My (Monster?) Hero Life

Kace flexed his fingers as he felt the power rushing through every fibre of his being. He had to admit that he liked this feeling. It was almost to the point where he felt as though the price had been worth it. Almost.

Sonia eyed him warily as he performed a few simple movements. From that alone, she could tell that he had gone through significant changes. 'Damn, this could get ugly.' She thought as Kace looked at her and flashed a terrifying grin.

'Let's see what I'm capable of now.' Kace thought to himself as he fired off five Ice Spears towards Sonja. She nimbly dodged the first three before smashing the remaining two with her mace.

Her eyes went wide in shock as soon as she shattered the final spear. Following right behind it was Kace, his weapon had taken on the form of his trusty halberd. When he swung it towards her neck, it moved so fast that she lost track of it for a moment.

Due to her rich experience in combat though she narrowly avoided losing her head by turning into mist. As soon as the weapon passed through her, she turned solid again and lashed out with a kick.

Kace was still smiling as he caught her foot before she could make contact. He spun around rapidly on the spot before launching her into the air. While she was airborne, he cast Spider Thread to seal her movements.

Sonja was for having none of it though. She clapped her hands and a transparent black doorway opened before her. Kace's Spider Thread slipped through it into another plane of existence before the door faded away.

Sonja drifted back down to the floor of the arena; her eyes were fixated on Kace. She had fully expected him to rush her, but instead, he appeared to be letting her return to the ground undisturbed. 'I might have to break my own rules; I doubt I can contain him while limiting myself.'

Kace began to rush toward her once she had found her feet. The look on her face turned deadly serious as she pondered about what his next move would be. When he was ten metres away, he laughed savagely as activated Stampede.

Seeing his sudden burst of speed, she activated her own skill. True Step. She disappeared from Kace's vision briefly before meeting him halfway. Their weapons clashed with a resounding bang as Sonja was blown away from the force. 

She bounced across the floor of the arena like a ragdoll. If this had happened any other time, it would have looked almost comical. Kace who had remained unaffected from their clash followed up with another Stampede.

Sonja's face contorted in fury as she bounced yet again, catching sight of Kace who was giving chase to her. 'Damn runt!' Sonja thought as she prepared another of her skills. She watched his approach with hawk-like eyes, waiting for just the right moment.

Kace swung his halberd towards her ribcage, seeing as at this point in time she was upside down in midair. 'I've got you now!' Kace grinned madly as he waited for the feeling of armour being torn apart and soft flesh being pierced to be transmitted to him through his weapon.

"Moonless Night!" Sonia yelled. Right before Kace's halberd connected with her. A dense swirl of dark energy rapidly wrapped around Sonja's figure.

Kace did not have the necessary time to react; his weapon plunged onwards as if the energy was calling out to it. The halberd passed through the smokey substance without meeting any form of resistance. 

Even when it passed through the centre where Sonja should have been, he felt nothing. He had a bad feeling about this ability, but he could not think of any way to counter it. The dark energies rapidly expanded, swallowing up the entire arena.

Kace found himself completely cut off. The area he was now in was utterly dark without even the slightest hint of light. He held up his hand to where his eyes were only to discover that even when they were almost touching, he could not see it.

It was like he had suddenly been blinded, left alone in the darkness. 'Tch, such a nasty trick. Hopefully, it won't last too long...' He thought while focusing on his sense of hearing. 

Suddenly he felt a blow land on his ribs, almost shattering them. It had been entirely unannounced; no sound had accompanied it such as the usual grunt that a person would let out when attacking.

Instead of panicking, he thought to use Tracking. However, even that was thwarted by the darkness. It was as though Sonja had entirely erased all forms of her existence. 'This is going to be tricky, it will be a waste of precious time, but I can only wait for this one to run out.'

He gritted his teeth as he did his best to guard his vital areas as blow after blow rained down on him. He felt several of his bones snap after taking repeated damage. If he had not just increased his stats, then this attack would have been enough to kill him already.

He began to wonder how much time had passed; in all honesty, it had felt as though he had spent hours trapped in here. Only the fact that the buff from Half-Life had not run out made him realise that this was far from reality.

The attacks had stopped for what seemed like a while now making him feel even more suspicious. 'Is she planning some sort of big attack?' He wondered as he felt sweat running down his brow as held back the pain he was in.

Suddenly, the curtain of darkness that had clouded his vision began to recede. He watched as the dark energies invaded his body as the arena became visible to him again.

Sonja was standing at the far end from him; a twisted smile crept over her face as she held up her hand, palm wide open. Kace had no idea what she was planning, but he knew it could not be anything good! He exploded from his position towards her as a voice cried out over the arena.

"Mother don't!" Sophia yelled while desperation laced her plea.

"It's over!" Sonja said softly as she clenched her palm into a fist.