Chapter 44

Theseus launched at me with a flurry of punches. I barely managed to block each of them with my naginata, but his fists were imbued with some kind of magic, making each impact reverberate through the manifestation and through my arms. Even if he never hit me directly, I knew I couldn’t hold out like this. I leapt backward, and Theseus followed, and the moment his fists hit my manifestation, I dispersed it, causing him to slightly lose balance. I pressed an open palm to his chest and ignited it with a torrential violet flame, causing him to get launched into the air. He spun through the air from the force of the blast. I conjured my enhanced gun manifestation and shot at him as he moved his hands in strange motions, just barely blocking the bullets, but causing him to get launched even further back through the air, until he collided with a building, cratering in the side of it.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” I shouted as I leapt into the air, forming the flames around me again and flying after him.

Theseus then jumped off the building, his blue eyes swirling with a green mist. His fist also started to glow green again, but this time I was ready for it. At least, I thought I was ready for it. I reinforced myself and conjured my naginata, blocking the attack, but his fist dodged my manifestation and impacted me in the chest, causing me to fly to the ground, slamming into the road. I coughed as bile spewed out of my mouth and I groaned, trying to get up quickly. Theseus landed down next to me, a green mist swarming him as he readied another fist. I quickly threw my hand out and with all my magical might I could in a split second, I blasted him with a cone of air, forcing him to fall backwards, slamming his back into the road. I recomposed myself, wiping the bile from my mouth and conjuring a gun and the naginata manifestation. Theseus also brought himself to his feet, shaking off the rubble on him.

“You fight unlike most others. You aren’t sticking to one simple way of combat.” Theseus said, running a hand over his buzz-cut hair. “But you lack proficiency. You’re skilled with your firearms, but that naginata does not suit you.”

“Yea, I kind of stole it. Was never meant to be mine.” I took in a deep breath in this brief moment of respite. “Oh, since we’re taking a break, why the name Theseus? You’re all about punching, didn’t he have a shield and spear? And something about a Minotaur?”

“Theseus was one of the two pioneers of pankration.”

“Of what?”

“It is a form of unarmed combat in ancient Greece. Meant to show how much power and strength you have without the need of tools.” Theseus said as he cracked his knuckles.

“Isn’t magic a tool? Aren’t you cheating?”

“Enough talk.” He said with venom in his words.

“Struck a nerve? Oh!”

Before I could get my quip out to try to anger him some more, he launched at me, grappling his arms around me and slamming me into the road. I managed to reinforce my body before the impact, but the shockwave still recoiled through my body. Theseus knelt up above me, ready to pummel me into the pavement, but I pushed mana to the flames around me, scorching him. I attempted to shoot him with my manifestation, but he simply punched my hand and the manifestation dispersed. I saw the mana shield around him ripple and warp, but he pushed through it, slamming his fist into my face. Over and over he pushed through the flames and hit me in the face. My mana shield absorbed the blow, but just like when he was hitting my manifestation, I felt the effect across my entire body.

“Ryuki, Ichiro here. We barely see you from our spot, but that guy, his fists are his manifestation. More specifically, the green glow around it are  the source of the impacts.” Ichiro said over the earpiece.

I didn’t know where they were at this exact moment, but I was thankful for the advice. That meant that the reason his punches were so powerful despite not breaking my mana shield was because the manifestation was breaking through. Theseus hit me several more times in the face before I finally managed to throw up my arms and grab his fist. He was very clearly stronger than me, as he managed to throw my hands off as he hit me one last time before my flames became too intense, and he backed off. He stepped back and ripped off his shirt that had caught fire due to his mana shield depleting and tossed it aside. He punched his fists together and flexed, showing off his perfectly chiseled muscular body. I stumbled to my feet and readied my naginata again. I shook my head and jumped from one foot to the other, as if I was warming up for a sport. Theseus took the offensive once more and launched at me again, his fists glowing green.

I blocked his fists again with the naginata and again dispersed it on impact. Theseus was expecting that, because instead of losing balance like last time, he transferred his weight into his legs, throwing a high kick at me. I threw up my arm next to my head and blocked the kick but felt no reverberation through my body. Theseus stared at me wide eyed as he saw the hand that blocked his kick. My fist up to my forearm was covered in a misty orange glow.

“How did you...?” Theseus blurted out.

“I guess you could call your manifestation Lycomedes.”

I then grabbed his leg and threw him over my head, slamming him into the ground. I jumped on top of him and started to pummel him into the ground, a reversal of the previous scenario. Again, and again my fist met his face, punching his head into the pavement. A crater was forming behind it. Every time he threw up a defense, I either slipped out of his grasp to hit him in the face again or overpowered him to break through. Eventually, however, he managed to push me off by slamming his hand against the ground and forming pillars made of earth and forcing me off of him.

“So much for not using tools!” I said as I jumped off the earth pillars.

“To kill the Minotaur, Theseus had a sword and thread.” Theseus said as he started to form magic in his hand.

I recognized what he was conjuring; it was the same spell he used to shatter Ichiro’s barrier. The green orb swirled in his hand as he brought it to his side before he thrusted his arms out, throwing a mass of green energy at me. I swiftly dodged it, but another attack followed it. I dodged it again, but more of the orbs were flying at me faster each time. I heard explosions erupting behind me as the orbs connected with whatever was behind me. I was making ground toward Theseus, but then, as I dodged one orb, another one was already where I dodged to.

***

A large explosion rang out and in the earpieces of Tsuki, Marie and Ichiro static rang out, indicating that one of them had gone offline. Marie and Ichiro gave each other a nervous look. Tsuki just screamed out in agony as she sliced through another wave of Apostles, her entire body covered head to toe in blood.