Thalen dodged dark spikes, one passing very close to his face. Jumping upward, he avoided seven more spikes. While still in the air, he was surrounded by a dark cloak, and after hearing a snap, his body was engulfed in a massive explosion. Ravith, who was launching all those attacks, watched the elf emerge from the cloud with some wounds already healing.
"You're good at running away."
Clenching his hand, a hurricane made of pure dark mana appeared around Thalen, like the previous attacks that tried to leave no escape routes. Seeing he was surrounded by that magic, Thalen stepped on the air below with all possible force and escaped upward before it closed. It was a good escape, but unfortunately Ravith had already moved to that location, guessing easily, since it was the only route his opponent had.
"Sphere of Darkness."
From his left hand several spheres flew toward Thalen. Using wind magic around his body the same way, he managed to fly to the side, beginning to flee from the rain of attacks. Feeling something coming from above, he used his new leaf magic that he obtained when he reached Circle Six. It was a magical ability that only some mages gained when evolving their circle. His body divided into many leaves, managing to avoid a black sphere five meters wide coming from above.
"A magical ability? That won't make any difference."
Rotating his palm, the atmosphere became darker and denser. Thalen, who had returned to normal, felt something surround his body, as if preventing him from using his magical ability.
"I won't underestimate my opponents like last time."
Ravith appeared in front of the elf with his fist raised and struck his face. Thalen's head snapped back with his eyes closed, which made Ravith throw another punch.
"Dark Strike—"
When he was about to hit him again, his opponent's legs wrapped around his arm. Thalen's eyes were open. Closing them had simply been to create an opening in his enemy. Grabbing his arms firmly, he pulled downward, making Ravith's face slam into the ground. Still holding the arm between his legs, Thalen created several leaf blades in the air and with a mental command they struck his opponent's arm.
"GET OFF ME."
Shouting, a wave of darkness pushed Thalen away. Falling at a distance, he rolled backward and even used the wind to increase his speed, because several spikes began appearing above him trying to impale him.
Stopping his roll, he stood up and saw that the spikes were larger than the previous ones. Ravith held his injured arm, biting his lips with controlled fury as he covered it in a cloak of darkness from the fingertips to the shoulder.
"You know, I can be quite controlled most of the time compared to my companion. But I hate the feeling of being humiliated like when I tried to invade that base."
The cloak around his arm transformed into a claw. Snapping his fingers, he made an ascending strike with that shadow claw. Five black claw slashes appeared on the ground and rushed toward Thalen.
"Wind Blade."
Using wind magic on his blade, he slashed one of the incoming attacks. He was sweating heavily from exhaustion from constantly using his mana to survive his opponent's monstrous attacks.
'I'm buying as much time as possible, just like the plan says.'
During the fight he hadn't said a single word to the enemy in front of him. He was simply focused on surviving against someone who had been Circle Six longer than he had. With difficulty he dodged another claw attack. Advancing forward, he used his wind magic to increase his speed through the air current.
A green glow began surrounding Ravith, created by Thalen's speed. Placing his hand on the ground, he summoned black sludge that halted the elf's movement. Now trapped, Ravith raised his arm and the claw grew to six meters. He brought it down toward his opponent. When it struck the ground, a shockwave swept through the surrounding trees.
"Since you're my enemy, I'll unleash my fury on you."
"You talk too much."
Suddenly Thalen appeared in front of him with several wounds and drove his blade into Ravith's chest. He had used his unique stealth ability to approach without being seen. Trying to finish the fight, he moved his arm to the left, but it was caught by the dark mage's hand.
"You make good dirty attacks. Let me return the favor."
Ravith spat the blood that had gathered in his throat into Thalen's eyes. Grabbing his leg with the clawed hand, he hurled the elf upward and without letting go slammed him into the ground below. Wounded, Thalen wiped his eye before being dragged again and slammed into the ground once more.
"What do you think of me returning your dirty blows?"
"You don't stop talking even with a blade in your neck?"
Ravith, who had been smiling, saw Thalen's serious eyes even as he lay on the ground. He directed his gaze to the right side of his neck and saw a blade embedded deeply there. It had happened when he slammed Thalen down the second time in midair. More blood spilled from his mouth, yet he didn't release him—in fact he squeezed even harder, making Thalen grimace in pain.
Striking his hand on the ground, several leaves shot toward Ravith's hand and face, making him scream as one pierced his eye, forcing him to release Thalen's leg.
'I will win.'
Finally free, he moved toward the side where Ravith's injured eye was. Even though he was following the plan to stall him, Thalen still wanted to win that fight. This would truly be his first important victory. When he reached Circle Six during that training, it had been Cavirieth who eliminated the two guards quickly.
'If I don't want to be like before, I need to win battles—even if they're dirty.'
He grabbed the blade from Ravith's neck and pulled it to the opposite side, causing a severe wound. He should have died right then from the amount of blood, but he seemed to use some magic to keep himself alive a little longer and slow the bleeding slightly.
"I will kill you."
A new punch struck Thalen's face, sending him backward. Stumbling, he steadied himself and moved again toward the injured eye. Already expecting that movement, Ravith shaped his dark magic into a stronger claw and struck toward that side even without seeing clearly.
"I won't fall for that."
"Sorry, but that was a feint."
Ravith didn't feel his punch hit anything, and worse, he heard his opponent's voice from the opposite side. He couldn't help but be surprised as his head was torn from his body. What had happened was that Thalen had used his stealth ability when his opponent lost sight of him and moved to the opposite side using wind magic to increase his speed like before.
"I did it…"
His entire body trembled and he collapsed face-first onto the ground. His hands were shaking and he couldn't even move. If he hadn't defeated his opponent now, he would be the one dead because he could no longer even stand after that.
'I won…'
His eyes began to close as he saw some prisoners who had been helping the elves fight the corrupted elves in the distance approaching. It seemed that even if he lost consciousness he would be taken care of. Since he couldn't move anyway, he accepted his fate and fell completely unconscious, hoping that when he woke up his companions would have achieved victory as well.