My Servant System

Closing the gap between us as quickly as I could, I found my hopes of smashing her against the ground dashed by the immediate recovery she made when she landed, that small amount of time I used to get to her position being more than enough for her to crouch and sway to the side of my attack.

The impact of my shield still affected her though, and it made the immense difference to me since I only got nicked on the side instead of stabbed, the Elf's jagged blade sliding across my oblique and drawing blood.

It should have been hilt deep inside of my torso but thankfully the impact disoriented her enough to miss, giving me the time to swing my shield to the side and force her back as she elected to save her arm instead of allowing it to shatter into dozens of pieces.

Spinning around the swing and coming in on my other side, the Elf tried to stab me once more before also attempting to sweep my legs out from under me, which only resulted in her blade sailing harmlessly behind my back while her foot and shin cracked against my greaves.

The size difference between us had apparently slipped her mind, and even with her mana enhanced physique she still couldn't topple a Demoness, least of all one that had been recently amplified by some archaic blood ritual.

All that she managed to do was waste even more time, and since I of course had to retaliate she was immediately scurrying away like the rat she was, letting the clock tick down even more and pushing us both into a more frantic state.

We both wanted this badly, and the idea of not being able to finish this here and now was enough to get my blood boiling, so I stopped holding back on some of the things that I had been and instead opted for a single attack that needed to land.

She had already drawn blood once and had gotten close now twice, while I had only managed to send her flying with a bit of bruising and nothing else; that wouldn't do, so I let my mana flow freely and embraced the dangerous high that came from all that power running through my veins.

Her eyes widened immediately and she opted for more speed instead of anything else, dashing away from me and trying to burn out the clock as much as possible as she watched me burn out my own 'clock' with this move.

Now our speeds were far more evenly matched, so I darted off after her and jabbed my hand forwards, sending out a lasso of Light Mana in an attempt to catch her and pull her into my sword, but her flexibility was quite high so I was forced to corral her where I wanted her instead.

I could feel the mana humming in my veins, rushing through me and then dissipating into the air around me as it gave me a monumental boost in power at the cost of depleting my Core rapidly, but with nothing else to use my mana on this was the perfect situation to be in.

The lasso cracked down right on her heel, tripping her up and letting me close the gap even more, so with another flick of my wrist I attempted to wrangle her into me, only for her to recuperate just in the nick of time.

Dodging the lasso once more, the Elf continued her journey around the edge of our arena before suddenly darting off towards the middle, giving me a very small window of opportunity to catch her as the distance between us shortened immensely.

The lasso cracked out once more, and even as she tried to reach for whatever it was she was aiming for she instead found herself flying back towards me, the golden beam wrapped snuggly around her ankle, burning into her flesh and making her hiss in pain.

Thudding onto the sandy ground, Jillian thrashed around as I yanked hard on the lasso, dragging her across the arena and raising my boot as I prepared to squash her like a bug, only for her to stab her blade into the energy that the being had used to formulate this space.

It halted the momentum just enough that she could utilize me being off balance to send me tumbling to the ground as well, the sand beneath my feet stabbing into the back of my heel and making it impossible to support all of my weight on a single foot.

Now that we were both on the ground together, the Elf seemed overly confident as she released her blade and allowed herself to be pulled even closer to me, the gleam in her eyes becoming even more apparent as the mania took over entirely.

Her fists were coated in rock, and the closer she got the heavier they became, growing to the point that it was abundantly clear she was putting everything she had into this just like I had been doing.

It was messy and completely out of either of our control at this point, and yet I would have it no other way as I continued yanking that lasso to get her closer, my other hand tingling with power as I prepared to activate the spell hidden on my palm.

Nothing was spoken since it would merely waste breath and time, but everything was communicated and understood as we sneered, growled and glared at one another, our expressions twisting in rage and hopeful triumph as we banked everything we had on our respective plans.

The sand aided her in reaching me as soon as possible, while my raw strength made her slide over the ground fast enough that she was likely bruising her bones with how she was bumping all around, but none of that mattered.

As we got within striking distance of one another we both grinned like lunatics, ready to attack the other and end this entire thing once and for all... completely confident in everything we had and certain that the other was about to die.