章 25: Chapter 25 - Up against gravity

Unsure of exactly what abilities his opponent had gained from her gravity affinity, Erik prepared himself for a tough fight. He had already noticed she was much faster than him, especially while he was in his human form.

With Seraphina charging at him, he had no time to dodge, and his hammer was still resting over his right shoulder. So instead, he gathered arcs of lightning around his left gauntlet before swiping in the direction of his fast-approaching opponent in an attempt to slow her down.

Five crackling gashes of lightning travelled through the air at immense speed, but Seraphina moved with grace and speed as she nimbly avoided them all.

But it did slow her down, giving Erik the time to shift his hammer from its resting position into a more purposeful grip.

He adjusted his stance, and rotated his body. The hammer slid smoothly down his arm, where he caught it and used the momentum to continue moving into an uppercut swing aimed precisely at the point Seraphina was currently moving towards.

Seraphina seemed surprised by Erik's agile handling of the heavy hammer but reacted quickly.

Her body suddenly became lighter as she sidestepped the hammer and swung her sword straight at Erik's side.

However, she didn't notice Erik's smirk. The hammer she was currently right next to suddenly began to crackle with lightning before a powerful concussive force blasted her to the side.

It wasn't just concussive force, however. Lightning crackled over Seraphina's skin, making her muscles twitch and spasm.

Wanting to use this opportunity, Erik once again sent five gashes of lightning straight at his now-slowed opponent before he charged straight after them.

He would have preferred to charge her down immediately, but in his human form, he needed to use his ranged powers more.

And anyway, it's not bad to practice unfamiliar fighting styles now and then, especially in fights that aren't particularly dangerous.

Seraphina saw the gashes coming but couldn't dodge them due to her spasming muscles. Instead, she attempted to block them with her weapon.

When the gashes impacted her sword, she could feel the power behind them as she slid back with a heavy groan, inwardly thanking her grip for not letting the lightning reach her hands. Affinities with electricity-like attributers were not rare, so it was common practice to wrap a grip in a thin layer of rubber, before covering it with leather for comfort.

When she came to a halt, her body ached, and the sword she held in front of her had black gashes on it, but she was otherwise unharmed.

Meanwhile, Erik used the opportunity to close in on her and immediately swung his heavy hammer in a sideways arc as it once again crackled with lightning.

Even in her dazed state, Seraphina recognised the danger.

If that hammer hit her, she might not actually survive the day.

Erik was aware of this, of course, but despite the intention for the fight to be non-lethal, it's not like either of them would hold back. The rule only meant that they wouldn't deliver the final blow if they had the chance, but currently, they were still right in the middle of it.

As the hammer closed in on Seraphina, the runes on her skin suddenly pulsed, and a thin, deep purple coating appeared over her skin.

When his heavy weapon connected with this coating, Erik anticipated the familiar resistance of impacting something solid, but instead, he received an almost surreal sensation.

It was as if the air itself pushed back against his hammer with unexpected strength.

The momentum that should have been transferred from his hammer onto Seraphina was instead abruptly halted, leaving Erik with a feeling of momentary weightlessness.

For Erik, there was a jarring disconnect between the anticipated resistance and the actual lack thereof as his muscles suddenly found themselves without a counterforce to brace against.

He couldn't help but stumble a little.

Using Erik's momentary confusion, Seraphina quickly created some distance between the two of them as the thin layer over her skin disappeared again.

She could have used this moment to counterstrike, but she decided against it as her body was still a little shaky from the earlier lightning attack.

Now, they once again stood opposite of each other after they both regained their balance. They were both largely unharmed from the clash so far, only having gained some insight into their opponent's powers.

Erik looked at her with a questioning gaze, wondering what just happened with his hammer, but she just grinned, clearly not intending to explain her powers to Erik.

Elora was a lot more helpful, however, as she quickly gave some explanation, "I think that, rather than your hammer impacting her body, or even a shield for that matter, it was countered with an equal and opposite reaction, causing all the momentum to simply disappear."

Remembering the science lessons from his youth, Erik mumbled, "Newton's third law."

Apparently having heard him, Seraphina looked genuinely surprised, "Wow. I didn't expect you to get that so fast." Then she smirked, "But since you understand, you might as well give up now. Your hammer will never be able to harm me."

Elora quickly interjected in Erik's mind, however, "She's talking shit. That power definitely costs her a ridiculous amount of energy, especially since she covers her whole body with it for some reason."

She offered some suggestions, "I suggest switching to the pointy end of your hammer. Since she is apparently forced to cover her entire body in that coating, it might cost her more power when the force is directed into a more concentrated point."

Just like the war hammer he left behind on Söl, this one's hammerhead was also divided between a broad, smooth surface on one side and a sharp, piercing tip on the other.

Inwardly thanking Elora for her insights, he turned the hammer to make the spike face forward, which caused Seraphina to twitch a little with annoyance.

Clearly, Elora had been right on the money.

Seraphina didn't say a word, however, hoping to leave Erik guessing a little longer despite his seemingly high intelligence.

They eyed each other for a moment longer before Seraphina was once again the first to charge at Erik. She had already noticed she was much faster than him.

They started to exchange blows, which mainly consisted of Seraphina attacking using her large sword with deceptively fast speed while Erik skilfully used a combination of his hammer and his armoured gauntlets to defend himself.

At the same time, he used wide area attacks to slow the woman down. Since Seraphina was much faster but also less durable than him, he needed an opportunity to land a heavy blow, likely defeating her in a single hit.

During this time, Erik was the one to receive the most attacks, but his endurance and strength, combined with his armour, left him almost entirely unaffected, causing Seraphina to become increasingly frustrated.

By now, both of them had figured out their opponent's powers.

Since they were both second-rank fighters, they both had two abilities: Erik could launch lightning claws and release concussive lightning blasts from his hammer, while Seraphina could alter her body's weight as she wished and project a kind of counterforce field around her body.

Yet Seraphina had mistakenly assumed that Erik had only a single affinity.

After all, Erik had recently gained a brand new bloodline, complete with its own affinity, and had formed his first glyph before even stepping outside the mansion.

Once again, having separated and standing across from each other, Seraphina and Erik both panted a little, but the one getting nervous was Seraphina, as she was running out of energy due to the high cost of her counterforce ability.

Since she needed to finish this fast and believed she was now aware of most of Erik's tricks, she lost a lot of her caution when she once again charged at Erik, intending to use her superior speed to try and strike at his unprotected head.

After all, she had noticed that his armour was especially tough, and her sword was not sharp enough to cut through it.

Erik saw her approach and sent another lightning claw her way, but when he noticed a subtle shift in her stance, betraying her intention to jump over the attack and aim for his head, Erik suddenly grinned.

Seraphina did not notice his grin, however, as it was hidden behind the lightning gashes heading her way. She followed the plan and jumped over the attack, using gravity to make herself lighter.

Now high in the air and fast approaching Erik's head, Seraphina believed herself to be safe. She knew neither Erik's hands nor hammer would make it in time to stop her, but as she noticed Erik's wide grin, she got worried.

Her worries were confirmed when Erik took a deep breath and opened his mouth wide, before an icy blue magic circle appeared in front of it.

She instantly knew she had screwed up. She had no time to activate her counterforce; instead, she tried to quickly increase her body's weight to get back down to the ground, but she was not fast enough.

Accompanied by something akin to a wolf's howl, a large blast of icy shrapnel was shot from the magic circle and flew straight at her.

She screamed, and hid her face behind her arms, but that was all she could do. The shrapnel impacted her body and sent her flying away from Erik, heavily wounded.