Jiji no. 8

Ice Dragon

“Really? Then care if we test it?”

Fearless and without hesitation, Holder dashed towards his opponent, one of the Wu twins 9in orange cloth), and wildly slashed his Katana.

General Wu smiled. He said, “will gladly do.”

He was not fazed by the speed that Holder showed. His wooden sword quickly moved upwards, and blocked the smashing attack of Holder.

Holder grunted from his attack, and retreated. He was surprised that when the wooden sword and his Katana met, it seemed as if there were no difference. Holder was holding a sharp metal thing, while the General Wu was just using a wooden sword—but why does his sword seems sturdy as his?

To calculate, Holder was holding a sharp metallic sword. General Wu uses wooden sword. If in ordinary circumstance, a wooden sword will be cut through by a metallic sword especially if it is as sharp as Jiji. But in their case, it does not.

“Surprised?” said General Wu, smirking.

Holder did not listen to him and his teases. He again dashed towards him, and made quick strokes of attack.

“Dear lad, you cannot do anything with just simple slashes of sword. I am a master swordsman, and I have killed thousands of warrior with my wooden sword alone.” General Wu, with immense lust to kill, had swung his sword in the air, and targeted Holder’s neck.

Holder was reflexive enough—luckily—to dodge the General’s attack. He quickly took a few step back to avoid the dangerous attack of the General.

“Young lad,” said the General. He slowly placed his wooden sword onto its sheath, in a manner as if he was performing a stage play. “It seems that your mind is still not fully into the secret arts of using majic. I see, I see. Too pitiful, however, you wouldn’t be able to learn everything about majic anymore.”

The General smiled. Holder stiffened.

“Because you are going to die!”

Holder saw how General Wu quickly grabbed the wooden sword back into his hands. It was quick and with sense of mastery. Holder prepared for his attack. But instead of attacking, General Wu stroked his sword in the air. He thrust the tip of his wooden sword in the air multiple times. Each time the thrust of his wooden sword would land in the air, a shining dot of light would appear, and illuminated the air, as if it was a firefly fixedly floating.

Holder found confused. He then observed that the floating light was forming in a circular arrangement.

“What is happening?” he asked to himself.

“Holder get out of there!” Balel shouted.

As soon as he heard Balel shouting, he quickly moved away on where he was standing. He trusted what Balel said. The muffled sound of his steps rustled in the thick sheet of snow and ice from the General’s ice dominion.

“You have no way to escape!” said General Wu. His voice was filled with lustrous evilness, and a bloodlust—as if the only thing he wanted to do, is to kill Holder.

Holder felt as if his moves felt slower, or perhaps, it was the time was the one who decided to move slow.

He managed to look at where General Wu was standing, and doing that peculiar ritual of thrusting the wooden sword in the air. He saw that the forming light was almost complete—almost about to do a circular shape. Perhaps, it would take only one thrust in the air, and it would finally be done.

He also saw how Balel running towards General Wu. He was holding his sword that is steamed with black, dangerous gusts of smoke. He would attack the General.

The time felt slow. His sense of hearing was at loss, forming a muffled echo from the laugh of General and from the desperate shouting of Balel on his back.

He heard General Wu muttering something. But he wasn’t able to fully understand it. The only thing that he understood, is the word… dragon.

And so, that is what appeared.

The illuminating dots of icy light from General Wu’s thrust of sword, has interconnected each other, and formed a circular portal.

A summoning portal. And then, from that, the Dragon made of ice started to erupt. It was three times bigger than the circle that he created. It just bursted in the portal, as if he does not care whether it was too small for him or not, long as it was a portal.

It was rushing towards him.

Its snake-like body was too long, and its jaws and teeth made of ice were taunting. Holder stopped running. He froze from the ice creature he saw. His body stiffened, unable to move further. Until the Dragon Ice reached him. Its wide mouth was opened. His crystalized ice were glaring with lust to kill.

And it ate him, helplessly. With just a single bite, a single closing of its huge mouth, Holder was gone from where he stood.

He was dead.

Balel stopped from running. His eyes bulged in shock. He trembled.

“Wh—What?” He cannot believe what he was just seeing. The dragon was now dancing in the air, as its crystal ice body shines.

From shock, his eyes slowly shifted into another kind of emotion. A blank one.

“General Wu,” he called, his teeth were clenched with anger.

The General looked at him. “You’re next,” he said. He motioned his wooden sword, and pointed towards Balel’s direction. The Ice Dragon started to move with a world-trembling roar.

“No,” Balel said. “You’re next.” Though his eyes were blank, his trembling hands indicated one thing—rage.

“You will pay for your atrocities.”

He clenched his fist tighter. Then shadows started to invade the Ice Dominion.

“What?” General Wu asked. “B—But, this is my domain!”

Balel smiled. “You are entitled of a domain if you are stronger than your opponent, wasn’t it?”

General Wu looked at Balel with horror.

“Domain world activated: Shadow Storm.”

Balel’s domain was about to spread. But his eyes caught one thing, beside him. A Kohn. A golden colored Kohn.