The Prince of Demons

I took some deep breaths to recover as Ryker and me just kind of stared at each other. I mean, Ryker glaring at me is nothing new. Something told me I should start recovering my <Mana>, some small voice in the back of my head felt like a fight was imminent. Maybe it was just because Ryker had been a bit prickly and I knew we apparently didn't get along. I shouldn't intentionally antagonize him until he gives me a legitimate reason to. Twenty seconds of just staring at each other later, my breathing was stable as my <Mana> was still recovering; my <Arcane Eye> was active just in case I needed it.

"Hello Ryker. Did you need something?" I stated to break the silence. Ryker just stared at me for a few moments as he remained silent.

"I would like to spar you, Crown Prince Nil." Ryker requested. The request seemed innocent enough; I was probably just overthinking it.

"Sure. Just give m-" I began before Ryker just swung at me.

That's dirty. Unfortunately for Ryker, I was used to sparring my uncles and Krahinn who were much faster than him. It didn't hurt I preemptively turned my <Arcane Eye> on, so his fist was moving in near slow motion. I swept out his legs with a kick before I adjusted into kneeing his falling face. Ryker spun to dissipate the force of my kick, landing on his feet before rushing me again. He doesn't have a weapon. Is that because he doesn't use one or because he is trying to hide it? For now, I was just going to mirror him so I turned my <Arcane Eye> off for now. My hand-to-hand fighting was not as good as Luna's, but it should be sufficient for this duel. My <Toughening> is much better than his. I took the fighting stance Uncle Nox taught me for hand to hand, using my left hand to jab at the charging Ryker. He slipped my punch, trying to throw a hook into my rib cage. I slammed my elbow down to block his hook which caused him to wince while I turned my body to kick him. Ryker wove around my kick while attempting to wrap an arm around my leg to grapple me. I raised my leg straight up to switch to an ax kick which he deflected. I am so glad I practiced those pivots or my body would be screaming from all these rotations. It was mentally taxing fighting him while recovering my <Mana>, but I felt I needed to, and not just instantly fill my <Mana Reserve> with my <Arcane Eye>.

Ryker seemed annoyed that I had adjusted so quickly while he deflected my kick to the side. Ryker stepped in, so I slammed my head into his. Dirty, yes. Effective, also yes. I would care more if he didn't try to sucker punch me. Ryker grit his teeth as he headbutt me right back. I grappled him, getting a solid grip on his head as I launched my knee into his lower rib cage. Ryker's eyes bulged as I released my grip, kicked his head up, and then stomped straight down as he fell. Ryker scrambled away before I could punt his skull. Ryker took a deep breath, switching his fighting stance. Was he just testing the waters before? I didn't give him time to breathe as I rushed in, dodging the punch he threw. Thwack! His leg slammed into my head from the side. That was a feint. My ears were ringing a little as that kick was much stronger than what he previously used. Okay, Ryker was getting more serious. I used the momentum of his kick to pivot into the hook he attempted earlier. Ryker stepped in to dodge as he grabbed my hand, lifted himself up, and put a lot of his body into kicking me again. I powered through, grabbing his leg to slug his thigh that I could reach. Ryker twisted his body as he kicked off me to free himself before I tried cracking part of his leg.

His fighting style had definitely changed. This is likely his actual fighting style, or closer to it. I stood still, running my mind through how to adapt my approach. Unfortunately, hand to hand fighting was never a strong suit of mine. Ryker realized I was just recovering which prompted him to rush in. It looked like he threw three punches and a kick, before his other fist shot out at this odd uppercut hook combination angle at my throat. How is he doing that? His feints were so crisp and looked real. Okay, I will use my <Arcane Eye> for now. I dodged a bit, but Ryker was able to correct his punch and blast my jaw. If I was not actively using <Mana Reinforcement> I would've lost a few teeth from that. I ran in, following his motions with my <Arcane Eye> as he effortlessly mixed in several feints before launching his real attack. I deflected his actual punch while stepping in, trying to connect. My fist felt like it grazed Ryker; the feedback down my arm was wrong however. He did this odd head motion which I think slipped most of my punch. Ryker kicked up, hitting my knee from behind to force me to fall to the side a bit. I could see his fist clear as day coming for my face. This was about to hurt. The worst part of using my <Arcane Eye> was in situations like these where I could see the attack coming but do nothing to stop it. I braced for impact as my head launched back.

I took several steps back to try and make space, but Ryker dashed in to give me no room to breathe or recover. He's definitely better at fighting hand-to-hand than I am. That didn't matter at the moment as I needed a solution to win this duel. I could toss in some <Magic>, but that almost feels like cheating. If he refused to use <Magic>, I wasn't going to. I may have been slightly stronger and had better <Toughening>, but Ryker's skill was easily covering the gap. I jabbed at Ryker again, who effortlessly pivoted around my attack into a punch aimed at my side. If I rely on kicks and punches I am going to lose. I used my <Mana> to rapidly shift my body into a grapple, anchoring my hand on Ryker's. He tried doing a similar twist and kick, but I had too much <Mana> in my grip for him to break it. As he twisted, I pulled him in and slugged him across the face. Ryker glared at me as he spun his body and wrapped his ankles around my neck. He used a lot of <Mana> to try and lift me off the ground. No, I will turn this into a <Mana Reinforcement> contest. I used as much <Mana> as I could muster to overpower his rotation, slamming him into the ground.

Ryker looked mildly disoriented as his attempt failed, but I did not relent. I lifted and slammed him again, which jarred him from his thoughts. His eyes took on this dangerous light as he released his feet, planting one in my shoulder, and kicked straight at my head with the other. I maneuvered around his kick, cranking my arm in. Or at least I tried to pull him in, but Ryker focused his <Mana> in the planted leg to prevent that. Fine. I went to punch his leg to force him to move it; Ryker twisted his body out of the way and rotated into a different kick. My hand was screaming at me from keeping a grip on him, as it was taking large amounts of <Mana> to keep Ryker from escaping me. It was annoying, but I knew he was better than me at hand-to-hand fighting so him getting distance on me would end badly. I slipped around his kick before attempting to punch the arm I had a grip on. Ryker look incensed as his <Mana> increased suddenly while he moved with a speed that felt nearly impossible for someone our age. I was forced to let go and shove Ryker away to dodge as his fist was millimeters away from connecting. Crap, he's free. Ryker quickly twirled his body, and the instant he had a toe touch, he launched his entire body with frightening control and speed towards me. What? How on Tenebrae did Ryker do that?

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Before I had time to marvel at the spectacular display of physicality, I dove to the side to get out of his path, but Ryker rapidly readjusted to pursue. It was optimistic that he wouldn't be able to pursue me. I raised my guard, getting ready to deflect and dodge as I knew my ability to counterattack would be limited. Gnawing at my mind was how was Ryker this skilled? Or am I just that bad? I'd like to think my family is giving me a pretty good education when it comes to fighting and protecting myself. I shook my head, as I knew I needed to focus if I didn't want to get pummeled by Ryker. Even with my <Arcane Eye>, Ryker adjusted his feints to try and overload the amount of information I had to process. Does he know or is he just guessing? His real attack was a lightning-fast jab I barely blocked before rotating rapidly into a series of kicks. I could barely dodge or block them in time as Ryker was steadily improving his speed. What was this? I needed a change of tactics as there were mere moments before Ryker overwhelmed me.

I stepped in forcefully to shorten one of his wider kicks; I needed to try and make an opportunity to retaliate against him. The two of us both grimaced when he connected from how reinforced the other was. I attempted to kick Ryker while mimicking his launching trick when he backstepped away. It was nowhere near as refined as his, which turned the motion into an awkward tackle. Good enough. The two of us rotated around each other, with Ryker trying to reestablish distance while I was attempting to grapple him so he couldn't get away. Ryker viciously kicked at the hand I extended to stop me; I used the momentum to spin around and sweep out his leg. Ryker handsprung back to his feet with a quick twirl as he attempted to kick me in the head. I twisted to the side, wrapping an arm around his leg. Ryker was ready for that move, as he pulled himself in with his leg before unleashing a one-two combination into my face. Mother forler that hurt. When I staggered back, Ryker was able to touch part of his foot to the ground, again using his <Mana> to accelerate his body up. He forcefully extended the leg I had a grip on while doing that, breaking my grip as I went into the air from the force. Now Ryker had enough room to do a full roundhouse as I fell back towards the ground.

Before it connected, I spun to reorient myself and kicked off his leg to reach the ground again. Ryker did a few fast back steps to get distance while his eyes were wrathfully staring at me. What is his deal? This so-called spar was his idea, but it only seemed to make him more annoyed. Granted, he's way better at fighting than I thought he'd be. I was not ready for him to be more skilled at hand-to-hand combat than me, or more accurately how much more skilled he was. How is he so skilled? I was taking deep breaths to recover while Ryker was panting as well; it was obvious he was debating whether he wanted to go even further. Go ahead, use <Magic> first. Now that I was thinking about it, if I forced him to use <Magic> first I'd take it as a win. Ryker summoned a sword and shield. Classic hero weapons. I almost summoned my sword, but it occurred to me that he didn't know I had it. Maybe I should hide it, it's not like we're dueling for anything serious. I summoned my bow and notched an arrow instead; Ryker couldn't contain his surprise when I pulled them out. Maybe if it starts getting bad I'll summon my sword, as I don't think losing as the Crown Prince would look good. On a more even playing field, Ryker would have undeniably beaten me with his superior skill.

"Why did you not summon a sword?" Ryker checked, sounding perplexed by my weapon choice. He looked furious I didn't pull out a sword.

"I don't feel I need it against you." I taunted him. Not like I can make him angrier; I still don't get why he seems to hate me.

"We'll see about that." Ryker spat back. If he was any more annoyed, I couldn't tell.

Ryker then proved it was incredibly arrogant to pull out the bow. His rush forward with his shield was much faster than before. He can get faster? How much has he been holding back? The weird part was he undeniably had less <Mana> than I did, but he was just so efficient at using it, but he was reaching points I was struggling to keep up with. I jumped back as I shot the arrow at him. Ryker effortlessly cut the arrow in half while keeping up his pursuit. I summoned the next arrow, attempting to fire another one, but Ryker was giving me no room to breathe. I can't keep using this. I was going to lose badly if I stuck to this. Wait. He may not have <Spell> ability. His sword and shield might have been him trying to win for real. Fine, <Spells> time. I immediately used <Warp> to get away before firing an arrow up into the sky and then shot one directly at him. Ryker effortlessly put his shield in the path of the arrow, but I forcefully swapped his shield with the first arrow I fired. His face remained unbothered as he reacted to catching the arrow aimed at him while continuing his dash. Ryker spun and kicked his shield directly at me without breaking his stride while following behind it at me. What the forl? How? How the forl did he do that?

I began setting up an array of anchor points around myself, grabbing his shield with <Warping Ward> to bend the path right back at his skull. Ryker danced around the bent space, using a small burst of <Magic> to free his shield and get a grip on it before lunging towards me with his sword. <Warping Ward> is too flashy and uses too much <Mana> to try that again. I used <Marionette Strings> to get away from him as I shot another arrow. Here's the problem Ryker, you need to get close to me to hit me with a sword. Ryker slashed the arrow out of the air, as his blade began glowing. Wait. Crap. He launched a projected <Aqueous Formation> at me, that I simply teleported out of the path of. It slammed into the courtyard wall, shaking the area a little. Ryker followed my <Warp> fairly well as he was already bearing down on me. I was not ready for that. I put away my bow and arrow, which made him smirk as I made a spear of <Void Magic>. His eyes went wide as I rotated into a thrust straight into his shield. I grabbed him with <Domination> and pulled him hard towards the spear. Ryker angled his shield to avoid a direct hit, but the pain he felt was obvious as his sword swung full force at my head. Spar? With a swing like this? I cast a fast <Thrust> to deflect it to the side before I cast several <Cuts> right in front of him. Ryker deflected one with his sword to make a gap that he weaved his body into. What was this skill? How is he so good at fighting? I already repositioned myself, using my <Void Magic> spear to try and pierce a massive hole into his chest. Ryker kicked the spear away while springing back to a neutral space. The two of us rushed towards each other, before a massive barrier was erected between us.

"Ryker!" Magus Supreme Praecan yelled, interrupting our duel.

"What?!" Ryker snarled, looking furious that our duel was cut short.

"That is enough! You should not be trying to maim the Crown Prince! We are sorry!" Magus Supreme Praecan apologized. Ryker had such a bitter expression as he glared at me.

"It is fine, we were just having a friendly spar." I informed her with a smile. I'm sure our duel being interrupted is going to anger him enough; no need to involve her.

"Thank you. Come on Ryker, we're leaving." Magus Supreme Praecan ordered him. He put away his sword and shield as he begrudgingly followed her.