Shi vs. Akio

The 8 mages rushed at Shi, the Eikyo brothers standing back for the time being. Shi rushed straight towards the center of the mages. As they closed around Shi, they all summoned different spells and launched them at Shi.

Shi dropped the earth below him down by several feet before raising a mana barrier to block the explosion above. Using his mana sense, Shi tracked down one of the mages, rising up out of the ground right next to the man and reaching out a hand and closing it around the man's throat.

Shi turned the man towards the incoming spells, raising a mana barrier behind him so what bit of the spells that weren't blocked by the man's body were blocked by the barrier. Shi shot a lightning bolt at another mage, dropping the ground under the mage by a foot as he did so. The mage yelped in surprise as he fell for a split second, distracting him long enough for the lightning bolt to pierce his chest.

As the next round of spells shot at Shi, he jumped straight up in the air, draining the mana from the one spell that was aimed above him. Shi turned to one of the mages and launched a mana spike at him, throwing a kunai that stayed behind the mana spike. The mage swatted the mana spike away with a wind blade but took the kunai to his throat.

Shi launched a barrage of wind blades at another of the mages, weaving around the spells sent towards him as he kept up the barrage. After a few seconds, Shi summoned a boulder and launched it at the mage.

Right before the boulder hit, Akio flashed to the mage and pulled him out of harm's way. "Alright, that's enough." He said, before launching a lightning bolt at Shi. Shi brought a glob of earth up to block the lightning bolt and summoned his reaper, sending it towards Akio's brother.

Akio launched an earth boulder towards Shi, the other mages following it up with spells of their own. Shi leaped directly at the boulder, using a mana spike to punch a hole to go through. As he passed out the other side of the boulder, Shi threw four kunai at four different mages. Two of the kunai hit their targets but the other two were swatted aside.

The reaper pulled down its hood, and rushed Akio's brother, taking the head of one of the mages through his fire blast. Akio's brother fell back, launching a barrage of spells at the reaper. The reaper slowed under the barrage but kept pressing on.

Shi jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a wind blade from Akio. The mages reacted a split-second later, launching a barrage of spells at Shi. Shi made a platform out of mana that he launched off of towards the ground.

Shi sprang off the ground on impact, dodging a wind blade from Akio and hurtling towards one of the mages. The mages launched a barrage of spells at Shi, forcing him to abandon his attack on the mage.

Before Akio got the chance to attack, Shi raised an earth wall between him and Akio. As the attack got blocked by the wall, Shi darted towards one of the mages. As the mages launched another round of spells at Shi, Shi rolled away towards another mage, taking his throat with the karambit.

The reaper closed in on Akio's brother, reaching its hand out to grab Akio's brother's throat. "Hisashi!" Akio yelled before rushing over and cutting the reaper's hand off. Hisashi fell to the ground, coughing.

Shi took advantage of the distraction to launch a kunai at each of the three remaining mages. Only one of them hit their target, but Shi was already moving in to slash the throat of another of the mages.

As Akio turned to launch a fireball at Shi, Shi grabbed the final mage and used his body to block Akio's fireball, turning the mage into a charred wreck. Shi launched a lightning bolt at Akio, which was swiftly deflected away.

The reaper raised its scythe before bringing it down towards Hisashi's throat. Before it connected, Akio flashed back and blocked the scythe with a wind blade, following it up with a lightning bolt through the reaper's chest.

Shi used sand magic to obscure Akio's vision, then launched a kunai at Akio and another one at his brother. Akio couldn't see the kunai, but he had raised an earth wall when the sand came that blocked the kunai.

Shi closed his eyes and focused on his mana sense, his surroundings lighting up in his mind's eye. Akio summoned a burst of wind, clearing the sand in the air just in time to see five kunai slam into Hisashi's chest.

Akio screamed, mana radiating from him in waves, destroying Shi's mana sense. Shi opened his eyes in time to see a massive boulder hurtling towards him. With no time to dodge, Shi brought up a mana barrier to try and block the boulder.

The boulder exploded on impact with Shi's barrier with a thunderous boom, shaking the ground. The area was reduced to a massive crater, even breaking some of the castle's walls over 100 feet away from the crater's center.

Shi slowly stood, his left arm hung lamely at his side and his right hand's ring finger was bent at an impossible angle. His right foot was facing backward, twisted at the ankle. Akio also stood, he had no injuries but still moved slowly due to mana exhaustion.

Akio drew his sword wearily and started advancing towards Shi. Shi grabbed his left arm and, with a jerk and a twist, popped it back into its socket with a grunt and a soft pop. Shi straightened his ring finger and bound it with a temporary cast of earth magic, he then did the same with his injured foot, draining the rest of his limited mana reserves.

Shi brought his karambit up, and started his own slow advance towards Akio. "Let's finish this" Shi said as he came in. Akio didn't respond, he just came in faster. Shi prepared himself, and charged in as well.