5

He couldn't see the smile on my face, but the concerned tilt to his expression told me that he thought something was off about what I was doing. I wanted it to appear as if I was fighting as hard as I could when in reality I was allowing him to push me back. Maybe I made it too obvious. The remaining guards had gathered in the courtyard, but they couldn't get between us. They simply didn't have the skill to get into our fight without getting themselves killed.

Their master was unpredictable with the way he was easily able to switch between halberd, and short sword. I was leaving behind shockwaves, and afterimages with each strike. I blinked in behind him, and slashed at his back suddenly. His shock was genuine as he tried to counterstrike me from my new position. I didn't back off this time.

Taking the strike head on, and having pain sent down the length of my arms. I wasn't used to having something the size of a human be able to strike me hard enough to hurt me. I knew it had something to do with the weapon he was using. The blows he was able to dish out were far stronger then he should be able to dish out, and it felt as if they were slowly getting stronger. The large bleeding wound I'd opened up on his back was taking from his strength so he shouldn't be able to throw stronger blows now after I'd damaged him.

I rapid fire blinked into his blind spots. Slashing at him repeatedly. Each strike burned at his flesh as if it were eating away at him. He was desperately trying to keep his wounds from widening. He wasn't the only one slowly getting stronger, and fast as we fought though.

Each time he accelerated, I accelerated. Each time his strength increased, so did mine. My enjoyment was reaching it's peak, but my strength was rapidly approaching it's peak as well. There was something else that was bothering me though. I would have cocked my head if I wasn't so focused on dodging each of those attacks.

Did he look thinner? He was fatter at the beginning of this fight. That much I was sure of. He definitely had more weight on his bones then he did now. I backed off suddenly.

The sudden stillness made them all tense.

"Your weapon is devouring you?" My head cocked as I questioned what exactly I was seeing, "That hardly seems worth it."

The tip of his weapon dropped slightly. He was caught off guard by the sudden conversation.

"Are you here to kill my family or have conversation?" He practically snarled, "I don't understand how any of this matters when you are attacking my home."

"I've already finished what I came to do," I laughed, "I was just disappointed to see a strong opponent destroy himself just to get an edge in this fight." I blinked into his personal space, gripping his weapon tightly, "This weapon isn't willing to submit to you so I'll just take it off your hands."

The green shine of the blade turned black as the noble tried to wrestle the blade away from me. I could feel the blade adding to my own strength. It wasn't much of an amplification, but it was noticeable. The surprise on the nobles face as the weapon was being consumed was humorous, but my soul weapon really wanted the core of this blade. For what?

I didn't know. The blade turned to dust, and was absorbed into my body leaving the noble unarmed. He didn't have the strength of the blade anymore. The color of his complexion improved a split second later. The blade wasn't consuming him anymore.

My next strike was laced with amplified basilisk venom. I could feel it taking affect almost immediately. Refilling my core as his body was consumed by the stone. I used gravity manipulation to lower my weight, and leapt straight up. The speed at which I ascended was impossible to follow with eyes alone.

The trail of mana I left behind made it easier to track where I'd gone. I glided down to the ground outside of the town. My feet touched the ground silently. I wasn't far from the group Sekka had snuck out of the town so it wasn't hard for me to snap my fingers, and break the collars from here. The slaves were startled by the sudden lack of a collar around their necks.

I approached them silently. Joining the group silently as I repaired my clothing. The time element sprung from me. Masking our presence in our time here. The mana trail of the time element only lasted a split second which was odd, and completely expected somehow.

They would have to follow our tracks with magicless tracking techniques. That was something elves were not likely to know how to do. I'm certain that a few had learned how to do it, but I was also certain that the number of elves that had taken the time to learn such a skill were hard to find. Not only that, but the skill was highly under valued. Why use your eyes when you could get a clear road map using magic?

Such was the arrogance of elves. They never lost touch with magic so their society was built around it. Human's had so they learned many ways to survive without it. The lack of magical skill that humans had now could easily be remedied with time. They lived for destruction.

They learned to create from it, and to coexist with it. That made them more dangerous than most of the creatures in the universe. The way that they learned was through destruction. This war was going to benefit them greatly. I just hoped that it wouldn't destroy me in the process.

The slaves looked at me warily when they realized that I was among them. My presence was a powerful one, and it left an impression. I needed to get used to that. I ignored their startled frightened expressions. I was too focused on masking our presence.