Shadow Tricks

"You are to begin after the count of five," Kelvin said, sounding like an official referee. The two opponents nodded in understanding and Kelvin began his count.

"1"

"2"

"3"

"4"

"5"

"BEGIN!"

After the count, Kelvin quickly gave them some space by moving closer to the wall of the duelling ground.

Max and Nat both took a fighting stance opposite each other, with their whole attention fixed on themselves. The noisy crowd became quiet as the time they all have been waiting for has finally arrived, their eyes and whole senses on the two boys on the duelling ground, no one wanted to miss any action.

"Hey, I won't take it easy on you so you better do the same," Nat said as a warning and clasped his hands together.

'It's not time for me to show them my demon powers or I'll be in danger, I'll have to follow Zheren's idea even though I would want to beat the crap out of him' Max thought inwardly as he braced himself for whatever Nat was about to do.

From Nat's clasped palms, particles of light began to swirl around them and he began to open them slowly. As he did that, the lights began to form until they transformed into sharp-edged weapons, about fifty or more of them formed and rose to the air. They swirled around Nat not moving an inch, it could be said that they were waiting to be commanded.

"Don't think of them as just mere weapons, they can Pierce into your souls as well," Nat said with a sly smile.

"Now!"

At his command, the weapons danced beautifully around him before dashing towards their target. Max who saw this, prepared himself but even at that, the pains he got were something he had not expected. The moment the sharp weapons pierced him, he did not feel any pain but after some seconds, an immense pain surged into his veins that he didn't know when he began to scream.

"Hahaha, this is just the beginning!" Nat yelled from where he was standing. Hearing Max scream was something he had long wished for even while lying lifeless in the infirmary, he could see the pain on Max's face and it gave him joy. He silently watched as the weapons pierced into Max's body at the same time, not giving him a chance to regain his previous misery.

"This is more painful than I expected it to be," Max mumbled to himself and looked in Nat's direction, he could see the happiness in his face. "Shadow manipulation!" He whispered to himself and began to wave his hands in a circular motion, dark fogs soon began to gather around him but no one noticed it. The only thing they saw was the weapons disappearing one after the other until none was remaining.

"How's that possible?"

"How did he do that?"

The crowd could not help but voice out their surprises, they were indeed surprised by what Max did, he was known throughout the entire school for his inability to have any skills but seeing him do a thing like this caused an uproar. Even Kelvin who was smiling earlier was left dumbfounded.

"I don't know how you did it but that isn't all, I'll see how you'll stop my next attack!" Nat yelled out. It was obvious that he was furious and at the same time shocked at what Max did. Nevertheless, he decided to not dwell on it because the spell he used was a basic one and as such he will be using an advanced one next, he needed to see if Max will be able to stop him again.

A grin appeared on his face as he closed his eyes, when he opened them, they had turned brown. 'I'm going to use my earth skill on you, we'll see if you can stop it' He thought inwardly and stomped his foot on the ground.

What the hell is that?" 

"Th-that is so huge!"

The students were all gasping at what they were seeing.

Nat had promised to show Max all he got and now he has. Looking at the rocky giant before Max, he felt like he was just an ant. It was two feet tall with a head and two arms, the feet were wide and had only two toes for each leg.

"Let me see how you will escape my giant!" Nat said with a smirk on his face.

The giant began to run towards Max and the ground kept vibrating with each step it made, Max seeing this waved his hands immediately and activated his blood skill, making the gloves appear on his hands, although no one could see them. "I won't just sit and watch you do your thing!" Max mumbled and fixed his eyes on the giant.

"What is he doing?"

"Some dance movements I guess!"

The students as they watched Max wave his hands towards the giant could not help but make fun of him. They could not see what he was doing, it looked like he was dancing and so they laughed at him.

*Ding*

<<-10 BL>>

<<BL: 90/100>>

"It's not working! How's that possible?" Max could not help but ask in anger? His blood skill wasn't working on the giant and it got him upset. But he didn't have enough time to ponder on the reason as the giant finally got to him, before he knew what was happening, he was sent flying with a kick on his stomach. Max didn't have the voice to even shout because he was taken by surprise.

In no time, his back was slammed against the wall of the duelling ground. "Damn it!" He cursed as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He wiped them off his mouth and stood up, after dusting his clothes, he made to leave but was stopped by Kelvin who he happened to fall close to.

"I'll make sure you don't come out alive!" Kelvin said and shot a ball of flames at Max. It hit him and sent him flying to the giant with the flames spreading all over his body.

"Did Kelvin just attack him? But it's against the rules!" Someone yelled from among the students.

"And so what if it's against the rules? It's a duel and anything can happen during a time like this," another student retorted with a glare.

The giant opened its large arm waiting for Max to land on it but what happened next gave everyone the surprise of their life.

"Shadow manipulation! Boone! take him down now!" At Max's command, the giant disappeared and instead of slamming himself against the giant, he fell to the ground with the flames still all over him.

"Where is the giant?"

"Gone again!"

"The hell did you make my giant disappear again?" Nat fumed, he could not understand how Max kept making his attacks disappear and it raged him.

Max didn't answer him, he waved his hand completely making the flames on his body dispel. He looked up and saw Kelvin running towards him with a ball of flames in each hand. "Shadow manipulation!" he whispered and before Kelvin could get to him, he disappeared.