Aether Beasts

Chapter 227

The two of us moved at the same moment. I teleported to the tree located behind him while he spun and tugged on the strings in his hand. The moment I was at the tree, my instincts, and arcane sense cried out and I ducked as his strings cut through the tree with ease.

I dashed forwards, my glaive spinning, and as I moved, I formed a tendril of wood and shot it towards the top half of the cut tree. I pulled and flung it into the air while feeding aether into it.

Just as I met him in close quarters, the tree burst into a dozen spears of wood each with a mark. Normally it would have been very costly to create twelve of them, but the tree had already been marked and full of my mutated aether so I was able to pull it off fairly well.

Pate was forced to dodge not only my attacks but the spears which put him on the backfoot not that he didn't have tricks of his own a moment later, more strings of shadow shot from the lines of shadow upon the ground, and moved towards me.

It was a dance as even after my spears landed, I used them to dodge and close the distance as he moved across the battlefield. I didn't realize it at first, but he was actually using his strings to move. They were attached all over him and when he was in a position where he normally wouldn't be able to move or dodge, the strings would pull him and turn him to safety.

It was like a game of cat and mouse, except the roles kept switching. We both had techniques that allowed us quick movement across the battlefield. It was like two domains clashing. A spiderweb of shadows against the solid oak of a forest.

One moment he was on the back foot, and then next I was, as dozens of strings came at me. I wanted to use other techniques, but it would be very risky and if I did during the times when I was the one chasing then it would give him time as well, so while we clashed, again and again, glaive against strings, I had to decide if I wanted to continue as we were or change things.

In the end, the decision was made for me as Pate backed away when I narrowly dodged a sting and was somewhat open for attack.

The moment I saw aether surge around him, I began forming the necessary technique patterns. I had made sure my solar core was full before I had come to the arena, and now it was time to use it. I focused and pulled solar aether from my core and formed it into a very simple technique, but one that I knew would be very beneficial to me.

A ball of pure solar power formed in one of my hands and I launched it up into the center of the arena.

Pate's own technique was only a second behind my own as dark spires of a metallic-looking substance shot out of the ground, spinning as they did. They were complex and I could tell it had cost him a lot of aether. Each seemed to drain the light around it, and I quickly noticed that they had all been placed on the shadow lines from earlier.

It became clear what their purpose was a moment later when they began to spin and unwrap themselves. They hadn't been made of metal, but dozens if not hundreds of strings wrapped around each other.

Suddenly I felt as if I should have done something more, but there was no time for that.

As Pate was pulled towards me by strings, and dozens from all over the battlefield began to target me and my trees, I closed my eyes and focused inwards, and pulled a quarter of the solar aether in my core and let it flow through all of my body, forming a simple yet very effective technique for when surrounded.

As the strings closed in, just seconds away from cutting me to bits, my eyes snapped open, and a bubble of bright sunlight formed around my body before surging outwards in a wave of burning power.

I wasn't able to see it, but I was sure that the strings had burnt away, and that was confirmed when the light faded and I looked around to see Pate halfway across the battlefield with severe burns across his body. His shadow lines were still there, but the hundreds of strings were gone.

"Nice technique," I said, putting my glaive away and deciding to go with my fists. "But you'll have to do better."

Pate's head rose and for the first time, his lips moved, and they formed a small smile than sent a shiver down my spine. "Oh, I'll show you better."

Then he charged forwards in a blur of movement, far faster than he ever had before, and it took all my focus to dodge the strike to my neck and the follow-up knee to my groin. What happened next was not only confusion but dealy as Pate switched up his entire style of fighting. His eyes now show clear emotion. Anger and annoyance, along with a hint of malice. His fighting style before had been elegant and each of his strikes had seemed planned, but now he was fighting far more like a brawler, and relying on his newfound speed, which I couldn't understand.

He hadn't used any techniques to grant himself such a boost, which meant that he had been holding back.

That was just as confusing as he still thought he'd get Sandra if he won so why hold back?

Something wasn't right and it was annoying as all hell trying to figure it out under the onslaught. Attacks got through my guard and even with my bark armor, I could feel the impact.

Several times I tried to move away, but he kept on me, never allowing me a moment's rest. It was clear he was trying to tire me out or get me to drop my guard which wasn't going to happen.

I focused as little of my attention as I could on the orb that was still at the center of the arena, and triggered its main purpose. Pate's eyes widened, and he moved his head, but not quickly enough as the blast of solar power hit him in the back of the head sending him face-first into my fist, and another, and another as I took the opportunity to rain down blow after blow upon him, not giving him a chance to recover.

Each time he tried to get up or form a technique, I sent out a pulse of solar energy through each of my strikes directly onto his skin which sizzled at the contact. He tired again and again and each time he was burnt more and more. I was only channeling heat in the pulses and not force as I didn't want to kill him. Sure, he'd be badly burnt at the end of this, but not dead and the burns could be healed fairly easily since it was just skin.

"Are you done?" I asked as I continued my barrage.

His eyes flashed with rage and he let out a shout before multiple spires shot out from his body, and just like the last began to unravel. I stopped that with a large wave of solar power, and he let out a scream of both pain and what seemed like frustration. This time I did use force and he was sent flying back, eventually crashing into one of the walls that ringed the arena.

"You done now?"

Getting to his feet, Pate stared at me, and his eyes full of anger cooled into a sinister look just before he fashed towards me, strings from nearby shadow lines around him pulling him to him at greater speeds.

I sighed and prepared to end this. A solar strike to his head with the force should knock him out.

However, when he was in range, he didn't even attempt to dodge my attack and, instead pushed through it. My strike hit his forehead, but his expression didn't change. In fact, a smile stretched out across his face as one of his fingers touched my forehead.

I only had enough time to widen my eyes, as I sensed a familiar power coming from him before the world went dark and two words rang in my mind.

"I win."

_____

Pate, or so he was known, smiled as Aiden's eyes began to close. In truth, it hadn't wanted to use any horror aether since there was a chance whoever had broken the strings could erect it, but neither could it afford to lose.

However, just as it was about to move away, Aiden's hand shot out, and it heard a voice ring out in its mind. A voice is full of command and power beyond anything it had ever felt.

'Not so fast, parasite.'

A shiver ran down the spine of its host body before the world went white.

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