Man To Man

Edrick sat upon a large rock in meditation with his eyes closed, only opening them as he heard the heavy steps of the Red Guardian approaching. It seemed like mere proximity to the pale red temple was enough to lure him over…

“Greetings, my good friend”

“...Why do you stay so close to the temple, Edrick? Is there something you wish to tell me?”

The Blutgar could feel that the ambience was off, but he couldn’t quite tell just yet what was going on.

“I don’t know if you are aware, but I have met her”

“Met who?”

“The realm. Eltysia, as she has decided to call herself… Your goddess spoke with me and presented me with trials that I have to complete to earn her approval”

The realm defender was taken aback. The realm, speaking with someone directly? It did not seem possible... The guardian himself had only ever heard her voice at the moment of his creation. Since then, he had only ever felt vague emotions coming from her. Yet, his deity had spoken with Edrick? With a human? With an outsider? Not only that, but from the sound of things, Anoteros had actually laid his eyes upon her as well.

It sounded ridiculous, but somehow… He had the feeling that Edrick was not lying.

The Blutgar frowned.

“Did one of the trials she placed upon bring you here?”

“Indeed. I had to deal with two other trials before this one, but this should be the finale”

The noble smiled as he stood up and stepped off the rock, stepping closer to the orcish-looking being, stopping about five meters in front of him.

“I am not going to lie to you, My Friend. I have always had certain ambitions concerning this realm. Like all humans–And I imagine all other sapient species–I have a strong desire for control and power. Therefore, I want all that I can possibly get without concession”

“You were on the list from the very beginning, but it seems like Eltysia wants you to be my last trial”

“What…?”

Edrick stanced himself up for combat. His eyes grew incredibly focused to the point of uncanniness, as a subtle, predatory smile spread across his face.

“Don’t worry. This just means that she thinks highly of you. After all, she considers you the greatest challenge of all within this realm… We’ve already had a little skirmish in the past, but I guarantee you that things will be different this time”

The Blutgar grimaced. He didn’t know how to feel about what he had just learned. On one hand, it was true that it was somewhat flattering to be viewed as the strongest challenge of the realm. But on the other hand… Wasn’t his goddess basically sacrificing him to fuel the growth of someone else? Of an outsider at that… An outsider from the same species that had been terrorising the realm at fixed intervals for centuries at this point.

It felt like a betrayal, but thinking about it… This, frankly, was not unexpected. The realm had never shown much care for her world or her creations. Some would assume that it was simply because she couldn’t interact directly with them, but the Red Guardian–Who had remained a nameless being for so long–Had always known deep down that she refrained from interacting because she simply didn’t want to.

She would rather remain a silent, distant observer–Watching the life she manifested go about and proliferate.

‘...I will prove myself. I am not just an obstacle meant to be overcome by another. I am her ultimate creation’

No matter what, the Blutgar felt the intense desire to earn his divinity’s appreciation.

He exhaled strongly. The ambient energy of the realm froze for a moment before bending to his will, seeping into his body and empowering him as he clenched his right hand into a fist. His muscles bulged. Every bone and every muscle became saturated with energy…

“Very well, then… Let us fight”

The Red Guardian surged forward, using his maximum strength from the get-go as he threw a punch toward Edrick. The noble stepped aside, pressing his palm against the side of his opponent’s wrist right as the fist flew by, diverting the blow before driving his knee straight into the Blutgar’s stomach.

Aware that the protector could burst with energy at any time, Anoteros knew not to linger for too long. After one good hit, he swiftly moved away–Indeed evading a powerful blast of energy emitted by his adversary.

The blow had been powerful, but the orcish one wasn’t easily hurt. Without delay, he focused energy into his leg… Edrick was now much more aware of the motions of energy thanks to his most recent bloodline and technique. He could sense it as it was happening, allowing him to actually somewhat guess and predict what the defender was planning on doing.

…It also gave him greater insight into how energy was used. He had heard much from Luxuli since she was studying magic, but experiencing it himself was different. He knew that ‘conditions’ and self-imposed ‘rules’ were of great importance in this world.

Even if unintentional or applied through mimicry rather than true understanding, they still functioned very well.

In short, by focusing energy into his legs and momentarily reducing the augmentation in other parts of his body, the guardian wasn’t actually just pouring more energy somewhere to empower that precise area, but he was also making a–Potentially unintentional–Trade off.

This was a condition. By weakening himself somewhere else, he was actually further enhancing the higher amounts of energy in his legs, allowing him to leap in the air with great power.

Overall, this little bit of knowledge did not matter much, but with his new understanding of energy manipulation, Anoteros couldn’t help but notice and take it into account–No matter how small and inconsequential it may be compared to the more obvious takeaway… Which was that: More energy somewhere equals more power.

The scion smiled as he watched the Red Guardian barrel down from above like a cannonball.

He bent one of his legs and transformed it into that of a sasquatch, making the limb as large as possible. He then extended the leg, propelling himself well out of the way and rolling upon the ground as the protector crashed into the ground. His leg transformed back as he positioned himself to do the same thing again, but with both legs this time.

He launched himself straight at the guardian before his enemy could see it coming.

Edrick slammed into the defender, wrapping his arms around the adversary’s midsection. He swiftly picked the Blutgar up and slammed him headfirst into the ground–Once again retreating before the predictable energy burst.

The Blutgar got back on his feet swiftly, the signs of damage quickly fading away as he healed using the abundance of ambient energy.

Edrick merely smirked in response.

Both combatants prepared themselves before kicking off the ground toward one another once more…