Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 115 Round Three: A Fierce Encounter

Unlike all the rounds prior, this round did not begin with a flurry of activities.

On one hand, Lars' fighting style was and had always been the wait-and-see counter-attacking style where he would analyse, dissect and formulate a winning strategy against his enemies - though, apart from the battle against the Devil Lords, he hadn't actually ever needed anything but his overwhelming power to blast apart his opponents...

On the other hand, Reshmont was not like the others. He dared not think that he himself was the strongest, nor did he believe that he could easily overpower Lars. After all, the boy had been suppressed to the beginner-Adept stage but had still been able to muster enough power to destroy the Elite-limit drow death dancer. How much more now, when he looked to have advanced to the peak-Adept stage?

He began circulating his blood energy within his veins as well as channeling the man through his meridians as he prepared for battle. He knew this would be tough fight, one that he would not be able to win without giving up his flesh and blood!

10 seconds passed as the two contestants just faced off from opposite ends of the circular ring. The audience were beginning to grow anxious and agitated as they wondered just when the pair would burst into action.

And they did not have to wait much longer as Reshmont breathed in deeply, crossed his arms across his chest and roared out loud.

"HIYEAAAKKKKK!!!!"

Then he started jogging forward, before he broke into a full-speed run!

'2 seconds until impact... He's fast!' Lars calculated his next move and decided that it woudl be illogical for his current displayed strength to face the charging bull directly. Reshmont was no pushover at the mid-Elite stage while still being only 17 years old! This was not far from Vignis Jamal or Leocadius Trenel who were 2 small realms higher at the Elite-limit stage at more or less the same age!

And Reshmont also probably weighed 5 times as much as Lars with a body as powerful asa minotaur's!

So Lars unsheathed his sword in one smooth movement and then performed an elegant jump-and-flip over the gigantic boy, landing behind him and then lashing out with a sharp sword strike to Reshmont's back.

Clink!

Lars' eyes widened; that was not the sound a sword striking unprotected flesh was supposed to make, right...? And when he looked at the spot where his blade had struck, the only effect was that there was now a slightly pinkish line on Reshmont's bronze skin!

And Reshmont, upon receiving the slash to the back of his neck, immediately rotated his body and repeated the same move, dashing forward with his arms crossed in front of him in defence.

Lars hopped backwards and to the side, barely slipping past the clawing hands of Reshmont as he passed by. Immediately after missing his target, the hulking body then kicked off the ground and changed direction, hurtling towards Lars once again relentlessly!

Faced by his defence foe who excelled also at speed if not agility, Lars considered his next move and decided to try something with a greater piercing power.

'Hmm... Let's try this next...'

Then he focused his concentration on the tip of his sword and triggered one of his signature sword moves.

"Heavenly Star's Path!!" He thrust out his straight-bladed sword and included a twisting motion as he felt the laws of space bend along the path of his sword light shooting forth. A spiral of bright white energy lanced forward, straight for the charging Reshmont.

Reshmont's face turned more serious as he sucked in a deep breath while facing down the sword light. It looked like he would be forced to take it full on as he was not flexible enough to avoid it at this last minute.

But instead, still with his arms crossed before him, Reshmonth suddenly let out a great yell and burst with power, his arms glowing brightly and seeming to be covered in a layer of bronze!

"BREAK!!!!"

And when the piercing and spinning sword light hit his crossed arms, his advance was slowed significantly but not stopped - and the sword light instead was deflected away and above to shoot into the air harmlessly!

Though, it did brush past Reshmont's shoulder and bruise his skin... Proving that he wasn't invincible after all!

It was Lars' turn to have a grave look on his face. If even his strongest piercing skill couldn't break through Reshmont's defence, how was he going to prevail in this battle? It didn't seem likely that the exceptionally fit teen would be the one to run out of stamina first, at least based on his powerful physique.

Scratching his head furiously with his left hand, Lars' mind raced through the multiple options he had – excluding the one of using a higher power level. He needed to hone and refine his battle capabilities, and that included defeating opponents against whom he was naturally weak, right…?

He thought it through while he continued to dodge left and right, being careful not to slip up and get caught by even the slightest touch of Reshmont's gargantuan hands. Just one slap or graze from the boy would probably be enough to rip apart any Adept-level practitioner's body, which was certainly not what Lars desired to happen!

'What if he can't see the slash…? Or if he focuses his defence on the wrong spot…?' Lars smiled as he thought of this plan; and even if it didn't work out, he could still move on to the next approach.

This time when Lars leapt aside, he didn't directly retreat. Instead, he released a flurry of slashes towards Reshmont, with each slash being easily deflected by the boy's golden-brown skin. Lars gave his 100% concentration as he maintained the nearly point-blank distance. At such close range, the risk was far greater that one lucky blow would land on his body and break his bones – something he couldn't afford to happen.

It was with utmost focus that Lars weaved in and out, dodging punch after grab after kick after knee strike from the doggedly determined bronze-skinned giant. All this while, he continued to rain slash after slash, stab after stab and cut after cut onto Reshmont's skin, trying to find a weakness in his resilient defences.

Clink! Clank! Clonk! Clunk! Clink!

The sounds of metal bouncing off metal rang out continuously, a sound that Lars still couldn't understand. Was there some special cultivation method to turn one's skin into metal that was stronger than steel…? Perhaps his worldview and experiences were too narrow!

Regardless of the result, Lars kept on striking at Reshmont and ignored the fact that it was like cutting up water in a river – pointless. But when he felt that he had gained a certain rhythm and cadence in his blows, he suddenly changed things up.

"Void Splitter!!!" He yelled out as he changed his stance and held his long-hilted sword in a two handed grip.

Reshmont was shocked by the sudden move pulled off by Lars and hurriedly raised his arms above him and channelled his powers to turn his arms golden, ready to block the heavy, crushing downward slash that was about to come.

But instead, Lars suddenly changed his attack halfway and stabbed straight at Reshmont in the face instead!

"!!!!" Surprised, Reshmont roared out loud and immediately protected his face with a bronze aura that caused Lars' blade to bounce of ineffectively!

"Damn! Failed!" Lars cursed and hurriedly tried to back off, but it was too late.

Along with his face being surrounded by the metallic golden aura, Reshmont's power continued to flow forth and envelope the area around him – including locking down on Lars' body!

"Gotcha!!! TAKE THIS!!!" The giant's eyes turned bronze as well as he locked on to Lars with his bronze aura and restricted his movements. Then he pounced forward and launched a wrecking ball's blow straight towards an immobile Lars!

Blindsided by the sudden binding move from the giant's descendant, Lars struggled but could barely move his legs and body – he was not going to be in time to get away from being smashed into a pancake!

'Sh*t!!! If I can't dodge, then… DEFEND!!!!'

Lars triggered whatever defensive spells he could as the fist that was as big as his torso flew towards him!

Chapter end