Chapter Three Hundred And Forty Two – 342"You cannot be serious!" Vess hissed at the man, trying and failing to keep her voice down. The silence was so leaden even an Untempered could have heard a pin drop down the street. "Here? Now?"
"When else?" the Hand replied, his gaze never once leaving Felix's own. "What say you, Fiend?"
Felix only frowned, but his eyes were unblinking as well. "And this will solve it? Put all our grievances to rest?"
"It will satisfy my honor, Autarch," the big man said in his smooth baritone voice.
That's...really stupid. But what else did I expect? "Yeah. Okay." Felix rolled his shoulders. "Duel it up, then."
"Men," Vess hissed in frustration.
The crowd burst into frenzied whispers, quiet enough but not to someone with a few Tempers under their belt. It was more like a tide of sibilant susurrations; distracting at best. The Spirit of the crowd, however, was an entirely different beast. It blared, a great horn for those with the proper ears to listen, and that clawed at his balance like nothing else. He could feel the Legion watching, along with the Giants and Henaari, and among them Zara. She pursed her lips in annoyance, but didn't interfere. For that he was thankful.
Felix shut it all off as his friends cleared the market-turned-air dock, returning it to its first use: an arena of battle. He stretched his arms, always a good choice even when you have supernatural Agility and Endurance, and took to the center of the cleared space. The Hand followed after. He was still wearing his fancy armor and cape, and the massive sword hung in its sheath along his back.
"You accepted far faster than I expected, Fiend."
Felix shrugged. "You said this would end our beef. That's good enough for me. You sure you want to go through with this though?" Felix let his eyes flick to either side of them. "Last chance to back out. We can talk this over if you really want to resolve the whole Vess abandoning you thing"
"Enough," the Hand growled. He pulled free his giant greatsword and the thing just about pealed like a bell in his hand, high and clear. "I'll only be satisfied with your blood on my blade, boy. That will end our beef."
"Fine," Felix said, before raising his fists in a defensive position. "Let's get it over with."
Zara and Harn followed them out into the center. She raised her hands to the crowd and the whispers fell silent. "A duel under the auspices of Oath and Blood has been proposed and accepted! These two will fight until one can no longer continue, or until surrender. Killing is forbidden, but all else is acceptable." She fixed them both with her ice blue gaze. "Do you understand the terms?"
"I understand and welcome them," the Hand intoned.
"Yeah," Felix said. "Harn? What're you doing here?"
"I'm here to interfere in case things get heated," he grunted. "Keep the strikes clean and we won't have a problem."
"You question my honor, Onslaught?" The Hand gripped his heavy blade so tightly it groaned. "You dare think I'll kill your little protg?"
"I'm not here to stop you," Harn shot back. The Hand frowned.
"Gentlemen. Let us get this over with," Zara said. "Begin!"
The Hand lashed out with a big, booted foot, hitting Felix square in his chest. He took the blow head-on without flinching, sliding back thirty feet before halting himself, which was more than enough time for the Hand to unsheathe his immense sword and imbue it with a brilliant flow of white-green Mana.
"Windblade!"
Similar to Pit's attack, a crescent of compressed air Mana tore through the intervening space. It tore up the earth, leaving a trail of dust in its wake, and while it was too slow to hit Felix it did obscure the Hand's location. Only for a moment, but that was all he needed.
"Wind Drake's Fall!"
The crowd screamed. From above, a mesh of white-green Mana lashed downward at lightning-fast speeds. It hit the earth, slicing straight through stone and hurling even more dust into the sky, coiling it together into a dust devil beneath the mid-morning light. Felix grunted, enmeshed in it all; he funneled his power and Intent through his core.
Sovereign of Flesh!
Felix's body grew, muscles snapping across his frame as he grew to twice his former size. He slammed his clawed hands together with all of his monstrous strength, and the storm of dust and wind was ripped apart. He glared upward, directly into the startled face of the Hand, standing atop a platform of swirling wind.
"Monster," he whispered.
Felix only grinned, bearing his fangs. He exploded upward, shattering the lacerated earth beneath him. The Hand flinched backward, lifting his slab of steel in a low guard, clearly designed to fight against a rising enemy.
Cardinal Flame!
Red-gold flame exploded from his the Mana Gate at the base of his skull...and through his open mouth. The Hand howled, his sword turned white-hot in the instant before Felix impacted him like a runaway train. The sword bent, but it took the brunt of Felix's charge and instead sent the Hand flying up into the air even further. He careened, grasping at his odd movement Skill until he came to a stuttering halt near the ground once again.
Adamant Discord.
Lightning lashed about himself as Felix pulled toward in two directions at once; the sky and the earth. The result was a slow descent to the ground while blue-white electricity coursed about his chest and limbs.
"Very flashy," the Hand said with a sneer. "But you've not managed to harm me in the slightest, yet."
Felix noticed that the man had to look up at him now, which was more than a little satisfying, if petty. "Do you see any scratches on me?"
The Hand growled and sent a wave of white-green Mana coursing into his blade, straightening it and cooling it at the same time. "I've given you pause. I can feel the fear in you, Fiend. At best, you've dented my weapon. Surely this isn't all the vaunted Fiend is capable of...is it?"
Felix only grinned, and waited.
"I'l start with skinning that ebon hide from your back!" The Hand burst forward, pushed along by a clever use of air Mana and his own powerful Strength. He closed the distance in a blink and his slab of sword came up, a flickering slash meant to split him in two.
Relentless Resolution!
Felix danced away, just barely avoiding the slashing storm of Reed's attack. The blade's reach was enormous, keeping him at bay without offering any opening to slip into the Hand's guard, but Felix didn't care. His Agility and the movement offered to him by his evolved Relentless Resolution were more than enough to keep ahead of his opponent's attacks. The Hand's substantial Endurance would flag eventually, and when it did...
"Why? Why are you so angry?" Felix asked.
"Hold still!" Reed gasped, brandishing his blade ever faster. "This is combat to prove our honor! The both of us! Take! This! Seriously!"
"Fine." Felix was dodging strike after strike, but suddenly stopped and ducked low. "As you wish."
Mantle of the Infinite Revolution!
Rime Shaping!
Felix surged upward from beneath the man's guard, while ice and cold spun off his form like fog and hail, impacting Reed with the force of a blizzard held in Felix's grasp. The Hand blocked the blow with his sword, as Felix had expected him to do, and the intense cold hit the tortured metal instead. Frost formed across its surface as it was supercooled, just as Felix followed through with a secondary blow.
The sword shattered.
And the Hand was thrown bodily into the sky.
Felix watched the man soar upward, limp with unconsciousness, and felt only annoyance. He wasn't hurt after facing the Adept Tier warrior, not even slightly winded from the exertion. It had felt like beating up a child, almost. He frowned; he disliked the feeling. It was only saved by the fact that the Hand had been able to fight back...it just hadn't amounted to much at all.
Reed's body fell, rocketing back to the earth like a meteorite. Shaking off his annoyance and slight guilt, Felix raised his left hand to catch him in a net of Adamant Discord but was preempted. Aquamarine Mana vapor coiled about his falling form, slowing down his descent until the Hand was floating leisurely to the ground. Yet Zara did not even glance at the representative from Pax'Vrell. Instead, her eyes never left Felix.
He nodded at her. he signed.