Dueling Fates

I rushed forward, appeared behind Johan and struck an elbow behind me…only for him to dodge it completely. 

He ducked below, and jumped back with insane mobility and momentum. Alright, the guys fast. Real fast.

"Aw, come on. No more speed tricks," The teasing and mocking doesn't land right. I could insanely outspeed him, but I would threaten the safety and destruction of the plaza. 

The moment I start to start going above anything of my normal power, that's when I get too destructive. The last thing the plaza needs is that. 

So for now, I have to handicap myself.

Jonah rushed forward, a wild smile on his face as he ran forward. He weaved his arms, and threw a fire spell towards me.

I didn't move, but it hit me. Exploded, smoke kicked up, and he drove his arm across to split the smoke and land a downward kick on me.

I casually caught his leg as he was in the air, and looked directly at him.

"It's your party, isn't it? What would be a mage without a few magic tricks?" Jonah only smiled afterwards, attempting to release himself from my grip. He couldn't.

I threw him up in the air, and set off for him. His body ragdolled before eventually stabilizing himself. By the time he saw me, he casted another spell.

"Freezing Hell!"

Ice conjured, projectiles. As he was descending in the air, I dodged most of them before cocking back my arm and connected a powerful punch.

He braced for it, and with that he declined even faster. Jonah landed on the streets now, his feet skidding. I landed afterwards. 

He waved his arms, smoke emitting from his forearms. There was a faint outline of mana, and then he laughed.

"Wow! If I didn't coat my arms with mana, you would've taken them clean right off! Not really sanitary, you know?"

I shook my head, smiling afterwards.

"You're dealing with an Ascendant, did you really think this was going to be easy?"

He shrugged, "Honestly? No. But I think that's the fun in it,"

"To take something down that's far above you in the food chain."

My face gradually sharpened. A man with dangerous motives is the last thing I need to worry about.

He dusted dirt off the shoulders of his suit, fixed his tie, and patted his pants.

Shaking his arms, small knives revealed themselves, clutched within the gaps of his fingers. He instantly ran forward and threw all of them.

I scoffed, and let my tail deflect all of them. The sound of metal clashing, alongside the tip of my tail created sparks.

He launched in the air and cascaded down with a punch, I side-stepped with grace as he drove his fist into the street, making a slight dent. 

Noted, he's strong, physically strong despite the skinniness.

He swung around, with a wide kick, I raised my arm to perfectly block it. He would then a flurry of jabs and hooks that I either all dodged or parried.

Jonah threw one final hook, and I yawned, catching it with my hand entirely. There was a small shockwave from catching it, newspaper and trash from the streets fluttered around.

My hair swayed, and my tail sweeped the streets.

"You're going to have to try harder than this if you think you can beat me." My voice delivers the condemning tone greatly. Despite it all, Jonah stil laughs as if he has the ability to overpower me.

He doesn't.

I slowly raised my free arm, and punched him blankly into his face. He was sent back quite down the street as his body skidded.

Walking forward, he wiped his noise. Blood. I just happened to have enough energy and power to break his nose.

I gained a feel for my punching hand and wrists, "Sorry, hand kind of slipped there."

I mock again, Jonah bordering being irritated grits his teeth. He gains a quick first step and launched.

"Arcana Blast!"

He held his hands together, palms open as a blue blast was conjured. I smiled, clenched my hands, and punched it away entirely.

But…there was more, and so I continued to punch away the blasts skyward and not for the houses and buildings that were in the area.

Johan moved quick, appearing behind me, with another wide arc kick, but what he doesn't know is that I practically figured out his entire move set.

I parry his kick, and turn around. Connected two fingers to his chest, he flinched, stunned, expecting the impact to land immediately, but it didn't. 

I looked at his chest coated in mana, but the moment it faded out, I broke out a smile.

"Gotcha."

My hand instantly formed and connected into a punch, another crushing shockwave and blow that I swore shook the city.

Jonah went flying back, blood splurting from his mouth. His body skidded across the street before colliding into multiple trash cans.

He sat there as I approached eventually. Jonah, trying to get up, struggled. Horribly.

My hands went under my cloak, I assume that we were done here.

He looked up, coughed and then spit out blood. Wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his suit. 

I deadpan, "What happened Jonah? No more tricks up your sleeve?"

He cracked a smirk, then shook his shoulder. Throwing his hand forward, a silver peice of weaponry flew ahead.

My tail deflected it. I got a bit closer, and then my tail wrapped around his wrist with such tight grip.

He groaned, and coughed out more blood.

"Make this easier for me, tell me who sent you, and maybe I'll consider leaving you with the injuries you have."

He laughed, "What makes you think that I'll confess—AGH!"

He yelled out in excruciating pain, my tail wrapped around his wrist even greater.

"You're underestimating what I can do, Jonah. In 30 seconds it'll feel like you no longer have access to your hand. In a minute if you so desire I could rip it clean off, or fracture your wrist. Dislocate it, break it, your pick, Jonah."

He eyed me, breathing hard. He looked at his hand being raised by my tail, and then probably the smile I had. 

C'mon, pick the right choice Jonah. You are a smart guy, or seemed like one anyways. 

He cackled, coughing in between and laughed even more. A sudden light began to emerge in his hand. Yellow, great.

Eyes widened as I quickly relaxed my grip on his wrist, but it was already too late.