In a blur of movement, Herobrine sprung forward, sword humming as it split the air as Adam also sprinted towards him. Adam ducked under Herobrine's blade and Herobrine reversed it to deflect Adam's return stroke, turning the movement into his own strike which was blocked and they sprung apart. Herobrine had now placed himself between Adam and the recruits behind him, his eyes narrowed as he analysed his enemy. Adam's expression was deadpan, his eyes a pure yellow that glowed softly and never left Herobrine.
Jason watched, frozen in place by a mixture of fear and awe as Herobrine went on the attack, his sword reflecting the light of the fire in a glittering wheel. Adam rapidly backed up, his sword moving just as fast to counteract the strikes. A hand touched Jason's shoulder and he violently jumped, hand half-drawing his sword but someone put a hand on his and stopped him.
"It's okay, just me," Anne said quickly. She was dressed for battle, with two long-bladed daggers at her waist and the one in her boot. She had pads on her knees and shins and her usual thick jacket had been replaced for a thinner one that barely concealed the protective guards she had on her lower arms which ended in a glove on her palm.
Jason puffed out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness- wait, what are you doing here?"
"Helping," Anne said. "We need to start putting out these fires otherwise they'll burn down the entire base."
"I'll do that, just keep getting people out of the way," Jason said and he ran off, calling orders for a line to be formed from the various wells dug around the base to the raging fires and for anything that could hold water to be collected. Although most recruits were terrified, their training kicked in and many responded to his orders, buckets appearing everywhere and lines being formed.
Quentin already had a makeshift infirmary up and running near the base of the castle and too many people were lying on blankets spread out on the ground, their faces blackened with soot, some with twisted ankles or burns or cuts. Jerome was helping Ian move through the collection of doctors to a free spot. The man's face was pale and drawn, blooding dribbling from his calf but he was looking better than Mitch, who could barely keep his eyes open and was leaning heavily on Ty, the ripped up part of Ty's shirt that was wrapped around his chest already soaked through. Seto was among the doctors and he made a beeline for Mitch, stumbling a little on his way. Whatever it was that Adam had done when he broke out, it was still doing a number on Seto.
The doors to the castle were open and four figures dashed out; the delegation of lords who had chosen to ignore Mitch's advice to stay inside. Gizzy took in the situation in an instant, his eyes lingering for several seconds too long upon the fighting duo and upon saying something to his fellows, he and Patrick went to the makeshift infirmary while Dan and David ran to help Jason.
A low boom made them all flick their heads towards the duelers. Their swords made a deafening clashing sound as they each rained blow upon blow on each other, the ground around their feet glowing with magic. Their movements were too fast for anyone to properly see what they were doing but Herobrine noticed everything, saw every twitch of a muscle, blink of an eye and always, always that blank expression. His sword moved in an arc, blocking one strike and his magic rose up, protecting him from the lightning fast follow up as his blade spat forward, creating a thin cut which had no apparent effect on his enemy.
Magic arced up their swords and flashed into shields, daggers, explosions. They were fighting in the lower street now, fire scattered across the street and licking up at their legs and hands but they had no effect on either of the two men. Adam's sword lashed forward and instead of piercing Herobrine's stomach, it cut a deep gash in his side. Ignoring the pain, Herobrine's left hand shot forward and wrapped around Adam's shirt. With a heave and a shout, he bodily threw the man away and a bolt of magic spat from his hand and hit Adam in the chest, sending him flying. He hit the ground heavily and rolled, dust flying into the air. Herobrine took heaving breaths and put a hand to his side, looking down at the flow of blood. The wound was deep but not deadly. Yet.
Instinct warned him and he looked up just in time to deflect Adam's sword. The man had gotten up impossibly fast and his blinding strikes caught Herobrine off guard, forcing him backwards. Herobrine struggled to keep him at bay, his momentary distraction having broken his focus and his momentum. He saw the spell coming too late to block it and it slammed against his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying back with a surprising amount of force.
All the recruits flinched when the spell hit Herobrine with the sound of a cannon firing and he flew back, past the first few lines of houses and crash landed in one of them with an explosion of dust and noise. He must have smashed one or more of the load-bearing supports because the house almost instantly toppled down on top of him. There was no one standing between the recruits and Adam, who was now advancing in long, even strides, left hand pulsing with power and his blood-stained golden sword in his right, emotionless eyes fixed straight ahead.
Jerome, who had been making sure recruits stayed off the main street, puffed out a deep breath and gripped the handle of his axe tighter, eyes watching Adam. He had only taken one step forward when someone blue shot past him. The figure darted to Adam and then ducked under his blade, coming up behind him and dancing back before leaping forward, lithe and athletic like a gazelle. Thin red lines had appeared on Adam's cheek, neck and arms but Anne never paused to allow him to breathe. She danced, in and out, two long, thin bladed daggers in her hand, the ones that had been on her belt. His long sword was virtually useless at close quarters and was too bulky to defend against the daggers but even so, Anne was doing nothing more than irritating him, her cuts too shallow to cause any damage.
His sword toppled from his hand and he moved impossibly fast, dodging Anne's next two strikes. Adam's magic had learned her moves and as she darted forward again, he stepped towards her, pushing away her blade and grabbing her right arm, twisting it behind her. Anne grunted in pain and her dagger clattered to the ground. She lashed out with her leg and by luck, she managed to hit Adam's kneecap. He reflexively let go of her hand and she darted away, switching her dagger from her left to her right.
He watched her warily and she feinted to the left and darted right but Adam anticipated the trick. His hand latched onto her wrist as she lept past him and he pulled on it, using her own momentum to push her to the ground, a hand on her back and her right arm twisted in his grasp. Anne gave a cry as she hit the ground, her second dagger following the way of the first. She thrashed in his grip and he twisted her hand more, threatening to break her wrist as she yelled.
Someone else shouted, a cry filled with fury.
There was a blinding flash of light and then another one on the street and Adam was flying backwards, hitting the ground with so much force that he flew up in the air again and crashed heavily, dirt and flames flying. And suddenly Herobrine was helping Anne up off the ground. His clothes were dusty and he had blood down his left arm, coating his right side and coursing down his shin and a small trickle was moving down his face but he seemed not to care. The two exchanged some hurried words and then Anne was running down the street towards the watching recruits, frozen in fear and awe as Herobrine turned to face Adam, a sort of shiver going through him. His eyes caught alight, white fire flickering at their sides. Both of his hands caught alight as well, white flames licking at the air and at his arms.
Adam slowly stood up, looking almost as bad as Herobrine. A multitude of tiny cuts had scarred his face, his dark clothes were stained and his right wrist was burned and blackened. He must have used his left arm to try and stop his rolling because it was bent at a funny angle but with no sign of pain, he pulled it back into position. His sword came back to his hand with a wave.
This time, it was Herobrine who attacked first, sprinting forward with nothing but a terrifying appearance and magic fueled by his anger. He had abandoned his sword and he moved at impossible speeds, dodging Adam's blade, the magic encasing his hands turning him into a blur. White coils grew from the ground and latched onto Adam but they were slashed away just as quickly. Adam threw spell after spell at Herobrine - bright yellow daggers, coils of magic and waves of fire - but they had no effect on him and often just dissolved before even reaching him.
Adam himself was not fairing anywhere near as well. Every one of Herobrine's spells was on target and Adam stumbled with every hit, his movements slowing as the blood ran and dripped to the street. Another hit, another stumble. Herobrine's arm lashed out, grabbing Adam's arm and with a yell of anger, he flipped Adam over his back and sent him crashing to the ground, the air being knocked out of his lungs and momentarily dazed. Herobrine stood over Adam and raised his hand, his magic glowing brighter as he aimed it for Adam's chest.
Watching from the sidelines, Ty drew his sword and ran forward, but a hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back so hard that he almost fell over. Seto was pale-faced but his grip was iron-hard on Ty's arm.
"If you get involved, you're going to get killed in an instant," Seto told him.
"He's going to kill Adam!" Ty half-yelled.
"And how do you think the rest of us will feel if we lose two of our friends in one day?" Seto yelled back.
Ty's chest ached as he helplessly watched Herobrine standing over Adam, Seto still holding fast to his arm. The world held its breath as the white glow grew brighter. For a second, just a split second, the glow in Adam's eyes faltered, the yellow flicking to brown for just a second, the blank expression suddenly becoming full of fear before the yellow came back. But Herobrine never missed anything and he hesitated.
Adam kicked his legs out from under him and Herobrine went sprawling as Adam stood, his sword in hand. And now he was the one about to deliver the death stroke as his sword came down for Herobrine. The steel sword lying abandoned on the street sprung to life and spat towards Herobrine's open hand and intercepted the glowing blade, halting it before it could pierce the skin. With a twist, those strange curved crosspieces demonstrated their purpose and Herobrine's sword snapped in two. The man rolled away and came up standing just as Adam's blade swung towards him again.
Without thinking, Herobrine caught it with his bare hands, halting it instantly, the blood starting to drip from his palms. The two were still for a moment, almost as if both of them were thinking 'Dude, seriously?'. The moment was broken and Adam yanked his blade back, the sword sliding out of Herobrine's slick hands and the fight continued, sparks flying as Adam's golden sword clashed again and again on a pure white blade summoned by Herobrine. The darkness of the night and the flickering of the fires which were dying down blurred the battle, making it almost impossible to see what was happening but it seemed like Herobrine was darting around Adam, occasionally flipping over him or backwards, using the terrain as a springboard.
Only minutes later, a shout went up and Herobrine was flying straight up into the air, his sword gone from his hand. The black sky grew darker and lightning crackled and sparked across the clouds. Then he was flying back down, his hands thrusting forward and a bolt of lightning shot down. Adam threw up a beam of yellow light to intercept the bolt but it was shattered in an instant and the lightning crashed down, one billion volts of pure energy hitting him dead on. The blast gave out a shockwave so strong that everyone stumbled and the heat blistered their skin and the light shone through their hands that covered their closed eyes as someone's scream filled the air.
For the record, the only reason that Herobrine was able to keep fighting with a massive gash in his side was because he was pissed that Adam tried to hurt Anne.