A Crumbling Society

Part 2-12

I felt a bit out of breath all of a sudden and made my way to my knees to rest. There was nothing I could do; I was so tired. He started running at me, but I started casting spells back-to-back to keep him away. Yellow stars that shocked his body on contact, then an orange blast in front of him that really pushed him back. Getting back up he proceeded in my direction once more, blue light trails landing directly on him caused him to stop this time. I know these hurt because they're meant to feel like tiny burns. He yelled and swatted the spots on him to get them to stop as if he was putting out small fires. This made him angry, and he proceeded to my location, grabbing me around the neck once he got here. I was too weak to cast anymore, and my healing wasn't doing anything either.

"Boy you really are weak as they say, you're little fighting attempts were shit", he began.

"Even though I made you bleed and landed some hits?", I asked him confused.

"I let you hit me, just like I let you catch me at the start of all this."

I didn't really say anything from confusion and just that I was feeling drained of energy. How could he have let me "catch" him when I never had a good fix on him because the fog. Unless he means when I shot shards at him the first time.

He kept on, "you see, my magic is poison magic and I infected you about two seconds after meeting you".

My mind went to the cut he made on my arm.

"I let you walk around as it spread through your body, waiting for the perfect time to engage in a fight. Using your magic required energy that accelerated the poison in your body. That was when I knew to start."

I remained silent but slowly peaked my eyes open to see if he was there. His actual body in front of me, hand gripping my neck a little tighter than necessary. "Can you let go?", I asked in a mix of not being able to breathe right.

"All you have to say is "let me go"", he mocked. "You really are a joke; you may have bested everyone else but this time you got defeated. I can't believe they call you a hero, you even got the Warrior Legion killed and ran here like a coward. This whole academy is a joke, Thornrift is where it's at because we're the best. They should've turned you in the second you showed up, or just ended you. Everyone will love that I defeated Summoner, well, the pathetic mage version anyways. Couldn't even suit up to fight me either, now I'm going to accelerate the poison in you to kill you."

Everything rushed in my head, the thoughts of what happened and why I'm here and random things to add to the feelings. You could feel the stinging flow through my blood quicker causing me to feel weaker. I felt like I was going to pass out but made myself think about what to do. Thornrift, and a poison magic user, this means he does control the fog and the only way to get rid of it is to defeat him. If he can control the spread of the poison too then it's a part of his black magic. The only way to cure black poison is by a black flame. "I told you to let me go", I managed to get out, cutting him off on his other tangent. My fists went inward, meeting in front of my diaphragm, he looked down and thought I had attempted to hit him. The boy started laughing maliciously at me like I was surely done for, I separated my fists and my back sigil appeared underneath us. "One thing you don't understand", I started, "is that you not only revealed your power to me, but you also don't know that I use a black flame to transform. His eyes were so wide they looked like they could pop out any second, the grip on my neck loosened but I grabbed onto his forearms. The light from the sigil increased and we were now surrounded by black light, once it intensified it blasted itself into the sky. My signature black flame began forming around me, I could feel the poison deteriorate within me returning my strength. The kid's head followed the flame up my figure as I stood up, still holding tightly to him. Keeping him at a lower level I dug into him, "you also have no right to tell me I killed the Legion! Ankastle shaped me into what I am, the same person each of you felt entitled enough to think was a worthy opponent. Some of you thought I'd even dress for the occasion when you treated me like shit and called me names. Each one of you cocky assholes should've gotten a lot worse, except for the rock boy. Your school should be ashamed of you because of the way you thought you could beat a Master Mage!" When the light and flames cleared, I was now Summoner again, his face in awe and his jaw glued to the ground in shock. "Gotcha", I whispered in his ear before pulling him into a headbutt. His body slumped to the ground from the hit but also from the energy in my transformation. The fog had vanished, and the last opponent was down. The tournament was over, and a giant boom went off to symbolize the end of the ARC tradition. I knelt down to grab the boy's side as we materialized from the quarry to the arena. Everyone was cheering as I stood there, some people ran over to get the unconscious kid at my feet. Looking through the crowd as it continued to roar, I noticed one thing in particular. Royal Welterfare was standing in the crowd, he was the only one doing so. Tabitha was beside him as I expected but her hand covered her mouth, something was wrong.