Laurence raised his hammer, blade out in front. His father's words once more echoed in his head “Laurence, raise your blade. As long as you can keep the point of your weapon between you and your enemy they have to get through that before they get through you.” He kept his blade level and quickly thrust towards Yveth as she approached. She slipped to the side of Laurence’s blade and dodged the hammerhead, reaching a meter away from the boy. It seemed like this was her range of combat so he quickly pulled himself back to a more comfortable distance.

Yveth followed, sticking to Laurence like glue. Every step he took back she took one forward and struck towards him. He dodged and twisted but could not find a moment to break free from her assault and go on the offensive. He could feel each strike coming closer and closer to hitting him, but there was very little he could do to fend Yveth off. Each step back he tried to bring his hammer to defend by pumping mana through his muscles, however with every strike Yveth seemed to pull the mana out of Laurence’s muscles and waste it. It was infuriating to him because no matter what he could do, the woman would graze her hands against his skin and sap his power. In desperation he ignited his inner flame and slammed his hammer into the ground, separating the two of them.

With a moment to take a breath he pulled his hammer back and thrust forwards, flicking his hammer to the side he saw the woman push towards the head of the weapon. At the same time Laurence rotated his inner flame formation to restore his stamina and trueformed the air in front of Yveth’s mouth into stone. She blocked the hammer and breathed out, or at least tried to, but the hammer was not an enchanted weapon like she expected and did not turn to dust on contact instead her hand was crushed abs one of the bone piercings in her arm shattered. The stone around her mouth however did turn into salt. Before she realised it she had breathed in a large chunk of rock salt and sputtered to get the material out of her mouth. Her brow furrowed in rage at the fact that a child was surviving for far longer than he should be, but anger cleared her mind and focused her spirit.

Yveth took ten steps back and breathed in deeply. Laurence could tell that she had something planned, but real combat experience was something the boy sorely lacked. The only people he had ever fought who were as strong or stronger than him were his father, the Orik and now Yveth. It was truly bothersome for him, but he knew that he was growing because of it so he welcomed the challenge.

Watching the woman dive back into the fray they clashed once more. Laurence quickly realised that when his skin was touched by the Kimbramancer his mana was drained and turned into salt, but when his weapon made of his soul and mana collided with the woman she became injured. He could not understand why, but his hammer seemed to be immune to the Gi that Yveth used.

Tossing the thought aside, Laurence began to probe his enemy's defences. With each step forward Yveth took, he would either thrust towards her throat then swing down towards her abdomen and attack there instead, or stab at her heart and flick upwards. No matter what he did, the best result Laurence got was a seared leather top when Yveth predicted the third attack wrong and corrected it a beat too slow. The battle was slowing, but Yveth still had complete control of things. No matter what Laurence tried he could not stop her advance, and if he ever replaced the air in her mouth, she would just break from combat and regulate her breathing. It was becoming more and more clear that Laurence was sorely outmatched in this fight. He knew, but he realised that until his allies came back from their engagement he was pinned down in a fight he was destined to lose.

After five rounds of fighting Laurence managed to get a second hit against Yveth, causing her frown to deepen. She should have won against the boy by now, but he was holding out simply through the fact that his skills were awkward to fight against and she could not deal with the weapon in his hands. Yveth was used to making every weapon that had even the slightest amount of mana turn to salt with simply a touch.

In frustration Yveth took a step back and spat out the word “Gidan”. The skin on her fingers receded even further, to the point where the bone was effectively protruding from within her flesh. Her bones began to shift shape, becoming denser and sharper with each passing moment. Finally the sides of her hands thinned down to sharp edges, tapering off into points at the tip of her fingers. What used to be fully functioning hands were now sharp blades on the ends of disturbingly long arms. Yveth raised one hand and licked the edge, allowing the blood that spilled to drip down her arms and spill on the floor. She closed her eyes in reverie at the sensation, but through all this Laurence simply looked on. Even now, with her face flushed and eyes closed he could not see a clear way to attack without getting hit back.

Yveth dove back into the fray with renewed vigour. Each swing of her hand would dig into Laurence’s flesh, ripping off small chunks and layers. Within seconds the boy had his arms dyed red. Even his jacket had tears and holes peppering it. Yet through all this, Yveth could not quite end the combat. Laurence was slowing down, but he was not letting Yveth land a killing blow. Instead he was dying by inches, being exposed to death by a thousand cuts.

Once again Laurence was driven back by the woman. The whole fight had been going for less than five minutes but they had traversed up and down the room over twenty times, with each pass tearing up the room more and more. As the seconds ticked by Yveth’s frown deepened, her forehead was beginning to resemble a pit of spikes because the boy’s endurance was so great. His mana reservoir seemed to be endless but she knew full well that that could not be the case. He would run out eventually, and the moment he did she would seal the deal.

Taking a swipe at Laurence’s head, Yveth did not expect it to connect but the wind pressure pushed Laurence back, forcing him to stumble over the debris on the floor. As he fell backwards something dawned on him. He quickly slammed his hammer down on the ground once more, peppering the Kimbramancer with stones. She pulled back for a second, but that was all Laurence needed to finalise his plan. Perhaps he could change the terrain of the arena to his advantage, either by forcing Yveth to nullify what looked like stable ground, or just by shifting the floor nearby. Laurence rolled back and flipped onto his feet , shunting some of the ground near Yveth to the side while covering the rest around her in basic runes and glyphs. No matter where she stepped there would be a pitfall.

Yveth smiled. In her mind it was time to go for the kill. Over the last minute, Laurence had been feeling the stress of combat more and more. His mana reservoir was finally beginning to empty itself to the dregs, but still he held on. His perseverance would make his Gi so much more powerful when she consumed it. Laurence readied himself to see if the trap would work, but it failed. It seemed that for her to collapse these spells she needed to go through either a thin layer of clothing or be touching the spell bare skinned. Her feet were protected by thick leather boots, so Laurence quickly realised that this image of death incarnate was coming in for the final blow. His last ditch attempt to sway the fight in his favour had not worked and now he was going to pay the price.