Chapter 56 - Return of the first prince (4) (1/2)

Separated by 10 meters two fighters faced each other, one said to be at the peak of humanity. The other a pure blood qiton, said to have limitless potential for strength, but limited by pride and tradition. The first prince, Henrik Vi Gruffydd VIII, wore a confident smile along with his shining red adamantite armor, he was certain of victory. Having assessed his opponent was unable to use even the faintest approximation of magic he predicted being able to overwhelm his opponent instantly. The other fighter was Dax, standing barefooted calmly without facial expression of even taking a stance his presence seemed so thin that he might blend in with the arena wall. Dax only wore a pair of plain shorts and a black t-shirt, wielding a heavy tungsten shortsword along with it.

While most of the spectators where certain that he would lose, they somehow couldn't see Dax lose, even if refusing to admit it.

”Both fighters are ready!? 3…. 2…. 1….. Begin!”

With the tension peaking the announcer called the start of the match, prompting the prince to hastily gather mana, while Dax started bouncing around on the tips of his feet, still without taking a stance.

”EAT THIS!”

5 seconds after the announcer had started the match Henrik had prepared his first offensive spell, ripping out shards of rock from the arena ground and sending them hurling at Dax with break neck speed. Dax responded by dodging the rock shards with minimal effort, except for the last, which he caught with a spin and tossed back towards the prince as he broke the ground beneath him as he charged the prince simuntarraly.

”Wha!-”

Not expecting his spell being used against him, Henrik was forced to pause his ranged attack as he slashed the rock shard in half with his sword, revealing Dax charging towards him only a mere meter behind the rock shard. Slashing out of panic, Dax received the hit with his flesh and blood arm as he placed a open palm strike in the center of the prince's plate armor, making him stagger a few steps backwards.

”Take this seriously.”

Instantly closing the distance once more Dax delivered a series of heavy strikes to the prince's chest with his shortsword before he was forced to retreat a few steps when the prince channeled mana into his longsword and made a wide slash. Following the slash Henrik kneaded a high amount of mana before Dax could close the distance again and used it to make a wind spell that pushed Dax away.

”That was some exchange ladies and gentlemen! What do you think about it Marcus!?”

”The crown prince underestimated his opponent and allowed him to get close. But still what was that parry from Dax? I'm much more interested in that. Even if the runic formation in the crown prince's sword are unpowered it should be able to slice something as soft as an arm…”

”I'm very interested in that too! When Dax parred his highness' sword it didn't even leave a mark, let alone a wound!? Could you please tell us about that miss Terra?”

”Dax's skin is extremely tough, so the prince will need to take the fight a whole lot more seriously, but then again so does Dax, that exchange right there was just a greeting.”

”A greeting you say?”

”Yeah, it said 'I can hurt you so get your act together'.”

”Well one thing is sure, Dax isn't going to lose this as easy as some people thought!”

(That sure was unexpected…)

Until now Henrik had been sure that the fight would be easy, but was forced to reevaluate his opponent after he had effortlessly closed the range.

(Seems like there is something worth taking seriously after all… Then it's simply a matter of crushing him like the inferior race he is!)

With a still confident smile Henrik prepared his next spell instantly, and invoked it by channeling mana into his chestplate. As the chestplate absorbed the prince's mana it started glowing slightly, then golden crystals started forming around the prince as his smile bloomed ever more confident. After forming some 50 sword sized crystals the prince seemed to be able to control them at will, and they slowly started spinning around him.

(How about this then!?)

Having prepared his new attack spell, the prince sent some 20 sword sized razor sharp crystals flying towards his target. Dax reacted by charging towards the crystals, and as the first one was about to hit him he reached out his artificial arm, and with a wave the crystal disappeared as if dissolving.

”WHAT!?”

Starting to panic slightly, the crown prince sent the rest of the crystals towards Dax as he summoned more and channeled mana into his sword. Dax destroyed a few more crystals but was eventually forced to stop his assault as he was slowly overwhelmed by relentless swarms of the prince's spells.

”Seems like Dax is in a pickle ladies and gentlemen!? What do you think of this development miss Terra!?”

”I feel like it's to be expected. Dax can't use mana, and for some reason he isn't allowed to use something like a handgun to compensate for it, so of course he'll be overwhelmed when the crown prince started taking this whole affair seriously, now it's just a matter of time until Dax himself starts taking the match seriously or he loses.”

”Indeed. But I can't see Dax breaking out of this with pure strength alone… Still it was a surprise to see him cancelling the prince's spell with that arm of his.”

”Could you please elaborate on what that exactly was that just happened Marcus? I'm sure that there are people among the audience today not able to see mana as well as you, including myself of course!”

”Even if you ask me it's a bit hard to explain… If I had to try and explain it, it was like the crystal burst apart from the inside as something strange happened with the mana.”

”Something strange?”

”That's as close as I can get to an accurate description I can get, to be honest the implications behind even being able to cancel a spell after it's been invoked are…. Well terrifying, so let's not get into it here.”

”Then we won't! But even with whatever trick Dax is using it looks like he's running out of steam!”

Indeed as the announcer said Dax was slowly backing off while being overwhelmed by the prince's constant barrage of spells

”Are you really sure that's the case? From over here it looks like Dax is overwhelming the prince.”

”Oh? How so?”

”Dax can keep dodging, canceling and blocking the prince's spells perfectly for days on end without issue. Even if he's hit a few times it won't bother him, whereas the prince is 'just' a human, like all of us, limited by mana, patience and concentration. The longer the fight goes on, the higher chance Dax has of winning.”

(Why can't I hit him!?)

After seriously trying to harm (or kill) Dax for a few minutes Dax had reacted by continuously evading hits with minimal movement as he slowly creeped closer, making the prince ever more frustrated as he started to slightly panic.

”You're exposed.”

Seeing his chance Dax hit away a crystal as his artificial arm split apart and 3 metal rod extended outwards.

”Disruption field wide area test #1… Commencing.”

It started slowly, maybe it was a few seconds before even the prince noticed it, but all of a sudden he lost all control of the crystal swords as the suddenly all disappeared.

”Test successful, although heat generation and decay are both intense….”

With a clam report as if he were in a laboratory doing clinical trials Dax rushed towards the prince once more, but this time he exposed the prince to the full brunt of his bloodl.u.s.t.

”SHIT!”

In that moment Henrik completely forgot he was in a sparring match with his flight or fight response deciding to fright he hurriedly activated a different runic array in his prized adamantite armor. Dax was at that point only a few steps from reaching the prince when a layer of concentrated dense mana seemed to from between him and the prince. Smashing through the hastily formed barrier with a shoulder tackle Dax barely slowed down as he showed a slight smile.

”Is that all you got?”