12 Chapter 13: Courage

The man brought us to outside of the city to the plains near the forest 

"Hey kid, what's your name?" He asked 

"It's rude to ask for someone's name without giving yours first." I replied 

"Hahaha, man you really crack me up." 

"Let's get this over with." I said 

The man was stood around 10 meters away from me, the 3 guys who threatened us were spectating and Ariel's job was to keep an eye on them 

The man who i was about to fight held Deep red daggers, i didn't see them at our blacksmiths shop so it must have been made by some sort of special ore. 

"See this coin? After it touches the ground we start. There are no rules, this includes killing." He said 

The man threw the coin into the air, and i started to apply a constant supply of magic to my dagger and body to reinforce them. 

"Alright." I replied 

Time felt like it was moving slowly as the coin began to fall. I felt my heart rate increase and my breathing felt heavier. The adrenaline was finally starting to get to me. Only now i truly realised that i could die. But, i can't give up... Because of my promise. 

The moment the coin touched the ground, the first one to make the move was him. He lept towards me at inhumanly fast speeds and swung both of his daggers once i was in range. 

I used both of my daggers to parry his and the shock put me off balance, the man took that opportunity to land a side kick on my left arm. 

The force managed to push me back even further than when he had kicked me in the city. My left arm felt so numb that it hurt, but I continued to hold on to the dagger. 

"That confirms it, you don't have any experience fighting people do you. what did your master teach you?" he asked 

"You sure do talk a lot, I never had one." I replied 

"What was that?!" He asked both irritated and confused 

The man leapt towards me again and kept constantly swinging his daggers at me with high speeds. If i had lost concentration for even a moment, i'm sure i would have been sliced. After parrying blows my hands started to feel numb from the shock from each parry. 

Seeing as how i was starting to slow down, the man took this opportunity to speed up and add more power onto his attacks. Since i had slowed down and gotten weaker due to the pressure, i ended up losing balance one more time. 

The man took this opportunity to send another side kick to my left arm. Taking another one of this kicks would have definitely rendered it useless. 

Before the kick could hit me i strengthened my legs and bend backwards. Resulting in the Kick barely grazing my chest. 

"Not bad, but-" 

The momentum of the kick had turned his body to face the other direction. I had planned to this instance to cast glacies and strike him. 

It happened so fast that i was even able to propel my ice Spike towards him, instead it stood there waiting for me to use it. once i saw that i got an idea. 

While he was still in the air, the man looked surprised after seeing a spike of ice having appeared out of thin air which caused him to slow down for a moment, but he quickly recomposed himself and continued his attack. 

That moment was all i needed. The instant his dagger touched my Ice spike, a grin formed on my face as i muttered the words "Scutum Glacies" 

As i casted the spell, in an instant, Many ice spikes were formed around my original ice spike, causing it to expand and take shape of a shield. Before he could move his dagger away, it had already pierced through the shield. 

"What!?" He let out in surprise as he realized that his dagger had gotten stuck. Precisely because it had pierced the shield. The ice from the shield quickly enveloped the dagger, before it reached him he had let go. 

"So you still had a trick up your sleeve, huh." He said 

I used this opportunity to get up and said. "Not really, i only thought about it, now." with a straight face 

The man looked at me with a dumbfounded expression before letting out a laugh. "Man.. You really are interesting.." 

Despite all of this small talk, i kept my guard up. The shield i had recently formed had remained in front of me. It had stopped expanding after completely engulfing the man's dagger and could move according to my will. Despite how big it was, it moved fast and could only go around 2 meters away from me at most. 

It will definitely prove itself helpful in this fight, but, he was able to cut through some of it easily with his dagger so i'm guessing it's not good at defending long range hits, it's only effective at short range if someone touches or attacks it. 

"Well then, shall we continue?" He asked as he slowly approached me 

I decided that shield might not have worked a second time, so i moved it behind me and muttered "Glacies" which caused 4 ice spikes to be formed around around me. 2 on my sides and 2 above my head. 

The guy who held his dagger stopped moving after he stood in front of me. He had a cautious expression after he noticed the spikes around me. 

They followed me wherever i went and always remained in the same position. Which is why after casting them all i need to do is think about them attacking and they do it. Not to mention how fast they are, due to how fast they are, dodging them at close range is extremely difficult. 

One hit is all it takes. this might end up freezing him to death, but if i hold back, i'll really die. Not that i'm prepared to take someone's life though. I'll unfreeze his face so that he can breathe after. 

Seeing as how i was focused in thought, the man finally commenced his attack. This whole time i was the on the defensive, but i can't afford to drag this fight out any longer.. I'm running out of mana. 

So i decided to switch things up a bit, i'm going to end everything in this attack. My dagger started to glow as i started to pour more mana into it. I started to increase the reinforcement of magic in my body. 

This resulted in my speed being increased and the power behind my attacks to be stronger. The one who was being pushed back now within the parry was this man. 

He let out a surprised expression after noticing what was happening. 

"You bastard, you were holding back?!" He said 

"Focus on the fight." I replied as i pointed towards his legs which had ice enveloped around them slowly spreading up his legs. 

"When did you?!" 

The moment he got distracted, i used the remaining 3 ice speaks around me and propelled them towards him. At this distance he managed to dodge the first one by tilting his head, but the other two were aimed at his stomach and chest 

He wasn't able to dodge them and on impact, it quickly spread throughout his whole body, leaving only the head out in the open. He was completely frozen. 

After realising he wouldn't be able to move no matter how much he struggled, he gave in 

"It's my loss, i surrender." He said as he hung his head 

"Good, then i'll be leaving." I replied before turning around and making my way towards Ariel 

As I started making my way towards Ariel and the guys who had frightened looks on their faces, i felt all my energy leave my body. I no longer had enough magic to keep magic strengthening active through my whole body... 

As i was approaching, Ariel, I saw her running towards me while pointing behind me. We original started off around 50 meters away from everyone so that they wouldn't get caught up. When i realised what she was trying to say. 

After i turned, the guy who i had frozen just recently was unfrozen, with traces of ice still on his body. 

H-How? I had completely frozen him.. Did he use magic?! 

"H-" 

Before i could finish what i was going to say, I had been punched by him right in the stomach. Without body reinforcement, The single punch made me collapse to the ground. Pain was surging through my stomach 

As I laid on the ground, i felt any remaining strength i had disappear. 

As i could feel myself losing consciousness, i looked up to see Ariel fighting against him. She kept constantly pressuring him with ventus, preventing him from approaching. 

Even though, i promised to protect her.. 

Before i could see the rest of the fight, i passed out. 

------------------------------------------------------ 

"Where am i..?" 

I look around and all i see is a darkness 

"Am i.. dead..?" 

Inside of this hollow black room all i could hear my voice. I could feel myself moving but couldn't hear any steps 

"Again... I was useless... DAMN IT!" I shouted as I punched the ground 

It then began to shatter, and I began to fall.