Chapter 5:Planting the Saplings (Prologue 5)

Narrator pov:

While mana is typically found in the form of particles, whether in the atmosphere, flowing through nature, or within living beings, it can also be found in a solid state. This occurs when particles of mana take on a certain pattern and create a crystalline structure through attraction between particles.

The phenomenon that attracts mana particles is called mana resonance. When mana particles fall into a pattern they begin to resonate and create a structure called a mana crystal.

Once the mana has created a structure it is able to emit waves to attract more particles to continue its growth. Over time, the crystal grows bigger and emits stronger waves to attract more particles. The waves produced are dependent on the shape of the structure.

When the waves of different mana crystals come into contact they are able to form a different type of mana resonance, which instead of attracting, pushes away the other.

But, when waves produced by 2 different mana crystals that have the same structure, come in contact the resonance results in the attraction of the 2 crystals. This attraction can result in the eventual merging of the two crystals over time, causing the crystals to emit stronger waves.

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Arius Lionheart pov:

"I hope you don't die with any regrets; we wouldn't want your last words to be you cursing yourself" I spoke plainly as I haphazardly stepped to the side of the platform.

"You are as arrogant as they say! A few hits were enough for you to get so arrogant?"

The knight, walked to the side of the platform, mirroring me 

"Are you that short sighted? This little playdate of ours has yet to even start properly, there is still so much more fun to be had." He said, his tone now more lighthearted 

I picked up a longsword from the side of the platform, and the knight continued to mirror me.

As our eyes met from across the platform the air got heavy and the tension continued to build up.

And then, our fight evolved.

As we charged, our weapons made contact, their scarlet blades sparking off each other. Our combat became an elaborate dance of sparks and metal. 

A cycle of attacking, defending and counter attacking followed us as we fought on every single usable surface across the platform. 

Then we evolved further, I pushed mana through my blade, creating a semi-transparent edge. The edge would enlarge and grow as I swung my sword, increasing my reach.

The knight began to incorporate more weapons into his fighting style; hidden daggers which he threw in between sword strikes kept me on my toes. A battle axe held in his left hand would hook onto my sword and break my stance.A spear picked up suddenly from the side of the platform would increase his range.

He kept juggling weapons and changing his fighting style, not giving me a chance to adapt to my situation.

As I pushed even more mana into my blade, the semi-transparent edge becamore more defined. I focused on the edge even more and created another layer of mana in between the edge and the sword.

The new layer began to swirl up and grow, yet it was contained by the layers it was sandwiched in between. 

I made a horizontal swing and the edge doubled my sword's effective range. The knight ducked beneath the swing and dashed up to me, axe in hand.

The expanded edge suddenly shrank back down and condensed around my sword. The semi-transparent edge now was beautiful blue.

The knight's axe arced towards me, but was stopped when it came in contact with my blade. 

My reinforced blade cut through the axe itself and threatened the knight. The knight covered his hand with mana and caught my blade as it dug into his palm.

I felt my blade glide through his flesh, cutting through both muscle tissue and bone with ease. Yet, his tissue hardened mid-swing, fortified by mana. The blade slowed, then stopped entirely as black lightning snapped into existence, wrapping around the steel like living chains.

Therefore I didn't stop there, I dissolved the mana edge around my blade and the mana held within it exploded out.

The massive explosion pushed us apart, but when we were thrown to opposing edges of the platform, I landed softly on my feet and stood on guard. 

The atmosphere around us became dense with mana to the point that it created a smoke screen. Through it a half broken axe flew towards me, and behind it, a one handed man charged spear in hand.

I threw away my now broken sword and awaited him, I brought up my leg and kicked away the axe, at the same time the man approached me, spear in hand.

I followed up my kick and brough my leg down on his spear, pushing it to the floor. However the knight saw right through me and had let go of his spear already.

An uppercut to my abdomen sent me into the air and then, in one smooth motion, my body was caught in midair and slammed back down, where a kick sent me skidding across the ground.

I recovered quickly and threw a knife I had managed to grab during our previous exchanges.

The knight simply tilted his head as it grazed his cheek. His skin was paler than the moon itself, his hair as dark as the night and his eyes shone brighter than stars.

A sick grin was painted on his sharp features and his blood coloured lips gave his features life. His hand ran across his sliced cheek and as he saw the blood that was covering his hand a face I could describe only as pure ecstasy took over.

"Oh how delightful, you took away my left hand and now even desecrated my face. SHOW ME HOW MUCH MORE YOU CAN TAKE FROM ME. DON'T STOP NOW BOY, TAKE IT ALLL, TAKE EVERYTHING I HAVE!!" His insanity-fuelled screams were like music to my ears.

"I WAS GOING TO THAT EITHER WAY YOU SICK BASTARD!! I LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR ALL YOUR SINS!!" I screamed back at him with the same insanity he showed me.

He let out a sharp piercing whistle, then the dragon we were atop of began to fly around once more, turning sideways along with the platform.

I reinforced my fingers and used them to dig into the platform and began to hold on for dear life. Yet the scarlet knight stood straight on the 90 degree surface, and thanks to what seemed like artificial mana resonance, his metallic boots stuck to the platform as if he was standing on solid ground. 

"I never said I would make it easy for you, lion cub" he sneered.

"And I don't plan on playing your game" I sneered back.

Then I jumped off the platform, grabbing a new sword as I did, I stretched out my hand as I flew and sure enough I was caught by one the wyvern knights. 

Having followed my instructions they had surrounded the dragon on all sides.

Standing on top of the wyvern I let my aura flow once more and my golden mane of flames erupted once more.

"Shall we put an end to this charade?" I spoke my aura infused voice carried across the entire battlefield 

The knight let out a shit eating grin. Black lightning rose from his body, flowed out from escaping through the gaps in his armour; slowly his missing left hand was replaced by one made out of lightning.

The light from my aura illuminated all, while his covered the world in darkness.

"Already? I was hoping we could play a while longer" His voice sounded distorted and electric. 

I ignored his words and jumped off the wyvern, only to land atop another. I continued to jump from wyvern to wyvern, getting faster each time, until I eventually jumped towards the knight.

Yet that was just a faint, and I crashed into the knight, our swords rubbing against each other.I fainted an attack and dashed past him, heading for the dragon's head.

I used the knight as a platform and landed on the side of the dragon, and began to run up its body to its neck. I the same the same exploding sword technique as before, except this time I mixed my aura into the mana to create an even more volatile technique. 

Just as I swung my sword, the knight materialized in front of me from pure lightning, and our blades met once more. Yet he couldn't handle the weight of my strike with only one hand.

My blade slashed through his chest and dragon neck before exploding. 

A massive golden crystal grew out the neck of the dragon due to my aura and within the crystal the knight was held captive, with similar crystals growing out of the gash across his chest as well. 

A single step off the dragon was all that was needed for me to start falling through the air once more, and once again my subordinates came to my rescue. 

I landed feet first on the back of the wyvern, letting golden mane create a trail of light behind us as we circled around the falling dragon.

I extended my hand and balled up my fist.

"May your existence vanish from this world along with your empire" my words imbued with aura brought the entire battlefield to a halt. 

The golden crystals begun to shrink with the knight still trapped inside, his darkness now fully suppressed. And once it shrunk to around the size of a human, as an all illuminating light began to be emitted from it.

"Implode and disappear" only for them to restart the commotion.

A deafening roar raged across the world; a golden storm of flame turned night into day. Gone were the clouds of death and darkness, leaving behind a clear sky.

The entire battlefield was silenced, as if hell was frozen over. One of the terrors of the world was reduced to nothing in a single massive explosion.