Milo and Nero faced each other in the middle of the courtyard. Lilith and everyone else had taken up a position so far away that Milo expected this duel would be anything but mundane. His suspicion turned to reality when Lilith called for the fight to begin, and Nero’s sword immediately caught on fire. The big man charged him with a roar and Milo decided to play defence until he could accurately gauge Nero skill level.
Nero brought his sword down in a vicious overhand arc so obvious that Milo could’ve deflected it in his sleep. Unfortunately, that turned out to be his first and almost last mistake. Milo expected to be able to deflect Nero’s blade by just angling his sword correctly and applying the correct amount of counter pressure. Instead, Nero’s blow turned out to be so heavy that the man’s sword actually knocked his own sword out of his grip and hit him in the shoulder hard enough to lodge in his bone.
Milo felt his entire left arm go limp and only his instincts saved him from being decapitated as Nero yanked his sword free with a splash of blood and tried to strike his head off. Milo ducked beneath the blow and picked up his sword with his good hand. Nero whirled back around and launched into a vicious series of strokes each of which he sidestepped or dodged. It was obvious that Nero’s sword wasn’t the only thing magical about the man, he was also somehow enhancing his own strength to ridiculous levels. It meant that trying to parry blows was out of the question, luckily for Milo he was at his best when he went on the offensive.
The greatsword in his right hand felt like a shortsword thanks to the new body Lilith had forged for him. He waited for Nero to finish his attack sequence and once the final blow came, he simply sidestepped the overly telegraphed blow and bashed the pommel of his sword into the back of Nero’s skull. The big man stumbled forwards with a curse and when he whirled around with a crazed look in his eyes Milo followed up with a perfect upwards slash. The strike was so expertly measured that the very tip of his sword crashed into the bottom rim of Nero’s helmet and knocked it off his head. The blow also left a shallow cut across Nero’s cheek.
Nero shook his head and then took two steps backwards. His hand went to his cheek and came away with blood, the big man looked at the red smear with disbelief. He briefly considered following up the strike with a lunge, but he had a feeling that killing this man was a mistake. Lilith had clearly been anticipating this duel and probably intended for it to be an exhibition match to show the demons and hybrids how good he was. And while Nero was obviously trying to kill him the objective of this duel for Milo was to humiliate his opponent.
Milo slashed his sword around in a flashy pattern and then spoke in the most dispassionate voice he could manage.
“You’re strong, or at least whatever magic your using is, but if you were in the arena with me back on Earth, I would call you a mediocre amateur.”
Milo thought he could hear somebody laugh but he never took his eyes off Nero. The big man’s face turned murderous and once again he launched into a reckless strike, just as Milo had hoped for. Once again, he dodged the blow quite easily and this time he decided to level the playing field. He brought his sword down in vicious overhand arc right onto Nero’s wrist. He expected the blow to break the other man’s wrist or maybe even penetrate a few centimetres. What he didn’t expect was for his sword to cleave trough the appendage.
The big man howled with pain and Milo stared down at the severed arm with a mixture of horror and some satisfaction. Fighting in real life rather than virtual reality wasn’t new to him, in fact he often preferred to train in real life. Still, that was usually done with blunted weapons and padding, this was the first time he had fought somebody in real life with a real weapon. And clearly, he had not only miscalculated Nero’s strength but also his own.
He was about to apologise to the man when Nero dropped his weapon and lunged at him with a snarl. Say what you will about Lilith’s former champion, he truly did have the heart of a warrior. Milo dropped his own sword and let the takedown happen. Nero started pounding on his armour with his good hand and even trough all the metal Milo felt the blows. Still, the man clearly didn’t know how to wrestle or do jui jutsu because Milo’s legs shot up and wrapped around his head putting him in a triangle choke. His opponent clearly didn’t know what to do and his face started going red within moments as oxygen was cut off. He made one last attempt to break free with a half-hearted body slay but the damage was minimal. A few seconds later the former champion finally passed out.
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Milo shoved Nero’s unconscious body away and rose to his feet. As he did so he heard a ringing sound coming from the spectators. He looked over at the assembled hybrids standing behind Lilith, those with weapons were banging them on the cobblestones and those without made do by stamping their feet.
Lilith and her cadre of teachers approached him. The goddess was smiling at him like the cat who got the cream. And while Beldan and Lily wore impassive expressions he noticed that Seti, the magic teacher was also smiling. Milo was too new to this place to guess at the underlying dynamics of this place, still he had a feeling that Nero was not well liked. When they reached him, Lilith spoke in a voice loud enough to carry across the courtyard to the spectators.
“Well done my champion.”
Milo kept his voice low so only she and her chosen teachers could hear it.
“You planned this.”
Lilith laughed.
“Of course, Nero was going to try to kill you whether I sanctioned a duel or not.”
“And the crowd?”
“Seeing is believing, many of those gathered here probably still doubt your potential, but very few of them now believe they could beat you in a fight. By the end of today every hybrid in my realm will have heard of the peerless champion and his humbling of Nero the oaf.”
Milo pointed down at Nero’s unconscious form.
“What about him? Not only have I humiliated him in front of his order, but I’ve also crippled him. How is he supposed to lead his order now?”
Lilith looked down at her former champion’s severed hand with something akin to disgust.
“None of the orders will be taking direction from their former masters after today. As of right now they all follow you and are yours to command as you see fit.”
Lilith made him feel like a clumsy dancer who was deaf to the music. She was obviously playing him exactly as she had planned and there was very little, he could do about it. With a sigh he waved his hand in Seti’s direction.
“I choose Seti by the way, just like you wanted.”
Lilith nodded.
“A good choice, Seti is ancient and very powerful, out of all my children he is my favorite. He is also wise, just like his father.”
Milo frowned at the robed hybrid.
“Father? I thought all the hybrids were your children? They have fathers?”
“Some do, over the years I have given birth to many daughters and sons. All are the offspring of kings, emperors and other men I found interesting. They are also stronger than the rest and are the only hybrids capable of accessing a metamorphosis form.”
Milo remembered the demonic form he had been in when he had regained consciousness.
“Wait, but I have access to that form as well, or I will in the future as you said.”
“Indeed, you are more than just a child of my body, you were recreated by using not only my own blood but also the elements of my realm. If you do not believe me look to your shoulder.”
Milo looked down at the gaping wound on his shoulder, blood was pouring down his arms and onto the cobblestones. The wound looked every bit as gruesome as he had expected, yet there was something missing. He understood what Lilith was getting at.
“He struck me with a flaming sword, so why is my flesh not burned or cauterised.”
Lilith grinned and then stepped forward and placed her hands above the wound. Wisps of shadow and flame coalesced above the wound and Milo watched with fascination as his flesh started knitting together. The goddess stepped back and then turned to Seti.
“Please show our new champion what gifts I have bestowed upon him in my generosity.”
Seti nodded and then held up his left hand, wisps of fire coalesced into his hand and formed a sphere of magical fire. He then raised his right hand and did the same with shadow. Once he was done, he flung the spheres into Milo face.
The magical spheres simply washed over his face as if they were made of water. It didn’t take him long to grasp the implication.
“I’m immune to fire and shadow magic?”
Seti nodded.
“Those are the divine elements which make up my mothers very being and realm. You are now connected to this realm in a way only she herself is, you have become a true demigod. I only hope she chose the right man for this honour.”
Milo felt like Seti wanted to say more on the subject, but Lilith cut him off.
“Enough of this, Seti will see to it that you are educated to the best of his ability in the limited time you have in this realm. I do not expect you to master the elements of my realm in a week so make the best of it.”
With that dismissal Lilith left the courtyard and the crowd dispersed. One of the hybrid’s arrived at Nero’s unconscious body and for a moment Milo expected them to reattach his hand, instead they simply carried him off and left his severed hand behind. Milo was slightly amused that a human surgeon might be able to reattach a hand, but magic clearly couldn’t do the same.
Seti grabbed his attention by clearing his throat.
“Follow me apprentice.”
Milo followed Seti back into the castle. Once inside Seti lead him down a side passage deep into the onyx fortress. There were no demonic guards in the deeps of the castle, instead he was led to a giant room full of books and items which were clearly magical in nature. Seti walked into the centre of the room and then turned to face him.
“Welcome to my library, this is where your lessons in magic will take place over the next week. If you study half as well as you fight, I fully expect to be able to teach you some basic magic by the time you leave.”
Milo rather liked the sound of that. His fighting style had always been adaptive and unique, changing with each passing year as he learned and incorporated new techniques. Adding magic to his fighting style could only make him even more dangerous, especially if Seti could teach him whatever spell Nero had used to enhance his strength.
“I am ready to learn, where do we begin?”
Seti motioned towards a desk and bade him sat down. Once Milo was seated Seti went off into one of the side rooms and returned a few moments later with what looked suspiciously like a blackboard made entirely out of onyx. Seti had clearly copied this educational tool from Earth and Milo couldn’t help but wonder what other ideas the denizens of Lilith’s realm had taken from his native realm.
Seti cleared his throat and then started his first lecture on the basics of elemental magic.
