Date With a Necromancer(Part 2)

Rowan slammed through jars and thudded into the doors with a loud bang. He struggled up to his feet while his arms attempted to mend themselves; he looked up in time to see that Azure was already in front of him, a single massive fist whistling towards Rowan. The fist was so large that the punch would cover his entire midsection if it was allowed to connect and shatter the bones in his chest at the same time.

Rowan tapped and vanished as he sought to buy himself time for his arms to recover. His storm steps had carried him away, leaving nothing but an amethyst footprint where he had been. Azure smirked because, despite his massive size, he was capable of immense speed. He pivoted and blasted right after Rowan, but what proceeded to happen was that Rowan dashed between the shelves that Azure barreled through in pursuit in a twisted game of cat and mouse. "You spoke of how you would kill me only a moment ago, Rowan Raid, and now all you are capable of doing is running after a single punch. You will disappoint me at this rate."

Rowan finally got the feeling back into his arms and was able to move them at last. He would have to be mindful to not take any direct shots for the remainder of the fight. Rowan released his wings and dove at Azure, who smiled and threw a punch that cracked space.Rowan tilted himself to the left and swished by the fist and the cracks in space before throwing his fist directly Into Azure's throat. His eyes went wide as Rowan's punch collided with his throat and stopped his breathing on the first contact.

Rowan couldn't rely on weathervane in its current broken state and the only reliable thing he had was his two fists. He was lucky that he had extensive hand to hand experience. Rowan's stats had reached a point that even a rank six being would have to fear a punch from him. Rowan punched through Azure's throat like a blast from a shotgun and before he could pass by him fully, he hooked his leg around as it passed so that Azure's throat was caught in the crook of his leg.

He squeezed in an attempt to demolish what was left of Azure's throat. Azure, still reeling from the fact that somehow a rank 2 being had managed to hurt him while at the same time his scales all switched to a snake symbol and Rowan lost his grip and was floating in the air just in time for Azure to release a blast of several elements from his mouth and towards Rowan. The blast caught him and sent him reeling backwards.

"How was that for running?" Rowan dove back in the same instant the danger posed by the elemental blast was minimal, and he was still ready to fight. "Do you like that, boy? My Zodiac technique allows me to channel the elements they were attuned to but only through my body, let me show you what that means."

Azure's body flashed like a muted rainbow as his scales stretched so that his veins could bulge against the pressure of the mana that coursed through him. His body seemed to morph at this point as his scales lost their brilliant blue luster, like someone had wiped it away like it was just fancy paint on a shitty car. The muted rainbow color washed across him and gray mana burst to life around the room. "I don't know how you injured me but that will not be allowed again, come it is time for you to die Rowan Raid."

Azure vanished faster than even previously as wind mana coated his new body and made him faster. He threw a punch and the illusion of a massive mountain formed and smashed down into Rowan. He slammed into the ground with enough velocity to crater the ground and cause blood to shoot from his mouth.

Azure shot several fireballs from his mouth that exploded into the hole with Rowan before he shot through them like a torpedo stomping on Rowans chest before kicking him into the air and grabbing him by the ankle all while the tail that grew out from him had become a flail that swung around his body and slammed into Rowans chest crushing his ribs and‌ sending more blood out of his mouth.

Rowan went directly through the chair and table that Azure had previously been sitting in and rolled across the floor. Azure flicked his wrist and set tornados wrapped in flames spiraling towards Rowan. He smacked the first one to reach him, sending it careening into the wall, where it drilled a hole in it in a matter of seconds. Rowan formulated a plan as he dove back in. Azure swiped at him while he ducked and delivered a straight to his kneecap that caused the entire thing to explode like someone had just popped a million balloons at the same time.

Rowan followed it with two rapid hooks to the ribs that ended in satisfied cracks and forced the air from Azure's lungs, while all the while he had been spreading storm points through the room as they began to pour the fine mist down. He couldn't use the new technique without weathervane, so he would settle for the classic.

This also made Rowan realize that over the course of the short Apocalypse he had become reliant on weapons and after having such a good one that he failed to take care of he knew that he would never make that mistake again if he was able to live through this fight. Rowan trapped Azure into his pacing as their battle became a trading of blows. Rowan would dodge and counter, but Azure would eat it and throw another. This continues until the exact moment that the mist got so thick that Azure could no longer see.

He was ready to send his gray mana after the storm points once more but Rowan had been prepared for that. He clenched his fist and all the storm points exploded with a burst of wind that forced all the remaining mist lower while the storm strings that had no use before coated his hand as he super charged it with electricity just in time to slam it into Azure's nose and trigger the mist detonation. Azure roared out as the scales across his body shattered in the explosion and he got tossed backward into the massive door that Rowan had come through. Rowan smiled to himself, content with the attack, when he felt an ominous feeling.

There was a roar and Azure was upon him. The rainbow faded entirely and his scales now a dark gray that carried the feeling of death. Everywhere that he passed, things began to wither and die, even the things in the jars rotted away and died as Azure opened his mouth and let loose a beam of pure death mana. Rowan tilted his body perfectly, or so he thought as the beam barely scraped past his storm armament, but that was enough as the gray began to spread throughout his armor.

His storm armament crumbled to dust with all the mana used to build it just gone. Rowan remade it in a flash, but that let him know that letting that mana touch his body was nothing less than a death sentence. Rowan had been trying not to use the skill because he knew that with the current state of his body, there was no feasible way that he would be able to survive this encounter with death mana. Rowan shook his head as he sighed, thanks to berserkers strength ever since he started this ladder fight he had been gaining stats, combine that with the lives he's taken and the souls he had absorbed and he was in a state of immense power but there was still a way to make that even more potent.

Rowan looked at Azure. He was walking towards him and charging another beam, this time even larger than the last. Rowan was about to speak his skill when time slowed and a message popped into his vision. [Is the host certain of his actions? Using the skill known as berserker's sin with the host's current body state will without a doubt result in death.] Rowan spoke out loud to no one in particular as the thrill of battle surged within him like a tide. He felt his berserker gene wish to crush the enemy before him. "Not like it would be instant. I would have enough time to handle this piece of trash before I go out."

Rowan smiled to himself at the remark when suddenly the time slow turned into a complete time stop as a new string of words floated across his vision, the tone much different from the system he was expecting. [..... Good answer kid. I'll make you a deal, kill this piece of shit, and I'll handle the rest personally. One-time offer, this reward will only increase if you can pull this off. Death mana is tricky.] Rowan looked at it and decided fuck it. If he couldn't trust the system to not steer him wrong at this point, then who could he trust?] Time began to speed up, and he spoke the words he was going to even before someone or something offered to save his life. [Berserkers Sin]