BloodStar

Gregory stood gripping his sword tightly. He had an uneasy feeling, and he was, for the first time in a very long time, on guard against a force he now recognized as lethal.

He observed Xenia as her aura seemed to grow larger every second easily outpacing his resting aura. What made him feel most uneasy was the slight pull he felt within his body. His blood was tugging at him from the inside towards her. Xenia’s aura was so powerful that she had a natural attraction to all blood without even utilizing her bloodbending.

Xenia knew she had the upper hand. She smiled and thought to herself, “I don’t know which of us is more powerful in terms of raw ki, but I know I have the mental edge. His mind must be racing after I survived 300% of his full power Lightbringer attacks.”

Gregory steeled his mind as he readied for another round of battle thinking to himself, “It seems you are more resilient than I give you credit for. This time, I will show no mercy. This time, I will treat you as my equal.”

He called out to Xenia, “You have proven yourself worthy. When you fall, I shall show you respect.”

Xenia scoffed, “I never had a thing to prove. When you fall, I will take your empire. I will leave your allies the task of showing respect.”

Gregory grimaced ready to attack. Xenia held BloodBane in her hand and twirled it as she began a slow walk towards Gregory. Each step radiating with effortless power.

Gregory yelled, “Holy Water! Activate!” His sword hilt immediately began to release the cool elixir of crisp, blue water that absorbed into his body, and his ki aura along with his body recovered to 100%. Because the sword amplified one’s actual ki levels, this also meant he had returned to 300% of his actual peak power should he so choose to use it.

Xenia continued her slow walk and took note. She then said, “Oh you needed to heal? Why didn’t you just say so? I would’ve been happy to heal you.”

Gregory then lunged at her as he performed a swift sword jab. Xenia appeared to move slow as she sidestepped his jab.

Time froze as Gregory looked at his target who had sidestepped with ease and thought, “But how? My strike was perfect?!”

Xenia then quickly twirled her blade 360-degrees cutting both of his hands off at his wrists. He cried in pain as his sword fell to the ground, and blood gushed from his amputated wrists onto the ground pooling below.

Xenia felt no fear, and she crouched beside the screaming Gregory and smirked smugly, “It seems you aren’t nearly as in tune with your body as I thought you might be. Did you not feel me bloodbend your strike away from me allowing me to side step with ease? You’ll have to concentrate a lot harder if you wish to defeat me. Especially now that you have no hands.”

Then, a golden mysterious light struck Xenia catching her off guard. The light absorbed into her body, and she fell to the ground writhing in pain. She powered up her ki aura to ward off the light and expel it but not before it had scrambled her inner abdominal organs and roasted her skin.

She stood with her hair in a disheveled mess, panting to catch her beath as a smoky vapor lifted from her burned skin. She stood in excruciating pain allowing her body to heal on its own accord, and she yelled, “Your attacks only serve to infuriate me!”

While she healed, she stood immobile and watched the golden light proceed to re-anastomose Gregory’s hands together. He stood fully healed once again and faced Xenia with a newfound confidence.

She stood huffing and puffing with smoke evaporating from her damaged and burned skin and yelled at the top of her lungs, “Enough! Now die!”

She gripped her sword with both hands and lunged at Gregory to engage him. The two exchanged sword blow after sword blow. However, this time around, Xenia’s strikes held substantially more power with each blow over Gregory’s. Although he managed to parry each of her attacks, the reverberation of her power gave him soft and loose footing allowing for a weaker defense with each of her subsequent hits in quick succession weakening his defenses further and further.

Gregory tried to keep pace with her vicious stream of attacks; however, she then began to attack with one hand holding her sword and the other actively bloodbending him to create openings. He powered up to stave her off as much as he could; however, he ultimately failed.

Xenia found opening after opening and made contact with her devilish sword landing hit after hit. However, each time her blade landed on Gregory’s body, a golden flash of armor appeared blocking her strikes from dealing any damage.

She became enraged more and more as her masterful skill with the blade was rendered useless against a seemingly impenetrable armor that flashed only when needed.

Xenia retreated for a moment backflipping several times to create distance. She panted heavily catching her breath as she looked on at an equally concerned Gregory. Both warriors had reason to be on edge, and both warriors did not especially like the way things were shaping up to this point.

Xenia studied Gregory, “I would normally say that pesky golden light is hailing from an item; however, it is much too powerful even for a sacred artifact. The only obvious item is his sword, but he also seems surprised and relieved when the golden light comes to his aid.”

She stood in frustration. Having finally caught her breath she ruminated further, “It’s an independent energy. Am I fighting two people? What is going on? I need to re-engage and pay much closer attention. It is the key to my victory. Without it, this may be a very long and drawn-out battle. I am sure he intends to use this to his advantage. Sit and wait until I make a fatal error.” She smiled in thought to herself, “Too bad for him. I will never let that happen!”

Gregory noticed her smile and mocked her, “Smiling in the face of death. Admirable. Let’s not keep death waiting. Come!”

She sprang forth to re-engage him. This time with a keen eye on her surroundings rather than her opponent. She yelled, “Let us dance!”

_____________________________

Jarek nervously stood from his seat while intently watching the live broadcast. His hand was up to his chin, and he anxiously said, “Xenia is far stronger than Gregory planned for. She is far stronger than I expected as well.”

Erika looked on with a worried face at his words, and Jacek said, “She is a prodigy. It is likely a very good thing that she has agreed to face a Master at such a young age. Had she been allowed to improve with time, she may have become unstoppable.”

Jarek shook his head in anger, “This is bad! You two don’t understand!”

Erika felt small in the shadow of Jarek’s anger. She had never seen him this angry or this concerned. She quietly asked, “What is the matter Jarek? Gregory is holding his own yet still.”

Jarek began to pace, “Xenia has all but bested one Master. She is currently fighting at least two Masters.”

Jacek and Erika looked on in astonishment until Jacek finally said, “What?!”

Jarek nodded, “That golden light is the manifestation of Gregory’s ancestors power arising from their souls within the God sword. Their souls are weaker than their former selves; however, the addition of each of their power is equivalent to at least one additional master, maybe more!”

He stopped pacing and gave a huge sigh, “Were it not for that sword and his ancestor’s power, Gregory would have long since fallen. If he wins this battle, he will consider himself lucky.”

Erika bit her lip in worry and said, “Can she really be that strong? You are the only Master definitively stronger than Gregory.”

Jarek shook his head, “I’m afraid she is that strong. We are all fools for having underestimated her. We are all fools for allowing her to reach this point. She is showing her power to the world as we speak which will have far reaching repercussions if she wins.”

Jacek said, “The outcome of this battle is far from decided. We should not lose hope in Gregory. He is a Master hardened by war after all.”

Jarek nodded in agreement, “You’re right Jacek. We may be overthinking this entirely. While it is obvious and known to us, Xenia hasn’t seemed to figure out where Gregory’s extra power is originating from. If he can maintain that advantage, he actually has a very strong chance of winning. Absent her discovering this source, I would daresay he is still the favorite even.”

Erika turned to watch the battle with her arms crossed, “I don’t like this one bit. She has surpassed our expectations at every point. She has proven herself a battle maniac and a genius. And you are hinging your hopes on a wild belief that she won’t discover something so obvious to us?” She scoffed and followed up, “What are his chances of victory if she does figure things out?”

Jarek assumed a solemn face, “Likely less than 20%. If she could act to diminish his sword’s power in some way, she would have a clear advantage. And lord forbid she vanquish the force of his ancestors entirely. I fear his chances of victory would sharply fall close to 0%.”

The three looked on to the live broadcast each with an audible gulp as their tension and anxiety built alongside in step with the growing intensity and ferocity of the ongoing battle.

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