District 42-Chapter 272: Proof of fire part 3
The Ridires and Frelsi present on that floor stopped to fight each other long ago. They didn’t feel like fighting with such a spectacular show happening some few kilometers away from them.
The ones who were closer to the combat needed to rush through the city to protect themselves. However, once the power of those two strong warriors started to escalate exponentially, nowhere in that city was safe at all.
Their speed couldn’t be followed by the eyes of anyone there. The shockwaves that each clash caused couldn’t be absorbed easily, and most of the Ridires and Frelsi were knocked away or sent flying.
Some of them died in the middle of that battle in different manners already.
There were not too many casualties like that since Ivar was trying to avoid fighting near his comrades not to kill someone by chance, although the Vanir didn’t seem to care too much because of his mad assault.
The more the Ridires that watched Ivar fighting, the more they appreciated him. He was managing to keep the safety of everyone there and hold the Vanir at the same time. And, in most of the battle, he was overpowering Tein.
Frelsis were others who were amazed by the power of their leader. They never had the chance of watching a Vanir fighting.
They knew since the start about their existence, the experiments and technologies that Javir was investing in them, and also that they were one of the principal resources on that battle against Ridires and Aesirs.
It was unbelievable for them that the superiors could do something like that.
The Aesirs were the chosen ones by the Royal Family themselves. They were noticed based on their talent, on their potential. They were gods, and to be a god someone needs to be born as one. It was a given.
Nevertheless, with the Vanirs, it was different. They were gods made out of poor people, losers who had the guts to endure tough training in order to reach the power of what they considered a god in the Castle.
If someone made from the zero could get this far, the hopes on their hearts just raised more and more.
They didn’t stop to watch that fight until that last clash. The one that seemed that would break the Castle apart.
Indeed, if not for the dome covering that city and holding everything together, it would have collapsed already. The level of the calamity they were creating in their fight approached a lot of what Jomurgand was doing in Uppsala.
Once Ivar’s and Tein’s blades locked, no sound could be heard. The light seemed to last several seconds to reach them as well. Everything seemed to pass in slow motion for everyone.
When the light, the sounds, and the impact of the strike came all at once, the Frelsis and Ridires fell to the ground. No one could keep standing. Their heads seemed like spinning and they couldn’t get their minds and senses together for a long time.
People started to raise their bodies bit by bit and look around. A dust blizzard was covering everything around, but lessening quickly as well.
After some seconds, they could spot the Aesir and the Vanir.
They were standing still, apparently unharmed. They had their backs turned to each other.
The flames were already extinguished from Tein’s body. Just the black bandages remained. His breath was calm and steady. No wounds appeared on his body. The machete had its blade in a strange form. It had started to melt while he was using his full power but stopped right after the fire was gone.
Ivar’s exoskeleton was completely destructed. His body was trembling due to the effort that he needed to make. He used his exoskeleton beyond level 15 in that last moment!
His body had several burnings. Some were worse than others. The Aesir never let go of his sword and kept holding it until the very end, even though his fingers had their skin melted.
The Ridires and Frelsis began to walk near them. They were still several kilometers away, but each step seemed to help them to find anything strange. They had apprehensive eyes.
They needed to stop to walk when they witnessed the blade of Ivar’s sword snap, then more than half of it fell to the ground. A huge fissure started to appear in his mask in a diagonal position, starting from its extreme lower left side, passing for the nose, and stopping beside the right eye.
They held their breathes once they saw that. It was a difficult feat to break a mask. They were made of a special alloy of different materials. The power that an attack needed to have behind it to make this kind of thing was inconceivable.
Nonetheless, that was not all. Getting closer, the Ridires could see that he had a huge cut from his belly to his chest, which was probably the same one that reached even his mask. It was not bleeding though. The heat was such that it closed the wound right away. But the inner harm was still there.
The Aesir spilled a mouthful of blood inside the mask, which started to drip from the fissure and the chin.
Meanwhile, Ivar wasn’t the only one to show later harm.
The Vanir wasn’t as good as him. When he moved his left arm slightly, looking at his own body, it fell to the ground. The cut was clean, no blood spilled from it for the time being. Also, as his breath became irregular, a wound began to open on his entire trunk. A straight and perfect cut.
The Aesir turned to his opponent.
Tein’s eyes were shining with glee. As per usual, a grin could be sensed stamped on his face.
"Your cut was incredible. It doesn’t just harm all my internal organs but also broke my ribs. And in the process, you even took my arm." Teint commented.
He crouched on the ground and took his arm from there, putting it in the usual place. The flames reappeared, circling the wound on his trunk and arm and healing it in a crazily fast process.
"My flames have a healing capacity similar to that ointment that you, Ridires and Aesirs, have. Also, my name is the same as that ointment, if you didn’t realize yet. However, the sad thing is that it doesn’t recover the blood I lost, so in a long-term battle like this one I would still lose."
The Aesir dropped his half-sword away, not caring that it was broken at all.
"It’s an interesting power, indeed. But you are not the only one with little tricks. I am losing a lot of blood and all, but my body won’t stop moving until I die. My muscles and bones are reinforced with a special metallic fiber. It’s just because of this reinforcement that I can deal with a full-body exoskeleton this easily as well." I am said.
Tein looked at him in amusement. He was liking too much to fight against that guy. He was crazy like him and thought only in fight the strongest as well. He felt like they could understand each other better than anyone.
"We are similar, in the end, huh?" Tein asked, finally turning to him and staring Ivar at his eyes.
"In a way, we are opposites as well." Ivar shrugged carefreely. "But I don’t really care. What matters is just this fact..." He took an arrow from his quiver, the only one that remained. The bow was already messed as well.
He pointed to the Vanir.
"You, villain." Then to himself. "Me, hero."
"Hahahaha! That’s it, that’s it! You are too funny, man! That’s fine, then." He looked to his machete and saw that it melted so much that its sharpness was gone, so he threw it away as well.
"I can heal you with my flames if you want. This way, we have a fair battle." That crazy look left Tein’s eyes for a moment.
He wasn’t looking at it as a mission anymore. That was the battle of his life with someone worth it. He needed to take the max out of it. The Vanir couldn’t accept that the Aesir would fight him in less than in his 110%.
Ivar denied, shaking his head and looking at him with challenging eyes.
"This pain burning inside my body makes me feel energic. Let the fire burn, Tein. I am dangerous when I am losing. That’s how it is to be a hero!" He held his arrow in front of his body, making a firm position.
The Vanir got somewhat disappointed about that response, but he knew that the Aesir would answer something like that whatsoever.
"That’s fine, then! Let’s see how you can deal with me in such a state, Fenrir. Let’s make this the unforgettable battle of our lives!" Those flames began to appear around the bandages.
They weren’t as powerful as in the last seconds of battle, but they were still a threat.
The two, then, advanced once again.
