William stepped and thrust out. Lex stabbed his sword into the ground and blocked the strike with a grunt of exertion. As he lamented his next move, a plume of fire exploded in his face. He cried out in pain as his clothes and hair caught fire, dashing forward to escape and closing the gap between the two of them in an instant. William responded by swinging his fist upwards and willing a portion of the ground to slam Lex in the chin.
The world spun around and around. Lex felt the brunt of the strike rattle up into his brain as he verged on blacking out quickly recovered. He wove around the pillar and swiped, ignoring the pain and remaining on a relentless offensive. William was forced into the close quarters where his spear was no longer viable. His hands were encompassed in black flames as he stepped back while expertly batting the sword away like some sort of martial arts master.
At last Lex switched up his attack pattern and struck straight forward. William ducked under the attack took the sword straight through the neck with a grunt of pain. Even this was not enough. As he danced away, the wound on his neck quickly blazed over with black flames and vanished entirely. Lex had not cared to notice that the one on his face had done the same much earlier.
"I stole that technique from the great Drake Direshard," William said. He'd put enough faith in Lex to assume he'd figured out the ability by now.
"Your ideology isn't your own. It only makes sense that your powers would be the same."
"The hounds I stole from an old barkeep. He'd summon the things to deal with rowdy guests." William walked forward, advancing towards Lex without care. "The fireflies… An ability that allows you to use an insect of your choice as eyes, ears, and even swap places with them. They flock to you like cats to a bag of treats. The owner of that was an interesting lady, she lived in the mountains and was frankly a disgusting hag. Her insect of choice was a mosquito, something similar to her very existence. Parasitic, annoying, and useless. Just like you."
Lex raised his sword in a threatening manner.
"Disorientation. Now that one was used by the owner of a circus ring. A magician. A phony." William continued forward as Lex backed away. "There was a time when I was nothing. Homeless. Loveless. But now I have a meaning. I am death's avatar. You, Lex Aitsuko, are not my enemy. You are simply a man whose time has come."
"You're insane," Lex mumbled.
"Maybe," he replied. "Next, an ability from the great Dragon Slayer of Dragonsfold. My homeland." He spoke those last words with a faint longing.
Black flames exploded from his back and created two gigantic infernal wings. His hands grew and size and sizzled with that same flame, fingers growing into the massive claws of a Dragon. He put his hands out to either side in a threatening manner, as if to say look at me, I'm better than you.
Lex felt an ominous premonition. A distinct feeling staring this demonic creature in the face. I'm about to die, he realized. This feeling couldn't be mistaken. It was that of staring death in the face.
William moved with the beat of his massive wings. A thunderclap of air sent the items in the training area flying. Dummies soared into the air and the fenceposts of the ring shook violently before eventually ripping free from the ground. He reached a hand out straight to go directly for Lex's neck.
"Grahhhh!" Lex cried out, swinging his sword with all of the remaining strength and Void energy he could manage in a single burst. It collided with William's palm, wavered for a moment, and then snapped in two. Lex's eyes went wide as the top half of the sword spun into the air. It left only a single word inscribed on what remained of the weapon.
Hope.
William grabbed Lex by the throat, the black flames licking at him and scorching his skin. They flew into the sky together, quickly ascending towards the roof of the underworld. The force of the blow caused Lex to drop his book, the attribute phasing away into Void particles. He felt the air beating against his back and saw the massive stalactites across the ceiling as they ascended. His enemy intended to impale him, and at this rate he'd succeed.
Lex beat his legs out, kicking William in the chest to no reaction. He slammed his elbows down but the arm that grasped his neck didn't waver.
[Lex Aitsuko is activating an attribute: Contact swap.]
Luckily an attribute such as this made it basically impossible to get caught in any sort of hold. Lex had acquired it in the first ever distortion he'd taken part in. Since then, it had saved his life more times than he could count. If there was one problem, it was that he was now falling from about a two-hundred metres up at the top of the cave. His enhancement would only reliably break a fall up to a hundred metres.
"Shit," he muttered, feeling his body succumb to gravity and start to drift downwards. As if to add salt into the wound, William reacted quickly and buried his foot in Lex's back, speeding up his plummet and doubling the damage he would take on impact.
[Lex Aitsuko is activating an attribute: Book of life, stage two.]
The impact in question broke both of his legs. The impact was absorbed with grace and the help of his enhancement. Lex landed and immediately turned his head up to prepare for the incoming attack.
William roared as he readied his claw, slamming down on Lex's arm which exploded with pain as he sacrificed it to block the attack. The shockwave of force caused the ground beneath Lex's feet to crack, and he felt his body sinking downwards like a drill burrowing into the stone. This guy is relentless, he thought.
He only had one hope of victory in this situation, and it didn't lay with himself. At this rate, he was doing nothing more than buying time until his own death.
[Lex Aitsuko is activating an attribute: Book of life, stage three.]
A pure black pen appeared in his right hand, while the book appeared in his left – the one currently suffering immense stress as William applied more pressure. It felt like he only had a moment until his arm snapped and the weight of the Dragon Slayer came upon him. Even so, a moment was enough time.
Book of life, stage three, allowed Lex to write things into the manuscript. He raised the pen with a grunt and shakily used the remainder of his Void energy to write what was ultimately a tiny revision to reality. A tiny thing, and yet something monumental to the flow of the battle.
Clay Carver got sober.
Lex's whole body went limp at the energy expenditure. Even a small line like that used up all of the energy he had left in one go. His arm buckled under the weight of William's claw and he took the brunt of it straight into the side of his face. The force of his body slamming into the ground nearly knocked him unconscious, but he remained awake as he was grabbed by the throat again and lifted into the air.
"Finally ran out?" William asked. His voice had a demonic and raspy tinge to it as the power seemed to corrupt him. Lex raised both of his weakened arms and grabbed William's wrist. They had the strength of jelly as his enhancement subsided and his muscles loosened. Even his legs refused his commands now.
"You were wrong," Lex spat. As he clenched his teeth, blood leaked from his lips. "My luck hasn't… Run out yet."
"William Fletcher. The Gravedigger in the flesh. To think I'd be the one with the honour of killing you." Clay stepped out of the rec hall with an axe as tall as himself in one hand. He shook his head around, his hair flopping wildly. "And to think I almost missed it." His eyes fell upon Lex. "This was your doing."
Lex just managed something of a smile in response. I'm being choked out here, please hurry it up.
"I apologize." Clay's whole body radiated with Void energy. "You were almost killed because of me. " A mask of vibrant blue flame overtook his eyes, and his clothes started on fire, creating pauldrons, gloves, and even something of a vest out of fire. This was the upper echelon of third tier enhancement, where the user's element started to manifest a uniform that spoke to their soul. It was no surprise that Clay's would be an explosive and flaming outfit, then.
He dashed forward and slashed. Lex was released and fell to the ground as William's arm was sliced clean from his body with a cut so fast that Lex's eyes couldn't even detect it. He dodged backward with surprisingly little panic, his back hitting the wall and his face growing stern. Clay stepped in front of Lex to protect him. Lex, on the other hand, was powerlessly laying on the ground and utterly unable to move.
"Take these useless kids and go," Clay said. "I'll take it from here."
"I–" Lex started.
"Not you. You're the damned useless kid in question."
A flash of white hair moved across Lex's vision, and suddenly he was lifted from the ground. A mix of confusion and elation was overflowing in Lex's mind.
"You're heavier than you look!" Frost said.