Merc'd

Again, Mercer throws himself to the side to dodge, but Michale had been anticipating this, throwing his hand forward and casting "Shock!". The tendrils of energy whip forward and strike Mercer in the side, scorching his black leather armour and throwing him to the ground. Michael was tempted to just finish him with a Dragon Slave spell but knew that probably result in the entire city burning... With that in mind, he turns off Fiery Soul to prevent his flame aura from doing the same.

Still, he Blinks towards Mercer who was still trembling from the electricity coursing through him, but he recovers quicker than Michael had anticipated. He swipes his dagger up to intercept Michael strike, and succeeds... Only to get punched hard in the face by Michael's off-hand.

"Argh!" Mercer groans as his nose audibly break under the strike, he tries to stab Michael with the Skeleton Key but Michale quickly backs away to avoid it, not knowing what would happen if he got hit by such an artifact... Maybe his 'flesh' would 'unlock' to spill his intestines on the floor or something.

With Michael getting distance between them, Mercer pulls himself to his feet and throws his dagger, it is easily dodged, but Mercer didn't think it'd hit in the first place, instead intending to free up his hand for casting. Two turquoise coloured spells shoot from his palm, hitting the floor next to Michael and exploding outwards.

Michael managed to dodge the first one but gets caught in the next, causing a wave of... Peace, to wash over him. The world turns a shade of blue and he looks over at Mercer, a man he'd been trying to kill for some reason. He nods his head at him and wonders where he could buy some pizza, he really wanted to watch a movie, and binge on food right now.

...

"Hang on, this isn't right..." he mentally intones as he watches Mercer run towards him with his dagger raised.

Just then, the world returns back to its dull and gloomy colour, Michael's senses to return and allow him to avoid a lethal injury, even if Mercer's dagger does gouge a deep wound into the wide of his head... Luckily, it's merely a flesh wound.

"Just. Die!" Mercer exclaims, throwing a flurry of attacks at Michael as he dodges, blocks, and parries them. Finally, Mercer leaps backwards and glances around with a scowl on his face, realising that they are guests rapidly approaching, most likely the other Thieves Guild members.

Growling under his breath, he stabs the Skeleton Key forward once more, and dissipates into shadowed particles again... This time with a passenger, who'd managed to grab a hold of the man just before he fled.

Mercer and Michael practically fly into existence within a swamp a good distance outside of Riften, Mercer losing his grip on the Skeleton Key due to how exhausting it was to transport two people at once. It falls into the swamp waters, leaving Mercer completely unable to search for it as he still had Michael to deal with. "You won't leave here alive! I promise you that!"

Michael just shakes his head, "Wanna bet on whether that key uses your Magicka?" he asks before immediately casting Mana Void. He thrusts his arms outwards in a pulling motion, and a blue glow encapsulates Mercer, giving the man no way to dodge.

The spell erupts, blasting both him and the area surrounding him with a shockwave that bathes everything in blue light. Once it clears, Michael spots Mercer kneeling on the ground with an incredibly pale face.

"Huh, so that thing doesn't use mana... Cool?" he murmurs, knowing that Mercer would've instantly died if the Skeleton Key did.

Mercer, knowing he wasn't winning this, weakly searches for the key in the swamp water but finds his arm held in place with burning electrified shackles. He gives a strained shout of pain as Michael pulls him over and drags him onto dry land.

Michael kicks him onto his back and points his palm towards the man, "By the way, I stole most of your shit. Thanks for collecting it, it really saved me a lot of time." he sarcastically says.

"W-wait... Are you one of them!? O-one of Hers!?" he gasps out, utterly exhausted and looking on death's door.

Michael tilts his head in thought, "I think I know who you're talking about, but even if I was it wouldn't matter. Have fun in whatever hell you're going to." he states before casting Dragon Slave directly in his face, utterly incinerating the man.

...

"Oh, shit... I probably should've checked him for loot before I did that." he mutters, palming his face. After a moment of chiding himself, he searches for the Skeleton Key and begins walking back to Riften while invisible.

This had gone far quicker than he thought it would... He'd honestly been anticipating fighting the entire Thieves Guild... Fortunately, it seems that luck was on his side with this one.

Mercer had actually been far stronger than Michael had thought as well, in the game he was somewhat difficult because he was a boss character and scaled with the Dragonborn's level. But in reality, the guy was just a thief, a Nightingale to be sure, but not someone you'd consider when discussing fierce warriors.

The man was better with a dagger and almost as Michael was, so if he hadn't been using his spells and other abilities he'd have probably lost. This was surprising as his Agility while using his Gandalfr Runes was around eight times a regular person's.

Was this just how strong people usually got in this world? Or was it something else? Like a blessing from Nocturne, or him using the Skeleton Key...?

Regardless, there was only one solution should many more people turn out as capable or more so than Mercer... Get stronger himself.