Chapter 76 - Farewell

"I beg of you instructor, please don't engage my father in combat," Eira felt the tension. If a fight were to break out at this moment, the whole battle arena would surely be destroyed in the process. Sophie's anger and determination were shown brightly on her face. Eira saw it and so did the students; their instructor was serious for once. Sparks of flames flickered around her feet, the air warmed up around her hands. Wind slightly blew her hair upwards. Eira's plea fell on deaf ears, a fight was imminent.

"Eira, please g-get out of there," Ysmay, who's presence was feeble up to this point yelled from behind the crowd. Eira glanced, fear flashed on her face – Ysmay saw the unthinkable. Eira's face froze, her emotions stuck between fear and despair. Sophie was out of it, she saw blood; as a last attempt, she faced Staxius. "P-please, d-don't f-fight." Her voice feebly stuttered. "It's too late for reconciliation, look at your teacher – do you feel her hate, her killing intent? That's the kind of opponent I both admire and hate; their will power can surpass any human's limit. The time now isn't for chatting; I meant for this to happen, I want to fight Sophie Mirabelle for the last time." He spoke, it was as if he was saying farewell, the turning of a new page.

"It's been a long time since we've fought, you probably don't remember, but we had our last battle here as well," Staxius mumbled, Sophie looked unmovable, her face remained stuck.

"I hope you're powerful, hold back against me will result in your death, father of Eira, this battle will be fought without pity – death is the only outcome desirable." Unwillingly, Sophie said the unthinkable, she challenged him to a battle to the death. Her students shuddered, little by little, they backed away and ran out of the arena. "Someone, go get the director, if instructor Sophie really intends on fighting to the death then she may lose," Eira shouted, her fears changed into reality.

"Impossible, the instructor wields three magical elements of which she has mastered all. There is nowhere a former battle-mage can lose to a mere student like us." One of her classmates spoke, his confidence was heard through the way he uttered each word.

"You don't understand, that man standing there is a demon," Eira fell to her knees, none believed her. "Don't worry, I'll go get the director this instant," Ysmay ran out, leaving Eira to her own, she was petrified.

"Holding back, do you think I'm that ignorant to hold back against a former sss-rank mage?" He smirked, "yes, you've seen right through me, I'm going to enjoy this till one of us stops breathing completely." Staxius's face changed, nothing – empty as the void itself.

The flickers of sparks near Sophie's feet grew in intensity, they turned into a raging inferno. It crawled up all the way to her h.i.p.s, the air around her boiled, lightning flashed up and down her arms. "Let's dance," *Lightning and wind element; Infinite flashstep.* A spell only dual-element wielders could master, an A-tier, difficult to master but easy to use – speed enhancement. Learning speed increasing spells was a must for any mage. Being faster than the opponent was one of the fundamentals, though that practice has long been forgotten. Only a handful of people use it; the reason for that is that a mage could well be faster than his opponent but if the brain could not react at such high speeds, then it was unnecessary. Faster velocity was a double-edged sword, either you limit your speed to how fast your brain can process or not increase your speed at all and focus on other spells. *Fire and Lightning elements; flaming daggers.*

Two weapons were conjured, the students look surprised, none had ever seen her conjuration magic. "I still don't know how that guy is going to fight back against the crimson princess, we may well see someone die."

"Are you done with your performance, have you cast all the necessary spells to beat me?" Staxius mocked her, Sophie unwillingly was putting on a show for the students; demonstrating her abilities – part of it. "Shut up," she said while jumping left to right. *Poof,* she vanished. Effortlessly, Staxius stepped to the right, something flowed down his cheeks. Sophie was still nowhere to be found; his movement increased. Bit by bit, the clothes were ripped, he fought without using magic. "Are you mocking me?" a voice came from behind him, both daggers pressed against his neck.

"See I told you, that man you call father is weak; he could not even budge."

"…" Eira remained silent and watched; doubts filled her mind – was Staxius really that weak and did she overestimate him?

"Not really," *Death element: Shadow-step* he vanished. "-was just getting a feel about how you fight; I must say – it's changed." He now stood behind her. "How did," they both vanished, all that could be heard around were footsteps running, jumping, and stopping. "This is getting boring fast," *Fire and wind element: Fireblast,*

Flames surfaced out of nowhere, part of the arena burnt. The battle continued raging on, Sophie fought, she used every spell, trick, and experience she gathered over her years fighting. Staxius remained passive, he dodged, his hands remained inside his pocket, he didn't look fazed at all. "You are indeed underestimating me," Sophie's face looked tired but more importantly – the anger never subsided, it burnt like an inferno.

Staxius wasn't being smug, he fought a different battle. A battle of wits, instead of using physical or magical strength, he was exerting what he was a master at, emotional control. Sophie, a battle-mage, loved getting close and personal to fight with all her might. Instead of falling into her ideal place of combat, Staxius changed his whole fighting style; instead of going head to head, he fought passively. This made Sophie hate him even more, he did everything she loathed, and in turn, affected her overall strength. Getting riled up was bad in one on one combat, calm and thinking with one's head was more efficient.

"Sophie Mirabelle, stop being so reckless – you've fallen into his trap, fight like you always do, fight as you want; I'm cheering for you." Someone spoke through the intercoms. The speakers around the arena deafened the students as well as the ones on the field. A quick glance into the monitoring booth revealed nothing, only their reflection was seen. Though hidden, it was apparent that Josiah was the one responsible, instead of stopping the fight, he added fuel to the already burning fire.

Staxius sighed, Sophie's anger calmed down. "-that's unfair now isn't it?" he mumbled. It might not have been much help, Sophie's aura felt more composed. Her true strength manifested, the look on her face was one of a new person; someone reincarnated. Sophie snorted, "you've read me like a book from the very start."

"Enough speaking, I'm bored – are we going to fight? All you've been doing is rush at me like a raging bull, do make it interesting." Staxius had enough of her speaking through the battle. She got the message and nodded. Her stance changed, the daggers disappeared, a short sword was conjured in its place. "Guess I'll have to start taking this seriously now," Staxius dash to where the students left all their weapons and picked up a longsword. *Clang,* the weapons clashed immediately, Staxius got pushed back. Sophie's strength grew exponentially, flames covered her entire body, the wind served to ignite the fire even more. Lightning pulsed through her entire body, it glowed with purple color.

The real battle now begun, blocks, parries, swings became more common than the use of magic. Strike after strike, Sophie's strength increased. She became more powerful by the second, Staxius could no longer directly block all her swings, her muscle memories were awakening. *Death element, Unleash Aura,* the swords collided for the last time, it sent a shockwave all around the arena, the ground beneath them cracked. Sophie didn't look worried at all, Staxius's face looked emotionless.

The aura's battled one another, though the mages stood still. It felt like two barriers getting pushed closer to one another, they repelled, sent electric shocks. Sophie's mind was no longer here; her focus heightened so much that she now stood before a door. A door to Clarity, the realm of insanity, her aura responded accurately. Her sword changed from a transparent color into one of scarlet, the real crimson princess came out of her shell. Despite the aura's fighting, one swing from Sophie was enough for Staxius to be blasted away. Dust, wind, fire, electricity, everything was blown back.

Before Staxius could even get his bearing back, the sword had already reached his neck. *Bam,* he flew, a familiar face winked at him. Avon stepped in at the last second and took most of the damage, leaving only the resulting blast to deal with. Staxius flew half-way across the arena. "I could end this in a single snap, but no." Sophie charged at him without even looking left or right, "the only way to stop a mage who uses conjuration magic is," he stood, Sophie was ready to thrust the sword into his chest.

*Death element; Daemon….* Before he could finish the conjuring spell, something inside broke, it made his head and heart sink, something snapped. Out of reflex, he changed the spell, *Dark-arts; Mana cancellation,* it vanished. All her physical enhancement disappeared instantly, she fell to the floor, the door to Clarity began closing. "W-what just happened?" she was on the floor, kneeling before Staxius.

"I guess I lost didn't I?" she spoke, she was disappointed. "Not really, you both won and lost, I can't explain it fully." He crouched down, "I enjoyed the battle though, thanks …big sister," he whispered the last bit. All the students rushed onto the arena which now was beaten down with fire blast, ground carved in here and there, rocks, rubbles, and debris. "Teacher, are you alright?" she slowly got to her feet and reassured her students.

"Thanks for not going all out, father," Eira waited near the entrance, Staxius smiled and left. Sophie looked baffled, the guy she fought called her sister, a mild pain made her lose balance, a concussion from the battle.

The sun still shone, Staxius stood under a tree further ahead of the battle-arena. The wind calmed and refreshed the sweat onto his body. "My hands, they are shaking. I c-can't u-use a-anymore of m-my strength." Since he came back, something was awfully wrong about his body. Given his aura was powerful, a certain part of him felt uneasy. In that last battle, everything became apparent, the cursed blade. "I wish I could say I held back, but that was me g-going a-at full power…" his hands trembled further, Staxius was in shock. A few instants later, his legs gave in, and he fell; hitting his head on the trunk. "W-what i-is happening?" his body began sweating profusely, none were around to see what was happening to him. "Vermillion meteor, I remember it n-now," he could no longer speak. "It's since t-that d-day… m-my s-strength is g-getting stolen from me." He thought loudly. The eyelids felt heavy, he fell unconscious.

"Lord death?" each step echoed around the room; Jessica ran around. "I'm here," he replied as cheerfully as ever. "Did you sense it?" she asked worryingly. "Yes, indeed I did - my prodigy is in deep trouble. Nothing life-threatening though, however, something is definitely wrong. I can't wrap my fingers around it at this moment, but I'm sure it's related to the world-changing. We truly are entering a new era. The god-slayer has already claimed many lives from deities – we are but spectators. I'm sure I've told Staxius Haggard this before, but us, wielders of the death element as well as the ones who rule over death are bound to ruin and failure. It's part of the struggle, good luck my heir, good luck." He concluded his soliloquy and returned to his duties.

"I just hope you hang in there, Staxius."