"My bones are aching; my whole body feels like it's on the verge of collapse. I think my feet are starting to get numb as well", Astrape thought, dropping on one knee.
His hands gripped his face as blood ran freely from his nose.
"Is that… my blood?", he pondered.
His vision swam.
His body twitched in agony as he got back to his feet and looked at the mess around him, "Ethan, CJ, Milan, Justin… Sanjay. Guys… are they? What's going on? They don't look like they can move anymore". His comrades all battered and bruised.
They struggled to rise but their bodies were too rigid and heavy.
It felt as though every movement cost them everything.
"Is this it? Is this how I die? Will this be my last day on earth?", he thought to himself. "Is that even allowed? No, this tournament doesn't allow for any fatal harm. But then why does every breath I take feel so heavy, like there's a weight on my chest.
The smoke cleared, and Jonathan's figure continued to approach him, a slight limp to his step yet confident nonetheless, his body slightly scorched and smiling as the blood at the corners of his mouth began to dry up. "You're still standing? Wow! Who'd have thought, a bunch of first years would end up pushing me this far? You all have my respect", he told Astrape, as he began to run towards him.
"This psycho's smiling after all that? Whatever, if this was any other day, I'd accept my fate…", Astrape sighed, "But I got my crap to worry about now. So, I gotta survive this, even if it kills me".
Astrape, likewise, charged towards Jonathan. Jonathan's arms lit up as he hurled flames towards Astrape, scorching the air. Astrape dodged and skipped over every single string of flames, quickly closing the distance and struck a clean blow to Jonathan's cheek. Jonathan stumbled to his knees but quickly composed himself, "There he goes with that speed again. I've been trying to compete with it all this time, and I off course surpassed it but to use such amounts of speed for this long like he has… I can manage but there's no doubt it'll take a toll on my body. This kid is something else", he thought.
The two rapidly clashed again, exchanging blow after blow. Astrape used his speed once more, landing faster hits, giving him the advantage in number, they were quick and precise strikes but Jonathan's hits carried a crushing weight. Slowly, Astrape began to lose ground.
Jonathan noticed this and clenched his palms tighter, and suddenly, a fist engulfed in flames slammed into Astrape's gut. Astrape stumbled back slightly, his head down, now a hole in his shirt, he coughed and blood stained his lips. Jonathan already preparing for the final blow but one glance upwards and Astrape's reflexes flared, catching the fist in mid-air. He countered and landed two sharp hits across Jonathan's face and one to his stomach as he was pushed back once more. "Damn, that hurt, I still had to swallow my own blood", thought Astrape still feeling the shock of the hit to his gut.
Astrape dashed forward, "No use in hiding it anymore, it now or never!", he thought, raising his fist as the air around it shimmered with electric energy it began to charge up, blue sparks dancing around his palms like wild fire. Time slowed, everything seemed perfect. The distance between them was closed once again and Astrape's fist sliced through the air as the sparks grew brighter and brighter but suddenly…
Jonathan smirked
Both Astrape and his fist were stopped in their tracks.
His grin grew wider and confident, "You're done ki…"
A detonation.
Milan's fist came crushing in an instant, covered in flames, it detonated on contact, sending Jonathan flying across Astrape. "Now we're even, said Jonathan", Milan said, his head turned to face Astrape.
Jonathan was suddenly suspended in the air as, CJ now awake and responsible, his winds roared to life, slamming Jonathan down with bone-crushing force. The ground shook underneath the impact, and CJ's wind kept him pinned.
"CJ, are you able to hold him up?!", down Justin barked.
"I could try!", CJ responded.
CJ's wind surged upward, forcing Jonathan's body upright, holding him in place on his knees. Justin limped forward, raising his arm as he summoned from the stage pillars of rock, trapping Jonathincan's arms and forcing them to remain apart despite his struggles. Jonathan's arms were kept still and in place until…
Jonathan's arms began to twitch
With his head up to face them, he smirked. His arms no longer still as they became more and more agile by the second, though still trapped in place. A cracking sound caught their ears and Justin felt a shiver down his spine.
CJ turned to Justin, "Justin?".
"Nah, I'm at my limit", he responded, as blood ran down his nose while he fell to his knees.
CJ gritted his teeth, "Damn it".
The pillars of rock began to break, Jonathan grinned, now on one knee. The pillars grew weaker and weaker but before they could completely shatter, Ethan instantly locked onto him from behind, keeping his arms apart and in place. "Justin!", Ethan called out, "I can only manage to keep him still but only for a while. We still…", he tightened his lock on Jonathan, "need you!".
Despite his body screaming in pain, Justin went against it, using his Essent to fix the pillars of rock. "Will that be enough?", asked Astrape.
"I doubt it, but this might", responded Sanjay as he stepped forward beside him.
Justin summoning ice, encasing the pillars of rock that trapped Jonathan's arms, reinforced their strength. "Listen Milan", Justin muttered under his, coughing out blood before he fell to one knee, "That's the third time I've used ice, I don't have much left in me. At this point, most of us don't in fact, you have to finish this if you can. Put everything you have left into it…", he requested coughing out more blood as he kept his ice strong still.
Milan turned, his gaze now locked on Jonathan, still trapped within the pillars of rock, encased and reinforced with ice.
Jonathan struggled but Ethan held him still, denying him his Freedom.
Milan's eye turned crimson and for a moment everything else faded around him. The battlefield, the noise, the pain, it was gone.
He clenched his fist and flames erupted, coiling around his fist. Immediately he dashed forward, closing the distance in an instant. His fist came crashing into Jonathan's face with devastating impact.
Jonathan's head snapped back; his body frozen in place.
Milan staggered; the flames flickered out as exhaustion took over. He coughed, blood spewing from his mouth before he collapsed to the ground. Around him the rest of the group lay scattered, bodies twitching as their breaths grew rugged and heavier, completely drained. It was over, Jonathan motionless, still bound by rock and ice.
Until…
His head slowly lifted. A low crack echoed. His muscles tightened and in a single motion…
The pillars were shattered. He broke free.
He stood above Milan with his face expressionless as he glared down at him. Milan could only lift his head to meet his gaze. Astrape watched from afar.
His vision blurred, barely able to lift a finger as Jonathan walked towards him.
"Well, consider me impressed, I actually broke a sweat this time. But don't tell me it's over just yet, there's still so much fun to have, c'mon", said Jonathan, as he grabbed Astrape's chin, forcing him to look up.
"You're interesting one. The light Essent… If you faced any other opponent, there's no doubt you'd have managed to keep it under wraps", Jonathan whispered.
"So, this is how it ends", Astrape wondered. A slow breath escaped him.
"How the heck did I get here in the first place? Oh right, I remember…".
The sound of the battlefield faded. The rushing wind, the shouts, the crackling flames, it all drowned out and then…
Silence.