Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 26 Do Something About It.

Isaac sighed as he sat cross legged in the middle of the arena. His fight with Macken was not supposed to be some grand event. Izen, however, had other plans. Izen and Sera were on a morale campaign. After the loss of a small but noticeable part of their fighting forces it was imperative that those places were filled. The sooner the better because it took time to train up competent combatants. Whatever the reasons, the audience that was waiting impatiently for Macken to arrive was irritating.

Isaac didn’t mind an audience if he was going to get something out of it. He did mind when it was just a bunch of people that had shown up for a blood sport. Granted, half of the selling point of their fight was that no one was going to die either way. The other half was people wanting to watch the Legend Slayer in action. Isaac was also getting tired of being called that. Sure, Jallen V’Nova was a legend and Isaac did indeed slay him but he felt like people were latching onto it a bit too hard. He preferred to be known for what he was than what he had done. Was he positive that he was a demigod? No, but Rei and Zei hadn’t been very specific about the limits of the power they had given him. What he was sure of was that as far as mortals were concerned he was the most directly powerful wielder of dark mana in the known world, on par with literal dragons, Alexander had said so himself. Isaac would prefer to be known as the Lord of Darkness rather than just a Legend Slayer. There were plenty of slayers of legends. Some of them were even in the crowd. Apparently Fable had nothing better to do.

Isaac pushed all of those thoughts out of his mind and decided that if people wanted a show he would give them one. Though Isaac was sure that it would be a very brief one. With another deep breath he settled down to meditate. He took one, deep, steady breath after another as he let all of his senses fall away and let his mana run free. Soon enough the crowd’s tune had changed.

As Isaac was lifted into the air by the immense volume of dark mana pouring into him and cycling back out, the crowd’s emotions split into two categories. The first was those that could directly feel how much mana was moving around and through him, they had fallen into stunned silence. The rest were those that couldn’t, their murmuring wasn’t quiet but it was very subdued compared to how it had been before.

For Isaac, he felt like he was almost onto something. Every time he had meditated it had been just out of reach. Something faint but very real. Something was reaching out. Something wanted him to reach out to it as well. But then, just like every other time, he was interrupted. Isaac sensed Macken approach and he could tell that the knight-paladin was starting to second guess himself even without being able to see or hear the man. With a final deep breath, Isaac stopped meditating and pulled all of the dense dark mana out of the way so the two combatants could lock eyes. “This is stupid, you are stupid.” Isaac told Macken. “But it is too late for you to back out now.”

“Don’t patronize me.” Macken shot back, more bravado than real irritation in his voice.

“You are lucky that I’ve had a few days to calm down after the ridiculousness you spat at me.” Isaac told Macken while he held more dark mana off to his sides than Macken had normal mana in his entire body in a deathgrip. “I did, however, promise you that I would make you feel helpless and weak.”

Macken scowled and closed his faceplate. “No one is capable of that.” Macken declared and drew his sword. Macken’s blade blazed with radiant white light that signified the purity of his oath. He settled into his combat stance. “Let’s see if you are as powerful as advertised.”

“Are you ready yet?” Isaac asked. “I can’t have you giving any excuses afterwards.”

“Fine.” Macken shot back and charged at Isaac.

—

Lenna sat casually, in a seat especially prepared for her, next to Serentia Von Arbencroft. Together they were two of the most powerful women in Safeharbor but there were no eyes on them. The spectacle that was about to unfold had everyone’s rapt attention. This was a blessing for the women as it meant that they could speak in peace without fear of anyone reading into their expressions and reactions. “The healer is ready, right?” Lenna asked Sera.

Sera nodded. “Of course, we can not let anything happen to one of Safeharbor’s heroes.” She replied. “Do you think it will be that bad?”

“I’m afraid that Isaac is going to overestimate Macken’s durability.” Lenna replied calmly. “Isaac has calmed down but I was sure that he was going to turn Macken into a smear on the wall.”

Sera glanced over at Lenna. “You do not think that it will be as bad as your fight with Eskahno Ravenborne do you?” She questioned.

Lenna shook her head. “No. Isaac promised me that Macken would still be alive and have all of his limbs attached by the end of it.”

Sera let out a deep breath. “Oh thank the heavens.” She sighed. It was at that moment when Macken made his first move. Both women watched in silent rapt attention as the knight-paladin catapulted himself at the Dark Mage.

—

Isaac back stepped out of Macken’s first attack and then sidestepped his next one. He ducked under Macken’s third but it put him in a position where he wouldn’t be able to dodge the next one easily. That was enough of a reason to teleport to the other side of Macken. Isaac hadn’t bothered to put on his armor or take out his sword for the fight. After his teleportation he put his hands in his pockets and just stood casually facing Macken as the knight-paladin whirled around to try and find him. “Slow.” Isaac replied calmly.

Macken launched after him again. Isaac started boosting himself while he dodged Macken until he was just fast enough that no matter what Macken did he couldn’t pin down Isaac and the Dark Mage didn’t even have to teleport away anymore. “Stop running and fight me.” Macken demanded through gritted teeth.

Isaac teleported a few feet closer to Macken and palm striked his chest while he grabbed Macken’s swordhand. The knight-paladin was stopped almost cold from Isaac’s impact. Macken’s momentum pushed the pair of them a few inches across the sand before they completely stopped. The sudden stop still pushed all of the air out of Macken’s lungs. “Weak.” Isaac said calmly and then with one fluid motion he threw Macken over his shoulder and slammed him onto the ground hard enough to bruise bone. Isaac could feel Macken slowly healing back the damage but he didn’t care. Isaac wasn’t trying to kill him, no, this was a show of dominance. Isaac peered down at Macken. “Small.”

Macken stared up at Isaac. “That was a cheap shot.” Macken spat and started getting to his feet. Isaac casually teleported a handful of feet back and just let Macken rise back into a fighting position. “Fight me for real.”

“You aren’t worth it.” Isaac replied calmly. “You are simply, not enough, to make me do such a thing.” With an easy thought and casual movements Isaac teleported right up Macken’s right side, grabbed the knight-paladin’s wrist with his right hand, yanked it straight, and then smashed his forearm down on the reinforced steel, now fully extended, elbow.

Metal warped and bent under Isaac’s impact. Two of the straps, holding Macken’s vambrace and his elbow guard together, snapped. Macken dropped his sword and twisted to grab it with his other hand. Macken’s shoulder dislocated with the quick movement in the wrong direction but he paid it no mind. He grabbed his sword out of mid air and swung it towards Isaac. Isaac let go of Macken’s arm and teleported two feet to the side so he was now standing right in front of Macken as the knight-paladin tried to keep his balance from the awkward swing. “Bastard.” Macken said through gritted teeth as he stumbled slightly. His arm aggressively snapped back into place as all of the damage Isaac had just done was easily healed away.

“Do something about it.” Isaac challenged him and then vanished. Isaac casually walked around Macken’s side for a moment as he deliberated on what form of mental and physical beat down he would move to next. He stopped in place and grinned. “I’ve wanted to do this to something not as hard as a mushroomonstrocity.” He said aloud to himself. No one could hear him while he was in his own little silent and invisible world.

The entire crowd went silent as another of Isaac’s fading silhouettes appeared out of nowhere. It was a dozen feet from Macken so Macken instinctively swung his sword behind him to defend against a potential attack. He got nothing but air, of course. His sword glowed with intense radiant light as he spun in place in an attempt to find Isaac. Soon a fading silhouette appeared in front of him and he swung at it. His blade sizzled a path through the fading shadows but that was all they could do. Macken’s enemy was already long gone. A few seconds later another silhouette appeared but Macken didn’t swing at it. Instead he just waited. He was about to swing at open space, in an attempt to hit Isaac before he teleported away again, but he was a second too late. Another of Isaac’s remnants appeared and was cleaved in two by Macken’s blade. Before Macken could properly formulate a plan another silhouette appeared and then another and another as Isaac continued to teleport again and again, each time only a few feet from Macken as the knight-paladin spun in place.

Suddenly there was a loud crack of metal slamming into metal, leather straps snapping, and bones crunching. Macken was flung across the arena so hard his neck was snapped instantly. His healing went through him as fast as it could and his neck was reset before he impacted the ground. The problem for Macken was that he hadn’t had control over his body for his entire flight.