Descent of a God

Past

Arthur POV:

I landed hard on the ground in the middle of a group of Alacaryan soldiers. I quickly disposed of them and noticed a powerful existence, as powerful as the retainer I fought.

I used Static Void to close the distance between us and give him a surprise attack before the battle began.

But as I got close enough to make out who my opponent was, my concentration wavered and Static Void shattered out of existence.

There was a look of surprise at my sudden appearance just a few yards away from him, but his lips curved into a smirk.

His arms lowered but the umbral energy still swirled around his hands as Elijah greeted me. "Long time no see, my dear old friend...Grey."

Air seized in my chest as I struggled to process what was going on. Elijah, who had been taken by Draneeve during the invasion of Xyrus Academy, was alive and standing in front of me.

"Elijah? W-What's going on? How are you..." my voice trailed off as the two of us exchanged gazes. The expression he held was tense and he looked older for some reason. He was definitely Elijah, but everything about him seemed just a little off.

With a sneer, Elijah leaped back, his arms swirling with a black aura.

I responded in turn, reigniting Realmheart Physique to its fullest extent. 

I faced Elijah, a whirlwind of ash-like mana converging around his hands, ready to be unleashed.

I need to stop him. I'll pry the answers out of him after that.

I dashed forward, closing the gap between us in three steps. I aimed for his midsection but a black spike erupted from the ground between us, parrying my swing.

"Why are you doing this, Elijah?" I seethed, repositioning myself. I didn't let him rest. The physical training I had done with Kordri kicked in. My feet blurred in a series of complicated footwork manoeuvres designed for sharp directional changes.

"After what you've taken away from me, don't you feel bad asking me that, Grey?" Elijah replied, voice laced with anger.

His eyes couldn't keep up but the spikes that could be conjured from thin air and even faster from the ground seemed more like an automatic defence system rather than a willful conjuring.

Meanwhile Elijah continued to try and back away, his face tense but controlled as he continued preparing his spell.

I could see through Realmheart the form that this massive spell would take, pressuring me to move faster and hit harder. My initial plan was to confront him in close combat in order to conserve my mana and to exploit his weakness, but as our clash went on, I had the feeling more and more that it wouldn't be as easy as it had been in my head.

Even while integrating elemental magic and aether into my blade, the black flames swirling around his hands ate away and even got larger after consuming my attacks. I was able to slice through the black spikes that seemed to endlessly conjure and protect their master, but not without my teal blade sustaining damage as well.

The cracks that appeared from the retainer had weakened the durability of the blade by too much.

With a blast of black fire, Elijah propelled himself back, putting distance between the two of us as I quickly discarded my outer robe, which caught on fire.

I imbued more mana and swung the sword at Elijah.

Not a sound was made as the blade sliced through the air, but the effects were shown immediately. Dozens of thin paths carved themselves like intertwining snakes on the ground as a flurry of crescents honed in on my old friend.