Last Dance
"Just so you know, I was quite annoyed that you suddenly punched me out of nowhere."
"it didn't look like it was effective, but what are you gonna do about it?"
"Well, I'll probably return the punch to you some time later."
Though casually talking, Brandor releases a lot of pressure as his magic spiked while he channels it around him. And immediately, he once again dons his holy armour and illuminates the dark forest.
To answer his pressure, Rose focuses her magic into her body and then activates her Force Arte: Chimera. With it, all the Force Arte she knows is activated all at once with the only limiting factor is her physical strength.
With both now in their best state, they were ready to start the battle.
And the first to attack was Rose.
Immediately shrinking the distance between them, Rose does a big swing to the right with the scythe.
As he was able to anticipate such attack, Brandor lifts his shield but slants it enough to make the scythe slip and go up.
Seeing Brandor immediately follows it up with a swing of his sword, Rose jumps and lets herself be carried by the weight of the scythe and rotates with it. And using that same momentum, she brings it down as another attack.
Because it was an irregular attack, Rose missed and struck the ground just beside Brandor who managed to dodge it.
"Divine Light!
After putting some distance, Brandor shoots a beam of light towards Rose from his shield.
Seeing that, Rose instinctively kicks the blade while holding the small handle in the center of the scythe making it rotate rapidly on one hand as she lift it. With it, she has a makeshift shield that redirects the beam towards all over the place.
As the beam loses power, Rose slashes it and cuts through it using the wave of Darkness the scythe produced.
When Brandor saw Rose doing a stance that looked like she was about to slash him from the left, he immediately puts his shield to that direction.
But to his surprise, instead of a slash, he suddenly got stabbed on the side of his stomach with an icicle growing out of from the end of the scythe's handle.
Because of the irregular nature of the scythe, Brandor couldn't predict her attacks properly and made himself open for attack from other directions.
"I wasn't quite sure if my Ice could penetrate your armour."
"This feeling... this ice is cursed isn't it?"
Brandor tried to slash Rose, but she immediately pulls back with the scythe but left the ice lodged in his stomach.
As it dissipates into black smoke, blood immediately starts coming out of the punctured hole.
"Ah, sorry about that. Didn't think it went in too deep."
"No need to worry, and don't hold back!"
Brandor's power once again explodes as his blessing
And after a few seconds, the bleeding stops and only left a scar seen through the hole on his armour.
"My turn!"
With a kick strong enough to leave a crater, Brandor launches himself forward with breakneck speed with his shield first.
"Angle's Call!
Hearing such ominous ringing, Rose immediately grabs the handle with both hands to stop Brandor.
But that was a mistake.
As the Shield's vibrations was transferred to the scythe, Rose felt the full effect of the magic and was attacked with intense vibrations inside her body. But before it could deal damage, she manages to let go of the scythe.
"You're way too easy!"
As Rose was disarmed, Brandor took that chance to continue his attack. But to his surprise, Rose was very nimble that not a single slash could connect.
The only thing he could do was keep on attacking relentlessly.
And out of nowhere, he suddenly felt something connect on his right rib. It was Rose' fist that somehow managed to slip in and connect through his barrage of attacks.
But even though it connected, it didn't had any power from it.
"That's a weak punch."
"Yeah, I know."
Although that didn't have much power, that punch connected, and that was enough to stun Brandor even if it was just a surprise.
It was an opening she created for herself.
"Grasp of the Liches
In an instant, the entire right side of Brandor was covered in ice as if he was flash frozen in place. But because Rose' hand was also stuck in the ice, she was immobilized as well.
Using this chance, Brandor was able to throw a punch and hit Rose on the face.
It was by no means a weak punch as it was able to blow Rose away and even unlodging her hand out of the ice.
Rolling and hitting a tree, Rose lets out a pained groan as she tries to breathe despite the blood in her nose blocking her breathing.
The ice Rose created was not like the usual ice she creates from fire. This was not cursed Fire but Dark Magic. One of the few magic spells she learned from the magic book Delcie gave her. And since it was Dark Magic, it was considerably powerful.
Rose doesn't know much about the magic, but what she knows it's that it's an ice that will continue to grow as long as the target has magic.
Feeling the dire situation he's in, Brandor tries to move his frozen arm and leg out of the ice. But it was so solid that it wouldn't even budge.
He thought of cutting his arm and leg, but he couldn't use the sword on his frozen arm.
Although it was a risky idea, he puts his shield on the ice and let the ice spread on it. And when he did, he takes a deep breath and braces himself.
"Angle's Call!
When the shield rang, the ice immediately cracks and breaks. However, the Heavenly Bell also damaged Brandor's insides as it was a powerful spell.
"That was troubles-!"
Brandor tried to use his holy magic to heal himself, nothing happened. As if there was no damage done to him. Yet despite that, pain still lingers and worsens inside him. Like there was something cold inside him growing.
"Not only that you're pretty strong, you also have several protection guarding you from different abnormal attacks."
After blowing out the blood clogging her nose, Rose walks to her scythe and picks it up casually with a smug on her face.
"So, I had to get a little bit creative with my limited magic."
"You! You put ice inside my body!"
As Brandon had guessed, the magic spell he caster earlier wasn't casted over his skin but on his bone. Since it's not a curse, his protection doesn't recognize it as an abnormal state. So as long as he has magic or Rose is conscious, the ice will continue to grow and freeze him from the inside.
But because he has healing magic, his insides would not freeze but only continuously be frozen. It's a painful cycle.
However, instead of falling into despair, Brandor once again bursts into laughter as if he was enjoying it. This annoyed Rose a bit.
"You, I like you."
"Excuse me?"
"How about this, after we graduate, why don't you join my side as my subordinate?"
Because of such unexpected offer, the tension between them suddenly disappeared. Not because it was such an unexpected moment, but because of how sincere Brandor was about it.
There was no hint of lie in his voice or action. It was just a simple offer.
It made Rose fall silent and think about it.
"Your Dark Magic affinity doesn't matter. With your skills, we can easily liberate lands from Beast Monsters and destroy armies. Or even eliminate pagan god worshippers."
"Is the pay good?"
"As a subordinate of a Paladin that is the representative of the Kingdom and the Church, you are bound to receive large salary."
She thought about it, really deeply. In fact, she even puts the weapon down and crouched on the ground thinking really hard about it.
But after a while, she stands up and picks her weapon up and puts in over her shoulder.
"It's a good offer, I won't lie. But my goal is to never leave home while still getting a large salary."
After getting such reply, Brandor couldn't help but laugh. Even with the ice chipping away at his magic and body, he seemed unbothered by it.
"And where can you get that kind of job as a commoner?"
Rose lets out a slight chuckle and points his scythe at Brandor. And confidently, she declares her goal.
"Currently, the best goal is to become a Royal Magic Knight. If I beat you here and now, it will increase my chances of becoming one."
"You're just making me want you more! Oh spirits of heroes and warriors, grant me your blessing and strength!
By casting such powerful magic, Brandor's physical prowess skyrocketed and his body is healing at a rate that the ice couldn't catch up. However, it meant that he had to spend all of the magic he has at once. The pressure he was releasing was so great that the air exploded and the trees around them were blown away.
"How many times are you going to power up!?"
Though the pressure was strong, for some reason, it didn't intimidate Rose. Rather, it felt somewhat familiar. Probably because of the magic, it somewhat made him feel like there was an angel nearby.
"I respect the fact that you didn't run away, but even if you did, could you even?"
"Don't worry, I won't run away. In fact, I'll run towards you so fast I'll rip that holy armour of yours into shreds!"
"Bold statement, but can you even go that fast?"
Although it was a line meant to be a challenge, out of nowhere, something inside Rose' mind resurfaced. A memory of someone close to her.
Paired with the fact that she was enveloped with an aura similar to an angel's, that someone's face resurfaced in his mind.
It was Elena.
Elena's face flashed before her mind. And not only that, it was her memory of their night of being physically intimate as Red. Brandor's words of challenge was something she had said as well before.
It was such an unnecessary memory that she had to remember at the wrong time it made her face turn red from embarrassment.
"What's wrong, are you frustrated that you can't do anything now?"
"Shut up! It's not like that!"
Because of that memory, she was feeling something else aside from from fighting spirit. She was twitchy all over her body.
As if to offset that feeling, she immediately starts running in frustration around the area.
"Let's end this dance!"
"The feeling is mutual!"
While she ran, to Brandor, she was getting faster and faster with each rotation. But to Rose, Brandor looked like he was getting slower.
Then without warning, Rose jumps to the center and scrapes Brandor's holy armour and then goes back to running.
This makes Brandor flinch as he couldn't predict the attack. No matter how he tries to follow her movements, it seems to start blurring even more and more.
From his back, from his sides, from his front, from his legs, every part of him was being scraped by the scythe.
It didn't take long until his armour becomes so badly damaged that his body is starting to receive direct hits and cuts.
Out of desperation, Brandor smashes his shield on the ground so hard it explodes and breaks it.
With proper footing gone, Rose stopped on a lifted ground and nearly lost her balance.
Before she could react, Brandor was already so close and threw a slash with his sword.
With so little window for movement, Rose could only use the scythe's handle as shield to protect her body. But because the power of the slash was so great, she was blown away and the impact itself hurt and broke another one of her ribs.
She tried to gain her stance mid-air, but before she could react, Brandor was already above her and kicked her to the ground.
Upon impact, she had several of her internal organs damaged and spat out blood.
But she still wasn't out of commission was still willing to fight.
As Brandor was about to land on her, she finally releases every bit of usable magic she had left.
"Demonic Origin Transformation
Before Brandor could land another attack, he was blown away by an unknown darkness that wrapped around Rose.
As it was such a powerful pressure being released, everything around her was being blown away like a cyclone passed through.
When it was finally over, the darkness that became a shell suddenly cracks and breaks, exposing what was inside.
"So, you have such courage and confidence in yourself to use such magic."
"For your information, I don't like this magic, not one bit!"
Although embarrassed, Rose puts up with it as this magic gave her a form stronger than her normal self.
Well, she couldn't help but feel very embarrassed about it as this magic exposed a lot of skin. It was like if she moved the wrong way, her breasts would jump out of her dress. If she lifted her legs, her underwear would be visible for the world to see.
But as a succubus, this elevated her feminine and seductive charms. With her bat-like wings and long tail, she looked like a true demon of old.
"I must admit, even if you said earlier that you are a man inside, that look of yours is very seductive."
"That doesn't make me happy you know."
With a single flap of her wings, Rose divebombs at great speed with her scythe towards Brandor. But unlike before, Brandor could see where the attack would come from.
When her Scythe and his shield met, it exploded and created a shockwave that blew away the trees and left a crater.
"You got stronger!"
"At the cost of my dignity!"
"You never fail to make me laugh!"
They traded blows after blows. With each hit, the air explodes and a part of the forest gets deformed. Both of them were at their strongest. Despite their lack of experience, they still exercised actual skill that the crowd watching them could actually get excited for.
As their battle continued, their magic power had started to run out and their fatigue was catching up to them.
Both of them stood in front of each other. With exhaustion catching up to them, they could barely keep their weapons up and hold their knees from shaking.
Their bodies were riddled with wounds and they have lost considerable amount of blood. Rather than strength, only their fighting spirit was keeping them awake.
"What, are you tired already?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
Both of them were giggling as if they'd lost it.
When Rose tried to take a step, she staggered and nearly fell. She had lost so much strength that she could barely keep herself standing and awake. If it weren't for her scythe, she would have fallen on the ground.
"T-that's cheating. But I guess, some tools can give us some edge."
Though saying such slanderous things, Brandor did not mean anything about it except as a joke. Despite being so weak and tired, he still had enough strength to let out a giggle.
And like a deflating balloon, Brandor drops on the ground and loses consciousness.
Seeing Brandor drop first, Rose musters what little strength she has left and stands straight and drops her scythe. After that, she takes a deep breath and lifts her fist.
"FUCK YEAH!"
And after that, relief takes over her and she finally drops on the ground, but not after making a big smile on her face.
With her win, it marks the end of the Battle Royal and the Victory of their team.
-End of Chapter-