The Unfading: Second battle of the codex

Chapter 5: This is how weak humans are

"Begin", Amarantha's voice echoed in Fenrir's ears. He got up slowly & started taking slow steps towards the gate of the arena. His hand was placed on his sword. It was morning, not yet noon. The sky was clear. He pushed the door, it didn't open. He took some steps back, and after a short run, pushed the door with his shoulder. The guards on the other side of the door felt the jolt. One more jolt & then it all went silent. The silence wasn't calm but intimidating. 'So they've locked the door. I can just slice it down in a flash, but they must be expecting me to come out of here like this. I need to make an unexpected move. Something by doing which I can catch them with surprise...', he thought as he looked around & then looked up. The man in the cart was also silent. The silence in his cart was diffrrent. It was a silence in which one can clearly think & analyze. The guards were pushing the door from the outside of the arena. Suddenly a gasp left the cart as the man spoke quickly. "Get away from the door! Get back! He's gonna come out! Gather all arms!", the man's voice echoed around in the silence. All the soldiers jumped back & took an arc formation near the gate. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the gate. They were probably expecting for the gate to open or blow up. What they didn't expect though, was that he wasn't coming out from the gate. A soldier standing there with his sword unsheathed, taking his stance, noticed something. A shadow above him. Everyone immediately looked up. In mid-air, escaping from the open top of the arena, coming down with his hand on the handle of his sheathed sword, was Fenrir. His eyes still not glowing. He looked down at the guards. Took a few turns mid-air as he came down while unsheathing his glowing golden katana. Striked the ground for breaking the fall & released an energy blade forward at lightning speed. "Ack!", the quick shriek of the guard was silenced instantly as his body got sliced up in two. Without wasting any time, the other swordsmen lunged at him. All unleashing multiple Xeva techniques. "Xeva technique: Mere grazes, Xeva technique: triple thrust, Xeva technique: Distant slashes, Xeva technique: The ground low slices", multiple of the swordsmen spoke. They lunged at him He didn't even move, his hand was resting on the handle of his sword, his eyes fixed on the guard coming at him ready to thrust his sword from above. He bent down & dodged the guard, moved aside to dodge the mere grazes, jumped up to dodge the ground low slices & sliced the guard passing from below at lightning speed & sheathed his sword instantly. Then came multiple energy blades from different direction. "Xeva technique: Layered slashes", he spoke calmly as in a flash he unleashed 8 energy blades in all 4 directions, 2 in each direction, one on top of the other. The energy blades travelled outwards, slicing the guards' energy blades, travelling towards them like a flash of gold. The guards, some dodged by jumping upwards while 3 of them got sliced down. 'So they're from the Xeva tribe, they certainly live upto their reputation. Successfully dodged my attacks but are still underestimating me', Fenrir thought as he looked at the guards taking their stances. His hand was on the handle of his sheathed sword. 'It's just as Xavier said. This man do have his own techniques, though he is not going all out. Are 20 Xeva swordsmen not enough of a challenge for him, or is he just acting tough? I am definitely underestimating him', the man sitting in the cart thought. The guards lunged at Fenrir. He bent down. 'Great, come at me altogether so I can kill you all instantly', Fenrir thought as he looked at the guards moving towards him. "Xeva technique: Divine ouroboros", Fenrir spoke as he sliced the air infront of him horizontally. Creating a circular energy blade around him which moved forward in all direction followed by a layer of vertical energy blades which were followed by a layer of horizontal energy blades. 'What in the world is that technique? It's so wrapped up & fast, I can't even count the number of slashes he performed in that fraction of a second. I must....help the guards escape', the man sitting in the cart though. "Xeva technique: Meteor shower", the voice echoed as several bronze coloured energy blades came out of the cart, moved up & fell down. Blocking Fenrir's skill successfully. Everyone was shocked. Including Fenrir. "So the strongest among you was hiding in the cart...", Fenrir spoke. "I don't call it hiding, it's called waiting for the right moment", the man replied. "Hm? Who are you? Let us introduce ourselves", Fenrir spoke amusingly. "After you", the man countered. "I am the second knight of Amarantha, Fenrir", Fenrir said. "I am the 7th Grandmaster of Xeva, Araem", the man replied as he stepped out of the cart. His height tall, his age probably in his mid-thirties. His hair a light shade of brown & his eyes were hazel. His skin clean & lightly tanned. He was wearing a brown leather coat. His sword glowing bronze. "A Xeva grandmaster... Finally an opponent worth fighting, an opponent worth killing", Fenrir spoke amusingly. "Don't get too hyped up you dimwit, we are leagues apart", Araem commented. "Oh yes, we are", Fenrir said as he dashed forward. "Xeva technique: Mere grazes", his voice echoed. Araem noticed Fenrir when he was mere 2 feet away from him, unsheathing his sword. "Xeva technique: Sand flow", Araem spoke as he took a sharp turn to the side, missing Fenrir's sword by a millimeter & brought his sword towards Fenrir's torso from behind. Fenrir dropped himself to the ground & brought his sword towards Araem's feet from below. Araem immideately jumped upwards. "Xeva technique: Distant slashes", Araem spoke as he relased three energy blades towards Fenrir below him. "Xeva technique: Redirection", Fenrir spoke as he took two turns & sent the energy blades back at Araem who was still in mid-air. Araem striked them from the side, shattering them with ease as he landed on the ground. "Xeva technique: Distant slashes", Fenrir spoke as his sword moved lightning fast creating lots of energy blades, moving towards Araem. Araem moved to his right side, taking quick long steps as the energy blades striked the house walls behind him. Fenrir was constantly releasing them at lightning speed. 'How long is he going to release them? Does he not gain any fatigue? He's fast. The techniques are extremely precise. Fenrir, I'll have to look up for that name. And he looks younger than me. He must be a prodigy to have learnt so fast. I need to strike him to make him stop. If I stop for even a second, one of his slashes will hit me. I need to attack while moving', Araem though as he lifted his sword & brought it down in an instant, producing a single energy blade moving towards Fenrir. Fenrir stopped & bent down as the energy blade passed from over his head. He ran towards Araem. Brought his sword from the right side. Araem blocked. Tried from left, blocked again. "I wonder if you can actually keep up with even my normal attacks", Fenrir spoke as he took a step back. Gripped his sword, changed the angle of his wrist & again took a step forward. Araem also took a step forward. Both clashed swords. The other Xeva swordsmen had got up by this time & were coming at Fenrir from multiple directions. Left, right, 3 strikes from front, 7 from behind. Fenrir clashed his sword with Araem, jumped up, upside down, rotated his sword, parrying the attacks of the other swordsmen, landed down & striked the ground all around him except the part where Araem was standing. Dust rose. The other swordsmen fell back coughing, with dust in their eyes. Teary eyed they looked at Araem & Fenrir. Clashing swords at lightning speed both moved, Araem brought his sword from left, blocked. With a quick movement of his wrist, he striked Fenrir's sword from the other direction, moving it away from Fenrir's body. Creating an opening. Fenrir flicked his sword & it rotated around his torso & it's handle landed in his other hand. He parried Araem's incoming attack from his right & with his pomel striked him in the chest, throwing him back as the other swordsmen covered his absence. "Xeva technique: Layered slashes", Fenrir unleashed the technique at blinding speed. 8 slashes in all 4 directions. 'His speed increased? He's still not at full strength?', Araem thought as he saw the guards trying to block the energy blades. The pieces of the swordsmen along with their shattered swords, blew away in all directions. The energy blades which were still extending, reached Araem. He instantly jumped up & took a horizontal turn in the air. He dodged the attack by being in between the layered attacks & parried Fenrir's incoming sword with his rotation, striking the sword from upwards. Fenrir brought his sword from downwards to attack him from below. Araem blocked it but was sent flying up in the air. "Xeva technique: Crushing stone wheel", he spoke as he fell down. As he came close to Fenrir, he took a quick turn, creating a huge vertical bronze coloured circular energy blade. Fenrir parried with a normal attack creating a comparable sized energy blade. Both jumped back to look at each other. Fenrir was calm, his sword sheathed & his hand resting in the handle. Araem was gasping for air by now. "I'm surprised, despite being a human, if one trains hard enough he can stand a chance against me. But it is just as you said, we are still leagues apart. I am surprised even more over the fact that you managed to survive so far without taking even a single scratch. You truly are one strong human", Fenrir spoke. "You say this all like you are not a human", Araem replied slowly as he calmed his breath down & took his stance. "Because I'm not one of your fragile kind. I am an immortal divine being. Humans are weak & pathetic little creatures who I cut up just for fun. Like I will carve you up. Your comrades are dead. Once I kill you, clearing out Mozal will be child's play", Fenrir said calmly. "I will kill you before that happens. I am a Grandmaster. I trained my entire life just so I could protect the innocent people. Even if I die here, someone else will show up. And there are people far stronger than me in the world. Someone might very well be stronger than even you", Araem spoke. "Even if there are people stronger than me, they all have their limits. Humans feel fatigue, they get tired like you are right now. They age. But look at me, I am a divine being, I have no concept of gaining any fatigue. I can fight with the same, if not constantly increasing, strength & speed for eternity", Fenrir replied. "Oh, you're no different from me", Araem replied as he dashed forward. "You just haven't seen me", Fenrir replied as he took a quick step forward. Both clashed swords as sparks were produced. Fafnir was watching from distance, on top of the middle temple tower. Looking at them both. "Your Majesty, this human is strong. Also, the town's empty. I think we should send some soldiers to kill the civilians outside of Mozal. This man can still fight for long & seemingly Fenrir is enjoying it", Fafnir spoke. "I sent them already. 60 swordsmen to kill them off", Amarantha's voice echoed in his ears. He continued to watch them both fight.