BOOOOM
My back hit the pillar that held the metal walkway above our heads. It was a ring, and that made up the fourth zone. Of course in previous fights, the deformed metal behind my back would have been pristinely untouched due to the fact that vampires were still sealed at the time. But now; Maze was tearing it to shreds, and he was using my body as a tool to do so. I think I should have properly thought this through before accepting his challenge, oh well; I guess it's a little too late to back out now.
Maze shot towards me, leaving a sonic boom in his wake as the sand and water zones exploded, raising their aforementioned contents into the air as the coal zone glowed brighter and released ash into the cavern from the disturbance in the air.
I pulled my shield in front of me, and infused my soul energy into it, squinting my eyes as the golden rune circle with the rune word [SHIELD] came into existence.
The rune circle itself served as the shield, spreading into a concave as it withstood the blow coming from Maze.
But the metal beam behind me couldn't; as it gave way, snapping in half as my body fell towards the fifth zone; a battling platform made with the same composition as the mineral mountain. If I hit that platform, it would redirect the force of the hit back at me at two times the intensity. And judging from the speed I was using, this was going to hurt like a bitch if I let it happen.
One minor teleportation later, saw me standing on the metal ring that was the fourth zone. Even though it had lost one of it's supports, it was still standing strong.
I felt a sharp pain lance through my head, as my usage of the power crest began to weigh on me and my body.
Breaking spatial barriers in a heartbeat was amazing, but in the end spatial displacement with a calculated trajectory would take a toll on anybody. I've been able to last this long because I had the resilience of a vampire, if I were still human, then I would have torn myself to pieces by now.
The shield was still active when Maze jumped onto the metal ring with a rather vicious smile on his face. In both his hands, he had gleaming silver axes, whose edges glowed a molten metal red, as if they had been super heated to extreme temperatures.
He had a rather nasty grin on his face as he swung his Axes left and right, causing whooshing sounds as the glowing blades became nothing but a blur.
I shook my head in annoyance and called my armor out, not even flinching once as the dark armor covered my entire body and the hooded coat appeared around my shoulders. Maze shot forward, twirling around in the process as he became a whirlwind of blades that kept slamming into my shield.
One thing was for sure though, and that was the fact that Maze didn't have the power to break my shield, so he was practically hitting his head on a wall right now. I let out a huff and swung my sword down, using [Perception Cutting Gleam]. Maze's attacks faltered as he seemed a little confused, but that was not the end of my attack as I infused my soul energy into my sword and swung it at him.
I was sure the blue beam released was going to hit him, and the effects of [BREAK] would take hold and this fight would come to an end. But he recovered quickly and crossed his Axes in front of his chest, blocking the hit; which eventually turned the axes in his hands into scrap metal that fell to the ground below completely broken. He looked at me, and spread his hands, dragging an enormous amount of blood from the other zones. They were left after the injuries of the previous fights.
I took a deep breath, and tried to move forward, but a sharp pain at the base and middle of my spine stopped me, as my vision went blank for a moment. A wave of exhaustion suddenly came over me, as I dropped to one knee. I have been using my soul energy wildly throughout this fight, I was bound to have exhausted it, especially now since the conversion rate from its gaseous form to liquid form required three times as much soul energy. And most of my really powerful skills relied on my soul energy, putting me in a really bad spot right now.
The blood Maze had gathered, formed into a giant palm above my head, the sheer size of the palm was rather......…disappointing to be honest. Underestimating your opponent in a fight was bad idea, but overestimating them made you look weak and stupid.
Maze just like thousands of other vampires has just been unsealed, it would take them quite a bit of time to get used to their abilities, much less fine tune their control over them. Didn't mean the massive palm about to squash me to paste wasn't dangerous though.
[Lion's Sprint] [Lion's Roar] [Essence Slash!]
Using all three skills in succession almost made me dizzy. But the increased speed, and the fact that the roar pushed Maze back and was loud enough to make him loose concentration on his giant blood palm for a moment was very beneficial for me. I got close enough to him and slashed at him, arcs of lightening snaking off the surface of my blade accompanied by a sudden gust of wind.
My sword drew a line from his left shoulder to right hip, but it was the ensuing electric shock and blast of air which followed that surprised me. Maze was thrown off his feet, his body vibrating intensely due to the electrocution from the lightening which appeared. He fell right in the middle of the water zone, which should not have been good for him seeing as the entire surface of the water was filled with silver electric bolts, giving more damage to Maze.
The essence slash skill, made use of elemental essences to cause damage. But since I didn't have any of those inside me, the skill had to take from my surroundings and channel it into an attack. I was moving really fast, which meant that wind essence was used, but wind also gave birth to lightening which emphasized the destructive power behind my sword strike coupled with extreme speed. I might be able to win if I just used my skills smartly.
BOOOOOOM! SMACK! BANG!
I felt like I was going to die. I had no idea where the hit came from, and while it was bad and might have dislocated my right shoulder, what really hurt was dropping right in the middle of the mineral mountain zone, and having to endure the impact of my fall at two times the intensity. I felt paralyzed, and watched helplessly as Maze's half formed avatar fell towards me.
[Minor Teleportation!]
This time it was not instant, and the pain that shot through my brain made me scream out in pain as blood began to drip out of my nose and ears. I've reached the limit of using that skill, anymore and I would really kill myself. The teleportation seemed to struggle for activation, and Maze was just a hairs breath away from me, before it worked and I appeared on the ground ten meters away.
I had a vindictive smile on my face as Maze experienced having his own attack rebounded at him at two times the damage. It was a satisfying experience, but it was not over. I knew that would not be enough to keep him down.
I dragged myself back to my feet, my sword and shield nowhere to be found, my soul energy was recovering, but not at a fast enough pace for me. I needed to do something drastic, at least to buy myself some time.
Maze's avatar flickered a bit, before stabilizing, it was awe inspiring, as I was looking at a buff and heavily muscled man, with long hair, and a barbarian like helmet with bull like horns.
The traditional look of berserkers, and the massive energy axe, being held by the massive barbarian made from energy made me too nervous. I needed time, and there was only one thing I could do for now.
"Summon Monsters!"
A huge summoning circle appeared right in front of me, and out of it crawled every dangerous monster living in my dungeon. The lightening tailed bats, the sanguine curse bats and the plague rats took the lead. They led the rest of their compatriots, swarming around Maze as their collective voices rang in my head.
"For The Master!" "Fight!" "Woohoo!"
With Maze a little occupied, I was able to find my sword and recover a bit of my soul energy. Now it was time to put an end to the fight. Though my soul energy wasn't much, what I had was enough for one last weave, and anything else would be left to my sword skills and my reserve of ether energy. Maze wouldn't know what hit him.
********
********
THE BLUE DISTRICT
LOCATION: THE CITY
MALEK AUSOLON.
Running diagnostics in the middle of a fight was a stupid thing to do, but Malek really had no choice with that. This was his baby, and no matter what this All Terrain Tactical Assault Command Knight (A.T.T.A.C.K) had to be fully functional. After all it was the first time in millions of years the specially designed battle droid, created for vampire subjugation was being deployed.
Though this version had more improvements and options than the previous ones. It was a fully automated and self repairing battle Mech. Only difference is unlike most Mechs being used today, this bad boy did not need anyone to pilot him, just needed orders from the command center.
"Weapons system online, navigational system functional, power cells at full capacity and armor at 200% effectiveness. Well then Bingo, what are you waiting for...…attack!"
If other people saw Malek, and the fact that he was talking to what looked like a giant bipedal dog, they would have wondered where he got such a strange pet. However if said pet was made completely of a silver metal that could only be mythril, and had cannons the size of a full grown man mounted on it's shoulders, they would have probably ran the other way. But this was Malek's contribution, and it was amazing.
For now a telepathic connection was all Malek had to control the battle mech, but it was enough as he sent it round the city, mercilessly shooting down enemies it encountered.
It was rather efficient, but it's capabilities were sub par at the moment. It was not flexible enough, not agile enough, and while it's defense were really good, Malek hated the lack of maneuverability in the mech.
He cursed a million times as he wrote equations onto sketch pad, crossing and uncrossing lines in annoyance. He flipped pages, making adjustments and adding new ideas and concepts, and he was on the verge of a breakthrough when suddenly he heard.
ROOOOOAAAARRRR!
"Sweet mother Ausolon's milk! What was that?"
And as if to mock his ignorance another roar much different from the first filled the air, and then it began to rain Ash and Snow as the shadows of two dragons causing havoc blanketed the city like a protective cover.
A lot of vampires cowered away in fear at the appearance of the two primal beasts of chaos, wisdom, destruction and magic. Well everyone but Malek who jumped to the top of a roof and screamed with all the air in his lungs.
"My name is Malek and I'm a well known Vampire elder. If you don't mind me asking......PLEASE CAN I DISSECT YOU!"