Torva Messor

Chapter 15: No Holding Back

I put my scythe away and felt towards the city of mages. I couldn't feel nearly as many mages as I had earlier. I felt Maxus however, he was near Zulu and Lydia. I needed time to recharge some of the energy I used to fight off his clones, but that ran the risk of one of them being killed. I decided to fly towards the city. I prayed I'd make it in time.

As the island came into view, so did mountains of smoke above it. I pushed more of my power, it was a waste to use it like this considering what awaited me, but I didn't have a choice.

As I flew over the city, I found Maxus about to finish off Lydia and Zulu. I pushed myself to my limit and flew towards them as he launched a fireball. I barely made it, but I did. I grabbed them and moved them out of the way. Lydia looked delirious from exhaustion.

"Catch your breath, we're not out of the woods yet." I stood and turned to face Maxus.

"You've trained a couple of pupils I see, but it seems you've been lax with them haven't you." I fire a fireball at Maxus and he swipes it out of the air. I raise my hands, and let my energy loose, wrapping my body in flames once more.

"I'm pissed, so I'm skipping the small talk." I glare at him and he smiles. I needed the power of my anger, but I couldn't act rashly, he'd exploit that. One step, one punch, one push at a time.

I dash towards him and he swings at me, he's definitely faster, but still too slow. I block the punch and then strike him in the abdomen. I shift my foot and the ground under him shoots up and strikes him right under the chin, and sends him into the air. I leap and raise my foot above my head and kick down on his chest. He goes back down, breaking through the rock that just sent him into the air. I shoot a fireball at him and he finally manages to evade and resets further down the road.

Both of his hands swell with fire and he throws fireballs one after the other at me. The gaps between each one is very slim, he's throwing them quickly, but it's a gap nonetheless. I fly towards him, taking dramatic shifts to the left and right, up and down. As I get closer, I can't evade them as easily, so I simply punch through them. A little further, and I'll be on him again, but if he's still throwing fire it'll be an issue at point-blank range.

I elbow one, making my body narrower and harder to hit. I pull a cube from my hoodie pouch, and it quickly forms into my scythe. I slash another fireball, turn, and throw my scythe for his head. It misses as he moves his head, but that gave me the gap I needed. My scythe flies past him and lodges itself into the wall of the city. I fly in quickly and kick him as he switches to defense. Although he blocked it, his body still flies back into the city wall.

I push my max speed and appear in front of him in the blink of an eye. I kick his guard again as I grab my scythe. His body flies through the wall and outside the city. He lands on his back and flips back to his feet. I fly out and land in front of him.

"Interesting," Maxus says as he looks curiously at me and raises his hands.

"What? That I'm still managing to knock you around?" I put my scythe away and raise my hands.

"No. Your attacks, they aren't as heavy or fast to me now." He's not threatening, not even trying to sway me. He's genuinely shocked by the development. I can't be discouraged by that, I can still land hits, I just need to try a little harder.

"Were you afraid of his comment? What it could mean?" The interviewer asked. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to think.

"Of course not."

Maxus now comes at me, he's faster than he was a minute ago. He was still holding back some power, testing the waters. I evade a kick and shoot a fireball at his side and it connects, but he pushes right through it. I block three punches but he manages to slip a knee into my guard and hit my chest. He's gonna swing again, I can see that but I'm close enough that I can swing too. I connect with his jaw as he connects with my chin and we both go flying from one another. I could still land blows if he leaves himself open like that. Damn, that punch kind of stung though.