57: The Cannibal

(Nathan POV)

They were startled by this sudden change of pace. But both of them were veterans. A little thing such as change of opponents was not enough to shake them.

*Clang*

"You really thought that switching your opponents will benefit you. Hah, are you looking down on us kid?" She mocked me while blocking all my attacks with her Spear. She had the advantage of range as she was using a pole weapon and I had the advantage of dual-wielding.

"There isn't much to look down upon you know." I rebuked her.

The fury in her eyes grew and she darted towards me. She was as fast as Leo but her attacks held less power. Instead, her technique was much more refined. Compared to Leo's brutal method of fighting, she was like a master. While fighting Leo I was troubled mostly due to his higher defenses and his strength but she did not have those. She was most definitely a better opponent for me. And also, she was not a brawler. Probably a knight.

She reached me in a second and thrust her spear forward towards my abdomen using her right hand. I blocked the assault with Vespira while directing it towards the left. At the same time, I brought down Aurora on her head.

(She can't pull the spear back to protect herself due to the recoil. She is in no position to back off and even if she steps to the side, she will still be in the range of my attack. This is a sure hit)

But as I said. They were no easy targets. Inches away from her head my sword made a sound. The feeling was like hitting metal. I immediately backed off.

"How did you...…" I was confused. A thin layer of blue barrier could be seen around Irene. It was most definitely the Protego spell but what I did not understand was how she cast it.

(is she capable of wandless magic)

There were no signs of magic from her spear. It was then that I saw a small pointy thing poking out from her left sleeve.

(That tricky woman.)

Immediately she pulled out her wand and then mouthed.

"REDUCTO" A beam shot out of her wand and flew towards me.

If I had not seen the wand moments before the spell was cast, I would not have been able to dodge it. But now that I knew there was an attack coming and also from where the attack was coming, I dodged it. I rolled towards the right and in the next moment, I also shouted a spell.

"Expelliarmus" A light shot from the tip of my sword and flew towards her. She swung her spear and my spell was intercepted.

Then she pointed her wand towards me and one after another, lethal spells started to shoot out of it.

(chain casting!!!!!)

That was one of the fields I did not know how to handle. I was a good fighter when it came to swords but my magic dueling skills were subpar at best. I knew spells but most of them were nonlethal and everyday spells. And the most dangerous ones were just limited to stunning. I mean I was still a first-year at Hogwarts. The spells were coming at me one after the other. And I could only dodge them. Deflecting them right now was out of option. If an exploding spell were to hit my swords, there was a chance that they would damage. And if she shot a killing curse, they would surely break. I jumped, I ran, I slid, and did whatever I could to save myself. And then out of nowhere, a huge object came towards me. It was aimed right at the place where I would land. I reacted quickly and summoned a gust of wind. Exerting as much power as possible, I spun in mid-air to dodge from the flying spear. But my reaction was a little late. The spear did not hit me in the chest where it was aimed at but it did graze me. A cut appeared on my ribs and blood started to pour out.

(If I had not used my sword to deflect the spear, A whole chunk of my ribs would be missing right now even though I dodged it. She is scary..... wait where is she)

"COME TO ME CANNIBAL" The voice came from above and I saw the spear fly upwards. I immediately looked up and saw that she was high above my head and then she fell with unnatural speed.

It all happened too fast. I barely had any time to dodge. I summoned the wind again and pushed myself back but it was still not fast enough. Her spear made a huge cut on my chest. From my collarbone to my abdomen. Blood started to gush out of the huge wound and my shirt turned red. Even though I was bleeding crazy, even though it hurt like hell, she still wasn't in any mood to let me have a rest. The moment her feet hit the ground she rotated herself towards the right. Her spear made a huge ark-like motion. I backed again barely dodging the swing. She continued with her onslaught. Connecting her swings one after the other she started to push me back. Some I deflected others I dodged. But one thing was for sure. She was not letting me close. Suddenly in the fury of her attacks, she thrust her spear with her right hand aiming for my heart. I sidestepped and protected my side with Aurora. But I was already in her trap. From her left, she once again pulled her wand, and then she mouthed a spell. Before the spell left her wand, I had already already prepared my own spell. One that sis had taught me.

"Expelliarmus" and with a bolt of light from Vespira, her wand left her hand.

I took the opportunity and slashed her left side. She was holding her spear in her right so I was confident in this one hit but my opponent begged to differ. Instantly her spear moved in an ark again. She swung it away from me, behind herself and in a mere second her spear was on her left side. She blocked my sword with her spear while stepping forward. And then she grabbed my other hand so I might not attack. Now..... we were in an awkward situation. Her face was close to mine and neither of us could afford to move.

"For an eleven-year-old, you are quite strong." She smirked

"Twelve." I rebuked her

"Oh really now."

"Yeah."

We were staring each other straight in the eyes.

"AAAHAHHHH" And then she screamed.

I had simply lit my left hand on fire. As she was holding my left hand, she got burnt. Immediately she let go of my hand and that gave me a chance. I slashed with the same hand enveloping my blade with fire. Even though she had been burnt, she still pushed my other blade away which was occupying her spear, and blocked the flaming sword. But her pace was broken and now it was my turn. I took Aurora which she had deflected and buried it into the ground. That allowed me to command the earth. My sword slid to the right and the magic did its thing. Her left foot slipped and she stumbled. It was more than enough of an opening. I changed my grip of Aurora from forwards to backward grip and made a diagonal slash upwards. Cutting her through the abdomen diagonally up to her right shoulder was my aim, but I could not. Even while falling she forced herself to fall back and due to that she avoided most of the damage. The sword cut about two centimeters deep. She had saved herself from certain death but I was not going to give up. Cannibal was blocking Vespira but since Iren's balance was thrown off, I pushed it away in a single powerful stroke. Vespira moved above my head and I then brought it down on her head. There was no way for her to block my strike. But then something weird happened.

*CLANG*

"HUH?" I could not believe what I was seeing.

"That was really nice, kid. I never thought that you would be able to inflict a wound like this on me. You really are strong. Only if your powers were not sealed, you would have beaten me but as you are now. You do not stand a chance." She spoke fluently.

As Vespira was moving towards her head, Cannibal elongated. It elongated and then bent. The spear head of her naginata blocked my sword while the remaining pole supported her body and broke her fall.

"What just happened?" Now I was beyond confused.

The spearhead lashed at me abruptly like a snake and I blocked it with Aurora. But the thrust was stronger than I had anticipated and it pushed me back. I used that force to gain momentum and increased the distance between the both of us.

"Confused?" Irene mocked me.

"Yeah! A lot actually because I thought that you used a spear and not a snake." I said.

"Enjoy all while you can. I am not like Leo. We just need you alive, not well. So I am going to make this hell for you brat."

"Yeah! Do whatever you want. Just don't give me the speeches. They always make m....." The sentence was never completed.

There was at least a five to six-meter distance between us. But her spear elongated and she stabbed my chest. I immediately bent my legs backward and the spear flew above me.

"That's my magic. You know like Leo was strong and you make that fire......"

"Yeah I know so shut the hell up." I said as I ran towards her with full speed.

She did not even try to move. Instead, she only swung her spear around her body. I went from her right hand to her left and behind her back. And with another swing, the spear was at my neck. It was faster than the last time and since I was running towards it, there was no chance of backing down. I blocked the strike with Vespira. The hit was too strong. So I had to support it with Aurora. Even that was not enough. I was forced to the side. My feet slid and then I lost my balance. The Spear slid over my sword and as I fell, she pulled back her spear. Immediately I rolled aside. Mere moments after I rolled, her spear fell to where I had been.

(Damn that would have hurt)

I got up and ran towards her again. As the distance shortened, she also jumped back. Her spear elongated again and once more it was aimed for my chest. This time I slid on the ground to save myself. The spear passed over my head and then immediately it retracted. I had gotten close to Irene. The last of the distance was covered in an instant as I used a burst of wind to speed myself up. I thrust my sword into her heart. Using her spear blade she blocked my sword. Before I could strike with the other blade, the other end of her spear extended and bent like an arm towards my face. I was in no position to dodge or block the attack. The end hit me in the face like a jab and I fell. Before I could get up she came forward and kicked me in the abdomen. I already had an internal injury from the previous fight. The kick felt like a harpoon piercing my stomach.

"AAACCCCKKKK" I cried as the kick sent me some distance away.

She was not nearly as strong as Leo but that did not mean her attacks did not hurt.

Unfortunately, there was no time to lick the wounds. I had to get up immediately. No matter how skillful a person is, one cannot immediately get up after getting a beating as I did. I needed a second but she was not gonna wait. As she was approaching I placed my hand on the ground. The dirt beneath her feet moved and Irene fell face-first on the ground. That was all the time I needed. I got up and then jumped. My trajectory was Iren but my swords pierced dirt. She had long rolled away from my range. And then she swung her spear again. The aim was my neck. I tried to block the attack but my swords were stuck in the ground. It took only a split second to pull them out but that was more than enough. The spear was already at my neck. I took a step back and used all my force to pull the swords. At the moment Vespira came out. I placed it in front of the incoming attack but once again the force was too strong. My grip was not enough to hold the sword in front of the great torque. Vespira left my hand and flew more than fifteen meters away. Now I had but a single sword. But who said that Irene cared about the number of swords I had. She did not wait a moment before thrusting again. I pulled out Aurora and tried to defend myself. But it was hard. Her attacks kept getting faster and faster. She maintained her distance and only used long-ranged attacks. Between her swings and thrusts, I tried multiple times to get closed but she never allowed that. Then at last she moved her spear in an ark. I grabbed Aurora with both my hands and tried to block the attack but it was still stronger. Aurora got tilted and the spear slipped off. I lost my balance and stumbled. It took me but a second to regain the balance. I looked in front of me but Irene was nowhere to be seen. based on past experiences, I looked up. She was in the air right above my head. I knew she was going to aim for the head. So I pulled Aurora above my head and placed my left hand on the further end of the blade. Cannibal struck Aurora with a heavy force. The force was once again too great for my small body to hold. My legs could not take the brunt and I kneeled with one of my knees touching the ground. She landed on her feet and then she planted a kick in my abdomen once more. This time I fell back and rolled twice. Before I could get up, a piercing pain invaded my body through the right shoulder. My whole arm went numb and my back hit something.

*COUGH COUGH*

Blood came out of my mouth. The kick had worsened my internal condition. Aurora had fallen somewhere and I was nailed on a wall with Cannibal through my shoulder.

"Looks like the end of the road for you brat." She put her shoe on my shoulder after pulling out Cannibal.

I did not reply. Pangs of pain were radiating through my body and I knew that I was at my limit.

"Aren't you curious as to how I did it?" She asked me.

I still did not reply.

"You are no fun you know. But I will tell you anyway. Any Metal I touch obeys me like a dog... It's my specialty. You know like Leo was strong..." She was saying but I cut her.

"And Jacob can disappear." I looked her in the eye with a smile on my face

"Yeah, you get it now...….." She realized it a little too late. Immediately she turned around. Two strokes of light attacked her. In the spur of the moment, she blocked one but the other made contact. Jacob's knife went through her flesh and pierced her kidney.

"Hey...…. did ya miss me?" He smirked.

"How are you here. What is Leo doing." She was stupefied.

"Oh, he's a little bit dead. So he might not be able to join you." Jacob twisted the dagger and I saw her twitch in pain but she did not let down her defenses.

"I will kill you." As she mouthed those words the spearhead extended and lashed towards Jacob's head. He had no means to defend himself.

"stupefaciunt inpulsa"

"AAAAHHHHH" Irene screamed and her spear stopped. Then she fell on the floor like a dead log.

"I did not need that but Thanks anyway." Jacob spoke

"Your very welcome my friend." I exhaled a deep breath and the wand in my hand fell on the floor.