I became a legion lich

263 Ash Black Feather

“Don’t be like that, let’s make these matches more interesting.” The master spoke with a wild smile that became even more frightening on his face, sending shivers through the surrounding beastmen.

“I cover all bets, no, I’ll do better. I’ll bet my personal weapon on Ash to win.” He spoke, touching the katana at his waist. It was his personal weapon and was definitely worth more than the crap others were betting on, making them frown deeply.

Now, they would be forced to raise their stakes to match the clan master, or they would be seen as cowards who wouldn’t keep their word. Until a few seconds ago, they were bragging about how certain victory was and all the beastmen around heard everything they said, so retreating was not an option.

“I understand your willingness to believe in your son even with his condition, but are you sure losing your best weapon is the best way to do that?” The chief of mages asked to try to escape without betting against the clan master, fearing the consequences of win him.

He was still confident that he would win the bet, but taking the clan master’s blade would make him a true enemy of the master instead of just a random one who pissed him off for insulting his son.

A warrior’s weapon was a great pride for a clan of warriors like them and taking it would make them mortal enemies.

“I said I’d bet my katana and I keep my word. How about you?” the clan master asked with one of his eyebrows raised, sealing off all the rival beastmen’s escape paths.

All of them started to bet their own weapons or something worth equivalent to the clan master’s kanata, though most of them begrudgingly. Unlike the chief mages, they sensed something strange in the clan master’s absolute trust, even though his judgment was tilted in Ash’s favor as his son.

The clan master had trained Ash personally, so maybe he knew something none of them did.

.....

After receiving confirmation that everyone who had gambled on Ash’s defeat stood by their words, the clan master sat around them to watch the fight, silencing any beastmen who wanted to continue their mockery.

He watched in silence as the fight between Ash and Loke reached its climax.

Both young men were using their abilities to the fullest, pushing their bodies beyond their limits, but the battle was clearly in Loke’s favor.

The wakizashi in Loke’s hands were surrounded by black flames that burned the tachi’s mana whenever they touched, forcing Ash to consume even more mana to replenish the lost energy.

“Why don’t you just give up at once, tarnished? This useless struggle of yours is just a waste of your energy and my time.” Loke spoke as he blocked an attack with the short sword in his right hand and tried to slash Ash’s wrist with the other.

Ash ground his teeth in annoyance but said nothing and concentrated on defending himself. He flapped his wings to get away as he conjured a shield of bright light, but the blade sliced ??through the shield and the black flames consumed it completely.

Loke tried to give chase while casting wind blades to try to block Ash’s escape route, but the latter didn’t plan to flee.

A meteor of three meters made of light and fire surged forward and engulfed Luke’s hastily conjured blades of wind, hitting the beastmen square in the face.

“That’s just a drag, tarnished!” Luke screamed as he released a blast of black flames with a flap of wings, scorching the surface of the meteor.

“A loophole!” Ash screamed as he crossed through the meteor and slashed horizontally, his sword surrounded by tiny, superheated blades of wind.

Luke blocked with the short sword in his right hand, but his hand went numb from the impact and he almost dropped the sword. Even though Ash was below him in layers, the amount of energy the core could store and circulate through the body was more than double, so the physical advantage was with Ash.

Half of the superheated wind blades were consumed by the black flames on the short sword, but the other half spread out and made several seared cuts on Loke’s right arm.

“You bastard!” Loke screamed, conjuring a blast of wind and flapping his wings at the same time, gaining space between himself and Ash. The wounds weren’t bleeding thanks to the temperature of the wind blades, but they still hurt a lot and temporarily broke his concentration.

Ash didn’t give him time to think, however, releasing a breath of fire as he chased after Loke. At the same time, he made the air extremely heavy, but only around Loke’s wings to bring him down.

Loke shouted furiously as a second burst of black flames devoured the air spell and flaming breath.

Ash kept trying to pressure Loke, but the devouring flames blocked his attempts every time. There was a limited amount of flames the wings could generate before running out of gas, but Loke was releasing it in small bursts to conserve energy, so it could last.

Ash tried every way he could think of to get past Loke’s defense, but only managed to inflict superficial wounds. His attacks were getting more and more savage, but his expression only got worse as he broke out in a cold sweat.

‘I’m already reaching my limit.’ Ash thought in frustration, realizing that his mana core had less than a tenth of its full energy. To make matters worse, his body was also saturated with energy and on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

He had been circulating mana, using skills and casting spells constantly since the fight started and was almost at the limit. If the fight persisted for a few more minutes, he would run out of mana and his body would collapse.

‘If I lose this fight, everything I’ve fought and suffered for until now will be for nothing. I’m not going to let that spoiled brat take away my only chance at a better life. Now its everything or nothing!’ Ash thought determinedly and kicked Loke’s abdomen away, before flying above him while waving his hand teasingly to follow, annoying the latter profusely.

“Don’t you dare fly above me, spotted!” Loke screamed, his pride like a wounded black hawk. His instincts as a monster told him that he should always be above others, so seeing someone he considered inferior in a higher position infuriated him.

Loke used wind magic synchronized with his flapping wings to propel himself upward while surrounded by black flames, but not a drop of his spell’s energy was affected thanks to his fine control over the flames.

The black hawk reached Ash in less than a second, slashing upwards in an X shape and releasing two blades of aura surrounded by black flames at close range.

“Keuk!” Ash blocked with his tachi, but the pressure of the attack was too strong for him to block and the blade nearly broke in both places the short swords touched.

The black flames devoured the energy reinforcing the tachi, allowing the aura blades to cut the sword almost in half.

At the same time, the flames around Loke’s body devoured the energy surrounding Ash’s body, weakening him profoundly. Without the mana to keep him steady, Ash’s body began to collapse and he began to suffer from internal bleeding in different parts of his body.

“You shouldn’t have insulted me or tried to fly above me, tarnished. I can’t kill you in front of so many elders, but I will make sure to humiliate you and pluck all your feathers so you’ll never fly again.” Loke muttered, his face inches away from Ash as they flew higher and higher.

“And you shouldn’t be such an idiot as to fall for such obvious provocation.” Ash replied as he smiled with a mouth full of blood, releasing its silver flames.

Silver flames engulfed Ash and Loke, spreading around them in a huge sphere of flames. Ash had no control over his silver flames, so all he could do was release his flames at full power and hope for the best.

He had avoided releasing the flames, as it would be an all-in situation and consume both Ash and Loke’s mana, leaving both weakened. Now, however, there was barely any mana left in his core while Loke was still nearly halfway down, so it was his only chance to level the playing field.

“You stained bastard, just because you know you’re going to lose, do you want to take me with you??” Loke asked in a panic, releasing all his flames to try and resist and failed miserably.

Loke had consumed a lot of his flames to save mana for skills and spells he knew would be inferior to Ash, so he was almost out of gas.