Chapter Thirteen: Mana Storm, Coward, And Clash

Gazef moved at speeds that the demons surrounding him couldn't keep up with, and with one swing in front of him that was infused with mana a gust of wind came from the blade and sliced the demons in front of him in half.

Gazef didn't actually have that good of an affinity with the wind element, and he didn't use it in that attack. It was just the force of swinging his sword with his strength that made the wind like that.

Gazef then paused in his assault in the demon's stronghold, he had managed to get in with ease, none of the demons protecting it posed a threat to him, although it did slow him down.

The reason for Gazef's pause in his assault was because of laughing. Well, more like cackling. Gazef looked around… while he had actually already spotted where the demon was, he was just wondering what level of arrogance this demon had.

It was always amusing to Gazef, to see the demons he fought act so high and mighty in front of him, but then not being able to see the sun set… or rise, depending on the time of day.

The demon then started clapping. "Bravo, bravo. I must admit I'm impressed you managed to get this far by yourself, that in of itself is a commendable feat, unfortunately for you…"

There was a pause before a magic circle appeared on the roof of the building and multiple beams of orange energy came down onto Gazef. "IT ENDS HERE!" The demon declared.

Gazef watched the beams come down into him, moving his body subtly and with very little effort to dodge the rapid attacks. He knew he only had to do so for a few seconds, he had seen that attack… that magic circle… multiple times before, the attack itself only lasted ten seconds unless it was modified, and by looking at the circle, he could tell that it wasn't. It was actually one of the most common attacks for demon mages to use.

And like he expected the attack stopped a second later. Smoke covered the room from the attack hitting the ground, and the demon, in its arrogance, didn't think to check for a mana signature to check if Gazef was still alive, believing nobody could survive that.

The demon came out of the shadows it was hiding in and let out a scoff while looking at all the dust in the room. "This is going to take a while to clean up… oh well, once that fake hero takes out the real one I'll definitely be safe." The demon said to himself, Fumiko was right about him, he was a coward only caring about himself and any personal possessions he had.

The demon put his left hand behind his back before lifting his right hand in front of him and directly commanding the mana around himself without a circle. He sent out a blast of wind to clear out the room of the smoke, rubble and any loose debris.

But when he did he froze seeing someone staring back at him from the centre of the room, someone he had just supposedly killed.

Gazef brought a hand to shoulder and dusted himself off with a swipe of a hand, despite there being nothing there. He spoke slowly so the demon could understand him and because he was in shock of what the demon had just said. "You… just mentioned something interesting, about a 'fake' hero and the 'real' one fighting. Care to tell me what you're talking about?"

The demon leader that was stationed at the stronghold could only start to sweat, himself in shock. How had that pathetic human survived?! It was impossible! Demons were superior in every way! It was impossible for a human to survive against him!

But Gazef didn't need any answers from the demon in front of him, he could feel it. The abundance of mana that was flowing in the centre of the battle field, like a hurricane about to take form. Clearly two fairly powerful, for Gazef's standards, were going to or had already started fighting. Although Gazef knew more than a hundred people who could create the same effect.

Mana wouldn't normally gather like that, unless it was an abnormal mana zone, but Gazef knew that this place wasn't. Which meant that someone, or in this case two people, were showing their mana reserves for everyone to see.

Unlike normally where mana was hidden inside the user, where people had to sense how much mana one had, which could be hidden with enough skill. But this allowed everyone, even people who normally couldn't sense mana well, see it in full force.

It was usually called a mana battle, where one person would try and show their superiority by showing their reserves, although the amount of mana one had didn't mean they were stronger than one with less mana. Like a Mage could have more mana then a swordsman, but could still lose in a fight to them.

But this, what was happening with the mana outside, was called a mana storm. When so much mana was being released it started to affect the surroundings, making the wind more strong and making people around them feel an invisible pressure in them. But that was the extent of it. Although there was one more level above that, but Gazef doubted that Nariko or the other 'hero' would be at that level anytime soon.

The demon didn't live to see another moment as Gazef was suddenly in front of him, with a sword going through his midsection.

The demon coughed out blood and Gazef took out his sword and slowly lowered the demon to the ground.

"You can either put pressure on your wound and heal yourself, saving yourself. Or you can attack me as I leave this room, which will result in your death. Make the right choice." Gazef told the demon, which could only stare at him as his body started to shut down.

Gazef moved the demon's hands to the place his sword had stabbed him, before getting up and leaving.

The demon wanted to attack Gazef, angered that this pathetic human would dare to insult him with such an offer, but… he was a coward, so he kept his hands on his stomach and started healing himself. He didn't plan on dying today, and being given the choice to live, no matter how much it insulted him, he would take the offer.

Gazef left the room with a scratch or bruise, while the demon lay there, slowly healing himself.

Going back a few minutes, both Fumiko and Nariko, the Demon Lords Hero and Humanities Hero, stared each other down.

Both of them putting pressure on each other, no mana involved, but the feeling of it getting the attention of a few around them.

Both sides knew who Nariko was, the hero of the humans, the saviour of them. The one that would defeat the Demon Lord of Magic, Zerad in the future, or any other demon or Demon Lord that tried to take over the world in the future.

And while the humans adored and wanted to be like her, the demons had nothing but hatred, except for the ones who saw her as a way out of the war by getting captured.

Fumiko, on the other hand, wasn't known to either side. Both sides had heard of her, although many didn't even know her gender, but none had actually seen her or had a description of her.

So when both armies, or at least some of them, saw two humans staring each other down, they thought that one of them had been confused in who they were fighting.

But that wasn't the case when Fumiko started to slowly release her mana, the mana seemingly starting to take on a physical form, of a dark aura starting to surround her.

Nariko jumped back at that, not that she was scared, she was always scared, for herself… for her friends. But that's not why she jumped back, no matter how often she started a fight or how she tried to get out of the habit, to her gaining space before starting a fight was crucial.

But obviously, even she realised by the time she jumped back, it was a mistake. As that gave Fumiko the ability to pick up her sword out of the ground without any risk of her getting slashed.

The pressure of the mana Fumiko was exerting wasn't directly aimed at the soldiers around them, but it was aimed at Nariko, who was feeling the full weight of it, it felt like if she stopped tensing her muscles she felt like she would fall and wouldn't be able to get up again.

So to counteract this she started exerting her own mana, and even though Fumiko already had half her mana showing, Nariko didn't waste time playing around and rapidly exerted her mana in full force. It gave her a holy aura around her, and made the eyes of the kitsune mask she had on light up pink, like the markings on it.

Then, when both mana forces reached its peak the surroundings started to be affected by it, the wind picked up, and everything behind Fumiko seemingly got darker, while on Nariko's side it seemed to get brighter.

Nobody was fighting now, only staring at the show of power between the two seemingly forces of nature, to some they seemed so powerful that they were at the peak, while to others they could see that each of them still had so much more potential to grow stronger.

Then, as one last string wind passed by both of them, making their hair wave in the wind, a stone moved. And when it stopped, both of the heroes were gone.

And then in between where they were before, a giant burst of wind occurred, both heroes in a lock of swords. But, Nariko was starting to falter under the pressure the Demons Hero was exerting.

Nariko of course saw this, and shouted in glee. "What's wrong, fake?! Can't handle it?!" She shouted out, her shoute seemingly giving her more strength as Nariko was almost forced onto one knee.

But Nariko didn't give up, and used her low position on the ground to her advantage, sweeping her opponents legs from underneath her.

Fumiko started to fall to the side, but with both of Nariko's hands free she used both of them to keep her straight on the ground as she did a buck kick, like a horse, to Fumiko's stomach.

Fumiko flew back, before catching herself and getting up. She was now a few metres away from her replacement. Fumiko had realised something during their small exchange and the leading up to it.

This hero focused on speed, proper techniques, and using her flexible body to get out of tough situations. And Fumiko gathered that the fake had some idea of her own strengths. So, Fumiko decided to use a power she didn't know she was ever going to use, and do what she didn't ever think she was going to do… stay on the defensive.

"Sloth."

Nariko, seeing that the other hero wasn't going to attack, took the initiative. She sped forward quickly, something she was proud of. Leaving behind a trail of pink from the glowing eyes of her kitsune mask.

Nariko managed to get behind the other hero without her turning around, confirming in her mind that she was faster than the other hero.

Her sword started to go towards the Demons Heros neck, planning to decapitate her, even if she didn't want to due to her being similar to her, as they were the only two in this world, from earth.

But, even as that might be the case, Nariko didn't hesitate and did so anyway.

But suddenly a sword blocked her path, and to Nariko it seemed like slow motion as she watched her katana bounce off of the great sword, and for it to smoothly unarm her, without the user of the sword even looking at her, and then for the sword to come for her neck.

Nariko narrowly managed to lean back under the sword. Before doing some gymnastics to roll back before pushing herself even further backwards.

She then got onto a position in the ground to move quickly if need be, one hand in front of her with her legs in a starting position before a run.

The Demon Lords Hero turned around to face her, and although both of their faces were covered by masks, both knew what the other was feeling.

Nariko was nervous, afraid and felt powerless, she was supposed to be strong. And although she knew her level of strength, she never thought that the difference in strength between the two of them would be that big.

While Fumiko was full of sick glee, seeing this replacement… someone who was supposed to replace her, fail at the one job they were summoned here to do, to be stronger than her.

But here they were one on the ropes, no weapon in hand and feeling powerless. While the other, the one who was thrown out and replaced, was standing as the victor.

"Giving up already? Then I'll guess I'll end things." Fumiko said aloud for the fake to hear.

Nariko grit her teeth and stood up, she shook her head, she couldn't give up that easily. This Hero must have some weakness, but whether she figured it out and was able to exploit it, was another question entirely. "I'll never give up!" Nariko declared.

She held her hand out and her katana which was flung away earlier, now came flying back into her hand. She couldn't give up, she was the hero! She was going to win!

Fumiko smirked at that declaration. This fake might talk big, but that was it, all bark and no bite. And besides, she could have stopped the bitch from getting her katana back, but let her get it. After all, the only way to strike true fear and despair into someone… was when they believed they had a chance and then Fumiko would take it away without any mercy.

Nariko let out a battle cry and charged towards Fumiko. Fumiko, not having moved from her spot, still didn't and just prepared for the quick but powerless strikes that were to come.

And come they did, starting out as but one strike every two seconds, before it quickly increased to ten strikes every one second. Nariko didn't stand still while attacking, not willing to get caught off guard by anything.

She ran circles around Fumiko, even sometimes going over her as she kept on attacking, the sheer force of the clashes against each other keeping her in the air.

But no matter how much, how fast, or how strong her attacks were, they didn't get past Fumiko's defence.

Even Fumiko, if she was being honest with herself, was surprised at how good she was at defence. But then again, what could you expect from someone as strong as her.

Fumiko knew Nariko's every move before she even made it, the slightest movement of a muscle, the slightest shift of her eyes beneath the mask which Fumiko could barely see.

All because of 'Sloth', like any good sloth she knew about her surroundings on an instinctive level. And her surroundings just happened to include Nariko, so she knew what was going to happen, because she could feel it.

Another clash happened and another harsh spike of wind shot out of it. Their immediate surroundings destroyed more than before, with the ground having deep craters and lines in it from the force of the clashes.

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Sorry if this chapter seems bad, it's just been a busy two week or so. And yes if you noticed, I sort of became obsessed with the words 'exert' and stuff like that in the chapter, I think it's a cool word.

But life's just been busy as heck, with exams, studying for them exams, and then during that time, my sister getting sick and having to go tth hospital(she's at home right now and is good, but the tests they did haven't come back, and no it wasn't COVID, we're not sure what it was). So yeah, that happened.

But I figured I would give you guys something so you don't lose interest.

Also, I want your guys opinion on something, you can answer if you want or not, it's just an idea and even if it happened I don't know I could stick to it.

I was wondering, what if I didn't upload the chapters, but stored them up and kept writing them whenever I get the chance. And then when I turn eighteen, seventeen currently, I can upload them daily, as I've had them saved up, and I can get my book to make money for me.

Or,

I could stick to what I'm doing now, which means a semi-regular upload time, which might not happen sometimes due to personal stuff, like what's happening now. And upload the chapters as I write them.

Of course I don't mind which, as to me I'm going to upload them eventually so it's all the same to me. But you guys, and I use that word as a neutral term so no one can give me shit over it, are the ones reading it so I want to know what you think.

All the same to me, I just want your opinion.

Also, I will upload the next chapter when I've finished it, I at least plan on getting the fight and aftermath done.

P.S, this is the longest chapter for this so far, even without the end message. But still not the longest chapter I've written over all my stories.