Chapter Twenty One: Sparring II

Instincts overcome fear as the serpent charges at me. I dodge to the side, it just barely missing me in its passing. My body moving already I twist my core and swing my fist into its side in a powerful blow.

The Fire Snake is blown backward, but it twists as its blown backward to face me again in a motion like liquid silk. It’s eyes face me looking at me with pitch black eyes that shine blankly and with a mouth open, exposing rows of needle-like obsidian teeth that drip with liquid fire and drop down out of its mouth onto the barren earth with a plip-plot of liquid fire raining down on it and the sizzling of burning earth upon contact.

I still feel nervous looking at it, but it’s nothing compared to my worst fears, so I swallow them down and smile ferally, yelling “Is this the best you got? Ya sissy boy! I’m going to tear this worm apart and eat it!” Not even looking at Julian, but keeping my eyes on the serpent that still stares blankly at me.

His rich and educated voice comes out of the serpent's mouth like a disturbing wave of smoothness. “Not even close brute … Not even near enough to make me feel challenged … But I’ll humor you!” Julians say and a gout of liquid fire blasts out of the serpent's mouth!

I jump back as far as I can inside of the boundary, the liquid fire scorching the earth where I just was, the heat uncomfortable even through my Aura shield. Then my instincts barely give me a warning before a wave of force tosses me through the air towards the boundary of the arena and where the Flame Serpent is waiting with bubbling fire in its mouth.

Almost in a panic, I lift my hand and coat it in as much of my Aura as I can at the moment and slam it down into the ground beneath me. For a brief second, I see my hand grow so much that it dwarfs my body and forms a giant, and armored clawed paw and its pieces into the earth with a rumble stopping my flight mid-air, and then It disappears into a golden spray and I fall onto my feet.

I feel weaker but still fine. So I decided to stop pussyfooting around and charge at the Flame Serpent and it does the same with a river of molten fire trailing behind it. I dodge through gouts of fire and force that come at me if barely, my instincts and Aura working together to avoid them. I keep charging forward at the Flame Snake, having to jump or dodge to the side when the flames fly at me or when Julian charges another force blast at me, and I make it to the Snake as it charges at me recklessly.

The Snake charging at me opens its mouth to swallow me wholly into its maw of fire, but I don’t stop my charge and I summon more and more of my Aura to coat my arms, and I coat and coat them till their practically blinding to look at. I meet the Snake and grab its mouth as it tries to bite me, it presses down on my hands and the golden flames lick my face, but cannot make it pass my Aura this time!

I press up with my right and down with my left with as much strength as I can manage to widen and widening the jaws of the Serpent! I keep going and going, ignoring the futile, but gradually strengthing blasts of force and fire at my back, and then it snaps! The jaws of the Snake cracks like stone and if it was alive it would scream. It’s limp jaws hang against my hands, and so I hook my fingers into its molten fire maw, my fingers screaming at me in pain but I ignore them and grab its jaws as firmly as possible and pull hard and fast separating the snake in two then whirl around and toss them at their master.

Facing Julian as the snake lands against an invisible barrier in front of him, I smirk at him and yell again “Is this your best!?” He only smirks back at me and raises the arm from behind him, a swirling orb of the earth in his other hand, and suddenly I feel nervous again.

A moments warning in my head is all I get as a titanic stone arm blasts out of the earth with a shower of stone hitting me dead on in the chest. I manage to cross my arms and braces myself before it hits me, but it still hurts a lot. I fly back again and hit an invisible barrier.

I give a dirty look at Julian, who shrugs, “I want our comrades to survive this before they can fight me.” Saying the last part smugly. Oh, if it wasn’t on before it is now.

Then the limp fire snake explodes into a shower of sparks and embers, then the sparks and ember take a form … Of a dozen more, but much smaller, Flame Snakes.

Then the earth rumbles from beside me and I see another titanic earthen arm pull itself out of the earth, and then a body, and some legs, then a Giant of Earth stands before me, with the little Flames Snakes circling around it like the other big one is doing with Julian.

I can’t stop smiling looking at the new challenge before me, and I give Julian another feral smile. “Did you do all this for me?!” I say excitedly.

He gives a smirk back and nods.

A giant fist hits where I just was as I dodge to the side and whip out my sword, done with playing and let my Aura coat it, sharpening, strengthening it, and extending it … Oh, and also letting it glow in the dark, even if it’s midday!

I slash into its arm, again and again, leaving deep, deep grooves into it but failing to sever the limb. I have to dodge again as another giant limb makes a pass at me, with the serpents trying to take a chunk out of me. I swat a few away, but a couple manages to get past my guard, and I get several painful bites and burns. But as they try to fly away I cut them into piece reducing them into embers.

The giant tries to swat at me again but I dodge, and cut a deep gash into the arm, and then turn to cut at the other arm. Except, annoyance already beat me to it and the cuts I gave to the right arm are all but healed. I grimace and then sigh, there would be no more point attacking this elemental.

Elementals are annoying as shit to fights since there's no one good way to put them down for good, either hit them really, really hard, use some heavy duty magic, kill their spirit or their just gonna reform. Golems run on a limited supplied and will not heal, unless their high-level ones, and if you destroy their core, which powers them, they’ll die.

I thought it might have been when I ripped it in half, but since it didn’t immediately recombine I discarded the thought I didn’t expect it to separate Julian must be really close for it to do that for him, and in fact I didn’t expect for him to be able to take control of three elementals or maybe more… He really is a prodigy, I’d expect nothing less for someone to adventure with me.

So taking my sights away from the Earth Giant and focusing on Julian. I saw the Giant lift his fist again, this time with the serpents dancing and playing with his hands lighting it up in a glow of yellow and red, its fist glowing cherry red.

I took a long, calm breath and let out my worries as the fist came crashing down at me … And I jumped forward crashing through the air with a sharp snap crashing towards the air at Julian.

He had the decency to actually look shocked as I crashed through the air at him. But shock soon gave way to what seemed to be determination and a fierce grin lit up his face.

A second before I crash into him, his shield truly flared into existence, a shimmering mass of air becoming a see-through barrier of force that circles him, and then the other Flame Snake made its first move in the sparring match. He puffed up like an angry cat, growing bigger and bigger, till it dwarfed event the giant and let out an apple red fireball even bigger than itself, before turning into embers and floating into Julian's fire orb.

I couldn’t dodge the huge fireball it was too big and I was going to fast. I could barely manage to lift my arm up to protect my eyes, but even then the light seared past my arm and all I could only see red.

I felt flames sear past my shields, my mouth went dry and cracked, blood slid out only to dry into a dust. My face cracked and burnt, my eyes shivered and trembled behind my arm and eyelids. The inside of my nose was like my nose, only a constant stream of blood turning into dust. Then the force of the fireball hit my bodie. It rocked me back and forth, the force of my jump pushing me forward and the power of the fireball forcing me back. I felt crushing force sandwiching me, my organs screamed in the tight prison I forced myself into, and my bones trembling and cracking. A thought came to me in the pain, ‘I might die … Shit, dad would have my hide.’

With that thought came an explosion of Aura that forced the fireballs power away and the momentum that kept me going. I hung in the air briefly, the air still, and very, very hot. My sweat turning to steam as it left my shields. Then I fell to the ground.

I barely managed to land on all fours when I hit the ground. My limbs shook, but also breathed with pleasure after escaping the power that hit me. After what felt like an eternity I rose shakily. I locked eyes with Julian, who actually looked surprised, and maybe a little worried. But he wiped those features off in an instant. “My deeear brute,” He drawled. “are you sure you are well of mind and body to continue to fight?” He said with pride and not so easily masked concern.

I could only smile, a wide broken thing blood flowing freely from my mouth and nose, my cracked lips opening into a wide smile that showed off my crooked sharp teeth covered in dark, brown blood dust. “Are you kidding? It doesn’t matter if I’m alright, this is the most fun I’ve had in weeks!”

Julian’s eyes open up out of their normally half-lidded state briefly, only to then snap back into position, he held a hand to his head and sighed dramatically. “So you have it, so it shall be.” He said with faux annoyance, but I could tell he’s having fun.

I bent back down on to all four, and releashed my Aura, and then resummoned it and shaped it back into its normal form. It was warped after the fireball hit it, it would is easier to just resummon it than fix it.

I took another breath of the hot air, and zoned in on Julian. This time I was going to break his barrier and his face!

I put pressure on the earth and my wounded legs and body, but the pain was secondary, my goal was first and right in front of me.

So I leapt forward at him, and crashed into the barrier, the earth briefly surged up behind Julian, but I wouldn’t give time him time to enhanced his barrier. I brought up my fist and swung at the barrier. My fist barely hitting the barrier of force and it shattered.

Julian was almost right in front of me, he had barely moved at all the whole fight. I brought my legs in front of me as fast I could, running at Julian a fist pulled back. I was a foot away, so near, and I swung. I missed.

The earth surged and shook from out from under me and I fell as Julian went soaring into the air. A platform of the earth stood beneath him, and he looked down at me smirking. Then he raised his hands into the air and another field of force surrounds him, and then the earth beneath him started to spin and rotate, faster and faster, then a sound cracked through the air with a shink-shink.

I dodge away as something I barely dodged flew past me into the ground. I barely had a second to look down at before I had to dodge dozens more. It was a dart made of earth.

I ran, the darts not far behind me, but then they were in front of me. One flew right at my eye and I deflected it away with my wrist, then another one came at me and another, and I kept deflected, the darts cutting through my Aura shield and leaving deep scrapes and cuts. But I blocked all of them that came at me.

I huffed and puffed at the endeavor, Julian had stopped as he had started to pull more earth up to feed his death platform.

‘Shit, if this keeps up I’m going to lose…’ As I thought that my eyes started to drift and wander, my vision going dark at the lose of my blood earlier. I was going to need to rest for a while.

Then I saw it, an old friend that hadn’t yet failed me. I smile, if this didn’t work then I’m going to fail.

Julian saw me move and the platform started to spin again. I wouldn’t have long, to get to my friend, but I can do it.

I ran forward, the first of the new volley of darts hot on my heels, and the occasional pointy bit hits my calves but I continued on.

I saw him lying on the ground half buried, an smooth, grey stone the size of a plum. I grabbed him as I ran.

And twisting every muscle and bone in my body, and I twisted and flung the stone at Julian.

It cracked through the air as it flew, I fell to my knees in exhaustion watching my stone fly toward my friend.

He looked suspiciously at me, then alertness sprung over his face and then fear. His face contorting into a painful scowl over his pretty features, and to be fair he still looked better than most people and me, and then I heard it the sound of glass breaking.

His barrier broke into shimmering pieces, and disappeared, my stone flew true humming with power and a honey sheen. Then hit Julian dead on the forehead as he was briefly glowing a white-gold sheen like platinum, but it was not enough and the stone exploded into powder and Julian was flung back like a rag doll into his own barrier was a light thunk.

He was down before he hit the floor, which he didn’t. Damon had appeared and grabbed him before he hit the floor.

I didn’t care though, I stood up on shake limbs and roared declaring my victory to the stars above, to the Arch Wizard beyond us and to my Father who was always watching.

Then my senses came back and I just realized I knocked out a noble scion, and likely gave him a concussion.