Absolute Maniac

[Damien Fray]

Mordred Pendragon.

At first, I thought he was another one of those unlucky kids from important families, doomed to a nasty end at the hands of the daemons.

When I heard that he survived his first battle, I dismissed the news as the kid being lucky.

Then in the second battle, not only did he survive but he was also able to kill a daemon by himself.

There is no way you get that kind of luck in Blood Valley.

Soon I heard stories about the 'Failed Prince' getting better at surviving on the battlefield. His tenacity and calm demeanor on the battlefield along with his drive to do whatever it takes to survive increased my interest in him.

The kid even used other newbies as meat shields, pushing their naive and blubbering asses into the blades of the daemons.

To the outside world, this act will be seen as cowardly and heinous but among Deathwalkers, that's impressive.

There hasn't been any newbie like him in the long bloody history of the Shield. 

And when Felix asked me to spar with Mordred, I said yes immediately.

I was curious as to his skills.

The beginning of the fight was quite underwhelming. I faced him with strength equal to his rank and he was always on the defense with the occasional stab or slash with his daggers.

He has good reflexes and is seen to be able to predict certain attacks. He was also calm throughout the entire spar, analyzing every attack and responding appropriately.

But his skills were quite basic, the minimum required for a proper fight. Even when I increased the power of my attacks and activated my strand, he didn't do anything major.

Sure, he told me that he had imposed a few restrictions on himself, using his strand only once being one of them.

But his dagger skills? 

They are not bad but they don't scream 'royal training'.

But now?

I feel like something has changed.

Mordred's eyes, which were calm during the spar now had a different look in them. It was like a viper getting ready to strike.

A chill went up my spine when his gaze met mine.

I realized something.

He is now on the offensive.

I gripped my flaming sword, aimed the tip at Mordred, and charged, leaving a trail of flames behind me.

The young prince made no move to evade my attack and just stood there.

Just as my sword was about to reach him and I seriously thought of pulling away, he made his move.

It was a subtle movement but it caught my well-trained eyes. Mordred raised his right dagger to the level of my sword and touched the tip.

My eyes widened as the light contact deflected my sword so that it missed him by an inch.

He shifted his feet and the next second he was right at my unprotected side. With a flick of his wrist, he put his left dagger in a reverse grip and slashed upwards.

I jumped sideways to avoid his attack and twisted my body to execute a horizontal slash.

He blocked my attack with his right dagger for a second and ducked low before executing a thrust at my abdomen.

A cold and terrifying feeling overwhelmed me and I instinctively enveloped my body in flames. 

Mordred quickly pulled back and jumped away from me.

I quickly extinguished my flames and apologized, "I'm sorry. It was an accident."

Mordred smiled, "It's fine. My uniform protected me."

"Also. It is natural to act by instinct when faced with danger."

Even when he is weaker, he is still cheeky.

He crossed his daggers in front of him, "Let's not slack off, shall we?"

I glanced at Felix and he just smiled smugly with a shrug.

Oh, you cunning little piece of-

Before I could finish cursing at him, Mordred charged at me, daggers blazing.

I quickly entered a stance and ignited my sword.

He is at a disadvantage due to the low range of his daggers while I have a longer range with my sword.

As soon as he was in the range of my sword I attacked. A bright arc of flames rushed at him as I swung my sword horizontally.

He blocked the attack with a grunt but then did something that surprised me.

Using the force of the blow to slide on his feet, he reached beside me and aimed a kick at my side.

I stepped back only for a white dagger with green edges to fill my vision.

"Incarni!", I yelped and leaned back as the deadly white blade passed over my nose by mere centimeters.

He then unleashed a storm of attacks upon me. His daggers were a blur as they tried to find a critical hit on me.

I quickly parried and deflected them but his movements were too fast, and a small cut appeared on my face as his daggers slipped through my shield of parrying.

I gritted my teeth as I faced this relentless onslaught. The force behind his attacks is weak, not enough to even make me lean backward but his speed and technique are terrifying.

These are not the skills of a novice but of a crazed knight!

When I saw his face from between the blur of flames and daggers, my blood ran cold.

A maniacal smile of pure joy decorated his young face as he attacked me.

I see. He is one of those bloody battle maniacs.

My lips curled into a similar smile.

So am I.

Not bad kid.

I gradually increased my power and my flames slowly changed from red to orange. A mad glint appeared in his scarlet eyes as Mordred realized what I was doing.

"Sweet!", he squealed excitedly and increased the speed of his attacks.

More and more cuts appeared on my skin and they stung. Even if the basilisk emerald on the dagger doesn't paralyze you, it still stings like crazy.

This much lethality with just body enhancement using ardor. How terrifying.

I think the kid needs to have a rank reevaluation.

A strong wind was generated by our continuous clash, flames danced and sparks flashed as we went wild.

Deep cuts and burns appeared on Mordred's fair skin, his hair singed, and blood dried from the heat of my flames.

But he was unfazed. He was laughing like an excited child.

His maniacal laugh shook me and a crippling bloodlust almost paralyzed me.

This kid is crazier than me. 

Despite the warmth of my flames, my body shivered at the thought of this kid becoming an S rank.

Seeing his insane growth rate, it is possible.

What a monster will he become!

What was the High King even thinking, abandoning such a genius?

Just then, another thought came to me.

Perhaps that's why he sent Mordred to this hell hole.

Blood Valley has the right conditions to nurture his dormant talent.

The perfect conditions to unleash a bloody monster.

If Mordred failed to grow, he would be killed by the lovely daemons.

I gulped.

High King Arthur Pendragon. What a devious man. 

I noticed Mordred's attacks getting slower. He is getting tired and reaching his limit.

Of course. His body is still weak and his stamina is low. We were exchanging blows for two minutes straight.

Yet his smile remained.

Seeing his resolve, I pushed harder, deflecting his attacks with my flaming sword.

In a flash of orange flames, his left dagger spun out of his hand and embedded right beside Felix's face.

"Hey! Watch it you two! Jasper would kill me if she saw a scar on my face on our wedding day", he yelled at us.

I grinned, "Chill dude! Just suck it up and take a recovery potion!"

My breathing was slightly heavy and my flames began to flicker. I have used a fair amount of ardor control.

Controlling ardor in a warlock's area of influence uses up one's stamina and mental energy. 

I just feel like I ran continuously at full speed for ten minutes without stopping.

Tired but not exhausted.

Mordred on the other hand was panting like crazy and his entire body was shaking. The strain must've been too much.

Blood flowed from his sword wounds and smoke rose from his skin.

But he was still gripping his other dagger tightly and his left fist was clenched so hard blood was dripping from it.

Damn.

"Okay. So now what?", I asked him.

He looked at me and gave me a shaky smile, "I guess my victory?"

Before I could even ask, he threw his dagger at me. I quickly shifted my head to dodge the dagger, but it was swift and grazed my cheek.

I smirked and then I couldn't move.

What the?

A cold stinging sensation seeped into my body, rendering me unable to move a muscle.

So this is the paralysis effect of basilisk emerald.

Shit.

"I'm quite lucky.", Mordred remarked and tossed a small crimson sphere at me.

It rolled to my feet and I was able to see it clearly. It was a small ball of blood with a smooth surface.

As I was watching, helplessly paralyzed, a tiny crack appeared on the smooth surface and a crimson glow leaked out of it.

Ah, shit.

My paralysis started to wear off just as the ball exploded and my vision was filled with red.

*******

[Back To Mordred]

"It's not that bad.", Felix said as he helped wipe the blood off Damien.

But the blood he was covered from head to toe wasn't his. 

That belongs to yours truly.

Yeah. I used Blood Grenade and I am quite pleased with the results.

The unlucky victim of my experiment stared sullenly at Felix, "I was beaten by an E-rank thirteen-year-old."

He ran his hand through his black hair slick with blood.

The blood explosion was not that strong since I made a weak version of the highly destructive code but it was enough to launch Damien into the air and splatter the area around him with steaming blood.

The fact that I am an E-rank also contributed to the low explosive power of the grenade.

But it was effective and I was beaming. My first code was a success.

Hehe