Chapter 79 - Magick Warrior

As Nerun landed, he tried using <Flash Walk> towards the statue and break it, but soon he found himself in front of Sombra who had <Shadow Blinked> to a shadow close to the statue, and threw tens of needles towards him.

Nerun couldn't help but jump back several meters high and raising his hand, the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth started to congeal around his hand, as fire started to form on top of each of his fingers.

"Χέρι φωτιάς - /Chéri fotiás/" (Fire Hand)

Five fireballs left Nerun's hand and went at full speed towards Sombra and the statue. However Sombra did not move, nor flinch but using his dagger he performed a powerful slash, while three bone whitish colored Qi snakes surrounded his weapon leaving a stele behind. The Qi stele clashed with the fire spell and made it disperse, leaving only a few sparks floating around.

"How weak. You really dare to use a Mana Spell, while also training in a Qi method. Both your energies are weak, I can feel your Qi's level is barely above ten, and the strength of your spell is also about the same level. Has no one ever taught you to focus on one energy alone?" said Sombra trying to make Nerun's confidence waver.

However, he could not detect that even though Nerun's energy was barely level 10, close to 11 in Qi and Mana, he had actually opened two core meridians, and two heavenly gates. Also, Nerun had opened 9 auxiliary meridians, and the power he could exude when fighting with one of the energies alones, was actually between the level of a Master/Adept and Grandmaster/Great Adept, being somewhat closer to the latter.

That being said, Nerun was a bit vexed, since he understood that with time, his use of separate energies would actually make his attacks weaker. Nerun's advantage resided in the use of both energies, Qi and Mana, at the same time, which was what made his direct attacks so powerful, making him almost invincible towards opponents in the Grandmaster level, and capable of fighting stronger opponents one level above his own. Nevertheless, this might only applied to his personally modified Martial Art, the Free Flowing Fist. The use of Techniques was Nerun's current limitation and weakness. Against weaker opponents, it barely mattered, however, against talented warriors and adepts, this weakness was glaring. Nerun needed to correct it quickly.

"Usage of both Qi and Mana? I actually thought that kid could be somewhat special, since he managed to move under my suppression, however, he seems to be a weak buffoon that tries to bite more than he can chew." said Dagan with a sneer from above. Even when he was several hundred meters in the sky, his powerful perception allowed him to watch what was happening down in the chaotic battle.

Raven also noticed the fight, and frowned a bit, but said nothing. He had been watching Nerun since he encountered Evelin, and even though he had also seen the apparent contradiction and mix of Nerun's energies, he had also seen his ingenuity, his fighting strength, as well as his quick wit and his wisdom, and had to admit that he was somewhat impressed. Foiling the plan of the kidnappers was actually Nerun's doing, and had this not been a ritual for the summoning of an olden fake god, all the kidnappers would have probably been already apprehended. Nerun was a bit weaker than the man named Sombra, but he could hold his own. This was also an opportunity for Nerun to improve himself. After all, only training in seclusion was not enough to see one's own weaknesses and shortcomings, and fighting with powerful opponents was one of the best ways to hone oneself.

Raven stared coldly at Dagan and raised his hand shaped like a talon. A gigantic and powerful bird talon more than a hundred meter large materialized out of thin air and attacked Dagan with an earth rendering might. The fake god had to muster his full strength to defend from the attack.

- BOOOOOM! -

Oliver, Serena, Rudolf, and the rest were also paying attention to the battle between Nerun and Sombra. It was difficult for any of them to interfere with the fight, since they had their opponents to fight, and they were even a bit outmatched. Nerun was the closest one to Sombra and the statue, and given that the Legendary Raven had given Nerun the task to break the statue, they decided to also put their trust in him. They knew Sombra, his power and abilities were quite apparent from the way he managed to run from Serena and the army before, as well as the abilities he had shown so far.

They did not know Nerun, nor where he had come from, but it was obvious he was on their side, and had even saved the kidnapped children earlier, and had even fought Sombra to a somewhat of a standstill. Oliver quickly understood that the person who had likely apprehended the kidnappers, and had given Serena the secret information to realize this operation was this kid. He was astonished by this, and could not help but start seeing Nerun in different eyes. Of course, if Oliver managed to infer this, it was not that difficult for the rest like Carlos and Eren, to see that this kid was the biggest variable in their plans, and he was probably the source of their current troubles. Having thought this through, it was par for the course that they started having major resentment towards Nerun for ruining their plans. However they also could not interfere easily in the battle, since their enemies were also giving their all to give Nerun time to break the statue.

While Sombra was fighting Nerun, he kept blinking around and attacking Nerun from various angles, not giving him time to rest. He even had time to send a hidden needle towards the chaotic battle and injured one of the army soldiers, which allowed his opponent to kill him afterwards. The dead soldier's blood then flowed away from his body and went towards the ruby-like gem on the statue's eye, and it got a bit larger and its energy more sinister.

Nerun cursed a bit, and started applying pressure on Sombra. He started using the Third Form of his martial art. This form was a bit more attack oriented, and used quick yet nimble movements to try and make the enemy enter a passive state while gradually chipping his strength. Nerun, however had never used it before in a true combat, and Sombra could quickly get away from Nerun, and jumping from the shadows he jumped behind Nerun while attacking with a flurry of kicks filled with Qi, so Nerun could only shift to the second form and defend from the kicks in a hurry.

However, the shift from the Third to the Second form was not seamless, and Sombra managed to attack Nerun on the chest, and sent him flying backwards. Nerun barely managed to off-set part of the damage by jumping in the direction of the attack, which allowed him to not be gravely injured, however he did suffer some contusions.

Sombra, having gained the upper hand did not waste time and went directly towards Nerun with his dagger at maximum speed to sever his head, to which Nerun responded by looking directly into Sombra's eyes through the mask and using his ocular technique.

"Μεγάλο Καλειδοσκόπιο" - /Megálo Kaleidoskópio/

Sombra received the direct brunt of the attack, and lost focus for just one second. But he was quite an experienced warrior, and once he felt the power invading his brain, he simply closed his eyes, and joining his hands in a sign, he turned into four shadows that went in different directions. <Shadow Clone>

Nerun could not find the real Sombra on time, and the shadow right next to him suddenly attacked him. Nerun quickly parried the attack, but it was actually a feint. From Nerun's own shadow the true Sombra quickly came out, thrusting his hand towards Nerun's groin, to which barely responded by turning quickly and using his foot to step on Sombra's hand and somersaulting away.

He had not been able to get close to the statue, he actually was getting further. And what was worst, Sombra took advantage of Nerun's retreat to affect the fights happening in the rest of the ruin. Fortunately, Oliver managed to divert some of his rose petals to intercept the needles from Sombra, so there were no more deaths, but he was quickly engaged by Carlos, who was getting used to his newfound powers, and was attacking with reckless abandon.

"Nerun, what the heck are you doing? Can't you really fight that emo clown on your own? Just clobber him with magick."

Evelin started shouting all of a sudden while making little sense. After all, clobber is something a warrior would do, not an adept. While Nerun was not at that big of a disadvantage, it was true that he could not gain the upper hand, and little by little Sombra was actually managing to hurt him and to kill other people. If this continued they would eventually lose.

Nerun glanced for a blink towards Evelin and saw the multitude of henchmen that were trying to kill Whitey to get to the children. Whitey, however, was standing his ground, with the help of Evelin who kept casting spells while being safeguarded by Little Green. Evelin kept moving behind the beasts nimbly and not letting any of the mercenaries get close to her, while she continuously cast magick.

"Δύναμη - /Dýnami/" (Strength)

The Natural Energy started circling around Whitey in a red halo, that made him stronger and able to fend its opponents.

When Nerun saw Evelin using her magick now on Whitey, something seemed to click on his head. 'Clobber him with Magick. What is it that I wanted to become? It's not the Path of the Warrior, nor the Path of the Adept. It's not Martial Techniques or Magic Spells, but a combination of both. In my meridians, Qi flows inside, while Mana surrounds them whenever I use the Free Flowing Fist. Even though they have not been able to actually mix, the might they produce when used in balance is much stronger than each energy alone. So I'll use my attacks and martial techniques and make them be surrounded by my Magick powers emulating the flow in my meridians. I will not be a Warrior. I will not become an Adept. After all, my dream has always been to become a Magick Warrior.'

While all of this takes a bit to describe, Nerun's thoughts barely took the time to blink. Sombra, however, discovered that Nerun got absentminded for a millisecond, and he took the chance to quickly end Nerun once and for all. He once again went towards Nerun, and three cold, bone-whitish snakes of Qi surrounded him as he used his dagger to attack with full power at Nerun. A dark purple Qi enveloped the blade and made it become a meter larger.

<Oblivion Blade>

This was Sombra's most powerful close combat technique, and the Qi blade was able to cut even a steel post of several meters width as if it were butter. Sombra could see Nerun's body being dissected, however much to his surprise, Nerun's body disappeared while being enveloped in fire, and quickly vanished from his view.

Nerun then appeared like a ghost right next to him, with fire surrounding his feet and hands, and started attacking Sombra with a palm enveloped in fire. Sombra's eyes constricted a bit when he saw this and used his free hand to defend himself, however, the might of Nerun's palm was quite a lot stronger than before, and much more powerful than his regular use of the "fire hand".

Sombra was sent flying backwards several meters, much to the surprise of the onlookers, and Nerun took the chance to go after him. His movements became a lot quicker and ethereal, and he immediately appeared next to Sombra and used the moves he was most familiar with, the First Form of the Free Flowing Fist. Each move and attack was not only filled with beauty, but now fire was dancing in the air, and the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth was constantly feeding the fire around Nerun's extremities. The power of Nerun's attacks doubled the strength before. To the people watching the fight, it was as if Nerun had become a fire spirit executing the most mesmerizing martial dance, while Sombra could only defend himself while constantly backstepping until he managed to <Shadow Blink> to a secure position.

"Elemental Qi? But How? He is not even a Centurion… No, wait, not even Qi Generals or Monarchs who are able to use elemental power in their attacks are able to use such power that uses the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth as fuel, but they burn their own Qi. He is using both Mana and Qi." said Sombra a bit flustered. The attacks from Nerun had actually managed to hurt him, and he already had some burn marks in his sleeves, arms and legs when trying to defend himself.

While Middle and Late Stage Warriors could also use Elemental Qi to power their attacks, their might was nowhere near that of the large-scale attacks from an Adept and their spells that used the inexhaustible Energy from the Natural world.

However, Nerun seemed to be attacking in a close range like a Qi Warrior with the condensed elemental might from a Mana Spell. The power was not a simple one plus one but on a whole different level. It was truly a new path. Finally, after six years of gruesome and tiring training, Nerun had given the true push towards his dream. He had become a Magick Warrior.

"Ok then, Masked Creep. It's time for round two," said Nerun with a great smile on his face.