Ch 4 Decay and beatdown

My time in the underworld has passed by a lot faster than i would have like it to I'm currently eight years old so three years have passed since i have woken up in this world. i have not been slacking in my time here. 

i have been studying, attending social gatherings making connections with the heirs of the new generation of devils and other characters when I had the chance.

i would say i have become fairly popular here in the underworld with the younger devils. I wished to become friends' with Sairaorg Bael, but he has yet to show himself at any social events.

outside of those a good portion of my time has been spent training my demonic power and mastering the Astaroth clan trait decay. Lord Astaroth has been teaching me over these three years. I even managed to convince Diodora to join in on the training which he was hesitant at first and didn't show up consistently but after a while he hasn't missed a single day of training.

i must say it is nice to have a someone to train with. while i have more power Diodora has shown to have more control in the beginning but that was only cause of the amount of demonic power i have is to much for me to control. that was why when i first tested my decay ability it continued to spread even without me that was one example. over the years i have been training there have been other instances where my demonic power went out of control as i was casting spells and backfired injuring me in the process. 

After three years i am close to mastering the Astaroth clan trait all that is left is a test from lord Astaroth himself, he will be personally evaluating my abilities in this test. 

I am currently waiting for him in the training court along with Diodora and Latia they have both come to spectate me. i have grown really close to them both over the years. i am glad that both Diodora and Latia get along so well they are very much like sister and brother now but despite all this i have yet to take my eye off of him it isn't cause i don't trust him quite the opposite actually. 

it is just from the show i remember him being in contact with the old Satan faction since he was young i fear they may try to make contact with him and end up using him through black mail or bribery of some kind i cannot be too careful who knows what they plan on doing. 

" so, Alex do you think you are ready to take on Lord Astaroth " asks Latia.

I shake my head. " no quite frankly there is no way i can beat him as i am now but i do have confidence i can meet his expectations. " As i was training with him i learned that he is no push over at all he has yet to show me more than what he needs to but i guess this is the kind of strength you would expect from someone who survived through the great war Afterall. 

Diodora tilts his head as he looks at me " Do you have a plan of some kind. "

" Nope but i do have a few tricks of my sleeve that he doesn't know about. I'm hoping to take him by Suprise with a few of these spells i have been developing on my own time. " 

" Hmmm is that so Alex i can't wait to see how you perform. " says Latia looking at me with high expectations.

A green magic circle with capital a that has a curved tail design on it the clan symbol of clan Astaroth. out of the magic circle appears a man in his late twenties with slicked back green hair with a full-grown beard and dark purple eyes. he has a stern and serious looking face that goes well with his muscular build. he is also holding a long rectangular black case with him.

" Ah it is good to see you are already here young Alexander. " he says as he walks over to me.

" It would be rude to make you wait on me so i came here early also what is that you are carrying " i ask as i point to the case he is holding.

he takes the case and gently lays it on the floor and proceeds to open it revealing a staff.

" This staff is a gift from your father he wanted to congratulate you for your hard work. Go on an try it out no need to be shy. "

I grab the staff out of the case and start inspecting it. the staff is completely metal with green energy flowing through it. it also functions as a bident a two-pronged spear and just below the spear head is a circle where a green gem resides still connected to the staff.

this spear is surprisingly light and easy to hold it fits just right in my hands. i wouldn't expect no less from my father. Diodora and Latia also marvel at my father's invention impressed with his work.

Lord Astaroth seems pleased by my reaction to the gift. 

" Now that that is done with, we shall go ahead with the test now " says Lord Astaroth as he approach's the other side of the training court getting into position. i do the same getting on my side of the court. 

" so what is it that I need to do to pass your test "

" Simple survive for five minutes against me or make me surrender. " he says as he takes off his robe and is now in a black combat uniform.

I grip my staff and hold it out in front of me getting ready. he says it like it is easy. I go ahead and start to charge my demonic power so i can react instantaneously to whatever he throws at me.

" I see you are worried i will inform that am going to be holding back so I don't cause any lasting injury's " he says five magic circles appear above him and shoots out large spears of decay at me.

I take flight using my wings to doge as they get close, but they turn upwards following me in the air. they follow? are you serious. 

I shoot out a blade of wind. it is highly compressed air in the shape of a crescent moon. my attack meets his head on canceling each other's out. i see him prepare for another volley of attacks and so do I. His attacks finish first heading toward me i dodge them all while heading closer to him once i am about fifty feet from him i fire off my spell.

From my staff arcs of green lighting scorches, the ground and the walls causing a lot of destruction. It is a spell that covers a large area, but it does not have the best accuracy I was hoping i would be able to land an attack on him but i can't tell i lost track of him in the dust. 

I feel a shiver run up my spine as i feel a Prescence behind me. i hastily put up a magic barrier to defend my self.

" to late. " was all i heard before my barrier got shattered and intense pain in my ribs as i plummeted to the ground.

I quickly start to use biomacy to accelerate the healing process i can already feel the pain Lessing and my breathing return to normal.

he descends back to the ground standing twenty-five feet away from me.

" you combined decay and lighting together to create that spell I honestly didn't except you to be able to do that yet "

" ha you haven't seen nothing yet. " i say trough labored breaths as the pain from his last attack is still there .

he smirks as he starts to amass demonic power as he fire's off multiple rays of decay. in response I summon a wall of earth twenty feet long and twenty feet wide.

what is he thinking he should know that wall of earth isn't going to protect him from my attack.

heh if i had to guess he is confused by my action it is natural to be. 

I place my hand on the wall of earth i summoned and use transmutation to turn it into brass right before his attacks connect to my wall. i am doing this cause my barriers aren't strong enough to hold against him so i turned the earth into brass as it decays the slowest.

the attacks connect causing dust to rise. Lord Astaroth stands there waiting for the dust to clear obviously in no rush.

As the dust clears Alexander seems to be surrounded by hundreds of brass balls the size of marbles.

Lord Astaroth raises his eyebrows as if amused by the way he fights. " i see so you used brass to negate my attack as decay isn't very effective against it. "

" yeah that's right now lets see how you like to be on the run. " i point my hand out to him and on command they all start to head towards him at a fast speed.

he takes flight to the air and dodges them but it wasn't easy he did get hit a few times but any of them that did get to close to him for even a single second was destroyed by his aura. he condensed his demonic power of decay and is wearing it kind of like a second set of clothes. 

I'm not trying to beat him but simply gaining some time i only have three minutes left if i can just keep him occupied this strategy was worth it. sucks my accuracy isn't that good it is hard to simply control that many things at once which is way he is able doge them while counterattacking.

a minute passes like this but eventually it wears off as now all my brass is now just clumps of decayed metal scattered about on the ground completely unusable. meanwhile the mental exhaustion is taking effect controlling all that was really taxing on my mind.

however my opponent seems almost unscathed except for the few wears and tears on his clothes. " that was a surprisingly good workout apologies if i dragged that on for longer than i should have."

w-w-workout you call that a workout i was taking this seriously and he was just playing around. i know the difference in power between us but this is just infuriating to be treated as such. 

In the blink of a eye he disappeared from my feid of vision and as soon as my brain processed that i made a magic barrier which was a good call as the sound of a fist hitting the barrier was made.

*clang*

he was on my right side preparing to punch again i try to enforce my barrier to hold out against him but it was no use as his next attack connects shattering it completely before i could reinforce it. 

i take a jump back so i can go into the air but he doesn't give me a chance as his fist lands in my chest knocking all the air out of my body.

it hurts it hurts i swear he broke my rib cage with that blow. His punches are so heavy it feels like I'm being hit by a truck. i use biomancy to increase the toughness of my body while increasing the density of my muscles and bones.

 I recover my balance from his blow and grip my staff to thrust it forward but he just shifts his body to the left avoiding it while leaving me completely vulnerable to him.

he punches me in the face twice and once in the kidney if it wasn't for the biomancy I'm using on my body i would have passed out already.

after his attack there was a delay in his fourth punch which i saw and used to to my advantage to summon spikes to come out of the earth causing him to retreat. I take to the air gaining distance from him.

he instantly prepares a large magic attack and fire's it at me. he shoots out a large beam of decay towards me.

At seeing this i can't help but smile as i get to use one of the spells i have been working on 

[gravity well]

a purple orb forms in front of me as his attack is fast approaching it gets within range his attack starts to curve around the gravity well leaving me completely unscathed. the principle behind gravity well is the same as how the earth bends the suns light around it cause of the gravity is so much it warps space and time.

i think it is about time to ends this.

Lord Astaroth shoots his demonic power of decay at alexander and to his Suprise it completely warped around him. he was astonished he thought he learned his father's special ability the kankara formula, but he doubted it cause if he did then his attack would of have been redirected back at him.

he was brought back to the fight as alexander flared all of his demonic power on display covering a wide area around him.

he thinks he can end it with a large attack and make me surrender does he? Lord Astaroth spreads his wings heading straight to Alexander at a blindingly fast speed with his fist pulled back intent on finishing this fight.

As he closes the distance and gets in range, he sends his punch straight at him but to his Suprise Alexanders body disappears in a gray mist as he feels the sharp edge of cold metal placed against his neck. the real alexander appears out of thin air to his right.

"Surrender" that is all that comes out of his mouth while not moving the blade a single centimeter from his throat.

he takes in a deep breath as he sighs. " very well i surrender this is your victory "