18

He didn't expect the little smirk on my face as I reached out to grip his shoulder. Sending his lightning back purified, and amplified by ten times. A sound that was as loud as a gunshot, but ten times faster hit their ears as a flash of light forced them to narrow their eyes. He shot back ten feet as if he'd been launched out of a cannon. Sliding along the floor even further so he was about fifteen feet away from me when he finally stopped.

"Please tell me he wasn't your best," I had his soul blade in my grip.

Only the queen had seen me take it. The others were surprised that I was even capable of holding onto someone else's soul blade. I gripped the blade tightly. Squeezing until the blade broke. Drawing screams out of the unconscious prince.

I held back the huff of disdain that made it's way up my throat. I frowned as I looked at the others. Appraising each, and every one of them slowly. None of them were afraid which told me the boy that was quick to attack was the weakest so his defeat was expected. That made me smile.

"Sefricka," the queen smirked casually, "Kill him."

The only lower elf among her elites rushed forward. He had a blade that was similar to the city lords. I knew my black blades weren't capable of stopping that particular blade so I didn't bother trying to stop his blade with mine. I threw them both at him in a single double bladed throw. He dodged beneath them as if he could see them coming.

I felt him activating the time element, and I simply blocked it. He swung his blade, and I summoned mine. The moment of distraction was all my blade needed to devour all the blades that had been around me a moment before. I didn't care. I allowed it.

Mainly because I didn't have time to stop it from happening. My soul blade collided with his powerful blade, and all the mana in the area suddenly vanished as the time element consumed all the mana around me. My soul bladed acted as an auxiliary core now that it was outside of my body. Allowing my to cast powerful magic without using my core to do so. I felt the weight of the blade come off my soul blade, and I could see his years of swordsmanship training.

I knew how he would counter my attack, and I reacted in kind. Jumping out of the range of his attack. It would take about a minute for what I did to take full effect. There was no mana in the air for me to use anymore so I could only use my divine energy. The fact that I had divine energy surprised those that were watching me fight.

My divine energy was powerful. There was no doubt about that. Especially now that it was purified. My divine energy alone was enough to counter everyone here except for the queen herself. I just didn't know how long I could hold out.

My attacks, parries, and lunges were almost as refined as his own. I was too focused to enjoy this fight. He was so close to my level. A perfect sparring partner for me right now at my current level. I parried one of his strikes, and I felt his blade give, and so did he.

His eyes widened as he backed off. Almost all the way back to the throne.

"What did you do?" Sefricka yelled at me from fifty feet away.

"You didn't sense the nature of the spell I cast?" I swung my nearly transparent blade around a few times, "That's too bad." My soul blade turned a bright flaming red, "You don't have a weapon anymore."

"What!" he looked down at his blade as the sword started to crumble to dust in his grip, "You have the time element?"

"You didn't wonder why you couldn't see my future as we were fighting," I wiped out the flames that were headed for my back as my blade absorbed the mana contained within them, "You should really pay more attention to your enemy."

My blade turned black with small white spots like stars. The upward slash I sent towards him next was more dangerous then the flaming blade anyway. My blade slashed through space itself. Distorting that space as it went. It looked almost like when a swordsman threw their sword strike in those odd animated shows.

What were they called again? I'd only seen a few episodes. Animate? I could think about that later. The queen had blocked my strike before it could hit Sefricka.

I'd proven to be more trouble then I was worth. Her soul blade was black as night. I expected it to be something like that. I felt the power it had been fed over the centuries. I stood no chance at all.

She rushed towards me, and I knew that meant my death was coming. I summoned something out of my spatial ring a split second later. Something that made her stop dead in her tracks. Floating just a few millimeters off the tips of my fingers was something she very much wanted. It was a time stone.

Artificial or not it was very powerful, and there was no mistaking it.

"You seem to think that combat is the only way out of this little disagreement we find ourselves in," I smirked as she stared at the crystal, "I disagree."

I released my soul blade, and allowed it to float near me in a blade down position.

"So what is it that you want?" She lowered her blade, and took a few steps back as well.

"I just came to get the slaves," I tossed the crystal in the air, and caught it in my other hand, "I have been stealing them because I thought you were against allowing me to simply buy them, but after I saw you I realized you might be persuaded with the right payment."

"You just want slaves?" She raised a brow.

"And a blood oath to allow us safe passage off of your planet," I brushed the stone ground with the tips of my fingers.