Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 93 Sand vs. Shadows

He was stuck in a quandary right now as he faced the incoming black sword light fluttering through the air towards him gracefully, not looking at all lethal or dangerous... But Byrus could sense the beginning inklings of a concept of law within the attack!

'This guy... He's only at the Grandmaster level but already beginning to form his laws and concepts...??! Shit! Who'd have thought I'd meet another genius in this barren land!!!'

But Byrus was not actually concerned about his safety. He could easily dodge the attack or block it... If he didn't have this useless burden of a boy in his arms!

A boy who was whistling a not-very-happy annoying song and staring at him with deadpan cynical eyes in a supremely aggravating manner!!!

It was almost as if the kid were saying, "Are you done yet...?"

...And then Lars yawned, causing Byrus to feel like he should just forget about digging more info out of Lars and just letting him die right here!

'Wait!! Isn't this guy in front of me just as good a lead as this boy...?? No! If that older man is protecting the young kid, then the kid should be someone really important!'

But as the sword light approached ever closer, Byrus was confused as hell!

If the boy was so important... And if the pursuer were trying to save him...

Then why was his sword-drawing strike indiscriminately heading for the boy just as much as for him??!

'AHHHH IT'S ALL SO CONFUSING!!! FORGET IT!!!' Byrus snapped as he decided to just crush his opponent head on and question them both later!

"Aspect of the Crab!!!" Byrus roared out loud just before the sword light impacted and exploded brilliantly on his and Lars' body!

*BOOOM!!!!*

Susano did not let up one bit, immediately landing on a rooftop nearby and continuing to close the gap, jumping from one building to the next. He knew that in a battle between two Grandmasters, just one attack would not be enough to finish the battle.

And so he prepared his trump card, resheathing his ornate fully-blackened sword as he peered through the smoke and dust for his targets!

True enough, he saw a glint of brownish-red emerge from the dust cloud, bursting out through the air...

Not away, not escaping, but right towards him!

"DIE!!!!!!!" Byrus roared in retaliation as he flew through the air, his full body rocketing like an armoured missile straight at Susano! He was now covered in a brownish layer of reddish-brown light all around his entire body and the light even formed 2 glowing crab pincers around his arms, making him look like a giant flying crab!

Susano's eyes widened slightly as he saw the great weight and power of Byrus' surging tackle! The "Blacksword" assassin quickly pivoted on his heels as he resisted his forward momentum and tried to dampen his inertia to dodge backwards. He successfully kicked off the rooftop he was standing on and leapt into the air, somersaulting as he escaped the trajectory of the incoming attack!

Seeing that, Byrus smirked confidently and channelled his mana quickly. He then yelled out and suddenly changed directions and accelerated in the middle of the air, displaying one of his three unique skills and hurtling towards Susano once more!

"Let's see how you dodge this!!! CRAB CRASH!!!"

Byrus' legs were straightened out behind him and shooting out mana to propel him forward faster while his two pincer claw hands were aiming straight for Susano!

'Sh*t!!! I hate defensive types the most! Even more when they have a gap-closing move!!! DODGE!!!!'

"Shadow walk!!!"

Susano's body began to flow with murky black shadows and shifted aside mid-air, out of the way of the approaching missile and dodging it successfully!

Byrus sailed through the air and past Susano, crashing through several buildings without any signs of stopping, before finally landing with a boom as he hit the stone pavement and went right through into the sewers below!

Meanwhile the shadow-clad Susano did not miss this chance - the shadows of the underground sewers were his home turf, he wouldn't let the aggressive bandit raider off so easily after nearly being smashed into a pancake by him! The black shadows once more covered him and he swiftly flitted off towards the hole in the ground where Byrus was last seen!

Leaving behind a bored Lars who looked to have been forgotten in the midst of the intense battle between the two...

Lars' looked around and, upon noticing some food stalls, decided to get a snack first before following after the two men to find out what was going on!

'Lars, I want the fish ones, I want the fish ones!' Kizorik's eyes were bulging fanatically as he saw his favourite snacks, Takoyaki.

'Lowly human! I demand you provide me with the plant-based ones! Remember to make them vegan, OR ELSE!' A haughty voice also reminded Lars that he had not just one but now two arrogant little overlords to please...!

...And who spent his money like water!

Frowning and cursing in his heart, Lars was in a foul mood, when his eyes suddenly brightened up and he began to grin evilly, laughing sinisterly.

'Heh heh heh heh... That'll teach you to mess with me...' He thought even as he ordered 10 packs of Takoyaki, 8 with unidentifiable over condimented meat jerky, 1 vegetarian and 1 filled with fish.

He decided to switch up the two demon's orders and watch their faces when they bit into the little snacks!

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"YAHHHH!!!!!"

"STAY STILL, YOU LITTLE PANSY!!!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PANSY, YOU BIG RED D*** HEAD CRAB???"

"WHY YOU!!! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M SUPER PROUD OF MY CRAB ARTS!!! TAKE THIS, TRUMP CARD, SQUIRTING!!!"

"UGHHHHHHHH DISGUSTING!!!!"

Susano and Byrus clashed again and again and again with neither coming out on top. Flashing sword lights would sail out and slice through the air but only cut into Byrus' armour and defensive aura, whereas the charging bull-like... I mean, crab-like man would useless crash into the walls, pillars, aqueducts or various other obstacles as he tried to pin down the slippery shadow jutsu user!

But this time Susano was hindered by the clear jet of water spouting out from the crab man's mouth, his revolting mid-ranged trump card with an uncomfortably disturbing name!

It was made even more extremely nasty by the fact that... The water was all yellowish, black and other distastefully coloured groundwater that the bandit was sucking up from the sewer waters beneath his feet...!!!

Susano did not want to imagine from which hole and extremity Byrus was sucking the water in from...

Or the fact that after passing through that hole, it was squirti... Spurting out through the crab man's mouth!

Susano was so disgusted that he misstepped and gagged violently, ending up too slow to dodge the sudden burst of water that immobilised him, slamming him against the walls of the 8 metre wide sewer tunnel!

"Nasty... Too... Nasty... Susano stopped himself from breathing, shut his eyes and mouth and withdrew all his shadow defence to cover his face, blocking up every orifice from the horrifyingly sloppy and contaminated waters, disregarding protecting his body entirely!

"HAHAHAHA!!! GOT YOU NOW YOU LITTLE RAT!!! Gulp..." The sound of the heavy-armoured man yelling and then gulping, swallowing down the last of the water was heard, further throwing Susano's mind into disarray as he turned aside and spewed out his breakfast even as he landed heavily and prepared to defend himself!

It was do or die at this stage, so neither of them held back anything anymore!

"CLAW BULLET!!!" Byrus pulled back one arm and stuck out the other as the glowing reddish-brown magical claws on both his hand shot forward, closing the distance instantly on Susano!

"SHADOW ARMY!!!" Whereas Susano also pulled out all stops and his body evaporated into shadows, disappearing completely and leaving the flying claw projectiles to crush the wall behind him into a million, billion fragments of dust!

It was a scene of chaos - but one in which shadows reigned supreme as they swirled around and around and around the shocked bandit leader, Sand Crab Byrus as he looked left and right and up and down at the vortex of darkness converging on him!

"Shadow Army: First Strike!" An echoing voice sounded out from every direction simultaneously, disorienting Byrus even as a wave of dozens of shadows shot out from his surroundings to slam into his body!

"Urgghh!!!" Despite not piercing his wyvern-hide plate armour, he grunted heavily as the shadowy blows landed on him fiercely, knocking him off balance and shaking his magical summoned crab body immensely!

But this was only the beginning.

Susano roared out in delight as he saw his enemy falling ot his knees and cried out fiercely: "Shadow Army: Second Strike!"

Byrus cried out in anguish as the entire vortex of shadows began spinning and spinning - before suddenly lancing out in a spike of darkness that cut right through his red-brown aura and pierced through even his wyvern-hide armour, drawing blood and making him cough out blood!

Without letting up for even a moment, Susano yelled out for the third and last attack: "Shadow Army!!!! FINAL STRIKE!!!"

At this point, the brown-clothed man re-emerged, though worse for the wear as he was dripping with foul sewer waters, then he made various ninja hand seals in front of him as the shadows pulsated and writhed around crazily - before being drawn into the ninja assassin's waiting hands, turning into a physical shape and forming into a gigantic sword of darkness!

The sword of darkness was ready to reap its harvest in "Blacksword" Susano's hand!

"Take this!!! Shadow Army: BLACKSWORD!!!!"

"I was waiting for this!! HAHAHAH!!! Crab Ultimate Art: Sand Cannoooon!!!!" Byrus roared in laughter and pointed his two open palms at a shocked Susano who was soaring through the air completely focused on offence...

And blasted out a relentless cannon of sand, swallowing up the Lord of the Underworld before he could even arrive before Byrus!

"Hahahahahaha!!! Mwagahahahah-AGH!!!??"

Byrus could only gape in shock as he saw...

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Takoyaki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki
It doesn't have to be filled with octopus, though my favourite is octopus!

Chapter end