Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 137: The Elven Nation of Sylph(Part 7)

"Here I come!" Exclaimed Wistari, lighting crackling intensely around her as she shot towards Aster with immense speed, swinging one of her blades down as she closed in on him.

Aster quickly crossed his own blades in front of himself defensively, grimacing as her blade slammed onto his with a sharp clang, his feet skidding back across the arena with the force upon impact.

She then swiftly leapt up as he whipped one of his blades across to fire out a rapid telekinetic slash at her, evading it before twisting her body across in midair and firing out a concentrated bolt of lightning at him from her mouth.

The bolt crackled intensely as it shot towards him at a blinding speed, Aster just barely managing to get his black blade up in time and absorb the lightning before it could hit him.

His eyes then widened in alarm as she then zipped towards him rapidly the instant she landed, her movements little more than a blur as she closed in on him in the blink of an eye, one of her blades poised to thrust straight towards Aster’s chest.

As he began to cross his blades over his chest defensively, he quickly tensed up his abdomen as Wistari fluidly shifted her center of gravity and drove her right foot out towards him while coating it in lightning, the bottom of her foot slamming onto his stomach and eliciting a stifled gasp of pain as he got launched back several meters through the air, his back hitting the floor of the arena and skidding back, his body stiffening up from the electrocution.

She then shot towards him and leapt forward as he struggled to get back on his feet with his body seized up and numb from the lightning, her blades raised high and crackling electrically, before Aster gritted his teeth and unleashed a powerful telekinetic shockwave.

Wistari swiftly crossed her blades in front of herself, before getting sent flying back as the shockwave struck her, but she managed to maintain her balance, her feet hitting the ground and sliding back, before she took a deep breath and let out a slow exhale to compose herself.

"What kind of Magic does he possess? I know it’s a form of Arcane Magic, but he’s been using it so sparingly that it’s hard to deduce what exactly its effects are...that last Spell, as well as the slashing wave earlier, felt somewhat similar to the effects of Wind Spells, but Wind Magic wouldn’t be able to completely shield the user from my Grand Lightning Cannon," She frowned as she tried to figure out how Aster’s Magic worked.

"Let’s see, now...she’s faster than me, stronger than me, and a lot more skilled. If I keep holding back on my full power, I’ll definitely lose before much longer. Alright, then, time to go all out," Decided Aster, dusting himself off before cracking his neck with a tilt of his head.

He then took a step forward and swung his blades across each other, firing out a pair of crossed, slashing waves of telekinetic towards his opponent.

She swiftly zipped away in response, before getting low as he unleashed a rapid, pressurized telekinetic blast towards him, which narrowly whizzed past the top of her head before slamming onto the barrier, ripples bursting out across it upon impact.

"Well, now...it looks like you’re finally getting serious!" Exclaimed Wistari as she fired out a rapid, dancing streak of intense lightning towards Aster, painting a charred trail across the floor of the arena as her attack zipped towards him with immense speed.

He swiftly unleashed a shockwave as it closed in on him, blowing it away before it could reach him, before turning his gaze as Wistari zipped across the arena to his left, firing out a barrage of rapid lightning bolts.

Aster raced away to evade them, swinging his black blade across at a couple of them that closed in on him faster than he could dodge, absorbing the Spells, before turning across and planting his feet as Wistari barreled towards him and closed in rapidly.

She then leapt forward and swung one of her blades down with immense speed, before Aster whipped his white blade up while coating it in sharply compressed, swirling telekinesis.

Right as the blades clashed, Aster released the compressed telekinesis, magnifying the impact of the swing of his blade and eliciting a wince from Wistari as the force of his strike knocked the blade straight out of her hand with a sharp, ringing clang.

As the blade hit the floor of the arena with a clatter and skidded away, Wistari swiftly opened her mouth and fired out a streaky bolt of lightning straight towards Aster’s face, who quickly tilted his head across, the attack grazing the side of his right ear painfully, the right side of his face tensing as his eye twitched, before he fired out a telekinetic blast and sprang back.

Wistari reacted with immense speed, sharply twisting her body across to evade the blast, which grazed the front of her torso before she turned back towards Aster and shot towards him, charging immense lightning into her right hand, concentrating and compressing it intensely.

The air around her hand sparked and crackled violently as she closed in on him and sprang forward, starting to drive the charged up lightning towards him...before her body came to an abrupt halt in midair.

"Wh-what...!?" She blurted out as she strained herself to try and move, but to no avail.

"Easy, there...you’re gonna hurt yourself," Smirked Aster, as he suddenly applied pressure around her wrist, the lightning dissipating as she felt a sharp twinge of pain.

"Wh-What...is...this...?"

"Your defeat," He stated bluntly, before focusing his Telekinetic Zone around her neck, starting to compress the space around it with crushing force, before she abruptly vanished from sight as the effect of the barrier triggered, teleporting her out of bounds.

"Th-That was-...I only felt it for an instant before I got teleported out, but there’s no doubt about it, if it wasn’t for the barrier, I would be dead. That attack would have crushed my throat in less than a second, I’d have died before even realizing what had happened," She thought to herself shakily as she touched her neck, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of her face.

"U-Uh...and the winner is, Aster Stark!" Announced the Elf who’d signaled the start of the fight, a wide-eyed look of bewilderment on his face.

"That was fun! You’re crazy strong, I could barely keep up with your movements," Grinned Aster, stretching his arms up as he stepped off the arena.

"Please, don’t patronize me. That last Spell you used, you could have won the fight at any given moment, you were toying with me, weren’t you?" Responded Wistari with a grimacing smile.

"Not quite, it’s more than I was testing the limits my current abilities without the use of my trump card. I definitely would’ve lost if I hadn’t used it," He admitted sheepishly.

"I see...that was quite the impressive showing, it’s true that you were a step below me prior to using that last Spell, but you held your own admirably," She replied, before holding her hand out towards him.

"Likewise, you were pretty damn impressive yourself," Smiled Aster, as he took hold of her hand and shook it.

As he turned around and began heading towards the sidelines where the others were, his ears perked up as he heard the Elves in the audience murmuring amongst themselves.

"I can’t believe it, one of the Grand Warriors actually lost?"

"What did that human do at the end there? It looked like Elder Wistari was frozen and suspended in midair."

"What powerful Magic."

As Aster stepped onto the sidelines and approached the others, Jules walked towards him with a stressed look on her face.

"There were far too many close calls in that duel for my liking...you couldn’t have just used your Telekinetic Zone right from the start?" She frowned in exasperation.

"Hey, relax, I did win in the end, so it’s all good," He grinned as he gave her a thumbs up.

"Grr..."

"You really should relax, Commander. We’ve got a win for our side now, so take it easy," Smiled Tilda wryly, patting Jules on the back.

"Yes, I suppose you’re right...alright, then, you’re up next, Vice-Captain Wein. Good luck out there," Remarked Jules, after taking a deep breath to ease the tension around her. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"I’ll do my best out there, Commander," He nodded, as he drew out his Relic Armament, the staff Jingu, before making his way towards the arena, as did his opponent.

"Way to go, man, though you did cut it pretty close there," Raven said to Aster with a sly smile.

"Yeah, that was pretty exhilarating. Honestly, I wanted to try and fight a bit longer before resorting to my Telekinetic Zone, but I also didn’t want to lose, so yeah," He grinned sheepishly.

"I feel bad for the Commander, all this stress can’t be good for her heart, and she’s been frowning so much that I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a few wrinkles by the time we get back to Persona," Chimed in Celia wryly.

"So long as things work out, I’d be fine with that," Sighed Jules, as Wein and his opponent stepped onto the arena, the second match set to begin.

"Let’s have a good match. I am the Vice-Captain of the First Knight Squad, Wein Beryl," Wein introduced himself with a smile.

"And I am called Fay, I am a First Stage Warrior of Sylph," His opponent introduced herself politely.

She had short, messy light blonde hair, her right eyes was blinded and fully white with a jagged vertical scar across it, and her left eye was dark blue. She has a light brown complexion, and was slightly below average height with a strong build.

"Based on her build, and the fact that she isn’t carrying a weapon, she’s probably a Brawler. In which case, I should avoid getting too close," Surmised Wein, getting into a fighting stance as he readied himself.

"Alright, the second match will commence in three...two...ONE!!!" Exclaimed the Elf serving as the ref, before launching a fireball into the air.

Wein zipped up into the air with an intense burst of wind, before whipping his staff across while rapidly extending it out towards Fay, whose eyes widened in alarm before she quickly formed a square wall of earth to her left, the staff slamming onto it with immense force, deep cracks spreading out upon impact.

She then broke the wall apart into several shards and sent them shooting out towards Wein, who quickly retracted his staff and spun it around in front of himself defensively, deflecting most of the shards away before wincing as one struck a spot on the staff close to where Wein was gripping it, gashing one of his fingers painfully, blood streaming out.

As the barrage of earth shards ended, Wein raised his staff up high and swung it down towards his opponent as he extended it out again, the weapon whizzing through the air rapidly.

Fay swiftly leapt off to her right as it closed in on her, narrowly evading it before firing out a rapid, rocky projectile towards Wein as the staff slammed onto the ground with a loud thunk.

Wein quickly flew off to his left, grimacing as the projectile grazed his hip painfully, before stiffening as Fay then extended out an angled pillar of earth from below her feet, launching herself straight towards him.

She leapt off the pillar towards him as she closed in, coating her right fist in a thick layer of rock as she drew it back before driving it towards him with immense force.

He quickly tilted his body across in alarm while firing out a burst of wind to get himself out of the way of her fist, gasping sharply as she struck the left side of his ribcage with a powerful impact, before she let out a sharp wheeze of pain as Wein pointed and extended his staff straight at him, slamming onto the middle of her torso and pushing her back through the air with immense speed.

She then plummeted with a pained grimace as the staff reached the limit of how far it could extend, a trickle of blood running down the corner of her mouth as she formed a mass of sand below her to break her fall.

As she landed onto the arena with a thud, struggling to get back onto her feet, she quickly raised a wall of earth in front of herself as a fierce volley of wind blasts came shooting down towards her, peppering the earth wall with intense, consecutive impacts, deep cracks spreading out across it.

As the wall began to break apart, she raised a vertical pillar from below to lift herself high up into the air, before leaping off it and forming a platform of earth below her, landing on it and springing forward before it began to plummet, before she raced towards Wein across the air, forming more earth platforms one after the other to use as stepping stones.

"Come on, you really think an Earth Mage can beat a Wind Mage in the air?" Scoffed Wein, as he began to charge up a wind blast in his left hand, taking aim at her as she closed the gap between them.

Suddenly, as he started to fire the Spell, she raised her left hand towards him and rapidly extended out a pole of earth from her palm, which zipped through the air with immense speed and struck his right wrist before he could react, fracturing it and eliciting a stifled cry of pain from him, his shoulders tensing up as he lost his grip over his staff, which plummeted and hit the arena with a clatter.

His eyes then widened in alarm as she sprang forward off a final platform and got him well within her reach, a sharp cone of earth around her right fist.

With no time to evade, Wein drove his left fist towards her face, firing out a pressurized burst of wind from his elbow to launch it forward, as she simultaneously drove her own fist towards, thrusting it towards his throat.

Wein’s fist slammed onto the middle of Fay’s face right as the tip of the earth cone around her fist pricked through the skin over the front of his neck, starting to pierce in before he suddenly got teleported out, before she could skewer his throat.

She let out a sharp gasp as blood gushed out of her nose and streamed down her face, Wein’s last strike having broken it upon impact, a dazed look on her face as she plummeted down.

As her feet hit the arena with a thud, jarring her legs slightly, she shakily stumbled back as blood dripped off her chin onto the floor of the arena, shaking her head to try and reorient herself.

"The winner of the second match is Fay!" Declared the ref, as the barrier faded.

Wein let out a disappointed sigh as he wiped his sleeve across his neck, a trail of blood trickling down from the middle of it, before he glanced ahead as Fay stepped off the arena and approached him, having picked up his staff.

"That was a tough battle, a single misstep and the result may well have been different. You fought well," She commended him with a smile, as she handed the staff back to him.

"Same to you, that was a clever move you used to knock my staff out of my hand," He replied, as he took the weapon from her and bowed his head respectfully.

He then sheathed the staff and turned around, heading back to the others as he let out a disappointed sigh, frustrated at his defeat.

"No need to look so dejected, Vice-Captain Wein, you did well," Jules greeted him with a smile, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Commander...but I feel like I could have done better, I got careless at the end there," He replied with a shake of his head, as Raven walked over and began healing him.

"Yes, make sure to learn from this and avoid making such mistakes in the future," She advised him.

"I’m noticing a distinct difference in attitude here...I mean, I won and all you did was berate me," Frowned Aster indignantly.

"Because, unlike you, he gave it his all right from the start," Responded Jules dryly.

"Wow, talk about favoritism."

Meanwhile, several hundred meters away...

"Well, now, what a convenient turn of events this is. I can’t let this opportunity go to waste...once those fools have all worn themselves out, I’ll finally make my move," Chuckled a mysterious figure, the one who’d driven the Earth Dragon towards the group from Persona.

He’d been spying on them for the last couple of days, and he was currently observing the duels, waiting for them to conclude before he’d strike.

He was a fair distance away, staying upwind to avoid detection from Raven, who had especially caught his interest among the humans.

"Things really are working out for me...not only are they wearing themselves out, but this is also providing me with a fair bit of entertainment, not to mention that I get to see what some of them are capable of. They’re fairly strong, but if this is all they’ve got, it should be easier than I anticipated...ohh, I can hardly wait," He chuckled to himself with a lick of his lips...