111 Ominous Feeling

Wordlessly, the opponent got up and stopped their healing. Greyson kept his guard up the entire time, so he quickly reacted and got up as well.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready." Once again, the voice revealed a softer than expected female tone and a thick unfamiliar accent. Immediately, her body once again changed into a heavily armored red giant. With a loud bang, a heavy spear appeared in her hand and slammed into the ground. Blasting off from the ground, the force cracked the ground beneath her foot. Almost as if the spear was as light as a feather, she swung it straight down at Greyson's feet. He jumped up to dodge, but she sent the spear in an arc upwards at him with just a flick of her. A little bit thrown off, Greyson dipped his head back. The blade of the spear cleanly cut straight through the material of his shirt and bared his chest. Grimacing, Greyson was not happy to see that his hand-to-hand combat abilities had dulled. However, it was to be expected since he hardly practiced after leaving Teacher Vivian. Sweetbow only practiced and understood archery, so Greyson did not have an opponent to practice his swordplay with. His opponent had yet to use any magic, yet already had the upper hand.

Exhaling calmly, Greyson pulled out his bow and arrows. Normally, the sword and the spear had their own strengths and weakness, but they were fairly equal as long as the user had experience. His adversary took advantage of her enormous natural strength to make up for the spear's usual lack in speed due to its weight and length. Since this was the case, Greyson decided he would try for a long-distance fight and keep her at a distance with his wind element speed. Physical power could allow for a temporary burst in speed, but it was unidirectional. It was hard to quickly change her direction when she was not touching the ground. Sinking into the ground, he reappeared on the wall. Half his body sticking out, he nocked his arrows onto which he blew cold air and ice appeared on top. Quickly releasing all of them at once, he aimed at his opponent from all directions. Surprisingly agile, she managed to avoid most of them and was only cut by the one of the arrows. Smirking slightly seeing the cut, Greyson waited and saw the ice quickly spread from the cut until it froze her entire left leg. Snorting, she tried stomping her foot to crack the ice apart. But would Greyson give her the time? Loading more arrows, he added the wind element this time. They all shot towards her so quickly their shape was just a slight blur. With a mighty swing of her spear, the opponent swatted down the arrows and snapped them in half. However, just as one group of arrows were smacked down, another group followed right after in the shadows. Not reacting swiftly enough, another arrow snuck through her defense and stabbed into the right side of her torso. The rotation from the wind element helped the arrow dig deep into her flesh and grip on. If she were to pull out the arrow, most likely a decently sized chunk of her would follow.

With only a slight frown, she managed to yank out the arrow. Switching her arm to her other form, she used the water element to staunch the bleeding before turning back to the muscular red arm and gripping onto her spear once again. Shocked by the lack of change in expression, Greyson felt impressed by her pain tolerance and steely attitude. Instead of changing her tactics, she still catapulted herself towards Greyson after kicking into the ground. Feeling a little bored by her similar antics, he just escaped right back into the shadow and appeared on the other side of the arena. This time, using her fire element, a blast exploded from her feet that sent her flying into the opposite direction towards Greyson once again. Such swift direction change was unexpected, but Greyson still managed to hold up his bow to block the spear coming at him from the left. Although its body was thin, his bow was still a peak tier three magic tool and reinforced by mana. What he did not expect, though, was for her spear to click apart and split into two pieces. The second half of the spear slammed hard into him. Only able to throw up his arm in defense, the Wind Suit also activated to block the attack. Breaking apart due to her explosive strength, the defensive shield did not end up taking much of the edge off the hit. He could feel the bones in his arm and a couple of ribs on his right side crack. The force of the impact sent him flying into the wall. Stone walls crumbling apart behind him, Greyson spat out blood after the air got knocked out of him. Grunting in pain, he had to admit that taking a direct hit really hurt. His natural physical strength and defense were nowhere near hers. Activating his dragon bloodline, Greyson was already mentally kicking himself for not activating it earlier. White scales appeared throughout his body as his pupils became reptilian-like slits. His bloodline's self-healing ability started to take effect, but because of his arm pain, Greyson used the light element to start mending the broken bone there. Sacrificing his mana, he sped up the healing process, so he would not be attacked by her. During this small break, she was able to break apart the ice on her leg. The cut from the arrow reopened, however, and she began to slowly bleed out. In the end, the water element was not as good at healing as the light element. It seems her quick healing was only a brief respite. Noticing that his method could work, Greyson continued to wear her down with his guerilla tactics. Sending barrages of arrows while escaping into the darkness when she tries to attack him. What was intriguing to him, was that she only used her water element form to heal instead of attack. The fire element form was the only one she used to attack. Water element could be much more flexible and that form seemed lighter than her fire element form. But he would not question her choices, maybe there was a reason that he was unaware of that was holding her back.

Slowly but surely, each cut he made into her with his arrows began to stop her movements. The constant blood loss was making her dizzy and less coordinated. Her swings were making less contact. It was not as if Greyson was able to get off scot free, he had plenty of cracked scales and internal injuries from some of the other hits that she managed to get in. Her actual combat capabilities definitely went beyond his own. Magic-wise Greyson had the upper hand with mana since his opponent only used the fire element. Spitting some blood, he put away his bow and arrow and actually brought out Genesis instead. Steadying his stance, he faced her head on. Following his change, his opponent reconnected her spear.

"Haasfir!" Shouting at this word and slamming her spear into the ground twice, she pointed the spear towards Greyson in a ready stance. Although he did not quite grasp the meaning of the word; he could assume it was some sort of battle chant. Nodding towards her, his eyes gleamed with joy. Sometimes merely pure fighting could cause such happiness for him. With a shout, he approached first with a rapid swing. Bringing himself close to her, he tried getting rid of her length advantage. Clangs of metal rang out while splatters of blood dripped slowly. Greyson's hair clung to his face and neck as he was drenched in sweat. Gasping for air, he was starting to feel his grip on his sword weaken. Blocking her attacks was taking its toll on his hand and arm strength. His opponent was also reaching her breaking point as her spear movement was slow enough to provide him plenty of time to respond. Multiple moves later, Greyson finally found his opening. He sent a vicious kick sweeping her legs out and thrust forward with his sword. The gleaming blade delicately laid on her throat just millimeters away from slicing into the skin.

"Battle has finished and the victor is decided. You may proceed to the next level." The same female's melodious voice announced. Sending away Genesis, Greyson instead smiled at his opponent and offered his hand. Staring at his hand in a daze, she did not react at first. Shaking his hand and encouraging her with his eyes, she finally grabbed onto his hand and was supported up. The minute their hands touched, however, a reaction occurred. Something within Greyson burned painfully as he hissed and jerked his hand back. She also gasped as a red brand mark in the shape of a flower appeared on her forehead. The red giant in front of him shrank down to a ordinary size and transformed into an average-looking human female. Murmuring to herself in her language, she looked extremely confused and horrified. Screeching in pain, she held her forehead and curled up on the ground.

"Melbir, melbir!" She pleaded. But seeing Greyson did not quite follow her, she tried to speak in his language once again.

"Mercy, please. I did... not know!" Latching onto his leg, she struggled to squeeze the words out. Furrowing his brows further, Greyson did not apprehend what was going on. Spreading out from the flower was a black liquid that highlighted the veins in her body. Convulsing, she spat blood all over Greyson. Frightened by such a rapid change in events, Greyson pulled himself together and began to utilize his light element to try to heal her. However, it was useless. The black liquid completely defied the light element and spread throughout her body. She continued shaking until she jerked one last time then went completely still. Trembling slightly, Greyson checked her heart only to see it was no longer beating. Breathing deeply, he tried to soothe himself as he got up.

"What didn't she know? That looked something like a slave mark, but a red flower? I don't think I have ever seen a mark like this before. I should ask Rosalie..."

Just as he was searching his memory for such a brand or mark, he heard an uncomfortable cracking noise. Looking down, he watched as the woman's body broke apart until it was complete dust. A cold shiver went down his spine as he witnessed such a horrific death. Just seconds ago, she was fighting heartily yet the next moment she was on the floor as a pile of dust. He knew he somehow triggered this event, but there was nothing different about the body. Trying to shake this unsettling feeling, Greyson walked towards the black portal. Taking one final look at what was left of his opponent, he dampened the apprehension that weighed heavily in his heart.