Chapter 23

  Soon after Adam’s and mines conversation, the snowstorm began to dissipate as Adam cancelled the spell to conserve what mana he had left. And when the storm was finally cleared away the crowd could be heard once again as they shouted and roared as Declan, and I were revealed.

  Declan stood on one side of the arena with a single slash running across his chest, while I stood opposite of him on the other side of the arena covered in bloody wounds and a trail of blood leading to where our altercation had previously occurred.

  In response Declan extended both his arms with his spear grasped in his right hand and began to pander to crowd with his following proclamation. “Finally decided to come out of hiding and face me on equal terms.”

  “Well… sorry to say… that will not be happening. You will be turned into an example in front of everyone here to show what happens when one decides that they are better than ‘The Great Declan Axton.’”

  Declan’s grandstanding caused the crowd to roar in approval and the only thought I had was, “Why were they indulging this egotistical performance.”

  Declan then began to make his way towards me, but he was not using any of his empowering skills and instead was taking a slower approach. My guess was that he was cautious of any traps Adam might have placed after what happened at the beginning of our duel.

  Adam and I were trying to lure Declan into getting closer to lay a trap for him, but if we made it too obvious then it would not work. To that end, Adam started forming spell diagrams in the air in front of me and began to fire off a series of Fireballs at Declan so that he would be forced to dodge them.

  The attack worked to a certain extent, but instead of moving all around the arena to dodge the Fireballs, Declan, instead, became wrapped in lightning as he made very minimal movements to dodge the Fireballs aimed at him. It was obvious that he was using his Thunder Charge skill to enhance his physical attributes to dodge the Fireballs all the while continuing to walk towards me.

  It was both impressive and unnerving how easily Declan was able to doge the Fireballs as they sailed past him within a hairs breath of scorching every part of his body.

  Once the Fireballs had sailed past Declan in every direction, they then began detonating soon after colliding with the cage surrounding us and causing several explosions to echo across the arena.

  I started to panic at the display of skill Declan demonstrated and thought maybe Adam and I could not win this duel.

  I quickly dismissed those thoughts and started to prepare for when Declan came within striking range. When Declan was just out of striking range with his spear I charged forward and used my Soul Diviner skill to see what action Declan would make.

  Declan’s soul revealed that he would keep me at a distance by using his Thrust Storm skill again and as I observed his right arm reel back to begin the skill motion, I pitched my body into a slide and went underneath the strikes. Looking up I noticed dozens of after-images of spears that, had I recklessly charged forward, would have ended the duel with my death.

  Declan soon noticed that I had dodged his attack, but he was still locked into the skill’s actions for another couple of seconds. A time frame, I did not waste as I continued to decrease the distance between him and me.

  At this point in my slide, I had reached the middle of Declan’s spear and as he came out of his skills actions, he tried to maneuver back to place me at a better striking range for his spear point.

  Adam was quick to respond and performed a Dual Cast of his Fire Lance and Wind Cutter spells on either side of Declan. Being attacked from two opposite sides caused Declan to hesitate for only a second, but he responded with quick thinking when he cast his Lightning Wall spell to block both attacks.

  Adam’s spells impacted the wall of lightning and though they were able to significantly pressure the spell, they could not make their way through and exploded against the lightning. But now Declan was boxed in on either side by his own spell and I swiftly moved forward to slash at his exposed torso.

  Jumping up from my slide I brought my sword down, but Declan quickly repositioned his spear and caught my attack on the shaft of his weapon. We were now locked in a stand-off with both of our weapons trying to send the other off balance.

  My face was twisted in determination underneath my mask as I tried to sweep Declan’s spear to the side with my sword, but he had smile of triumphant as, suddenly, I felt a stinging sensation race down my arms and across my whole body. My entire body then locked up in agonizing pain as I saw arcs of lightning dancing across my skin and felt that same lightning racing through me.

  As the pain continued for what seemed like hours, I realized what had happened. Declan had used his Paralyzing Touch skill with his spear as a medium to disable all my movements.

  Declan then slowly walked backwards until he was far enough away that when he raised his spear, its point was a sliver away from touching my nose. He then proclaimed loudly, “I told you I would make you pay and now that you can’t move, I will make good on my promise.”

  Declan then brought his spear tip upwards as it began to glow from his Spear Slash skill, but a second before he could bring his spear downward, Adam unleashed his White Out spell pushing Declan back and covering the whole arena in a snowstorm once again.

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  That insufferable Trash Urchin, when is he going to learn that he will not be winning this duel. The fact that he has humiliated me so much already in itself is unacceptable. Now he tries to delay again with this blasted snowstorm.

  It does not matter if you hide away again, you are still in the grips of my Paralyzing Touch skill, and it will not let go for several more minutes. That is time I will not give you to try and pull off more your dirty tricks. Pulling on the last reserves of mana I had; I then cast my Summon Storm Cloud spell and activated my Thunderbolt skill to create another lightning storm.

  Last time I wanted to create a wide area storm to flush out the little Trash Urchin, but now that I knew he was paralyzed not far from me I intended for my lightning storm to counter his snowstorm. He had to be running low on mana with how many spells he had been using, so my storm should be able to accomplish this task.

  Sure enough, when my spell reached its zenith, the snowstorm was blown away revealing Phantom Mask still paralyzed right where I left him.

  Approaching I once again played to my adoring audience, “That was a futile effort on your part. It does not matter if you try to hide when you are paralyzed by my skill. I will always find you and conclude this duel with its predetermined ending. MY VICTORY.”

  Readying my spear, I activated my Spear Slash skill and swiped my weapon in horizontal slash at my opponent’s neck to decapitate him and end this duel for good. My spear felt no resistance as it made its way through my opponent’s neck and as it completed its journey Phantom Mask’s whole body dissipated into silvery-white snowy particles.

  I was stunned at what I had just witnessed, but before I could think further the ground where my opponent had just been exploded and Phantom Mask emerged bringing his sword in an upwards slash towards me.

  After Adam’s White Out spell was fully engaged, I hurriedly went to work dispelling Declan’s Paralyzing Touch Skill. Through careful positioning my left hand was still gripping my sword, but my fingers were also pointed right at my body which was crucial for dispelling this paralysis.

  Activating my Spectral Sight skill, I was able to easily locate the heart of the spell that affected me. Then, using a small application of my Soul Blast skill, that I fired from my fingertips, I was able to destroy the heart of the spell and undo its hold on me.

  I have to say that having lightning racing through me was something I did not want to experience ever again. Shaking my head I put those thought aside as Adam and I had to quickly put together the final elements of our plan so we could win the duel.

  Adam got to work right away by using his Ground Erosion spell to hollow out a space right under me. Once a cavity large enough for me to slip inside was completed, I dropped in, and Adam began to create a ceiling over my head by using a modified application of his Rock Throw spell to fill in the opening.

  Adam stopped short of completely incasing me and provided a small air hole in the ceiling to breathe out of, but this hole served another purpose as well.

  Putting my eye to the hole I could see directly above me and with that line of sight I then activated my Soul Double skill so I could project a double of myself that was positioned right over the hole.

  I carefully placed my double in the exact position I was in when I was paralyzed and once that was complete, I readied my sword and waited for Declan to make the next move.

  And, sure enough, that ‘self-centered’ spearman did not disappoint.

  Observing through my air hole I saw that Declan had created another lightning storm, but this time he used it cancel out Adam’s White Out spell. Adam’s mana reserve was very low, and he had only enough mana to cast few more spells hence Adam allowed Declan’s spell to phase out his own.

  Soon I could hear Declan’s footsteps as he approached the double I had created, and I readied myself for the final attack. Putting myself in a combat stance that would take advantage of what Adam had planned, Adam then began to layer spells one on top of the other as he empowered me.

  Adam began by empowering me with his Physical Enhancement spell and I could feel a rush of strength and energy reinvigorate me as a result. Next, Adam applied his Sharpening spell to my sword, and I could feel him putting extra mana and refinement into the spell diagram. This would be our last strike, so we had to make sure that it stopped Declan for good. Lastly, Adam began forming a Wind Burst spell diagram beneath my feet and had it building up power as it waited to be unleashed.

  This trifecta of spells was the final part of Adam’s surprise attack plan and even though he said he got the idea from a ‘animated’ ninja show he once watched, I could not complain. This plan Adam had come up with would finally allow me to close the distance between Declan and myself without any of his countermeasures getting in the way.

  Through the air hole I could hear Declan spout more of his grandstanding which, even though it was annoying to hear, told me he still had no clue that he was speaking to a double of me. I then observed my soul double come undone as it dissipated from Declan’s attack and readied myself as this was the signal for me to attack.

  Adam swiftly let lose an unmodified Rock Throw spell at the ceiling over my head causing a spray of rock and debris to explode upward. Adam then he let his control over the Wind Burst spell recede thus causing the spell to propel me upward at great speed and as I came exploding out of the ground I noticed Declan’s shocked face.

  I did not dwell on Declan’s shocked expression for long and instead focused on completing my upward slash as it traced a near-fatal wound across Declan’s chest in the opposite direction of my first strike.

  Blood sprayed from the wound I had just inflicted, and Declan was sent flying backwards as a result, splashing blood all over the arena as he rolled to a stop.

  Declan ended his tumble with him face up on the ground breathing heavily as blood continued to pour out of the wound I had just inflicted. I felt a little bad about the injury I had caused, but if I had not caused a wound of such severity, Declan would have continued to pursue me until I was dead at the end of his spear.

  There was a moment of silence from the stunned audience, but not long after the crowd erupted into cheers as I was declared the winner of the duel.

  There were some in the crowd who booed me, but my guess was that they had placed a bet on the ‘sure win’ and now had lost all their coin.

  I was then ushered out of the arena as several people in mages robes entered and started to repair the damage to the fighting ring Declan and I had caused.

  As I was led down the path away from the arena the giant of a man, Roderick, was waiting for me and gestured over his shoulder for me to follow him. Roderick led me through several corridors and up some stairs until we approached a door. After Roderick knocked on the door twice, he then opened it up and directed me to enter.

  After I stepped in, Roderick closed the door behind me, and I noticed that I was in a room that looked out on the fighting arena and provided an unobstructed view of the entire Shadow Arena. Furthermore, sitting in an ornate chair and holding a glass of wine while looking out at the arena was Cain.

  As I approached, I noticed Cain take a sip of wine from his glass before he said. “That was a fine display you showcased and now, I believe you and I have some talks to conclude.”