Chapter 166: 3-48 Sky duel II

Aretov bellowed, summoning his battle courage and wits. He would be needing them direly in this fight. They would be his lifeline.

“Spell augmentation…” Erin muttered. “Are you too afraid to take me on without the meddling of spells?”

“I won’t spar in words with you, Fae,” Aretov said. “You won’t have that satisfaction. I will not give it to you.”

“Fine by me,” Erin said and lightning spewed from her splayed palm into a bolt.

Aretov smashed it away with his bare fist and lunged. He raised his labrys overhead, slanted. Erin moved in with a thrust. He swung diagonally to avoid carving into the Storm Mamba’s flesh. An idea flowed into Erin’s head but she immediately waved it off. Unless she could finish the Storm Mamba with a single strike, she reckoned she would be pulled along as the Mamba plunged to its death. She steered her mind back to the fight. She dodged low and slashed upwardly, a move that had turned stale. Even Aretov clicked his tongue at her. He practically throwing his labrys at this point. He threw it without letting go and let the momentum carry him. This knack allowed him to use less strength but doubled the impact.

Erin parried most of the blows and dodged whenever she could. Once, she was in favour of deflecting her opponents’ strikes but now, she favoured avoiding them. It suited her body more and less tasking to her limbs. Although, circumstances had forced her to readopt her roots. She laced herself in lightning to counteract the numbness she would incur from receiving Aretov’s strikes and blows. Their levels were close but Aretov was obviously the vastly superior one in Might. Her Magic Arts and her agility were her upper hands but spells were difficult to evoke in her current predicament. It was hard enough to balance herself, let alone spread the focus to magic.

Nevertheless, she did not stop trying. Whenever an opportunity present itself, she would grab it and attempt to cast a spell.

“Fight me with the true arts of combat!” Aretov roared.

Erin retorted with a slash, aimed at his glare. He stopped her blade but a spell was conjuring in her other hand.

“Sly witch!” he spat and shoved her away before the spell could be formed.

Erin showed no discouragement and dove with her sabre thrust out.

Aretov swivelled his axe and parried the thrust. “You will not use the tricks befitting a witch and a vixen!” As soon as those words left his mouth, a bolt of lightning grazed his cheek, fired from the tip of Erin’s forefinger.

“Save your breath. Your brain will thank you,” she rebutted him with a blow of her lips.

He scowled. “Insolent brat!” He shot towards her, his labrys winded behind him.

Erin leaned away from a swing and sidestepped a blow that stopped just before touching the Mamba’s skin. She kicked the axe away and riposted, drawing a shallow cut across his left upper arm.

Aretov seethed and swept his other hand at Erin. She flipped back and battered his hand away with her tails as she spun to her feet. He growled and lashed in a feral manner.

Erin warped her body through his swings and curved the path of one of his attacks. She plunged forward and chipped his left thigh.

Aretov’s contorted with indignation. He stomped like he was getting rid of some puny creature but he only hurt the Mamba. It screeched and wriggled its tail, throwing the two off their balance. Aretov lowered his stance in order to not get thrown off.

Erin also lowered her stance and held on to the teensy gaps between the scales with her tails.

Once the Storm Mamba had ceased its struggle and realigned itself, Aretov tossed himself at Erin with bloodshot eyes. He cried though there was no need for it.

Alerted to his cry, Erin twisted herself out of the labrys’ way. The gigantic double axe stop short of carving into the Mamba’s flesh. Erin breathed a sighed of relief and launched a lightning bolt into Aretov’s face.

“Cursed you!” he screamed as he staggered backwards. He recovered from his brief daze before Erin’s thrust could find his neck. His hand reached out to grab hers but she withdrew her arm before he even touch her.

“If only I can use my magic,” Aretov thought to himself. Much like Erin, he found it hard to use any spells with the constant wobbling. If he could throw a fireball right now, Erin would no doubt be pushed off the edge. He saw his opportunity then. Erin was close to the edge and her legs were shivering to keep herself upright. He couldn’t stop his grin from surfacing. He decided to act before Erin moved herself out of her disadvantage.

He began swinging his axe upwards in a chain motion, forcing Erin to back away in her steps.

Erin groaned at herself for her blunder. She had put herself in a position where her opponent could just swing mindlessly and she would still be on the low ground. She could try parrying it but she feared her sabre would fly out of her hands and worse, she would be sent flying off of the Mamba. She forewent trading blows with him and ran. She ran to the crest of the Mamba’s head.

“Running!?” Aretov snarled. He couldn’t believe his eyes. She had run instead of clashing blades. He wanted to laugh but he reminded himself of her craftiness. This was a ruse, he convinced himself. “Where are you running off to? You intend to jump off? Not a chance. Silica here will swallow you up if you do.”

Erin stopped in her tracks around the neck of the Mamba named Silica. “What’s stopping me from just plunging my sword into her neck?” Erin threatened as she turned around and faced him.

“Your senses, I say. She would writhe and flail before death comes to her. In those moments, she could gobble you up, fling you into a mountain, or drag you along with her in the descent. You can’t fool me, heathen.”

“Well, figures.” She shrugged. “There’s no harm in trying.”

“Don’t disappoint me now,” he said. “I have high expectations for you. I don’t wish to feel like a bully when I’m done with you.”

“You won’t,” she murmured. She cast her gaze to the clouds. They were just barely out of her each and darkening. The smell of sulfur wafted into her nose. As she reached out, a spark of lightning kissed her fingertips. She recoiled in shock but she smiled when she understood the potential she was offered.

“Calling to the heavens?” Aretov mocked. “Your Divine won’t respond. They can’t interfere in our battles”

Erin doubted the validity of his words but she didn’t show it. Instead, she sheathed her sabre and splayed her arms apart.

“Are you surrendering?”

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Erin laughed. They loved to talk, all her opponents did. Perhaps it helped stave off the fear of her peculiarity, she speculated. But it was his own fault for denigrating her without a proper assessment. She had just created a gap between them. She conjured lightning into her hands and the lightning from the clouds responded. They descended from the clouds and poured into her through her spread arms.

“W-what?!” Aretov uttered in astonishment. He hadn’t the faintest notion of what she was attempting and he decided it was best not to find out. There was some distance between them but he could reach her before her spell could be completed. With the blaze in his veins, the distance seemed all the shorter to him. He dashed with his labrys raised but he stopped when the taken only a single step. He reeled back and an arrow streaked past him in front of his eyes. He turned.

A Dragon was flying beside the Storm Mamba. On the Dragon’s back were the Fox-kin’s companions. The archer girl had fired her last arrow as could be seen from her empty quiver. However, it brought Erin enough time to complete her conjuration.

“Blast!” he uttered. He was too late but he didn’t give up. He threw his labrys instead of his body.

A barrage of lightning bolts flew towards him. His axe was instantly struck off into the depths below. His desperate attempt had failed him but that was not his only desperate attempt.

He unleashed a roar to the skies and his blazing veins blazed brighter. The lightning bolts rammed into him. He kept shouting, enduring all the bolts of thunder striking him. Blood trickled down from his eyes but he let his veins burn in the blaze of his Fire Magic. Dozens of lightning struck him incessantly but his feet moved not an inch from where he stood. Erin took great care to not hit the serpent too, lest it flipped them off its back.

As the rain of lightning came to an end, Erin fell to her knees, exhausted and panting. Aretov too fell collapsed but he fell only on one knee. Smoke sizzled from his body but not a single singe could be found on his skin. He coughed and blood sputtered from his mouth. He wiped off the blood on his mouth and stood to his feet.

“Any more tricks?” He sneered.

“I have a few more,” she said in between her breaths.

“Let’s not find out, shall we?” He chuckled and warped in front of her.

A sudden nauseating sensation struck her and it wasn’t from her exhaustion. She knew exhaustion and it had never felt like her head was spinning in a whirlpool.

Aretov raised his arm and swung, smacking the back of his fist into Erin’s head, sending her flying off the Mamba.

“Erin!” Lyra screamed after her lover. She was about to jump off of Olivia but Siv came and dragged her back.

“No!” Siv said. “You’ll just kill yourself!”

“But she’ll die!” she cried as she struggled in Siv’s hold. “Olivia, save her!”

A wave of lightning swept past them. Olivia raised her left wing to guard against the sudden storm assaulting them. It was an attack from the Storm Mamba. It was trying to prevent Olivia from going after Erin.

“I can’t,” Olivia replied. “If I dive down after Lady Eryn, I will be throwing myself into its trap.”

“Noo!” Lyra continued to shout her despair. “Damn you! Damn you, Olivia! Just swoop down and get her!”

“I can’t!” Olivia yelled back just another attack came from the Strom Mamba, thunders in the form of Aura Blades, rushing at them.

“We can’t just leave her to die!”

“She won’t!” Siv reminded her in a shout. “She has that certain skill, remember?”

Lyra calmed down. It had gone over her mind. “We’ll pick up her body later,” she muttered. She couldn’t believe she had somehow forgotten about that. She felt like an idiot.

The spells clashing entered Erin’s ears. Spells were thrown at one another by Olivia and the Storm Mamba. It was a battle where Olivia could easily triumph but she wasn’t trying to win the battle. She was trying to rescue Erin. The Storm Mamba was doing everything in its power to not let that happen. Erin watched them becoming smaller and smaller in her sight as she fell. She was not screaming. There was no fear of her imminent death to be seen in her eyes. Her death wasn’t even a concern as she had Revenant. Her mind was focused on the headache assailing her head. It was tearing her brain apart and it felt it would become a literal expression.

The air turned warmed and she could breathe easier. She was nearing the ground and in seconds, her blood and guts would paint the soil and the plants would savour her remains as fertilizers.

In defiant of the agony encroaching her head, she willed herself to focus the crux of the matter at hand. She had to stop her fall without turning herself into a mash. She wouldn’t die but she was not looking forward to that experience. She tried grabbing at the air but it just flowed through her fingers but grabbed it again. She had seen Nivia do it a couple of times she was under her brief tutelage. She knew how Nivia had done it. Now she only needed to replicate the feeling. Magic was the manifestation of an idea into reality. Easier to say, harder to do. She acquired her Lightning Magic after being shocked by a magic crystal infused with lightning magic. People had acquired other affinities down the line and there was no reason for her to be an exception. Right now, she needed a magic that could save her from her fall.

She kept grabbing at the air despite her repeated failures. She didn’t allow her despair to rule her mind. It wasn’t about dying. It was about her own pride. She refused to keep letting Nyx raise her from perdition at a cost she had yet to fully comprehend.

Suddenly, her vision whirled severely and the battle raging above seemed to have been drawn close to her. It was like reality distorting and bending into her face. She reached out and grabbed the ledge of the fabric of reality. And it snapped back into its original form. She felt herself being dragged along.

“W-what!?” Aretov cried, stumbling away from Erin with widened eyes.

Erin had the same manner of gaze. She was also astonished that she was somehow back atop the Storm Mamba. Exhaustion surged into her body and she collapsed on one knee.

[Warning. Mana has reached 25% below the threshold.]

Such text popped into her head. Her pool was dry and barely any magic flowed through her veins. That spell, trick, or whatever that was, consumed more than a quarter of her Mana pool but there wasn’t where her astonishment lay. Alongside, another line of words brought utter bewilderment to her.

[Spatial Magic: Level 1 - Acquired]

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