Chapter 57 - My face hurts again

Azalea's [Ferocious Strike] empowered fist landed right between Magni's eye. A sickening crunch sounded out as Azalea's fist impacted Magni's skull, followed by an eerie silence.

Azalea and Magni just stood there, her fist still on Magni's face, as I waited to see if that last technique was enough to send Magni back to his drajule. A few moments later, Azalea slowly retracted her fist as both she and I watched him with bated breath.

Magni's form began to wobble and he began to fall backwards. But before I could let out a sigh of relief, Magni stomped down on the ground hard to steady himself. The W.o.m.batant began to stare at Azalea with a razor sharp glint in his eyes and...started growing?!

Using a technique I have never seen my father used before now, Magni began to triple in size and muscle. Azalea quickly retracted her fist and began to back away from the growing W.o.m.batant. Making matters worst, Magni's club also began to grow in size as well...and growing spikes for some reason. This would be a really awe inspiring technique to witness, if I wasn't on the receiving end of it.

I had Azalea brace herself for impact this time around, that way if [Body Double] didn't work, she would at least have a chance of blocking Magni's attacks...I hoped.

[Body Double] was an incredibly useful reactionary technique that allowed the user to immediately avoid an attack and immediately move themselves around the aggressor's blindspot. The only issue was that the technique was very timing dependent. If I make the call too early or too late, Azalea would end up in a world of hurt. It was easier to do it before because I had fought Magni with Rakka before and gotten used to his timing, but now that he was bigger....I wasn't too sure.

The now giant Magni let out a booming roar before swinging his equally giant club directly at Azalea. I tried to to focus as intently as possible to activate the technique so it wouldn't hit, but apparently the growth in size somehow increased Magni's speed as well. I immediately commanded Azalea to use [Body Double] the moment the club was in the right distance, but it suddenly sped up right in the middle of her casting. The next thing I know, Azalea is getting hit with that massive war club and I began to feel everything she was feeling, moment by moment.

I'm certain that Magni's finishing blow was much faster and in reality, this conflict was over in an instant. However, the battle bond main functions of slowing down my perception of reality and feeling what Azalea was feeling, made this moment feel like an eternity. I know none of the pain was caused by real injuries and that it was all in my head, but it didn't stop it from hurting so much.

First, my arm felt like it was shattering into hundreds of small pieces like shards of glasses. I suppose this was because Azalea tried to block the attack as I had commanded earlier. Next, I felt my shoulder becoming dislocated from the blow. Not sure how it didn't shatter as well, but it still hurt. However, the worst part had to be when the pain finally crawled up to my face.

The pain initially blossomed on my cheek then slowly began to spread to my jaw, neck and the top of my skull. It felt like my jaw was becoming dislocated and was being pulverized, that something snapped inside of my neck and that my skull was fracturing like a frozen pond. I've been in my fair share of fights before, but the pain from those blows were immediate and always cleared up later. Slowly feeling the bones in your head break apart is a pain I'd never wish upon anyone.

And as the pain reached an apex and was a out to spread to the other side of my face, it stopped. The next thing I knew, I saw the aether that made up Azalea flow back into the drajule in my left hand while my father recalled Magni to his drajule.

The two of us looked exhausted from the fight, with the both of us panting and taking deep breaths of air.

"Well...that was intense", my father said in-between breaths.

The most I could do in response was weakly nod, and then fall back into the snow while letting out a tired groan.