Michael prepared himself for the fight as it was now officially going to start.
He was obviously not as strong as Thrym, nowhere near in fact, he just hoped that when he said he wouldn’t be holding back, he actually would, and a lot, preferably.
‘How strong is he?’ He asked the system and prepared his shields.
He looks like a newly appointed king, so around Tier 10 is fair? Might be stronger for all I know, it’s hard to determine when you are so weak.
‘What’s me being weak have anything to do with this?’
I use your general stats for perception, if you get stronger, I get stronger.
‘Well, shit’ Michael cussed under his breath and watched as Thrym began walking towards him slowly.
But although it might have looked like it was slow, the steps felt hollow, as if he was both there and not there at the same time.
“Psst, I’m behind you” Michael heard a voice behind him and immediately turned around, however, he quickly noticed that no one was there.
And before he could react, he was sent flying into a nearby rock, puncturing his lungs from the sheer force of the impact.
‘Guaah.. fuck’ Michael tried holding himself up while healing his injuries, however, just as he thought he was in the clear, he was met with a fist heading straight for his head.
But just as it was about to connect, it stopped in front of him.
Thrym walked up and sent a small flick to Michael’s arm, completely shattering all of the bones in it.
“How are you so weak? I am barely using the strength of a Tier 2, yet you can’t even dodge my attacks..” He sounded pretty disappointed.
‘System, did you even try parrying his attacks?’
Of course, he was using the strength of someone in the very middle of Tier 2. The strength difference was obviously too vast for you to overcome.
‘Of course it was…’ Michael sneered and looked at Thrym directly in the eyes.
“Why don’t you use the same amount of strength as me? Or are you scared?” He taunted and was expecting to be punched again.
However, much to his surprise, Thrym’s mana suddenly became a lot weaker than before, it now seemed like he was around the same strength as Michael.
You are right, in fact, he is a bit weaker than you now, try not to lose.
‘I won’t…’ Michael focused up and healed his injuries, the mana costs were barely noticeable so he still had plenty remaining.
Just like before, Thrym started walking up to him, however, this time, he was able to feel the mana perfectly around himself.
‘Interesting…’
The technique Thrym used was similar to his mirroring technique, except he was doing it with his whole body.
But it wouldn’t work a second time, Michael knew how this technique worked, even if it was slightly different.
The mana seemed equally adjusted as if Thrym could switch between the bodies at will, similarly to that Evangelist he fought on top of the mountain.
Michael wasted no time and sent two Swords of Light at both of the bodies at once, attempting to slice clean through them.
However, just before it reached both of them, one disappeared and the other’s mana was completely restored, easily blocking the attack.
“Tch.. this ability doesn’t work with such a shit amount of mana” Thrym grumbled and proceeded to stop using his skill altogether.
“Sounds to me like you are just shit with using the mana” Michael shot back and prepared many more Swords of Light, sending some into the sky for a surprise attack.
That attack always turned the tide, so he didn’t doubt that it would help him a ton once again.
Before Michael could react, Thrym appeared right in front of him, throwing an extremely fast jab right at his face.
‘I thought he wouldn’t use strength above Tier 1?’ Michael frowned while just barely dodging the attack.
The power behind it was similar to the attacks he endured earlier, just a tad bit weaker.
Speed wise, he was only able to dodge because he was prepared and even then, if Thrym decided to get a second hit in, Michael would surely be hit.
But he didn’t, instead, he stepped back “Oho, you dodged that attack but couldn’t dodge the others? You sure are an interesting fragment.”
Michael’s brow twitched as he sent a few mirrored swords behind Thrym, trying to catch him off guard.
But alas, this time he was prepared.
‘This fight is a literal stalemate…’ He sighed from exhaustion, he wasn’t tired per se, just frustrated at the progress.
Even if the strength Thrym used was similar to his own, the fight hadn’t moved in the slightest.
“I got an idea fragment, how about a single attack, one where we put our all into it?” Thrym suddenly suggested, catching Michael off guard.
“You know that you are only limited to using the same strength as me right?” Michael asked for clarification, he was not keen on getting blown to bits by a Tier 10 attack.
“Of course… I always keep my word” Thrym said with a smirk before a massive vortex of ice began forming around his arm.
Yeah, that’s at least Tier 2.
‘I don’t need you to tell me that…’
Michael pondered for a moment on what to do, while he did have some offensive skills, none of them were super destructive.
Even if he combined all of them he doubted that it would make the difference between a Tier 1 skill and a Tier 2 skill.
I’ll give you a hint since I am feeling generous, there is unused mana in the air.
‘Unused mana in the air..?’ Michael thought about it for a moment before focusing.
The system was right, there was quite a lot of mana surrounding him, even more the higher he looked.
As if the further away they were from the ground, the more dense the mana became.
Michael had an idea, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to implement it, so he decided to look around himself.
Thrym seemed pretty relaxed, not really paying him any mind.
‘Snow..’ He thought as he suddenly noticed something behind Thrym.
A lone snowball, due to the pressure coming from his attack, it began rolling on the ground, increasing its mass drastically before falling off the mountain.
‘That’s it!’ Michael finally got what he needed, the final piece of the puzzle.
At first, he tried combining Sword of Light with Piercing Light, however, it seemed pretty hopeless.
The Piercing Light skill was not very good at absorbing mana, while Sword of Light was.
Michael looked up into the sky, towards where he sent all of his swords and he began combining them, eventually turning them into a single massive Sword of Light.
However, he was not finished, there was still one thing left to do before he could call it a successful skill.
And that was, to break it.
Michael injected as much outer mana as he could until the sword felt unstable, and when it did, he waved his hand down and cut the connection.
Are you crazy?
‘What?’ He thought while looking at his shaky hand, he must have exhausted at the very least 80% of his total mana.
But in the next moment, he noticed what the system meant, a sudden pressure descended on everyone present, and in the far off sky, there was a single golden light.
As if it were the sun.
Michael felt excited, but it only lasted for a few seconds before a small frown appeared on his face.
The attack would hit Thrym, but at the same time, it would hit him as well, maybe the others in the distance too.
Yeah, you just made a nuke, congratulations genius.
‘Fuck’ He expressed as a sudden sound met his ears.
-Ding
