Chapter Seven: War

The first clash of blades sent chills down everyone's spine as thunderous reverberation echoed all around even though there were no walls to contain it. The charged energies in the steel pushed both Heroes back a good seven feet after the initial blow, and both men were already moving their feet before they had stopped to rush in and attack again, literally hitting the ground running. Speer's speed was astounding, the way he moved defied belief even of those who had been in battle with him before. Speer would move body ever so slightly, just committing to a direction, and the next moment he'd be at his destination swinging his twin sickles, only barely missing by the slightest of margins most of the time thanks to Michael's heightened reflexes he'd developed over the past few days.

Michael appeared to be keeping up with Speer, but in reality he was struggling to connect with Speer's weapon to block, unable to find an opening on his body to strike. It was all happening so fast that no one in the crowd could tell the difference, but the two men involved both knew the truth: Michael was back-peddling. Michael' plan so far was to utilize what he was working on: know where you are vulnerable after every move and block, anticipating Speer seeing that same spot. It was keeping him alive, but he wasn't winning, even he knew that in the first five minutes of this dual.

Though Speer was on a heavy offensive, his inability to end this as quickly as he thought he could was frustrating him. Speer's new powers inflated his arrogance to unprecedented levels, and Michael's persistence and competent ability to keep up insulted him deeply. Speer feigned an attack with his twin weapons and instead thrust out with a stiff kick and planted it right into Michael's ribs, knocking him back like a wrecking ball as he crashed into a brick wall, narrowly missing a group of Heroes who moved out of the way at the last moment. Shunt and Willow rushed over to help him up, but Michael held out his hands to stop them.

"No…no help…It has to be me and him, no one else," Michael said as he raised himself up from the rubble.

Speer didn't wait for him to come back to the fight, and he threw one of his sickles which was connected to him by chair through the air, and it hooked in right behind Michael's shoulder armor barely missing his actual back. Speer yanked back, reeling in Michael like a fish with his other sickle ready to cut him open once he was in range. Michael was pulled through the air, heading towards Speer at an uncontrollable rate. His only option was to plant his sword into the ground to throw off his momentum and trajectory, allowing him to fly over Speer barely missing the deadly weapon. Michael landed on his feet firmly, gripping the chain tightly and whipping it over his head, lifting Speer off of his feet and slamming him into the ground very close to the opposite front row of on-looking Heroes.

It didn't take much more for the Guild to realize that this battle would not be contained by a symbolic ring made by their peers, and so Guildmaster James and a few other senior Heroes took to the front of the ring and held out their hands, their bodies lighting up as their hands emanated a strange blue energy. The energy grew wider and taller, until eventually the energies interconnected and began forming a concrete shape: a dome. It formed just in time, because just as the walls were solidified Speer cracked into it after feeling the hilt of Michael's sword jam into his gut. Both of them took a moment to study the strange containment field, but both seemed to care little about it as their hatred for the other fueled their every thought.

Speer went back on his offense, seemingly teleporting to all sides of his rival in order to find some sort of weak spot, but Michael's defenses were swift and Speer found himself quite incapable of landing a fatal blow of any sort, though his swipes were getting closer and closer as tears began appearing all over Michael's garments. Michael knew he was dancing way too close to the cliff, and he had to turn this around in his favor before Speer landed his inevitable killing blow.

Michael's strategy until now was to block what he knew would be his weakest point after every move, knowing Speer would be there to capitalize…but what if he struck where Speer was going to be before he got there? It was a risky and incredibly dangerous tactic, but so was waiting for the guillotine to come down on his head. Michael waited for his opportunity, trying to force his weak spot to be his front so that he could have a clear and definitive blow when Speer took the bait. Michael found himself off balance after swinging his sword behind his back to block Speer's latest attack, leaving his chest wide open. As expected, Speer jumped at the opportunity knowing Michael couldn't swing his sword around in time to block again. He moved directly in front of Michael, swinging with both blades at his exposed chest, but as he did he found himself swinging at nothing and off balance himself. Michael had thrown his sword to the side during the swing and used his momentum to fall backwards. Michael shoved his hands forward and his runes lit up as brilliantly as ever as he let loose a fireball the size of Shunt's tremendous fist directly at Speer, sending him hurtling through the air and crashing to the earth.

The crowd of Heroes erupted with cheers after the fireball connected. Michael lay on his back, huffing and puffing just trying to catch his breath, completely exhausted trying to keep up with Speer. He was barely able to process that his gambit had paid off, and when he sat up to see Speer lying in a smoking heap on the ground he couldn't help but smile. He forced himself to rise up to take in the sight of it completely, and what he saw horrified him to the point of drowning out all the cheers and ovation he heard from beyond the magical barricade. Speer was getting up.

Speer got on all fours, fuming about what has just transpired. He hadn't expected Michael to be able to keep up with him, let alone be able to launch such a powerful counterattack with his fire magic. The last time he saw him he was barely able to conjure a flame, let alone unleash an attack of any real power. Speer couldn't comprehend how he had become this powerful this fast.

"How…How are you doing this?" Speer shouted as he got back to his feet and turned to face Michael, "You were nothing when I left! A shell of your former self! Your demonic powers are gone! You shouldn't be able to do this! I should be able to kill you!"

"Then why do you hate me!" Michael shot back, "if you know the demon is gone then what is your real problem with me? That's all you've ever talked about: how I'm a demon, I'm evil, I'm a menace to society and not a true Hero! So why do you want to kill me?"

"Because clearly you are still a threat! You have found a way to regain access to your powers and with that you will lose control again and kill us all," Speer surmised and he began to address his audience, "Don't you all see? His thirst…his addiction to that demon is all consuming! Somehow he sought it out again even after experiencing a total loss of control and witnessing its collateral damage! He killed his step-sister's father!" Speer let out Michael's dirty secret, and Michael's anger caused him to do something rash. Michael unleashed a stream of fire from both hands at Speer, who promptly avoided it. Michael was relentless, continuing his attack and chasing Speer all around the dome with his fire.

"You bastard! I trusted you! You sniveling little monster! I'll burn you to ashes!" Michael shouted out in his fury, every sentence emphasized by a flare-up in his stream of fire that Speer was finding harder and harder to avoid. Still, he taunted him.

"You see? His temper is all-consuming! The demon is in control again! He's trying to kill me just like he did his step-father! Just like he did to Willow's father!" Speer shouted out and everything grew silent. Michael ceased his attack, frozen in shock. Willow's eyes went wide and the entire Guild turned to the couple, neither was able to speak.

"Oh…you didn't know? Michael murdered Willow's father when he lost control to the demon. I saw it with my own two eyes…you all did, because Willow's father…was Skorm."