A New World, an immersive game experience

Pushing more mana into his ice shield to have it hold just a few seconds longer, Eldrian was sent flying to the side as Two activated a few of the wind bursts he had prepared.

Out of the way of the spear, Eldrian canceled his shield and retracted his mana. Decreasing how much stronger the spear could grow as it flew high in the air. Disappearing from sight as Eldrian continued to freefall.

'Phew, that was perhaps a bit too close—' Eldrian's thoughts froze as he found the world disappearing into darkness. For a moment, it reminded him of the magic abyss, until he realized it wasn't just dark. He couldn't even see his hand nor Crystoi. Like a thick mist of smoke, the darkness obscured everything.

'This is...mana? Another spe—' Casting yet another wind burst, Eldrian flung himself out of the perceived danger. Yet, he was too slow. Pain filled his mind as he found his left arm nearly severed at the elbow.

Two immediately got to healing the wound while Eldrian tried to confirm what was happening. He was still free-falling, and he was sure that just now was a dagger wielded by a feminine hand. Somehow, Levana had reached him a few hundred meters in the air.

Trying to spread out his mageia through the surroundings to 'see', Eldrian found he could only expand it a few meters around him. Some hidden force in the mist of darkness clashed with his will.

'Shit!' Again, he threw himself to the side to dodge an attack. With no idea how close the ground he was and needing to keep his guard up, Eldrian found he was seemingly in check mate.

'If only I knew how to fly,' he grumbled as this time he reacted quick enough to not need to rely on sending himself flying to the side. Blocking Levana's attack, however, ended up sending him flying nonetheless.

"Uhckk!" Crashing into the ground, Eldrian coughed out blood as he sent himself skidding to the side to avoid a small throwing dagger. Piercing the stage, it exploded, burning Eldrian as he found himself defenseless in the darkness.

"That hurt, you know!" He shouted, hoping to buy time while Two was analyzing the mist of darkness covering the area. Like the spells before, the darkness element made it extremely difficult to peer inside.

"Then this is going to hurt a lot more!" Levana taunted as she struck from the darkness, flittering in and out of Eldrian's range of detection like an assassin. Two out of five Eldrian failed to react in time. Slowly eat through his massive HP pool, despite the healing spells he continued to cast.

'I was really looking down on her too much...' Eldrian realized as his HP dropped below two thousand. Over a third of his HP gone.

'The mist is weird. It feels different from spells. I suspect it is an ability or perhaps even aura related,' Two reported.

Dancing in the palm of Levana's hand, Eldrian did his best to keep his mind calm. Obviously he couldn't be angry at Levana, as he had asked for the duel. This was precisely why what he wanted. He wanted to test himself.

Sadly, as a result, he couldn't exactly call on any budding anger to fight back.

Instead, he had to keep calm and level-headed so he could hopefully rely on his second aura. Alternatively, Eldrian was trying to dig into his bloodline power. Sadly, he had no luck with either attempt.

After a few more minutes, and another five hundred HP lost with his blood covering the stage—hidden from sight and often causing Eldrian to slip and get a much deeper wound.

Still trying to find a way to counter, Eldrian felt something truly dangerous approach from above. His instincts screaming at him to dodge or he would die.

Sadly, when he tried, he found himself surrounded by blades of darkness. Mirages it seemed, but when Eldrian tried to ignore them he found Levana's daggers striking from his blindside.

'This better work!' Eldrian screamed internally as he threw everything he had into forming a barrier of ice above him. Forcefully suppressing his emotions and clearing his mind as he called on the power of ice inside him.

'Two, keep her attacks at bay!' Eldrian said, a mix of bark and calmness in his mental voice as he tried to keep his mind clear.

After two more attempts at getting in damage, Levana backed off. Presumably to avoid her own spell.

As it entered Eldrian's range of detection, he felt like laughing. The spear that had flown so high had returned. Now condensed to a needle and aimed directly at his head.

Somehow, Eldrian understood that he wouldn't be able to dodge it. Not that he had time. In the fraction of the time it took him to realize what it was, it had crashed into his ice barrier.

A massive shock wave of freezing air cleared the stage momentarily. Allowing everyone to see as a small needle pierced through Eldrian's barrier and bore straight towards him.

Yet, he did not appear flustered.

Time seemed to slow as the black needle pierced the barrier, Eldrian moving his arm to intercept. And just as it was about to pierce his arm, it froze. Along with a pillar of air about ten meters high.

From which the surroundings itself seemed to—no, as the surrounding air all started freezing. A tree of frozen air appearing in the arena with the needle stuck in place as it imploded and exploded.

Yet, it did not manage to break through the tree of frozen air. Only causing a few slivers of cracks to form inside the tree.

Escaping from the stage, Levana took flight as she watched the entire stage turning into an ice sculpture. With Eldrian in the center, the roots of the tree.

'Thank goodness that worked...' Eldrian mumbled, not realizing the state he was in. It took him a few seconds.

'Oh, shit.' Eldrian had half suspected something like this might happen. Feeling quite stupid as he stood frozen on the stage, Eldrian thanked his lucky stars that it appeared the ice was not freezing him to death. Not yet, at least.

He could feel the cold slowly inching into him. Especially through his nostrils as the air continued to be frozen. Eldrian immediately tried to stop this, calling his mana and heating his body as much as possible.

Levana turned to where Sofiera and the others were. Confusion clear in her eyes.

"He's not dead, though he isn't far off. Let's see if he can rescue himself." The centaurette answered the implied question calmly.

"Aren't you going to save him?" Levana asked, failing to comprehend how everyone who had followed Eldrian here to fight for the fort was so calm. Well, the girl at a distance didn't seem calm, and the dwarf had a deep frown. But the others didn't even bat an eye at letting Eldrian die.

"If he ends up dying, we will simply resurrect him. Though...this ice is a problem." Saying this, Sofiera added a barrier of fire on top of the barriers Myropsis had created. The flames died nearly instantly. Seeing this, the group moved back to not end up as frozen sculptures—like a certain elf.

AN: Remember to vote and comment if you are enjoying the story.