Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1731  Decending (Part 1)

Raze could feel it, he was improving in this fight, even with his Breakthrough. There was a large difference between just using it in practice and having to come up and use things when it got dangerous and tough.

It pushed people to think and test things they were unsure of, and to jump right into the fire which was what Raze had done. He had always known practice could never truly match a real battle. In practice, there was always a limit, even when the opponent tried to push. There was always the idea that things could stop, that mistakes would not mean the end.

Here, there was no such thought. The moment he hesitated, the lightning was already there. The moment he relied on "what usually works," Trubin was already responding with something else. That pressure forced him to adjust, and Raze could feel his body learning as he fought, not just his mind.

As he saw Trubin getting pushed back by the mass amount of his attack, he went to follow up. He didn't want to give Trubin the space to breathe, because he had already seen what happens when Trubin is allowed to reset. Trubin didn't need long, he only needed a second, and a second was enough for that wall of lightning to appear again.

As Raze swung his sword aiming to strike Trubin across his body, slicing him in half and ending the fight, that was when several bolts of lightning had come down forming a wall of swords, and Raze's sword had gone hit the energy stopping his sword ever so slightly slowing it down, it eventually cut through with his strength as the rest of the lightning crashed on the ground and blocked his view, giving time for Trubin to get away.

For a brief moment, it was like striking steel, except it wasn't steel at all. The resistance was unnatural, a stopping force that didn't behave like a normal barrier. It wasn't just "blocking," it was forcing Raze's sword to fight through pressure, through a weight that didn't belong in the air. Even when he cut through, the delay was enough. Trubin didn't need more than that.

"You think just because you managed to get some fighting skills from that world that you can actually match up to me?" Trubin said. "Skill or hard work it doesn't matter in the end, only the one who is alive gets to live, and it's the same here. Come and get me!"

Trubin declared as he flicked his finger out, sending out a small spark of lightning which Raze moved his head ever so slightly to avoid. Raze then took a deep breath, as he rushed in again.

Raze could tell Trubin was speaking like this on purpose. It wasn't just trash talk. It was trying to pull at something inside him, trying to make Raze push too hard, trying to make him swing too wide. But Raze didn't let his emotions take his body. He had already learned what happens when he fights angry, and he wasn't going to give Trubin that advantage.

Raze had realised that the best thing to do wasn't to block the attacks and look for a chance to strike, but to put the pressure on Trubin. In order to make him slip up. Which was why Raze was going forward and the lightning strikes coming at him, he would just strike them away with his sword.

He didn't treat it like "defence." He treated it like carving a path. Each lightning strike was a thing in the way, and he would cut it, cut it again, cut it apart until his feet were close enough to Trubin's position to end it. That was the idea, the simplest idea, and sometimes the simplest idea was the only thing that worked.

Finally, Raze had gotten close again, and this time he swung one of his swords from the top right, aiming to go down from his shoulder and through his body. As Raze went to strike though several lightning bolts from the air struck down hitting the sword and forcing it to the ground.

The force was heavier than before. The moment the lightning struck the blade, it felt like his arm was being dragged down with it. Raze tightened his grip. He forced his stance to stay firm, but the blade still hit the ground, the impact sending a jolt through his body. It wasn't pain, it was the shock of being stopped mid-motion, a denial of momentum.

Raze then tried again swinging his second sword at his side but the same kept happening. Raze pushing through the heaviness of the lightning strikes continued to pick up his sword and strike, while Trubin was walking backwards as lightning came down.

Trubin wasn't running. That was what made it more frustrating. He was walking, like he didn't need to hurry, like he knew exactly what would happen no matter how fast Raze came at him. That calmness was part of the pressure too. It made every failure feel sharper.

Lightning was coming down fast and several bolts were moving, as they were needed to stop all of the attacks that were coming from Raze. Raze didn't stop but at the same time, he was unable to hit Trubin.

It was a strange sight to see, a physical battle almost against magic and one that was on a tight thread. A fight where Raze's blades were real, his intent was real, his killing strike was real, but the space between them was filled with something that forced the strike away over and over again.

Then Raze had finally pushed himself just that further to attack Trubin's body when several bolts of lightning had struck Trubin.

When they did a surge of power exploded from Trubin and now it was Raze's time to be hit back by the external power of the strikes. He slid through the floor covering his face, he wasn't hurt but just had been blown away by the shockwave of power.

Raze's boots scraped the ground as he slid. Dust rose around him. The shockwave didn't cut him, it didn't pierce him, but it threw him like a warning. It was forcing distance. It was telling him, "you can't stay close."

'My sword strike it couldn't get through, but attacking himself with the lightning, does it not hurt his own body?' Raze thought and from the look of it, it didn't.

If anything, the lightning looked like it belonged to Trubin. Like it wasn't punishing him, but feeding him. That was the sick part of it. Raze's mind tried to label it, tried to understand it, but the truth was right in front of him. Trubin could use that method as many times as he wanted.

But what else could he do but push forward and try the same again. He tried to use some of the Pagna techniques, it allowed him to get one up on Trubin for a bit, as he moved his body appearing behind him, but whenever Trubin was in danger from getting hurt, he would strike his body with several bolts of lightning and send Raze back again.

Raze's breakthrough was still active. His body could still move. His blades still felt like extensions of his intent. Yet each time he got close enough, the same answer came down from the sky. The same denial. The same forced reset.

"What's your plan here Dark magus?" Trubin asked. "Are you just trying to see which one of us can last longer in our breakthrough, maybe we both just wear each other out, and we see how our allies play out."

Trubin's voice didn't sound strained. That was another thing Raze noticed. Trubin was speaking like a man who believed he had all the time in the world, like the fight was already decided, and the only question was how long Raze would keep coming.

The one good thing was, that Raze could tell that the lightning that was being used in all of the different areas of Noble land, had stopped. Since Trubin needed to use more of it where the two of them fought.

That didn't solve the problem in front of him, but it meant something. It meant Trubin's attention was being narrowed. It meant the battlefield was being pulled into this fight, into this one point, into this clash. That alone told Raze he was doing something right.

'At least I'm making progress, one step at a time, until I completely eliminate him.'

At the same time, back at the palace, Idore was looking out for the field.

"All of my towers are gone, and it looks like Trubin is using his Breakthrough, this fight is going on for too long, I need to make sure things are complete, It's time I join the battlefield."