*BOOOOOOOM*
In a split second, all the attacks landed on Lamenter. The sheer power of the impact sent a shockwave across the entire area. Large clouds of dust exploded everywhere, covering the two fighters.
“Huh?”
“What is happening?”
“Look there!”
Outside, the students there noticed the loud noise and their eyes immediately went to the fight. It immediately stood out like a sore thumb purely for the noise.
“Arthur…” Elise looked up with a worried look on her face. She was watching the entire fight from the start and could see that Arthur was acting completely out of character. Even when she was outside in the real world, the pressure exuding from him reached her.
“Why did he get into another fight?” One of her friends asked.
“I… Don’t know… I have never seen him that angry before.”
Even when they were kids, Elise could never remember seeing Arthur getting angry or outraged. He was a pretty calm and composed person and that was one of the reasons she was able to feel comfortable around him. He never felt threatening like most other people around her.
*Swish*
Inside the game, the first to emerge from the cloud of clouds of dust was Arthur who jumped a few steps back and landed on the ground. His eyes looked up coldly.
‘He deflected it.’
As the dust slowly settled down and Lamenter appeared, the reason why his attack didn’t land appeared. Around his opponent, a blue barrier of protection manifested out of nowhere. The barrier moved subtly in the form of waves. It looked eerily close to water.
‘Or perhaps… It is water.’ Arthur clenched his fist around the sword. ‘Is that his main ability?’
“That was dangerous. *Whistle*” Lamenter said as he stood up and waved his spear, making the barrier vanish. The blue matter turned into liquid and fell to the ground with a splash. “That attack could’ve killed me if I didn’t deflec-“
However, before Lamenter could even finish the sentence, Arthur had already closed the distance between them and slashed with his sword. The two clashed violently as sparks of iron flew everywhere.
“That’s the least I expected from you,” Lamenter said. “This raw power isn’t bad at all.”
Arthur clenched his teeth as he pulled his sword and swung it again several times. Lamenter tried to deflect all of them, but the speed quickly overwhelmed him and he found himself forced to jump back a few steps.
At the same time, Arthur summoned several arrows and sent them flying to Lamenter. The latter immediately sprung into action, dashing to the side as he dodged the arrows.
“Now, it’s my turn,” Lamenter said as he channeled his mana into his Blue Spear. Then, out of nowhere, the same weird liquid appeared on the spear, coiling around its frame like a snake.
Arthur immediately grew alert. Lamenter took that opportunity and dashed toward Arthur before he swung his spear. But, the distance wasn’t close enough for the attack to make contact.
*Swish*
Instead, the swing made the liquid suddenly shift as it extended up, enlarging the distance of the slash into a huge arc.
Arthur quickly activated his Shattered Skull Armor while putting up his sword to deflect the attack. However, the power of the hit wasn’t easily parryable. Arthur was dragged back on the rough ground. Lamenter used that opportunity to attack again.
In a matter of seconds, he sent several water slashes aiming for Arthur while the latter deflected them all.
‘This isn’t purely water. It’s as tough as steel and is way harder to deflect since it still has water properties.’ Arthur thought to himself as he focused on the movement of Lamenter’s spear, reading every movement his opponent was making.
Even though Arthur looked like he was in a clear disadvantage, he was in fact taking that opportunity to learn more about his target. He knew that this fight wasn’t going to be a complete cruise, at least not yet. Arthur had to test the waters. With each move and swing, Arthur was collecting data to form an image in his head.
Meanwhile, Lamenter completely focused on the relentless assault. ‘I can feel that he’s planning something. But, this is not everything I have.’
*CLING* *CLING*
The two fighters clashed again and again and again, their speed increasing by the second till it only turned into flashes of light as they moved at horrifying speeds.
“Wow… Who are those two?”
“What is happening?”
“S-So fast… I can’t see.”
Outside, the crowd was completely hooked on the fight, completely forgetting about the rest of the battles happening around them.
“Are those…”
“Yeah… It can only be them…”
“S-Class students.”
The sheer difference between the rest of the fights around them and the one between Arthur and Lamenter was like heavens and earth. There was simply no room for comparison. The speed, aggression, destruction, and everything else was just ridiculous.
*CLING* *CLING*
Moving left and right, the two clashed like two beams of light, creating large impacts. The sheer amount of micro decisions being made in those movements between the two was staggering. A normal human’s brain would stop functioning if it had to make that many decisions in such a short period of time.
However, the two, honed by the serum and their familiarity with Divinity Online, could easily do that.
‘He’s definitely not weak… One of the top 5 players in the game.’ Arthur thought to himself as he vanished and appeared again, clashing with Lamenter. He already had a small suspicion that Lamenter might be one of the strongest players in the world and that suspicion was confirmed at that moment.
‘When is he going to make a move? This is surely not the extent of his ability. Come on, give me more!’ Meanwhile, Lamenter was completely engrossed in the fight. He found himself enjoying the battle to the extreme. His entire focus was put on each movement he was doing.
“Come on, Arthur! You are not going to just take it! Show me what you got!” He declared as his eyes flashed with a weird glint. It almost appeared as if Lamenter was crazed.
Arthur saw that but completely ignored it as the battle continued growing more and more intense. Lamenter was going all out.
“This is bad… What kind of fight is this?” Elise muttered. This was simply not a game anymore, the two were going at it as if it was a true war. In Elise’s head, Divinity will always be a game no matter how big it gets and games shouldn’t look this… scary.
Discover stories at empire
Yet, what she was witnessing at that moment was a true battle between two of the best players in the world.
“What is happening here?”
At that moment, she heard someone speak behind her and she shuddered as she turned around, only for her eyes to widen.
*CLING* *CLING*
Finally, a minute later, the relentless attacks stopped as Lamenter jumped back to take a breath. His stamina had been exhausted considerably in this rampage. He had to take a few seconds to regenerate it.
Looking up, he realized that Arthur didn’t look that exhausted. Meanwhile, he was breathing heavily.
‘Haha, monstrous stamina. He is truly different.’ The young man laughed to himself.
“Ok, good.” At that moment, Arthur said out of nowhere as he looked down. “Time to try this. I’m done.”
“Huh?” Lamenter frowned.
‘Let’s get you into the game… ‘Elemental Oblivion’.’
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3