The Black Necromancer

A dark gray corona of light stuck closely to Kai's sword and shield as he stood opposite Leon. The two of them had not yet exchanged blows even though everyone around them was already fighting madly. There was no build up to the fight, and the climax had already erupted.

"We don't need to fight if you just come with us." Kai tried again. He really did not want to fight Leon because he kept on getting bad vibes.

"Yeah... No." Leon snorted and burst into action, leaping forward. His eyes glowed with purple light, and Kai felt a weakness begin to seep into his bones, but before anything could happen, a warm, radiant light burst out from his chest, pushing away the sickly purple that threatened to weaken him.

The failure of his Curse Eyes surprised Leon for a moment. This was a first. Ever since he got this skill, it had never failed him, even against boss monsters from the Tower of Trials. So, why now?

Kai was not surprised that whatever trick Leon had pulled had failed. Beneath his leather armor was a medallion that he had gotten from his father, a Peak A rank mage. His father was a powerful believer of Dardan, and he had a lot of special items. The Beast Medallion was one of them, a powerful item imbued with a strange energy called Divinity.

Kai did not understand just what this Divinity was, but when his father had told him that it would protect him, he did not doubt his father for a moment. And indeed, it had protected him.

Kai dragged the flat side of his sword across the front of his shield, causing it to burst into bright gray flames. He held the shield up in front of him, blocking Leon's attack, which led to a massive explosion of gray fire. He was more of a warrior than a mage, but he had learned quite a few neat tricks through his knowledge on runes and enchantments.

The explosion pushed back Leon several meters away, giving Kai more room to work. He was not someone who liked to jump into battle at once. He preferred to study his opponent's way of fighting and then try to see if he could work around it.

From what he had felt in the earlier clash, the strength of Leon's weapon aura was not too high, which was surprising. That would mean that Leon's skill level was still quite low compared to his.

Kai had reached the Advanced grade in a few of his skills. He was a genius with weapons, and it showed with how quickly his weapon related skills leveled up. Although he had only been B rank until after Divinity's Bout, his skill levels were much higher than most of his peers.

'This might be easier than I thought after all.' He thought to himself as Leon righted himself and warily gazed at him.

Indeed, fighting against an A rank was not something easy. He had been able to handle Nasir because Nasir had been trying to limit the scale of their fight in order to protect Lance and the boys, but Kai was not doing the same thing.

Not only was Kai stronger than Nasir, but he also had complete faith that his family would be able to handle themselves well.

'Fine, then.' Leon sighed and decided to pull out all stops. With a pulse of dense mana, a black dome spread out as his Domain unfolded. With it came the wispy hands of darkness, trying to reach for Kai and hold him down.

[Your Title: <Supreme>, has been activated! +150 Strength!]

Leon felt a wave of power burst through his bones at once, flooding his entire body with immense strength. The last time this had happened, his stats had been lower, so they had only barely crossed over the line that separated B rank from A rank. Now, though, Leon was already straddling that line, so the boost was much more considerable!

A dangerous aura burst out of Leon's form, tangible and hard. It sent a blast of cold air against Kai, sending his hair whipping around, and making the Beastkin's face pale. Before Kai could think of anything more, he temporarily lost sight of Kai. His instincts began screaming to alert him, and he ducked, narrowly missing a horizontal slash of Leon's sword. The slash was followed by a quick punch to his chest, sending him skidding backwards while planted in the ground, drawing a trail in the soft earth.

"Urgh!" Kai spat out a mouthful of blood, shaken up from the inside. But he quickly regained his wits. He was an A rank Beastkin, a veritable powerhouse of his own, and his Vitality was quite high, even among Low A ranks. He jumped to his feet and held up his shield just as Leon came crashing down on him with a stab of his sword.

The purple and gray weapon auras clashed against each other for a moment before another, more powerful, explosion rang out. However, this time, Leon was not blasted away. His feet dug into the ground as he skidded back a couple of feet, but otherwise, he was okay. His Durability had been able to offset most of the damage.

"It won't be that easy to handle me." Leon glowered, the light in his eyes turning even more ominous. The purple corona of light around his sword began to tremble as it was reinforced by a shade of black and a rusty color.

Kai felt a great threat from that color and held up his shield, ready for any attack that would come his way. Normally, he was not this defensive, but there was something about Leon that just had him on edge. He felt as if doing anything careless would leave him in a bad position. Attacking could create an opening in his stance that would lead to Leon exploiting that opening to deal fatal damage to him.

"Scared?" Leon chuckled as he walked forward. His eyes flashed and his body blurred forward. He did not try to move in a tricky way. He was aiming for Kai's shield in the first place.

Clang!

Leon's sword met with Kai's shield, causing a loud collision. But unlike before, where there was an explosion following the collision, this time, there was nothing.

"What?!" Kai gasped and quickly leapt backward, abandoning his shield as he did so. The moment Leon's sword had come into contact with the gray flame barrier around the shield, it was as if the enchantment on the shield had weakened, allowing Leon's sword to touch the shield directly. Then in the next moment, Kai felt the enchantment he had put on the shield break apart, and he had abandoned the shield because he could feel that whatever thing that had broken the enchantment was far from done.

"Haha! Are you shocked? Are you surprised?!" Leon laughed and stuck to Kai like a shadow. The gray haired Beastkin did not dare to come into contact with Leon for fear of whatever had destroyed his shield getting on him.

'Was that... Rot?' Kai thought seriously. He could not think of anything else that could have done that, but if that was so, then he had to say, the Rot effect that Leon had used was very strong! His Beast Medallion could protect against many things, but it could only protect his own body, not his weapons.

Dodging Leon, Kai kept on retreating, using the terrain to his advantage. As he stepped onto the ground after twisting around a large tree, the earth suddenly softened underneath his foot, messing with his balance ever so slightly. He instantly regained his footing, but that small delay was enough to let Leon appear in front of him, his hand slapping down and slamming into Kai's face.

"Ugh!" Kai grunted as his head slammed into the ground. He was okay, but unfortunately, Leon's hand still remained firmly around his face. The rust colored mana coating his hand lingered, but failed to breach the light, but deceptively strong barrier of Holy energy that protected Kai. The holy energy came from the Beast Medallion.

"Oho? You are able to resist my Rot?" Leon chuckled and nodded his head in interest and surprise. "For how long, though?" He asked with a devious grin on his face and suddenly amped up the mana that was fueling his Rot spell.

Boom!

The ground caved in around them, and the trees in the surroundings suddenly stared dying, rotting away as they were deprived of life.

Kai felt a great sense of danger looming over him, and he instantly exploded with as much strength as he could. His left fist soared and struck Leon's head, while his sword blazed with gray fire and struck Leon's side.

Boom!

Another massive explosion shook the surrounding area, but Kai did not achieve his goal. Leon still stood above him, and a phantom force suddenly locked around Kai, making his limbs heavier, and making it harder for him to struggle!