Sovereign's Tourney: Part 3

Ting! Ting! Ting! A cacophony of metal collisions screamed in the atmosphere. My body had several bruises and cuts from her attacks, yet she was still undamaged. I only noticed one sweat bead fall from her face during our battle.

“Just give up. Killing you gives me no joy,” the woman advised. Her pity pissed me off.

“Never! I won't lose to you, no matter what!”

Our swords had turned blunt. I was sure that one of them would snap at any moment. The clean sound of sharp metal had dulled for both of our weapons. It was only a matter of time till this fight ended with one of our blades shattering..

“I have to give you credit, though. You’re the person I have fought the longest. Hold that honour with pride.” Her praise was vomit-inducing.

“Just shut up and die already!”

Our duet continued onward, both of us dancing to our tune but still connected by the blade.

—------------------------

Arrows penetrated spheres of mana, exploding their magical essence. Yet more spheres were shot by the floating priest, arriving directly at Riku, whether he liked it or not. The battle between them was akin to a game of hot potato. Whoever fumbled their shots first was the loser.

“You’re not bad, pony-tail man! Not anyone could keep up with me like this!” the young Sister complimented her enemy.

“I don’t want to be complimented by my foe!” Riku breathed out with the remaining oxygen he had.

Riku dashed around her circular perimeter, shooting at the opening she had. But she was able to block every move of his and return the attack. It was as though she could see the future. This back and forth continued for an eternity. Both sides refused to resist.

For the first time, the Sister looked exhausted. She panted heavily and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“This is getting boring. Why don’t we kick it up and notch!”

Walls of rock rose from the depths, towering over the battlefield. It formed a maze, separating most of our forces from each other. Riku and the Sister were together in a narrow corridor. A peculiar strategy for two ranged attackers.

“What did you do? We’re in a maze!” Riku was shocked. It was just an endless corridor in front of and behind him.

“Isn’t this fun? Now we can make this a game of cat and mouse!”

Bolts of lightning formed around. Her eyes glowed in the darkness of the maze. She wasn’t a Sister anymore. Her aura emulated a god. Concentrated lightning bolts charged in her hands.

“I’m the cat, of course!” As she shouted, her lightning bolts struck millimetres from Riku. If he hadn’t dodged it, his body would have been fried from top to bottom.

Bullets of sweat dripped from every pore of his body. The stakes of this battle had risen. From hot potato, it was one-shot one-kill.

“Run, Riku!” I screamed as loud as possible.

He didn’t need to listen to me. Riku dashed with all his remaining stamina, dodging every bolt he could with pure instinct. His feet flew from the floor to the walls. He even hopped from wall to wall. The Sisters’ onslaught of ammunition never stopped, but Riku deftly evaded all her attacks.

An intersection stood in front of him. There were 3 paths: left, right and centre. One wrong turn and Riku’s life would be forfeit.

“Hey Aki! Which path should I take? I can’t keep running from this crazy chick forever!” Riku desperately called.

With my observational magic, I scouted all three paths. The left and centre paths were dead ends, whereas the right path led to an even longer corridor. Though it meant a longer chase, there was no other option.

“Take the right!”

“Roger!”

Riku led the Sister towards the right, continuing this cat and mouse game of death. Even with his stamina depleted, he was still able to dodge those terrifying bolts.

“Stop running! Let me hit you already!” The Sister screamed at Riku like a spoiled girl.

“No way! Why would I let you do that?!”

“Because I want to kill you!”

“That’s a terrible reason!”

A flood of light flowed at the end of the corridor. The air’s claustrophobic and musty nature became fresher. All signs led to the exit being an arm’s reach away. Somehow, Riku’s stamina replenished with hope. He submerged himself in the warmth of the light.

“Oh come on!” Riku was disappointed.

It was another dome, smaller than the one before. Plain pillars supported the structure and held several platforms together. A gaping hole was at the top, letting in bright rays from the Sun. It was too high to climb, however. Once again, it was a dead end.

“Oooooh! A coliseum… Perfect! This’ll be fun!” The Sister giggled with glee.

“What do you mean? You made this. Why are you shocked?” Riku asked.

“I use chantless magic, so it’s pretty unstable. It works in ways that even I can’t predict thanks to my fidgety brain.”

That made sense. Chants in magic were meant to focus the mana into a specific form. Without them, the mana had to form from an image in your brain. If your brain had scattered thoughts, a spell could end in disaster. It was for that reason that everyone in Aogiri practised chants.

“Enough chatter! Time to fight to the death!” Her mana pool had somehow grown to extraordinary levels. Bolts of lightning, flares of fire and solid rocks formed around her. Each element was powered to its maximum compatibility.

“For once, I agree with you. I won’t hold back!” A phoenix flame took the place of Riku’s arrow, its aura immersed with gusts of wind and flowing water. Their mana overflowed around the coliseum, cracking its walls and splitting the ground.

“Incantatio coniuncta: impetus totalis!” Both prodigies shouted.

The Sister’s sphere of mana shot down towards Riku.

Riku released his phoenix of mana towards the Sister.

Both spells grew to the size of a house. As they collided, a flashbang of light exploded in front, releasing mass energy around the perimeter. The impact released an unstoppable force, pushing both Riku and the Sister further and further. Yet, they held on. The coliseum disintegrated from within.

Boom! A crater formed in the centre. Spider web-like cracks formed in the centre. Rocks fell from above like raindrops. The coliseum crumbled from just that one attack. On one corner, the Sister was limp, blood dripping from her forehead. Her attire was torn apart, leaving bruises and bloody scratches.

Riku lay on the other side. His armour was tattered top to bottom, leaving scars on his body. Blood was splattered all over him, forming a river inside the cracks.

Both of them got up, even if they were destroyed inside out. As they stared at each other, an eerie smile grew on both of their faces. They weren’t just normal people anymore. The two in the coliseum had become warriors. They felt pride in a battle to the death.

As the Sister raised her palms, Riku brought up his bow. Both their hands were shaking with weakness. Their eyes couldn’t even focus on the enemy. Yet, the will of battle pushed them forward. It sucked their consciousness into a state of adrenaline.

They charged up their magic, ready for another blast of magic. One more impact, and they both would die. The question was who was going to die first. As light grew from both of their weapons, the ground shook from their overbearing mana.

No. It wasn’t them.

A hand shot up from the floor, its skin decayed. Though it wore pitch black armour, bones could be seen from the gaps. Whatever emerged from the ground wasn’t human. It emerged from the ground fully, revealing an armoured soldier in pitch black. The being’s face was contorted and decayed. Its complexion was grey and its eyes were unfocused.

That black armour resembled the one I’d read in the scriptures. They didn’t belong to anyone from Aethelheim, and there was no chance it was Aogiri.

Ashenfall had finally made its appearance.

Zombie soldiers continued to sprout from the ground. The broken coliseum was filled with Ashenfall’s soldiers. Riku and the Sister glanced around at their new enemies. They were angry at the sudden disturbance. With just a glance of eye contact, they understood the assignment.

“Raaaah!” The zombies screamed, rushing towards both of them.

Their heads flew off their bodies in a fraction of a second. Arrows pierced through their craniums one by one. On the other side, bodies flew left, right and centre. Burning corpses were buried by her magic. Riku and The Sister stood back to back, pushing back the dark horde.

—-------------------

“Can’t even let an old man rest!” Mr Arakawa complained as he sliced off the heads of the zombies.

It wasn’t just the coliseum. Even the frontlines were fighting back against the horde of Ashenfall troops. Soldiers divided their attention between their enemies. It was pure chaos on the battlefield. A mental strategy would never work against zombies.

Bullets of flame shot from above, burning the living corpses. Chiyo’s magic was starting to turn the tide of the battle. The number of zombies began to finally dwindle.

“When is this war going to end?!” Chiyo voiced out in disappointment.

“Two generals of Aethelheim are left, and we still haven’t seen a commander from Ashenfall. We’re nearing the end, though, I can feel it.” I had no evidence for this, though. It was just my hopeful thinking.

“Kurokawa, I see a figure in the distance. What’s the plan?” Mr Arakawa pointed into the distance.

A single figure of pure black sauntered towards the centre, towering over the zombie soldiers. His thick armour covered him from head to toe. A cape of darkness flowed behind him with the wind. In his right hand was a greatsword, the size of an average person.

He held his sword up. Dark magical energy wildly formed from its epicentre. The bright sky was clouded in darkness. The entity’s overbearing pressure sent shivers down everyone’s spine. It was as though the god of death had descended to the battlefield of mortals.

Only one thought ran in my mind.

“Run! Run for your lives!”

A pillar of darkness pierced the heavens, blowing through the crowds. It fell to the land of the mortals, disintegrating every soldier caught in its path. The beam of darkness tore the ground like butter, creating a half-open tunnel. Not even a shred of a human could be seen in its path.

“Kurokawa, remember I told you about the suited soldier who destroyed our army.” Mr Arakawa brought up. He had barely dodged the knight’s attack.

“Wasn’t that the large soldier you defeated?”

“I was mistaken. That man was too easy to defeat. He couldn’t have been the one in my memories. But that knight over there…”

Mr Arakawa gulped in fear. His face had gone pale. Sweat poured from his forehead like a waterfall.

“It’s him. That’s the one. That’s the monster that won the last Sovereign’s Tourney.”

—-----------------

This battle couldn’t have gotten any worse. My armour was falling apart. The cuts on my skin got deeper. It was difficult to breathe. Even my vision began to blur. I couldn’t be distracted by such little damage. If it wasn’t life-threatening, I was still fine.

My enemy, too, had begun to feel the first signs of exhaustion. Her breathing was haggard. I was able to land a few swings on her, cutting her armour to pieces. She began to shed some blood. Our battle was much more evenly matched.

However, distractions had come our way. Zombie knights sprouted from the ground like decayed plants. An onslaught of them interfered in our battle. Their intrusion ultimately did not matter.

If they got in the way of our swing, we’d cut them down as well. It was as simple as that.

In a short time, all of the undead were defeated. My body felt too heavy to move, but I couldn’t rest. Not when we were this close.

“I’d like to apologise to you, Princess of Aogiri,” the lady said all of a sudden.

“What for?” I was too tired to be angry or quip back.

“I severely underestimated you. Even when at a disadvantage, you continued to persevere through the battle, pushing your limits. Though you are my enemy, I admire that aspect of yours.”

I never expected such heartfelt words to come from my enemy, especially while we were fighting to the death.

“I have to thank one person for that. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even be standing here.” An image of Aki appeared in my mind. His strength and confidence in me were what pushed me this far.

“A source of support. I had that once. I miss him dearly, though.” She had become emotional thinking about the past.

“I can tell from your sword skills that your discipline with the blade is second to none. He would be very proud of you,” I genuinely complimented her. Though she took the lives of important people from our side, I could tell that, at her core, she wasn’t a bad person.

She nodded. Her mouth was slightly quivering.

Our conversation was enough of a rest. I firmly held my blade and swung a horizontal slash. She blocked it, sending sparks flying in the air. Aki was waiting for me at the end of this battle. I was not about to let him down.