Inter-Kingdom Tournament (7) Battle of Attrition

Eric knew very well that to take her down, he first had to whittle down her mana, if not, the golems and knights will just keep reforming themselves. He was very confident that in a battle of mana consumption, he had the upperhand. His mana capacity was comparable to the Mage King, so he had full confidence that he would win in a drawn out fight. With that in mind, he got to work.

"Burning Vortex."

A torrent of green fire erupted from both of Eric's hands, covering the ground with intense flames. It covered every inch of the stage, filling the area in a sea of green inferno. Aerin had no choice but to seek shelter behind her wall. Even with the cover, she was sweating non-stop. The surface of her wall had melted, forcing her to reinforce it. The result caused by the spell made the ground around them steam with heat causing the surface to become soft. This impeded the advance of the golems and knights. With their heavy weight, every step they took caused them to sink a little into the ground, slowing down their movement.

"Those green flames... they are the same as the ones from the red tower master. How is he so proficient at such a young age?" King Manik stared at him, the amount of questions he had about him build up even more.

"Ho ho ho, that lad you put your hopes into has magnificent mana control, he's just a kid now, but just IMAGINE the potential dwelling inside him, if he becomes a vampire..." Emperor Vulcan said brazenly as he looked at the Mage King. His sentence had an implied meaning behind it and Manik knew full well what it meant.

Hearing the Emperor shamelessly trying to turn Eric to his side, the Mage King grew angry. His fists clenched below his robes, but he knew he couldn't do anything against the Emperor. He had no other option but to reel in his anger.

Eric applied fire and lightning element to his blade, making it superheated with razor-sharp edge. Propelling himself using gravity, he shot forward at super sonic speeds and pierced through 4 golems in an instant. The hole that Eric created was so big that their entire body disappeared. As they crumbled to dust, they rest of the fray soon surrounded him.

"Morningstar Style: Full Moon."

Turning around at 360 degrees, a perfect loop of lunar slash was generated from Eric's blade. It travelled through the golems and knights, like a knife through butter. The slash was so clean that only after a second of it passing through did their upper-bodies slide off.

But even before the upper-halves of their body touched the ground, the golems had already started collecting themselves. The iron knights on the other hand were slower in their regeneration.

"See, this is why I hate golems, they are so goddamn annoying!" Eric huffed.

Taking this opportunity, Eric decided to experiment a little. Lighting started dancing at his fingertips, ready to be unleashed at any moment.

"Voltaic Strike: Chain Lightning."

Lightning discharged from his hand, creating dozens and dozens of tendrils, each one of them capable of killing a man. The lightning struck one iron knight, then it started a chain reaction affecting all knights. Eric brought them all together into a cluster, then poured in more and more power into the lighting. The iron knights started to light up like a giant beacon of light, on the verge of exploding at any moment.

Tightening the tendrils of lighting into one single rope, Eric then swung the cluster of knights, aiming to destroy the remaining golems surrounding him. Aerin in the distance chucking iron lances at him with one hand and on the other, she was manipulating the orb.

"So that must be what's controlling her creations. I should destroy that first." Eric muttered to himself.

Changing his mind at the last second, Eric hurled the iron knights in the direction of Aerin with propelled gravity. As it travelled through the air, it destroyed the lances. Seeing the massive ball of light flying towards her at an extremely fast speed, she panicked a little. Even if she could control the knights, she could not stop it in time.

"Steel Bunker!"

"Iron Shield!"

Slipping past into the bunker unnoticed by Aerin, Eric felt the explosion. It rocked the earth, but the bunker held strong.

"Gotcha."

"Wha-" Aerin spun around and found Eric examining the orb.

"This is a really interesting piece of equipment, too bad I'll have to destroy it."

With one stroke of the sword, the metallic orb split in half, falling to the ground.

"DAMN YOU!"

50 iron lances exploded from underneath the ground and slammed into Eric, sending him out of the bunker.

The orb was something that helped Aerin control her creations precisely without wasting extra mana. Without it, thing will be harder.

"Fine, I'll do it myself then." With her arms outstretched, the remaining 6 golems merged into one, becoming 30 feet tall. Seeing things going in an extremely undesirable direction, Aerin unleashed her final and most devastating attack.

"EXPLOSION ZERO!"

'Oh shit...' The audience collectively thought. Even though they were protected by the shield dome, they still instinctively covered their faces.

"...."

Eric stared wordlessly up at the enormous shining golem that was fast approaching him.

And like a miniature sun going off, a pillar of light shot up from the middle of the Colosseum, that could be seen from miles away.

For anyone else, this final move from Aerin might have been the deciding factor determining the victor of the match, but Eric secretly smiled as the golem exploded above him.

Using the perfect cover of the blinding explosion, Eric covered his body with dragon scales. As the light subsided, so did his scales. What came out from the explosion was the furthest from anyone's expectations.

Eric strolled out from the deep crater, brushing off dirt from his shoulders. He adjusted his clothing as if there was a crease, with a slight of a smile on his face. There was not a single singed area on him, it was like the explosion never happened.

"No... How could this be possible! That, that was my strongest move and you didn't take any damage?!" She exclaimed flabbergasted. The same thoughts were running through everyone's mind, even the Monarchs were astonished.

With her mana all exhausted, all she could do now was fight. But with the skill of an intermediate fighter, Eric made quick work of her and ended the match.

With a defeated sigh, she plopped down in the middle of the stage and signaled defeat. As Eric was about to jump off the stage, she called out to him.

"Hey! Can you do me a favor and hurt him bad, real bad." She punched the ground beside her.

"Sure, that'll be two favors now." With a wave of his hand, Eric returned back to the combatant's area.

"That was an amazing fight!" Anastasia said. "How did you manage to leave the explosion unscathed?"

"Maybe I'll let you in on that secret one day, but for now, concentrate on your match. Evagoras isn't an opponent you can take lightly. Don't hesitate to surrender if you feel that your life is in danger. He isn't a sane person."

Nodding her head, she took a deep breath and headed to stage.