EMON
Lord Dyran Listus, according to many, was one of the best Knights in the whole of Velecor. Aside from being a Knight of the highest ilk, he was my master.
Dyran was blessed with metal creation and manipulation. He could make a sword from an ore, but then, a quantity of his lifeforce would forever rest within his creation.
His lifeforce, forever unreplenished.
Tonight however, he wore a face that looked saddened. I would have worn the same face too if I was my master.
Besides bearing a look that predicted my defeat, even today, he had helped me enough. That impenetrable metal of his served as the image for which I would use to shield my resolve.
Whether that steel would shatter depended on how much I had honed my divine trait of barrier arts to protect that resolve.
I turned my gaze away from Dyran and towards the man I was about to trade blows with.
Pitch-black hair that could almost be passed as dyed hair, silver eyes just like that of my mother, his sister. He wore a richly designed silver and black armour, a testament to his nobility.
Unlike Dyran, my opponent looked like he was going to enjoy whatever he had planned for me. Doubt crept in but I added an extra layer of steel to reinforce the shield guarding my resolve.
Unsurprisingly, everyone in the arena had their gaze on us as the announcer finally looked ready to proceed with the match.
After what was an eternity of formalities and permissions, the announcer jumped to the tower bell.
A few seconds were what remained before the first important battle of my life. Each seconds filled me with more anticipation than the last.
The bell rang, signalling the commencement of the duel. I could feel the anticipation in the crowd as I activated my divine trait without wasting a second.
"You can't be serious, no, as expected" I muttered, with shock drawn on my face.
Uncle Recker had closed the distance between us with a sword made of ice.
Uncle Recker's sword travelled towards my chest but the barrier which had been already activated blocked it.
The imperial house of Clovis prided itself on its powerful Fire based divine trait. Many in the arena probably thought of my barriers as a mockery, but could only gossip about me in the shadows.
The outcome was obvious, I was definitely going to lose, but I won't be satisfying their desire to see me in a pathetic state.
My barrier thwarted Uncle's first attack and with the same speed he closed the space in his initial attack, he retreated about ten paces from me.
"Long distance attacks then" I muttered, as my wrist twitched from the thought of it.
I was no fool, I knew the next attack would be a long-distance barrage of ice to test the strength of my barrier.
A chill aura emanated from Uncle and with a more serious face he chanted.
"Ice Bullets"
It was an ice trait manifestation that fires several large ice bullets on its target.
I took a defensive stance and took the attack head-on. To the bewilderment of the crowd, my barrier stood strong but didn't leave unscathed.
Although the ice bullets didn't break through, their force still pushed away my barrier, strong enough to send me tumbling within it.
My strong defense now had its downside exposed. I had enveloped myself with my barrier but at the cost of my mobility.
As planned, if my first technique failed I was going to shift to an offensive mode of attack.
I drew the metal sword Dyran forged for me, I could feel his lifeforce inside it.
Pitch-black like my opponent's hair, the blade was more than capable of parrying off his ice attacks and the next barrage of ice bullets proved it, although one of the ice bullets grazed me and drew blood.
The dripping blood was accompanied by an applause from the crowd.
As if he teleported, Uncle swung towards my injured arm which sent me crashing, created a rubble in one of the corners of the arena.
If it had been a sword the damage would have been sufficient to call off the match and award victory to him.
I looked at his ice spear dripping with my blood and for the first time I gazed upon the reason for this duel.
"Boy, don't be distracted"
Uncle Recker had already closed the distance and this time it was a sword in his hand.
To his disapointment the slash was blocked by my barrier and neither did the force of the attack send me flying, I had rooted this barrier to the ground.
After the last attack, I made a cession to trade off a portion of the durability in return for expediting the activation time.
The crowd was surprised at my tenacity but I knew a similar defensive method would be futile.
Uncle had not used even quarter his full strength yet.
His next attack was too fast for me to change plans and this time the barrier shattered but that gave me enough time to widen the space between us.
Among the highborn, only a scant few could boast about standing a chance of beating Recker of house Borewyn, heir to the throne of Celmora.
"Almost complete"
I muttered as I prepared my final technique. I had already laid the groundwork for it and at my current level several conditions had to be met.
"Just one more hit and then it'll be ready" I muttered again while bracing myself for an attack.
But this time it was not the usual ice bullets or sword slashes. Uncle seemed to be preparing a large-scale attack.
"How should I deal with this?" I thought to myself. The roaring crowd became tame in anticipation of the attack.
"Chamber of the ice king" Uncle chanted with a smirk and suddenly the entire arena was covered in ice.
Contrary to the expectation of the arena, I returned his smirk which led to him giving me a questioning look.
"Sorry Uncle, I trained till my bones ached for this" For the first time my father came into view as he stood up to watch what I was about to do.
"Barrier art: Veil"
I enclosed the ice-clad arena with a barrier to prevent its effect. And while he looked astonished, I made another barrier to trap uncle.
"What is this?" he asked.
"this was my trump card against you" for the first time I had removed that smirk from his face.
"So you think you have won?" his thundering voice set me aback.
"From the day I was slated to fight you my loss was fated" I said in a matter of fact way.
"Then what do you aim to accomplish with this" he questioned.
"Well anyone would want to test the limit of their abilities right?" I said as his stern facade was finally melting.
"You have done well Emon, I'm proud of you" he finally gave that kind smile he usually gave when I was younger.
"This will be incredibly difficult to break right Emon?" He questioned
"Pretty much so, at my current level I needed several contacts with the human I want to enclose within a barrier" I explained
"Once my barrier makes contact, it draws in the divine trait and lifeforce signature of the person" I said as beads of sweat rolled down my face.
"The barrier then attunes itself to the signature, which in turn grants me the ability to spawn my barrier close to the signature" I said as I looked at his confused and surprised face.
"Noted, it seems I underestimated you" as if memorising what I just said, he replied
I knew my barrier arts had potential, but the hunger to reach that potential was a fire I wasn't ready to feed.
As expected, the barrier enclosing the arena ground began to shatter and several ice bullets were ready to be fired.
'Chamber of the ice king' enables one to imbue his own will into the manifestation.
Which in turn allows for greater control, even after a few minutes into unconsciousness, the manifestation would act independently.
I looked towards uncle, who gave a wry smile. Suddenly the ice bullets turned to giant fists, I got hit from everywhere.
With the last of my strength I conjured a little barrier to protect my all-important private area.
As darkness swallowed me, I dimly saw hands moving in applause for me.
A small smile crept on my face and I surrendered myself to the darkness.