Source Origin(27)

The man, cloaked under the grimacing mask tried to get away desperately, or at least he made it seem that way as he was being pushed by the stone pillars, the pillars that sadly took a bit of time to activate, grow, push him away, and as such, he quickly realized something else, another way to perhaps fight against the seemingly unstoppable foe that they were fighting, a way to once again face Cades, this time not through pressure, but through the sword itself, something he had felt the other one to be less adapt at than he himself was.

Cades on the other one was ecstatic as he felt his power coursing through his veins, the power he had always wielded, aside from perhaps the enhanced warping right now, but he could once again, for the first time in quite a while, feel that he had indeed grown stronger after the apex and lord rank, something that he had noticed to at least be visually far less impressive, something he had noticed to make everything harder for him, something he had been underestimating himself for, subconsciously holding himself back even further, a restraint that had now come undone, even if only temporary as he thought the warping active itself had given him this power that made him seem unstoppable, or at least made him see like an opponent that should not be toyed with using the stone itself, the most annoying thing for Cades, a misinterpretation by his opponent because of which he would be very happy.

The masked man turned around, using the stone underneath his feet to get a better grip on the floor itself, ready to face Cades with his blade, the situation from the beginning having turned all the way around, so much so that Cades now felt a similar feeling that the man had felt in the beginning, a feeling of intelligence, unreasonable talent, even some kind of egoism, though all of these feelings were just results of the adrenaline now causing through his body after he had been so concentrated on this fight which had turned out to be quite difficult, even for him, or perhaps simply as such because of the weird magic his opponent used as if it was simply breathing to him.

Finally, once again, just as they had begun this battle, they clashed in the middle of the circle, something neither of the two managed to notice, something that didn't really matter, but something that was quite interesting as one could have almost sworn that the centre had previously been situated somewhere else, perhaps having been moved by the very being he was now fighting against, perhaps being moved so that the gigantic beings watching in the distance that Cades simply refused to acknowledge as present during his battle could follow their movements more easily, but either way, their blades met in the middle, their clash covered in silence as even mana seemed to stop moving as they collided, at least for a single moment.

After that short moment, barely a single instance of time, a moment that was barely noticeable yet there, the mana began to mvoe again, and so did Cades opponent, stunting him for a moment as he had expected to be able to put a bit more pressure onto him and hopefully inflict damage upon his arms and his body itself so that the further fight could be easier, or perhaps, even over.

Instead the man took a step back, allowing Cades to slash his chest slightly, causing some blood to pour out while the cloth which had been ripped apart to reveal pale skin with an interesting complexion resembling silver veins intertwined with some kind of golden pattern, but quickly reweaving itself, the body still hurt but the cloth back in place as if it had never bene damaged, instead opting to show some kind of cloth scarring and a growing red line, both without consequence as Cades had already failed to stop himself from slashing the opponent and going right into the trap of his opponent, something that was bound to happen eventually.

The man, the cloths twirling around, quickly moved the lade using both of his hands as efficiently as he could, intent on striking Cades neck from the opposite direction, or at least to make him retreat, possibly even leaving his very own sword behind, something that was now however bound to fail as Cades was already quite close to blocking the newly thrown attack, having realized what the being intended to do already, knowing that he had once done something similar before, and to himself at that, back when he had thrown a false attack, something that had been done quite rarely lately, perhaps the reason for why they managed to trick him.

Cades hurt began to race as he could feel the air from the impact he had barely managed to block by changing his footing, trying to accelerate himself using magic as much as he could, pushing to even further resist the magical powers of his opponent using his own mind, almost ripping his muscles to defend himself, but he had succeeded, immediately interchanging his pattern of attack so that the opponent couldn't get the better of him once more.

He didn't attack using the sword that was still stuck defending himself from the pressure that the opponent was putting onto it, forcing it to get closer and closer to his neck, cutting his throat in a bit if he didn't hurry up, something he, of course, was quite intent on doing.

In this case he attacked using his leg, using his right leg to kick at his opponent and forcing the steadfast active to hold him in place on the other side, quickly hitting the man right into the stomach, though he seemed to not even care as he continued on, the grimace seeming a bit more intense at the pain he must've felt, though this could've also just been his own assumptions and thoughts as he watched the man stumble back a second after receiving the attack, the sword dissolving, Cades hesitating for a moment as he watched a reddish liquid come out form under the mask, a sign he might've hit him with more force than he had imagined.