Hostis POV:
I look in front of me and see a dark elf with white hair.
He stares at me with bloodlust in his eyes.
His gray eyes look lifeless.
Another foolish elf who wants to die at my sword. Saves me the trouble of searching for you.
I pull the sword from the officer's body and turn to him.
"Hey you, idiot boy. Come play, I want to see how strong the followers of this generation are."
The dirty elf just called me an idiot... how funny. You're the one facing the hero without knowing it.
(He knows you are the hero, Hostis) Suddenly I hear Decrea's voice in my head.
(He is the demon elf I told you about, he has come specifically to kill you. You must be careful, he is more powerful than you are, even though you have high raw power).
Really, Decrea? This is the elf? He doesn't look very intimidating.
(Can you stop being an idiot? He can kill you easily and you say he doesn't look intimidating? Wake up kid, you're the hero but you're not immortal) Decrea said with some annoyance in his voice.
Decrea is right. He may be stronger than me, but I will still win.
Thinking that, I raise my sword and get into position.
"You sought me out, elf, but it seems you will only find death in this swamp."
He looks at me with mockery in his eyes, as if everything I say is a joke to him.
"If you say so, child," he said and rushed at me with his blade raised.
How predictable, a typical villain.
I raise my sword to block, withstanding the force of the elf's blow and losing a bit of position.
I have his face in front of me and his empty eyes seem to look deep into my soul.
"I was testing you and you barely resist this power...it seems that heroes grow weaker every day."
Sliding his sword through mine, he breaks the block and throws a kick into my chest.
The kick connects and I go flying, crashing into a tree.
Shit, he's stronger than me.
While I was thinking, the elf kept moving and ran towards me again.
I get up in a hurry and narrowly dodge his cut.
I make a 360° turn to cut his head with all my strength.
Or so I try, because when I was half turning he hit me with his powered hand on my back making me fly again.
"You're an idiot kid. How the fuck can you think of showing your back to the enemy? That's only done when you know there won't be retaliation. You never trained combat from what I see."
When he said that I could see his eyes full of disdain.
How dare he look at me like that?
I'm the fucking hero
You are nothing but shit.
You'll never reach my sky. I'm on the borderline of humans.
And I'll prove it to you.
My body explodes with all my mana at once, changing the environment completely. Observing my surroundings I notice that already all my allies except the Inquisitor are dead.
They don't matter, they were just a few companions of the hero.
The atmosphere becomes heavier because of my mana in its purest form. As I prepare my energy the elf's companions come to attack me but he signals them not to.
Look at him, he lets me charge my final attack.
At least you have some honor.
Gathering my energy, I create in my hands a polar cold that spreads to the surroundings.
This is a combined magic. It combines ice and wind type magic, making a double attack with blades of wind cutting through and chunks of ice delivering crushing blows.
Compressing my spell I stare the hero in the eyes.
What bad luck to run into a hero...
I expand and cast my concentrated spell towards the dark elf.
He looks at it with indifference as a screen of black flames appears in front of him.
My magic hits his shield fervently but can't seem to get through.
And as they collided, the two spells exploded, leaving behind an icy mist and a hellish vapor.
From where I stand I see a figure in the flames and ice.
It is the elf, he is all right, standing with his whole body engulfed in black flames. His lifeless gray eyes stare at me
My body loses strength and I have to kneel down, using my sword as a prop.
The elf approaches me as the flames fade.
He approaches me and whispers in my ear.
"You are really weak, I expected more from my successor. Well, you're going to die, so don't worry about it."
My eyes widen in shock.
That explains his fighting skills. Only a ex-hero could win over a hero.
Still, I'm startled by his last words.
I am going to die? now?
I'm still not doing anything I want to do.
If I survive, I will hunt you down and kill you, filthy elf.
You will see. Everyone will see.
As the elf lowered his sword, a translucent barrier appeared around me, blocking his attack.
(Child, I'm going to teleport you away from here, go back to the church...) This will consume a lot of my power, so move quickly.)
My goddess saved me. She is the only one I can trust.
She is perfect in every way.
A circle appears at my feet and suddenly my body disappears and appears in a dead plain. Where the hell is a church?
It doesn't matter, the important thing is to kill this elf.
Chop it up and feed it to the dog.
That's what I'm going to do.
The next time we meet, you won't stand a chance.
_________________________________
Marcus POV:
Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit
He got away, the idiot got away.
How much fucking money is the church giving him to have such a powerful artifact?
Stopping my attack is not powerful. But using mana to teleport... That's another level.
They never gave me one of those.
Making a portal is one thing. It's much easier because they're literally doors that connect point A and B, but through space.
But teleportation works by taking your body apart and putting it back together again.
There were wizards who even said that once you teleported, you were no longer the same person. But that's nonsense, because what makes a person is his soul, not his body.
Well, it's gone. So what now?
I used clairvoyance to check where he is, but he's in the dead land near an imperial city.
How lucky can he be?
Well, it doesn't matter. If his abilities stay at this level, it will never be a problem.
"Guys, are you okay?"
"Yes boss, we're still alive," Seth answered me.
"We need to go back and inform the guild about the loss of a military base.
Let's go."
It's been a long day, let's hope it's over soon.