TBATE | The Brightest Light and The Darkest Night [Discontinued]

A Short Demonstration

||Bairon Wykes||

I walked slowly and in circles determining my best approach. My eyes were only fixated at her, I grasped my sword tightly charging it with some lightning.

"Are you just going to stand there? C'mon don't be shy." Varay playfully said to me.

"I'm just being cautious. You can't feel too safe, even if you're a white core mage." I responded to her.

"That's what I admire about you, Thunderlord. " She complimented me.

"Feelings mutual, my dear friend." I replied back nonchalantly.

I looked for an opening on her position, and she most likely did too. The battle would've just become two people circling around the ring. But I knew I had to act.

For a split second tendrils of lightning exited from my body. A thunderous boom shook the whole training facility ,despite it's grand size, as I hurdle myself towards Aurae with all the force I can propel myself with. Despite her creating ice spikes that rose from the ground around me it only took three wide steps in order for me to be within her reach each one creating a smoking imprint.

As soon as I did, she froze the floor in an attempt to put me off balance. But I knew better, I stepped in the ice and slammed my augmented right foot to the ground with full force and releasing a large quantity of lightning to the ground causing it to rupture.

I then propelled myself to the left. A feign, a technique I've observed Arthur do, though it wasn't as perfect as his I caught my partner off guard because of it.

I unsheathed my sword which made another thunderous crackle, unfortunately I lost my sabre during one of my battles but found another blade that was both light and very good at absorbing the user's mana. It's blade was black in color and had a silver cross guard and the hilt was evenly balanced with the blade.

I anchored my left foot to the floor and ducked down Varay's slash. Even though I didn't feel contact with the blade I felt its bitter coldness.

She was exposed and I attempted to hit her sword hand hoping to finish the fight with one blow. But I sensed my feet getting colder by the second, before realizing that ice slowly crept below me.

"Playing dirty huh?" I said smiling at her.

"War's never fair after all." She replied slyly.

I propelled myself backwards as I was left in a bad spot. As I landed she launched several ice spikes at me which I dodged but one managed to lightly wound my shoulder.

"C'mon, come at me." She said with a taunting pose, her arms wide open and giving me a playful gaze.

"With pleasure madam." I muttered under my breath. I charged at her while firing arcs of blue lightning at her which made a whistling noise. 

I almost managed to hit her but she was also fast, parrying every attacks I did even at blinding speeds while at the same time trying to pin me down.

It was an even fight, if you were watching. Despite my training I knew I was still below Varay in terms of utilizing mana and swordsmanship. That's when I came up with an idea. 

I dashed towards her again doing a barrage of attacks and strikes.

My breathing was ragged after ten minutes of trying to break her defense, and to no avail. Because I didn't need to...

I stared at her, admired by her tenacity. I released a sigh as I attempt to catch my breath.

"Don't give me too much credit. I'm only holding a poker face here." She said slowly revealing that she was tired of the battle.

"You're too humble." I scoffed at her.

"That move you did, try it again." She requested.

"As you wish. But I'm about to go all out now." I warned her.

She gave me a firm nod and took a defensive stance.

I lowered my stance, locked my gaze at her. Tendrils of lightning glowed around me as I was charging up, after a while I bolt towards her this time twice as fast creating a straight line of my after image while my eyes left a trail of copper light.

She hastily conjured and hurled a tornado filled with razor sharp ice shards at me while freezing the ground, but too bad for her the ice breaks before my feet even had contact with the ground. 

"Wrath of Thunder"

A set of moves wherein my entire body was augmented with lightning and forcefully enhanced, with the added short burst of speed I was able to attack at multiple directions changing positions within a short notice as well as enhance my reaction time. 

I was on her left,

Now on her right,

Behind her ,

And finally in front of her.

Sparks of lightning erupted from my blade, making it produce this metallic shrill as it made contact with Varay's sword.

The philosophy was to catch my opponent off guard as a means of spreading out their defense instead of focusing on one point. The problem was it consumed a significant chunk of my mana reserves and would fry my brain if I over do it, it also required the precise amount of footwork and my strikes needed to be harmonious to my placement in order to be effective.

I had three combinations to choose from:

"Flashpoint"

"Booming blade"

"Storm Surge"

After a barrage of attacks I pulled out as I see Varay furiously land counter attacks and spells some of which hit me. I instantly caught an Ice Javalin that was conjured and throw at me with her full might, it was so cold that it caused a searing burn in my skin and I winced.

"I'm still standing." She said with her stoic demeanor, but I can see her unsteady breathing, her posture showed weakness and like me, she was covered in sweat and I detected a fast rate of heartbeat 

"Not for long." I back at her with a deadpan face.

I kept zooming again and again, switching between the three combinations until I reached my current limit and was too tired to continue. I deactivated my spell just some distance from her. My legs were shaking a bit.

We were both tired but there was one thing I didn't reveal to her, due to my blades high conductivity to any magic I output it acts as a second reservoir of lightning. By making in contact with her even though she parried my attacks I slowly tampered with her body.

Metal conducts electricity, as so as water. Our body is mostly composed of water so our bodies are also great conductors of electricity.

It didn't take a while until a saw her expression change.

"You always surprise me." She said weakly claiming defeat.

"I surprised myself on how well it went too. I wouldn't say I surpassed you because I won one fight." I replied at her scoffing and sitting on a lotus position in an attempt to replenish my lost reserves.

"Now look who's humble." She retorted back falling on the ground on her back sending a small cloud of dust flying in the air.

Whenever I felt thrill, or when I placed myself to my absolute limit I was always reminded of the past.

Those eight months were some of the most intense I've ever faced my entire life. I almost died three times, but if my life would mean the safety of the entire continent I would throw it away. It was a risky plan after all, unbinding ourselves from the artifacts since the monarchs who kept us were now dead. 

The reason it made it risky was because that would mean we were back on a mid-high silver mana core, meaning we would have to place an enormous amount of time just to get back to where we were before. 

And two weeks was valuable time, but in exchange we were able to reach higher potentials than when we had artifacts. And oh boy was it worth the time.

After a while I was able to recover and replenish my strength. But an all too familiar person entered the room.

"Arthur Leywin. I would like to have a duel with you." I challenged him pointing my sword at him and fueling it with electricity.

"Sure, why not." He coldly reply.

Time for me to really push myself beyond my limit. 

||Arthur Leywin||

Strange, he acts different now. Gone was his cold gaze, gone was his hostility towards me. He approached me as he were my co-worker.

"Swords and augmentation only?" I asked him.

"Sure, I'm not holding back so you better not be holding back either." He replied.

Even his way of speaking is less hostile before.

Perhaps he already found peace, suggested Sylvie.

"Regis, King's Blade." I called out.

My fury companion's aura leaked from my right arm. A thick haze that immediately formed into a sword materialized.

Was that necessary? I ask Regis telepathically.

A good entrance always boosts the morale.

We stared at each others eyes with daggering gazes, patiently waiting for each other's next move.

"You've changed a lot Bairon." I said lightly to him.

"Likewise." He replied.

I felt the skin in my hair rise up. Violent crackles of thunder erupted from within him, his body emitting lightning. The pupils of his eyes narrowed and I felt a build up of lightning in his sheathed sword ready to lash out on me.

"Thunderclap Impulse. Impressive." I mumbled.

(A/N: It was only logical for me IMO to strip the lances of their artifacts. I mean the monarchs were impaled, and they can't take an oath to Alcrya who stole the rings, oooh does that mean Agrona will experiment on the rings and make his own version? Who knows, plus I didn't want Arthur to carry the whole war as it would leave the other characters behind so I decided to give them all a power-up. There will be twenty five chapters in total on Arc Zero then Arc One will begin. Enough about that I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I really thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your continued support)