***
Johan
The two stood facing each other, Arameth had simply brandished his sword in his right hand whilst holding up his other hand like a guard. He had bent his left leg slightly focusing most of his weight on it. His stance looked sloppy, it was full of openings.
Is he not taking this seriously?
Victoria on the other hand, took a lower stance, similar to that of a sprinter starting position. The suspense drew in an increasing number of onlookers, and who could blame them. It was years since a giant had been sighted and even longer since a hybrid had been sited. Now this colossal was supposed to fight Victoria Damaris, a woman known for her fighting prowess and terrifying abilities despite her age. This would be certain to spread across the district like wildfire.
A few seconds later the heavy silence was broken as Victoria shot forward like a stray arrow. Closing the distance between the two in just three steps. Her thin blade cut through the wind, its path directed towards Arameth’s torso. However, in that moment Arameth seemed to let his sword fall before griping onto it again just in time to block Victorias attack. In one smooth motion Arameth pushed Victoria away with blade before spinning around to face her yet again.
Arameth then went for the offense. He swung his sword with little to no pauses between each swing, but Victoria did not let him have his way. She quickly countered every one of his attacks with one of her own. Causing a stalemate where they just jumped around clashing swords.
Arameth noticed he was not gaining an opening for an attack, so he decided to switch it up a bit. With the next swing of his sword Arameth dug it into the ground, dodging Victorias next attack by spinning to the side, still holding one hand on his sword. Then directly after he threw a counterattack. A punch.
Victoria barely dogged his surprise attack. Causing his fist to connect to her chin. Even though the punch barely landed it appeared to still have done some damage.
Victoria jumped back but Arameth quickly grabbed on to his sword and kept going. In combination to his sword, he would throw a punch or a kick, in order to adapt to Victorias ferocious attacks and speed.
"So barbaric!" Victoria shouted in glee. A frightening grin plaster on her face.
Victoria started to speed up her attacks against Arameth. To this Arameth started to use more force in his attacks. The clashing of their swords sounded like the ringing of church bells. As Victoria slashed at Arameth he used his sword to block, but this time something was different. Faint blue sparks of lightning flew of Victoria's sword and slowly she started to push him back. A human was pushing back the equivalent of a boulder with just her sword alone. Eventually Arameth couldn’t hold on anymore and he was thrown back.
The sparks of blue lighting dashed of her as she ran towards him, her sword ready to strike. Arameth however, did not back away or put up a guard he simply stood back up from the ground and uttered a single word.
"Spike"
Up from the ground two massive pieces of spike formed rocks bursts forth, making Victoria crash into the rocks. Taking this opportunity Arameth rolls to the side and runs up besides Victoria. He raises his sword high and strikes down on her. Just as he is about to hit a blue bright light engulfs the two.
There she goes.
As light fades, we see Arameth with his sword lodged into the rocky spikes and Victora seems to have moved a few meters back.
A choir of gasps emerges from the bystanders.
"Did you see that? She dodged his attack in a matter of seconds." One voice says.
"Yeah, it was incredible." Another responds.
Murmurs flood the space once again.
"Kick his ass Victoria!" A blond-haired girl, standing next to a rugged boy, shouts.
Victoria puffs out a laugh in response. Her devilish grin grew as faint blue sparks shot out from her once again.
I could see a similar grin appear on Arameth’s face as well.
Looks like they are both enjoying this.
Arameth then tightened his grip on his sword ran at her letting out a small laugh.
"Come at me then!" Arameth shouted as his grin grew.
They both traded blows, Victoria with her quick slashes as and Arameth with his combination of martial fighting and swordsmanship. One could almost think that Victoria sword would break from withstanding so many blows by Arameth, but in reality, it looks more like Arameth is the one struggling. With a mighty roar Arameth swung his sword towards Victoria Shouting.
"Windbre-"
He quickly gets cut off as Victora bands back in order to get out of the sword’s way and from this position kicks Arameth cutting him of. Causing him to fall back.
"Hmm" I let out.
Something weird happened to Arameth’s pressure waves there for a second. It almost seemed like his pressure waves were overwritten by the ones emitting from his sword. I must have just imagined it.
Before he could stand back up Victoria was on at him again. She had used the spikes Arameth created before to jump up high into the air in order to attack him from above. The force she landed with made the earth crack beneath her and a dust cloud had formed around them.
It wasn't hard to discern where Arameth was though. His golden yellow eyes pierced through the dust. Then the set of golden yellow eyes spilt into two and from the dust cloud two Arameth's emerged.
Mirage?
When the dust settled Victoria looked surprised by the addition another Arameth.
"What the..." Victoria let out.
However, Arameth’s plan to fool her seemed to have failed as his mirage quickly became more transparent before disappearing completely and Arameth fell to his knees.
As Arameth gets back up he raises his sword again ready in case Victoria has already thrown herself at him again.
Strange. Why isn’t he recuperating his stamina? Perhaps he is waiting to see what she will do? Or maybe hoping to use the exhaustion in his favor? I thought.
Then Arameth gets down into a low stance letting the blade of his sword rest in the palm of his left hand. Almost like he was holding a spear.
Thats when I sensed it. A faint change in the frequency of his pressure waves. He was about to use Form.
Wait a second. Why hasn’t he recuperated yet? He can’t possibly hope to perform From directly after mirage, he would just fall unconscious before he speaks the incantation. Unless he doesn’t know how to recuperate? Oh... Oh by the gods... Is he planning just to tough it out? Thats insane!
Just as I had thought. Arameth tightened his grip around the sword and uttered the incantation.
"Form."
His sword expanded out towards Victoria. She jumped to the right in order to dodge the now over 7 meter long sword Arameth held. He swung it around in a circle but Victoria threw herself to the ground.
"Form."
Arameth said again and his sword shrank into the size of a dagger. He threw himself at Victora forcing her to be on the defense. As he Switches between different sizes using Form. So that she won’t be able to predict what his next attack might be. The onlookers look at him in surprise and awe with the fact that he can use From.
He is using Form so many times even directly after using mirage? How can he stand up? He should be beyond tiered. Is it pure willpower that is driving him to keep standing?
Then a voice broke through the awes of the onlookers.
"Hell yeah, Arameth show her who you are! Show them the might of my sister son!" a female voice rang out.
Out from the crowd stepped Madeline Whitlock, renowned soldier from the brotherhood of broken metal and now teacher at Fardum.
Wait sister son? Madeline Whitlock claims to have a sister son? But she doesn’t have any siblings except... Oh by the gods!
She can’t possibly mean that demon is his mother! But it makes sense. The fighting style and his open stances. His barbaric way of fighting and determination. They all are reminiscent to that of... Miranda Lark. The boogeyman.
As my thoughts rumble through my head, I start to hear a loud noise, it after a while that I realize it’s coming from me. I'm laughing. This whole scenario feels just too good to be true.
The boogeyman has a son, and he is half giant... And he wants ME as his teacher? I see now why you thought I was best for him Sebastian. This will be fun.
The crowd goes silent.
They must have come to the same conclusion as me.
Same with Victoria and her friends. She stands still looking at Arameth in surprise. Meanwhile Arameth doesn't seem to realize what’s going on.
He stands there panting waiting for Victorias next move. Victoria then steadies her guard.
"If you have any more aces up your sleeve, I suggest you play them now." She says as she gets into a basic stance.
"Enigma" She utters.
The winds around us start to die down leaving an uncomfortable emptiness. Her sword starts to pulsate with blue lighting that crawls over her arm past her shoulder and down to her back where it spreads out behind her like wings. Behind her a symbol appears. Even though I have never seen it before I directly know what it says.
"Who is Victoria Damaris?"
"Looks like she won’t hold back much more." I mutter to myself.
"Now let’s see how you handle her burst weapon Arameth."
Lighting shot out like crazy as she raised her sword. Despite this Arameth took a matching stance and lifted his sword high. He used Form one more time to get his sword back to how it looked like at the beginning of the fight.
A weird silence hovered over everyone as the two fighters prepared for an all out attack. It felt like the calm before the storm.
Victoria struck down and from her sword a wave of lighting shot out moving towards him at high speeds. At the same time Arameth struck down with his sword saying.
"Grass cutter"
As his sword swings, I see how the pressure waves around it start to recoil moving towards Victoria, and just as the recoil gets in contact with her a strike like the one Arameth just performed cuts down Victoria's torso. At the same time Victoria gets slashed Arameth collides with the wave of blue lighting. Causing a bright flash and a horrid sound to scream out. When the light vanishes Arameth lies unconscious on the ground.
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