Duel

Indra stared at Sariel confidently.

"Let's see how long you'll survive," he taunted.

"Says the man who lost all battles against Feng Ping..." Sariel retorted.

"Hmph, you have a sharp tongue for someone who's about to die." His tone became slightly irritated. "Let's see if you can even hurt me, you can attack first!" He opened his arms, showing his body completely vulnerable to an attack.

"Usually, the weaker one takes the initiative in a fight, right? Why don't you attack first?"

"Hmph, since you want to die so much, then I'll grant your wish!"

After saying this, Indra moved like a lightning bolt, living up to his title, and, in the blink of an eye, he was in front of the traveler and delivering a horizontal cut.

Shiina, Raymond, and Luna weren't even able to notice the movement of the Thunder Pillar. In fact, he seemed to have moved even faster than Aegreon and Sariel when they fought in the arena of the Scorched Mountain.

Indra's golden blade was about to hit Sariel, when he, in an equally swift movement, stopped the blow with his own sword.

With the clash of the blades, the Thunder Pillar was surprised and took half a second before retracting his weapon and trying to pierce the traveler.

This time, Sariel dodged to the side and the long sword pierced the air.

Indra, however, didn't give him time to react and kicked him, who raised his arms and blocked the powerful blow.

The kick made a loud, dry sound, and Sariel was pushed a few meters back by the force of the blow.

"Impressive, you really are as fast as they say." Sariel wiped the dirt off his arms nonchalantly.

"Hmph! Seems I underestimated you... In this case." Violet threads of electricity ran through Indra's body and blade. "Let's see if you can handle this!"

With absurd speed, the Pillar of Lightning advanced again towards Sariel like a furious violet blur. His blade shone intensely as if lightning bolts were trapped in it and seeking to destroy any living being.

With an upward diagonal strike, a violet mirage aimed at the traveler's body and cut towards him.

For a moment, Indra felt that blow would certainly hit him, but he was surprised when Sariel, moving at the same speed as him, reacted in time and stopped the blow again with his sword.

The traveler's weapon was completely covered in Ice magic, so resistant and sharp that it could cut any steel as if it were paper.

At this moment, what followed was a mixture of terror and wonder.

The Pillar of Lightning and the traveler exchanged blows at a speed so fast that it was invisible to Luna's eyes.

The only proof that their blows actually existed and were not merely a mirage were the violet and blue particles being released every time the two blades clashed, creating a light show similar to fireworks.

The battle continued for several seconds, and it seemed that both sides were on the same level, but not to Aegreon's eyes.

With each blow, Sariel's blade became more brittle, and several cracks formed on the surface, while Indra's weapon remained normal.

The Thunder Pillar noticed this and increased the intensity of his blows even more.

It was expected that the traveler's weapon would not withstand so much power, while Indra's long sword had been forged by himself, with the most resistant metal and bathed in all his destructive power of Thunder.

As for his opponent's weapon, it was made of simple steel and without magical treatment.

"You're indeed an interesting guy!" The Thunder Pillar remained confident in that situation. "However, this ends here!"

Putting even more strength and bathing his weapon in more lightning, Indra struck aiming at Sariel's blade instead of him.

Then, as expected, the sword did not resist and broke.

The Thunder Pillar tried to hit him the very next moment, but the traveler managed to dodge and move away.

Confident of his victory, Indra remained in the same place.

"It's a shame you don't have a proper weapon... Not that it would solve anything, you'd die anyway." He raised his sword, allowing part of the sunlight to reflect off the golden blade. "For someone with such a sharp tongue, I expected at least enough to entertain me."

Sariel, however, showed no sign of being shaken or nervous.

"Well, it seems I'll have to fight a little more seriously..." Sariel raised his right hand with his palm open towards the group.

Upon seeing that, Aegreon thought he would try to do something to Luna but soon realized that the traveler's hand was glowing brown.

Looking back, he noticed, on Sariel's horse, a long object covered in a cloth, which also glowed with the same color and trembled, as if being called.

Indra, with his vast experience in battles, felt something telling him he should end that duel as quickly as possible.

He advanced towards him again, taking advantage of the fact that Sariel was off guard.

That was when that object on the traveler's horse flew into his hand like a magnet, arriving just in time for him to grab it firmly.

With the cloth still covering whatever that object was, Sariel used it to block the blow.

And, against all of Indra's expectations, the object stopped his attack, emitting a loud metallic sound.

He tried to attack again, but a sudden explosion, a strong and cold wind, pushed him away.

In the same way that had happened with Luna earlier, a strong blizzard arose around the traveler, with several ice spikes the size of Indra's sword, equally sharp and lethal.

But the biggest surprise was the object in Sariel's hands, a weapon so beautiful it seemed to have been created by the goddess Kura herself.

It was a glaive with two blades at each end and over two meters long.

The entire weapon seemed to be made entirely of silver, which shone in the sunlight, whose brightness was as dazzling as the full moon in all its glory.

There were numerous light blue stones along the entire weapon, as if, inside them, there were powerful blizzards imprisoned.

That glaive was so marvelous that Indra's sword looked like a toy in front of it.

Everyone looked at the weapon in amazement and hypnotized, and even Aegreon had only seen something equally enchanting once when he saw Ardos' weapon.

The traveler, noticing the glares of his 'audience', spun the glaive and juggled it elegantly, showing off shamelessly.

Even though he was wearing ordinary clothes, that weapon somehow matched him so well that his appearance had suddenly become like that of a king, carrying an imposing countenance.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he smiled confidently. "No wonder those 'guards' stole it from me..."

Indra watched that in wonder, but soon realized the situation he was in and assumed a serious posture.

He said nothing, just waited for his opponent's next move with attention and prepared for the next blow, knowing that this battle would be much harder than he expected.

His body was completely covered in violet lightning and a sphere of lightning formed around him.

The dark rain clouds, which had been static until then, began to become even more voluminous until they completely covered the sun.

The lightning illuminated the skies, and the sound of thunder was like ritual drums announcing the beginning of a battle between two demons.

And, in response to the thunderous thunder, a strong and cold wind began to blow strongly, its threatening and sharp whistle seemed powerful enough to drive those clouds away.

The temperature dropped drastically to the point that white clouds escaped everyone's mouths as they breathed, until, to everyone's surprise, snowflakes began to fall from the black clouds.

Sariel looked at Indra with his beautiful and cold blue eyes like ice. His hair and clothes swayed elegantly with the wind caused by himself, and the ground beneath his feet froze as he walked.

After a brief moment of tension, which seemed to last an eternity, the traveler and the Thunder Pillar charged towards each other with even greater speed, and two forces of nature clashed in a breathtaking battle.