The Cursed Swordsman

Chapter 8: Fall

"State your business here at once!" Tine's voice rings out through her temple. Claus had arrived to issue his challenge.

"I am Claus. I am here to claim your life." The black haired male says calmly, his sword glowing at his side.

"You wish to challenge me?" Tine asked, confused. "For what reason? I have done nothing to my knowledge to fight you or incur your wrath." She says, trying to be reasonable with him. "And if I have done something, then pray tell me. I am sure we can work this out like adults."

Her statement seemed to upset Claus. He holds his sword up and points it to her. "One year ago. On this very day. You took everything I had from me." He says with a low growl.

"One year ago...? On this day...?" Tine wonders and thinks for a moment. She couldn't quite piece together what exactly happened... All she could remember was one of the Gods irritating her a lot when she first ascended.

"One year ago, a storm so harsh and devastating hit my home. My home world. Everywhere was covered in dark clouds. Torrents of rain poured down, flooding valleys. Wind was strong enough to rip houses from the ground. Lightning struck everywhere and left crop fields destroyed...! Because of one of YOUR storms, my world was ruined...! I lost my family, my friends, my entire village was nothing but piles of brick and stone! Are you truly so heartless that you cannot remember that?!" Claus explained, the swords glow intensifying with his anger.

Tine really didn't remember exactly what happened. But the story was familiar. "I-I did that...? I am...truly sorry...!" Tine apologized, shocked by what she was hearing.

"Your apology means nothing. You killed thousands of innocent lives. For your actions, you will be purged from this world!" Claus shouts and swings his blade downward, a wave of cursed energy cutting through the air itself.

Surprised by the sudden attack, Tine narrowly evades to the side, and uses wind magic to fly down to the fighting arena. "Must we fight?! Killing me will not bring your family back, Sir Claus!" She continues to try and reason with the man, but he lunges forward and swings his blade.

"You don't think I know that?!" Claus asked. "I've coped with that fact already! I know my family is gone! But this vengeance is not something that can be ignored!" He shouts and attacks relentlessly. Tine can do nothing but try and dodge and deflect his attacks away from her body. "I don't care what it takes! I don't care who I have to kill! But right now, the only thing that will make me feel any semblance of joy, is watching YOU crumble to dust!!"

Tine could feel the malice practically oozing off his body as he swings his sword wildly. Claus was serious about this. He wanted her gone, so Tine had no choice but to fight back. After parrying his attack with a bit of wind magic, she pushes him back and thrusts her arm forward, sending out a concentrated bolt of lightning towards her opponent.

Claus raises his sword and uses it as lightning rod, then plunges it into the ground to stop the electricity from running to his body.

"If you insist on a battle, then you leave me no choice but to give you one!" Tine announces, and fires off more Lightning from her finger tips.

Claus grits his teeth and ditches his sword for the moment to evade the lightning. He then charges Tine without his main weapon, and straight up punches her, making her stumble back from the impact. Using more wind, she lifts Claus into the air to stop him from moving, and compresses electricity into her palms to lob at him midair. The ball of lightning expands as it travels through the air, but Claus avoids it by tucking in his arms and legs to make himself a smaller target. While he did get nicked by some electricity, he avoided the full brunt of the attack. Once Claus landed again, he picks up his sword and runs Tine down again, coming at her from the right.

As Claus gained ground on her, Tine thought it wise to use wind to lift herself from the ground. He would have no way of harming her from there other than with more obvious attacks, which would make it easier to avoid getting hit. So concentrated her wind magic to her feet and jumps up, staying afloat with a small gust below her. From above, she rained bolt upon bolt unto Claus, forcing him to run and roll around on the ground to avoid the lightning.

She had him on the ropes. If she could keep this distance, she would outlast him. Claus, however, found her strategy boring, and starts swinging wildly in all directions to ensure he could hit her with shockwaves. As Tine danced about in the air, one of the black shockwaves hits Tine's foot, sending intense pain throughout her body and seemed to directly cut her magical powers. She lost control of the gust below her, and was sent back down to the ground. Tine does her best to stand again, but her body wasn't cooperating with what her brain was telling it to do. Her whole leg had gone limp from that singular cut.

"No...!" Tine was panicked now. She couldn't move, and across the arena was the only person in the multiverse to kill gods. As she turned her body, she saw Claus charging his cursed energy, his pure hatred, into his sword, now above his head with a two handed grip.

"And now..." Claus mutters and grits his teeth. "You DIE!!" He shouts at the top of his lungs and brings down his blade, sending a red streak of light down in a crescent shape flying towards Tine!