> Perspective:Kaiser
> Time:3:12 AM
> Location: Campfire Clearing — Deep Mountain Woods, Celestine Realm
I drove my boots into the frozen dirt, sprinting straight between the two granite boulders.
Ronan, Kiel, and the 2 summoned spirits didn't hesitate. They closed the gap together.
Ronan reached me 1st. Flames wrapped around his right fist as he swung for my chest. I met the punch with the flat of my sword, the impact ringing through my arms. His left hook came right for my jaw. I dipped my head beneath the fire, letting the flames singe the air inches above my hair.
"You think you can stop me with just a sword!?" Ronan sneered.
A blade hissed toward my spine from behind.
1 of the spirits had slipped through my blind spot.
I dropped low and rolled forward across the turf, clearing the strike by 2 inches. The 2nd spirit lunged from the side, its dark weapon coming down to cut me in half. I twisted on the ground, raising my sword to parry the downward chop before springing back to my feet.
"You honestly believe you can land a hit on me?" I asked, keeping my smirk steady.
There was no time to catch my breath.
Kiel swung Voidrend from 30 paces away. The cursed blade cut through empty air, but the dark energy stretched across the clearing, carving deep trenches into the soil around my boots. The reach of that sword was absurd—up to 70 meters without losing cutting force.
"Come on, Kaiser!" Kiel called out, his voice dripping with contempt.
"Is dodging all an E-rank can do?"
"Keep talking, Kiel," I answered, sidestepping another dark wave.
"It keeps your mouth busy while your mana drains."
I broke into a low sprint to the right, keeping my sword in my left hand. Ronan and the 2 spirits chased close behind, their boots tearing up the frozen grass. Kiel fired crescent after crescent from his dark sword, trying to pin me against the rock face.
He's rushing his swings.
Every slash of Voidrend ate at Kiel's stamina. He had been channeling that cursed weapon for minutes, and his breaths were turning ragged. But Ronan was the real nuisance. The man fought on pure aggression, treating every exchange like a street brawl with magic attached.
Ronan saw an opening and lunged. He threw a straight right at my face, fire trailing behind his knuckles. I blocked with my sword, but he caught the spine of the blade with his left hand, the heat searing the steel.
"Got you!" Ronan shouted.
He began chanting without taking a breath.
"Awaken the primal spirits, infuse my mortal shell! Fire of the phoenix, strength of the stone, swiftness of the wind—Eidolon Surge!"
Raw elemental energy surged through Ronan's frame. His aura flared bright red, pumping unnatural power into his shoulders and arms.
Eidolon Surge.
I had read that exact formula back in the academy archives during year 2. Imperial mages loved calling it a lost art, but it was just a crude physical boost that overloaded the muscles with raw elemental mana. It made the caster hit hard, but it ruined their turning speed.
Ronan threw his enhanced punch straight at my chest with his entire body behind it.
I didn't try to block an overloaded punch.
As his fist drove forward, I dropped my weight 3 inches, slipped inside his reach, and drove a clean counter-punch straight into the right side of his ribcage.
The crack echoed through the clearing.
Ronan's breath exploded from his mouth in a wet gasp. The Eidolon Surge flickered out like a blown candle, and he stumbled backward across the grass, clutching his cracked ribs with both hands.
"Ronan!" Kiel shouted from the tree line.
The 2 spirits swarmed me instantly, swinging their shadow blades to keep me from finishing him. I parried twice, stepped back, and watched Kiel sprint toward his partner.
Kiel dropped to 1 knee beside Ronan, his dark blade vanishing as he pressed his bleeding hand to Ronan's chest.
"O spirits of torment, hear my plea," Kiel chanted through clenched teeth.
"Bind flesh with shadows and seal wounds with suffering—Veil of Agony!"
Dark mist wrapped around Ronan's torso.
Veil of Agony.
It wasn't a real heal. The spell didn't mend broken bones; it simply numbed the nerves and held the cracked bone in place with cursed energy so the caster could keep moving. Kiel coughed, spitting dark blood onto the frost. The strain of casting high-tier cursed magic on top of Voidrend was eating him alive.
Ronan pushed himself up. The pain was gone, replaced by pure, reckless fury.
"I'm going to turn you into ash," Ronan growled, his eyes bloodshot.
He raised both hands, pouring every remaining scrap of his mana into the air.
"Flames of the eternal inferno, rise and empower me! Cloak my body in fire, strengthen my limbs, and fuel my will! Infernal Ascendance!"
A pillar of fire erupted around Ronan.
The heat hit my face, drying the sweat on my forehead instantly. The flames wrapped around his arms, his chest, and his legs, forming a full suit of blazing fire. He looked like an avatar of the sun, radiating heat that melted the snow within 10 paces.
Infernal Ascendance.
Honestly, I wonder if imperial scholars will ever invent something new. For 200 years, they have been wrapping themselves in the exact same fire coat and calling it a breakthrough.
The spell looked terrifying, but it only coated the skin and outer muscle. It didn't reinforce balance, it didn't protect joints, and it didn't stop a human body from feeling gravity.
Ronan sprinted forward, the fire howling around him.
"Die!" he roared, throwing a burning haymaker straight at my skull.
I tossed my sword into the air above my head.
Ronan's eyes widened in disbelief, but he didn't stop his punch.
I stepped into the heat and caught his right wrist with my bare hand.
The fire slammed into my palm. My skin began to blister from the intense heat.
Just as I predicted.
Good thing I drank that cheap mana potion before coming.
I pulled that single drop of potion mana from my gut and pushed it into my hand, fusing it with the cold, silent thing sleeping deep inside my chest.
The fire stopped burning into my meat. It gathered across my skin like warm water, held in place by a quiet command.
The sword I had tossed fell straight back down.
I reached up with my left hand, caught the grip, and dragged the flat of the blade across my right palm. The fire jumped from my flesh straight onto the steel, igniting the iron in roaring yellow flames.
Ronan stared at his bare, empty arm, his jaw hanging open.
"HOW?!" Ronan screamed, his voice cracking in sheer panic.
"You just shout whatever incantation your teachers wrote down," I said, stepping behind his front foot.
"You have a fantasy that whoever screams the loudest is the strongest."
I clamped my hands onto his wrist and shoulder, leaned forward, and used my hip as a fulcrum to throw his entire body over my back.
Ronan flew through the air, flipped upside down, and slammed flat onto the frozen stone with a massive crash.
The ground shuddered.
The concussive shock shattered the rest of his ribs and knocked every drop of air from his lungs. The fire around him flickered once, sputtered, and died completely. Ronan lay motionless on the rock, knocked cold.
I shook the ash from my fingers and looked up.
"That is not a fight, uneducated kids."
Kiel stood 20 paces away, frozen in absolute horror.
The 2 vengeful spirits drifted down, grabbing Ronan's limp shoulders and dragging his unconscious body away into the trees.
Kiel didn't run.
His face was paper white. His hands shook so violently he could barely hold his obsidian dagger. His breathing had turned shallow and ragged, his mana pool scraping the bottom.
He's cornered.
And a cornered beast does only 1 thing.
Kiel raised his dagger and dragged the blade across his own palm, letting dark blood spill freely onto the dirt. His eyes went vacant, staring through me with cold despair.
"From the pit of endless suffering, tear their souls asunder," Kiel whispered, his voice trembling with finality.
"Vengeful Grasp!"
The clearing went pitch black.
The cursed vines beneath the turf burst through the frozen ground, intertwining and coiling upward in a violent frenzy. Thick, thorned roots locked together, forming the massive shape of a dragon that towered 15 meters over the clearing. The beast roared, dark cursed energy pouring from its jaws like black smoke.
Kiel collapsed to his knees, his face drenched in cold sweat, his life force burning on its last ember.
"I'm going to destroy you," Kiel rasped, looking up at me with hollow eyes.
I rested my flaming iron sword against my shoulder, meeting his gaze with a faint smirk.
"You haven't even realized it, Kiel."
"You're already dead."