BXBX NOVEL Chapter 54: Topaz
Topaz. A name I barely recognized. Bookish, they said. High marks in the combat evaluations, but untested in real combat. Curiosity flickered in the icy wasteland of my mind. She\'d finished her previous fight quickly, efficiently.
I needed to see what she was made of.
Just the word sent a jolt through the arena. Topaz charged without preamble, wind swirling around her hand, forming a vicious blade aimed for my neck. But then, with a blur of movement, she shifted her target, the blade flashing towards my side.
That was intriguing. I formed a wall of ice around myself in a heartbeat, a barrier against further surprise attacks. Simultaneously, icy daggers shot out from my fingertips, a flurry aimed at her shifting form.
But she was gone. My projectiles hit nothing but air. A flicker of annoyance sparked within me. I rarely relied solely on eyesight. Mana signatures, heat signatures, even subtle shifts in air pressure - all these fed into my awareness. Yet, she\'d vanished like a wisp of smoke.
Then, a whisper of danger brushed against my senses. Not visual, more of a prickling on the back of my neck. I whipped around, the ice wall shattering behind me as Topaz landed a brutal kick aimed at my neck. The impact sent a jolt through me, the residual agony from my training session intensifying with every heartbeat.
She stood there, a smirk playing on her lips. "At least take this seriously," she mouthed, her voice barely a whisper. "\'Show me what you can do, vampire.\'"
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn\'t react to such a taunt. But the ease with which she\'d bypassed my senses, not once, but twice, the way she\'d shattered my barrier - it grated on my nerves. Frustration, an annoying, simmering thing, began to mingle within me.
I wasn\'t at my best, that much was clear. My body still ached from Verona\'s merciless training. But underestimating me was a mistake she wouldn\'t live to regret.
A sigh escaped my lips, a plume of frosty vapor swirling in the air. With a flick of my wrist, a jagged ice spear materialized in my hand, its surface glinting maliciously under the arena lights. I shifted into a fighting stance, the ice spear held firm.
First, a jab, testing her reflexes. It deflected with a clang against a shimmering barrier - metal? Interesting. I followed up with a vertical slash, but she danced back, a mere hair\'s breadth away from the blade. Jabs, stabs, cuts - a flurry of attacks, each aimed with deadly precision.
She weaved through them with practiced ease, her movements fluid and efficient. Frustration gnawed at me. Was this all she had? This defensive display?
Then, her eyes changed. The playful smirk vanished, replaced by a steely glint. An aura settled around her, sharp and focused. It felt...familiar, something I hadn\'t encountered in a long time.
She drew a single, slender blade. But unlike any blade I had ever seen. It glowed faintly with an internal light, swirling with a myriad of colors. Mana-forged, no doubt, imbued with complex enchantments.
She launched herself forward, the blade a blur of light. Instinct took over. I shoved the ice spear forward, a desperate block against her attack. Metal met ice with a resounding clang. The impact wasn\'t what surprised me. It was the way my ice spear cracked, a web of fissures spreading across its surface before it shattered into a million glittering shards.
My ice could easily take on high-quality weapon attacks yet her formed metal blade was enough to destroy my ice spear? But I saw it her blade was severely cracked but she quickly reformed it making it \'new\' again.
The thrill pulsed through me, a counterpoint to the throbbing ache in my muscles. It was quite the sensation, this simmering excitement within the cage of my self-control.
It was clear - both of us were holding back. She recognized my restraint, and I could sense a hidden depth to her power, a reluctance to unleash it fully. This wasn\'t a true battle, not yet, but the thrill of the dance was undeniable.
At some point, barriers became a formality. I met her blows head-on, the clang echoing through the arena as her enchanted blade clashed with my hardened ice constructs. She, in turn, endured the icy bite of my attacks, her movements a whirlwind of focused aggression.
The once pristine ring bore the brunt of our duel. It was a cracked, dented, chipped mess, barely holding onto its circular form. With a final break in the engagement, we stood apart, panting, a silent understanding passing between us. This was a battle for another time, another setting.
With a final pushback, we separated, panting slightly, the air crackling with unspoken tension. A silent agreement passed between us, a shared decision. This was a final exchange.
She channeled her aura, the blade in her hand glowing with vibrant energy. I responded by gathering my mana, channeling it into a spell I hadn\'t utilized in a while. A frozen tornado, swirling with razor-sharp ice blades, roared to life at my command. It tore through the arena with a deafening howl, hungry for its target.
But I wasn\'t finished. While the tornado surged forward, I unleashed another spell, a localized field of gravity. 24 times Elnova\'s normal gravity, the maximum my current control allowed(well atleast what I showed I could easily go upto 40 times), encompassed the entire ring, pinning her form to the dented floor with an invisible hand. Her figure still stood tall only sinking a bit in ground.
The pressure was immense, but the coverage area larger, dulling its full force. Still, it was more than enough to hold her, well atleast I thought. In that moment, the tornado collided with the glowing blade, and the air shimmered with the impact. But instead of the expected explosion, a scene of impossible grace unfolded.
Topaz, her movements imbued with an ethereal glow, danced around the swirling vortex, her blade tracing a dazzling pattern. Each stroke seemed to cleave apart the ice blades, dismantling the tornado with the precision of a surgeon. A collective gasp rose from the stunned audience. Even I couldn\'t help but be impressed. That wasn\'t merely skill; it was an art.
Just as the last wisp of the tornado dissipated, Eliana\'s voice boomed through the arena. "Class is ending soon! This duel will remain unfinished. All matches in progress end in a draw!"
"Topaz..." I thought of her name.