Joseph Vs Han

The two faced each other across the stage, eyes firmly locked on the other, both restored to peak condition.

As the match began, Han dashed forward while Joseph rose up on his pillars. The fight opened quickly, Han cutting down stone columns and throwing magic projectiles while Joseph dodged, keeping the high ground.

With his three-dimensional movement and long-range attacks, Joseph forced Han to chase shadows.

After Joseph’s last match with the prince, he had realized he lacked proper methods to deal with Han and the prince’s type. Fast, with a fair amount of strength, good skill and positioning, all counters under the current circumstances.

As such, for five minutes the two clashed, neither making much headway. Han pushed hard, attacking with near full strength, using everything short of his trump cards. His only goal was to cut off Joseph’s movement, knowing that would decide everything

Joseph, by contrast, was playing the long game.

His arrows regularly missed, getting stuck in the ground, firmly planted with their fletching in the air. The routes behind him constantly covered in patches of tar preventing Han from easily giving chase, and by minimizing the amount of concrete with smaller, more fragile bridges his mana consumption was looking healthy.

After a while Han finally made progress. With many of Joseph’s pillars destroyed, sliced or so weakened that a single tap would send them toppling, Joseph was forced to the ground. The two locked eyes for a moment, then Joseph leapt sideways, straight towards Han.

Han’s eyes narrowed, wondering what was happening next but he attacked regardless, slashes of white lightning soaring through the air. Mid leap Joseph conjured a water barrier around himself, blocking the attacks.

Since he specifically made the water absolutely pure, the lightning did not conduct well. Landing only a few meters away they were in a stalemate. Then, crackling. From inside the barrier a jolt of electricity shot through the air.

Thin beads of moisture present in the air acting as jump points, deliberately spread out as his barrier wafted off wisps of vapor. Jumping through the air, Han dodged by a hair’s breadth, but Han wasn’t the target. Instead in an odd star-like shape, arrows sparked to life.

The jolt of electricity Joseph released struck one of the arrows, triggering a chain reaction as they banded together with arcs of electricity. In an instant, Joseph formed a water barrier around Han, causing his danger sense to spike.

Han poured mana into his sword, it doubled in length, blazing with white light and crackling lightning as he slashed at the barrier.

Slashing as fast as he could, it couldn’t beat electricity. The arrows, filled with electric charges all converged onto the water dome. The dome, specifically made with conductive properties in mind, bounced the lightning around and through Han’s body.

Though he resisted, perhaps thanks to his own lightning affinity, he was able to unleash a powerful swing, shattering the dome. But even then, three swirling tennis balls of fire already hovered around him in a triangle, ready to explode in unison.

While he knew he could escape, Han ultimately raised his hands with exhaustion, sweat arcing with white lightning. “Fighting you is a nightmare, I shall concede.”

Joseph’s fighting style was painfully clear to him: unless someone had the raw strength to smash through every pillar or the speed to keep pace in all directions, you wouldn’t touch him.

With the battlefield turned into a 3D maze, Joseph remained in control of the fight’s pace, keeping the constant advantage. Especially as Joseph’s senses weren’t blocked by pillars, his arrows and magic didn’t care about terrain, and his movement let him weave around surfaces in ways few could match.

Even Joseph knew his weak points. He’d been working on filling the gaps for a while. Wall-climbing was one of those measures, if he only stayed on top of the pillars, anyone with strong agility or flight could close the distance.

By making himself able to move along all surfaces, his survivability and unpredictability shot through the roof. The only lingering issue remained his mana pool and ways to either run or fight on an even playing field.

Many in the audience, the king included, thought about how they would personally fight against this sort of style. Most coming up empty, a few with thoughts of grandeur, and some with sparks of inspiration.

Despite those thoughts, the king stood to congratulate both Joseph and Han. For the first time in a long while, Fallenshade was no longer a tragic tale of a fallen guild. Now it was a guild rising from the ashes, clawing back to regain its prestige.

With the events over and the speech concluded, all departed to ready themselves for the evening’s banquet.