind magic to keep me steady. The golden blade of my sword shattered from the stress of conjuring the spell, but the two spells managed to cancel each other out.

Is everyone okay? I asked my bond.

‘Yes. No one was hurt…on our side.’