A Search Through Runeterra (Arcane)

"Punch first. Ask questions while punching."~ Vi, The Piltover Enforcer (ARCANE CHARACTER!!!)

Sylas is practically a boss fight. It is quite unfair where he can just brute force your own abilities against you. But it comes with the drawback of being able to use only one kind of magic at a time.

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"Indeed it is." Gregori smiled as he felt Sylas absorb his magic.

Caalyx's magic.

Blood magic.

Sylas felt his magic intertwine with the very blood flowing within him. His body grew one size bigger as the chains holding his arms broke apart from the sudden increase in size. "This is quite nice." Sylas flexed his arms.

"Poor lad." Caalyx muttered.

Gregori stood up and the two faced each other.

"All that power and you decide to not share." Sylas stared him in the eyes.

Gregori did not flinch, "It is not meant to be shared. This is meant to be hidden away."

"It is mine now." Sylas refuted. "And I will change the world with it."

"We will see about that." Gregori replied as he let his magic flow. His magic. The one Sylas had now locked himself out of.

The weapons that were on the ground all rose and began to slowly float around the two.

Meanwhile, Sylas's eyes were focused on Caalyx, "It speaks?" 

"Ah!" Caalyx exclaimed, "He can hear me now Gregori!"

Gregori didn't reply, instead choosing to control the weapons.

SCHWINGGG

SCWING

The weapons raced toward Sylas, who moved silently.

The weapons all converged where he once stood.

Sylas stood to the side now turning his attention back to Gregori, "This speed is also quite nice."

Gregori didn't let up, the weapons all floated back into the sky and formed a dome around Sylas. If he could dodge them all from one direction, what would he do if they came from all directions at once.

Sylas growled as he spotted this. He leapt at the weapons before Gregori had launched them. With his hands curling around the closest weapon, with pure force, he broke them away from the pull and began to throw them at Gregori.

Using this opportunity, Gregori sent every weapon in the vicinity at Sylas, in hopes to land a single hit.

The first weapon flew at him but with his current senses, Gregori saw it arrive in slow motion. He let his magic flow as it began to pull everything around him to the ground.

"You are picking it up fast." Caalyx vibrated as his eyes observed the weapon come to a halt and then shoot straight down into the ground.

Gregori watched the weapon fall as well, "I am losing a lot of magic for this." He commented, "Cannot keep it up for long."

"Well.... no. I'd like to see what you'd figure out for this." Caalyx held himself back from replying and giving tips.

Gregori just sighed at his childish behavior. It was fine. He could just put up his domain when it called for it and then remove it on command. There was no need to pull constantly and push his body to the limits.

It was a simple thing to do.

"Try flying!" Caalyx sounded just as excited as his own children.

Gregori ignored him, instead looking at the now impaled Sylas.

Meanwhile, Sylas tried twisting his body sideways to avoid some of the weapons but it did nothing to stop the weapons piercing his body.

He fell to the ground, impaled by quite a large amount of weapons.

But despite the pain and the injuries, he strangely still felt in control.

Still alive.

Grunting in pain, he pulled out each weapon from his body.

They clattered on to the ground but something seemed odd. He didn't feel like he was losing blood.

He looked down at the weapons.

They were bloody.

An unnatural warmth spread through his body. Sylas looked down and saw his wounds close. His skin and flesh regrowing to cover itself.

"Immortality?" He asked in confusion.

Gregori shook his head. "Blood magic. You are practically immortal."

Sylas's head shot up, an crazed expression on his face, "You really are a surprise aren't you? Why didn't you use this during our previous fight?"

"Didn't need to." Gregori answered as he summoned both axes to his hand. "I also did not know that you would be there." Caalyx floated to the side.

Sylas nodded thoughtfully as he picked up a sword that he had pulled out of himself and inspected it. "I suppose so...."

And then he disappeared.

Gregori raised his axe to the right as he blocked the swing. His left arm moved in a blur as it slammed the axe into the side of Sylas's body.

Blood sprayed as the axe cut into the body.

Sylas didn't even bother defending. His mind rode off the high of the transformation.

Gregori pulled the axe out and kicked Sylas backward. He shook himself off and stood back up, sword in hand as the wound regenerated.

Like a mad barbarian, Sylas swung his sword downward once more. Gregori raised both axes blocking the attack.

A sudden force hit his torso as Gregori was sent backward by a front kick from Sylas.

The exact same way he himself had kicked him before.

"The transformation...." Caalyx pointed out, "His increased mental and physical capacity is making it so that he can not only copy your magic but also your fighting abilities."

Gregori nodded. "This will end soon."

"Indeed."

Getting to his feet, Gregori appeared in front of Sylas, once again, swinging his axe into Sylas's shoulder.

Sylas didn't bother defending once again as he swung his sword at Gregori.

Gregori used his other axe to knock the blade away. In an instant, he appeared behind Sylas and swung the axe toward his hand, slicing it clean off.

Both the hand and the sword dropped tot he ground.

More blood poured out.

The ground around them was now fully dyed red.

Sylas spun around and kicked Gregori away. He knelt and picked up his own arm and placed it against its stump. The skin and flesh knit back together though it was a little uncomfortable.

He did not even care for the axe that stuck out of the side of his torso.

More blood flowed.

Sylas grinned at Gregori, "We can keep going forever."

Gregori shook his head, "No." He waved his hand as numerous weapons embedded themselves inside Sylas once again, "This is not how it works."

Once again Sylas pulled out all the weapons from his body.

But this time there was no blood flowing out.

"The fight is already over Sylas." Gregori muttered as he punched the man into the ground.

Sylas tilted his head up from under the rubble. "It is not. I am still healing."

Gregori looked at the wounds that were now struggling to close up. "Are you?"

Sylas frowned.

"Did you seriously think that there was a kind of magic that make you immortal?" Gregori sighed, "Without any drawbacks?"

Sylas's smile finally dropped.

"Blood." Gregori continued. "That is the price you pay. If you have enough blood left you can heal. But you have been constantly losing blood. Not even bothering to wonder why I still defend despite the same transformation."

"No..." Sylas muttered.

Gregori raised his axe and shoved it into his chest.

Sylas groaned from the impact. "It is over."

Finally, an expression of defeat appeared on Sylas's face as he felt his magic stop trying to put him back together. "How..... how is this fair?"

Gregori just looked at the defeated man, his skin rapidly turning gray without the presence of blood.

"Was there any chance of me beating you?" Sylas asked.

Gregori nodded, "If you hadn't chosen to take the blood magic and just used my magic. You could have won."

Sylas looked at the sky, an unwilling expression on his face.

"What crime did I commit to suffer so?" Sylas whispered as the life began to fade from his eyes. "Fifteen years in chains. Fifteen years without the sun. Why?"

"It is just how the world works." Gregori told the dying man, "For someone to succeed, someone has to fail. For someone to live... someone has to die."

"Then why is the suffering so much worse than the success? Why does the suffering last so much longer?"

Gregori looked up at the sky, "I don't know Sylas. I don't know."

"it is just how the world is young man." Caalyx spoke from the side, his single eyeball focused on Sylas. "One cannot expect the world to treat everyone equally."

His eyes flitted toward the floating weapon, "Then this world is wrong."

"Indeed it is." Caalyx responded, "Indeed it is."

"Can you let the other mages go free?" He asked.

"I.... I'll see what I can do." Gregori replied.

Those were Sylas's last words. Not one of revenge. Not one of anger and sadness. Just one hoping his people, those who suffered the same as him, hoping they would be able to get out of this alive.