The 11th God

Battle of the Factions Arc: Strongest to Strongest

When the screens immediately showed the factions that will fight, I told myself immediately that it is one of the things that I have been preparing for since last night.

Elio, Diether and I talked about countless possibilities that might happen today and this is one of them. I expected that I were to battle someone from a well-known faction and this is it.

“Volant Argonauts vs Edgeseekers in Crystal Vanguard!” Dio announced.

This time it is definitely my turn to compete. I still have to give Elio and Diether both the time to prepare in case they will fight today and this mode is definitely reserved for me. I was lucky yesterday that our faction is not chosen in Crystal Vanguard, but the luck of not being chosen ends today. I cannot just keep on hoping that we won’t be chosen; we will not improve at all if I were to rely on that hope.

I started walking on one of the platform and the representative of my opponent started walking too.

Their representative is Xeppino, the Chronus Owl.

He has been known for his talent in manipulating time while being in air. It is one admirable talent if you would ask me. Manipulating time is one of the hardest affinities to deal with. I have no idea if I have the power to counter such affinity but I should be able to give him a battle.

But just like how Elio and Diether did yesterday, I should give this battle all of my best without exposing myself completely.

In Ylgaea, there are various ways that you can expose yourself if you are not careful enough in front of a crowd. In chanting, you may do it in two different ways: one of them is to chant it out loud and the other one is completely chanting it inside your head. There is a major difference between the two; chanting your spells out loud lets you focus your energy more and that is because the energy around you is being gathered as you process your words, giving you more concentration and focus so that you can successfully cast your spells. Chanting in your mind is rather different. If you decide to chant using your mind, then you must have a lot of energy concentration inside you. Every beaus have a container of energy inside their bodies and that container is everyone’s main source of magic. That container will only replenish if you focus yourself into gathering more energy around you.

Gathering energy makes you immobile, thus being free for attacks and ambushes which is a very bad habit to practice if you’re out in a battle. That is the main reason why the three of us trained ourselves really hard in gathering our energy especially me. I have no intention of getting caught with the powers I possess and my standing in this world. I’d rather be known as someone who uses a unique affinity than being known as the 11th god.

Once I reached my position, I immediately started gathering the energy around me even without the countdown.  I have no time to waste so I must cherish and use the most of the time I have before I engage into battle. I know this will not be an easy fight, knowing that my opponent is from Volant Argonauts but I will definitely give it all that I’ve got.

Dio started counting.

And when he fired his gun, the battle has begun.

“Chronus Owl; Fleeting Time Stomp!”

Xeppino leaped into the air and swiftly flies towards me. Every second that he moves, he creates a white ball from his position that caught my attention. The spheres seems like they are time bombs that will explode in a given time.

“Double Edgelights!” I shouted.

My edgelights appeared on both of my hands and I gripped at them with my whole strength. I gathered some energy on my feet and used it to create a pressure and jump towards where Xeppino is. His eyes widened as the gap between us gets smaller.

[Xeppino]

I did not think that I’d be fighting someone new today. In all of my past matches, only 3-4 people were able to reach up to fighting me but today, I’m fighting someone who seems like he’s new in Ylgaea. Nevertheless, it is my job to show him what I am made of.

I am called the Chronus Owl for my ability to manipulate time while in air. My eyes are as shallow and as sharp as how an owl is during the night. My affinity is unique as what people say. Time is one of the hardest things to cope with because altering it comes at a great price and I’ve been known to deal with that.

I started the round as how I always start my previous matches.

“Chronus Owl; Fleeting Time Stomp!” I chanted.

I took flight in the air and moved towards his direction as time bombs fell in my position. I expect him to dodge or evade but what he did was unexpected. He called two swords; one from each of his hands.

“A duke?!” I said in shock.

He gathered the energy around him and placed them on his feet, lifting his whole body upwards aiming at me. He is flying towards me trying to swing both of his swords while I’m in air.

I immediately changed the pattern of my flight and swung both of my arms in a different angle, letting the air carry me towards another direction. He missed as he swing his swords, the pressure given on his body has faded and he slowly fell towards the ground.

I was carelessly flying in the air until I realized how come he is chilling in the land. I saw shadows of something unfamiliar to me in the land so I immediately looked back to see what is behind me and I saw dozens of white swords flying and pointing at me. He did not hesitate summoning this much, it seems like he is trying to win this match as soon as he can.

He must be nervous I thought, but he still doesn’t know my abilities just as how I am unfamiliar with his affinity.

Immediately after realizing the number of swords behind me, I aimed my hand towards the swords and casted, “Chronus Owl; Frozen Time Stamp!”

The swords that were about to fall towards me immediately stopped in its place and after a few seconds had vanished. I immediately looked back and gathered the energy around me to carefully place me into the ground.

“As expected from someone in Volant Argonauts.” he told me.

“I did not expect you to do that much in a short span of time.” I told him.

He smiled at me and saw the energy around him gathering again. It seems like he lacks mobility that he has to use the energy around him to create pressure against his body. He threw his body towards me with a fierce face while holding both of his swords on each hand. He is trying to attack me again in a short range, thus making his fighting style very obvious.

Before he could even reach me, I immediately aimed my hands at him, “Chronus Owl: Exploding Time Bombs!”

My time bombs consecutively appeared in my hands and started moving towards where my palm is facing; thus moving towards him. He seems to be carelessly flying though, as if he can’t see the time bombs I have thrown at him.

But in the second that my time bomb has finally reached him, they all just passed right through his body.

“A hologram?” I said.

His body faded into thin air the mere second it was near me. The time bombs ended up exploding for nothing. I looked around me, checking where might his original body went and I suddenly felt the presence of compressed energy above me.

I saw his body, mainly his face looking at me while his swords are pointing at me too. He is quick-witted for a newbie in this world.

“Chronus Owl; Halting Howl!”

He stopped in mid-air as I howl at him. My Halting Howl is a move that freezes the time of everything caught in the howl in exactly one minute which is sufficient for me to destroy my opponents.

Manipulating time as I said earlier comes at a great cost. I did not realize that I have been emitting a lot of energy earlier that I have become weaker as I fight him, not to mention all the time bombs that I have summoned drained most of my energy. It’s quite surprising though, that even though he had summoned dozens of swords above me and used too much energy to give pressure to his body, he still has the energy to go above me and aim at me.

But this is the end of him. I am sorry, but you have misjudged your situation again.

“Art of the Chronus Owl; Terminating Howl!”

I aimed my face at him and prepared to gather some of the energy that I still have inside me. A few seconds later on I howled and a giant white beam was projected at him, damaging him as he touch the beam.

The light it made lasted for a few seconds and dissipated later on. My eyes widened from what I saw.

The air was definitely clear. I felt something heavy inside me, something that makes me guilty of what I saw.

Is it possible that the beam I made turned him into dust? Most people had survive that move through defense spells and they all still live, but how come this one person who was able to give me a hard time turned into dust in just a mere spell?

I looked around me checking carefully what happened and I saw the faces of the people around me.

They are probably thinking the same thing.

“W- what happened?” I asked myself.

My hands started to sweat and so did my face. I never intended to kill someone. I just wanted to fight someone as how worthy they are to fight me but I never expected this to happen.

[Aljinn]

It was surely fearsome, the powers that this guy dwells. I have no option but to use my illusion moves at their best so I can lay a hit on him but every move I do is just being countered by one of his spells. This is surely hard. I have never seen him in an actual battle which is why up unto this point I am clueless on his capabilities.

Sure he may manipulate time, but to what extent can he do with it? How long can he actually stop time? What if he can reverse the time and do everything just to win this? What if I die while he stops the time and I can’t even do anything to defend myself?

All these thoughts are revolving around my head but it did not let me remove my focus in the battlefield. My current choice is to attack him from above.

I used the pressure in the air to immediately drop my body and aimed it towards him, pointing my swords at him to lay a hit, but the move was still countered.

He froze the time while I am in mid-air. I did not expect that he can do something like this too but I did my best to avoid the spell.

“Art of Illusion; Modified Altered Reality”

And suddenly, I was teleported in a place that I have never seen before.