Chapter 139: Chapter 138 – Escalating

Yuki kept track of the time in his head. Second by second, minute by minute, he counted as he fought. His body also seemed to be keeping track of the time. But when it told him that he had been fighting for hours when his mind hadn’t even counted one, Yuki could tell that his natural body was tiring. Fast.

‘This heat is something I need to take care of fast,’ he thought, warding off the frenzied attacks by his opponent. ‘It didn’t bother me at first but it’s been slowly taking a toll. And Firestorm looks completely fine.’

If anything, Firestorm seemed intent on burning the entire building. He fired off spells one after another, Yuki dancing away from pillars of flame and hurtling fireballs. His mana capacity seemed almost limitless. That wasn’t to say that Firestorm was overtaking Yuki. They were locked together in a battle that seemed to have no end. 

‘We’re both handicapped as well.’ Yuki spun to his right, the heat of a flame pillar pressing against his back, and parried a slash. ‘This room isn’t fit for fighting. There are too many obstacles.’

Much like, Yuki was doing, Firestorm seemed to be carefully aiming his attacks with precise movements in order to avoid the desks around them. If any one of them accidentally hit one of them, it would almost certainly spell the end of the battle. Yuki had a slight advantage of having a weapon with a shorter reach but it also made it harder for him to attack.

‘I need more space. I can’t have this battle drag on for too long,’ he thought, disengaging for a moment.

Then he rushed back in to block the incoming swings from Firestorm. Their blades clanged and screeched as they struck each other. They pushed at each other, sometimes giving space and other times taking it. But neither giving in.

“Is someone trying to interrupt our battle?” Firestorm said suddenly. He slid back and glared. “Please respect a duel.”

Yuki glanced at the direction he was glaring at and saw the silhouette of a person approaching them rapidly. A fire that was blocking their path fizzled out, a steam coming out from it, and revealed Yuna standing behind it.

“Yuna,” the captain said. “Why are you still here?”

‘Twenty minutes has passed since I sent her off,’ Yuki thought. ‘She must have been caught up with something.’

“Captain?” Yuna said, her eyes wide.

“You should leave. This isn’t a good place for you to be in right now.”

Yuki watched the exchange carefully, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two. He pressed his palm onto the ground and slowly began to trickle out a thin but steady stream of mana.

“Why are you fighting Yuki? Shouldn’t you have evacuated?”

“Yuna, I’m am the captain and the one in charge of this building. It is my duty to fix whatever happens here,” he replied. “The real question is why did you come back.”

“I was worried for Yuki. And it seems that I had a good reason to be.”

“This is my duty. And I will complete it, Yuna. Nothing you do will stop that,” he warned.

“I’m sorry, captain,” Yuna said, her voice soft yet firm. “I can’t let you. Yuki is important to me. And I’m never going to let him go.”

“I do not want to fight you,” Firestorm sighed. “Please, just run. This is a battle between two people. You have no right to interfere.”

“Yuna,” Yuki said. His voice reached her ears and her head turned toward him as he stood up. “You don’t need to fight. Go. Go and tell Akira. This battle will end soon. Whether in a win or not, I don’t know.”

“I can’t leave you here, Yuki,” Yuna shook her head. “I’ll fight with you. The two of us can beat him easily.”

“No,” Yuki replied firmly. “I can’t risk you dying here. You shouldn’t throw your life away so easily. Tell Akira to come here soon. So she can help clean the wreckage.”

“But, I. I don’t want to lose you. I almost already did.”

“Yuna, do not interfere in this fight,” Firestorm rumbled. “I will not show mercy to you if you do. No matter how long I’ve known you, or what we’ve done together, if you try to interfere, you will be considered an enemy.”

“Don’t worry, Yuna. It’ll do you little good now,” Yuki said. He turned to face the captain. “Shall we continue?”

“Yes we shall,” he replied, rotating his wrists. 

“Yuna. Go. I’ll be taking this somewhere else.”

“What do you mean by that?” Firestorm asked, frowning.

Yuki lifted his foot and slammed it down, the ground shuddering at the impact and cracks forming on the floor. The captain looked down and noticed them too late. The ground crumbled and Yuki was sent freefalling, his body almost weightless for a few seconds before he slammed into the floor. He rolled instinctively and pushed himself up above the rubble underneath his feet. In front of him, the chunks of concrete and metal shook and Firestorm rose.

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“The training floor,” Firestorm said. “You are trying to end this quickly, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” Yuki replied, taking in a deep breath of the cool air. “If this doesn’t end soon, then I think we can both take it as a loss, no?”

“You have proven to be quite annoying to beat.”

“Thank you.”

Firestorm closed his eyes and lifted his arms before mana began to pour out from him, filling the space around him. Yuki could almost see it as it wrapped around his blades and limbs. Then the heat followed, radiating its way outward until Yuki could feel it. He opened his eyes, now a smoldering red, and then disappeared.

Yuki’s eyes narrowed and he connected his senses to the air around him in time to dodge a slash aimed for his head. He blocked the next one and countered the one after, his dagger only slicing air. The air whistled beside him and he spun away from hit, a sword skimming past his face.

Yuki closed his eyes and focused on the area around him. He kept his search radius close to him, only a few feet at most. With a snap, he put away his daggers into his ring. Their short range would only hurt him here. Another whistle and he leapt away from it only to hear the sound again coming from the direction he was heading towards. He contorted his body, twisting it to avoid the next slash, but only partially succeeding. A long scarlet cut blossomed on his arm and a searing pain quickly followed it.

He grunted and slammed the ground with his left hand, the ground around him erupting as he tossed the rubble into the air. While it fell, he held out his palm and gripped a staff that materialized on it. Then with a heavy swing, he struck toward the general direction of where Firestorm was and was greeted with a metallic klang as his staff met a sword.

Yuki felt Firestorm back off, no doubt to evaluate the sudden change. He took the opportunity and opened his eyes, mana being channeled and the world suddenly sharpening. Off a little to his right, he could see what could only be his opponent. It was shimmering being of mana roughly the height of the captain. 

‘I need to equalize this as quick as possible.’

His grip tightened on his staff and he took in a deep breath. Mana swelled within him and flowed through out his body. His mind calmed and the earth opened up to him. He spread his feet and held up his staff as he stared directly at the shimmering man in front of him.

Then they rushed each other, their weapons meeting with a furious roar. The shockwave that resulted pushed them away from each other but they merely shook it off and struck again. Yuki twirled his staff as it struck at his opponent like a viper, his every move being amplified by the mana coursing through his body. Firestorm countered the attacks and struck back with his own, their weapons a whirlwind of clashing metal.

And now, Yuki used the earth to his advantage. Infusing his staff with mana, he manipulated it in ways no normal staff would be able to do. It bent at odd angles, sometimes curving around Firestorm’s swords, and other times to block a sudden attack. In the ground, he carved out pitfalls and created spikes.

Firestorm countered with his flame. The air between them was burning, hotter than it ever was when Yuki first fought him the floor above. His swords were just as heated if not more so as they met Yuki’s staff. The swords cut through the spikes Yuki created with ease and with every slash sent out waves of superheated air toward Yuki that he had to dodge or risk being seared.

Like this, they fought. Back and forth they went, striking, blocking, and countering. But unlike before, they ran wild, their attacks destroying the area around them. They raged war against each other as their every blow shattered the air. As every step cracked the ground. Like this, they fought. For how long, Yuki didn’t know. All he knew was that it didn’t seem to be ending soon.

‘My mana is depleting. Fast.’

Firestorm was the one that broke of contact first. He retreated, zooming backwards in a blink of an eye until several yards of separation appeared between him and Yuki. 

“Enough of this. Let me show you how I received my name,” he growled. “Let me show you something I haven’t had to use for years.”

“I rather not,” Yuki replied and rushed in, closing the distance rapidly.

He stopped, his progress halted by a barrier that had been erected between him and his opponent. 

“I wasn’t asking,” Firestorm said.

He spread his arms, his swords pointing slightly upward, and began to softly chant to himself. A scarlet circle flared beneath him and a fire sparked, flames slowly swirling around him. Yuki caught snippets of what was being said and none of it was good.

‘He’s turning this place into a domain?’

His chant crescendoed and he lifted a sword, pointing it toward the air. The tip of it glowed and then erupted.

“Field of Flames,” Firestorm finished, his voice resonating. Then the world erupted.

Ghostly fires flared up from the ground and rapidly spread throughout the floor. The air heated up further, reaching temperatures that Yuki could only think belonged more in a volcano than a city. Firestorm also changed. Flames flickered around him, licking the air, and his hair smoldered. 

‘His mana. It has to be depleting rapidly. Otherwise, there’s no way for me to win.’

“Here I come,” Firestorm breathed, smoke trailing out from the corners of his mouth. And then he disappeared.

 

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