Five flicked her fingers, summoning another staff, pointing at and smiling. “I’m not even using a wand. Do you think you can match my speed?”
CRACKLE! From the tip of her staff, a massive lightning bolt flashed toward Arad.
As if time slowed down. Arad’s body started shifting to the side. His lightning crackled from his right shoulder and reached toward the fences. His body gets pulled by the powerful magnetic field generated by the violent current.
With a spark and a flash of flames, Arad dodged Five’s lightning bolt in the blink of an eye, flying around the arena with tremendous speed.
“Using both lightning and fire to accelerate, most people’s minds won’t be able to track them at such speed. Let alone survive the acceleration.” Five smiled, spinning her staff, “But it’s easy to stop,” She released another wave of lightning, interfering with Arad’s.
CRACKLE! Arad could hear the lightning falling on his back. She has more control over magic than him. He can’t win a tug-of-war against her.
SWOSH! Arad flew at Five, swinging a kick at her face. She smiled, flicking her finger and blasting him away with a shockwave.
“Your lightning exposes your location. I don’t even need to see you to defend.” She replied, pointing at Arad as he fell to the ground.
CRACK! Arad lifted his foot up, kicking the ground and blasting his body up. In the middle of the air, he extended his right hand behind him, opening his palm.
CRACKLE! With a spark of lightning, his eyes flashed, “Come to me,”
The magnetic field generated by the lightning expanded, targeting a single object in the castle.
***
Back in the castle, the royal blacksmith was working in his workshop, hammering his steel when he heard a rumbling behind him. He turned, seeing Arad’s adamantine sword shaking.
“What?”
BAM! The sword flew out, blasting a hole in the roof as it soared into the sky, seeking its master.
***
SWOSH! The adamantine sword flew across the blue sky, reaching Arad’s hand with a loud thud. He smiled, “Abel’s style,” with those words, the dragon slayer sword he got from the fighter who tried to kidnap Mira emerged from his stomach.
In Arad’s mind, countless images of Abel swinging his swords flashed. His body rapidly got ready to move in the same way, “Rumble of lightning,”
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Five let go of her staff and pulled a wand, and Arad’s eyes glared forward.
^Abel used only two lines.^ Arad could see the magic he was trying to conjure with his void eyes. Two invisible lines of lightning create a structure similar to a rail, guiding his swords toward Five. The lightning magic will follow those rails, creating a tremendous pull force that accelerates him forward.
^No, I can do better,^ Focusing even harder, Arad conjured another set of rails, making them four, ^Not enough, faster, stronger,^ With one last set, he reached a total of six.
“Six rails!” With those words, Arad’s body blasted forward, accelerated even further with jets of flame gushing from his feet. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝑙．𝑐𝘰𝘮
Five saw several white slashes rushing toward her at a blinding speed, she lifted her wand and created barriers faster than anyone could see. CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Arad flew past her, releasing a massive sonic boom that blasted the adventurers in the back, shattering their eardrums.
As Arad landed, a drop of Five’s blood landed on his cheek as he had managed to hit her shoulder. But, he wasn’t willing to slow down a bit, “Rumble of lightning: Six rails…” His eyes flashed with pink and purple flame.
^Sharp turns to slow me down quite a bit, I need to kill that. Doma, handle gravity magic,^ tattoos covered Arad’s body as his nails turned black. He licked the blood on his cheek with a smile.
Ba-dump! Five felt her heart tremble for a second, something gripped it. Arad’s magic was releasing inside her stomach, making her the primary target for a cursed spell. ^Curse of Attraction, with gravity magic?^
If she didn’t dispel this curse now, her body would become a gravity center and Arad would start orbiting her, taking dives for attacks without losing any momentum.
Five smiled, “It’s been a while since someone pushed me this far,” Her staff started orbiting her and charging magic, “Come closer if you want,”
“Falling star,” Arad flashed forward, flying around Five like a shooting star as he kept an eye on her. BAM! For a split second, he would orbit close enough to strike and then fly back to his orbit, getting faster each time he did it.
After just two seconds of deflecting those attacks, Five smacked her want to the ground, [Time stop] Sending a wave of ancient magic, freezing everything around her. With a smile on her face, she could see Arad frozen mid-air.
“You won’t be able to move in the stopped time, this is your limit,” She stood, pointing her wand at him, “Sadly, you won’t even know what happened to you. As much as I hate it, it’s always satisfying to beat a dragon.”
CRACK! As she prepared to blast him with a spell, she noticed something off, Arad’s foot twitched, the light in his eyes returning. CRACK! His pupils shifted to glare at her, menacingly, [Time slow: 90%]
CRACKLE! Arad’s body flashed forward in the blink of an eye, his foot smacking into Five’s face, cracking her nose and neck as her body flew back, tearing the guardrails of the arena and smacking into the wall, bleeding.
Five had slowed time by 100% That is a time stop. It means Arad’s speed and awareness decreased by 100%. But what if he used a 90% Time slowly? That means he would be able to move normally at 90% slowed time.
Five’s time stop only slowed Arad by 10%, and on the other hand, exhausted a lot of her magic and stamina.
BOOM! The arena exploded with a blast, and the adventurers crawled away as if escaping a natural disaster. On their way, they saw Five stuck to the wall, her face gushing with blood as Arad’s footprint remained clear on her face.
A wizard stopped, staring at her with a pale face, “Wait, I sensed that she activated a time stop,” He stared back at Arad, shaking, “Don’t tell me, he kicked her in the stopped time?”
Thud! Thud! Arad walked forward, opening his arms and smiling with his head tilted, “Stand up, he growled, his eyes radiating magic.
BLUGH! Blood gushed from Five’s mouth as she started laughing, “It’s really been a while, this is amazing, exhilarating, and utterly ridiculous. You’re truly a monster!” Thud! She stood, her face healing.
“Show me all that you got! One of the select few!” She shouted.