Gods Dura 2

Taking a deep breath, Darvus lowered his center of gravity with renewed fervor in his eyes as he stared attentively at Arthur—who may as well have been a statue at this point.

The edges of my teammate’s two axes glowed amber as he lowered them so that the tips were touching the ground. Darvus stomped his right foot as if he was about to leap toward his opponent, but instead, he stayed rooted as he swiped both of his axes upward in a cross.

Darvus's spell caused a trail of fine grain to follow his two blades before shooting out in a cross-shaped attack

As the crescent of pebbles shot out towards Arthur, I couldn’t help but admire the effectiveness of the spell. While normal grains of sand didn’t strike fear into my heart, at break-neck speeds, they could put dozens of small holes in unsuspecting opponents.

The fine, earthen barrage reached its target almost instantly, but rather than poke holes or even break skin, the pebbles bounced off Tessia’s childhood friend harmlessly, as if a toddler had thrown the sand at him.

At first, I thought Darvus had failed to properly cast the spell, but the remaining spray of grain that hadn’t landed harmlessly on Arthur, dug into the cavern wall behind him with an explosion of consecutive crashes. Luckily, the spray hadn’t hit any of the spectators near it, because the area where Darvus’s spell had hit crumbled a layer of the cavern wall.

Everyone’s gaze shifted back and forth in shock between Arthur, who had received the brunt of the attack with no harm, and the wall where a small cloud of dust had formed from the sheer force of the small cluster of rocks. Everyone in the entire cavern was in a silent display of surprise and awe—everyone except for Darvus. My spoiled friend had a discontent grimace on his face as if he knew that something like that would happen.

Arthur, on the other hand, finally turned around to face his opponent as he casually dusted off his sleeve where Darvus’s spell had bounced off of him—not even his clothes damaged.