The Goro

“All right, all geared up.” Said Io.

“Yeah, but are you sure you only wear that?” Alet is confused with him, that he only wears big pants with a pair of silver and gold gloves.

“Of course! Why?”.

“Nothing wrong though, you really are sure not wearing any body armor.” Alet blushes a little.

“Oh this… This is from Siluma tradition. We show our upper torso to show our strength. But umm… since I’m not that muscular, they always say I’m weak. Well I guess about time to prove they were wrong.” Io’s eyes filled with enthusiasm.

“Anyway, what weapon are you going to use?”.

“I’m going with the sword. I know they have a spell caster in the back, but I’m sure we can close the gap.”.

“Next up! The Goro versus… a new challenger, The Angkara!!” A sound from a female announcer can be heard throughout their changing room. They walk out to the arena and people are cheering around it. The stadium has a circular shape with a square area in the middle, this is where they will fight. They walk toward a lift with a person standing next to it. The person gives them a magical spell, this spell gives a magical shield similar to the shield from the dueling field inside their university. The difference is this shield only holds the body together, meaning that any slice from a blade will not separate the body. Even with the shield on, risk of death still can occur with a knife to the heart or blood loss.

“The rules are simple, knock out or throw out from the dueling zone!” As their lift stopped at the top of the dueling arena.

They step to the arena as everybody cheers around them. This is what every warrior and civil servant has their vacation. Not only that, the fighters can be recruited by the government to be the “hero”.

Once they step face to face, they are ready with their stance. “Ready! Begin!” As soon as the announcer gives the mark, the sword boy flies toward Io. Soon Io blocked his attack but his hand started to shake. “So strong, damn… he is from the Manusha race, his arm gloves make him stronger. I have to aim for his hands.” With a plan in his head, Io returns to attack that boy. Their sword colliding non stop, the sound of two metal filled the arena. As they fought face to face, Alet noticed that that boy’s body started to glow. “An enhancement magic! I should help Io.” Before she could cast a similar spell, Io shouted.

“Alet! Throw something toward his arm!” He held his hand upward, blocking his sword.

Alet throws a wind dagger to his right hand and it hits it. Soon she realized that it does nothing to it. Io jumps backwards and starts to make a new plan with Alet.

“It's not good. That gloves are only destroyed using physical damage. I have to use my fist to break it.” Said Io while keeping his eyes toward the boy.

“I’ll enhance your body strength. I’ll try to attack that girl behind him to buy you some time before she can cast another enhancing spell.” As Alet started to apply the spell.

“Hey! This is a battlefield! No time to chit chat!” The boy flies back toward Io.

Again Io blocks it and tries to aim his hand. This time he used his right hand to punch the boy glove. Once it hits, the boy retreats from Io. “Geh! Siluma is indeed so strong. But I’m about to change that!” The boy charged toward Io. Io's eyes widened, he knew he was about to throw a shadow step. Io swung his sword towards the area where he headed but his sword hit the air.

“Io! Above you!” Shouted Alet but Io was too late to react and a slice from his sword marked his body. A fresh blood flowing through his chest and he falls to the ground.

“Is that all you got? You are weaker for a Siluma that I ever faced before. Pathetic.” The boy looks down at Io as he tries to stand back up.

Suddenly, the boy duplicated himself. “What is that! An illusion spell?” Alet can’t believe her eyes. That spell is usually used to duplicate the owner and not another person, this is a sign that she must be an expert at spell caster.

“Now I know what your team name means. It means no matter where I strike I always get the wrong answer.” Io sound trembled.

“You are right. But now it’s too late. Now, die!” The boy raises his hand followed by his illusion.

When he dropped his strike, his sword struck an earth tent. Alet cast it to protect Io. The boy is pissed, he starts to charge toward Alet. With all the illusion, she can’t even decide where or which one to strike. She cast a fire breath to burn every single one of them. Thanks to her training she knew the boy would jump upward and strike from above. Then she threw her hand upward to cast an earth pillar. The pillar hit him and he flew high up in the air. Not giving him a chance, she starts to cast wind whirl to crush him. Not staying still, the girl throws three fireballs toward Alet, with no time to cancel her cast, she is ready to receive whatever happened to her. A powerful explosion was made, Alet opened her eyes and saw Io standing there and blocked the fireballs.

“Keep doing it! Crush his armours down! I’ll fight her from here.” Io start to cast a fireball towards the girl.

The girl then threw some wind dagger towards them, thanks to her magic wand, her casting range increased significantly. Io's eyes started to glow, he activated his peak to increase any possible chance to cast a spell he never learned before. He started to jump towards the daggers projectile and he spun his body to create a powerful wind that sucked up the air around him. He flew towards the girl and at the end of his flying path, he threw a punch slamming down from the air. As he slams the ground, a powerful wind surrounds him and makes the girl fly outside the arena, this makes her count as defeated.

After watching, Io defeated the girl. Alet slammed the boy's body to the ground. As the boy stands up, he soon realizes that his partner is defeated. He knew this by hearing a buzzer sound and the screen showed a red cross on his partner.

“What a useless partner! Fine! I’ll do it myself!” The boy's face filled with anger.

“That’s it, be angry, unleash your fury!” Io's voice turned sinister like a demon.

As a Siluma, the other person's anger only feeds his energy. Once again the peak is the one that caused that. If a Siluma passes over his peak, he can turn into another person and start to attack anyone, even his own allies. This is why the peak is very dangerous. Both Io and the boy jump forward. This time Io not using his sword, he starts to throw a punch. After receiving Io’s punch, the boy barely kept his stance and his gloves started to break. Before he can strike back, his eyes widen and his face filled with fear. He sees Io walking toward him, not only one but three of him.

“What is that? I didn’t even cast an illusion spell toward Io… The peak is really scary.” Alet also can’t believe what she sees.

“Now! Where are we? Do you want this the hard way or the easy way?” Io’s voice still sounds sinister.

Can’t even answer his question, the buzzer went off. The boy counts as defeated since he can’t stand up after 30 seconds. This countdown only starts when a team loses their partner. After Angkara was declared as the winner the crowd started to cheer louder.

“Wow! What a fight! For all fighters, please head back to the changing room.” Said the announcer.

“You are a lucky one.” Said Io with a cold stare toward the boy and his voice started to return to normal.

They head back to the lift and the person that gives them the shield starts to take it away. As they head back to the changing room, Alet wraps Io’s chest with bandages.

“You should be careful next time.” As she patches Io with a sad expression.