Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

The princess's entourage guided everyone to a duel arena deeper into the palace. They descended a few sets of stairs on the way, making Lucius think that the arena would be underground. However, when they reached their destination, he was surprised to find a wide-open expanse of sky above his head.

The same octagonal towers he had seen from outside surrounded the arena, blocking any view in or out of the arena. It felt like they were at the bottom of a giant stone tube.

The arena itself was also shaped like a large octagon. Several massive crystals glowing with a pale blue-green light were embedded at even intervals along the walls up the sides of the tower. A few dozen crystals emitting light lined the wall about head height above the ground to compensate for the inability of natural sunlight to penetrate this deeply into the arena.

"Quite a setup." Desmond whistled. "What's with the big blue-looking ones?"

Therentil moved to the side of the entrance where there was another blue-green crystal. However, this one was about the size of a person's head, while all the ones forming rings above their heads were easily the size of an entire person. When his hand pressed on the smaller one, all the crystals of the same color above them started to glow simultaneously.

A magical barrier began to form between the crystals and coated the pristine stone walls of the towers and arena. As a test, Desmond walked up to the newly formed magical barrier and with a few simple taps, whistled again. Lucius agreed that it was rather impressive. At a glance this barrier was many times stronger than the one used at the Exhibition Tournament.

A cruel smile formed on his face as he started to think about the possibility of him breaking it. It took a few moments for him to remind himself that it would likely be a bad idea. Since the walls of the palace were behind the barrier, it was likely the damage could result in collateral damage that he was not willing to be held responsible for at the moment.

"Alright, come on, let's go!" Corva shouted as she walked to the opposite end of the arena.

Therentil closed the door to the arena behind them, leaving only the two fighters inside. They would observe through the same viewing technology they donated to Arcadios, eliminating the need for seats. As Lucius moved to his starting position he felt a strange set of eyes on him.

Someone was watching him, but he couldn't tell from where. The Empyrean Ranker was watching, sure that much was obvious, but someone else had started to observe. A strange tugging sensation formed in the pit of Lucius's stomach as he felt a strange desire to look for the source.

"Hey, pretty boy!" Corva shouted, "Are you going to get ready or not?"

He shook his head clear of the thoughts and decided to focus on the battle ahead of him. The princess leading the faction behind Kalliope's kidnapping was observing. If he could scare her enough, then she might pull strings and help him into Seteste.

"I'm sorry Corva, but I will not be holding back. I will use everything at my disposal."

"As will I. Come at me, Titan."

The elf summoned a somewhat familiar-looking hammer from a storage ring. Unlike the first time he saw it, the weapon exuded several times the amount of mana. Whatever work she had done to it had massively increased its potential and power. Not only that, but she also summoned and equipped a strange armor set.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

To the average person, it looked like simple leather armor, not too different from what a hunter might wear when going after dangerous game. It, too, had a number of strange enchantments attached and made Lucius raise his level of caution.

At first, he assumed this battle would go much like the first, but the woman's pride seemed a little wounded. Because of this, she made adequate preparations for him. Lucius smiled at her tenacity and felt sorry for her because this fight would not go the way she wanted.

"Alright, Corva." He called out, "Ready to go?"

His opponent responded by activating her hammer. Mana condensed behind the back of one of the hammer faces and formed a massive, blue flame. He could feel the intense heat from across the battlefield.

Lucius began to ready his machete. As he reached for it, Corva activated her Arts, "[Hammer Arts: Earth Shaker]!"

At the same time the Art was activated, Corva jumped into the air and clicked her boots together. The same blue flame formed behind her hammer formed at the soles of her feet. In less time than it took Lucius to blink, the Enchanter Princess disappeared from view and reappeared before him with her hammer less than an inch from his face.

With not even a second to spare, Lucius dodged the strike with a [Lightning Charge] enhanced step. Since he recognized the Art she used, he made sure to appear on the other side of the arena. As he had predicted, her hammer impacted the earth and sent massive shockwaves throughout the battlefield.

Lucius was rather unaffected because of the distance he created, but Corva was not done. She once again vanished and reappeared near him, forcing them to entertain each other with a dance of strike and then dodge. Corva seemed to have him on the run, as Lucius's only moves were to dodge.

After almost a minute of that, Corva stopped then activated the other face of her hammer. Mana condensed in the front face of it and a massive cyclone originating at her hammer reached forward, threatening to grab Lucius. Explore hidden tales at empire

Wind whipped at his hair and cloak, but he refused to move. For a moment, he thought she was simply repeating the same tactics from their first fight. He started to feel disappointment, but that stopped when he realized what was happening.

Lucius's head began to hurt, and he felt slightly faint. Breathing became harder. His eyes opened in the sudden realization that she was using the wind magic to suck away the breathable air from around him.

Lucius continued to hold his ground and extended his machete into its two-handed configuration. As mana filled the blade, he activated his [Forsaken Arts: Savage Strike] and [Tempestas: Lightning Strike] simultaneously. Red lightning crackled along the length of his blade, with occasional streaks arcing to the ground.

"Glad you are taking this seriously." Corva shouted with a smile. Her voice was barely audible over her own magic.

Lucius simply smiled.