51 (Ch 51)Light vs Dark II

Faith stood up from his chair meeting all the expectant stares, his pride as a dragon was sparking and ready to go but Faith was still extremely nervous.

"Is it okay if I offer up myself as competition?" Faith asked, his efforts to hide inward panic forming an arrogant smile.

'Hook, line and sinker' Athren thought, meeting the little demon with a welcoming smile that couldn't have been more fake.

"Absolutely, I'm sure no one would object to it being a fair match up" Athren replied.

Everyone in the grand hall, including Faith's father, nodded their heads in approval. Athren himself didn't think it a fair match up at all and had guessed long ago the rumours about Faith were just that, rumours. With Anima's confirmation, he had full confidence in gaining a leading voice during talks of peace despite humans lacking behind other races.

A clearing was made within the hall and with the help of a few dwarves master smiths and a grumpy grandmaster, the combatants had a proper stage to duke it out. Anima stepped on Light-darks side, shortly followed by Faith on Dark-light.

"Who intends to referee this match?" Yurem asked concerned Athren would do it himself.

The Vampire lived long enough to know humans were cunning and tricky creatures who made up for their genetic shortcomings with neigh endless ingenuity.

"I believe a dwarf would probably be the most impartial," Athren replied.

"Keep the peace talks quick and I'll do it." Wrethu the current reigning dwarves grandmaster said.

"The quicker the match, the quicker the talk happens and the quicker you go back to your forge," Athren said.

"Yeah, yeah I know you longin" Wrethu replied, settling himself between the two Younglings.

'Wonder how my Mythril's fairing' Wrethu thought, in the midst of dealing out the rules.

"No magic, just weapons. Innate abilities are fine but keep the injury to a minimum… wait is that a dragon claw mate?" Wrethu stopped, staring at Faith's sword.

Wrethu gaze gained a bit of greed, just for a second before the sheer weight of every Dragon in the rooms unrestrained bloodlust eradicated any funny ideas he might have. The spirits present were just as surprised as Wrethu, seeing the blade slung across Faith's waist.

"Dragon claw?" Faith asked, pointing to his sword in confusion.

"Mate, has your father not told you how that sword works?" Wrethu asked, a little shocked someone could wield a dragon claw without knowing what it did.

'Well no, but he wasn't there when I received it and I forgot to ask' Faith thought but didn't reply, twirling the ring he received earlier instead.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter for now. Anyway as I said, no magic, no killing and stay inside the stage. Other than that it's free game. if you try to kill each other or bloodlust takes over I'll step in" Wrethu said, stepping to the side of the arena. "Any words for your completion before we start?"

"Good luck" Faith said sincerely though it wasn't taken that way.

Faith and Anima stood off against each other, Wrethu signalling the start of the duel with a wave of his hand.

Unsheathing Doubt, Faith was again surprised with how light it felt. He wasn't sure whether to approach Anima or go on the offensive, while Anima was stalking around the arena already.

'I'm not gonna get anywhere by just standing still.' Faith concluded after a solid minute stalemate.

He rushed forward using pure physical power to arrive in front of Anima within the span of a second, using the momentum to move into a downward swing. The blade was inches away from her shoulder when Alarm bells started ringing in Faith's head.

'Below!' His shadow sense shouted at him.

Faith gave up the strike in exchange for retreating a little, only to find a seamless hole poking through his black vest. It was shallow but still frightening to find a hole he was sure shouldn't be there on his vest.

'She stabbed my drip' Faith thought a little cross.

Another hail of piercing strikes begun to assault Faith as he backed away, each one carrying little weight but terrifying speed. Faith opted to parry the blows, a rapier having no chance of beat a long sword in weight when his shadow sense screamed at him once again.

He rolled to the right, seeing the empty space he'd once been whistle with not one but two stabs.

'How the fuck did she do that?' Faith wondered, seeing the delayed stab.

'Did she distort space, no but that would require magic'

Faith was put on the defensive much faster than most in the room expected, dodging duel ending blows by a hair. Eshir watched on with a little worry hoping her son didn't get hurt while making sure Ruby and Amethyst didn't kill each other.

Alzeor himself was a little surprised that Anima could push his son so far on the defensive but soon begun to notice something strange. Not once had Faith really used any of Doubts functions nor parried but he was still fine.

'It's almost like…' Alzeor stared to conclude.

'…I can't hit him' Anima finished her thought process.

Mirage a skill of light magic users that was imprinted onto Anima's rapier was the reason Faith had trouble finding her sword. The hilt would stay in place but multiple copies of the blade would be formed using light and wind magic to trick the eyes and ears.

The real blade was kept out of sight and stuck from an unsuspecting angle while the opponent was distracted by its fakes… but it didn't work on Faith.

'Every single time it looks close… but it isn't. He dodges perfectly at the exact moment when my blade already pushed forward. I can read his intentions perfectly but that doesn't mean squat if my blades already in motion' Anima concluded, finding her initial strategy invaild. Faith was an open book to her, but she still failed to finish him off.

Her thought process wasn't wrong and her strategy was sound but the shadows had been around far longer than any spirit and they knew all the tricks of their royal bloodline including empathic telepathy.

"You're tricky" Anima muttered, pushing her rapier faster and further than before.

"Demons are like that" Faith replied narrowly dodging the blade.

Faith hadn't figured out her trick but he did notice that the hilt was the only part of her blade that stayed consistent. Deciding to attack Faith thrust doubt towards Animas hilt only for a foot to be planted in his gut.

Faith fell back in pain tanking a few blows from Anima's rapier. Anima's body was frailer than Faith's but her speed of reaction and perception were far higher.

'it's not just that though…' Faith thought, parrying what he could and dodging key blows with shadow sense.

Without it, he would've already lost and unlike Empathic telepathy, it wasn't a skill set he'd developed into a weapon but something he'd been born with. He could feel Anima's strive to perfection in every swing or strike, that had thousands upon thousands of reps behind it.

'She's better than me, no doubt about it. I'm in a clear advantage with genetic gifts but shes still ahead'

'Her obsession with strength though… it's not normal' Faith noted.

A true fight where you exposed all your strengths and vulnerabilities was one of the most intimate things two people could do. You could understand a person on a level even they didn't through it.

'He's strong, scarily so… but somethings holding him back. He treats this like a game, not a fight. That instant reaction too could likely be weaponised like my Empathic telepathy yet he stays on the defensive, as if he's scared of hurting me... like he has no will to fight, like he's given up already and just going through the motions ' Anima, noted, finding her truth through battle.

"Take this seriously," Anima said, turning her mirage from two blades into four.

The shadows couldn't be tricked but if Faith couldn't react fast enough he'd take a duel ending hit with ease. Wrethu wasn't too keen on the direction this fight was going.

'In a stalemate like this, weak people bend, strong persist and geniuses evolve' Wrethu thought, unsure of which one either child would turn out to be.

Cerian watched the fight with unrestrained pride, seeing her daughter combat a dragon in the field spirits were most lacking, physical combat.

"That strange ability to predict Faith's moves is also of interest, I wonder if you've been lying to me dear Anima" Certain whispered to herself.

Their fight continued, Anima getting fiercer and fiercer while a hesitation in Faith became apparent. Ervis had seen it before, the lack of method and ability to string attacks and battle together.

It was Faith's apparent complete lack of actual talent for combat. It shouldn't have been surprising considering Dragons were beings shaped by their own desires and Faith's was a complete parallel from hurting people.

'I don't think I can beat her' Faith thought, feeling a little hopeless.

He couldn't shadow her like Ervis since their styles and weapons were completely different. He was stuck being beaten back into a corner gaining more and more tiny scratches and cuts by the second.

Yet he was fine with it.

'I deserve this, she worked far harder than myself and without magic, I've got no way to beat her' He lamented.

'FAITH RUN!!' Luna suddenly shouted.

Before Faith could process what was about to happen he felt cold metal against his neck before being shot back into a nearby wall.

The next second he heard screams resound throughout the entire hall, as well as massive thuds that accompanied his ringing ears. Every part of his body hurt and Faith could feel something heavy weighing on top of him.

"W-what happened" Faith mumbled, dizzy from the sheer.

He found the source of weight on his was a familiar large silver Rexel. Faith attempted to pick her up only for his hand so slip on her wet fur. A sickening metallic smell that even in his dazed state Faith could recognise.

"Luna?" He asked, pulling her off himself.

His heart stopped beating the second he saw the ghastly cut that started at her severed back leg and ended at her half attached jaw. She was alive barely but the silver blood running from her exposed wound would soon put an end to the poor Rexel's life.

"LUNA!!" Faith cried, doing his best to use his limited healing magic to maybe halt the bleeding and provide first aid.

"F-Faith… behind y-you" Luna tried to warn him, barely holding on to her own consciousness.

A blow from the side, far too similar to Fadil's but carrying less weight and power threw Faith away from Luna. Flying against the wall again Faith glimpsed the attacker, an Orc tall and lean in full plate glowing in a strange silver hue unlike Luna's but still familiar to Faith.