NOVEL WEB Chapter 70 - Sparring Part 1
Tesilim and Arelion stood some distance apart. They had decided to go mostly all out in the fight to get a good handle on what everybody could do. It also helped that Rose could heal them, well, at least, everyone except the twins. Thankfully, that issue was resolved because Alyx actually had magic that could heal souls, even if it was weak. Additionally, Lili was there, and she could intervene if they went too far.
A whistle from Lili signaled the beginning of the fight, and they both activated their body enhancements. For Tesilim, nothing changed visibly. However, Arelion’s change was quite noticeable, as a dark aura spread around his body like a second skin.
Tesilim, ever the impatient one, decided to rush forward but did not teleport as he wanted to keep all his cards close to his chest. For his part, Arelion did not move and waited for the elf to come at him. Tesilim took the half-elf by surprise as right before arriving he used his boots to teleport behind his opponent, a kick already in motion.
Arelion had not expected this Tesilim guy to teleport, so he took the hit, using the impact to help him jump away while at the same time doing a pass-by slash with his dagger, only to see that the elf had already teleported away. Tesilim was inspecting his leg, no doubt noticing the surprise Arelion had left behind. Though weak, his dark aura, among other things, did just a bit of damage against those who struck him, even if they were wearing armor.
Landing lightly on his feet, Arelion wouldn't wait until his opponent decided to keep going with the fight and rushed at the yellow and purple-haired elf. As he ran, he extended his dark aura to spread across his daggers, something that not many could do at his low rank and was only possible due to his innate magic. His opponent noticed that he was rushing in and stopped inspecting his leg.
For his part, Tesilim switched his boots from earth mode to water mode so he could heal any damage taken from whatever Arelion had going on. Then, seeing the dark-haired half-elf rush him, Tesilim responded in kind.
Arelion slashed with his daggers while dodging Tesilim's kicks and punches, and Tesilim did the same as he teleported or moved out of the way of the dark-haired elf's attacks.
Arelion had been fine with the back-and-forth exchange that he was going with Tesilim because every hit that he landed or that Tesilim landed on him, though minor, was still in his favor. His dark aura was a great power, leaving him winning in any exchange. However, his smugness changed once he realized that the elf wasn't taking much damage from their exchanges. Looking at his opponent's fists, they were healing just as fast as they were taking damage from his darkness. At that point, Arelion decided to get a bit more serious.
So far, he had been fighting without much actual skill, as he did not want to hurt the elf. However, seeing that he wasn't making any progress, Arelion decided to put his skills to the test.
Tesilim felt the change in the fight as the pale half-elf began dealing some good damage against him. His daggers flickered forward with speed and grace he had not displayed previously. Additionally, Tesilim’s own attacks against Arelion were being dodged much more easily. It seemed the half-elf had gotten serious, and Tesilim had to do the same.
Now, when Tesilim meant he had to get serious, he meant that he needed to start spamming spells and teleport all about. So far, Tesilim had just been teleporting back and forth in order to dodge attacks, something that his opponent was getting used to. What he had yet to do was teleport above or below. Heck, he hadn't even changed his momentum while teleporting with his actual spell. So he decided to combo the attack.
First, he used the reduce the weight spell on the half-elf. The effect was less intense than Tesilim wanted it to be, but it was enough for Arelion to become unbalanced. It wasn't that it even lasted for long either, but it was enough for what Tesilim wanted. Following the reduced weight spell, Tesilim summoned some water in front of the half-elf’s face, smiling as it splashed against his pale skin. It was effectively a way to blind him so he would lose sight of Tesilim. It was also then that Tesilim really thanked his lucky stars that he could cast these spells without chanting. With Arelion now temporarily blinded, Tesilim moved forward, unleashing some of his water slashes.
Arelion, who had just recovered from getting water randomly splashed on his face, saw the water slashes also coming his way and was able to dodge them by a small margin. However, he still had to deal with the incoming elf and quickly attempted to put together a defense. Then he was taken by surprise again as some more slashes of water came from the sides, one being able to strike him on the ribs, which really hurt. He knew that those slashes were slightly weaker than his opponent would normally use as they were still sparring. Then, adding the fact that his dark aura was able to dilute magical attacks slightly, they didn’t turn as debilitating. Still, the water slashes had served their purpose and had taken his sight away from Tesilim. When he looked back, the elf was gone.
Looking around desperately, he could not find the elf. However, he was quick enough to piece together the shadow that had just landed on his face with something falling on him and looking up. He saw the grinning Tesilim. Arelion had just enough time to jump to the side, only to be surprised once again when Tesilim disappeared from right in front of him and reappeared behind him. Arelion was then struck by two feet and was sent sprawling.
Landing lightly, Teslim just laughed as he saw the half-elf stumble over the ground. Arelion stood up, dirt covering his once pristine-looking armor as he clutched his back. Naturally, Tesilim couldn’t help but comment.
“Ha! You should have seen the look on your face when I teleported that second time.”
Sadly, the smile was wiped from Tesilim’s face as he saw the grim determination on Arelion’s face, and the dark aura of his opponent grew darker and thicker in response. Seeing the serious Arelion run at him with increased speed, Tesilim decided to pump some more mana to his boots and enhancement as he moved to meet the half-elf.
For his part, Arelion sent out dozens of small dark crescent waves of energy, and Tesilim was struck by many, unable to dodge all of them. As the energy struck him, he felt his body enhancement weakened to the point where it had been a few seconds ago, meaning Arelion was officially faster until Tesilim got rid of the energy influencing him. Something he wouldn't be able to do as he didn't have any cleansing magic that he could cast without chants. Still, he could feel the energy slowly being dissipated by his own, and he knew he just had to hold out. Sadly, he wouldn't be ready to go before the imminent clash, which would not go well for him.
Tesilim got more worried as they clashed, seeing Arelion’s blade light up with a hue of purple. He wasn't sure what the new effect was, but it definitely wasn't going to be anything good. Something he learned firsthand in a few seconds. He was struck by a bunch of attacks, unable to dodge everything, even with his teleportation. Then, Tesilim learned about gravity magic and its effects on reality. With every hit that Arelion landed, Tesilim felt heavier, but not only that, his teleportation costed more mana. So the longer the fight dragged out, the more damage Arelion would do as Tesilim ran out of ways to dodge. It was then that Tesilim gave up completely on teleporting with his boots and pumped all his items' remaining mana on healing. Teslim also decided that it was time to dip out of the fight and make some distance so he could get rid of the magic that was currently infecting him. Sadly, he was unable to do so before Arelion struck him with a particularly dark dagger that sent a ripple of energy through his body, and when all was said and done, he was blinded. Freaking out as you do when you're blinded, Teslim put a chunk of manna into his normal teleportation spell as he teleported backward a decent amount.
Now, a fair distance from his opponent, he started throwing even more manna into his body enhancement, hoping that it would be enough to fight off all the effects. Sure enough, pumping more mana, including some pure mana, into his system helped. And the negative effects began clearing away. The problem was that it had been at least a good 30 seconds, and he had yet to be attacked. Tesilim wasn’t sure what Arelion was planning, but it definitely was not going to be anything good, especially since Tesilim was starting to run low on mana.
When his eyes cleared, Tesilim looked around for his opponent and found the half-elf, who was a couple dozen feet in front of him. The elf was just standing there, but the main problem was that he was blanketed in dark energy that radiated all around him, almost completely obscuring him. So with an “Uh-Oh,” Tesilim saw the grin on Arelion’s face and poured all of his mana, including much of his pure mana, into creating a barrier in front of him. The burn he felt was real, but it wasn’t something he was worried about as much as the move the dark-haired half-elf was about to make.
Seeing the burst of dark energy scattered around Arelion, Tesilim braced himself only to realize the half-elf had disappeared. Hoping that the guy had messed up his spell, Tesilim looked around for signs of Arelion, trying to find the remains of a corpse or something, when he finally noticed that the shadow underneath him was growing darker and darker. Just as this realization hit Tesilim, he also ran out of time. The shadow exploded upwards, covering and binding him, and he also lost his senses.
Thankfully, Tesilim’s sense depravation cleared a few seconds later, only to find that dark chains still restrained him while Arelion stood behind him with a dagger at his throat.