66. Valex

Castus lowered himself in a defensive posture, he had no weapons, but he had the library open and he had memorized all of his favorite weapons. The center of the ring glowed and an arachnid adjacent species of beast appeared in the center. It was yellow in coloration and had a thick fur that covered its large carapace. It stood on eight legs at around four feet tall. Two large fangs dripped with an unknown liquid and it hissed at Castus, quickly scurrying towards him. As it moved webs formed under it, coating the surroundings and changing the terrain. 

'Fast, medium size, insectoid defenses. Blunt damage would be best. Head is most likely its weakness.' 

Castus reached his right hand out and in it a handle appeared. He was now holding a rather large hammer. The faces of it had been slightly pointed to give better penetration. This hammer was quickly becoming one of Castus' favorite weapons. It was slow, but easy to wield. If he could connect solidly, it would deal large damage to his opponents, often times allowing a follow up strike or an immediate end to the fight. He had realized he didn't have the physicality to sustain a prolonged fight and decisive blows were his best bet. 

Castus strafed outside of the webs as the spider closed in on him. It got within a few meters and Castus felt the vibrations of mana. Instinctively he moved before danger sense alerted him. The webs that now covered half the arena twisted and moved as if alive. They shot passed where Castus had just been. The spider closed the gap between them. Castus stopped moving. He planted and spun to face the spider. It raised up, onto its hind legs and dove at Castus. Castus smirked and will all the force he could muster swung the hammer in an uppercut. It solidly smacked the head of the spider with a crack. It stumbled backwards, but one of its legs had still pierced Castus in the shoulder. He was bleeding profusely. 

The spider seemed dazed and Castus moved in to capitalize on the opening. He stepped onto the webs for the first time to close the gap. Getting close he was nearly in striking range when the spider lit up a bright yellow and Castus' vision went black. 

Moments later he awoke. The spider was nowhere to be seen, but based on the damage to his clothing, it looks like the spider used its threads of a conductor to strike him with lightning. He sighed. Choceny fluttered next to him. "You got too greedy. You have to remember that creatures and people alike will always be planning their next moves. You knew too little of that creature's capabilities to move in head first like that. If this had been in the wild you would have died. Will you continue?" Choceny analyzed. 

"Yes, start another." Castus groaned, disbanding the hammer. He already felt back to himself. Thankfully all the losing Castus had been doing granted him the pain resistance skill. It made everything marginally better. The constant expenditure of mana had also granted him the increased mana recovery skill. 

He stretched his tense muscles and prepared for another fight. This time the ring glowed and a humanoid creature with bat like wings emerged. Castus looked at it for a moment, looking for a weakness, when it spoke. "Well, what do we have here. I was wondering what that enchantment did." The humanoid spoke. 

Choceny, now outside the barrier, began to panic. "A high evolutionary path?! Castus be cautious!" Choceny shouted. Castus looked over, curiously. Choceny had never spoken during a fight before. 

"What's the issue, just heal me after." Castus asked. 

Choceny fluttered it's wings, drawing close to the barrier. "I can heal most physical injuries, but creatures from high evolutionary paths have many unseen and dangerous abilities that even Fulsin himself could not heal." 

Castus looked back at the humanoid that was curiously glancing around the arena currently. He looked back to Choceny. "Well just send it back then."

Choceny rolled its eyes. "I would if I could. The formation will only release when it senses you are nearly dead. If that thing manages to deal some kind of lasting damage you could actually die. You need to be extraordinarily cautious."

The humanoid creature looked over at Castus. "I can hear you both. Good to know you can't escape me. I can't wait to feast on your little soul." 

Castus whipped around and lowered himself. Preparing for the creature's advances. Choceny fluttered in the air nervously. It quickly rushed over. 

The creature rushed straight at Castus. It's speed was far higher than anything he had seen so far. He summoned a shield of iron to protect himself. The creature threw a straight punch into the shield. The heavy metal yielded and Castus was blown backwards. Castus quickly pushed himself to warp the shield back into its original form. The creature stood up with a smug grin. 

"Nifty trick there, making a shield out of thin air. If you survive my next attack you will have been the first since I descended. As such, I will grant you the honor of knowing my name." The creature flexed its purplish muscles and lowered for another straight rush. Castus moved away from the barrier. Using his blessing to reinforce the shield with further iron. The creature rushed straight at him once more. 

Like last time it threw a straight only this time, Castus felt his danger sense warning him. At first, he was going to ignore it, but at the last instance he moved to the side allowing the straight to hit the shield at an angle. The creature's fist made an impact and then blew into the shield. The arm Castus was using to hold the shield vibrated and he felt immense pain in his arm. 

Moving to the side the creature looked at Castus with another smug grin. Castus had dropped the shield and was holding his arm now. All he could feel was pain in that arm. Furthermore he couldn't move it now. He thought it was broken. He looked back at the creature. 

"Soul punch. Hurts doesn't it. True to my words my name is Valex, progeny of Valexin." Valex spoke. Castus didn't care much for the name, but it struck a chord with Choceny who was still trying to think of a workaround. Looking back Choceny squawked and rushed to the barrier. 

"Castus, that is a spawn of a very high level reaper. Be extra cautious. Valex could actually destroy your soul." Choceny warned. Castus was still gritting his teeth trying to acclimate to the pain in his arm. 

"Great to know Choceny. You know anything about killing him so I don't die though." Castus remarked angerly. Castus was pissed right now. Fulsin had thrown them into this ring with promises of it being safe and here he was facing down a creature that could destroy his soul and Choceny could do nothing about it. Not to mention looking at the creatures speed and damage Castus didn't see any opportunity to win this fight. 

Choceny landed next to the barrier. "I don't know much about them sadly. Legends speak of some reapers as beings who rip souls from the mortal plane. No one has ever directly fought them and told the tale." 

Castus looked at Choceny with fury in his eyes. "Fucking useless bird." He sighed and weighed his options. Fighting in the arena had trained him somewhat, but he was still far from a superb fighter. He was definitely a huge disadvantage versus this reaper. 

Valex stood straight looking at Castus, taunting him. Clearly it still wasn't taking this seriously. Castus angerly summoned his now beefed up pistol from behind him, making the ammunition as well. Swinging it around quickly to minimize the amount of time Valex had to react he fired. Castus figured that with Valex's high speed he must not have high defenses. 

The first bullet hit its mark, punching through Valex and staggering him. He seemed genuinely surprised to take a blow. Castus quickly made more ammunition, firing off four more rounds. He thanked his levels as the small amounts of added strength allowed him to better control the recoil of the gun. 

After the fifth shot Castus lowered the gun and looked at Valex. He was now bleeding profusely and part of his head had been cleanly removed. He stood froze in a recoiling posture. Castus cautiously loaded another round. The barrier had not relented yet, meaning Valex was still alive. Castus kept his distance, but moved positions quietly, hoping that any retaliation would be based on his last position. As expected Castus watched in astonishment as the holes from his now much deadlier pistol started to heal at an alarming rate. Then with a swift movement Valex rushed forward to Castus' last position and smashed into the barrier. Sensing he missed his head finished reforming. 

Valex looked genuinely pissed off. "You dare to harm my vessel!" His eyes reformed blood shot and he snarled as he moved towards Castus. "An interesting tool you have though. My father had records of some similar devices from ages ago. I will take that as a prize after you die." He strode forward at Castus. "I will enjoy the taste of your death." 

Again, he rushed forward. Castus fire another round off, but it missed its mark. Valex was moving much faster and added in serpentine like movements, making his angle of approach much more difficult to read. His other arm still wasn't moving. Castus threw the gun to the side and summoned yet another shield. Valex smashed into Castus with a flying kick. Castus barely budged though. His danger sense rang like crazy though. Moments after the kick Castus felt his very being shake to the core. His body went limp for a second as he dropped backwards. 

Valex stood over Castus as he struggled to recover from whatever Valex had just done. Clearly, he was dealing damage to his soul, but what could he do to prevent it. Valex's speed far surpassed his and his fastest attacks were simply regenerated from by Valex. 

"Your soul's still holding together somehow. Time to fix that." Valex raised a spread hand out and prepared to punch downwards.