Chapter 10 - The first real battle. Part 2

My opponent was getting closer and closer while I was revising my plan. 'This must work. It must!' I couldn't fail. Attending that academy would be a great step towards saving my sister, and later, finding out what magic was, how people found it, and how it spread so quickly.

 I felt that by finding the answers to these three questions, I would discover something big, a game-changer. I locked eyes with the blonde guy. 

I had never been to any school, but despite that, I knew from my dad, who had attended one when he was a kid, that one of the best ways to counter lightning would be with some metal. 

I was able to create a stone block since I was surrounded by stone from which I could extract mana particles, but metal was a different story. From what I saw, there wasn't anything made out of metal nearby. Then I realized that the gate from which my opponent came out was a big metal door.

 At least I hoped so. I was aware I couldn't just run, so I tried to stop him by making him trip over stone again. However, that failed, as he had anticipated it and managed to avoid my spell. He punched me again, with such force, that he blew me a few feet away.

 Standing up, I noticed that he most likely hadn't picked up on what I was planning, and although unpleasant, the only option I could think of was to bait him to blow me towards the metal door. 

I was starting to feel weakened, as I had used a lot of mana, but I was close to the entrance. As I was already in a good spot to execute my plan, I just continued to run and get hit, and after doing it two more times, I was close enough to the gate. I could feel its mana particles, and to my relief, it was made of metal. 'Perfect! I might have a chance!'

 I was very excited as I started to gather mana in my body. I had to predict the guy's attack again. It was spot on. He tried to punch me, but I caught his punch, which lost its speed and power due to my spell. His eyes widened as I started to crush his fist.

 Then something felt wrong. Before I could react, a big spike of stone pierced my leg, and the insane pain I felt caused me to let him go. He retreated as I set myself free. I was worn out and hurt, but I wanted to win no matter what, and this kept me going. I didn't even care that my opponent was still in almost perfect condition. I figured out his weakness.

 The look on the blonde guy's face made me understand that he was still confused, and he was still underestimating me. 'Cocky bastard. This confidence will cause your defeat.' I was almost smiling. I attacked, and the guy dodged. He tried to counterattack, but again, it had no effect. I punched him. 

Metal seemed to do more damage than just using regular earth mana. 'Makes sense,' I thought. I realized that the reason I hadn't passed out yet and could still fight was because of all the adrenaline that I had at that moment. It felt like I was losing my mind. I wanted to beat the guy, like it was the last thing I'd do. 

At some point, I even started smiling, letting it all out. The blonde guy managed to land a solid punch again, but this time using fire. I knew he wanted to try and melt my metal somehow, but I just couldn't stop myself from smiling. It felt great, much better than all the fights I've had back home. My opponent stopped and looked at me. 'You look like a psychopath. Why are you even here?' he asked me coldly. 

I proceeded to attack him and got countered again by his fire. To my surprise, he immediately switched to lightning again and managed to land another painful punch, since I wasn't able to absorb metal mana that quickly. I also noticed that we were getting farther away from the gate, so I made a run towards it, but he appeared in front of me instantly. 'No, you don't,' he said seriously and punched me away from the gate again. 

At that point, I couldn't even feel the metal mana, and by the looks of it, my opponent figured out what I was up to. 'Not good.' I tried to come up with another plan, but my mind seemed to have given up. I noticed the guy wasn't attacking. He was looking at something. 

Then I noticed it. 

I could see the bearded man raising his hand and slowly lowering it. I was confused, but then the boy said something that terrified me.

 'Alright, enough playing. Looks like we are running out of time. I will end this.' My smile instantly disappeared as I started to have the same feeling that I had when the match began. I could see his grey aura, and for once, he looked totally serious. 

I could tell that he had just become a few times stronger than what he was before, and in that moment, all my will to fight had left me. All my hope and determination disappeared. 

The boy appeared right in front of me as if he teleported and punched me. On top of the sensation that I was suffocating, that punch felt like it drained every single bit of energy I had left inside me. I fell down, unable to move or do anything. 

My opponent started to walk towards the gate. 

I had reached my limit. 

My vision became blurry, then everything went black.