Chapter 19: Race to the Top [3]
Luciel's brain was working overtime as he had to think about ways to subdue these guys quickly. He couldn't sustain three attacks simultaneously for a long time. He was still human, after all. He had to think about that battle freak after this as well.
'Screw this. I'll enjoy it as much as I can.' Luciel sighed.
The battle began as Lumine approached Luciel and swung her scythe. It was an unconventional weapon, so he would have a hard time blocking or parrying it perfectly. However, it should be easy to deduce with good eyes. The point of contact was the same for any weapon no matter the size or force.
Luciel precisely deflected the tip of the scythe and tried to close in, but he saw wind bullets coming from the side. He backed off immediately and dodged it.
He sensed the wind moving chaotically behind his back and retreated to the side. It was Evelyn shooting her feathers. Two projectiles and one close-range combatant... Luciel had to eliminate Evelyn and Rekal first.
He outran Lumine and dashed toward Rekal. Wind bullets firing off ceaselessly as Rekal tried to back off, but Luciel sliced them with his sword with ease. The only issue he had to be wary was Evelyn's feathers and speed. If Evelyn decided to come down and crush him with force, he would have to fight both, but if she shot more feathers, he could just protect his back with Echo Energy.
'Such a gamble is needed. I don't expect to come out of this unscathed anyway.' He thought.
Luciel was about to reach Rekal when he sensed Evelyn diving down to help. This was the worse case scenario, but he had the confidence to take both of them down. The timing was important, so he kept running toward Rekal and deflecting his wind bullets.
Evelyn was nearing. Lumine was not far off either. Luciel gripped his sword tightly and imbued his sword with scarlet flame as he ran in full speed. He waited as the atmosphere became hotter by the minute, little flares started cracking up from his sword, and that made Evelyn turn into a freight train.
'Great!' Luciel suddenly planted his right foot and stopped in his tracks completely. Flames wrapping his leg in a spiral as he bent down his knee. As if this was a circus, Luciel performed a superhuman backflip backwards so high that the crowd gasped in shock. He timed that backflip so that he could jump over Evelyn, and it worked.
Luciel's sword roared with scarlet flames as he caught a glimpse of Evelyn's open back. The flaming blade cut through the air with a pulverizing crescent. A vertical slash formed a blazing circle that split into three lines, hanging in mid-air.
Scarlet Flame Art: Emberfall Reversal
The vortex of heat melted down the wings. Waves of fire cascaded forward at Evelyn's whole body, and they burned fiercely. She let out a scream of pain so primordially that everybody shook.
A searing slash across Evelyn's back could be seen. Her wings cut off and scattered into the wind, particles of light disintegrated by the fire and returned to her. Blackened and burned, she crashed into the ground and laid still. She tried to get up but to no avail.
The crowd was silenced, meaning he did the job perfectly. Luciel could see fear in Rekal's eyes as he froze like a statue. Luciel didn't sense Lumine's movement, so he thought she was the same.
Wasting no time, Luciel ran toward Rekal, jumping over the unconscious Evelyn. It turned into a cat and mice game. Luciel didn't find it that surprising to see Rekal run. He had to regroup with Lumine and engage in close-range combat because Rekal should have known that his wind bullets were only good for surprise attacks for now.
They didn't have much combat experience, so Luciel could see how Rekal wanted to rely on that skill, but it only worked on people who didn't know how to defend themselves with Echo Energy.
As Luciel had guessed, Rekal ran toward Lumine and stood side by side with her, not behind anymore. Luciel smiled as he approached them slowly. "Think you can take me on?" He wanted to provoke them because it seemed fun.
"Fuck," Rekal cursed as he trembled. "Why are you so strong?"
"Because I had to survive." Surviving the world wasn't easy when you were surrounded by evil. 'Even the good too. Just look at Elina! She's the devil incarnate.' Whether it was the slums or Elina's house, it was all about survival.
No more words to spare, Luciel took off, flames dancing through his blade. Its intensity had decreased because Luciel deemed it unnecessary. He had to preserve his strength if they decided to team up in four.
His blade met with Lumine's scythe. The clashes between the two weapon rang throughout the arena. He had to defend against Rekal energy-filled fists too.
The exchange of blows continued for minutes. "Damn!" Rekal panted heavily, his fists reddened from all the impact. Lumine had wounds all over the place. She had an interesting ability to make short teleportation, but that didn't stop Luciel at all.
[Luciel Gulova - 1512]
[Evelyn Flykra - 811]
He earned quite a lot of points by staying in the circle while fighting Rekal and Lumine. It was a loophole to drag out the fight as much as possible while being in the two-point zone. It could only be exploited if you were strong enough to do so. Dragging it out couldn't be done by anybody.
Still, it wasn't proper of him if he continued like this, so he decided to finish it now. Rekal threw in his punches again, but Luciel blocked them. He also transferred the force of impact back to Rekal, pushing him out to fight Lumine.
Luciel raised his sword over his head and blocked the scythe that dawned on him with full force. Surprised, Lumine tried to pull back, but Luciel was one step faster and used the hilt to strike her abdomen. "Guh!" Lumine rolled on the ground. She coughed out blood as she was on all fours.
Rekal closed in again with fierce determination in his eyes. Luciel couldn't help but commend his efforts, though it was useless. Flame sparked again on his radiant blade. A singular diagonal slash so fast that Rekal couldn't even see what happened but only the sear on his chest. He fell face down in front of Luciel, blood leaking out slowly.
Luciel turned his head to Lumine, who was standing with difficulty. Her arms and legs shaking, her lips covered in blood, his eyes unfocused. Luciel sighed seeing her frail body. "I promised you that you'd be last."
She didn't answer at all, her eyes had lost color and her grip loose. The scythe was about to fall off any second. It was a sign of forfeit. Luciel disappeared in the blink of an eye and appeared behind Lumine's back. He carefully and precisely hit the pressure point behind her neck before she could even register what happened. "Urgh..." Lumine had fainted.
The three of them were defeated. Luciel listened to the crowd cheering the loudest as it ever was. The feeling of recognition and honor felt new to him, but he liked it. People cheered for something that he was passionate about. The progress and results of surviving and training were paid off as well.
For something so simple as encouragement and recognition for his efforts, he simply wanted to cherish it. He loved that people could be this way. Not full of malice and heartlessness but full of support and love. Luciel wished to bathe in this moment.
He smiled, his eyes returning some light as he walked back into the circle. Four minutes left and the victory would be his. Other than Horus, everybody was unconscious and most likely wouldn't strain themselves to get on the stage again. Luciel looked at Horus holding his sword and hesitating. For a guy like him to hesitate, it was a big win for Luciel.
Luciel didn't show sheer destructiveness and dominance but skillful takedown and finesse. To put fear into people, he needed to show that no matter what they did, it would be futile in the end. He didn't go all out and perfectly demonstrated that with his skills with the sword alone, everybody was child's play.
Horus had finally stepped up for a rematch. Luciel liked his determination to never back down from a stronger opponent. That mindset would go a long way for Horus.
Face to face, Horus opened his mouth, this time his tone turned serious. "Luciel, your strength is formidable. I understood that I'm no match against your flames, so I want to request a battle of swordplay." Horus bowed slightly, his arms raised at chest level, his fist placed against his palm. "Would you grant my request?"
It sounded like Horus wanted to test Luciel on his sword skills. Maybe Horus did come from a cultivation novel. If it was, this was equivalent to looking down on his swordplay. A backhanded compliment. However, this was the real world, so Luciel didn't care about that. Horus was eccentric, anyway.
"Sure. No fire from me and no lightning from you. Just pure sword techniques." Luciel then gestured Horus to come to him. "I'll be staying here. You can push me out if you can."
"Sounds good to me!" Horus was fired up again, returning to that madman that he was. A final showdown between two swordsman was a sight to behold. Luciel wondered how his swordplay would go against House Fulgur.
Weekly Power Status
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