Thunderclap

In a battle against a colossus formed of bones, a dark, gloomy, and frigid atmosphere was swiftly breezing across the graveyard. The behemoth was wielding a huge ax that was releasing a fast fog.

The skeleton's strength, flung the metal of the ax forward in an oblique arrangement. Its weight lifted the stones, dust, and grime from the floor, releasing a transparent wave of force that darted across the surface.

Karisa's balance was jarred by the trembling earth, making it difficult for her to maintain control of her own movement. But, after landing on her right foot, she launched her body into a backflip, the active sickles slashing beneath her and slicing the trees behind Karisa's mid-aerial posture.

She landed on her feet after fixing her mid-air posture to fling her weight into a side roll when she spotted the enormous skeleton raising its large ax and preparing to swing it forward at the height of its boney shoulders, then spinning into an aggressive attack with the ax floating up the dust. It was almost ready to eliminate Karisa.

She leapt to her feet and braced herself to move around fast in order to avoid being wounded.

Then she turned around and hurried in the other direction of the skeleton, thinking she'd be able to get away from close range, but that plan quickly went apart as the skeleton made a startling motion.

It applied a tense strain to the swing, and by whirling like a cyclone on the spot, it launched the heavy ax into the distance, aiming for Karisa's running body, which the ax would easily break due to its weight and size. She had to avoid it after she spotted it with her right eye.

She tossed her body into a front roll just as the ax approached her, and the ax flew over her long hair and tumbling body with skill and luck. It sliced through the woods and collided with one of the tombstones, resulting in a pile of wreckage.

She regained control of her body by holding the pebbled floor and seeing how her feet slipped on the ground. As she came to a halt in front of the pile, she damaged her arm from the speed. She masked her anguish behind her serious eyes while the blood was evident on the floor, but she sweated as a result of it.

"So it's now capable of 'throwing' the ax? This thing has a plethora of surprising attacks."

She concentrated her attention on Tim's position, who had yet to attack, but she soon noticed he had vanished from the position where he had been standing previously.

The battlefield was deafeningly silent when the sound of bushes moving reverberated around the cemetery.

A figure flickered behind the skeleton's gigantic torso, and a wide flame broke out like an inferno above its head, like a flash blinding someone's eyes at great speed. Tim appeared out of nowhere, his blade extended past his hip.

It whirled around quickly, illuminating the surroundings with its glow. His eyes were a blaze of fire, and his frightening gaze astounded Karisa, who had assumed him to be a clumsy fighter. Tim's flames became more ferocious and fierce as she watched, almost appeared to be uncontrollable flames, similar to a wildfire scorching an entire forest.

The fire quickly grew into a tornado of flames that never went out. He exhaled the warm smoke, which turned into orange flames that erupted out in front of him.

"Infernal Overheat!" Tim's voice echoed across the area as he swung his blade over his shoulders, dropped to the ground, and slammed the sword into the ground. It ejected a gigantic surge of fire from behind the skeleton's body, which heated up like a tempest of heat and repeatedly broke the floor.

The massive call of the heat shattered the pebbled floor, tombstones, trees, and plants as it slammed into the skeleton, engulfing it in a maelstrom of heat and pressurizing it into excruciating roaring.

Tim proceeded to slash the sword at a furious pace, releasing blazing flames that engulfed the surrounding shrubs. It was monotonous until the skeleton began to absorb the searing flames and abruptly turned around with a loud roar.

The ax flew back into the skeleton's grip, and when it made contact with the skeleton's grip, it unleashed a torrent of pulsating winds.

Its power surpassed Tim's expectations, blowing his hair and clothes back and easily pushing him backwards as he barely attempted to match it.

("His fighting style reminds me of Codey when he uses the wind to his advantage. But I used to be able to compete with it, so why can't I stand up to this skeleton's strength?")

With a tremendous roar, the skeleton immediately raised its ax and energized itself. It had been fighting in a humanlike manner while also unleashing feelings of being a true monster.

Then, all of a sudden, thunder erupted from the sky. The pebbled floor, landscape, plants, and trees were all obliterated, and a quiet breathing could be heard behind the thunder.

Elliott appeared to be asleep as he stood still, breathing out flashing lightning that exploded on both sides of his mouth. He leaned his torso forward while holding his pen, which stretched into a sharp sword. As the tornado raced around his body, not stopping at all, he continued to breathe the static electricity, then a flash of yellow lightning erupted from around his torso and shot into the air.

Tim and Karisa caught a glimpse of him as they sensed his power rise beyond what they'd expected. The pressure that duelists normally released was a natural occurrence from a fighter, and many people were able to perceive their dueling abilities, but the one that Elliott was unleashing now was well above average.

Elliott's body shot over the pebbled floor in a yellow flash of thunder that was impossible to see by Tim or Karisa in less than a second of that action. They were stunned, but they saw how a trail of yellow lightning had slashed the skeleton in front of them.

It immobilized the skeleton on the spot after it lost one of its arms while Elliott's feet slid on the pebbles at breakneck speed, rubbing them aside while shattering many of them in the process, but while Elliott slid on the pebbles, he didn't do anything else but stand straight up and direct his movement into a circle to slide and turn back into action.

While standing barely a few meters in front of Tim, holding his blade's hilt, the electricity around him continued to crackle, and Tim was readily able to detect his quiet breathing.

Elliott then crouched by spreading his legs, tensing his leg muscles. As the blue thunder crashed around him, shredding the floor and drifting up the roaring wind, a surge of intensity erupted from beneath his feet.

With a yellow color, blazing around him and a trail of blue lightning continued to blast from his blade. He took a step back as he raised his power even more, enhancing his lightning as he blitzed over the ground once more, nearly driving Tim away with his produced wind.

Elliott materialized in front of the skeleton's fractured torso in a flash, the trail of lightning flowing straight as lightning. He sliced through its body and then phased behind it with a devastating thunder, vaporizing the skeleton's boned body and killing it with a final thunderous blast.

Elliott then stood unmoving behind the skeleton's vaporized pile of bones as the trail of lightning ceased raging, and the mist in their vicinity cleared as the skeleton's defeat was announced, giving them a normal perspective of the cemetery.

Elliott's abrupt interruption and enormous force, on the other hand, was appreciated by Tim and Karisa, who noticed him fall asleep and collapse on the floor. Karisa rushed over to check on him, as Tim reached for his back and put his blade against it, before moving closer to the vaporized bones to learn more about them.

"I couldn't make a dent in this skeleton's body, yet Elliott had done so effortlessly. What's going on with me, have I become weaker?" With sweat streaming down his brow and a feeling of being overwhelmed, he whispered.

"Is this related to the curse, or is it due to the fact that I haven't trained for a while? However, how could a skeleton tank my attacks as though they were insignificant?" He clenched his fists and continued to ponder the subject.

"I really need to find someone who can help me get stronger, but there aren't many people who can help me... I'm typically stronger than them..."

"I can see you're bothered by something. What exactly is it, Tim?"

Tim and Karisa exchanged eyes as he gently rose up and smiled in response to her concern. "It's all right. I'm just pondering some ideas. We should go locate others; after all, I'm still famished from all of the mayhem at the cemetery..."

He picked up Elliott's body and slung it over his shoulder before walking off into the distance, followed by Karisa. ("They're all getting stronger, but I'm not... I want to keep fighting and protect people, but what's the point if I can't even keep up with Elliott and the others? If I'm weak, I'll never be able to do so.")

To be continued...