Bornandtorn - Chapter 140 The end of a dream 2
My first opponent had no intention to waste his precious minute as he started to throw his wind blades directly at me. But these wind blades could not be compared to the ones, which caused the negligible damage on my skin.
They have enough power to tear directly through me if I do not empower my body. That is the difference in talent between the idiotic first group and the truly strong. The best course of action was to keep on dodging to buy time until everything has been set up.
Though I could not afford to treat this as lax I did the fights prior. By showing some offence I might as well make them aware of my strength causing them to treat me seriously and be on guard. My experience against wind practitioners was shallow at best but I had no intention of dying here.
In fights like these, my primary focus was to avoid injuries that would incapacitate me and to close in on the wind mage to pressure him into making mistakes. Getting hit was unavoidable as I was surrounded by air, the medium in wind mages really excel in.
I decided to pick up the pace and accelerate my movements to close the gap between us. A wind blade slashed along my ribs, creating a very bloody sight. This was the price I had to pay if I wanted to win this fight. One minute might seem like a short period of time, but in fights like this, every second could feel like an eternity.
Due to my inhuman regeneration, I could take one injury in a while but I should not let them accumulate. To no one surprise, the next wave of wind blades came crashing at me this time creating a wall I could not pass through without losing my life.
By throwing myself forward into the left direction I managed to avoid them, but this much was anticipated by my opponent who conjured a different spell I had not seen prior. The wind was compressed and turned into small projectiles which came flying at me as I had just regained my balance.
Caught off guard; I only managed to get my head out of harm’s way as several bloody holes had appeared in my body. The projectiles had entered and left my body from the back. Causing quite a spectacular view if I say so myself.
Sadly this battle was far from over as the next wave of wind blades closed in on my position once more. Getting closer was a mistake in it itself. I should have never taken such a risk without knowing the abilities of my enemy yet. I learned something new but the cost for this success was heavy.
Cursing my lack of knowledge once more I was forced to act more careful If I wanted to avoid ending up like swiss cheese. This time around I decided to throw myself to the right and use the newly generated speed to continue the movement with a role to cover more distance.
This decision proved to be correct as the projectiles could be heard tearing loudly through the air. I did not stand still and wait for him to send the next wave of attacks and kept on being in motion. I had to mix my patterns over and over again to avoid falling into another predicament.
I managed to cross the distance and was 2 steps away from him but this small distance was the most dangerous position to be in. Because being in such close proximity left both of us with next to no room to avoid any attacks.
Another set of nearly unavoidable wind blades came flying at me, I did not have much time and I had to make a decision. I chose to follow the option he would least likely expect, even at the cost of one massive injury that nearly amputated my right arm.
Jumping straight through the wind blades I finally came face to face with my opponent and I used my other hand to throw a punch directly at his face. To my surprise, he still managed to just barely counter the attack by pushing my hand upwards utilizing his wind magic.
Despite my initial attack missing the target, my attack was not over as I pulled my leg into his direction and launched a kick directly onto his ribs. This time he could not react in time and just barely managed to create a layer of wind between his body and my leg. The attack still connected after it was thwarted by the wind.
The impact caused Haschmich to slide a few meters sideways. Much to my dismay, the damage was far from enough to kill him as he began to throw the next wave of attacks. This time around I ran back to extend the distance between the both of us. I had to recuperate before I could do anything risky.
But my decision did not go unnoticed as Haschmich had seen an oppurturnity and conjured a multitude of magical bullets directly aimed at me. The number was certainly bigger than the one he had utilized before.
Getting unscathed out of this scenario was unlikely given the current state of my body. The only thing I could come up at the moment was to employ part of the secret strategy I had learned from my underlings. I gathered all of my energy inside of my body in my left foot and launched it into the ground to throw up some rubble to cover me.
The heavy impact reverberated through the surroundings causing the other players to realize the power behind this kick. The rocks were pulverized once they came into contact with the bullets diminishing the power by quite a margin.
Feeling the broken foot I had made a risky decision, that would hinder my mobility. I had to act unperturbed and gave a casual glance to my opponent. I did not show any movement and hoped to buy as much time as possible for my bones to return to its previous state.
A few seconds passed as Haschmich was perplexed by the force of my kick. I would be utterly confused as well seeing such an impact. Though this did not last nearly long enough for me to regain my full mobility. Numerous cracks still covered my bones and my perforated skin had yet to close at several spots.
Hashmich began to cast another set of projectiles but this time around he had increased their numbers yet again. This one was not looking too good for me. I did not want to go in overdrive in the very first fight but I had no other choice given by the upcoming bombardment.
Preparing myself for the worst I continued to stare at him without any change in my expression.
” And the time is over” Laura exclaimed for everyone to hear. The projectiles disappeared with a heavy sigh from my opponent and the next one started to walk up.
It was a sturdy young man nodding at me. He looked at me full of fighting intent. “Shall we begin?”
I savoured the few seconds of peace and serenity to close as many wounds as possible and with fixing my injured foot. I had prioritized my injured arm to be able to fully use it again.
Bones healed slowly in comparison to flesh wounds. But I did not want to show and signs of weaknesses therefore I nodded at him and took up a fighting stance.
A sudden feeling of danger attacked my senses causing me to jump backwards. My instinct had saved me from being impaled by the sharp stalagmite.
just like the previous fight I was at a disadvantage right from the start. Fighting an Earth mage on soil was by no means favourable for me. Just like air, there was next to no limit to the earth in the ground.
I had to assume that I could be attacked from every possible direction. Distance mattered little this time as the key to win this fight lied in avoiding the deadly attacks. The unpredictable attacks would dictate what actions I could take or in this case those I should avoid.
For example, standing still or paying too much focus on the ground and not realizing that several big rocks are currently coming at me. It also did not help that stalagmites appeared in every direction making it harder for me to dodge without being skewered.
I was dancing in the palm of his hands without any chance to retaliate. Passing through the wind was one thing but passing through solid rock was something entirely else.
After several stressful seconds, a risky manoeuvre appeared inside of my mind. Instead of running away from the stalagmite I chose to break one at its bottom.
The newly broken stalagmite was then returned to its original owner. The object in question came as a surprise to Atlas, who was forced to raise a wall of Earth to block it.
The collision was deafening causing the wall to shake, but my offence had barely started as I jumped over the wall to engage him with my fist.
Atlas, on the other hand, conjured a solid layer of Earth around him to block my punch. My hand connected with it but it could not pass through the makeshift armour. There was no way any of my attacks could pass through this.
Instead of attacking him directly I took ahold of him and his armour and used all of my strength to lift him up, in return I had been perforated by an earth spike. Bearing the pain I carried the heavy load on my arms to the nearest spike before letting it drop.
I brought it downwards to crash into the pointy stalagmites but Atlas managed to use his magic to flatten them and making my whole strategy fruitless. Of course did he not miss out on sending new ones to me.
Magic was truly unfair to deal with. Gritting my teeth I dodge the next spikes and got ahold of a new stalagmite. Though this time around I did not throw it at him but used it as a weapon trying to penetrate his defences. The result was a violent crash between his magic and my weapon that caused the stalagmite to explode into a fine dust.
This fight was a stalemate through and through as I was unable to penetrate the earth surrounding him. But there was a gap I could take advantage of, in order to see my movements he had left a gap for his eyes.
Maybe it was time for me to use my hair again to exploit this weakness. To do so I decided to coat in in poison before throwing them at the gap after creating another distraction. But that plan was for nought as Laura announced the end of the fight.
Despite failing to kill me, my enemy had a big smile plastered on his face. A battle maniac through and through, I like him. I gave him a thumbs-up before returning to my initial position. I was glad to have encountered him in this fight as I made a fascinating observation.
After the magic had been cast the shaped soil remained in that state it had been formed into. Which meant that once the magic had left their control it could only be influenced by a new wave of magic. The implications of this newly gained knowledge made it easier for me to fight as it limited the possible options magicians had.
They were still countless, but some matters could be disregarded. For instance, I could have jumped on the spikes without any worry in the world. If he wanted to injure me at that position it would require him to attack me directly or to influence it from underneath.
That was my current understanding of the magic he applied, of course, I could not exclude the possibility that it was impossible to shape magic after its been cast. He might as well just lack the capabilities to do so.
While walking back I kicked another spike and grabbed it in midair to use it as a weapon in the next fight. Although it must have looked quite cool from the outside none of them showed any reaction to my display of skill.
Instead, the only thing I felt was a sudden push behind me pressing me forward. This great force came in the form of a tidal wave. By lodging the spike into the ground I managed to prevent myself from getting carried away.
Seems like my next opponent was not interested in wasting any time. My next opponent was a girl, although gender mattered little in a fight of magic. Whether a boy or a girl the spell they cast hurts the same.
Underestimating your opponent due to such a dumb belief is something which has cost many people dearly. Appearance matters little once the other factors are accounted for.
But there are some fights that solely depend on appearances. An ugly memory resurfaced in my mind causing me to remember things I had sworn to forget about. Those battle were the most pitiful.
While I was attacked by the memories I had hidden deep inside of me I did not feel the torrent of water attacking my body. I know that it should normally weigh heavy on me but It just did not feel like that.
Maybe my senses were overwhelmed by my sudden emotional outburst but at least I should feel something, even if it is just a trace. Yet I did not feel a thing. Why did I lose touch with reality?
During my mental struggle, I saw my body sitting there nonchalantly on top of the spike that had been embedded into the ground. Then the realisation hit me, I had this feeling once. When I handed over control to the Tennant in my body.
At first, he was so quiet and now he just wants to take over my body without even saying anything. But two can play this game. I did not pay any attention to my surroundings anymore as I did not have any reason to do so anymore. With him, in control, I can focus on getting my body back.
He might just make a corny joke about her being still too wet behind her ears. Does that proverb even exist in this world? Doubt it, it is too specific to my former world. He might just showboat and overexaggerate his movements to feel the awe of the others. Though that is none of my concern.
There are 2 approaches I could use to gain control of my body, the first one is to give him an offer he can not refuse. A transaction of my precious memories seems suitable for such cases since he exploited a moment of my weakness to accomplish this feat. Otherwise, he would have taken over this body of mine way sooner.
Because I can not imagine that he could learn anything from me about fighting magicians. Nor would it make sense that I am more than his temporary vessel. Without magic, you are really screwed in this world and this body certainly does not have what it takes to accomplish anything when faced with magic.
In a fight against a singular magician it might work out quite well but once I fight several people it becomes impossible. Regeneration can get you only this far, especially if its all over once the brain gets injured.
Should I just be thankful about the incompetence of the players I have faced so far? Nah, I have just played the role I had been chosen for. How much time has it been since I woke up in this world?
1 month? 2 months? 3 months? I have no idea how much time might have passed. All I know is that I am still not used to all of this. I might never truly grow accustomed to it. It all feels so surreal to me. I had never been a person, who believed in any form of afterlife. Especially no afterlife in which I get bombarded by an angry girl with waves of water.
I have given him enough time to consider my offer and since I did not receive any answers it is time for me to get control back of my body the hard way. Normally I would have liked to avoid this way but I am left with no other choice if I do not want to be stuck in this passive state.
If emotional trauma is the cause for loss of control then it also is the salvation. I will just have to force my mind to suffer over and over again until I wake up. Who knows maybe I will be able to come to terms with my past. If I could I would have shaken my head, I am not that naive to think that I could solve my issues simply by relieving them.
Some things in life can not be fixed or mended no matter how hard you try. The past is irreversible. There are so many things I wish I could have done better or different. I do regret the choices I made. But brooding over what might have been or what could have been, is not the path to salvation.
Knowing this is one thing, but the heart is another. As much as I want to point my fingers at others and blame them for everything, I just can not do that and expect to have a clear conscience. I will have to face my hurtful memories despite the wounds they might tear up again.
Fuck me. Deep down I know that I could not avoid this, but simply suppressing it is no solution either. After I am through with this you will have some explaining to do Mr Tennant. So for the time being just focus on not getting torn to pieces by the magicians.
Let us meet again. Father, Mother and my dear Sister.