Leon had no armor, he had no real defenses. So, Leon had to rely on the speed and devastating power of his lightning magic and his family’s powerful offensive fighting style. He didn’t discard thoughts about his defense entirely, but he committed to the idea that if he didn’t want to be hit, then he’d have to put enough pressure on the Earthshaker Paladin to prevent a counter-attack.

Leon’s body blazed with the silver-blue lightning of the Thunderbird, the distinctive power of House Raime. He glared at the Earthshaker Paladin, then charged. He’d show the Paladin the reason why the Thunderbird Clan had conquered this plane so many millennia ago and why his House reigned as the most influential family in the region for so long after.

For his part, as soon as the Earthshaker Paladin saw Leon’s lightning, he felt his heart almost stop. He’d never borne witness to the power of House Raime, and now that it was before his eyes and magic senses, he took an unconscious step back. He could sense a frightening power in every arc of lightning that Leon emanated; if possible, he did not want to confront that power head-on. This was almost counter-intuitive since as an earth mage, head-on fights were his bread and butter, but in this case…

He could fit no more thoughts in, for in an instant, Leon was upon him.

Leon raised his blade with his charge, then brought it crashing down upon the Earthshaker Paladin as soon as he was in range. It was almost a mirror to their first engagement, and in a panic, Earthshaker tried to block it as he had before. He raised his halberd to stop Leon’s blade, but Leon only smirked and packed every ounce of power he could into his swing.

The Adamant blade glowed a brilliant silver as it sparked and cracked with the Thunderbird’s lightning. As soon as it came into contact with the wooden haft of Earthshaker’s halberd, the wood melted away like ice before the flames of the hottest hell. Leon’s sword cleaved right through it, chopping the weapon in half.

But the sword didn’t stop there. Leon pushed on, slicing the long blade into Earthshaker’s shoulder, cleaving through the Paladin’s beautiful white steel pauldron, but finally stopping when it hit the underlying mail.

Leon’s sword stuck in the Paladin’s armor, but that was right where Leon wanted to be. Lightning surged down his arm and into his blade, then from there, it transferred into the Paladin’s armor. The armor had been spectacularly enchanted, but lightning mages were few and far between in the Bull Kingdom, so the armor’s enchantments that protected against lightning were light and almost token. Silver-blue lightning shattered those enchantments with barely any resistance, quickly scorching everything from the Earthshaker Paladin’s right shoulder all the way down to the bottom of his ribs.

Earthshaker screeched in pain as he felt his body begin to seize up. He circulated his mana as best he could to fight off Leon’s terrifying power, and he felt his body begin to loosen again. He then hardened his skin, it now having been proven that his armor was insufficient, and he jerked and twisted his body to throw Leon off. With a mighty heave backed by his earth magic, he managed to tear Leon off his shoulder, sword and all, and toss him back several dozen feet. A good chunk of his burnished armor and more of his blood than he wanted to quantify went with the prodigal Raime, but after it had failed to stop Leon’s magic, Earthshaker hardly cared.

With an animalistic growl, Earthshaker reached into his soul realm and retrieved a huge straight sword, long enough that a mortal would have to use it two-handed, but Earthshaker twirled it like it were as light as a marching baton.

Leon smiled, having landed on his feet. He’d come out the undisputed victor in that short exchange despite Earthshaker’s seeming lack of debilitating injury, and he charged again without delay, hoping to recreate or surpass that success. His sword glowed with power, and with a clap of thunder accompanying him, Leon was on the Paladin once more, wildly swinging his weapon.

Earthshaker defended himself admirably. Leon’s blows rained down upon him and he blocked just about every one. But now and then, one of Leon’s strikes penetrated his defenses, ripping through his plate and tearing into his mail and cloth padding. The only reason the Paladin wasn’t bleeding from a dozen wounds after only thirty seconds was due to his hardened stone skin, which even Leon’s lightning had trouble getting through.

With a mighty roar, Earthshaker threw Leon once again. Before Leon’s feet hit the deck of the ship, Earthshaker conjured one of a handful of boulders he kept in his soul realm for just such an occasion as this—without earth beneath his feet, he’d have to use his magic to conjure stone just as a fire mage would use their magic to conjure fire, rather than using the stone and earth that was already available. For an earth mage, this was terribly inefficient, so Earthshaker had taken to carrying stones around in his soul realm just in case.

The boulder he conjured was roughly the size of a small carriage. It hovered next to the Paladin for only a moment before being crushed and reformed into a spiked ball and hurled at Leon.

Leon saw all this happening practically in slow motion as his silver-blue lightning coursed through his veins, its power raising his speed to new heights. As soon as his feet touched the wood of the deck, he was sprinting forward, aiming to slide just beneath the stone ball.

However, as he passed under it with barely a foot to spare between his hair and the spikes, the boulder suddenly and violently detonated, throwing down finger-sized stones onto his face and sending stone shrapnel tearing through his clothes and skin.

Leon felt the familiar fiery bite of pain, but his wounds weren’t serious. He pushed himself back up as swiftly as he could. He managed to struggle back to his feet just in time to dodge a blow from Earthshaker, who had taken the opportunity to charge at the seemingly stunned Leon.

Angrier than he was before and determined to give Earthshaker only that one blow, Leon stomped his foot on the deck and let loose with his lightning magic. The two seventh-tier mages were inundated with arcs of silver-blue lightning, their ears were assaulted by booming thunder, and the shockwave traveled right through them and stunned many of the nearby troops. Earthshaker was thrown back with a terrible howl, while Leon was left completely unaffected.

They paused their duel to take a breath. Leon was covered in small lacerations from the exploding stone, while Earthshaker was covered in burns from Leon’s lightning and his armor had been almost completely stripped away, save for a few tattered bits of mail and gambeson.

All-in-all, Leon felt like he’d gotten the better of the Paladin, and a confident smile bloomed on his face.

“All… right…” Earthshaker said, his voice raspy and pained. “I’ll admit… there may be something… to those rumors… after all…” The Paladin fixed Leon in a stony stare, one utterly devoid of warmth or kinship. It was a look that spoke of nothing but steely determination and hostility. “You probably are… a Raime… You ought… to be enough… to ransom for my father…”

Earthshaker seemed like he had more to say, but Leon had no intention of listening to the man who murdered Trajan and committed who knows how many other crimes. Leon knew of a few from Gaius; he knew enough to be disgusted. With barely a moment missed, Leon summoned a lightning bolt and hurled it in Earthshaker’s direction.

Earthshaker panicked for a split-second, but he managed to hurl himself to the side. Leon’s lightning bolt, however, had been aimed at his feet, not at his chest, and it exploded upon the deck where Earthshaker had just stood. The Paladin managed to avoid the worst of it, but he was still showered in white-hot sparks which set his tattered gambeson aflame.

Cursing, Earthshaker ripped the remnants of the cloth armor off his body, leaving him wearing nothing more than silkgrass trousers and his greaves which had been burned black by Leon’s lightning. His exposed body, however, wasn’t as vulnerable as others might be, as his skin was mottled gray and resembled grey limestone more than flesh.

With a wave of his hand, Earthshaker conjured another boulder, but instead of hurling it at Leon, he crushed it with barely a thought. In less time than it took even Leon to blink, the boulder had been rendered into a thick cloud of sand which began to whirl around Earthshaker like a desert tornado.

Leon didn’t give the Paladin any more time. He lunged forward again, conjuring several small trick weapons he’d built during his experimentations back in the capital. On his wrists appeared wind blade bracelets, while on his fingers he materialized three iron rings of fire that could launch a single fireball apiece. None of these weapons were particularly powerful, but he hoped that they might prove to be something of a distraction that might create an opportunity to do more serious damage to the Paladin.

Rushing forward, Leon opened first with a quick blast of lightning, doing exactly what he hoped Earthshaker was expecting. His silver-blue lightning tore through the sand wall, melting much of it. For just a moment, Leon managed a glimpse of the madly grinning Paladin as another boulder came tearing out of the sand.

But Leon was ready for it and dodged to the side, letting the boulder glide right over him. With a burst of speed, Leon whipped right past the sand tornado as the boulder detonated, showering everyone around them, Augustine and Octavian alike, with stony shrapnel.

With a better idea of what Earthshaker was doing, now, Leon channeled his magic into his trick weapons and then conjured a lightning spear. In but an instant, he fired all three of his prepared fireballs into the sand, letting them splash across the raging shield that Earthshaker kept. Even more of the sand melted, becoming unusable and giving Leon one more opportunity. He took it without hesitation, hurling the silver-blue lightning spear with as much power as he could bring to bear.

Earthshaker had been about to throw another boulder, but he saw the lightning bolt just in time and brought the boulder in to protect himself. The lightning struck the boulder with terrifying force, obliterating it entirely and sending its superheated fragments exploding back into Earthshaker’s face.

The Paladin screamed as he found himself unable to adapt his hold over the stone quickly enough to prevent himself from being battered by it. Chunks of his stony skin were torn from his exposed face and he was given a few more burns to add to his growing collection.

Only a second later, Leon let loose with his wind blades, aiming just to Earthshaker’s sides. The Paladin was distracted by pain and the sand shield-tornado had weakened. Leon’s two wind blades sliced right through it, harmlessly scattering the sand across the deck of the ship.

Earthshaker, now bleeding from numerous cuts on his face, was left almost defenseless. He still had his stoneskin, but Leon didn’t think that would be enough. He rushed forward, channeling more of his magic power into his sword with every step. He was upon Earthshaker faster than the Paladin could react, his sword blazing silver with a halo of blue around its edges, and he drove the blade straight into the Paladin’s chest.

For a moment that seemed almost an eternity, the blade caught on Earthshaker’s stoneskin. Leon felt his heart seem to stop as his blade failed to penetrate. His magic reserves were starting to feel taxed, and he knew that if this strike failed, he’d have to take a more conservative approach to the fight.

And then that moment was over. Leon’s lightning ripped the stone clean from Earthshaker’s body, along with whatever chunks of flesh it was attached to. The blade then bit deeper, sliding between the Paladin’s ribs and impaling his lung. The channeled power now poured from Leon’s sword, covering the Paladin in sparks and arcs of brilliant silver-blue lightning.

Earthshaker’s torso blackened as his flesh was seared in the intense heat. His impaled lung shriveled in his chest as it was cooked from the inside. His eyes turned red and his skin bruised as the lightning surging through his body ruptured his veins, arteries, and capillaries.

Leon could feel the Paladin fighting back. As devastating as his strike was, Earthshaker was as durable as his chosen element. With a great heave, the Paladin managed to push Leon away, the blade in his chest being torn from his chest at the same time.

Earthshaker howled in pain and fury as blood poured out his body while Leon wisely retreated to take stock of the situation. The Paladin was gravely injured—were he any weaker, Leon would’ve even confidently stated that the wound was mortal. However, before Leon’s very eyes, he saw stone spreading across Earthshaker’s chest, swiftly covering his injury and preventing further blood loss.

“You…” Earthshaker growled barely coherently. “You… and your fucking family… even dead, you’re still…”

His voice trailed off as he began to wheeze, his injured lung having deflated. Leon wasn’t so naïve as to assume that this meant the Earthshaker Paladin was any less deadly, though, so he began to prepare himself for the next bout.

He didn’t have long to wait. Acting purely on instinct and rage, Earthshaker charged, all of his skin turning back to stone. However, he moved almost in slow motion in Leon’s eyes, who nimbly dodged Earthshaker’s incredibly powerful but cumbersome swing. Instead of biting into Leon’s flesh, his sword sliced deep into the deck of the ship, cleaving through the potent enchantments that were supposed to prevent that sort of thing.

Earthshaker tried to pull his sword free of the ship, but it stuck in the thick wooden planks, and the Paladin was in too much pain to think straight. Under normal conditions, he would’ve abandoned the weapon, but as he was, it only pissed him off even more, and he strained to pull his sword free.

Leon wasn’t about to miss this golden opportunity. He surged forward one last time, aiming a deadly thrust right in between Earthshaker’s shoulder blades.

Leon could feel his strength starting to wane; it took a great deal of power to cause meaningful damage to the Paladin, and his reserves were now running perilously low. As a result, it took a second longer for his lightning to rip away Earthshaker’s stone skin, but the Paladin was already in such a state that he wasn’t able to capitalize on that extra second—Leon’s sword ripped through his skin, severing his spinal cord just below the neck, and exiting his body just to the side of his sternum.

Earthshaker, blinded by pain and kept standing only by magic, could only stare at the blade sticking out of his body as his lifeblood flowed down along the blade and dripped off the point. Weakly, he raised a hand to touch the blade, but Leon wasn’t going to give him time to come to terms with his death. Lightning once again lit up the Paladin’s insides, surging through his body and destroying everything it touched. Organs were liquified, bones were scorched black, skin sizzled, and muscles seized up.

Earthshaker’s body lost all strength, lost all ability to resist, and he went as limp as he could with so much of his musculature seized up tight enough to start tearing itself off of his bones.

Leon stood there behind the Paladin holding up his body for a long moment, panting with exertion, flooding the Paladin’s body with lightning. He just kept pushing his power more and more into the Paladin, venting every frustration he had endured over the past half-year into his defeated foe. He began screaming as the Paladin began to glow with lightning, his skin becoming momentarily transparent as it arced along Earthshaker’s bones from the tip of his head down to his toes.

After a few more seconds, Leon realized that he was screaming and that finally brought him back to his senses. He went silent and halted his attack. Earthshaker’s body had completely blackened from burns, looking like little more than a burned piece of meat on the end of Leon’s blade.

Leon stared at it, unable to do anything, unable to even realize that the battle around him had halted, all eyes turned to him and the dead Paladin.

Finally, Leon pulled his blade from the back of Earthshaker’s body and let it fall. It crumbled into ash as it hit the deck, becoming nothing more than a black stain on the wood.

Slowly, other knights and men-at-arms began to throw down their weapons. They were those who had abandoned August and thrown in their lot with Earthshaker when they’d met him on the road, but now that they’d seen him fall, all fighting spirit left them, and they began to surrender, a few at first, but more and more as the silence continued.

Leon surveyed the deck in a daze, somewhat aware through his elation at achieving some manner of revenge, winning his duel, and his fatigue from the fight and the war as a whole that the battle was over; at least on this ship.

And his side had won.

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