Chapter 162 Round 2 Final

Eliot's flame sword was special as it contained a genuine solid blade in the flames. The spell was something extremely intricate and was a family heirloom. Originally it wasn't anything special, it was a lot weaker even. His family wasn't grand, it was even one of the lower ranks trying to cling to Eliot's power. 

With the support of Vires, Eliot grew up to be a strong and fine young man. He admired Vires so much, they discussed this unique spell and even improved upon it. Making it his signature spell. But now, someone who was in his way at every point in his journey was rudely asking for this very secret. 

"I hope you're prepared for what's to come!"

Eliot stood in a stance, he seemed to be stuck in place before flashing forward and striking his sword forward. Lucas smoothly deflected the attack by manipulating the aura around his hand to fend off the heat.

Exposing his back, Eliot immediately used the momentum of the deflection to turn around and did a roundhouse kick, combining it with a pure flame that came out of his feet, the kick turned into a wave of fire that Lucas wouldn't have been able to easily deflect.

Ducking underneath it, he raised his hand and launched an Ice Spear underneath the arc of fire. Eliot blocked the spear before slashing at Lucas once more, the Ice Shield on his arm was already gone due to the heat.

Lucas caught the sword between his hands, the aura keeping him safe. Being in a small standstill, Lucas didn't hesitate and spewed fire out of his mouth, Eliot did the exact same, resulting in an explosion of fire, scorching the earth and pushing them both back. Their flames were about the same strength, meaning that when it came to their core, they were at the same level.

Eliot started to look more and more angry, while Lucas could barely hold back his joy. They went at it like absolute monsters, Eliot was extremely well versed in his sword techniques, making him slash his sword around with a speed far surpassing what Lucas could handle normally. 

Only because Lucas could simply hit the sword away with his strengthened muscles and using his other hand to continuously conjure other spells did he have a chance of surviving. Lucas deflected Eliot's sword again and used his other hand's aura to fire off an explosive.

BOOM

Eliot backed away into the smoke, Lucas laughed slightly, but realized his attack had no effect! Eliot swung his sword to clear the dust away, he didn't suffer a single scratch. Even his clothes were perfectly fine. 

Lucas clicked his tongue, but he didn't hate that Eliot didn't suffer under that attack. It simply meant he could fight for longer. Eliot started to use feints between his normal attacks, getting a few hits in and causing part of Lucas to focus on healing his insides.

The flames dealt a lot of damage, but also cauterized the wounds pretty fast, making bleeding out impossible. Still, the tissue had to be completely remade, and that would take some time and attention, luckily Lucas had part of himself to thank for his survival. 

Eliot was about to slash sideways, but Lucas opened his hand and quickly reached for it, grabbing it wasn't easy since Eliot was starting to force his sword to go a different trajectory than normal. Getting this chance, Lucas summoned the longsword from his ring and tried to surprise attack Eliot's chest. 

The sword pushed Eliot back, making him drag the sword in Lucas's hand, leaving a massive gash on his palm. The longsword pushed against Eliot, but it couldn't even damage his clothing. It did more blunt damage than anything.

"If you think you stand a chance of defeating me, forget about it! I brought a special artifacted battle suit to deal with you! Any kind of damage is completely negated! In the competition you won by a miracle, but even if you used the same tactic, it would've been useless!", Eliot quickly pierced his flame sword forward, giving Lucas barely enough time to jump back. 

"My techniques have been honed for generations, my spells are superior, my items are better! What hope do you have to even get away from this place! The Goddess is on my side! Justice is on my side! This world has decided you need to be disposed off!"

"Hahaha, sure, you're better than me when it comes to spells, techniques and especially items. But guess what? I'm still here, aren't I? You still haven't gotten rid of me, and do you think I've just been playing along for fun?", Lucas opened his other hand and a recognizable flame sword appeared. 

Unlike before, the blade now seemed to have a core of pure flame that wasn't just flames. There was a solid blade in the fire. His hand was covered in stones, so the spell wasn't a perfect copy, but close enough. 

Part of Lucas was always hidden from plain sight and to keep himself entertained he worked on anything he was interested in. If he didn't spend so much time working on his spells, he would've never been capable of somewhat replicating Eliot's spell.

"What! How did you!?", Lucas didn't waste a single second before launching an attack with both his swords. Giving Eliot no breathing room, Lucas never stopped moving forward. One step, one slash, one step, one slash. His muscles were screaming in pain, but the adrenaline made him completely forget about it.

Eliot could barely hold his ground against the attacks that came from multiple directions, they were extremely brutal and hard without any kind of technique. He could easily parry the first few attacks, but they kept coming and were getting faster and faster. Air was being pushed out of the back of his arms, speeding his attacks up even more. 

Such a spell didn't exist in the library of the academy, so Eliot had no idea how it worked. Not that he had the time to think straight, of course. 

The flames from one sword and the long reach of the other combined into a flurry of difficult to repel attacks. The ferocity of the swings were brutal to deal with. The blades landed on his clothing multiple times, but they held strong. 

Lucas lifted both his swords high up in the air and attacked Eliot with all his might. Eliot was pushed back a few steps before his back hit a nearby tree. 

"You!", Eliot's anger flared up before he suppressed it, "It's only a matter of time before your attacks are worthless. You can't beat me!"

Lucas lifted his longsword and pointed at Eliot's chest. "Hahaha, you sure about that?"

The area around his chest had lost a lot of its splendor, the magical protection was slowly being drained and worn out. 

"What! How is that even possible! The only way..", the only way he could damage this suit so much, could only be if every single one of his attacks were focussed on that spot. He didn't realize it during the fight, but recounting every time he got hit, it was always aimed at his heart. 

"Enough of this!"

Eliot straightened himself, the look in his eyes contained so much disgust it turned into pure hatred. His emotions were getting very hard to suppress, so he stopped holding them back and gave in to his anger.

"I'll admit you're great at stealing, but this has lasted long enough. When Vires was locked up, I visited him every once in a while. He is a truly great person, an innocent person, with knowledge far out of your reach. He taught me the strongest spell the Academy has to offer! Prepare yourself! This is our revenge!"

The ground started to shake as the mana in the air started to gather around Eliot. Mana kept gathering around him as an armor of pure flames started to form. Lucas appeared before Eliot before the spell was finished, the sword aimed right at his face. 

BOOM

Lucas flew back, Eliot stood strong with an armor of flames. It looked incredibly powerful, but Eliot wasn't done yet. The flames started to turn blue, the heat disappeared, but the destruction of the flames increased.

Every part of his body was now covered in a defensive shell of Blue Flames, making him seem like an Avatar of Fire. The sword turned into a Blue Flame as well, its power now far above Lucas's own weapon. 

Not wanting to be intimidated, Lucas jumped forward and slashed both sword at Eliot. Eliot wasn't afraid anymore. Using his Blue Flame sword, he blocked and destroyed the normal flame sword. The longsword simply touched his hand before melting away. 

"Your weapons are useless against the Blue...WHAT?!"

"What? You think your Blue Flames are special?", the only way he could possibly fight back was with a Blue Flame sword, so he created one. 

"How do you know about the Blue Flames! Argh, it doesn't matter, DIE!", Eliot rushed forward and slashed wildly, every single movement created a wave of flames that scorched everything it touched. If his weapon missed Lucas, he would punch forward, creating a Blue Fireball, destroying whatever was behind Lucas. 

The barrage of attacks made the environment filled with flames. The range of the wave of flames with every attack made it extremely hard to dodge everything. Lucas could barely keep up with the speed. 

The fight turned out to be a deadly dance for Lucas. A single hit could spell the end for him. The Blue Flame wasn't meant to be underestimated. Damage from flames could hurt him badly, sure, but the strength of the Blue Flame would eat away at his own body to spread further. 

Lucas knew that if he did get hit, the chances of success would plummet. He had to survive, he had to dodge or block every attack Eliot dished out. His brain was capable of calculating what he should do, but his body could barely keep up. Mana was pushed around his body to forcible move faster than what a normal human body could achieve. 

'I have the complete advantage! He's done for!', Eliot was right. The odds were in his favor since the battle began. And still, Eliot started to feel less certain with every missed swing. Every time Lucas blocked or repelled his attacks, a string in his heart started to get pulled.

'Why...why is he... smiling?'

"Hahahaha! This is so much fun!", Lucas laughed maniacally as he dodged every attack by a hair's breath, barely keeping himself alive, but the rush of fighting against an enemy way more powerful than him and still fighting back fueled his body with a massive amount of adrenaline. Covering his arm in condensed stone, he landed a punch right in the stomach of Eliot. 

It was the first opening Eliot had shown, and Lucas didn't hold back. 

"Oomph!", Eliot was pushed back. The battle suit softened the direct impact, but the force did reach his internal organs. Taking a moment wasn't allowed, though, so he tried to gather himself and forced himself up. 

He was prepared for a follow-up from Lucas, but nothing came. Lucas watched confidently as he got rid of his Blue Flame Sword. 

"I think this little game of ours is over. Still, I enjoyed it, you have my thanks. As a reward, I'll make your death as painless as possible."

"We're not done until I-!!!", blood came up from his mouth, though it quickly got evaporated by the flame armor. 

"The Blue Flame is a powerful but expensive weapon to use. The amount of energy you've used is already more than what a single core can contain. We can keep fighting, I would love to, but I don't think your body can keep up."

"No, no no no no, no! This can't be happening!", he finally had Lucas on the edge, he couldn't be hurt due to his armor and if he just landed a single hit, he would've won!

In a desperate attempt, Eliot stood back up and tried to attack once more. Piercing his sword forward, Lucas easily dodged the attack by stepping aside. Right at that moment, Lucas punched Eliot in the face, causing him to fall backwards. 

The spell got undone, making the armor of Blue Flames go up in smoke. 

"You're the strongest opponent I've fought fairly. You've shown me how weak I truly am. For that, I have to thank you. Now, please die!"

Lucas was also exhausted and didn't have much mana left. If he dragged the fight out any longer, he wouldn't be breathing right now. Every part in his body was asking to rest, yet he kept going.

"No!", Eliot's core was empty, his body was tired, but like Lucas, he never wanted to give up. He still had potions! He could fill up his energy reserves and finish this fight in an instant. Reaching for his pockets, he felt a hand land on his face. Looking between the fingertips, he could see the now emotionless eyes. 

CRACK

Standing up, Lucas could barely keep himself together. This fight was too much to handle. Looking at the clothes of Eliot, he thought this could've been quite a perfect fit for himself.

Clap Clap Clap 

The distinct sound of clapping came from behind him. Like a scared animal, Lucas turned around and at the mere sight of who it was, he rushed into the woods. Using wind, muscle enhancement and even causing random explosions of mist to hide his presence. He sprinted as fast as he could, even though his body was running on fumes at this point. 

Jumping from tree to tree and not wasting an ounce of leftover energy, he kept going until everything was gone. Landing in the crown of a tree, Lucas was out of energy, he fell down, his body incapable of moving. 

All the pain the adrenaline was keeping back now flooded into his mind. The desire to simply fall asleep hit him like a ton of bricks.

He could barely send his willpower to the ring to take out any potion he had and swallow it down. 

'Why the FUCK was Mino there?! Why didn't you warn me!?', Lucas started to complain as he chugged random potions down. 

'What do you expect from me? I was busy keeping our body in one piece, you idiot! Did you think our body can handle those kinds of movements?!'

'It was that or death, what do you want!?'

'Sigh, okay, let's calm down. First, give me control, you're not drinking the right potions.'

'Fine, take it.'

Lucas took his time trying to recover. He desperately wanted to check his surroundings, but giving away any kind of sign could expose his location. He was up against Mino, a Rank 2, there was no hope if he actually got into a fight.

'Let's hope he's happy enough with the loot from Eliot.'