Joseph vs The Prince

At the signal, the prince’s feet flared with light as he blurred across the stage, closing the distance in an instant. His sword slashed to end it before Joseph could react—but a barrier shimmered to life, stopping the strike cold. Joseph stood calmly within, his other hand already at work.

Before the prince could retreat, concrete walls rose up, as if Joseph had anticipated his location, boxing him in. Joseph layered another water barrier around the concrete box, trapping him within two barriers.

Dropping his own barrier, Joseph gained some distance and watched. He wanted to see if the prince could break free. Almost immediately a fast flash of light crumbled the concrete walls, leaving the two looking at each other eye to eye.

The prince himself looked uncertain, placing his hand on the barrier—his sudden opening attack had made it clear he’d hoped to avoid this very situation.

Joseph, now on the other side of the arena, raised himself six meters into the air, senses spread to the limit, and waiting. With his bow in hand, he wasn’t about to take chances, but he also didn’t want it over too quickly.

The prince steadied his breath, sword glowing faintly with white and gold. The light pulsed, rippling through the barrier more than it should have. He swung, releasing a blade of light that tore into the water dome.

A second strike crossed the first in a visible cross, the combined force shattering the barrier and sending the golden cross streaking skyward towards Joseph.

The prince exhaled in relief and immediately hurled balls of light magic upward, flashing through the air.

Joseph smiled faintly. Finally, something worth his attention. He ran down the side of the pillar, his feet glued into place and body seemingly ignoring the effects of gravity. Jumping off just as the cross of light impacted the concrete pillar, another formed beneath his feet.

Then another, and another. Bridges connected dozens of concrete pillars together, making a makeshift forest. Running between them, the crowd was amazed as he effortlessly ran upside down, jumping from horizontal faces to vertical.

The prince pressed on from the ground, but Joseph’s constant constructions kept blocking his line of sight. For Joseph, it made no difference, he could sense him clearly. Drawing back his bow, he nocked an arrow, and a few seconds after slipping from view, two shots whistled out toward the crowd as the single arrow split apart.

Though slower than usual and more easily visible to the naked eye, the arrows curved apart, diverging into two paths that swept around the pillar and converged on the prince.

The two arrows streaked down, each coming from different sides. The prince dodged the first but barely avoided the second, his blade scraping as it deflected and shattered on the floor.

‘Got him.’

Joseph cloaked himself, slipping away in the planned moment of distraction. As the prince unleashed a horizontal slash, the golden arc cleaving through the air and splitting the pillar, he realized Joseph was already gone.

Blurred against the concrete, the prince stayed on high alert, sweat beading on his brow as he rushed about, unwilling and not daring to stand still. Suddenly, black arrows burst forth, drawing his attention. He retaliated with a swift arc of light, shattering several arrows as the dark mixture hissed into the air.

Though a few arrows still survived, his own slash of light shattered another pillar—once again to no effect as Joseph had already moved. He raised his sword to swat the black arrows aside, but they burst just before contact, splattering ooze into the air.

His senses flared in recognition. A golden light radiated from him, burning and pushing most of the substance away, yet some clung stubbornly onto existence, splashing on his close by hand. With a sharp hiss of annoyance, his grip had been glued tight around the sword, restricting his movements.

He couldn’t afford to stand still as more black arrows curved around the pillars, but their sharp arcs slowed them just enough to let him slip past, dodging by the narrowest margins.

From the top of a pillar, looking down Joseph frowned. ‘This guy is pretty good, annoying as well… I’ve burned through nearly half of my mana on all this concrete alone. The arrows are fairly efficient, especially with spirit but still… I can’t let this turn to an endurance game.’

With the prince rapidly running along his own concrete bridges, hopping between them with ease to search for his location, Joseph rushed down and relaxed the camouflage, keeping only the part facing the prince active, while trailing behind him.

Smothering the top sides with black tar, the prince quickly caught on and hurried to the floor. Cancelling his camouflage fully, Joseph stood on the side of a pillar, arrow knocked and aimed directly at him.

Arrow after arrow flew in rapid succession. The prince, wrapped in golden aura, deflected or dodged each with precision, yet held back from counterattacking, likely gauging Joseph’s next move.

Similarly, Joseph was gauging the prince’s reaction and soon spotted an opening, he was too cautious. After every single arrow, he used a split second of his time to check his full surroundings, looking wary of an arrow coming from the sides or behind.

Smirking, Joseph kept up his barrage and slipped behind a pillar. For a brief moment he vanished from sight, loosing a slower arrow that trailed along the concrete’s pathways, hidden from view.

Suddenly, sensing something the prince turned his back, the slower arrow threatening to pierce him from behind.

He dodged quickly, his gaze snapping back to Joseph’s former position, ready, confident, as if to say, ‘I was prepared for that!’

But at that moment his gaze swung, Joseph vanished once again and the next heartbeat, the concrete pillar to his side cracked. In an instant, a thin arrow burst forth, then a heartbeat later, Joseph stood only a few meters away, a small, tennis-ball-sized sphere in his hand.

With only a split second to react the prince’s aura surged, a golden film, dense and scaly formed at the location of impact. But it was a ruse, the arrow shattered easily, doing nothing and instead a tennis ball of swirling energies shot towards the prince’s face.

The golden film, rapidly moved to cover his face but it was too late. The ball exploded a few inches away, Joseph already in view, ears plugged. DING! A high-frequency blast exploded out, the pressure slamming into the prince’s ears.

In that instant his eardrums burst, blood and fluid trickling down his neck, eyes shaken and balance lost as the violent sound disoriented him. Being only a few meters away, Joseph wasn’t untouched but, with gritted teeth and being in range black tar surged around the prince’s feet.

Then came an arrow. But before it could land, the prince’s eyes dimmed, his pupils unfocusing. Mid-flight, the arrow dissolved into dust beneath a mere breath of aura from the referee, who teleported next to the prince with a single step.

Elara rushed in, checking him over. His ears bled freely, and his ability to balance gone. After a few seconds his eyes refocused as he sat up. Every sound stabbed like a blade. The constant ringing in his head made standing nearly impossible.

Regardless, despite the healers and Elara around him he focused on Joseph and extended his hand. Thinking for a moment Joseph gave in to the prince’s charismatic smile and shook it, a sign of respect for having to make him use nearly his entire mana pool.

Being escorted out by the healers, the prince’s expression was far from sour. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t bitter. His only regret was failing to land even a single strike.

And with the marching steps of healers, echoing down the hallway, the match ended.