Fragarach

Duel Part III: Unusual Power Spike

“Are both of you ready?” the instructor asked.

“Ye-“

“Fire bomb.”

*BOOOOOOM!*

The explosion immediately shook the ground and shake the buildings near the test grounds. A cloud of dust surrounded the whole arena in the testing grounds.

“What was hell that?”

“Who did that huge explosion? Was it Kris? Maybe Nyx?”

“I nearly fainted because of that surprise explosion.”

“I felt the ground shook as my heart skipped a beat.”

The spectating students exclaimed after the explosion took place in the test grounds.

“Are there no students hurt?”

The instructors go around asking if the students received any injuries from the debris that went flying inside the test grounds.

[Wow! That surprised me, I never thought Nyx would go all out from the start. But to think that his opponent was still able to block that level of explosion as well. Holy sword holders are really something huh?] Raven thought as he focus his eyes on the arena.

“You couldn’t wait and had to do the first move huh?” Kris said with a smirk in his face.

[So he used his modified Wind Barrier and killed off the fire going in his direction surviving the Fire Bomb unscathed huh?] Nyx thought as he stare at him blankly.

“Was that all you can do? What happened to the all so powerful Nyx that I used to know?” Kris said with an arrogant smile on his face.

[He may be giving me an expressionless face right now but if I taunt him a little further, I can break down his composure for sure. Anyway, this modification is great! I never thought that it would be pretty useful against fire. The cost of getting modified is more than worth it.] he encourage himself as he walk towards Nyx.

“Wow! Did Kris really left unscathed? That explosion is no joke, I am sure he is affected in some ways.” Caisein mumbled as he bit his nails.

“Did you see that Nash? He withstood Nyx’s Fire Bomb! What did that bastard do? He would always be sent flying by that spell in the past.” Fritz cried with his eyes widened in surprised.

[Nyx Fire Bomb’s explosion is no joke, but to think that a student known for his raw strength withstood a surprise attack from a demi-human is questionable. Something is really odd about it no matter how you look at it.] Nash thought to himself as he focus his eyes on Kris with his arms crossed.

“That’s odd, Nyx’s Fire Bomb is not really that weak that you can leave unscathed, how did he do it?” Kai said as he tries to examine what happened.

[I don’t really know anything about mana manipulation but I had a little lesson from my brother when I was a kid so I can tell if something is intriguing when I see it.] Cassiopeia thought as she look at her brother.

“What is so odd about it older brother?” she asked. [Let’s just ask him to know what he really thinks about it.]

“That explosion is no joke, what I am wondering about is how the heck did that guy survived that? I smell something fishy here.” Kai answered as he caress his chin. “Well, whatever it is, he made it at least a little entertaining.” He added with a smile. “Let’s just see how our Nyx will deal with it.”

[It’s just as Caisein said, I sensed that that explosion is not a joke. He may be a holy sword holder but he is still human. Maybe he did something when he said to prepare in his message to Nyx? Let’s just see how it play for now.] Raven told himself with doubts in his heart.

[He must have trained hard to successfully block my Fire Bomb with his Wind Wall, well I am just starting.] Nyx thought as he raise him arm.

“Fire bullet.” He said in a cold voice.

The instant he raised his arm and chant the spell, a dozen of small orbs of fire appeared floating in the air in front of him.

“Fire”

*FWOOOSH!*

At a single command from Nyx the small orbs of fire accelerated straight towards Kris.

[Fire bullet huh?] “Try me Nyx.” Kris said with a smile.

The spectators gasp in awe at Nyx’s excellent manipulation of mana.

“Look at that mastery!”

*FWOOOSH!*

*POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!* *POOOF!*

The countless orbs of fire disappeared they even made contact with Kris who is standing leisurely without any care.

Nyx’s eyes widen as he saw the Fire bullets disappear in front of his very eyes with only the smoke remains.

[How did it happen? What did he do?] he took a quick glance at Raven who had his eyes focused on his opponent. [Let’s keep our cool, I can’t let my lord to witness something shameful as this.] he told himself as he regained his composure.

The crowd are confused how Kris did something like that.

“What happened?”

“Did Kris somehow enhanced his manipulation over the wind element?” a student excitedly poke his friend with his elbow.

“I don’t know man, I’m just as confused as you at the moment.” [Ow, that hurt. This sharp elbow of his is very painful whenever I get hit.] he thought as he grit his teeth in pain. [Oh well.]

The students started to talk with each other as the shock of Kris’ display of power overwhelms them.

[That’s the second time. How can a human who is known for his raw strength can push back a demi-human in terms if mana manipulation? By this time, I think Kris surpass me in terms of both traits.] Nash thought as he started to look concerned of the sudden power spike of Kris.

[Nash is starting to show concern in the current development, we may be both human and we should be cheering for Kris but this sudden prowess that he is displaying is very concerning. Given that he is one of the main families, it is understandable that he will be able to get private education to increase his strength. Nash has undergone a private tutor as well but he never showed such results as this, Kris is not someone who would excel at mana manipulation as well, he focused himself at close combat and strengthening his body.] Fritz thought as the carefree expression slowly fades off from his face.

[This is now concerning, to nullify an attack from a demi-human known for his excellent mana manipulation that easily despite being known for his raw strength is mind-blowing.] Kai thought as he raise his brows.

“Is that all you got Nyx? This is getting boring you know?” Kris said with a never fading smile.

“Are you happy that you manage to block my attacks so far?” he said in a cold tone.

[He decided to talk now? Did he got tilted by what he saw? Now you realized that I am now far superior to you in any means huh?] he thought as he smiled.

“I am just starting so don’t celebrate just yet muscle-head.” Nyx said with a straight face.

*PFFT!*

The spectators heard what Nyx said and made them let out a giggle since it is the first time they heard Nyx mocking an opponent.

“You heard that? I never thought Nyx can say things like that, haha!” A student laughed. [Oops! I said that a loud.] he thought as he covers his mouth.

The others started to laugh as well.

*HAHAHAHA*

[If you are trying to taunt me to make me lose my composure then you still have a lot of rice to eat.] he told himself as he smiled at Kris.

[That bastard! I tried to make him lose his composure yet with a single word from him he made the other students laugh at me instead. Don’t tell me my friends are laughing off of that as well.] he thought as he look back at his friends and saw them holding out from laughter. [This bastards.] he thought as his eyes widen in anger.

*BOOM!*

A cold ominous feeling covered the whole testing ground and swallowed the joy in everyone’s faces. Their heartbeats started to raise as they felt uncomfortable at the suffocating pressure of Nyx’s mana aura.

“This is close to what we experienced when the new student released his mana aura recently.” A student struggled to finish his thoughts.

“Holy sword holders are really on another level huh?”

“It was strange why I never felt a mana aura from the beginning, so he was just testing the waters huh?” Fritz said as he smiled.

[I didn’t noticed it as well, so he was just taking it easy at first huh?] Nash thought as he smile as well.

“That is really a bad habit of his whenever he is asked in a duel. Holding back so that the opponent would drop his guard. Hehe.”

Caisein chuckled as he saw Nyx releasing his mana aura.

“I noticed that as well.” Raven said with a smile.

The crowd felt their skin crawl by the unpleasant mana aura that surrounded the test grounds.

[So he decided to release his mana aura huh?] Kris grit his teeth in anger. [Might as well release mine as well.] he told himself as he release his mana aura as well. [Huh?]

The moment Kris released his mana aura, he felt his temperature started to rise.

*PSSSH!*

A loud evaporating sound echoed throughout the test grounds. Nyx is extending his hand towards Kris who is confused. The outline of Nyx’s eyes under the blindfold is glowing in a red color.

“So, he did not hesitate to do something confusing huh?” Caisein said with a smile.

[Caisein looks happy when Nyx decided to take his opponent seriously. Why is taking this seriously? What pushing him to do so?] Raven thought with a confused face.

[Right now he’s probably confused about what is happening to his body. And since this is just a duel, I cannot kill him since it will bring a lot of trouble for my family and my lord might not want it to happen so I cannot use my fire directly at his body.] Nyx told himself as he smiled.

[That bastard what did he do?] Kris thought as he stare daggers at Nyx then he saw mist coming out of his body. [That bastard! So he is slowly reducing the water inside my body?! But how?] his eyes moved around the testing grounds and saw a circle on the ground of the arena.

“Hey, hey, hey. Look at Kris, he is smoking.”

“OH! Is he being cooked right now?”

“Wow! Nyx is so heartless! He is making a smoked meat out of Kris.”

The students exclaimed as they saw Kris slowly getting weakened by the lack of water.

[I can’t cool it off by my wind alone, I still do not master my mana manipulation since I focused on strengthening my body. What a pain in the ass!] “Hoooo!” he exhaled as he thinks of a way to stop Nyx from using this kind of method to deal with him. “If I am affected by this, then surely he will also be affected if I stay close to him as well.” he mumbled to himself.

Kris took a stance to dash towards Nyx who is focused on him.

*FWOOOSH!*

Kris appeared immediately above Nyx following with a punch.

*BAM!*

The ground shook as he failed to land a hit on Nyx and punched the ground instead.

[This guy, he is not an expert in a brawl but he is slippery like an eel, its vexing.] Kris said as he grind his teeth in anger.

[So he resorted to get close and fight me in close combat huh?] Nyx thought as he slip away from Kris’ range of attacks.

“Fighting in close range to make Nyx drop that method is a good choice since that is the only way to stop the caster from continuing to cast the spell if he wants to avoid getting punched by that muscle-brain.” Kai said while observing both of them.

*FWOOOOF!* *FWOOOOF!* *FWOOOOF!* *FWOOOOF!* *BANG!* *BOOM!* *FWOOOOF!*

Kris showered punches towards Nyx who successfully evaded every strike that comes in his way.

[I will not be able to continue draining the water inside his body if he continues to attack me endlessly. Let’s stop this spell for now.] Nyx cancelled his spell as he evaded Kris’ overwhelming physical strength.

“Hey you bastard! Are you going to run away from me all day? Why don’t you face me like a man huh?!” Kris yelled as he missed again.

The whole crowd stare at him with a blank face, not knowing how to react to Kris’ remarks.

“Is he telling Nyx to ‘Hey, why don’t you stand still and let me hit you.’? Is he crazy?”

“Who in the right mind wants to be punched by someone who can obliterate a rock with a punch?”

“Show some sympathy you guys, the man’s clearly desperate to get a hit you know.”

The students felt pity for Kris for begging Nyx let him take a hit just once.

“He just can’t be honest for once huh?” a student murmured.

Kris heard the students’ reaction to what he said and it made him even angrier.

[You babbling bastards!]

*FWOOOSH!*

Kris accelerated once again in front of Nyx.

[His speed improved again?!] Nyx thought as he dashes out of the way then he stepped on a rock that made him slip.

[What the?!]

Kris appeared in front of him following a punch.

*BAM!*