I saw Kardenon on the ground, his barrier completely red, meaning he was out. No, no, no, no, no, no! We can't go down...

“Ouch... That was harder then I thought. Sheesh! Maybe that wasn't a great idea.”

There is hope! I realize that he has his left arm hanging to his side, possibly numb from the strike he just delivered at Kardenon. At least he won't be able to so easily manipulate a projection and throw fireballs at us, though that situation probably won't last for too long.

“Come on!”

I twist my projections and attempt a strike at Garesade, but he blocks both attacks with his projected shield. I guess it's still useless unless Alexius can follow up on it. At least now he can close in on Garesade much more easily. He dashes and closes the distance. I attack again, Garesade still takes care of it, but then has to contend with Alexius' attacks. Even if he dashes away, Alexius can keep up with his pace somewhat. So now the question is: What will end first? Alexius' stamina or Garesade's mana reserves?

“Ah well, sorry about that.”

What? Before I had even realized it, he was right next to me and just as fast, he knocked me off my feet before I could even consider what I should do. Disoriented, I dropped both my projection talismans as my back hit the ground hard. Damn, how?

As Alexius took care not to trip or step on me, distance had now opened between him and Garesade. Where are my damn talismans? I can't let Alexius fight him alone. As I look for them on the ground, I realize that Garesade now has a dueling saber on his hand. Although he doesn't seem to have great skills with a sword, it seems he is good enough to dodge, block and parry Alexius' attacks. Damn, where are my talismans?

“A great mage, a scholar and now you are good enough to keep up with me, who am by no means a pushover, in sword fighting? Is there no end to your talent?”

Is this really the time to be complimenting your opponent? Ah, Alexius... Now, where is the... Ah! There it is, one of them, at least! I run towards the talisman, which is now surprisingly far from where I was, did Garesade kick it away or something?

“You give me too much credit, though I did train with a pretty famous dwarven swordsman when I was younger, it was mostly defensive maneuvers. You don't want to see me swing a sword. Ah, it seems it's time to activate this...”

Huh, why is there a rune under my foot? I am taken completely by surprise at the explosion happening right under my feet.

“There it is! His greatest specialty, the thing that earned him the infamous nickname Blast Master, the blast rune!”

I grumble as I try to recover. There is still hope, the barrier around me is still pinkish. Damn all these surprises. Think of it, all of these things really shouldn't be a surprise as everyone seems to be aware of it... Why instead of that stupid training I didn't go around asking for information on Garesade? No time for regrets.

I grasp a projection talisman in my hand, but my concentration is pretty much gone after that blast, I feel so tired, so I can barely even create a crude stick. That's the effect of the barrier causing equivalent discomfort to the damage I should have taken. Concentrate damn it! I haphazardly assist Alexius' attacks and while Garesade is able to keep up the defense, his expression shows someone under pressure. We can do this!

“Good, good, this is taking more effort than I expected, just be a bit care...”

As Gerasade was talking, Alexius stepped on a rune. I impulsively changed my projection, to something, anything that could at least somewhat protect Alexius. Unfortunately, holding the impact was more than I expected, but hold it I did.

“Ah, unbelievable... I didn't even manage to do anything to him, but at least Alexius is still...”

I felt tired, so tired. Of course, exhaustion is also a kind of damage I suppose. Ah, but at least Alexius is completely unscathed from the rune explosion. He is still okay, so we still have some chance to win. Right?

I see the hue of red around me that now certainly means I am out of the bout. That's unfortunate, but at least I did my best, even if it wasn't good enough. At least I tried... Though I really would have rather not gone through that stupid training. That damn thing should have been worth at least some two victories. I sigh. Well, at least the sky in this place looks pretty.