Chapter 76: The Kings’ Duel

Azure mana clashed against blood-red mana, blood freezing into crimson ice before shattering into fragments.

Stryker and I continued to duel amidst the chaotic battlefield, hurling spells at each other even as our blades collided in a shower of sparks. I ducked under a swing of his broadsword and countered with a thrust from Blood Angel. Stryker managed to deflect that, only for my Nocturne to cut into his shoulder. Blood sprayed from his wound, but before I could drag my black sword deeper into his chest, he kicked me away and thus dislodged the blade from his collarbone.

"Not bad," he remarked and glanced at his injury. The cut was already mending now, the wound closing up and the bleeding having stopped. He flexed his shoulders, as if testing out whether they still worked, and then lunged at me.

I crossed both of my swords and parried his massive strike, the impact of which shattered the ground beneath my feet. With a grunt, I tried to heave him away, but Stryker whirled around and kicked me from below while I was still guarding against his broadsword.

The blow sent me crashing several meters away, even though I absorbed the worst of the attack with my upper arm. Even now, my right arm continued to throb, but I refused to let go of Nocturne and rose to my feet unsteadily.

Taking a deep breath, I then deflected Stryker's strike before ducking his follow-up slash. He kicked me again, but I blocked his foot with my knee this time and allowed the momentum to open up some distance between us.

Simultaneously, blood stakes surged out of the ground in an attempt to impale me, but I froze them in a single spell. Jumping and spinning away as more blood stakes erupted, my ice spells unable to keep up, I retaliated with a hail of icicles.

Stryker responded by conjuring a shield made out of blood. I watched as my icicles broke harmlessly across the surface of the blood shield. Even though a layer of ice expanded across the crumbling blood shield, none of it reached the bearer below.

As the shield disintegrated, Stryker then hurled a massive blood spear at me. Landing on the ground, I swung both of my swords and broke the incoming blood lance apart. Breathing heavily, I glanced up just in time to see Stryker dash through the red fragments in an effort to eviscerate me with his deadly broadsword.

Reversing the grip on both of my swords, I twirled them about in my hands to cross their blades and block the blow. Metal screeched against metal, throwing up another shower of sparks, and I found myself skidding several meters back, my feet gouging rock out of the ground.

The both of us sprang apart for a single pace before reengaging, me spinning both of my swords back around so that I could hold them properly before slashing, and Stryker intent on beheading me. We exchanged several dozen furious blows that sent debris flying in all direction.

Simultaneously, blood stakes and icicles smashed each other apart, a violent maelstrom that swirled around the both of us. The other vampires couldn't even get close, their struggling silhouettes forced back by the violent storm of blood and ice.

A storm of blood and ice, huh? Were the both of us participating in a game of thrones? The throne of the Demonic Emperor, to be exact.

Swinging his broadsword with both hands, Stryker hurled me back in a single blow. I could see his muscles bulging, bloated and enhanced by blood magic to the point where the demonic glow permeated his golden armor. I crashed several paces away, but managed to land on my feet. Without missing a beat, I swung Nocturne and unleashed a blizzard spell.

Seeing the hurricane of snow hurtling toward him, Stryker grinned and plunged his broadsword into the ground. A blood-red aura flared about him.

"Brace yourself," he sneered. "Winter is coming."

"…seriously?" my jaw dropped. "Are you doing a Ned Stark impression now?"

Stryker didn't reply. Instead, he allowed my blizzard spell to wash over him. After a moment, he was entombed in ice, his figure completely encased. I didn't lower my swords, though, aware that he wouldn't be subdued so easily.

"Ugh?!"

I was right not to rest on my laurels. The ground beneath me split open and blood stakes lanced upward, almost impaling me. I froze a few of them, shattered several and evaded the rest. Skipping across the ground, I smashed apart another hail of blood stakes and froze another cluster before they could reach me. Diving to the side, I rolled along the ground, staying just one centimeter ahead of the growing blood stakes before I finally froze the entire space.

Getting up on the ice, I watched as Stryker burst free of his frozen tomb. His red mana surged wildly, shrouding him in an ominous mist.

"Ha ha ha! You're amazing! You're really impressive! I didn't expect a youngster like you to put up such a good fight, but I guess you didn't defeat Vincent Lucard because of a fluke, after all."

He grinned, revealing his fangs, and his eyes glowed red. The mist settled around his body and hardened intimidatingly.

"But you have no Hero to help you weaken me this time! I don't think you'll be able to replicate that miracle!"

I stayed silent and merely watched him cautiously. Stryker was casting blood magic on himself and I clearly noticed his muscles bulging underneath his creaking golden armor. His swollen legs bent and then he launched himself from the ground.

"Kuh?!"

I was almost caught off guard. Stryker cleared the distance between us in an instant, his broadsword swinging downward to cleave me in half. I spun my swords about and crossed them, parrying the broadsword. The ground beneath my feet split once more, but this time the impact left a colossal crater under the both of us.

With an agility that belied his bulk and weight, Stryker whirled around in midair and twisted his broadsword. Even though I was somehow able to block it, the sheer force behind his strike sent me flying. I struck the ground and bounced several times, the immense impact knocking the wind out of me.

"Gah!"

Rolling to a stop, I rose to a crouch. The grazes and abrasions I had sustained during the tumble were already beginning to mend and heal. Not that Stryker cared. He was already charging at me, laughing manically. His blows gouged entire chunks of earth from the ground and sent haphazardly shaped boulders flying in all directions. All around us, vampires were forced to dodge the missiles, which were pelting them indiscriminately regardless of friend or foe.

No wonder they called him the Berserk King.

The archduke's broadsword and the debris weren't the only things I had to worry about. Blood stakes were springing to life once more, attempting to skewer me from above and below. Only my absurdly intuitive reflexes allowed me to avoid a grisly fate, with me preternaturally sensing the projectiles before they erupted into existence and tried to spear me.

"Huff…!"

Running across the ground, I somehow managed to evade the rain of bloody spears from above and below. Whirling around, I countered with a hail of icicles, but Stryker effortlessly smashed them apart with his enormous broadsword.

"Don't run!" he shouted gleefully, carving more craters into the earth with each manic swing. "Come here and fight me!"

I wasn't that much of an idiot. Unfortunately, I didn't have much of a choice. Suddenly, my route of retreat was cut off by a sudden surge of blood stakes, and I was forced to evade by moving toward the bounding berserker. The Berserk King laughed boisterously as he descended upon me with a swing of his massive broadsword.

I slid to the side, allowing the deadly weapon to hurtle past me and pulverize the ground. Even a slight graze would have killed me, but I timed my movement such that I was a hair's breadth from the slightest graze.

Then I countered with a scissor movement from both of my swords, attempting to attack Stryker from two opposite directions.

The archduke surprised me by letting go of his broadsword and doing a cartwheel to flip himself backward. Using his gauntlets, he deflected my follow-up attacks, parrying and blocking my lethal strikes. Flicking his leg up, he delivered an almost condescending kick, which knocked me several paces back. Plunging both of my swords into the ground, I skidded to a stop.

With a grin, Stryker retrieved his weapon and swung it. I cleaved through the red shockwave that he had casually sent in my direction, and then crossed my blades to parry his next strike. The collision of our weapons sent tremors reverberating in all directions, buffeting the vampire knights who were embroiled in a melee with each other.

Guffawing, Stryker swung his broadsword again, forcing me to block. We exchanged several furious blows that continued to tear chunks out of the earth and buffet the struggling vampire knights unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.

"Huff…"

Despite the intensity of our duel, I forced myself to remain calm and intercepted Stryker's strikes while countering whenever I saw an opportunity to. Blood stakes rained down upon us, but I deflected them with ice shields that I conjured to cover certain angles here and there. Red and azure swirled and mixed, exploding in fragments that scattered our figures, which were locked in vicious combat.

I could feel myself tiring, but I persevered against all odds. Stryker had the edge, particularly in experience, so I could only make use of my youthful vigor to make up for what I lacked in maturity. My enchanted glasses displayed trajectories of the Berserk King's broadsword, highlighting them in deep red across my glowing lenses and calculating timings, angles and speed. That helped me a lot, particularly with parrying and blocking.

At least it was helping me prolong the battle and stay alive a bit longer.

We traded another few blows and I began to slip up. Blood spurted from an ugly gash on my temple, but the wound immediately closed up and healed. Even though we were dealing minute damage to each other, the injuries were insignificant, healing almost immediately. Stryker, in particular, seemed to be numb to the pain, even though I succeeded in nicking his face or whatever exposed parts of his body – gaps in his armor, such as the joints – from time to time.

No matter how much I hurt him, he would maintain that feral, fanged grin, his eyes wild with excitement. His mind was in the grip of insanity, yet his skills remained undull. Wielding both his broadsword and blood spells expertly, he constantly kept me on the back foot, but I somehow matched him blow for blow.

As the battle continued to rage, I eventually detected a growing impatience about my opponent. He was clearly wondering how he was unable to subjugate me even after all this time and effort. I couldn't help but feel some self-satisfaction, which dissipated in the next second.

There was a crimson flare about Stryker's arm and he knocked me back a few paces. I seized the chance to put as much distance between us as possible, backing away to what I hoped was a safe spot. To my surprise, the grunting berserker didn't pursue me. His eyes were still glowing red with bloodthirst, but it seemed that he preserved some sense of lucidity.

"It'll be a waste to kill you," he remarked with a shake of his head. "Honestly, I would prefer to take you as a subordinate."

I couldn't help but smirk at that. "I'll return you the same words you told me. If you want me to submit, you'll have to defeat me first."

"Very well." Stryker chuckled. He then held his broadsword parallel to the ground, his muscles rippling beneath his golden armor. With a single kick, he launched himself at me and thrust his massive weapon forward.

At the same time, blood stakes rained down on me from above, cutting off any route of escape. This time, the crimson projectiles were much larger than before, each the size of pillars. There was no room for me to run.

Looking at this, I understood instinctively that this was Stryker's final attack. A gamble where he put everything on the line to end this duel once and for all.

Taking a deep breath, I stood my ground and crossed my swords to meet Stryker's charge. Azure mana crackled around me and I prepared to unleash my most powerful spell. Behind my gleaming lenses, my eyes glowed azure from the sheer power of my magic.

With a single incantation, I released the mana building up inside me in one go.

"Absolute Zero."