Chapter 19: an unknown variable has appeared (2)

Syph's POV:

In less time than it took her to blink, Syph noticed the instantaneous change in the flow of the battle.

Markus who she had begun to completely overwhelm and dominate about a minute ago is now matching her blow for blow, strike for strike and slash for slash although she was pushing him back hard before now he was maintaining equal footing with her.

But what's surprised her the most was-

(Is he copying my Arend style? And what's more he's flawlessly matching my moves with his...)

After a while of seem-less sword exchanges with their intensity being gradually increased bit by bit until both individuals no longer seemed human, Syph realised.

(Oh I get it...he's using magic)

Markus's POV:

((With [transmute object] I'm extending the length of the blade in order to make up for my lack of reach although this might be a little risky since the durability of the sword is lowered by the increased size disproportionate to its total mass it should be fine as long as I'm careful))

The two users of Arend style were locked in a dance of death and metal with neither of them gaining or losing any grounds in their exchange, this caused the battle to get more and more heated by the second until not even the ones who permitted this match to happen can tell which one's going to win.

((The only reason why I'm able to avoid her strikes earlier is because her movements are kinda similar to their in game animations, so I was able to kinda sorta see it coming...so I thought that with [body puppetry] I could copy them and I was right, if I really strain my eyes to watch her every muscle movement and trace it back with my own body to match it combined with my knowledge of her attack animation in the game, I can essentially copy her famous fighting style...although this will hurt so bad later on when [nullify pain] wears off...))

Like two tornadoes fighting each other, the air around Markus and Syph were heating up due to the friction both of their swords were generating and the ground beneath them began to turn over unable to bear the power of their sword fight.

((Fighting a mirror version of yourself sure is tiring huh!?))

Markus provoked Syph in his head.

((The rest such as [strength enhancement], [speed enhancement] and [float] is just so I can align myself up with her, the difference in our power, speed and height is just that huge))

The exchange wasn't stationary either Markus and Syph moved their battle around the area in order for both to gain any type of advantage they can against the other, in doing so they caused a considerable amount of collateral damage to their surroundings like leaving multiple cuts on the road and walls as well as dissecting any unfortunate tree that they came across.

((There it is! If I use that...))

Noticing a chance for him to enact a possible plan for victory, Markus waited patiently for that opportunity to come, the time he had to wait felt an eternity but Markus hoped...no, he knew that that chance will come eventually.

And it did came -

Using their right hand to position their respective swords into the air, both Syph and Markus used the palm of their left hand to push their swords into a powerful stabbing motion.

The two blade's tip collided with an ungodly amount of force causing a path of pure destruction to form in between both individuals blowing smoke and debris all over the place.

((Now!))

Seizing the opportunity Markus canceled the [body puppetry] and stopped tracing Syph's movements, he immediately activated his [shadow step] and used his super speed to go through the smoke screen and circle around her.

((What will you do if the enemy who's been mirroring your moves suddenly started using a different move out of nowhere?))

Syph's POV:

(Magnificent! Truly fantastic...I've found him! The one who will surpass me one day)

Syph's excitement was over the roof, it had been so long since she was able to have a duel this intense.

Driving her stab which was copied and pasted by him almost perfectly into his blade she was driven back by the force of their colliding attack.

(Show me more!)

Syph's heart was beating faster and faster, her blood was boiling her body was sweating when was the last time she felt like this? Even she couldn't remember.

Taking in her breath to focus her mana onto her blade, Syph assumed a particularly famous stance.

Using her long distance Iai slash she blew away the smoke and debris blew up by their last exchange.

(What will you do now? You were only able to trace my moves through your ocular analysis of my moves...but with the smokescreen up that will no longer be possible, how will you dodge that?)

Syph was waiting impatiently to see Markus's response to her long range attack.

And she didn't have to wait for long, as soon as her slash dissipated the smokescreen Markus was nowhere to be found leaving her confused as to where he was.

(Wait what? Where'd he go?)

Her confusion didn't last for very long, the very next minute the answer came to her, more specifically it came to her from behind.

Markus's POV:

((It was easy to predict that she would try to use an extremely destructive move to try and block my vision with a smoke screen...a seasoned warrior like Sypha would be able to deduce that the medium that I use to copy her moves was through my vision and would of course try to block it...but unfortunately for you mrs master swordswoman, I am an assassin first and a swordsman second, eat this!!!))

Markus now had the perfect strike at her exposed back opened up to him.

Although he matched Syph in combat, Markus knew that he couldn't keep that up for long so due to the wounds he already suffered and [nullify pain] can't really last forever, so he waited for Syph to try and take away his only advantage which was his ability to trace and copy her moves so that he could use that very same attempt to snatch himself a winning move, since Syph is now used to Markus's tracing and she thinks that he couldn't beat her combined with the fact that he just dissapeared from her vision with [shadow step], Syph's concentration is at it's lowest point right now.

With all of his combined might Markus slashed at Syph with his sword, even though it was only a test for him, he aimed for her neck for he knew that even this attack couldn't reach her.

Unsurprisingly Syph turned back at just the nick of time to block Markus's lethal blow with both hands on her sword.

"Hey little kid, you're cheating with magic aren't you?"

Syph's spoke to Markus for the first time since they've met, her voice was sweet and mature like the young woman that she was.

""Oh crap...""

Acting as if he was surprised by Syph's declaration, Markus was sweating (not really) heavily.

Syph spun her blade with both hands taking away Markus's sword and throwing him off into the distance.

By all definitions, this should have been the end for Markus but against all logic and expectations Markus was happy at this development.

((Got you...))

Markus grinned inwardly.

Before Syph could move a blue light appeared from bellow her, signalling that something was seriously wrong.

Syph's POV:

(Wait wha...)

Before she could even finish her thought a pale blue colored magic formation appeared from under her, it was the spell none as [freezing trap] and it took effect immediately, trapping Syph in a block of ice with to intersecting sequence of magic symbols and hieroglyphs surrounding the block.

(He casted this before striking at me? such casting speed and proficiency...he's almost at the level of an apprentice court mage...)

Now trapped within Markus's ice, even though she could break out Syph was vulnearable to Markus's attacks now, even if just for a minutr, that minute was all that Markus needed

Markus's POV:

((sjkdfhjksdhfjkhsdfhsdkfksdjf))

Markus was using [greater lightning storm], [ardent infeno], [true darkness], [glacial disaster] and basically all of his most powerful spells all at once as one single fused spell, completely draining the rest of his mana pool in order to cast this composite spell.

If Markus was chanting verbally right now it would sound like a sound an old fax machine would make or the sound of a dialed up Modem.

"Fires of Valentia" had this one feature to combine and fire multiple spells at once and that was called incantation roll, where you weave and condense the required chant of multiple spells into one single form shortening the casting time and firing all the component spells as one, all multiplex spells are cast by this the only problem is that the mana requirements are huge and and most of the spells cast with this method have a very high chance of failing to cast and consuming your mana without activating the spell.

But with all the knowledge and skill Markus has accumulated so far, succesfully casting it even when taking his young age into consideration isn't a major problem.

Multiple layers of magic formations of all shapes and sizes appeared around Markus, above to bellow side to side accompanied by many incantation rolls tying everything together into one big whole.

((Cnryxhsnkfyenrigskt))

After a few seconds the complex multi-part formation was finally completed.

""Take this!""

With all of his might Markus screamed at the top of his lungs, firing the most powerful spell he has ever casted in this life.

A pillar of multiple coloured energy shot into the stratosphere from Markus and Syph's position.

Black, white, red, blue, indigo etc. everyone of them weaved and sewn together destroying everything in it's path.

If you were converting this into "fires of Valentia" game value Markus would be doing 9700+ damage right now.

Although normally a Multiplex spell like this should be as least 50 times more powerful than this, due to Markus's lack of practice, inexperience, limited mana pool and young age the spell ended being significantly less powerful than it should be.

((Ugh...))

Markus almost immediately collapsed after casting that spell, he seriously wanted to just pass out now as his body was now heavier than a ton to him as he has just used up every drop of mana in his body.

But he knew that he couldn't relax just yet as Syph was likely going to still be fine even after taking that spell head on.

With his will to win stronger than his exhaustion Markus pulled his legs into standing up and making a mad dash for his sword.

And Markus was right as a moment after that, multiple sword slashes fired out disabling Markus's spell that he put his everything.

But even though the damage Syph received was only adequate and she was still in much better shape than Markus, the moment Markus successfully retrieved his sword, his victory was decided.

Syph dashed at Markus intending to end this match with one last blow but that blow never came.

Swinging her sword at Markus she was surprised as the blade passed through him...or more accurately there was no blade at all she was only holding a broken half melted handle with no Blade.

Markus held his sword up to her neck deciding his victory.

""Check and mate...""

With his monotonous voice Markus declared his hard fought victory.

Sypha's POV:

Her clothes were tattered and ripped at many places, she was bleeding from many different wounds in her body.

(That huge spell wasn't meant to damage me!? He was aiming for my sword...very clever)

Dropping the broken handle, she raised her hands up signifying that she had accepted her defeat.

"I give up, it's your win"

Although she undoubtedly loss she was feeling happy for some reason as she giggled, amused at her current situation .

Markus's POV:

((No matter if it's an RPG game or real life, equipment is essential when fighting someone, a player who's 3 levels lower than another can beat that other player if he has better gear, that's one of the basics of PVP it's doesn't matter if she's 18 levels more powerful than me, if I have a sword and she doesn't, it's game over...))

In a desperate battle against an opponent that's superior to him in every way, Markus has devised, enacted and actualised a plan that resulted in his victory despite how much the odds were against him, even though he should be proud as this battle will serve as a testament to his prowess, Markus didn't feel glad, it was the opposite actually, for Markus was smart enough to know that Syph was going easy on him as she could've killed him a hundred times during that battle but she didn't as she never intended to kill him in the first place.

In other words Markus only won because he had taken full advantage of an opponent that was going easy on him, this left quite a bitter taste in Markus's mouth.

""No, that's not true...I was never qualified to have a bout with you in the first place, it's my loss""

But despite this, Markus had a strange fulfilling sensation in his heart as he humbly stated his true feelings to Syph and dropped his sword.

((What a terrifying person...even with all that I've put into this battle I still couldn't even reach her feet))

"Hah! You hear that Aidan? Your boy's got the talent as well as the attitude of a prodigy"

Seeing this Syph was amused as she laughed heartily while looking at a certain approaching individual.

((So I was right! The other presence I felt was...))

Even though he was exhausted beyond belief Markus still overexerted himself to follow Syph's line of sight.

The person standing there was clad in full body Silver and gold coloured armour with dark blue hair and black eyes.

A gentle but somewhat sad expression was present on his face as he walked towards the two.

He had a grand looking sword fastened to his waist, signifying his position as one of the most militaristically powerful man in the empire.

"Yes...I suppose you're right"

A calm soothing voice came from his mouth.

It's him, Markus thought.

One of the prided sword saints of the empire and current head of the Silver house-

Aidan Silver himself.