Arvell watched Jas with a scrutinizing look.
'While there's no way he can maintain that forever, I'll probably run out of energy before I can break through his armour. Moreover…'
Turning his attention to Jas's feet, Arvell knitted his eyebrows.
'He still hasn't taken a single step yet.'
Jas's feet were firmly planted, showing that even with Arvell using all his physical strength, he had yet to make Jas move a single step.
'So much for testing the ability of my newly refined Nether Body.'
Arvell had wanted to fight Jas mainly because he wanted to test the capabilities of his new physique.
Before, he felt highly confident in holding his own against Jas, even with the age and experience gap between them.
It was a humbling experience for him, to say the least.
Never underestimate your opponents no matter what.
That was a teaching Arvell lived by while surviving alone in the wilderness.
However, living with the Silvercolts in a sheltered ho with 3 square als a day and several other luxuries that most normal people don't have access to.
They had llowed out his ntality too much, dulling his sharp edge.
Even during the examination, Arvell knew he shouldn't try to kill the treant but conserve his energy instead.
However, seeking the thrill of the fight, he ran in guns blazing and wasted all of his precious Aether.
A situation that left him almost on the brink of death.
'I lost my edge.'
Arvell would instead scout out his enemies before trying to fight them, utilizing their weak points to his advantage, not soone who wanted to fight blindly.
Even against Jas, Arvell was too eager to go and fight him that he didn't take into account baiting Jas's trump cards.
Arvell's best course of action now was to simply wait and figure out how Jas's ability worked.
After all, it wasn't like they were in a cartoon where each person would list the details of their skill to their enemy.
In a real battle, knowledge was everything.
Arvell began to slowly circle Jas in an attempt to probe him.
Jas silently stayed still, not even caring as Arvell approached behind him.
'Does he not consider a threat?'
Arvell had no way of attacking Jas with any ranged projectiles, so there was literally nothing he could do at his range.
Other than throwing his sword, that is.
If not utilized correctly, an action that would only let Jas end the duel far faster.
However, it didn't change the fact that his back was revealed.
Arvell dashed as fast as he could, ending up behind Jas instantly.
He stabbed his sword forward as fast as possible, intending to use his sword's montum to pierce through Jas's armour.
If he could break his armour fast enough, he could theoretically damage his real body before the armour had enough ti to reform.
Thrusting attacks aid at penetrating Jas's defence were crucial in this fight.
Just as Arvell's sword neared Jas's body, Jas's body spun 180 degrees, allowing him to parry Arvell's thrust.
'What was that?'
Arvell has expected Jas to have so way to counter him because Jas had let Arvell get behind him without stopping him.
Never did Arvell expect Jas to turn around so fast.
Also…
Jas didn't move a muscle throughout the whole process.
It was as if the ground itself had turned Jas around with speed fast enough to parry Arvell's thrust.
Zen watched the fight from the bleachers.
"Sis, how did Jas do that? It looked like the ground turned or sothing!"
Angela bead with pride when she saw her little brother admire her fiance's technique.
A technique that she had helped Jas perfect over the countless hours they trained together.
Zen hadn't ever seen Jas fight before, so he was both surprised and amazed by what he saw.
"That was exactly what happened. Rember, Jas's magic is earth magic, letting him manipulate the earth to his will."
"So he can turn and move even when his feet don't move?"
"Precisely, his attacks would be sporadic and random. Usually, a person's body language is a tell-tale sign of their subsequent actions, but this isn't as effective on Jas.
While Arvell can still watch Jas's arms and anticipate when he might attack him, Arvell has no way of knowing when and how Jas will manoeuver around Arvell's attacks."
"Arvell is in trouble here. But… I know he has sothing up his sleeve."
Angela's mouth curved up slightly.
"That he surely does."
Arvell jumped backwards, dodging Jas's counterattack.
'The earth… He's moving the earth! That's probably how he's healing up too! No wonder Jas never moved his feet. He needs to keep his connection to the earth to keep that spell!'
Arvell knew that to have a chance of beating Jas, he needed to get Jas off the ground.
Basically making Jas go airborne.
Arvell was sure that whatever he planned on doing was going to be a risky thing to do.
Sending soone quite literally tethered to the ground into the air was a herculean task, to say the least.
After all, he not only needed to sever Jas's connection with the earth, but he had to make his body go airborne.
All while Jas did his best to resist him every step of the way.
If Arvell had access to his other abilities, he could do anything from slowly whittling Jas down using Nether to simply create small pitfalls using his warp ability.
Either option would have worked as Arvell could have 1: outlasted Jas, or 2. Separated Jas from the ground.
Both of which were options that Arvell simply didn't have.
He needed to be able to defeat Jas without revealing any of his powers.
An incredibly arduous task with two dukes watching his every move.
But…
It wasn't impossible.
Arvell's brain began to work at hyper speed as he tried to figure out a way to beat Jas.
Suddenly Arvell's eyes widened in enlightennt as his lips curved into a slight smile.
'That's it!'
Arvell felt his plan was a little ballsy but sothing he could still pull off if he could play his cards right.
While Arvell would technically lose nothing by losing here, he still wanted to try to take Jas down.
He didn't want to lose!
Moreover, with the recent event with the 2nd rank beast, hiding his powers seed even more redundant.
Since the Silvercolts already knew that Arvell could take down beasts as strong as that, Arvell saw no use in limiting himself beyond hiding his more unorthodox abilities.
While he couldn't use Sepis and Nord, nor use his spacial abilities, he could still pull out quite a lot of strength using just his ti-based Aether abilities.
Arvell's heart rate increased in excitent as he tried to regulate his breathing to calm himself back down.
'This is going to be fun!'
Arvell dashed towards Jas as fast as he could, using every ounce of Aether to speed himself up.
Appearing before Jas, he stabbed his sword as fast as he could.
"Trying that again? Didn't you see that it was futile to try that?" Jas questioned.
He was blown away by the fight Arvell had shown him so far.
While he was holding back considerably, limiting himself to lee-only attacks, Arvell's ability was nothing to scoff at.
That's why he knew that Arvell was planning sothing.
There's no way soone with a fighting sense as good as Arvell's would run haphazardly at his enemy without as much as a plan.
'But what can he do, though? He's right in front of !'
Jas slashed his sword diagonally to push the direction of Arvell's sword to the side while also giving himself the chance to hit Arvell head-on.
However, Arvell didn't move, deciding to continue on his trajectory regardless of Jas's incoming slash.
'Is he anticipating taking himself down just to land this blow? Of course, but with the strength difference between us, I could completely different his blow while landing mine simultaneously. Sure he knows this, right?'
Jas slashed down with his sword, hitting Arvell's sword to the side while slashing directly at his unprotected head.
All according to Jas's predictions, except for one crucical thing.
After hitting Arvell's sword, it seed as if Jas was slashing at air.
Almost instantly after the sword passed through Arvell's body, Arvell disappeared into thin air.
As if it was never there.
'An afterimage!'
Having trained with Angela, he was used to her overwhelming speed, which often let her leave behind afterimages to confuse her opponents.
'But where is he?'
Arvell appeared right behind Jas and kicked him with all of his strength.
Jas reeled as he felt a sudden force assault him back.
Without losing his montum, Arvell used the rebound force to twist his body and deliver a second kick in the sa spot.
The combined force of the 2 full-force kicks weakened the bonds keeping Jas to the ground.
However, just 2 kicks were not enough to knock his hulking fra into the air.
Jas's aquamarine eyes flickered with amazent as he tried to stabilize himself.
'Give him a few more years, and I'm sure this kid will grow into a monster!'
Managing to evade his detection and get 2 attacks onto him was sothing Jas didn't expect whatsoever.
Arvell even left his sword to direct Jas's attention away from his movents, effectively tricking him into attacking an afterimage.
An unorthodox fighting style, to say the least.
Most people wouldn't throw away their weapons just to kick their enemies.
Arvell was not only a highly skilled fighter but also fought using unorthodox thods.
Utilizing the short ti Arvell bought for himself, he lunged over to the sword Jas had knocked down only monts ago before picking it up and throwing it back at Jas with every ounce of strength he could muster.
Seeing the sword approach him at high speed, Jas, still stabilizing himself, had no option other than to bring his sword as a shield to block the oncoming blade.
aning he still had to take the full force behind the sword.
Jas would have to take a blow strong enough to pierce through his armour and hit him head-on if he didn't block it.
Blocking it was the only option he had.
Unfortunately for him, blocking it was precisely what Arvell predicted him to do.
*CRACK*
The ground beneath Jas's feet cracked as he flew backwards through the air.
***
Author's note:
I will be running a limited ti event for extra chapters.
Every 100 golden tickets will get you one free extra chapter.
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