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A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer spun his head around and dispelled his bow, raising one arm up towards the sky while the other clung to the ledge. The cloud above them crackled fiercely for half a second, and sent down a massive bolt of electricity towards Alvios, with the intent to halt him mid-way through his jump.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer flipped through the air, landing on top of a broken piece of the guild's exterior entrance way as Alvios burst out from underneath him. His ankle twisted, but otherwise, the archer managed keep his footing on the falling piece of shattered steel. He did his best to jump again, back towards the roof, with a bounding leap, but barely made it, grasping the edge of the roof with one hand and desperately trying to pull himself up before Alvios was able to spin around and capitalise on his loss of footing.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer didn't make any more quips. As the light blades flew towards him, he fired three shots of equal Ki density towards them, stopping the volley and leaving him time to react to anything else that may have came his way. The bolt that headed for the cloud disappeared, and the mass grew darker. Crackles of electricity spread and grew above them, slowly encompassing the entire cloud. It wouldn't be long before it fully charged itself. Meanwhile, the bolts that headed for Oz and Alvios curved through the air, and began to follow them from behind. When Oz propelled himself towards Dacer's foothold, he pulled on his drawstring to conjure a pink arrow, keeled down and grabbed it by the shaft, and shoved it into the ground, before leaping away at the last second, and firing another arrow directly at Oswald's feet, this one engorged by flames with the clear intent to explode. While in midair, Dacer had little control over his trajectory, but aimed to land on the other edge of the guild, above where the giant white staircase lead into the main hall.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer's knuckles tightened. "Teenager?" He grunted, side-stepping the series of blades, one after the other. Seeing one of his arrows deflected so easily made him question the power of his attacks, but Alvios' comments already began to pluck at something a little more sensitive. He rose his bow and dropped his leisurely composure, strengthening the lines in his stance. Shoulders, parallel. Legs, braced. Dacer pulled back on his bow's imaginary drawstring and conjured a stream of blue energy from the tips of his fingers to the bridge of his weapon, and fired it into the sky as Oz made his way across the low ground expanse of the courtyard. "Fine, Prick," Dacer shouted, conjuring a stream of erratic energy. "Let's be adults about this." The newly summoned bolt streamed outwards with arcs of electric energy, and he fired it upwards. Immediately, it split into three shards, one headed for Oz, one for Alvios, and one for the sky, where a cloud sprawled outwards and covered the entire battlefield with its shadow.

"Fine by me."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 171 ~

_{Who the Fuck Needs One With Nature?}

Dacer glanced down at Alvios and Oz with a shit-eating grin from across the courtyard. The area was surrounded by the entirety of Jeff's hero guild, walls high enough that normal jumps wouldn't be able to clear them easily. Of course, high ground was great for an archer. Not that Dacer was thinking about that at all.

"I don't recognise either of you drab little twerps. Ain't no big deal if I pop your heads, is it?" Dacer shouted while he fired two consecutive Ki arrows at Both Alvios' and Oz's head.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane listened carefully as Shaidra fumbled about with her fingers behind him. He hadn't expected even a modicum of reason from these heroic blunders. His eyes shifted over to Shaidra, who was already gathering shadows in the palms of her hands. Jeff said something, and Zelriane's brow creased like moistened wax paper.

"Even after witnessing my pride tear apart any chances I had at victory, you insist on blurting out idiotic threats? Let me assure you, both of you, that if you approach the tower, even if I am defeated, even if you defeat Rajaka and every other member of our order," Zelriane paused and flung himself into a coughing fit as black clouds surrounded him, Shaidra, Bruce, and Jeff.

"You will never be a match for Chaos."

---

~ End Of Chapter 170 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane Cringed as a flurry of Ki erupted from Bruce. How much stamina did he have? Mortals shouldn't have this kind of staying power. The little man's left cheekbone tensed as he leapt into the sky, kicking off of the atmosphere with his feet to maintain flight in short bursts. Evading the rising onslaught of attacks proved as a relatively simple task, using his aerial speed to an advantage. But with such a small space to move around in, Zelriane didn't have much choice in how he chose to climb towards his target. He knew attacking or evading would force him into a position where he would be forced to defend. And without the use of his meta energy, Zelriane lacked any sort of defensive Maneuver that could overpower Raw Ki. As he flipped around, clearing the final blade in the 24-slash sequence, and narrowly sifting through the remainder of Bruce's offences, he was poised to strike at the man's back. Zelriane's eyes flared with a mist the coated the air around the focal point of his foot-first strike, and focused to a brilliant green around his hands, meshed perfectly with his skin as if his fingers had turned to pure light. Zelriane forced himself into a state of Deep focus, and breathed slowly, as the world around him ground to a halt, as if time had stopped.

"Zenpou"

The chains halted, and the air hardened. A series of calculated strikes rang out from his position, hands first while Zelriane danced in midair. Every blade in his path, shattered, with its Ki source poisoned and overwhelmed by Zelriane's Agoniki. The last defences within Bruce's orb, aimed to corner Zelriane, either pushed aside or broken.

Time began to flow again.

Zelriane spun in midair, and clasped his hands together, firing a single projectile of his meta energy towards the blade, wielded by Bruce's false hand. Shattered, once more. His body flipped back towards Bruce, oriented so that Zelriane was staring at the swordsman upside-down.

Time was catching up to him.

Zelriane reached out and grabbed Bruce's wrists just before contact, from above and clasped on tightly. An echo of pain rang throughout Zelriane's body as he channelled his Agoniki, but he ignored it. He pulled tightly, and followed through with the momentum of his back flip that defied his natural speed. As Zelriane's knee flew towards the back of Bruce's head, angled to strike just above where his neck met the base of his skull, he whispered a single phrase to himself, barely audible to anyone else.

_{"I will not lose again."}

Zelriane's tightened knee buckled as his left hand lost is grip. Blood loss? No, not just that. Something else had been cut. The pain from his Agoniki had exacerbated it. What would have been a lethal blow, quickly fell apart as the flow of time finally returned to normal. Zelriane's Knee pulled back. Rather that striking the hardened cartilage of his kneecap against Bruce's spine, the top of his foot crashed against Bruce's skull. Zelriane lowered his body into a parallel line and pushed against Bruce's back, using him as a platform while he extended his agoniki gauntlets outwards, and darted out of Bruce's cage like a bullet. The monk landed several feet away from Shaidra. It wasn't pleasant. Hard on his shoulder, rather than gracefully on his feet. Shaidra glanced at him, worrisome of his injuries and energy expenditure.

Zelriane quickly flipped back onto his feet and took his usual combat pose, albeit with his right shoulder lowered slightly. He breathed heavily as his Agoniki pulsed through his arms, before ending his Meta energy's channelling. Even though he hadn't sustained much damage, Zelriane was already exhausted. His eyes flickered to a dull light, unable to pick out Bruce's Ki or body through the dust that his body had just tossed up.

"Is he..." Zelriane stopped and looked over to Jeff's body. An unfamiliar feeling crept along the length of his spine. "Shaidra," He grunted, through two raspy pants, "Please bring me home, now."

"No... Kill..?

"If he's not dead after that... I've lost too much blood. I've sustained too much damage. I cannot use Zenpou again. This has gone from bothersome to dangerous." Zelriane turned to Shaidra and narrowed his eyes, not in disdain or impatience, but fatigue. "My arrogance has crippled me. Take us home. Home, to doctor Yezia."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane skid to a stop and bit the inside of his cheek. Suddenly, he was immobile. The green robed man dropped into a crouch, and began to tap alongside the length of his injured foot, all while keeping his eyes on Bruce.

"Overclocking your body won't help you," Zelriane mocked, "When your muscles give out, and your mind fractures under the weight of your nonsensical display, I'll be sure to put you to rest." Zelriane waited in place patiently, tapping alongside the edge of his left arm with two fingers.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane disappeared from sight, evading Bruce's initial strike and hopping through the network of bladed chains like a mach 2 grasshopper as he closed the distance between himself and his target. Defensive opponents were his most difficult hurdle, but what he lacked in Physical power, he made up in magical might.

In the blink of an eye, he was above Bruce, with his arms crossed, and his index fingers extended. In a swift outward fanning of his arms, Zelriane released a series of flaming darts that travelled at a blistering speed towards Bruce. Pure arcane energy, weak and easy to evade, but quick enough to get through Bruce's double layered chain barrier if aimed precisely. Again, he disappeared, and appeared on the ground beneath Bruce, firing two more flaming darts towards what he'd imagined to be chinks in Bruce's tight defence. His green eyes drifted carefully across Bruce's figure, linking his senses directly into the Ki that he controlled. For a moment, he wondered if Rajaka was truly necessary here, but brushed the thought off arrogantly and disappeared from sight again. Now he was moving constantly. Catching sight of Zelriane was already difficult enough, only possible when he slowed his body to tense up for an attack. Was he shifting to a defensive strategy himself as well?

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zelriane's eyes stuttered towards the incoming chains, reading their intended paths through Bruce's Ki flow. The paralysis only lasted a second, allowing the monk-like green fighter to shift his stance slightly. One foot moved out of the way, while the other was impaled by Bruce's chain, straight through to the ground. Zelriane directed his right hand into a point, and glanced at it angrily. He moved his right hand at a speed beyond anything he'd shown before, leaving a green trail behind it, several afterimages, as he used it to shatter Bruce's chain, and pull the spike from his foot. While he did so, The nano-bots on his hand were evaporated from the sheer friction of his hand grinding against the atmosphere, while the rest were tossed through the air at unrealistic speeds, destroying them. Zelriane rotated his body quickly, unleashing a burst of air that pushed the remainder of the first chain away, when the next flurry of attacks found their ways towards his position.

His agility seemed relatively unaffected. Zelriane sifted through the incoming spear headed chains with several steps, pivots, and dashes, until he was out of their scope of attack. His eyes focused on one, and then the next, quickly picking apart the pattern as he escaped their range. Opposite to Bruce now, he slid into a stable stance as his muscles began to spasm for a moment. His mouth curled from an angered pout into a half grin beneath his mask, one that pulled at the black fabric. His exposed cheekbone visibly tensed up. In a moment, he was ready to attack again. But Bruce had thrown his sword. Why? He followed it with his eyes, losing track of Bruce's body, and by extension, his Ki and arcane flow. But when he realised the sword wasn't coming for him, his eyes darted back. Wide eyed, Zelriane, spun towards the manifested fist and pulled his back down as quickly as he could. The short man's muscles contracted and pushed against everything that told them there weren't allowed to move. His sheer willpower, and natural pain endurance, allowed his to dodge in the nick of time. The blade sailed through the air, and Zelriane struck at the stone hand with his own right hand, shattering it, and knocking Bruce's blade away with a carefully timed midair kick. Zelriane landed on both his feet and pulled himself up. He returned to his stance and faced Bruce. The corner of his smile peered through the jagged edge of his torn mask and he glared at his opponent intensely.

"I'll tell you now," Zelriane started, pushing his bleeding foot into the ground, "I cannot feel pain." He angled his arms carefully and changed his stance, so that his fists were pointed at the ground, and parallel with his waist. A crimson substance seeped through the cloth around his shoulder, and his robe parted slightly to reveal a deep wound that tore through the side of his left bicep.

"And I can maintain consciousness... For a very long time... While bleeding out..."