Blood was covered on his entire face, his left eye also hurt, body dripping sweat as if he had just come out of the pool. Panting heavily, exhausted completely. As a one last ditch effort, he lifted his sword to charge towards the man.
But suddenly! The man disappeared out of his sight.
"Huh? Where did he go…" Arthur thought to himself
"Behind!" He heard a scream, someone alerting about the upcoming attack.
Woosh! Askovow appeared from behind, launching an attack on Arthur. Totally taken by surprise, Arthur couldn't even notice this.
'Woosh!!'
Arthur ducked, his instincts had screamed, saving him at the last moment. Arthur rolled and stood up after making some distance. The situation was hopeless, he was almost out of moves here.
"Hey Arthur, time to use our special." A voice emerged out of seemingly nowhere.
Behind Arthur, stood a young man, white short hair, long chin, big eyes. An ally, his name was Olfred, his palms joined together on the front. His eyes filled with confidence
He came as a saviour at the last moment.
Aurthur's face showed a sudden change in expression, the dull and hopeless face turned into an energetic and a confident one.
"Nice timing bud.", Arthur prepared himself again, getting into his fighting stance.
"It's about time… You shall lose here." As Arthur spoke these words, electric impulses started being released from his body and he moved…
His speed was insane, it had increased by many times, it was hard for anyone to track his movements.
Olfred was channeling his ability through Arthur's body. It was a hard thing to do, as even a small mistake can cause a big trouble. With this, Arthur could now combine his flames with the electric energy he had in his body.
"Charged flames!!!"
Several high speed flames were directed by Arthur towards the man and he was barely able to dodge them.
Olfred's ability has charged Arthur's nerves, increasing the coordination of muscles and increasing their speed and strength.
Askovow immediately took up his sword and prepared to attack. He charged towards Arthur at the highest level that he could. Both of them had started pushing them to their limits.
Their speeds were insane, it was even hard for anyone to catch up to their speeds.
'Clang!!'
'Clang!!'
'Clang!!'
Their blades clashed, again and again, the impact was insanely powerful, their weapons were barely surviving this battle and it looked like they could break at any moment.
But suddenly, the unexpected happened! Arthur got a shallow cut on his arm. Everyone was shocked, they all thought that this was the end of Arthur's legacy. But… Arthur wasn't the one who would give up so easily.
"I know that very well now that you need some time to activate your ability. I will just have to kill you before it!" Arthur declared with not even the slightest fear in his eyes. He was determined and serious.
He had no time to spare, each second mattered at this point. He immediately started using heavy blows of attacks on Askovow.
"Flame bombardment!!" Arthur roared, announcing his attack, giving heavier fiery attacks which release burst on impact. It was getting harder for Askovow to stand. The impact, the fury and the heat hitting his blade, he could feel it in his hands.
"Damn it!! Damn it!!" As time passed his attacks continued, and that also, with insane speed from the electric impulses. Arthur's mana tank was depleting at really high speed, he knew that he wouldn't be able to last for long.
And within less than three minutes Arthur reached his limit, his attacks started slowing down. He felt like he couldn't even stand properly now. Olfred was also in a similar condition, keeping this coordination of abilities was a really difficult task. Arthur was certain that this was the end.
"You gave a nice fight, kid, but now… you have to die." Askovow smirked, his body was also covered in sweat, but didn't seem like he was tired.
Everyone watched quietly, nobody uttered a single word. Arthur had already accepted his defeat, he was exhausted to the limit he couldn't do anything, at least not within a few seconds. But…
Askovow's pissed off face made them realise something.
"Why aren't you just killing me?" Arthur asked.
"Irritating Bastard…" Askovow muttered…
"I always had a theory that you have a time limit for using your ability to instantly kill people, maybe it was correct. What is it? Barely over three minutes?" Arthur said with a slight smile, exhaustion etched all over his face, he was barely standing up.
"You are smart, kid…" Askovow declared as he prepared himself, seeming to be trying to attack once more, but nobody expected what was going to come next.
He released a powerful slash, missing Arthur by a great distance. Arthur was confused…
But alas, it was already too late to realise. That attack wasn't meant for Arthur. It was meant for the man standing right behind him, the one who was currently sharing his ability.
The already tired and helpless Olfred was brutally hit on his abdomen by that slash, he was too exhausted to react properly to the unexpected flow of events. But before leaving this world he left out his last words. "I have no regrets…", and then, fell lifelessly on the ground, his ability being cancelled immediately, as Olfred entered his eternal slumber and died with a smile on his face.
Arthur fell back on his buttocks, furious, and stared in rage towards the man, Askovow, who had a satisfied grin on his face. He was shocked, saddened by the death of his friend.
"Why…" Arthur blamed himself for the death of his comrade, if he were strong it would have not happened.
It was hard for Arthur to even remain conscious, he had pushed himself to extreme limits, he was slowly losing sight of the world as he saw Askovow leaving, he couldn't do anything but just watch him go.
"You fought quite nicely, when I was using just a small percentage of my power, I liked it…Fate will make us meet again really soon…" This was the last thing Arthur heard before losing consciousness.
The stronger the ability, the higher the toll on the body, Askovow's special ability to kill anyone in just one hit, it is a really strong one, but it's consequences are too much to handle. Almost all of his abilities are too strong for his body.
Once he activates his skill, it can attack multiple targets at once, but each skill activated causes huge exhaustion to his body and reduces his strength drastically, until he releases his exhaustion. It also uses some of his life force.
This time, he had overused all of his abilities and had used up quite a large sum of his energy. Continuous use of the skill for long can even prove fatal, but he is not dumb enough to attempt such a thing.
Having a strong element is not important, the important thing is if the person is able to handle the after effects of the ability or not.