47 (47) Sparring

"Shall we spar then?"

The swarm of Nagas silently slid back, creating a large, circular space around the two male Bosses.

Kraton silently cursed everyone in his heart. 'Do they really want to see me beaten up so bad?'

"Sure," It would have been awkward to say otherwise when everyone had already stepped back and were anticipating a breathtaking duel.

This also meant that he couldn't afford to lose overwhelmingly when countless eyes were focused on the fight. "Can we handicap you?"

"Hahaha... No."

Kraton reluctantly dragged himself to face Psychi, it was a humourous sight to see an overbearing, gigantic monster looking like a nervous wreck in front of an eloquent being.

If anyone else were to see this from a distance, they would assume that it was an Elven player fighting against a monster. The only thing that set Moon Immortals and the Elven people apart was their six fingers and silvery looks.

All Moon Immortals were born with silver tints to their skin, hair and eyes, Elves on the otherhand would only become more silver (or grey) as they grew older - around 300 to 400 years of age.

Moon Immortals were categorised as Monsters, whilst Elves were born as non-players.

As the two Bosses got into their stance, the whole room fell silent as everyone held their breaths.

Kraton tensed his muscles and lifted his heavy club up. The soft glow that illuminated the room sometimes glinted off of the metallic club.

At the same time, Psychi slowly reached his hand towards his side. A small buckle or badge shimmered as the six-fingered hand brush past it.

As his had brushed past, the fingers traced around an invisible shape. A long stick materialised behind Psychi's hand, the more he traced the object, the more of it became revealed.

Soon, out of nowhere except the realm of space, a silvery staff appeared. The shape and exuberant design outmatched the human staffs in every aspect. It even had a faint aura surrounding itself.

The staff had a simple handle which was outlined with silvery veins which ran around and up the stick.

At the top of the staff, the wood curved around a hollow space similar to Loki's sceptre - just much less sharp. The only thing missing was a bright, blue oval gem.

Psychi gestured for Kraton to come and start the fight, a thin grin was plastered on his face. Kraton felt no disturbance in the elements, and apart from the superb detail and the faint aura from the staff, it seemed pretty normal.

Without anymore hesitation, Kraton leapt forward. His body was bent down like a torpedo and with every large and powerful stride, the ground slighlty shook.

A chill was sent shivering down Kraton's spine. Something felt off.

Psychi stood still, his eyes showed no signs of alarm at the rapidly approaching figure. His grin was still visible as he stared at Kraton. Pyschi didn't move at all, not even his eyes blinked as Kraton arrived in front of him.

*Woosh!*

The large club smashed into Psychi, but it didn't stop there. The power from Kraton's swing could have sent even a level 10 Guardian Knight flying, anyone under level 10 would have been instantly minced into the white light.

The inertia of the swing was understandably large, however Kraton's body spun much more than what the crowd had predicted.

It was almost like none of the force was absorbed. This was impossible unless nothing really got hit... But everyone had clearly seen the club hit directly into Psychi. There was so much strength behind Kraton's swing that it had even passed right through Psychi!

Wait.. it passed right through him.

There was no sound, no blood and no impact. Everyone quickly scanned the room trying to locate Pyschi's body.

Kraton had also finished spinning around, his right arm ached terribly as it had almost been pulled out from its sockets.

He glanced towards the floor where Psychi had stood and was left bewildered. There were no traces of footsteps, or any signs of him dodging.

It was like what he saw was not Psychi, but a ghost!

A bad premonition made its way into Kraton's mind. All his hairs along his back stood up on end, making him look like a bristly hedghog. But not as cute.

A shadow flickered onto Kraton, and then a a dark blue hue flashed briefly. Everyone turned their heads, craning their necks to locate the source of the light.

A humanoid figure was illuminated by the dark light, Psychi's silvery staff was extended beneath him as he slammed it down towards Kraton's head. Kraton instinctively crossed his large trunk-like arms above his head as he braced for the collision.

He barely managed to brace himself in time as a humongous pressure rammed into him. Kraton implanted his legs into the ground and pushed back against Psychi. However, the Moon Immortal merely flipped and landed smoothly back on the floor with a heavy thud.

The dark blue glow at the tip of the staff faded away and the staff seemed to become lighter. Thinking back, there was no way that Psychi's weight could have caused Kraton to feel that much pressure; it must have been a spell of some sort.

While Kraton was in half a daze, Psychi spun his staff and pointed the tip towards Kraton, thrusting it forward like a lance.

Inside the tip of the staff, a red orb appeared. The orb pulsed twice before exploding, covering the lance-like staff in an orange flame. The flame was scorchin hot, however it didn't come close to the heat of Celeste's fire.

Nevertheless, if the flaming staff were to make contact with his skin, it would definately bring pain.

Kraton dropped his club for a second and activated Harden on his left hand. Kraton was somewhat ambidextrous [1], but he was primarily right-handed. He calculated the speed and direction of Psychi's thrust and then burst forward, aiming to intercept the Immortal with a punch.

What Kraton didn't anticipate was Psychi's sudden rupture of speed. As if there was a wind - a gale, that helped push Psychi forward, the flaming staff approached Kraton's chest before he had released his punch.

Unfortunately for Psychi, Kraton managed to dispel the Harden off from his hand and coated his body with the skill. Some of his hardened hairs helped deflect the force of the staff slightly, yet the impact still left him breathless as he flew backwards across the ground.

The temperature suddenly dropped and Kraton felt the flames disappear. His eyes were still closed from the impact, but he could sense a more dangerous atmosphere; one that chilled him to the bones.

When his eyelids finally seperated, Kraton froze in shock and fear. Psychi stood less than a metre away from him but a large, light blue object seperated them. If this hadn't been a sparring match, but an actual battle, Kraton would have cut in half without knowing what had killed him.

Kraton backed away and focused on the large, sharp icicle that protruded from the ground at an angle. The tip of the icicle looked extremely sharp and a moment ago it was only a few mere millimetres away from his eyes.

The two female Bosses and the swarm of Nagas breathed out a large sigh. They had unknowlingly held their breaths for the last few seconds when the large icicle had burst from the ground.

Everyone watched Psychi as he plucked his staff out of the stony earth. In the last few moments of the battle, after he had struck Kraton with the flaming staff, Psychi had transformed the energy and inertia from the lunge into a solid strike into the ground.

The ruptured red orb in the staff had suddenly turned into a cold, solid icy blue stone as the staff struck the ground. In the blink of an eye, the icicle had grown out of the ground, the accuracy, speed and aura of the attack had left everyone breathless.

Kim had been beaten by a similar move when she fought with Psychi, but watching it as a spectator had allowed her to glimpse the true beauty of the move.

The light blue stone seemed to melt away, leaving the staff looking hollow and empty again. The large icicle followed suit and left a puddle on the floor.

A couple of younger Nagas snickered when they realised that the puddle made it look like Kraton had wet himself.

The battle ended almost as abruptly as it had started - it was a completely one-sided victory.

"I won," Pyschi laughed out his victory, "you seem stronger at least."

Kraton stared at the Moon immortal dumbly before clocking that he had lost just like that. His face grew heated with embaressment as he sent a glare back.

"You're just a damn bully! At least let me hit you once!"

The Bosses chatted a bit more with the Nagas and then proceeded to head down back to the Fifth Floor. Every so often, when Kraton had almost calmed down, Psychi would joke about how weak he was, causing Kraton to feel aggrieved.

"Hey Psychi," Kraton's face brightened up as he thought of something, "Why don't you spar against Barren?"

"Nah, I'm too tired. Maybe next time."

Kraton almost spat out blood in response to his shamelessness.

'Coward' he thought, though he didn't dare to say it aloud.

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[1] Ambidextrous: Being able to use the right and left hands equally well.