Sylvester smelled too many things, but the one scent that overcame all the others was the scent of death — absolute and complete bitterness. The bolts of thunder that surrounded her looked dangerous and, for sure, could harm a man of Sylvester's level.
"Calm down, woman! I was supposed to go full power, not you!" Sylvester shouted as he stopped wasting solarium on his attack and focused everything on the defence.
Aurora didn't seem out of control and sounded fully coherent, albeit her voice seemed muffled due to the lightning bolts surrounding her. "This is a serious spar, Sylvester. You pushed me to get serious, so now prepare to defend. Here I come!"
Woosh!
She disappeared from the spot.
Bam!
Sylvester didn't even see anything and only felt something make contact with his left side ribs. It was intense, like a punch that hit his liver.
He got thrown away like a ragdoll while feeling absolute agony. He gasped for breath since a liver punch was quite deadly.
Zzzz!
Zzzz!
He could not see Lady Aurora, and all he noticed were lightning sparks travelling quite fast around him. He only heard the sound, but since sound travelled slower than light, he knew his ears were useless in the battle.
Sylvester was no match for the lightning-fast Aurora. He could barely keep up with her movements as she dashed around him, striking him with lightning bolts.
Sylvester raised his arms, using his light magic to create a barrier around him to defend himself against Aurora's attacks.
Crack!
But the barrier only lasted for a moment before she easily broke through it. She physically punched the barrier with her electric body. The strength alone was enough to smash the barrier and his face, which threw him tens of feet away in the air.
He tried to use his elemental magic, summoning pillars of the earth to slow her down, creating walls of fire to block her path, and whipping up fierce winds to throw her off balance. But Aurora's lightning simply sliced through his spells like they were nothing.
He tried his all, as evident by his robes, which were now torn from the constant barrage of attacks. He could feel the searing pain coursing through his body as Aurora relentlessly attacked him.
'I need to devise a good defensive move, or my attacks are useless.' He felt urgency running through his veins and started brainstorming while trying to jump around to protect himself.
'I have used my plasmic light magic to create a beam. Then I combined the same magic with Earth magic to create the destructive Hellfire Purge. How about I combine Earth, Water and Light?'
Sylvester instantly put the plan in motion. At first, he raised his left hand in the air above his head. A huge, tens-of-metre-wide blue rune circle appeared on his palm, full of runes and strange magical patterns. It was a simple single-layered magic, but it was all he needed.
Woosh!
Like a waterfall, Sylvester flooded the entire area in three-inch deep water. He maintained the water rune for fifteen minutes and ensured the water covered as many areas as possible.
Once done, he prepared himself for battle with his spear ready. "Now, come at me!"
Shhh…!
A strange stream of steam appeared in the distance on the flooded ground. The steam trail was easily noticeable and predictable.
"Haha! Found you!" Sylvester roared and threw his spear with full power. The tip of the spear shined bright, and three layers of runes appeared on it: one light, one fire and one air.
Boom!
The spear broke the sound barrier and travelled towards the predicted trajectory path. It hummed as it cut the air smoothly and shined under the bright radiance of Lady Aurora and the sun above.
"Argh!" Soon, a pain-filled cry resounded.
Sylvester smirked and sat down on the ground. "Water conducts electricity, Aurora! Yes, you are powerful and more experienced than me. But, I know science, which you don't."
"Fine! I will go all out!" Aurora roared, even though blood oozed out of her body, although it was unknown which part as she only looked like a figure made of lightning.
"Try me!" Sylvester challenged her.
But he wasn't foolish, as his aim wasn't to fight her in the first place. So he just sat down on the flooded ground and raised his arms in the air. His palms started to shine, his halo reappeared, and the hymn reverberated.
?You may shine bright, but my light is brighter.
You shall not win today, for I'm also a fighter.?
Ting!
Lady Aurora tried to punch Sylvester, but her fist was stopped. All she saw was Sylvester inside the opaque Shield of Light. He smiled and continued to activate his magic further.
The shield of light turned thicker and soon looked like a liquid — plasma, in reality. On the outside of the plasma appeared another shield covering everything; it was made of Earth. Then there was an ice shield beyond the Earth shield — as thick as seven inches. It all appeared like a dome on the ground, and nothing could be heard or seen from outside.
Lady Aurora furiously punched it with all her might and used as much thunder as possible. She created the thunder from her body and even summed it from the sky. But, no matter what she did, at best, she could dig through the ice layer and reach the earth layer, but then the ice layer would replenish itself.
Soon, as her breath started to run out, she stopped and deduced what was happening. "You smart boy. Using Water and Earth to conduct my electricity and spread it all over the ground with the flood you caused earlier while insulating yourself with the shield made of light magic."
Inside, Sylvester heard everything and chuckled. He knew he was outmatched and could feel his strength beginning to wane. Blood trickled down his arms, and his breath came in ragged gasps.
He knew there was no hope of winning, but he used it to boost himself. Even when he used his defensive magic, his body was being pushed as the Solarium exhaustion had already hit him. The speed at which he spent up his reserves was much slower than what his body created on itself.
Hence, he could already feel the boost in his archwizard level. Still, he knew he was not at the point of a level-up.
'She wounded me a lot, and it's just day one. The coming week is going to be interesting, it seems.'
Accepting his defeat, Sylvester proceeded to take off the shield slowly. Aurora also stopped her assault and returned to normal. She waited to see him emerge out of the dome.
But as the final shield of light vanished, she gasped in worry and nearly lunged at him to check his wounds. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realise I hurt you so badly."
Sylvester noticed her shoulder; it was still bleeding. Likely the spear had struck her there. "I should say the same.
"But, Sylvester. You look so thin now as if you have aged a century. Your cheekbones are so clear… What happened?" She worriedly asked.
Sylvester smiled and proceeded to take out a few tiny solarium crystals from his pocket he had kept for emergency. "It's alright. I depleted more solarium than what I had in my body. After tonight's rest and mum's healing magic, I will return to normal. This is the fastest way to get stronger, after all."
Like an older sister, she started to tend to his many open wounds by tying a piece of cloth from her own robes. "If I didn't know you, I'd deem you suicidal. To harm oneself to get stronger is borderline evil, similar to those vile dark wizards who self-mutilate for strength. I worry that… One day you will miscalculate and end up getting killed."
'She… The scent of roses and tangerines, anxiety and love… She genuinely sees me as a brother?' Sylvester was slightly taken aback, as he wasn't used to thinking of anyone other than Xavia as his family.
"I've become an Archiwizard and an Archbishop already, so it'd be a shame if I don't push to become the youngest Cardinal and Grand Wizard in history."
Tap!
Aurora knocked on his forehead softly. "My little brother, I know very well what you want. You won't be satisfied by just being the youngest Cardinal — you want more. But, honestly, I don't even want to say it, as I fear I'd jinx it. It's mind-blowingly insane to even imagine you becoming a Pope so quickly. Seventeen years to become an Archwizard, and how long before Supreme Wizard? Five? Ten? That's still too young."
'Seven, to be precise.' Sylvester thought in silence. He had set a goal for himself, and to achieve it, he was willing to do everything. Yes, even body mutilation that the dark wizards use.
But there was one thing that Sylvester was highly interested in. 'Since I have royal blood of the elven King, I wonder if I can master the elven magic too. If I can… How strong would I be?'
"Let's go and eat something at your house. I'm starving." Lady Aurora stood up and helped him too.
"Why come to my place? We can go to your place too." Sylvester proposed, though he instantly regretted it.
She grinned. "Oh, wanting to go to a lone woman's home? Fine, I shall cook you a tasty meal."
"Actually, let's go to my home. It's evening already, so dinner should be nearly made." Sylvester changed his direction and headed to the small port on the peninsula.
Both of them took the boat, rowed it to the Pope's peninsula, got on their horses and headed to Bright Mother's residence.
"You have improved a lot since the last time." Lady Aurora struck up a conversation.
"I know. The last time I fought a Grand Wizard, I only lasted a few minutes, and even then, I was on the verge of losing. Today, I fought against you for hours and survived easily. If this goes on, I might be able to defeat you soon, Aurora."
She rubbed her face with a sigh. "Only if I had your innate talent, I'd have become the first Guardian already."
"Cheer up. We've still got a long way ahead. For now, let's eat and prepare for tomorrow's spar. Though I hope my time in the Sorrow Kingdom won't be too bad. Or I'd regret not sleeping this week when I had the time."
Aurora laughed loudly. "Sylvester, you hold the mighty rotten luck of the Bard. With you going there, there will be anything but good things."
"..."
"Don't jinx it."
…
Indeed, Sylvester had no idea what awaited him down south, in the land of lawlessness, where the humans went out of their way to become demons for one another—the land where the worst of humanity was at gross display.
But among the despair of the poor, even the tiniest light shone brighter than the sun, for the hope of a better life eclipsed any worship or faith.
Sometimes, the light that shines does not even need to have brightness. As the hope, this time, came from utter, destructive darkness.
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Ape Together Strong
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